Posts Tagged 'allergy'

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Published October 11, 2017 Mystery Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , ,

Genre:  Mystery

# of Pages:  360

Five students are mysteriously sent to detention after they are caught with cell phones in class that they claim aren’t theirs.  Once they get to detention they see that they are from completely different circles in the school.  Bronwyn is an honor’s student who hopes to go to Yale.  Cooper is a pitcher who is being courted by several universities.  Addy is dating a jock and one of the more popular girls in school.  Nate is the school rebel and is rumored to be on probation for dealing drugs.  Finally, Simon is a bit of an outcast due to a blog he writes in which he always manages to reveal everyone’s worst secrets.  Shortly after the five of them get to detention there is a fender bender in the parking lot and their teacher rushes out to help.  While he’s out of the room, Simon gets himself a cup of water from the science lab station sink and collapses shortly after.  Nate frantically digs through Simon’s bag for his epi-pen but can’t find it.  Cooper runs to the nurse’s office but comes up empty there as well.  Helplessly, they all watch as the paramedics arrive and aren’t able to revive Simon who dies shortly after from anaphylactic shock.  As horrible as this is, it gets even worse when these four become the prime suspects in the police investigation when it is revealed that Simon was about to post life changing secrets about all four of them the next day on his blog.  Could one of them really have done it?  How will they ever survive the suspicions and accusations being thrown at them?

This book contains quite a few language and sexual references, but the story itself is very powerful and will draw teen readers in.  The ending will be satisfying as well as unexpected, but before they get to that all four of the suspects will have quite a few difficult days ahead of them as they are chased by reporters, questioned by police, and realize for the first time who they’re real friends are.  The reality of the life teens live now with social media and everyone always looking to reveal everyone’s innermost secrets for their own entertainment is unfortunately all too real, but this book shows how no matter how advanced technology gets teens still need friends and family they can count on, especially when things get tough.

Kiss Me Kill Me by Lauren Henderson

Published February 3, 2009 Mystery , RAC , Realistic Fiction 8 Comments
Tags: , , , ,

Genre:  Realistic Fiction

Age Level:  14 and up

# of Pages:  260 p.

RAC Book:  Yes

Scarlett Wakefield goes to an exclusive private school called St. Tabby’s where she has two best friends and aspires to be an Olympic gymnast.  She is shocked when one day the elite group of girls in the school asks her to join them for a party.  She immediately drops her best friends in favor of this new group which causes a permanent rift.  When she is at the party she ends up kissing one of the most popular boys in school and he unexpectedly dies of an allergy attack.  No one is able to understand why he had this reaction and why he did not have his epinephrine pen on him.  She soon becomes blamed even though there is no proof that she did anything wrong.  Her life becomes so miserable that she is forced to move away and go to the private school her grandmother is headmistress of.  As she relives that horrible day when Dan died she cannot seem to stop punishing herself.  One day she receives a mysterious note in which she realizes that there is much more to this incident than she knows and she is determined to find out what it is.

This story is interesting and captures the reader’s attention from the beginning.  Anyone can identify with the feelings Scarlett has throughout the book.  The mystery element also becomes intriguing as most readers will not know right off what actually caused Dan’s death.  The only issue with the story is that the ending is unsatisfying and feels unfinished.  Whether a sequel is planned or not does not excuse the fact tht the ending feels too abrupt.

Archives