Midnighters: The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

Midnighters is written by the same person as the Uglies series. It’s about a girl called Jessica Day who moves to Bixby from Chicago with her mum, dad and younger sister, Beth.

When she arrives in Bixby, things are a little strange but soon she discovers that it’s because she’s a midnighter. Midnighters are the select few people who are born within a second of midnight. They alone can live in the secret hour between midnight and one. But for some reason, this only happens in Bixby. Jess can’t enjoy it though because the darklings and slithers (the creatures who live in the secret hour) keep attacking her for no reason she can understand. The other midnighters try to help her. They all have a special power but Jess doesn’t seem to have one.

Jess is on a journey of discovery as she tries to understand this secret world that she has become a part of. The first half of the book seemed to drag a little and the story didn’t move on as fast as I might have liked. But the second half was worth the wait because it was interesting and exciting and I couldn’t put it down. It shows you all of the characters’ points of view and how everything affects them, and it makes you care about what happens to them. Definitely worth a look if you’re prepared to work through the first half.


By Zobdy

Age 13

Relaunch

Ok folks, there are changes afoot on Young & Un:Bound. We have had a wonderful new logo designed and will be revealing a new look. This is all happening in October, the relaunch will tie in with Everybody's Reading in Leicester where we are having a bit of a gathering at Kona Blue in the Highcross, 4pm onwards 6th October. If you are around drop by and say hi.
We will continue to post occasional reviews between now and then, but I am very excited about the relaunch and will be back with more news about the extension of the team and some new tie ins soon!

Perfect Chemistry | Simone Elkeles

Review for Perfect Chemistry By Simone Elkeles

Things look perfect in Brittany's life. She has the perfect hair, the perfect car, the perfect boyfriend and she is the perfect head of the cheerleading squad. To other people she looks, and acts, like a princess but when Brittany gets behind her front door she goes into overdrive looking after her disabled older sister, Shelley. Infact, Brittany's home life is a mess. Her parents only care about appearance, not about their Daughters' feelings.

As if Brittany wasn't juggling too much already, On the first day back to school, her chemistry teacher partners her with the biggest bad ass in school, Alex Fuentes. He's Mexican and in a gang. Not a stupid little group of bullies though, a proper gang that deals with drugs, killings and blackmail.

Forced to work together on a chemistry project, Brittany and Alex get to know more about each other and their feelings towards each other get more serious and it's only when Alex is forced by his gang to do something incredibly dangerous and illegal that Brittany decides that she has to go to extremes to keep him out of harms way. Even if others have to get hurt.

Simone Elkeles has created a wonderful romance novel. When I read this book I thought that it was really realistic because I could picture everything that was described. I would reccomend this book to all my friends but I think it is aimed at young adults because there is strong language and some of the contents of the book wouldn't be suitable for anybody under the age of 13.

All in all it's a great book and I could read it and re-read it over and over again.

PomPom.

The Chosen One | Carol Lynch Williams

The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams.

The chosen one is a book by carol lynch williams about a girl who doesn't find it strange that she has twenty brothers and sisters, and his father has three wives. She does, however, dislike the fact that she cannot choose who she falls in love with. when she finds a travelling library and starts to read books, which are strictly forbidden by 'the prophet', and falls in love with Joshua, she wishes she could choose who to fall in love with, not be forced to get married-being the seventh wife to her sixty year old uncle. Kyra wishes to escape, but that would endanger all the other members of her family. this book is about what she does and how all the above happens.

This is a very touching book, although i didn't understand it at times. i think it is for maybe slightly older readers, of maybe 13 or 14, as lots happens at once and it can be very hard to comprehend. there is great detail in the writing and carol lynch williams is a very clever woman.

AV. age 12