Ms Rush Reads

  copyright date: May 2013 primarily marketed for: Young Adults (high school) Have you ever read Looking for Alaska by John Green?   I never thought I would ever read another book that I could recommend as being just as good as Looking for Alaska .   Until I read Winger by Andrew Smith .   I laughed audibly at fictional characters while reading this book.   My heart ached for fictional characters while reading this book.   I had tears streaming down my face over fictional characters while reading this book.   It is a good book.   Great book.   Incredible book.   It is about a brilliant fourteen-year-old kid at a boarding school with sixteen-year-olds.   After getting into some cell-phone trouble, this self-proclaimed runt is thrust into living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troubled students.   The kind of troubled students who would love to squash a fourteen-year-old boy.   To make matters worse, he is in love with his best friend, a go

copyright date: September 2013 primarily marketed for: young adults (7 th grade and up) Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson is not the kind of book you would typically find in my stack of books to be read.   However, something about it called to me.   And boy am I glad it did!   I am eagerly awaiting the sequel, promised to be released this fall. The story begins with a gripping prologue that takes place years before the action of the rest of the book.   It is the story of a young boy named David witnessing his father’s death at the hands of Steelheart, a sort of superhuman called an Epic.   Although David is in awe of Steelheart’s power to turn anything that is not living to steel, he is even more amazed to witness Steelheart reveal a weakness.   David is the only human who knows the truth about what happened during that attack and survived. Years later, when David is eighteen, he has finally caught up with a group of rebels, who fight against Epi

copyright date: January 2014 primarily marketed for:   young adults “Leaning against my father, the sadness finally broke open inside me, hollowing out my heart and leaving me bleeding.   My feet felt rooted in the dirt.   There were more than two bodies buried here.   Pieces of me that I didn’t even know were under the ground.   Pieces of Dad, too.” -from The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson is undoubtedly her most powerful work so far.   And that is saying a lot.   Somehow this story managed to charm me, break my heart, coax me to giggle, steal my breath away, and fill me with hope.   From the moment I began reading, I allowed little else to interfere with my path to the last page.   Hayley has traveled the country with her war veteran truck driver father for years before finally settling down to attend high school and lead a ‘normal’ life.   Fragmented memories of the past haun

copyright date: May 2013 primarily marketed for: young adults (middle/high school) What a treat to find an unexpected sequel to a book I love!   Formerly Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham is the sequel to Shark Girl .   Both books are written in poetry form, which means each chapter(poem) uses sparse language to pack an emotional punch. Formerly Shark Girl tells what life is like for Jane now that over a year has passed since she lost most of her right arm in a shark attack.   Although she has already faced the initial struggle to heal and face life without the talent of her drawing hand, Jane’s struggles are not over.   She has to decide where to go to college, has to choose whether to study art or nursing, and has to make up for precious time in the dating scene that was lost while she focused on her physical recovery. The same thing that struck me when I first read Shark Girl struck me while reading this book—how real the characters seem and how

copyright date: January 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) After reading a few heavy books, I picked up The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith from my shelf of to-be-read books expecting a light, fluffy romance.   I should know better by now.   I wouldn’t have purchased it if it were just a light, fluffy romance.   Of course I was completely sucked in by the premise that everything happens for a reason, even if the reason is not apparent at first.   Hadley is on her way to London for her father’s wedding—the beginning of a marriage to a woman Hadley has never met because why would she want to meet the source of the affair that broke her family apart?   Anyway, she misses her flight because of a series of choices and mishaps.   Now, having changed her path to London, Hadley encounters a guy.   An attractive guy.   A charming guy.   A guy who insists on keeping her company and happens to have

copyright date: October 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (high school) The books I love the most are the ones I find myself most compelled to write about.   I am woefully behind on posting about the books I’ve read this school year, yet here I am making time to share another incredible story. I find it is most difficult to share the books I love.   Something about my connection with a story like this makes it seem almost as if nobody else could possibly enjoy it as deeply as I have—surely it was tailor-made to fit my heart and stick to my ribs—how could anyone else find it as perfect a fit?   I don’t know the answer to that, but I sure hope you try this one on because part of me suspects it might fit you just right, too. Since I closed the covers of Maggie Stiefvater ’s The Scorpio Races early this morning, I have been haunted by the rhythm of the story.   The magic of sea still beats in my chest.   Puck’s connections—to Sean Kendrick (fel

copyright date: June 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (14 and up) “We spent the rest of the evening together, hanging out in my room, my mother telling my father and me the stories behind each and every one of those worn swatches of fabric.   As I listened, losing myself in each little tale, I realized that the quilt would not have been the same, not nearly as beautiful, without the sadness.   The robin’s egg blue patch from a baby blanket that had belonged to my uncle who died when he was two, the purple satin ribbon found after a tornado destroyed my grandparents’ first home, the black silk from the dress my grandma wore to her father’s funeral—those slices of life, they were just as important as the rest.” -a taste of the amazing book One Moment by Kristina McBride Thanks to my friend Ruth , I am a Kristina McBride junkie.   After reading her amazing first novel, The Tension of Opposites , I was excited to hear she had a new book com

copyright date: August 2009 primarily marketed for: young adults (13 and up) Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is not new to the world, but it is new to me.   I have had it on my shelf for years and just didn’t get around to reading it until a friend convinced me it was well worth it.   She is a good friend.   With impeccable taste in literature. Within the first few pages I was enchanted.   Shiver is not just an enchanting story, but the way it is written is beautiful as well.   Lines like this make me want to stop and marvel at Stievfater’s way of crafting words to trigger the readers’ emotions: “Behind the counter, I slouched on my stool in the sun and sucked in the summer as if I could hold ever drop of it inside me.” Shiver alternates between the voice of Grace and the voice of Sam throughout the story.   Grace was attacked by wolves as a young girl and saved by a single wolf out of the pack.   Since then she has spent her winters watching for

copyright date: May 2010 primarily marketed for:   young adults (high school) Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler is one of those books I wish I would have had when I was in high school.  This is what I would’ve liked to have read then.  I picked it up after reading a letter-essay about the book by one of Nancie Atwell ’s students.  The excerpt she included showed the realism of the friendship between Anna and Frankie.  It was humorous and the dialogue felt like conversations I could’ve had with my high school best friend. I had no idea how serious the book is, too.  Anna and Frankie have always been best friends.  They grew up together and were part of a trio of best friends that included Frankie’s brother Matt.  It was a relationship they all trusted and relied on. That is, until Anna’s fifteenth birthday when everything changed.  That was the day Matt and Anna finally admitted to each other that they had stronger feelings for one another.  Anna promised

copyright date: December 2011 primarily marketed for:   young adults (13 and up) Maybe it is because I am not very athletic that this book appeals to me.  Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally is sort of an athletic girl fantasy story.  Jordan Woods is a teenage girl who is not just on her high school football team, but she is the quarterback of the team.  Not only is she surrounded by athletic guys, she also gets to lead them.  Talk about girl power.  At first it sounds like it might be a simple story about how difficult it is to be the only girl on the guys’ team.  However, Catching Jordan has much more depth than that.  Jordan does not face much resistance about being a girl who plays football from her teammates or even her rivals.  Her biggest challenger is her father, a pro-football player whose protective attitude prevents him from supporting his daughter, even though he has no trouble supporting her older brother’s passion for football. She is facing

copyright date: May 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (14 and up) I picked up this book because I had fallen in love with Alyssa B. Sheinmel’s first book for young adults The Beautiful Between .   I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with The Lucky Kind because I had such high expectations.  Both books are about family secrets, but I found the relationships and dialogue in The Beautiful Between to be much more realistically drawn than the family relationships and dialogue in The Lucky Kind.   I am wondering if that might not be due to the protagonist of this book being a guy instead of a girl.  I am curious to hear if guys find Nick more or less believable than I did. The Lucky Kind tells the story of Nick Brandt, a high school senior who is well-adjusted and wants for nothing in life, other than to get Eden Reiss, the girl of his dreams, to notice him. When things start to look like they’re working out with Eden, his relationship with h

copyright date: March 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) Starters by Lissa Price tells the story of Callie, a teenager living in a world where Spore Warfare has killed off anyone who was middle-aged.   When Spore Warfare was in use, the government gave the elderly (Enders) and those under the age of twenty (Starters) priority when it came to getting vaccinated because they were most at-risk.   So, it turned out they were the only survivors.   Now, without her parents or any surviving grandparents, Callie is left to care for herself and her sickly younger brother.   She has support from a childhood friend, Michael, but that is not enough to keep them safe and well-fed.   Callie is tempted to earn enough money to save her brother and friend by becoming a rental Starter.   She is invited to undergo a complete makeover, and earn a large sum of money simply for signing up to rent her body three times to Enders who want to experience what it is

copyright date: February 2012 primarily marketed for: (a mature) 12 and up Ever wonder what becomes of the broken hearted?   Read the Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg to find out.   Aubrie, or Brie as she referred to by friends, heard the words she never wanted to hear from her boyfriend: I don’t love you.   Moments later she was dead.   Her heart had literally split in two.   She died of acute broken heart syndrome.   Her story picks up after Brie’s death and follows her journey towards acceptance and, ultimately, peace.   Along the way, she meets a host of interesting characters—including Patrick, her sarcastic guide, who looks like he is ready to attend a costume party dressed as Tom Cruise from Top Gun .   Brie also learns more than she ever thought she might about her family, her ex-boyfriend and the best friends she left behind.   She even discovers she might not be the Brie she always thought she was.     In addition to an intr

copyright date: June 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) Imagine waking up every day without a memory of the previous day.   Imagine relying on notes you write to yourself to keep track of the life you are living.   Imagine being able to remember the future, but not the past.   Imagine you are London Lane in Cat Patrick's Forgotten . Every night when London Lane goes to sleep, her memory of the day is wiped clear.   Because she is able to remember the future, she has a loyal best friend Jamie (which she knows without a doubt because they are still friends in her memories of the future).   However, Jamie’s current choices are having a negative impact on her future and London begins to test whether or not she can make an impact on or even completely change future events.   When she meets an attractive new student named Luke, she is unable to remember him from day to day since he is not in her future memories.   Despite her lack of a futu

copyright date: January 2012 primarily marketed for: young adult (13 and up) Ana is a newsoul.   She is born into a world where every other human body is inhabited by a soul that has lived thousands of years.   Ana’s community, a town called Heart, does not welcome her into their world.   To the rest of the population, Ana, or as they refer to her: a nosoul, represents fear of the unknown.   The timing of her birth coincided with the disappearance of a beloved soul named Cienna.   The rest of the souls fear her birth means the beginning of a series of “replacements,” and they hold it against Ana. Ana ends up spending approximately the first 18 years of her life in a cottage outside of the village with her abusive and controlling mother.   Her father fled Heart upon her birth.   Incarnate by Jodi Meadows begins when Ana is ready to leave her mother’s home to travel back to Heart in search of answers.   She wants to know why she was born a

copyright date: May 2012 primarily marketed for:  young adults (14 and up) I could probably start and end this review with: THIS IS THE SEQUEL TO DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth, because if you read Divergent , of course you want to read this next installment in the trilogy.  The sequel to Divergent is out.  Enough said.  Now you want to read it.   But I just can’t read a book this good without, well, blogging about it! I read LOTS of books between the moment I finished Divergent and the moment I got my hands on Insurgent.   However, it only took seconds for the details of the first book to come flooding back to me as I read the sequel.  Plus, Roth included helpful reminders about key character points (and there are a lot of characters to keep track of) to make catching up even easier.  In fact, other than a temporary (but crucial) mix-up between the characters of Johanna and Jeanine, I had no trouble keeping everybody straight! The best parts of this book were t