Impossible by Nancy Werlin

I loved Impossible by Nancy Werlin! It is part fairy tale, part romance, part adventure--what's not to love?!

Lucy's mother is crazy. She went crazy after having Lucy at age 18. Lucy has lived with her foster parents and has a normal perfect life until her mother returns. Lucy's mother lives as a bag lady and follows Lucy around singing the Simon and Garfunkel song "Scarborough Fair." You know the song, "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme..." However, her mother has a slightly different twist on the lyrics to the song.

Since her mother has returned, Lucy knows that something is going to happen and it does. Lucy's prom night is a disaster complete with a rape, a death, and a pregnancy. And suddenly, Lucy is like her mother, going to have a baby at 18. But Lucy discovers that something is really strange. Not only did her mother have a daughter at 18, but her grandmother did and so did her great-grandmother and so did her great-great-grandmother, and after the baby was born, they all went crazy. With the help of the boy-next-door Zach, Lucy finds a letter from her mother and discovers that the women in her family are cursed and the song is the key to breaking the curse. Zach, her foster parents, and Lucy must work hard to complete the tasks and break the curse before the baby is born and Lucy slips into madness.

Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Girls, have you ever felt like you live in a male dominated society? Do you think that boys get more attention in class than you do? Do you feel like you always do what your boyfriend wants to do and he never does what you want to do? If you have these feelings, then The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart is the book for you.

Frankie Landau-Banks is a sophomore at Alabaster, an exclusive boarding school, and she dates one of the most popular senior boys at school. Frankie is smart, clever and very ambitious, but everyone underestimates her. Her boyfriend thinks she is "adorable" and her family calls her "Bunny Rabbit." But Frankie knows that she is worth more than just being "cute." Her father brags about the great friends that he made when he attended Alabaster and that he belonged to a males-only secret society. Frankie wants to have the experiences her father talks about and she wants to be more to her boyfriend than "arm candy." So Frankie uses her computer to infiltrate the Loyal Order of Basset Hounds and makes the members do what she wants. She comes up with some elaborate schemes and hopes that the male members of the society will see how ingenious, creative and superior she is. Of course, this is complicated even more when she learns that her boyfriend is the leader of the Basset Hounds.

This novel is filled with word play which adds to the humor and the fun of the book. But seriously, readers must consider what drives Frankie to make the decisions she makes and what all girls need to do to find equal footing with their male counterparts.

Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances

I love Christmas stories. I love watching hokey Christmas movies on TV and I love reading Christmas stories! Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle is a fun collection of 3 interrelated Christmas stories.

As I have said before, I adore John Green. He could write a recipe and I would be dying to read it. So when I saw this book, I had to read it since it combined two of my favorite things: Christmas stories and John Green.

On a very snowy Christmas Eve in Virginia, a train gets stuck in a snow drift. Jubilee is traveling to her grandparents' in Florida, Jeb is trying to get home to his girlfriend and a group of cheerleaders are going to a competition. When the train gets stuck, Jubilee (called Julie) gets off the train and walks to a nearby Waffle House. Jeb and the cheerleaders follow shortly. In the first story, "Jubilee Express," Julie is upset about leaving her "perfect" boyfriend on Christmas, however, at the Waffle House, she meets Stuart who rescues her from cold and cheerleaders as they brave the snow to make it to his house for Christmas. In "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle," Tobin undertakes an epic journey through the storm to the Waffle House where there are cheerleaders waiting to play Twister. Through a series of adventures, Tobin begins to see his best friend, The Duke, in a different light. Later that night, Tobin and Duke visit the nearby Starbucks where they meet up with Addie in the final story "Patron Saint of Pigs." Self-absorbed Addie who works at Starbucks needs some time to come to terms with the fact that she cheated on her boyfriend Jeb who then stood her up on Christmas Eve. Thus the stories come full circle back to Jeb and the train in one really nice book about romance, hope and Christmas!