Carrying on the final 5 are:
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.
But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal.
I pretty much ran across Philadelphia Airport to get this before boarding my flight home and then I …. slept >.<
So didn’t read it until a few weeks ago. At the beginning I loved it, I was ready to put it in the same awesome category as Sunshine* which is saying a lot.
The writing, the characters – it’s damm near perfect. I mean Evie’s best friend is a mermaid! A really cool mermaid called Lish who was my favourite character in the whole story. Plus Kiersten got me excited about Evie’s prom and the colour pink – these are both things which anyone who knows me will tell you are impossible.
About ¾ in I realised it was not a one-off story (I should have checked that first) which was a bit of a blow. BUT it’s still one of the best reads and I will be buying the other books. 
Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters
Holland Jaeger’s senior year is filled with school activities, college applications and her boyfriend Seth. She is intrigued when meeting the new girl in school one morning. Cece is friendly and attractive. She’s also an out-and-proud lesbian.
Soon, Holland finds she can’t get Cece out of her mind. Thoughts of Seth are replaced. Suddenly, college applications don’t seem as important as getting to know CeCe. Holland dumps Seth and pursues a relationship. Cece is willing but, against her usual openness, wants to keep their bond a secret. Holland doesn’t understand why she can’t be publicly honest about her feelings.
Naturally, the secret gets out and Holland feels her first taste of flagrant homophobia. Cece is right there to support Holland as she comes to grips with her feelings and reorganizes her priorities.
At the end of 2009 I read Annie on my Mind and it was one of the best stories I’ve read in a long time. Personally, I think it should be mandatory in all schools, sadly I don’t think that’s likely to happen anytime soon. 
Keeping You a Secret was recommended by reviewers of Annie as well as Marieke and I finally got it in the spring. It made me cry buckets. Now I don’t cry (seriously I don’t) and I can count the books that have bought a tear to my eye on one hand but this one had me in floods. Fortunately, no one was there to witness it .
Despite this, or because of it, I hold Keeping You a Secret in the same high regard as Annie. I still think Annie is a better first read for this genre but that doesn’t make Keeping You a Secret any less great.
You can read an excerpt here
Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.
Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all–hope–in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.
One of my all time favourite books growing up was Z for Zachariah It’s one of those rare books they make you read at school that you actually love.**
Life as we knew it is the modern version – of sorts. Whereas Ann was sheltered and alone, Miranda has family, friends and some idea of what is happening. The writing is excellent and I would definitely recommend it.
Having said that I am not reading the rest of the trilogy, the things I love about this book would be lost that way…
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn
I was told to beware the accursed spindle, but it was so enchanting, so hypnotic. . . .
I was looking for a little adventure the day I ditched my tour group. But finding a comatose town, with a hot-looking chick asleep in it, was so not what I had in mind.
I awakened in the same place but in another time—to a stranger’s soft kiss.
I couldn’t help kissing her. Sometimes you just have to kiss someone. I didn’t know this would happen.
Now I am in dire trouble because my father, the king, says I have brought ruin upon our country. I have no choice but to run away with this commoner!
Now I’m stuck with a bratty princess and a trunk full of her jewels. . . . The good news: My parents will freak!
Think you have dating issues? Try locking lips with a snoozing stunner who turns out to be 316 years old. Can a kiss transcend all—even time?
If I had one word to describe this book, it would be “fluffy”. I don’t know about you, but ever so often I just want something nice and A Kiss in Time is just that. It’s light, pleasant and well fluffy.
Jack and Talia aren’t the most rounded characters but develop nicely as the story progresses. Accepting some of the stickier points (you should not be able to find a passport forger in a supermarket) without too much analysis is advised , but other then that it’s just a fun read.
The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
”The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears’ house. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog.’
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger’s, a form of autism. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour’s dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.
This is one of those books that all the critics love and talk endlessly about and I always leave ages until I finally get round to reading it.
Christopher as a narrator is unique, his view of the world so different from those around him, which makes this a fascinating read. Despite Christopher’s factual narration, you get emotionally wrapped up in his story. And when his world collapses all I wanted to do was crawl into the book and hug him, which of course he would have hated.
I forgot to say this is an international competition!
1st Prize
Pick your favourite book and I’ll include another random book of my bookshelf
(because surprises are awesome!)
2nd Prize
You get to pick your favourite out of the ones that are left and a cute kitten bookmark
3rd Prize
Your choice of one out of the remaining…
To Enter:
Leave a comment + 1 point
Tweet about this contest (pls incl. link in comment section) + 1 point
Blog about it + 2 points
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe +1 point each
Closing date is the 31 December 2010.
Good luck!
*Readers of this blog will know that Sunshine is my all-time favourite ever book
**They made us watch the film as well, that was not so good.
Thinking about it I was a bit surprised because I was convinced it would be Sunshine by Robin McKinley – which is and will probably remain my favourite book. It’s the one that cheers me up no matter what and has been read too many times to count. It’s like a medicine, which given I’m full of a cold right now is apt but when I actually thought about it it’s not the one that I’m the most grateful for.
)
*that’s Die unendliche Geschichte to me, if you’re interested.
