#1: Ripper

by Stephan Petrucha

The Ripper takes place in the late 19th century, around the time of Jack the Ripper. Carver Young is an orphan who loves solving mysteries and wants to be a detective. He eventually is adopted by Detective Hawking and starts to look for his real dad. But while doing that, he gets caught in the search for Jack the Ripper, who has come to New York. Carver and  his friend from the orphanage start trying to solve the case too. But what if Jack is not who Carver expects? I liked this book because the author really took you back to the 1890s and it was easy to visualize everything because of the authors attention to detail. I also like the case of Jack the Ripper and how much research was done for this book. My favorite character was Carver because he was relatable in the sense that he was thrown into new experiences without much preparation and had to get through them just like we are, but our experiences are a lot different than Cravers.

#2: Ashes

by Ilsa Bick

Alex is a teenager with a brain tumor. Her parents are dead and she lives with here aunt in Chicago. Despite all the medical treatments administered on her, the tumor isn't going away and she's going to die. So she runs away. She runs to a forest where she and her dad used to camp. There she meets an old man , his dog, and his granddaughter, Ellie, who is an 8 year old brat. After she storms off because of a temper tantrum, a huge zap happens, at least that's how Alex described it. After everything settles down, Ellie returns back and they find out that the old man is dead. They have to stick together after that. Alex realizes the tumor is, for the moment, gone, and she has a super ability with smell. She can smell peoples emotions and such. While walking through the forest, they stumble upon zombies. They run away after that. Later, when they both almost die from wild dogs and a zombie, a boy named Tom saves them and takes them to his camp. After that, it's the three of them. They decide to go North to Minnesota but on the way they're robbed. The robbers also take their truck, Ellie, and her dog after shooting Tom on his thigh. After that, Tom is weaker and Alex has to take care of them both. But the wound gets infected and she has to go ahead to a town to find help. She eventually does, but when they return Tom is gone, kidnapped or murdered. Alex has to return to the town, and live there peacefully, but she doesn't like it. She gets closer to Chris, a boy there, but can't forget Tom. After a while, she runs away from the town, but she finds something worse. Which I shall not tell you or else I'll be spoiling too much. I liked this book because despite being in an apocalyptic world where zombies are taking over and the survivors are trying their hardest to survive, she still has some of the same problems as us, annoying kids(Ellie), confused feelings for boys(Tom and Chris), and rebelling against the leaders(the town of Rule). Connecting with a character helps understand the book better and connect with the character. It's also just a good book, the way it's written helps readers imagine everything that's happening. 

#3: Stick

by Andrew Smith

Stark is a boy who was born with one ear. His other ear is squashed up against his head. Not only that, but he's very lanky, earning him the nickname Stick. His parents abuse him and his brother, Bosten, but that's what they're used to. That's their normal. They're really close, and they have a bond between them that doesn't break. When Stick finds out Bosten is gay, he doesn't really mind, but a few weeks later when his dad finds out, it becomes a big deal. Bosten runs away, and Stick leaves to find him. This book is a bit like The Perks of being a Wallflower in the fact that Stick and Charlie learn about what's considered normal. They start off as really shy kids, Charlie because that's his nature and Stick because he's self conscious about his ear. But slowly they start to grow up, physically and mentally. Stick gets a crush on his best friend, Emily, and Charlie starts liking Sam. They learn from their crushes. They both have problems in their lives; Stick is abused by his family and Charlie has PTSD from being molested as a child. Yet they still manage to overcome the obstacles in their path. Stick is a good book for people to realize that we're not all the same, and that people everyday get subjected to abuse and yet we still have to move on. I liked it because, like Rage, it faced problems in out world head on.

#4: Rage

by Jackie Kessler

If you're looking for a nice, funny book that takes your mind off your problems, this book isn't for you. It's about a girl, Missy, who is a cutter. She's not goth or emo, she just deals with her problems like that. One day death knocks on her door, gives her a package,and tells her she might cut too deep and die someday. So she tries to stop. But when she gets humiliated in front of everyone in her school by her ex, she goes home and cuts again, accidently going too deep, just like death warned her might happen. While she's dying, Death returns and gives her two options: either she could die, or she could open the package he gave her. She opens it to find a beautiful sword and becomes one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, War. Throughout the book, she struggles with her cutting habit. The author doesn't sugarcoat anything, and tells the readers about cutting, not just that it's bad, but why people do it. This is her second book in her series, the first of which is Hunger, which deals with eating disorders. I think that not only does the author tell us about problems that teenagers face through this series, but she tells it in a creative way. She made up a whole world for the main characters of both books to grow and face their problems head on. Although it is a great book, not many people want to face problems in the world, so it doesn't get as many reads. But I'd reccomend it to people going through problems like cutting, so that they can see that they can stop cutting. 

#5: Immortal Lycanthropes

by Hal Johnson

This book is a great book if you really like fantasy books. It doesn't really have a plot, to tell you the truth, but it takes you through the journey of Myron, a boy who was disfigured in an accident that he doesn't remember at all. It starts off with a comment on human nature "A shameful fact about humanity is that some people can be so ugly that no one will be friends with them. It is shameful that humans can be so cruel, and it is shameful that humans can be so ugly." It connects with him because he's so ugly, no one likes him. He is a lycanthrope, and throughout the whole book he's trying to figure out what animal he is. He has absolutely no recollection of his past. The authors imagination is wonderful, and I love the cover design. It gets a bit confusing because of all the people and places Myron meets, so if you forget stuff very quickly, this book will become very confusing to you. The one thing I don't really like is that it's told in second person. Arthur, another lycanthrope, tells use about Myrons journey. While he tells it well, and with a bit of humor, I personally like reading books in first person because then I know what they're thinking, and I can connect with them faster. But overall it was a great book to read. 

#6: The Dead Girls Detective Agency

by Susan Cox

The dead girls detective agency is a very non-serious book. It's good if you just don't want to read anything boring. Charlotte is just a normal teenage girl at her school, until she's murdered that is. But everyone thinks that she just tripped, so nothing was done to find her murderer. When Charlotte realizes this, she has already been a ghost for a while. She needs to solve her murder case or else she can't pass to the other side, and she has Nancy, Lorna, Tess, and Edison to help her. Well, it's really only Nancy and Lorna, the other two prefer to do nothing all day. As she tries to find her murderer, she discovers not only clues to solve the case, but also how awesome it is to be a ghost. She can choose to appear in front of humans and can transport to anywhere in Manhattan. But some of the things she finds aren't as good as you'd think. Her boyfriend, excuse me, ex-boyfriend, is using her death as an excuse to get with a lot of the popular girls. But some are good, like the fact that her best friend who she accidently ignored for a while was sticking up for her, like a true friend. What I like about this book is that while the author is funny, she also puts a lot of positive messages in her writing. Like in the end, Charlotte decided not to take revenge on her ex-boyfriend. Not many people would pass up the opportunity to scare their ex with supernatural powers. I also like is how despite being dead, Charlotte still matures. In the end, she helps Tess, despite her hating Charlotte all throughout the book. So, I liked this book because it's funny, and gives out good advice on what to do if you're brutally murdered.

#7: The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group

by Catherine Jinks

This was an okay book, but the reason it came last was because it raises expectations with the cover. Not gonna lie, when I first saw the cover, I thought it'd be about teenage werewolf who ran away and fought tons of evil dudes while being destined for something great(okay so the whole destiny thing is a bit overboard, but it still could have happened). But at least it'd be exciting(Yes I know you shouldn't judge books by their covers, but it's human nature to want the most aesthetically pleasing object). What it's really about though, is a boy, Tobias, who is around 13, who wakes up under odd circumstances and is told he is a werewolf by some strangers. Then he is kidnapped by werewolf fighters. Now, that sounds like it could be exciting, but it's not. The whole first part of the story is slow paced, and while some people might like that, if you have a short attention span like me, you won't. Later on, Reuben and one of Reubens friends saves him and Sergio, a werewolf Tobias helped escape. They all fight with Tobias' capturers and eventually they win. Later on, he calls his mother, who has been a non-believer of this werewolf idea since the beginning, and she come to pick him up, which is when they find out about vampire. It ends with Tobias finally used to be a werewolf. The ending is very fast paced, so it's easy to get confused. Not only that, but the characters aren't the best. The main character, Tobias, is a total pushover. He agrees to all of his friends plans, even if he hates them. He also keeps whining. Sure you're a werewolf, but that's awesome. Why are you so sad about it? His mother won't listen to anyone when they say Tobias is a werewolf, even if that makes so much sense. She continues to deny anything werewolf related and hates Reuben.  And his friend, Fergus, is weird. In some instances, he's an idiot. He gets them all into trouble and can't keep his mouth shut. Yet, in others, he knows all of these ways to make homemade bombs and explosives(not the dangerous types, just the ones that get stuff everywhere and make a huge mess). I personally don't know any 13 year olds with that kind of knowledge. Amin is just quiet, he's not really an important chaacter. Reuben is my favorite character, because he wasn't being so annoying as the others. He actually knew what he was doing. Sergio, however, was my least favorite character. He was so annoying. He kept whining and crying and whining and then turning into a psychopath who wants to murder and then whining some more. If I was Tobias, the first thing I would look for was duct tape. And a lot of it. Basically, had the characters been better developed, this could have been a wonderful story. But they weren't, so it isn't. Another thing that annoys me is the pacing of the book is awkward. In the first part of the book, nothing happens. Then, when he gets kidnapped, all of a sudden so many things start to happen. It gets a bit confusing after a while, cause if you miss a paragraph one time, you won't understand the ending, but in others, it won't harm you in any way. So, those are my three biggest problems with this book; the cove, the characters, and the timing of things.

March Book List

Here are my rankings for this months books.
I was going to put the list on a gadget that makes lists appear on sidebars, but it kept on telling me I made an error even though I hadn't. So after a while I decided to just put the list in a post.
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1.Ripper

2.Ashes

3.Stick

4.Rage

5.Immortal Lycanthropes

6.The Dead Girl's Detective Agency

7.The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group

March Book List

For this month, I'm going to be reading:
Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick
Stick by Andrew Smith
Ripper by Stephan Petrucha
Immortal Lycanthropes by Hal Johnson
Rage by Jackie Morse Kesslar
The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group by Catherine Jinks
The Dead Girl's Detective Agency by Susan Cox
I'll be reading them during the next two weeks, and ranking the from 1-7. After reading them all, I'll post the list and start the posts about why they were ranked as such.

The Future

Starting this month, I'm going to do things a bit differently. In the first week and a half, I'll read seven books, and rank them 1-7 on a list, that will be on the right of the blog. Then, in  the following weeks, I'll write a post for each book about why I ranked it as I did. I'll have a new list every month, for your viewing pleasures.

Side note: Just because a book is ranked 7th(the worst), it doesn't mean that book is bad, it just means that there were better books that month.