Forbidden

"Forbidden" by Tabitha Suzuma
Hardcover: 481 pages
Published: Definitions (May 27, 2010)

Book Description:
She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

This book was kind of predictable and dull.  I guess teens reading this would probably think more of this story, but I found it boring.  I was just flipping through the pages to get through it mostly.  This book took me forever to start reading, and now I just wish that I had tried reading something else instead.

In My Stack

Delirium

"Delirium" by Lauren Oliver
Hardcover: 441 pages
Published: HarperTeen (February 1, 2011)

Book Description:
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

Forgive me, but I just couldn't keep reading this book.  Every time I tried I only got about a chapter done.  I've been trying to read this book since summer, but just haven't had the time.  Now that I have the time, I couldn't read the book.  This book has gotten some pretty good reviews on other sites, but I just didn't like the fact that LOVE has become a disease that is undesirable in the not too distant future.  The whole idea of removing that part of the brain that controls love and other strong emotions is just dumb.  Why make a book on this subject?  It may be a creative idea, but not very likely.  I generally enjoy most post-apocalyptic books, but they are usually dealing with some kind of event and change in the economy, weather, etc.  I only got about a third of the way into the book and stopped reading.  Therefore, I'm not giving this book a rating.

A Long, Long Sleep

"A Long, Long Sleep" by Anna Sheehan
Hardcover: 352 pages
Published: Candlewick (August 9, 2011)

Book Description:

It should have been a short suspended-animation sleep. But this time Rose wakes up to find her past is long gone— and her future full of peril.
Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose— hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire— is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes— or be left without any future at all.

This book was OK.  I liked it enough, but the futuristic sayings bugged me.  Since she wakes up 62 years later, the slang has changed for teenagers.  The author could have been a little more thoughtful on what the slang would sound like.  I don't think that what she chose would really ever be incorporated into the English language, especially by teenagers.  "Holy coit" and "That is so sky" and "Oh burn it".  Uh, what?  It gets annoying.  The story was good, but the language got in the way for me.  If you can get past the language, then go ahead and read this because it is an interesting book and idea.  A sort of Sleeping Beauty in the future, but with parents that are somewhat abusive.  All in all, just OK for me.

Possess

"Possess" by Gretchen McNeil
Hardcover: 384 pages
Published: Balzer + Bray (August 23, 2011)

Description:
Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.

Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

I realize that I didn't list this book as being read by me right now, but I got sidetracked with it and couldn't put it down.  I was just looking at new books that had come into the library, and started to read the first few pages of this book.  I thought it would be good to read, and it was!  I couldn't stop reading it.  It moved along very quickly and was a great page turner.  I think it's going to be the first in a series, as it was left open-ended.

This book is kinda creepy with the whole demon thing, but had a good believable storyline.  I mean, people have made movies about this sort of thing so why not a book.  Definitely worth reading if you enjoy paranormal and angels/demons.

Starcrossed

"Starcrossed" by Josephine Angelini
Hardcover: 514 pages
Published: Harper Teen (May 31, 2011)

Description:
How do you defy destiny?
Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.
As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

This book is the first one in a series.  I'm glad it is, because I want to know what happens to these characters.  This book is different in the fact that the characters and storyline deal with demigods...the ancestors of the big gods like Zeus and Athena, etc.  The main female, Helen, has no idea who she really is or what her powers are until a family moves to her island.  Of course, they are fated to meet and be together.  Destiny plays a big part in this book.  I really enjoyed the characters and how they developed and how we learn about their existence.  I was a bit confused at times with all the different names and background, but overall it is a good book.

Hereafter

"Hereafter" (Hereafter #1) by Tara Hudson
Hardcover: 404 pages
Published: HarperCollins (June 7, 2011)

Description:

Can there truly be love after death?
Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.
Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.
Thrilling and evocative, with moments of pure pleasure, Hereafter is a sensation you won't want to miss.

I thought this book was pretty good.  It had a nice different kind of storyline that I haven't read before.  Sometimes it gets tiring reading the same kinds of books, and this one was nicely different.

This book was fast paced and the writing was good.  Sometimes with YA books, you'll get the "teen talk" that authors think teens talk like.  It gets annoying.  This one was good.  This book was full of the otherworldly supernatural, yet romantic.  A love story where two people can't really be together.  Maybe in some future installment they will be.  I noticed that all books I choose to read are becoming sequels.  This one I can see having a sequel.  You want to know more about these characters and if they ever will be together.