1. Putting Makeup on Dead People by Jen Violi. Donna still mourns her Dad. When a senior dies suddenly Donna sees the comfort given by the mortician’s care in preparing her classmate for viewing. She makes a life altering decision when she changes career paths to become a mortician, not a good idea in Mom’s opinion. This is a clever, insightful, funny and very original story.

3. Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is a beautiful and eerie novel about an Irish like fantasy land where water horses come out of the sea once a year, dangerous horses who will kill those who try to tame them. Except Puck must succeed, she must ride in the race and save the family. Sean is a master at taming the wild horses, he will ride against her on the wild beautiful stallion he loves.

5. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini is the long awaited conclusion to the Inheritance cycle began with Eragon. The fate of civilization is in the hands of Eragon and Saphira as they confront Galbatorix and his deadly forces. They must prevail, there is no one else.

7. Passion by Lauren Kate is the third book in her series about Luce and Daniel. Chapters alternate between them as they go back and relive past lives. Historical scenes give an interesting perspective to the story as the characters are reincarnated and travel through time.

9. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. What happens when 50 beauty contestants are stranded on a desert island after a plane crsh and must learn to work together to survive?