Waiting for Normal by Leslie Conor

This book started out very depressing. Then it progressed to really depressing. But then, there was a happy ending.

Addison, also called Addy, is a 12 year old girl. She is very optimistic and makes the best of her situation which is her mother is crazy, her father is dead, and her step father who loves her and wants to take care of her can't get legal custody.

I loved Addison. At first, I didn't want to finish this book because it just seemed too depressing. But after I read about 50 pages, I fell in love with Addy. She is strong, caring, and loving. She is a wonderful person and so much better than her circumstances.

I am not so much an optimistic person. Could I have survived? Would the author have been able to write a happy ending if the main character was Ms. Librarian? I kept on worrying that everything was going to go wrong and I had to keep reading to make sure Addy was alright. I read this book in 1 day and in 2 sittings (I sat down and read 25 pages and then came back to it and finished the book). It was a delicious satisfying read!

This book reads very much like The Higher Power of Lucky so if you liked that book you should give it a try!

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Frankie Landau-Banks is a normal 15 year old who happens to go to a very exclusive boarding that like all old boarding schools used to be all male. Now the school is co-ed but all the exclusive clubs remain all male.

Frankie (a girl) has a newly developed knockout figure, a sharp tongue, a chip on her shoulder, and a gorgeous new senior boyfriend. Frankie Laundau-Banks. No longer the kind of girl to take “no” for an answer. Especially when “no” means she’s excluded from her boyfriend’s all-male secret society, definitely not when she knows she’s smarter than any of them, and certainly not when there are so many pranks to be done.

I was surprised by how smart this book is. I always appreciate that. E. Lockhart is known for her fun chick lit books for teens. I liked The Boyfriend List and Fly on the Wall but they weren't particularly earth shattering and they were pretty exclusively girlie. But this title is Printz Honor 2009 and a finalist for 2008 National Book Award for Young People's Literature plus lots of other awards click here:http://e-lockhart.com/main/?page_id=7.

This was a smart book about relevant feminist issues facing young people today. Now, don't be afraid about the word feminist. "Feminist" means more than equal rights and equal pay; it examines how society views and values the woman's cultural role. This novel explores what is generally accepted as "appropriate" behavior for a young girl, what is equality, and what is the role that girls are expected to fill.

The book was thought provoking without being offensive. The storyline was cute but not unimpressive. The protagonist was a girl but girls don't have to be the audience. In general, this was just a really great book!

Any thoughts?

The Espressologist by Kristina Springer

What’s your drink of choice? Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you’re lots of fun and a bit sassy. Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life. Or perhaps it’s a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie.

Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology. So it’s not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders.

I just finished reading this book and I liked it. Jane has reasonable problems and her hectic life is realistic. Sometimes in a cute romance you get a bunch of problems that aren't really problems. "My hair is way too curly and wild to date someone like that." I'm sorry, shut-up, go buy a brush and date the guy. But Kristina made Jane feel like someone I already know. I enjoy that. Plus, I like coffee!

The only problem I found was that it was too short. It is less than 200 pages. I have a thing. I know it's a weird thing. But I feel cheated when I want more. I don't like poems or short stories because I feel like if the authors really wanted to develop a character they should have written a book. You can go ahead and like short stories and poems, I JUST WANT MORE! It tends to be a theme in my life. But it is good when what I happen to want more is reading and not that evil chocolate cream pie.

OOOooooohhhhh! Chocolate cream pie goes very well with a tall caramel mocha!