Guide to Verse Novels: More Suggested Reads

So after buying and reading everything by Lisa Schroeder and Sonya Sones, I am now working my way through Ellen Hopkin's novels.  If Crank is anything to go by I know I am in for some great reading!  In addition to those three authors I also did my usual thing and looked for as many books in verse as possible  Unfortunately, much to my disappointment, my current bank balance is preventing me from buying them all, but here are all the ones I've found.  I think they all sound amazing!  I've also included a link to a preview if I've found one:)



Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall by Wendy Mass
Pieces of Georgia by Jen Bryant  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)



Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
A Bad Boy Can Be Good For a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Jinx by Margaret Wild (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)



Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith



Realm of Possibility by David Levithan (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Heartbeat by Sharon Creech  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Out Of The Dust by Karen Hesse (Google Books Preview)



Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
You Are Not Here by Samantha Schutz (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Kissing Annabel by Steven Herrick

Let me know in the comments section if there are any other great verse novels that you've read that I haven't listed here and I'll add them to the list:)

Guide to Verse Novels: Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins has written 7 Verse Novels for young adults:

Crank

From Goodreads:
Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina -- she's fearless.

Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul -- her life.

You can read a preview via Simon & Schuster's Browse inside here

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Glass

From Goodreads:
"Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal. Whatever you call it, it's all the same: a monster. And once it's got hold of you, this monster will never let you go."

A sequel to Crank, this harrowing and disturbing look at addiction finds protagonist Kristina Snow thinking she can use drugs yet control the consequences. Now with a baby to care for, she's determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots. But the monster is too strong and, before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grips. She needs the monster to keep going, to face the pressures of day-to-day life. She will do anything for it, including giving up the only thing that makes her truly happy.

Read a preview here (via Simon & Schuster's Browse inside)

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Fallout

From Goodreads:
Hunter, Autumn, and Summer—three of Kristina Snow's five children—live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for twenty years.

Hunter is nineteen, angry, getting by in college with a job at a radio station, a girlfriend he loves in the only way he knows how, and the occasional party. He's struggling to understand why his mother left him, when he unexpectedly meets his rapist father, and things get even more complicated. Autumn lives with her single aunt and alcoholic grandfather. When her aunt gets married, and the only family she's ever known crumbles, Autumn's compulsive habits lead her to drink. And the consequences of her decisions suggest that there's more of Kristina in her than she'd like to believe. Summer doesn't know about Hunter, Autumn, or their two youngest brothers, Donald and David. To her, family is only abuse at the hands of her father's girlfriends and a slew of foster parents. Doubt and loneliness overwhelm her, and she, too, teeters on the edge of her mother's notorious legacy. As each searches for real love and true family, they find themselves pulled toward the one person who links them together—Kristina, Bree, mother, addict. But it is in each other, and in themselves, that they find the trust, the courage, the hope to break the cycle.

Told in three voices and punctuated by news articles chronicling the family's story, FALLOUT is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy begun by CRANK and GLASS, and a testament to the harsh reality that addiction is never just one person's problem.

You can read an excerpt on the Simon & Schuster website here

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Burned

From Goodreads:
Raised in a stern, abusive Mormon household, a teenage girl starts to question her religion and struggles to find her destiny.

Her father is abusive, her mother is submissive, and her church looks the other way. Confused and angry, Pattyn Von Stratten acts out and is sent to live with an aunt on a Nevada ranch. She finds the love and acceptance she craves, with disturbing consequences.

Simon & Schuster Browse inside preview can be found here

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Impulse

From Goodreads:
Three teens who have attempted suicide meet in a psychiatric hospital, battle their demons, and begin to heal.

The handsome son of wealthy parents, Connor has everything anyone could want-except his family's love and affection. Jailed for years after killing his mother's child-molesting boyfriend, Tony is confused about his sexuality. Manic-depressive Vanessa cuts herself. All three stories intertwine in a brutally honest story about pain and resilience.

Preview the book here (via Simon & Schuster's Browse Inside)

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Identical

From Goodreads:
In the latest hard-hitting YA novel by the New York Times bestselling author, 16-year-old identical twin girls must come to terms with their abusive father.

Kaeleigh and Raeanne are 16-year-old identical twins, the daughters of a district court judge father and politician mother running for Congress. Everything on the surface of their lives seems Norman Rockwell perfect, but underneath run deep and damaging secrets.

Kaeleigh is the good girl-her father's perfect flower, something she has tried so hard to be since she was nine and he started sexually abusing her. She cuts herself and vomits after every binge, desperate to feel something normal. Raeanne uses painkillers, drugs, alcohol, and sex to numb the pain of not being Daddy's favorite. Both girls must figure out how to become whole, but how can they when their world has been torn to shreds?

Writing in her characteristic narrative poetry style, Ellen Hopkins shows once again how well she knows today's teens and the issues that matter to them.

You can preview the book here (via Google Book Preview)

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Tricks

From Goodreads:
Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching...for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons.

Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story -- a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, "Can I ever feel okay about myself?"

Preview the book here (via Simon & Schuster's Browse Inside)

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Other places you can find Ellen:

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

Check back later today for my review of Crank.

In the meantime here are some videos for you to check out:)

Guide to Verse Novels: Sonya Sones

Sonya Sones has written four verse novels for young adults:

Stop Pretending

From Goodreads: It happens just like that, in the blink of an eye. An older sister has a mental breakdown and has to be hospitalized. A younger sister is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief and friends who turn their backs on her. But worst of all is the loss of her big sister, her confidante, her best friend, who has gone someplace no one can reach.

In the tradition of The Bell Jar, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and Lisa, Bright and Dark comes this haunting first book told in poems, and based on the true story of the author's life.

2000 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA) and 2000 Quick Picks for Young Adults (Recomm. Books for Reluctant Young Readers)

You can read my review here and read a preview here (HarperCollins Browse Inside)

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One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

From Goodreads: Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.


You can read my review here and read a preview here (via Simon & Schuster Browse Inside)





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What My Mother Doesn't Know
From Goodreads:
My name is Sophie.
This book is about me.
It tells
the heart-stoppingly riveting story
of my first love.
And also of my second.
And, okay, my third love too.
It's not that I'm boy crazy.
It's just that even though
I'm almost fifteen
it's like
my mind
and my body
and my heart
just don't seem to be able to agree
on anything.

You can read an excerpt on the Simon & Schuster Website here

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What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know
From Goodreads:
My name is Robin.
This book is about me.
It tells the story of what happens
when after almost 15 pathetic years of loserdom,
the girl of my dreams finally falls for me.
That seems like it would be
a good thing, right?
Only it turns out to be
a lot more complicated than that
Because I'm not gonna lie to you --
there are naked women involved.
Four of them, to be exact.
Though not in the way you might think.
Don't get me wrong -- my girlfriend's amazing.
But the way things have been going lately,
I'm starting to believe that the only thing worse
than not getting what you want,
is getting it..

You can read a preview here (via Simon & Schuster Browse Inside)

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Three of her books have all recently had new cover designs with I think are fab! Check them out below:

Places you can find Sonya:

Website
Goodreads
My Space
Facebook

Check back later for a quick Q&A with Sonya:)

Reviews for What My Mother Doesn't Know and What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know will be posted tomorrow:)

Guide to Verse Novels: Lisa Schroeder

Lisa Schroeder is the author of three verse novels for young adults:

I Heart You, You Haunt Me.
From Goodreads: 
Girl meets boy.
Girl loses boy.
Girl gets boy back...
...sort of.

Ava can't see him or touch him, unless she's dreaming. She can't hear his voice, except for the faint whispers in her mind. Most would think she's crazy, but she knows he's here.

Jackson. The boy Ava thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. He's back from the dead, as proof that love truly knows no bounds.


You can read my review here and check out a preview of the book here ( via Google Book's preview). 
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Far From You.
From Goodreads: 
Lost and alone...down the rabbit hole

Years have passed since Alice lost her mother to cancer, but time hasn't quite healed the wound. Alice copes the best she can, by writing her music, losing herself in the love of her boyfriend, and distancing herself from her father and his new wife.

But when a deadly snowstorm traps Alice with her stepmother and newborn half-sister, she'll face issues she's been avoiding for too long. As Alice looks to the heavens for guidance, she discovers something wonderful.

Perhaps she's not so alone after all...

You can read my review here and check out a preview of the book here ( via Google Book's preview).
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Chasing Brooklyn.
From Goodreads:
Restless souls and empty hearts.

Brooklyn can’t sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca died a year ago, and now their friend Gabe has died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there, waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca chasing her through her dreams.

Nico can’t stop. He’s always running, trying so hard not to feel the pain of missing Lucca. But when he begins receiving messages from his dead brother, telling him to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface.

As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.

You can check out a preview of the book here ( via Simon & Schuster's browse inside).
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Lisa Schroeder's fourth book, The Day Before is being published by Simon Pulse in June 2011

You can find Lisa at the following places:

Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
YouTube

Also, check back tomorrow for a review of Chasing Brooklyn and a guest post by Lisa! 

I'll leave you with some book trailers - enjoy:)

Chasing Brooklyn:





I Heart You, You Haunt Me: