Are You Still There

by Sarah Lynn Scheerger

Gabi, a senior in high school, is an over-achiever.  She volunteers, gets straight As, and has already submitted early action applications to her colleges of choice. Things are going according to plan, until a bomb scare at her school turns her life upside down.  The cops are able to find the bomb in time, but they don’t find the bomber.

Shortly after the bomb scare, Gabi starts finding strange, threatening notes in her locker and around school campus. Could they be messages from the bomber, or someone else?  Why are so many of the notes left for Gabi?  

Meanwhile, school administrators set up an anonymous help line, and Gabi is one of the students asked to help staff the line. The students staffing the line are an unlikely group – representing all different cliques in the school, but Gabi realizes that she has more in common with some of her new workmates that she would’ve originally thought. Part mystery, part realistic fiction, this is a relatively quick read.

Things I Know About Love

Things I know about Love

By Kate Le Vann

I was looking to read a little something with some romance and this popped out at me from the shelf. I was intrigued because of the premise; a young woman travels half way across the world to visit her brother after she has won a battle with Leukaemia, this sounded inspiring and Things I Know About Love was just that. Livia is a strong young woman looking to get away and celebrate winning a battle with a serious illness. She travels from England to New Jersey to visit her brother over the summer and she ends up finding love.
Over the summer instead of creating a traditional travel journal, Livia decides to create a blog. She writes about all of her experiences in this private blog. The book is written as if the reader has been given access to this blog and the format of the writing style is fun to read. With lists and notes about love and life the reader is taken into this seventeen year old girls life and self-reflection. I especially enjoyed reading some of the British slang that Livia uses and found myself reading many portions with an English accent. One word of warning though; you might need a tissue for some points and you will definitely finish the book wanting to know more.
After finishing I was drawn to look at more YA fiction that had a blog feel and now I am reading Kiss & Blog. I'll let you know how it goes!