In the Path of Falling Objects by Andrew Smith

As usual, Andrew Smith does not disappoint.  Although In the Path of Falling Objects is one of his first novels, I just now read it.  I'm disappointed it took me this long. 

This novel is grimy and gritty and unforgettable.  It is the story of two brothers, Jonah and Simon, who are leaving home in search of their older brother, or maybe their dad, or maybe anyone who can help them figure it all out.  They are picked up in a beautiful car by a strange and dangerous young man and a beautiful young girl. 

The road trip quickly becomes dangerous and violent and the boys will soon have to figure out who they can trust during this journey. 

This is a beautiful story of self discovery, trust, love, and the incredible bond between brothers.  It may take an improbable path to get there, but these two young boys must figure out how important it is to love one another and know that they must always have each others back. 

If you have every read and enjoyed anything by the amazing Andrew Smith, you will love this one just as much. 

From Amazon:

Two brothers leave home looking for their father, and find themselves hitching a ride with a violent killer – here is a road trip from hell.

Jonah and his younger brother, Simon, are on their own. They set out to find what's left of their family, carrying between them ten dollars, a backpack full of dirty clothes, a notebook, and a stack of letters from their brother, who is serving a tour in Vietnam. And soon into their journey, they have a ride. With a man and a beautiful girl who may be in love with Jonah. Or Simon. Or both of them.

The man is crazy. The girl is desperate. This violent ride is only just beginning. And it will leave the brothers taking cover from hard truths about loyalty, love, and survival that crash into their lives.

One more thing: The brothers have a gun. They're going to need it.

Saint Death by Marcus Sedgwick

Marcus Sedgwick is a Printz Award winning author and multiple time Printz nominee.  I have never read any of his novels because he writes primarily fantasy, and fantasy is generally not a favorite of mine.  All of that being said, Saint Death was a wonderful novel.

Set in the border town of Juarez, Mexico, this novel deals with the dangers of growing up among the gangs and violence, especially the violence coming from the cartel.  For young people, the lure of the gang life is often too much.  It promises a life away from the poverty and the destitution that can be a part of so many lives.

When Arturo's long time friend comes to him needing help in escaping a dangerous situation involving the gang that has helped bring him a better life, Arturo does whatever he can to help his friend.  This not only puts Arturo in a quite dangerous situation himself, but it also helps him discover who he truly is and what it means to grown up and make the most difficult decision of his young life.

I really enjoyed this novel and would recommend this to anyone who will listen.   

From Amazon:

A propulsive, compelling, and unsparing novel set in the grimly violent world of the human and drug trade on the US-Mexican border.

On the outskirts of Juarez, Arturo scrapes together a living working odd jobs and staying out of sight. But his friend Faustino is in trouble: he’s stolen money from the narcos to smuggle his girlfriend and her baby into the US, and needs Arturo's help to get it back. To help his friend, Arturo must face the remorseless world of drug and human traffickers that surrounds him, and contend with a murky past.

Hovering over his story is the unsparing divinity Santa Muerte, Saint Death―and the relentless economic and social inequalities that haunt the border between Mexico and its rich northern neighbor. Crafted with poetry and cinematic pace and narrated with cold fury, Saint Death is a provocative tour de force from three-time Printz Award honoree Marcus Sedgwick.

This title has Common Core connections.

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle

I have to say that I was not as impressed by Universal Harvester as I expected to be.  Based on the synopsis that I had read, I was expecting more of a horror type story.  While there were some creepy elements to it, it was not as much of the story as I hoped.  It was kind of dense and at times hard to get through.  It was okay, but definitely won't be in my end of the year top 10. 

From Amazon:

New York Times Bestseller
“Brilliant . . . Darnielle is a master at building suspense, and his writing is propulsive and urgent; it’s nearly impossible to stop reading . . . [Universal Harvester is] beyond worthwhile; it’s a major work by an author who is quickly becoming one of the brightest stars in American fiction.”
―Michael Schaub, Los Angeles Times

“Grows in menace as the pages stack up . . . [But] more sensitive than one would expect from a more traditional tale of dread.”
―Joe Hill, New York Times Book Review

“The most unsettling book I’ve read since House of Leaves.”
―Adam Morgan, Electric Literature

Life in a small town takes a dark turn when mysterious footage begins appearing on VHS cassettes at the local Video Hut. So begins Universal Harvester, the haunting and masterfully unsettling new novel from John Darnielle, author of the New York Times Bestseller and National Book Award Nominee Wolf in White Van

Jeremy works at the Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa. It’s a small town in the center of the state―the first a in Nevada pronounced ay. This is the late 1990s, and even if the Hollywood Video in Ames poses an existential threat to Video Hut, there are still regular customers, a rush in the late afternoon. It’s good enough for Jeremy: it’s a job, quiet and predictable, and it gets him out of the house, where he lives with his dad and where they both try to avoid missing Mom, who died six years ago in a car wreck.

But when a local schoolteacher comes in to return her copy of Targets―an old movie, starring Boris Karloff, one Jeremy himself had ordered for the store―she has an odd complaint: “There’s something on it,” she says, but doesn’t elaborate. Two days later, a different customer returns a different tape, a new release, and says it’s not defective, exactly, but altered: “There’s another movie on this tape.”

Jeremy doesn’t want to be curious, but he brings the movies home to take a look. And, indeed, in the middle of each movie, the screen blinks dark for a moment and the movie is replaced by a few minutes of jagged, poorly lit home video. The scenes are odd and sometimes violent, dark, and deeply disquieting. There are no identifiable faces, no dialogue or explanation―the first video has just the faint sound of someone breathing― but there are some recognizable landmarks. These have been shot just outside of town.

In Universal Harvester, the once placid Iowa fields and farmhouses now sinister and imbued with loss and instability and profound foreboding. The novel will take Jeremy and those around him deeper into this landscape than they have ever expected to go. They will become part of a story that unfolds years into the past and years into the future, part of an impossible search for something someone once lost that they would do anything to regain.

“This chilling literary thriller follows a video store clerk as he deciphers a macabre mystery through clues scattered among the tapes his customers rent. A page-tuning homage to In Cold Blood and The Ring.”
―O: The Oprah Magazine

“A stellar encore after the success of [Darnielle’s] debut novel, Wolf in White Van . . . Beneath the eerie gauze of this book, I felt an undercurrent of humanity and hope.”
―Manuel Roig-Franzia, The Washington Post

“[Universal Harvester is] so wonderfully strange, almost Lynchian in its juxtaposition of the banal and the creepy, that my urge to know what the hell was going on caused me to go full throttle . . . [But] Darnielle hides so much beautiful commentary in the book’s quieter moments that you would be remiss not to slow down.”
―Abram Scharf, MTV News

“Universal Harvester is a novel about noticing hidden things, particularly the hurt and desperation that people bear under their exterior of polite reserve . . . Mr. Darnielle possesses the clairvoyant’s gift for looking beneath the surface.”
―Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

“[Universal Harvester is] constantly unnerving, wrapped in a depressed dread that haunts every passage. But it all pays off with surprising emotionality.”
―Kevin Nguyen, GQ.com

“Darnielle writes beautifully . . . He builds a deep sense of foreboding by giving pieces of the puzzle in such a way that you really can’t see the solution until that final piece is in place.”
―Salem Macknee, News & Observer

Bang by Barry Lyga

This was a really powerful novel.  It is a story that leaves you wracked with emotions.  One minute you are happy at the good things that are starting to form in Sebastian's life, the things that are taking him away from the knowledge that when he was just 4 years old he shot and killed his infant sister.  In this next moment you are pleading with him to fulfill the terrible destiny he has decided he deserves.  And in the end, you are filled with a hope that the healing has begun and the future very well may be bright for this young man.

This is definitely a worthwhile read.  It is fairly short and is a quick read.  But when you pick it up, know that you will be jumping on to an emotional roller coaster.   

From Amazon:

This is Where it Ends, Hate List, and Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock readers will appreciate this heartbreaking novel about living with your worst mistake from New York Times bestselling author Barry Lyga.

A chunk of old memory, adrift in a pool of blood.

Sebastian Cody did something horrible, something no one--not even Sebastian himself--can forgive. At the age of four, he accidentally shot and killed his infant sister with his father's gun.

Now, ten years later, Sebastian has lived with the guilt and horror for his entire life. With his best friend away for the summer, Sebastian has only a new friend--Aneesa--to distract him from his darkest thoughts. But even this relationship cannot blunt the pain of his past. Because Sebastian knows exactly how to rectify his childhood crime and sanctify his past. It took a gun to get him into this.

Now he needs a gun to get out.

Unflinching and honest, Bang is the story of one boy and one moment in time that cannot be reclaimed, as true and as relevant as tomorrow's headlines.

Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner

Goodbye Days is the second novel from Morris Award winning author, Jeff Zentner.  It tells the story of a young man, Carver Briggs, as he deals with the death of his three best friends.  A death he may have caused by sending the driver a text, knowing he would respond.  As time moves on, Carver ends up spending one last day with each of the families remembering their lost loved one, a "goodbye day."  Each of these days is wildly different from the last as Carver helps the families to understand the side of their child that they did not know.  In doing so, Carver learns about his own role in the accident and how he needs to introduce himself to his own parents before it's too late.

Goodbye Days was an emotional and deeply moving read about dealing with grief and learning to live.  It is a book that I would definitely recommend. 

From Amazon:

“Gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ultimately life-affirming,” says Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also A Star, of this novel about finding strength and hope after tragedy. Perfect for fans of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Looking for Alaska and for readers of author Jeff Zentner's own The Serpent King, one of the most highly acclaimed YA debuts of 2016.
 
Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. But now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, a powerful judge is pressuring the district attorney to open up a criminal investigation.

Luckily, Carver has some unexpected allies: Eli’s girlfriend, the only person to stand by him at school; Dr. Mendez, his new therapist; and Blake’s grandmother, who asks Carver to spend a “goodbye day” together to share their memories and say a proper farewell.

Soon the other families are asking for their own goodbye day with Carver—but he’s unsure of their motives. Will they all be able to make peace with their losses, or will these goodbye days bring Carver one step closer to a complete breakdown or—even worse—prison?

"Jeff Zentner, you perfectly fill the John-Green-sized hole in our heart." —Justine Magazine

“Evocative, heartbreaking, and beautifully written." —Buzzfeed

"Masterful." —TeenVogue.com

“One of the most stunningly heartfelt, lump-in-your-throat novels I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Hold on to your heart: this book will wreck you, fix you, and most definitely change you.” —Becky Albertalli, author of Morris Award winner Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

“Tender, honest, moving, and lyrical. His characters live and breathe. Ahh, lucky me. Lucky us. Zentner is the real thing.” —Benjamin Alire Sáenz, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and Printz Honor winning author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer

Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer was an enjoyable read.  When you look at the premise of this book, high school kids spontaneously blowing up for no good reason, it's hard to imagine it being funny or heart-warming.  But that's just what this is.  Our narrator, Mara, is a kid who is trying to figure out her place in all of the chaos.  She gives us an honest assessment of all the carnage in her world, while at the same time trying to figure out what her future holds. 

And what does she discover?  She learns something that we should all remember in our daily lives: go out and live!  None of know when our time is coming to an end, so why sit around waiting for that moment.  As Mara puts it near the end, "Of course, I know it's impossible to say with any certainty what comes next.  I could die in a few minutes.  Hell, so could you.  Leaving a whole lot of "if only" in our wakes."  Enough of these "if only" moments.  It's time to go out there and live. 

From Amazon:

"Aaron Starmer skillfully welds sharp humor, deep loss, and roaring escapades. Truly the smartest and funniest book about spontaneous combustion you will ever read." —John Green, #1 bestselling author of The Fault In Our StarsA TIME magazine Top 10 YA & Children's Book of 2016!
An ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults selectionWith all the perfectly lovely young adult novels out there, you decided to check this one out? It’s got spontaneously combusting teenagers in it, dude. Not the slow burning type either. We’re talking the randomly exploding variety. Seniors in high school just walking along, heading to class, whistling Beyoncé, when—WA-BAM!— they’re suddenly dripping off the lockers.

Is that really something you’re into?

Confession: I’m actually kinda into that too. So, now that we’ve established we’re both thoroughly weird and, I assume, thoroughly open-minded, we can give it shot, right? Let’s at least read the opening chapters of this bad-boy and see if it features some of the more intriguing elements such as...

-       Exploding teenagers (obviously).
-       Hallucinogenic mushrooms.
-       Pyromaniacal boyfriends.
-       Triplet toddlers in powder blue suits.
-       Amur leopards and doomsday preppers.
-       A foul-mouthed female POTUS.
-       Ashtanga yoga.
-       ­Youtube sensations.
-       Self-driving Priuses.
-       Rogue FBI agents.
-       Mad scientists.
-       Homecoming.
-       Spring break.
-       Prom.
-       And … Jennifer Lawrence.

Notice how I put Jennifer Lawrence last. She’s in the book, so it’s not cheating. And hey, if it takes America’s most beloved movie star to sell this thing, then that’s what it takes.

So, in closing: Jennifer Lawrence.

"Wildly inventive." — Entertainment Weekly "Must List"

"This comically surreal novel that will blow your mind.”— People Magazine

★ "A blood-soaked, laugh-filled, tear-drenched, endlessly compelling read." — Kirkus, starred review

★ "A wholly original YA tale of identity, friendship, love, lust, and gory, grisly death." — SLJ, starred review

"Bursting with heartache and gore, Mara’s narration appeals directly to readers’
senses of horror and humor." — Horn Book

City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson

It took me a while to get through this one.  I was kind of in a reading funk, I guess.  With that being said, I did enjoy this book.  It was a really intriguing story that I liked, but for whatever reason didn't make the time for. 

It is the story of a young girl, who years after her mother's murder, is still trying to make sense of it.  She has believed for a long time that Mr. Greyhill, her mother's employer, was the man responsible for her death, and she has spent her life since then preparing for her revenge.  But when her plan is put in to action, this master thief is caught but Mr. Greyhill's son, Michael, a boy who Tina grew up with.  She begins to question all that she ever believed, and with Michael's help, along with Boyboy, another close friend, they begin to discover the true story of her mother's past and in turn, her true history as well. 

From Amazon:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Gone Girl in this enthralling murder mystery set in Kenya.

In the shadows of Sangui City, there lives a girl who doesn't exist. After fleeing the Congo as refugees, Tina and her mother arrived in Kenya looking for the chance to build a new life and home. Her mother quickly found work as a maid for a prominent family, headed by Roland Greyhill, one of the city’s most respected business leaders. But Tina soon learns that the Greyhill fortune was made from a life of corruption and crime. So when her mother is found shot to death in Mr. Greyhill's personal study, she knows exactly who’s behind it.

With revenge always on her mind, Tina spends the next four years surviving on the streets alone, working as a master thief for the Goondas, Sangui City’s local gang. It’s a job for the Goondas that finally brings Tina back to the Greyhill estate, giving her the chance for vengeance she’s been waiting for. But as soon as she steps inside the lavish home, she’s overtaken by the pain of old wounds and the pull of past friendships, setting into motion a dangerous cascade of events that could, at any moment, cost Tina her life. But finally uncovering the incredible truth about who killed her mother—and why—keeps her holding on in this fast-paced nail-biting thriller.