Caleb + Kate by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma

Caleb + Kate is a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet and a reminder that true love still exists. Kate and Caleb couldn't be more different. Being the heiress of the Monrovi Inn, Kate is both rich and popular. But she's bored. She wants more meaning in her life and she discovers that when she meets Caleb. Caleb makes her feel like she's never felt before. This could be a love that lasts a lifetime. The only problem is Caleb clearly doesn't fit into the life she's grown up with. In fact, he works at the Monrovi Inn with his father doing maintenance. And to top it all off, Caleb and Kate's family have a deep-rooted history that hasn't been resolved. With all the odds against them will Caleb and Kate be able to save their love for each other? What will it take?

This novel was very sweet. This was a great read that I think all teenagers who have ever been or dream about falling in love should read. It explores faith and love and God in a way that I've never read about in young adult literature. And although this is considered a Christian religious novel, it's not preachy or overbearing. It's a genuine novel about two teens who test their faith and the limits or lack thereof of God's love.

But this is also a novel about the human experience of love. Will we fight so hard for someone that we love? Caleb and Kate tell us that we will. They cherish each other and do things for each other that made me evaluate my own relationships. Selfishness and doubt will get in the way but in the end they overcome the forces working against them for each other. I wish Caleb had fallen in love with me!

Something I also really enjoyed was the writing. The characters were realistic and the pacing was great. At the beginning of each chapter there was a quote from Shakespeare which was fun to fit in with the current conflict going on in the novel. Caleb + Kate also spoke a great deal about family and friendship. When normalcy gets turned upside down as it did with Caleb and Kate, everyone is affected. I think that Kate and Caleb's family, being sometimes supportive and sometimes stubborn as most families are, was a great portrait of families struggling to make ends meet. And Kate's friends, at first calling Caleb simply a "cabana boy", come to understand their love for what it really is and try to accept their new relationship.

Overall, this novel was fun, quick, and sweet. It makes you think about your own relationships and gives you insight into how other people fit love into the world. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I think you will too!

Rating: 4.0

So I ask you all a question: do you think true love exists? Do you think people can stay in love even when everything is working against them? I'd love to hear what you think!

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

From the jacket:

Enter a bizarre new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu who claims Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth and he's her long-lost fiance. He's arrogant, officious, embarrassingly overprotective, and, well, incredibly hot.
Armed with a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire's Guide to Dating, Health and Emotions , Jessica tries to imagine the transition from an average American teenager to a glam European vampire princess. But just when things start to heat up with Lucius, a devious cheerleader sets her sights on him.
Soon Jessica finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war-and save Lucius's soul from eternal damnation. All of which leaves her to wonder: Wouldn't it just be easier to fall for a nice mortal boy?

My Thoughts:

I thought this novel was a lot of fun. There were many puns on American lifestyle and humor dispersed throughout the novel which I think made it very different from the usual "very serious" vampire novels. Instead of the girl wanting to be changed for the love of her life, the guy was chasing her-and he was mannerly, decent, AND hot.

This was just an enjoyable read that I think fans and despisers of vampire novels with eat up! I would definitely read this again. The romance was steamy, the vampire lore wasn't over the top, and in the end it was about a boy (well, a man actually) and a girl falling in love. And both of them being stubborn about it!

Great read. I highly recommend it!

Rating: 4.5

You may also like:
Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey
Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey

The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith

I'm feeling a little lazy today so here's a description from amazon:

The last place Ryan Walsh should be this afternoon is on a train heading to Wrigley Field. She should be in class, enduring yet another miserable day of her first year of high school. But for once, Ryan isn't thinking about what she should be doing. She's not worried about her lack of friends, or her suffering math grade, or how it's been five whole years since the last time she was really and truly happy. Because she's finally returning to the place that her father loved, where the two of them spent so many afternoons cheering on their team. And on this -- the fifth anniversary of his death -- it feels like there's nowhere else in the world she should be.

Ryan is once again filled with hope as she makes her way to the game. Good luck is often hard to come by at a place like Wrigley Field, but it's on this day that she meets Nick, the new kid from her school, who seems to love the Cubs nearly as much as she does. But Nick carries with him a secret that makes Ryan wonder if anyone can ever really escape their past, or believe in the promise of those reassuring words: "Wait till next year." Is it too much for Ryan to hope that this year, this season, might be her comeback season?

I truly admire that the author created a truly human experience. Whether or not it was what I was hoping for, it was real. It's heart-breaking but hopeful, and that is the novel's message that in spit of whatever may come we will always hope, want to believe in the magical and miracles.

I don't think I could read this book again, at least anytime soon, but I know it will resonate with me for a long time. How could you not root for Nick and Ryan? It's near impossible. For people who have been through as much as they have you almost think it would be cruel to deal them anything more horrendous. Yet Smith pushes her characters, and her readers, to the limit. She leaves us with a sliver of light in a door at the end of a novel-something we must chose what to do with. She begs the question-do you believe in hope?

Baseball is a strong metaphor in the novel. Nick and Ryan cling to it for their lives. I loved learning more about die-hard Cubs fans but more than anything how people will use something meaningful to them to bring them to the surface of a deep sea of hurt. Having this in common Nick and Ryan find strength in themselves to embrace friendship and mostly tenderly, first love.

Pick up this novel. It will change you. I loved it.

Rating: 5.0

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger is a novel about first love, frienship, family, and letting people in your heart and letting them love you back. T.C. and Augie have been brothers since they were six. When T.C. lost his mother the only person who seemed to handle and understand what T.C. was going through was Augie. They since declared themselves brothers. What's biology anyway? Now they're freshman in high school and everything begins to change. T.C. is falling in love with Alejandra, who is trying her best to push him away as far as possible. Augie likes boys? And a six-year old Hucky comes into their lives to forever change the way they think and love each other. And baseball. There is a LOT of baseball.

This heart-felt novel is flawless. It has drama (Augie knows everyone from Liza Minelli to Barbara Streisand-and can countlessly quote them): a hilarious talent show and show stopping production of Bye Bye Birdie. It has a whole lot of love. The parents of Augie and T.C. really know their kids and their relationships are pine-worthy. And it had rock-solid friendships. You will want to have Augie and T.C.'s relationship by the end of this novel.

My favorite part, however, was Hucky. The six-year deaf kid who doesn't have parents and has almost a magical ability to call pitches. He is the shining character in my opinion. He's the only one who really has any flaws (try not to melt at his mad face- I dare you) and he works through them and everyone falls in love with him. Really, he's the only character who grows exponentially through out the novel. He's adorable and funny. And he loves Mary Poppins-with taste like that how can you refuse to love him?

This book, however unrealistic, tries to achieve a LOT of things. From political to emotional it strives to be on a whole other level of reading. And it succeeds for the most part with optimism, hilarity, and tenderness. I recommend this book to anyone who has a best friend, or loves baseball, or loves theatre and humor, or especially who has any tiny soft spot for love.

Rating: 4.5