Review: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil

First I must say thank you to Harper Collins and Balzer and Bray for allowing me to read an e-galley of this from Edelweiss.  Gretchen McNeil is an author that I heard lots of buzz about with her book Ten, before I even read any of her books.  So far 3:59 is my favorite of her books, but Get Even is a close 2nd!  At first as I was reading I though, oh, it's going to be a contemporary romance type of book.  But of course, it was more, and boy did it even get to be more than I'd expected. 

There are four main characters:  Kitty, Olivia, Bree, and Margot.  They aren't friends in "real" life, no one has ever really seen them together.  But ever since a project their 9th grade year, they decided to form a group called DGM for short, or Don't Get Mad.  All of them have dealt with bullying in some way in their past.  Margot used to be overweight, and was bullied, so badly that she tried to kill herself.  Kitty knew about it from a friend who got kicked off their volleyball team.  Olivia is one of the popular girls, and so is around friends who do it all the time.  And Bree's best friend is a boy named John, who gets teased a lot, because his last name could rhyme with a bad term for gay people.  They all go to a Catholic school where the bullying seems to be rampant, to the point that the adults often ignore name calling and even somewhat support the bullies at times.  DGM has a goal to stop the bullying.  They don't make stuff up, they only take what is already out there about these bullies and make it clear to everyone else.  The other students for the most part are fans of the DGM.   But not the administrator, Father Uberti, or F.U. as the girls call him snidely.  And also not one of the teachers, Coach Creed, who is really a big bully himself.

Something has changed now, someone is sending the four girls manila envelopes with pictures and other clues in them.  They are being led to a military school where the Coach used to be. And then one of their new students, a douche-bag type of guy named Ronny dies.  Right after DGM gets things to try to humiliate him for what he's done.  Some of the clues paint their fellow DGM members in a suspicious light, taking away what trust they have for each other.  Secrets start being kept from each other, while other secrets from the past start to get revealed.  The girls of DGM must decide if they can still trust each other to do what is right, the mission of DGM, or if the person behind all the secretive notes is one of them. 

Let me just say this ended on such a HUGE cliffhanger!  I had to go to the author's Facebook page and tell her that there was no way I'd be able to wait a whole year to know what happens next.  She said next summer is when the next book comes out, and that ARCs could be out as soon as December.  Believe you me, I'll be keeping my eyes wide open for it on both Netgalley and Edelweiss, as well as possibly researching to see who the publicity person is that I might be able to talk to so that I can make sure to get this read as soon as possible.  What a great mystery that totally kept me guessing, and with that ending, left me guessing still!

Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver

First, thanks to Edelweiss and Harper Collins for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  I am a fan of Lauren Oliver's Delirium series, as well as her first book, Before I Fall.  So I was excited to get a chance to read the e-galley of this one.  It is a contemporary mystery story basically.  It is set in a small town where things are not great, lots of jobs were lost, and people are pretty much hurting for money or things like that.  There are two characters that we get their points of view throughout the book, Heather, and Dodge.

The title, Panic, refers to a secret game that occurs every year after high school graduation.  The seniors enter, and it is made up of many dangerous challenges.  What is the purpose?  Well, throughout the year students give money, according to our narrators, the money is given whether they want to or not.  And by the time of the competition, there is a huge prize amount.  Often $40,000 or more!  Many people have their own reasons to enter, of course the money is a big one.  Originally, Heather's friend Nat was going to be the one of their group to enter.  But then at the night of the first event, Heather sees her boyfriend with another girl, and decides to enter as well.  Heather's  home life isn't great, she can really use the money to help get herself and her younger sister out of the trailer park where they live with their druggie/alcoholic mother.  Nat is not happy with Heather at first.  And their other friend, a boy named Bishop, is worried as well.

Dodge has a reason besides money to enter.  Revenge.  It was only a few years ago when his sister Dayna was competing, and in a car accident, the last challenge, was paralyzed.  And Dodge wants to get revenge against the younger brother of the boy who won that year and crippled his sister.  Dodge isn't well liked, he has been picked on and treated like an outsider, even though his family had lived there for a few years.  Longer it seemed than his family had lived in other places.  He has always been interested in Heather's friend Nat, except that at a party one time she called him by the wrong name.  As he begins hanging out with Heather, Nat, and Bishop, he soon learns that the name mistake may be due to the fact that Nat is a bit of a drinker.

As we go through all the challenges, the cops get called, people get hurt, someone dies.  There are deals made to share the winnings, and then later deals are made with others, then broken.  Not all three can make it till the end in our group.  It will get down to just two of them and one other at the end.  The judges who create the competitions are anonymous, only Dodge might just figure out who one is.  One of them will end up in the hospital after a challenge, but then make it out to go on to compete again.

A lot of suspense, and a good ending that had me gasping when a twist occurred, only to turn out to be the perfect way to end the story.  The characters' lives will change in many ways.  Reasons for revenge may be changed, love interests develop, and friendships are tested.  Family problems will develop, and then will actually help to learn what real family is.  A good story, I recommend it for a contemporary read.

Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge by David Lubar

First thanks to Macmillan-Tor Forge and Netgalley for allowing me to read an egalley of this book of short stories.  I am very grateful in this case because of how good the stories are.  They remind me in a way of how good Stephen King's short stories are.  Some of the stories were really scary, and they were in no way wishy-washy little kid "scary" stories.  In fact it warns even in the beginning of the book that it is not for little kids.  I would say probably no younger than 7th or 8th graders, about ages 12-13 and up.
Let me tell you about a couple of my favorite stories.
The very first story is one that I really liked.  It's called Running Out of Air and it is kind of a revenge story, but one that I think kids can relate to.  It's about a really horrible, mean gym teacher.  And she is hard on all the girls.  Especially one with asthma.  She is so hard on the girl that one day she collapsed in class and they had to have an ambulance come take her to the hospital.  The girl's friends tried to stick up for her, and all that did was get them a worse grade.  So one night the main character, Deeva, stayed late at school, and saw the four girls also at school late.  You see Betty, the girl with asthma was in bad shape, but the teacher, Ms. Pelham didn't get in trouble at all for what happened.  So the girls have come to get the teacher back for this.  They tape her hands up with masking tape, and tell her she has to race them.  If she can beat them in one lap, then they'll let her go.  But it's not just being tied up, they want her to feel what it was like when Betty was trying to run with asthma.  So they tape a plastic bag around her neck.  You can guess what happens from there.
There's a really good story about teenagers who have to stay in a haunted house over night for a reality tv show to make money.  And, well, is the house really haunted?  One guy who has watched all the episodes, thinks he knows how it works, and plans to win.
There's a story about a boy who lives with a dad that abuses his mother, and his plan to take care of the problem.
A story about a beautiful girl who moves to the school and seems to make the boy she is with as happy as can be.  Until he seems to do something so reckless it is almost suicide.  Then she goes to a friend of his, and the pattern seems to repeat.  Until, our main character gets the beautiful girl.
There's a story about what seems to be a Chinese good luck/bad luck or really maybe a supernatural creature that is killing people in the import/export business.
There are 13 stories in the book.  Some are shorter than others, but all have a good little kick at the end.  One or two, kind of predictable, but still in a good, scary way.  Can't wait to recommend this to people who are looking for good scary stories.