Dashner, James (2010). The Scorch Trials. NY: Delacorte. 368 pages. I had been waiting for a while to read the second book in James Dashner’s “Maze Runner” Trilogy (the first novel, The Maze Runner, was released in 2009), and was only a little disappointed. When my husband and I used to watch LOST, we sometimes…
Conrad, Lauren (2010). Sugar and Spice. NY: HarperCollins. That’s right: I’ve read all three of the books in Lauren Conrad’s “L.A. Candy” series and I’m not in the least bit ashamed. In fact, I rather liked this little trilogy of stories supposedly penned (with a “collaborator”) by the star of Laguna Beach and The Hills.…
Haddix, Margaret Peterson (2009). Found. NY: Simon and Schuster. 336 pages. Man, I am a sucker for a Margaret Peterson Haddix series! Found, the first book in what has become “The Missing” series (3 books have been published to date), establishes the new serial in terms that will likely appeal to the young YA audience…
Collins, Suzanne (2010). Mockingjay. NY: Scholastic. 400 pages. So by now you’ve probably read the book–nay, the trilogy entire–and already know everything you needed to know about the conclusion to Collins’ uber-successful trilogy. I’m not sure I have anything useful to add to the discussion here. Like many, I enjoyed the first book in the…
Pfeffer, Susan Beth (2010). This world we live in. Boston: Harcourt. 239 pages. OK, I really enjoyed the first two novels Pfeffer wrote about the fictional breakdown of society that occurs when the moon, knocked astray by an asteroid, shifts its orbit and subsequently disrupts the planet. This third novel, however, dedicated to “Anyone who…
Carter, Nikki (2009). It is what it is. NY: Dafina. 227 pages. This is the second novel in Carter’s “So for Real” series, but the first novel in the series that I have read, which made my understanding of this popular and lightly Christian-themed novel only a little hazy. Picking up presumably where the last…
Lee, Darrien (2008). 16 Going on 21. NY: Urban Books. 288 pages. I had high hopes for this novel, the first in a growing series written by adult urban erotica author Lee; however, they were mildly crushed as I waded through the first book in the “Denim Diaries” series. 16 Going on 21 introduces Denim,…
Klavan, Andrew (2009). The last thing I remember. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 336 pages. The first line of this novel–the first in a planned trilogy–is a grabber: “Suddenly I woke up strapped to a chair” (p. 3). As the opening sentence implies, eighteen-year-old Charlie West wakes strapped to a chair in what seems to be…
Dashner, James (2009). The maze runner. NY: Delacorte. 384 pages. I’m going to warn you now, if only because I myself wasn’t warned: this book is the first in what seems to be a planned trilogy. I’m only telling you this so that you know what you’re getting into. Although this first novel in the…
Dean, Zoey (2009). Sunset Boulevard (A-List: Hollywood Royalty). NY: Poppy. 304 pages. As you know, I’m a sucker for a series; therefore, I was super stoked when I finally found the second installment of the “A-List” spin-off series, “A-List: Hollywood Royalty,” at the library. Set in the Hollywood/Los Angeles/Beverly Hills of the “A-List” series, “Hollywood…