Tally is almost 16 and she is waiting for her turn to become Pretty. In this world radical cosmetic surgery is used to make everyone fantastically beautiful. All of Tally’s life had been building towards this moment, the youngest of her friends she is the last one to turn. Her “best friend for life” is now a Pretty living in New Pretty Town and partying all the time. Tally is lonely in her dorm until she meets Shay, an exciting girl from another dorm. Shay teaches Tally to hoverboard and they wait for their turn. Only Shay is different; she never makes morpho’s, mock-ups of what you will look like as a Pretty, she doesn’t like the way that Uglies tease each other, and even talks about liking her asymmetry. Shay tells Tally about people who choose not to turn Pretty, who leave the cities and live in the wild. Tally thinks this is all games until Shay invites her to run away with her.

Tally chooses to stay and turn Pretty but the day of her operation she is taken from the Hospital to Special Circumstances. Here she is told that if she doesn’t follow her friend and reveal the location of Smoke, the settlement in the wild, she will never turn Pretty. Tally has an impossible choice to make either to betray her friend or face a fate worse than death. As Tally learns more about the way her world works the more conflicted she becomes.

Scott Westerfeld has a great writing style that pulls you in to this fairly realistic world. In this dystopia the world is recognizable as definite possibility for our future. I liked Tally and being able to see the world through her eyes as she moves from a sheltered child to a woman. The first book in a trilogy I am definitely committed to reading the other two books. I would recommend this series for any YA collection. The way in which it treats the ideals of beauty is very interesting.

Age range: 15 plus
Ranking: Quality 4/5 Popularity 4/5

So I know you’ve been waiting with baited breath…

So we continue on with the saga of the Chatam island teens. In this installment we witness the fallout of Zoey’s decision to choose Lucas over Jake. When Jake finds out the group of teens is divided as the new couples form. As soon as Jake is alone, Claire leaves Benjamin for Jake. Nina then decides to pursue her feelings for Benjamin. As soon as it seems that things have settled down Lucas and Zoey find out that he is being shipped off to Texas to live with his grandfather. Zoey and Lucas struggle to find a way for their relationship to survive while Benjamin tries to convince the real driver that Lucas shouldn’t have to suffer even more something he didn’t do.

It seems to me that perhaps this series could be condensed down, with each book in the series become one or several chapters. Although the author is very good at making you want to finish the book. With the big plot points wrapped up she throws you a single sentence about Nina that makes you want to go on to the next book, Nina won’t tell.

Age range: 14-16
Ranking: Quality: 2/5 Popularity: 3/5

The first book in the “Making out” series (formaly “Boyfriends and Girlfriends”)

Zoey lives in a small close-knit community on an island off the coast of Maine. She is in her last year of High School and all is pretty standard except that her boyfriend Jake’s older brother was killed in a drunk driving accident. Lucas one of the other people in the car has confessed and been sentenced to two years. The majority of this book takes place after Lucas returns to the island. Zoey is torn by her “duty” to her boyfriend and the other islanders to shun Lucas and her feelings for him. It is very slowly revealed that perhaps Lucas the only one uninjured in the small car was not the driver after all. Even if he is not a killer is Lucas who Zoey wants or does she really love Jake.

This book wasn’t very good but the writing was compelling in places. Overall the story was about 100 pages too long. The truth that was hinted at so many times was pretty obvious and I was pretty sure that I knew how things were going to go down. I felt compelled however to finish the book just to be proved right. And I will read the next one just to see what happens when Jake finds out.

Age range: 14-16
Ranking: Quality 2/5 Popularity 3/5