WINGER

"I get by with a little help from friends" - The Beatles

This Beatles quote was in my head a lot while I read this book. Andrew Smith’s Winger is full of situations where the main character and narrator, Ryan Dean West, relies on his closest friends to get him through the most tumultuous year of his young life. 

Megaphones and Mayhem in DARE ME

Okay. I just want to start by stating that Megan Abbott's Dare Me is a novel about cheerleaders.  Pass all the judgements about the book's subject that you want; I did the same thing when I picked it up.  However, let me go on by stating that, as someone who does not like is typically hesitant about picking up books about cheerleaders, I was sorely (and gladly!) mistaken.

THE KINGDOM OF LITTLE WOUNDS: not for the faint-of-heart!

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Susann Cokal's debut novel The Kingdom of Little Wounds is the story of two young, lower-class girls caught up in a very adult, upper-class world of treachery and deceit. While the Scandenavian city of Skyggehavn celebrates the impending wedding of Princess Sophia, a terrible illness plagues much of the city's nobility, including many members of the royal family.  Ava Bingen, a seamstress, and Midi Sorte, a slave, find themselves at the center of a power struggle amidst the chaos and fragility of the young princes and princesses meant to succeed the throne.  

THE RADLEYS (no relation to Boo)

"Your instincts are wrong.  Animals rely on insticts for their daily survival, but we are not beasts. We are not lions or sharks or vultures. We are civilized, and civilization only works if insticts are supressed.  So do your bit for society and ignore those dark desires inside you. -The Abstainer's Handbook (second edition), p. 54"