Hold Still

Hold Still

By:Nina LaCour

Hold Still, is one of the South Carolina Young Adult Book Nominees. It's is a book about a girl named Caitlin, who is struggling to recover losing her best friend, Ingrid, to suicide. She find's Ingrid's journal, and she reads it everyday. She doesn't realize it at first, but Ingrid's journal, full of notes to other people, telling them she thinks she's ugly, she's not worth anything, slowly, somehow gives her hope to overcome the loss. I will warn you, its a book that will make you cry. Normally I don't like these kinds of books, but this one opened my eyes to a suicide minded girl's view on life. I don't know how else to express it. But if you really hate books that make you cry, stay away.

Rating: 4.5/5

Violence: PG-13 - Ingrid cuts herself a lot

Language: R, its not every other word, but it is in there

Sexual Content: Nothing too graphic, Ingrid writes about her first time, and Caitlin makes out with a guy

Truthfully, when I first picked this up, and read the excerpt on the back, it really didn't seem all that great. But I picked it up anyways, and I loved it. It's really sad, but all in all, I'm happy I picked it up. It really showed me a different perspective, and that's why I read books, to get another person's perspective, whether it be fictional or not. Hope you pick this book up, and enjoy it, and get out what I got out of it!

~Katie

The Sea of Monsters

The Sea of Monsters

By: Rick Riordan

Summer Reading 2011(SR2011)

In The Sea of Monsters, the second installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, young Perceus (Percy), son of Poseidon, must leave on a dangerous quest with Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, and Tyson, the homeless student from Percy's prepschool (which Percy gets in some serious trouble at when a group of giants crash their dogeball game), who turns out to be more than just your average homeless kid. The magical tree that protects Camp Half-Blood, where half human sons and daughters of different gods live, has been poisoned, so they must find the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp to put the magical protection from monsters and demons up. During their journey they face many obstacles like having to go rescue their half goat/half human friend, Grover, from the cave of a cyclops before he is forced to marry him (it's not what you think!), being on a boat with the ghosts of Confederate soldiers, and getting turned into Guinea Pigs.

Violence- Demigod sword fights, battles with boats, and fireball throwing. All in a day's work, so PG.

Sexual Content-none. They're like 13...

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

One of the reasons I loved this book was that it's so funny! The chapter titles are extremely clever. When you read them you're like, 'Wait, what', but as soon as you read the chapter you'll be like, 'Oh I get it'! People of all ages will love these books. I know an adult who just finished the series and loved it so much she went and bought his other two series (One of which, The Heroes of Olympus, is a continuation of the Percy Jackson Series). The only warning I have for you is if you're going to watch the movie, watch it before you read the books or else you'll be upset.

**Excerpt**

"I'm suprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."

Tyson seemed fascinated by Annabeth's blond hair. He tried to touch it, but she smacked his hand away.

"Annabeth," I said, "what are you talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

"Laistry-I can't even say that. What would you call the in English?"

She thought about if for a moment. "Canadians." She decided.

Wake

Wake

By: Lisa McMann

Seventeen-year-old Janie, a poor girl from the wrong side of town, dreams...a lot, but these are not your typical dreams. Whenever Janie comes within a short distance of someone who is sleeping, she is pulled into thier dreams, whether it be when she's at school, in her own home, or even while driving. And she can't control it. Then one day she's pulled into a friend's, or is he a stranger, dream, and it changes her live. For better or worse--you read and find out.

Violence-None
Sexual Content- there are some....parts during dream sequences. Yeah, you know what it is. PG-
13
I would not recommend anyone younger than fourteen read it. There's some strong language in there.
Rating-2.5 out of 5 stars.

People who like a quick read are sure to love this. It won't take you long to read at all. I started it on the ride to school and finished it about five minutes into lunch. It was very interesting, though I'm not gonna lie. It wasn't the best book. It certainly wasn't the worst book I've ever read, but not the best.

Fields of Blood

Fields of Blood
By: Eric Wilson

Judas hung himself in a place known as the Akeldama or FIELD OF BLOOD.
But what if his death didn't end his betrayal?
What if his tainted blood seeped into the earth, into burial caves, causing a counterfeit resurrection of the death?

Regina is a girl who lives in Romania. She thinks her mom, Nikki is a gruesome creep who insists on her superstitions.
But little does she know it's for a purpose.
A construction crew stumbles on something, and the undead Collectors rise, looking for one girl directly descended from the Nistarim, who were left to protect mankind after the Nazarene's crucifixion. Regina realizes that her future depends on her understanding of the past. But how can she protect herself from the Collectors who have already died, but still live??

This book was amazing, it's a journey into history (fictional of course). But it combines true Biblical and Archaeological history, and adds a tantalizing bit of fiction to draw you in. This Christian Vampire book, gets a 4/5, with a violence rating of PG-13, and an intimacy rating of.. ehh I'm going to say PG-13, but there's no going into details or anything. And there's a undead prostitute who tries, and eventually seduces someone.
Hmm, what else can I say, other than I can't wait to get my hands on books 2&3!!!
~Katie

Black

The Circle

Black

By: Ted Dekker

Summer Reading 2011 (SR2011)

Black is a part of The Circle series, which has four books in it. Black, Red, White, and Green - Black, Red, and White came out in the year 2004, and Green came out in 2009. They are of the fantasy genre, and (if I say so myself) extremely good books, and definetely well written.

[This Excerpt taken from Christian Books Website]
Fleeing assailants through alleyways in Denver late one night, Thomas Hunter narrowly escapes to the roof of an industrial building. Then a silent bullet from the night clips his head and his world goes black. Now Thomas wakes from a deep sleep, remembering the vivid dream he just had of being chased. Incredibly real. His head is even bleeding--but he's fallen on a rock. He is in a green forest, waiting to meet Rachelle, the woman he's falling madly in love with. That night, Thomas tumbles into bed and falls into a fitful sleep. He dreams. But here comes the real mind bender. Every time Thomas falls asleep in one reality, he awakes in the other. He truly no longer knows which reality is real. Each reality has dramatic impact on the other, each proves to be real, each presents huge stakes, and the fate of each will depend on one man: Thomas Hunter.

Rating: 5/5
Violence: Eh, probably PG-13
Sexual Content: None except The Great Romance

What I love about Ted Dekker, is the fact that he knows how to write a good book, and draw people into it. All of the books I've read by him, are page turners, ones you read till 4 in the morning because you're too impatient to find out what happens till morning. Seriously!! He's probably my all-time favorite Christian writer. But the best part about it, is that he writes God so amazingly, as the person who's there all the time, who's not going to leave you in an important fight! And that's what you have to remember, when you go through the trials, and the tribulations, God won't leave you!! He's right beside you, and when you fall off the thin path, He'll hold His hand out, and it will always be there to pull you back. x) God is super amazing.

~Katie

Welcome!!

Blythewood Books, is a site for students from Blythewood High School, to review the books they love, and inspire others to read! There are many different authors on here, reviewing what they like in a book. We have an author who likes chick flicks, an author who likes any kind, and an author that likes action and sci fi. Hopefully we will have more authors, and different genres, but for now these are who we have!! Spread the word around, and feel free to ask for a specific book!!!

~Katie