The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah

                  This book is about Winter Santiaga, a spoiled, materialistic, troubled teenager. Throughout the novel, she is constantly trying to "stay on top". She grows up in the ghetto with a father who is a drug king. Her father spoils her rotten and her mother feeds into this. They finally move out of the ghetto and into a rich, suburban area. Winter feels isolated and needs to go back to the ghetto and brag to her friends and complete strangers.
                 Winter is accustomed to spending a few hundred dollars on an outfit and other luxuries. This mentality brings her to the destructive point in her life. She uses her good looks and her game to manipulate everyone (including her immediate family) into getting what she wants. The book mainly discusses her problems with spending money on ridiculous items and how she never realizes the problem with it. Winter never sees her downfall until the very end. And in the end it also shows how history repeats itself or how life is a cycle when Winter's sister has fallen into the same trap." A girl, who is accustomed to the "best", has to figure out how to live a life without it, as though she never had any more than anyone else. So far, I love the book. Everything that is said and done and happens to Winter is shockingly real and vivid. 

Perks Of Being A Wallflower

This book tells about every teenagers life. For sure a lot of people could relate in this novel especially when they remembered the first time they entered Highschool. You meet new people with different personalities. Everything in High school is part of growing up and we learn to make our own choices in the future. A story that involves family, love , and friendship.

Charlie is a wallflower.Freshman student. He's sensitive, emotional and weird. His Aunt's death had affected him, and he is struggling to get along with others. He's pretending to be someone he's not. He enjoyed being with his new found friends Sam and Patrick, siblings (step siblings) and Senior students. With curiousity and peer pressure, Charlie did a lot of things like smoking, drinking etc.. He tries to cope up with others so he could get along with them and trying to please them as possible.

It's kind of annoying when he cries a lot. I mean, there's no reason to cry for ( Oh well, he's just emotional and weird) and Craig cheating Sam, I just want to punch him. Another weird thing when he let Patrick kiss him. Just yikes.
I like Charlie in a way he learned lessons in life and tries to "participate" in other things.This book was simply amazing. The way Charlie tells his story through letters makes it all so real, and I got completely caught up in his stories about not wanting to begin high school, about making his first friends, and everything else that goes through his mind. I cried so many times, and after I had finished the last page I really just wanted to hug the book and never let it go. One of the most beautiful stories I've ever read, and one I'll be recommending to everyone I know!

Story of A Girl by Sara Zarr

I liked Story of a Girl because it's very honest and realistic. The narrator, Deanna, is a 16-year-old girl who's still recovering from an awkward and embarrassing sexual experience she had three years ago. When she was in eighth grade, her dad busted her and her 17-year-old pseudo-boyfriend having sex and since then she's been the talk of the town. Everyone thinks she's a slut and this reputation -- part real, part self-perception -- is something she can't seem to escape. She has a dysfunctional home life as well and on top of that, she's crushing on her best friend's boyfriend.

This book has great voice because the writing really does get across Deanna's thoughts quite well and it's easy for the reader to understand her. I think I would have personally liked for the book to be a bit longer and hopefully deeper -- I think there were some events that were glossed over and could have been developed a bit better. Overall, I think it's a book that teen girls will love because it deals with so many classic issues -- boys, sex, relationships, parents, drugs, etc. 

All the Broken Pieces by Ann. e burg

All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg is the story told in first-person free verse by Matt Pin, a boy born to a Vietnamese women and an American soldier in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Adopted by a very loving American family, it is 1977, two years after he was airlifted out of war-torn Vietnam and he is still having terrible memories of war, the American solider father that left him, his mother giving him up and watching his little brother becoming severally injured by a bomb right before his eyes. Trying out for the baseball team shows some of the prejudice his faces, “Hey, Frog Face, where’d you learn to play baseball in a rice paddy? Matt-the-rat, if you make the team, I’ll quit. My brother died because of you.” Through the efforts of two Vietnam Vets and his loving adoptive family he slowly comes to terms with his past and shows that “patience and unconditional love is the strongest healing force.”

Overall this book was amazing! I really liked how the author explained things in a way that really made you think. First of all the character in this were amazing and completely life like. I like how all of the characters had their own problems, weaknesses, and strengths. However the character that I think changed the most was Matt. He went from being completely disgusted with himself to being able to look himself in the mirror. He really progressed as a person because he was at first very nervous about talking about the war. Whereas in the end he can openly discuss the war and he is no longer afraid of his life and mistakes. I think that the theme was that you should always forgive yourself no matter what you do. Because in the end what is done has been done and there is no changing it. I overall thought this book was absolutely amazing. A great read and definitely going to be something I would recommend.