Layover by Amy Andelson & Emily Mayer

Layover by Amy Andelson & Emily Mayer - 265 pages

Flynn and Amos have been avoiding each other for nearly six months.  They've always been the best of friends as they looked out and cared for their younger stepsister Poppy.  However, a growing crush by each of them on the other has made things incredibly awkward and has sent Amos running away to boarding school.  Christmas vacation will be the first time they spend any time together.  When Poppy reveals a huge secret while on a layover in LA, Flynn and Amos decide it's time to take a break and stay in LA with Poppy.  Now they're on the run while trying to figure out what to do next . . .

It seems that the stepsiblings falling in love has been a common story plot lately in teen books. I enjoyed this one as it told the story from both Amos and Poppy's point of view as well as Poppy's.  I also liked that while the plot was not realistic at all that the final resolution was much more realistic than many books of this genre.  I would definitely recommend this to teens wanting romance or family stories.

An Exchange of Gifts by Anne McCaffrey

An Exchange of Gifts by Anne McCaffrey - 94 pages

Princess Meanne has run away -- from her family, her betrothed, and her life of empty meaning.  She runs to a long deserted cottage determined to live life growing herbs and selling them.  Luckily she meets Wisp, a young boy who has also run away.  Together they resolve to work together to make new and better lives for themselves.

This is a short story by Anne McCaffrey.  I've read both the Pern series and the Rowan series by McCaffrey and really enjoyed them.  I think she does better at longer books.  There just was not enough time for the characters to be developed.  I also think it was rather obvious what Wisp's gift was from early on in the story.

Valiant by Holly Black

Valiant by Holly Black  313 pages

When seventeen-year-old Valerie Russell runs away to New York City, she's trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, she takes up with a gang of squatters who live in the city's labyrinthine subway system.

But there's something eerily beguiling about Val's new friends. Impulsive Lolli talks of monsters in the subway tunnels they call home and shoots up a shimmery amber-colored powder that makes the shadows around her dance. Severe Luis claims he can make deals with creatures that no one else can see. And then there's Luis's brother, timid and sensitive Dave, who makes the mistake of letting Val tag along as he makes a delivery to a woman who turns out to have goat hooves instead of feet.

When a bewildered Val allows Lolli to talk her into tracking down the hidden lair of the creature for whom Luis and Dave have been dealing, Val finds herself bound into service by a troll named Ravus. He is as hideous as he is honorable. And as Val grows to know him, she finds herself torn between her affection for an honorable monster and her fear of what her new friends are becoming.

First Love by James Patterson and Emily Raymond

First Love by James Patterson and Emily Raymond, 278 pages

First Love was a touching and sad book about two teenagers, Axi and Robinson, who want to run away from their problems and the world.  They become rebels on the run who find true love. Like all James Patterson's books there is a twist, so don't read any spoilers.  I wish I hadn't.  But, like all Patterson's books, there is a predictably about it.  Still, teenagers as well as adults will enjoy this book.

Runaways 10: Rock Zombies, by Terry Moore

Runaways 10: Rock Zombies, by Terry Moore, 112 pages

Chase is really enjoying his new job at the radio station- it's too bad that his boss happens to be broadcasting music with subliminal magic messages to transform anyone who's ever had plastic surgery into a thieving, murderous zombie.  And it's L.A., so that adds up to alot of scary zombies.  It's up to the runaways to reverse the evil magic, and make sure that none of the scary zombies get hurt.

This one was slightly better than volume 9, but I still think it's jumped the shark for me.

Runaways vol 9: Dead Wrong, by Terry Moore

Runaways 9: Dead Wrong, by Terry Moore, 136 pages

The Runaways are back together, back in Los Angeles, and back in the present time.  But nothing stays together for long- soldiers from Karolina's home planet, Majesdane, have come to take her away and put her on trial for her parents' treason.  All of the runaways find themselves pulled in different directions, and they must come together in order to keep Karolina and keep the peace.  Oh, and Chase gets a job.

I'm nearing my end with the Runaways- notice that the author (a new one) has his name even bigger than the title of the book- that's generally when I feel the book starts becoming more about the importance of the author and less about the quality of the series.

Runaways, 8: Dead End Kids, by Joss Whedon

Runaways, 8: Dead End Kids, by Joss Whedon, 152 pages

This volume's premise departs a bit from the usual storyline.  For some reason, the runaways are pulling a job for a bad guy, they get attacked by three different guys- one of whom is The Punisher (for some weird, unexplained reason), and they end up going back in time. Wha?  This is the first volume written by someone besides Brian K Vaughan, so the natural inclination would be to think that it got weird because of different authorship.  But since the author is none other than Joss Whedon, and the man behind Firefly can do no wrong in my eyes, I choose to believe that it was the storyline he was given.
Going back in time has some significant results on the gang- Nico and Victor are possibly broken up because he falls in love with a girl in the past, and a new girl with new powers joins the team and goes back to the future with them.  There's a really tender moment with Chase and a flashback of Gert, whom I still miss, and that was the best part of this volume.

Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways, by Zeb Wells

Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways, by Zeb Wells, 112 pages

In the Marvel universe, there was a civil war.  Iron Man and the US government felt that all superheroes needed to register with the government.  Captain America and many others felt like it was an invasion of their right to privacy.  The Young Avengers, aligned with Captain America, took a clear side in the war as anti-registration.  The runaways, however, felt that the war was something the adults were fighting, and not something that affected them.  However, when the runaways get some unwanted attention while saving the day, they are forced to take a side in order to save their friends.  Not my favorite runaways book, but a good enough way to get me started in reading Marvel's Civil War.  Also a good introduction to the Young Avengers, whom I knew nothing about.

Runaways 7: Live Fast, by Brian K Vaughan

Runaways 7: Live Fast, by Brian K Vaughan 144 pages

The runaways are all trying to deal with the death of one of their own, each in their own way.  Chase takes things to extremes, however, by offering the Gibborim a human sacrifice in exchange for bringing back Gertrude.  It’s up to the runaways to convince him that his life is just as precious.  This one was a bit of a tearjerker.  

Runaways 6: Parental Guidance, by Brian K Vaughan

Runaways 6: Parental Guidance, by Brian K Vaughan 144 pages

This is a pivotal book in the series, and I will never forgive my husband for telling me which of the key members of the runaways is killed before I read it.  The Pride is back… sort of… with one of the key members back and more evil than ever.  The runaways are out to stop him, which they do, but not before losing one of their own.  This one is really sad.

Runaways 5: Escape to New York, by Brian K Vaughan

Runaways 5: Escape to New York, by Brian K Vaughan 144 pages

Cloak and Dagger are back! Cloak has been accused of brutally attacking Dagger, and all of New York’s superheroes are trying to catch him.  Cloak needs the helps of fellow runaways to prove his innocence and help Dagger regain consciousness.  There are a few cameos by the New Avengers, including Spiderman and Wolverine, personal favorites. 

Runaways 4: True Believers, by Brian K Vaughan

Runaways 4: True Believers, by Brian K Vaughan, 144 pages

So you rid the West Coast of an evil supervillain crime syndicate, in the process killing all of your parents, and go on run from the foster homes Captain America tries to keep you in- what next?  For the runaways, their next mission is to deal with the influx of criminals trying to take the place of the Pride, and basically righting the wrongs of their parents.  This issue introduces a new member to the group, Victor, who might be evil in 20 years, and a superhero support group that is trying its best to "help" the runaways.

Runaways 3: The Good Die Young, by Brian K Vaughan

Runaways 3, The Good Die Young, by Brian K Vaughan, 144 pages

I guess this was originally supposed to be the last issue, because it has a huge plot twist (no spoilers here).  Let’s just say that one of the runaways has been working for the Pride all along, and over half of the characters die.  The runaways discover what motivated their parents to turn evil, and it turns out that they were just like any other parents: they did it for the children.  Action-packed and featuring a cameo from Captain America, this volume would have been a good ending, but I’m glad it’s going to be just the beginning. 

Runaways, 2: Teenage Wasteland, by Brian K Vaughan

Runaways, 2: Teenage Wasteland, by Brian K Vaughan, 144 pages

Six teens with super powers and their pet dinosaur, on the run from their super villain parents, find themselves foiling a gas station robbery and gaining another partner.  His parents are evil, too, he says.  But there’s more to the story than it seems, and teen hormones are in the air, too.  This volume also features an appearance by Cloak and Dagger, whom bigger Marvel fans than me would recognize as the original teen runaway superheroes.  

Runaways, 1: Pride & Joy, by Brian K Vaughan

Runaways, 1: Pride & Joy, by Brian K Vaughan, 144 pages

This story is about six teenagers who are brought together every year while their parents attend to secret philanthropic affairs. But this year, they spy on the meeting, and find out that their parents are actually super villains who annually sacrifice a victim.  The fun is just beginning as the teens find themselves on the run, discovering their own secret powers and attempting to end their parents’ evil ways.  Appropriate for teens, and appealing to adults, too. 

(Sidenote: this landed on my desk because the binding completely fell apart after a few checkouts.  That is so frustrating with these graphic novels, because I found the same situation with books 2 and 3, too.  But I digress. ) 

Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris

Finding Nouf; A Novel by Zoe Ferraris --- 305 pages,

Having recently read Zoe Ferraris' new novel, Kingdom of Strangers, I was eager to go back and read her earlier books. Finding Nouf is Ferraris' first novel, published in 2008, and introduces us to her principal recurring characters: Katya Hijazi, the young woman working in the female forensics lab of the Jedda coroner's office; and Nayir ash-Sharqi, a Palestinian immigrant who works as a desert guide for rich Saudis who want to experience their Bedu heritage.

Katya and Nayir are brought together in an uneasy working alliance by the death of the sixteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy Saudi family. Katya is engaged and about to be married to Othman, the adopted son of the Shrawi family; Nayir works for the Shrawi men as their desert guide. When Nouf disappears on the eve of her wedding, Othman asks Nayir to lead the search for her, since the few clues the family have found seem to point to the desert. In the rigidly gender-segregated world of conservative Muslim Saudi Arabia, the family is equally concerned with avoiding scandal as with finding their missing daughter.

Sadly, desert tribesmen find Nouf's body in the desert. Nayir is shocked when the coroner officially rules her death an accidental drowning, caused when she was caught in a flash flood in a wadi and could not escape. The verdict ignores the larger mystery: how did Nouf come to be in the wadi in the first place? He and Katya continue to investigate, convinced that a sheltered young girl could not have run away on her own, and that only someone close to the family had the knowledge and the means to spirit her away.

An intriguing mystery, giving an intimate view of a closed society almost beyond the understanding of outsiders, and of two people forced to rethink many of their ingrained assumptions about men and women.