(Image from Indiebound)

Zachary Beatrice has never felt that connected to the Colorado desert where he and his father live in an old, aluminum-sided trailer. After his mother takes off, determined to finally realize her dream of working on a cruise ship, Zachary's even more unmoored. So, when his dad suggests moving, Zachary's all for it. Falls, Connecticut, is a quirky little town, and it doesn't take long for the Beatrices to feel right at home.

One of Falls' most notorious residents lives right across the street from Zachary. Like him, Rachel Spinelli is 14. Unlike him, she has a fearsome reputation as a scrappy, hot-tempered fighter. Zachary really doesn't want to get on her bad side, but it soon becomes apparent that anything can happen during the long, hot summer in Falls, Connecticut.

Rachel Spinelli Punched Me in the Face (available August 30), a new middle grade novel by Paul Acampora, is one of those gentle stories that always put a smile on my face. It's warm, funny, and touching in a subtle, melodrama-free kind of way. There's not much of a plot going on in Rachel Spinelli Punched Me in the Face, but I really couldn't have cared less. I loved it.

(Readalikes: Reminded me a little bit of the Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall; also, the relationship between Rachel and her big brother reminded me of the one between Anya and Leo in All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin)

Grade: B

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG

To the FTC, with love: I received an ARC of Rachel Spinelli Punched Me in the Face from the generous folks at Macmillan/Roaring Press. Thank you!

(Image from Indiebound)

It's 2083 and the mean streets of New York City haven't gotten any kinder. Gangs rule the buroughs, making violent crime a daily battle. With water rationing, food shortages, constant changes in the law, and few police officers left to enforce them, the bankrupt city's become a bleak, dangerous place to live. Residents can't even turn to chocolate for consolation, since that's been outlawed along with caffeine, cell phones with cameras and a million other things. Still, it's not like 16-year-old Anya Balanchine's being forced to hunt other teens in a treacherous arena or marry a stranger against her will - her life really is fairly routine.

As routine as life gets for the teenage daughter of New York City's most notorious crime boss, anyway.

Anya's life has already been ripped apart by her association (however innocent) with "the family." Her parents are dead - both murdered by hitmen - leaving Anya to deal with her ailing grandmother, her brain-injured older brother, and her vulnerable younger sister pretty much on her own. Her mafiya relations have done quite enough damage; she wants nothing more to do with them. Ever. She'd like to shuck the whole Balanchine legacy, go to college in some faraway city, and live happily ever after in some anonymous place where no one knows her. If only her siblings didn't need her so much. If only she wasn't next in line to inherit her family's chocolate-manufacturing business. If only she wasn't Anya Balanchine.

But she is.

So, she'll deal with her siblings, her lowlife mafiya relatives, and the fallout from being a mobster's daughter. Which means that when her jerky ex-boyfriend lands in the hospital after illegally consuming Balanchine chocolate, Anya takes the blame. But she's not as guilty as her surname would suggest. In fact, she's perfectly innocent, she just has to prove it. To clear her name, she'll have to take on the most feared family in New York City - her own.

All These Things I've Done (available September 6), the first book in a new YA trilogy by Gabrielle Zevin, introduces a gutsy heroine with an irresistible voice. It's impossible not to root for Anya as she takes on the tough-as-nails world of organized crime in an effort to save herself and what's left of her family. I had a few issues with the book (Don't I always?), but mostly I just enjoyed this romp through one of the scariest dystopian societies I've ever enountered (No chocolate? Terrifying.). Seriously, though, I loved the originality of the novel's premise, most of the characters, and even the forbidden romance between Anya and the assistant DA's son (although Win could use some roughing up - he's a little too perfect). All These Things I've Done hasn't even come out yet, but I'm already aching for a sequel. Write like the wind, Gabrielle!

(Readalikes: Reminded me a little of Heist Society by Ally Carter and The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Kidnapped by Yxta Maya Murray)

Grade: B-

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for language (no F-bombs), violence, and a little bit of sexual content/innuendo

To the FTC, with love: I received an ARC of All These Things I've Done from the generous folks at Macmillan/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Thank you!

(Image from Indiebound)

In the not too distant future - 2065 to be exact - Earth's natural resources have dwindled due to overpopulation and wasteful usage. Inside the gated city where Ransom Lawe lives, laws govern everything from how much water comes out of the faucet at one time to how many children a woman can birth. With frequent blackouts, little food, no fuel for travel, and few reasons to get up in the morning, it's a hard, bleak existence. Still, it beats living out in the wild. At least in the city people have food. Sometimes.

As a recycler, Ransom makes barely enough money to support his wife and two young sons. Working long hours, plus wasting precious minutes trying to navigate the city's unreliable tram system, means he barely sees his family at all. Perhaps that's how he misses the fact that his wife is pregnant - with an illegal third child. Some people can afford to buy an extra child credit, but Ransom can't. Since Teya's insistent on keeping the baby, Ransom investigates every option available to them. To no avail.

With each passing week, Teya's pregnancy becomes harder to conceal. If anyone discovers her secret - a nosy neighbor, a cold-hearted snatcher, or Teya's sister, the Population Director - she will be taken, the child forcefully expelled from her body. The more desperate Ransom's situation grows, the more insane it seems. Should their tainted government really have this much control over people's lives? Disillusioned as he is, Ransom still can't imagine leaving the city. Where would he go? How would he even make it out in the wild with young children and a pregnant wife? He'd rather sacrifice his baby. Wouldn't he?

Grappling with doubt, fear and outright desperation, Ransom must choose what to believe in, whom to trust. In a world where one wrong move could cost him everything, Ransom needs to be very, very careful where he steps ...

While the plotting and character development in The Third by Abel Keogh leave something to be desired, it's not a bad debut novel. Not at all, really. The idea of population control makes Keogh's dystopian world unique (although Margaret Peterson Haddix also has a series about illegal third children), since most end-of-the-world societies have the opposite problem. It's also an issue rife with tension, making the story both intense and relevant. I actually loved the whole idea of it. Keogh makes some rookie mistakes, though - characters that don't exactly leap off the page, info-dumpy dialogue, and plot devices that hinge entirely on coincidence - all of which distract from the story. Still, the novel commanded my attention, propelling me through its pages in a matter of hours. Did I love every word? No, but I think Keogh's got some serious potential and, just for the record, if he happened to write a sequel to The Third, I would totally read it. Hint, hint.

(Readalikes: Reminded me of lots of other dystopians, but especially the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien and Delirium by Lauren Oliver.)

Grade: C

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for violence and intense situations

To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of The Third from the generous folks at Bonneville Books and Tristi Pinkston Book Tours, for which this review was written. Thank you!