Shana NorrisBesprekingen

I was really excited to read this book because I love mermaid stories, but this was not your average mermaid story. It had a whole different back story as to how merpeople came to be inhabiting a small island off the coast of New England, and why they were ostracized and bullied because of something that had happened decades prior to our main character, sixteen-year-old Mara Westray, arriving following the death of her mother. She had never known her father, but when she lost her mother, he was her sole remaining relative, and she was none too happy about being sent to live with him. She held on to a lot of anger over his absence from her life, especially since she had to watch her mother die a slow and torturous death from cancer. Needless to say, this wasn't a great start to their new living situation. Add to that the fact that everyone was obviously keeping a huge secret from her, and she was ready to bolt. When she finally learns what she is, the story goes off in a completely different direction. This book kept my interest from the first page to the last, and I'm looking forward to continuing with the story in the next book in the series.

5/5 stars.

Rating: 3.5/5

It is always a pleasure to be surprised by a book and getting bitch-slapped for judging it beforehand. Because this was NOT the cute little book I thought it would be.

Sure enough, it had cute moments, but the characters weren't that superficial one-dimensional teenagers you expect to encounter in this kind of books.

Favorite quote:

I was a boyfriend thief, I reminded myself. A boyfriend thief couldn’t get personally attached to her work. It was a business agreement and nothing more. I wasn’t that girl who fell for a guy that was absolutely, completely wrong for her and who had come along at exactly the absolute wrong time. I couldn’t afford distractions at this point in my life. And Zac Greeley had distraction written all over him.

Avery James is what I'd call: a control-freak with a serious case of OCD. She tries so hard to fill the void that her depressive mother left when she took off, all of the sudden and without any explanation, four years ago, leaving her Dad and little brother for her to take care of. That screwed her up in more way than one and now she doesn't believe anymore in love and attachement and finding that special someone to fulfill happiness. Only science is relevant and predictable and makes sense.

Zac Greeley is not your tall, dark and brooding hero; he has an upbeat personnality and an overworking mind that could let you think he's just an unfocused kid who acts all the time like everything is a joke. The class clown who won't go far in life. When in fact he's hyperactive, and if given the opportunity could come up with the most ingenious ideas.

That's what I liked most about this book. Not the romance, but the harsh issues that kids these days suffer from, the tremendous pression they have to deal with on daily-basis and that could probably damage the most balanced of us and how Avery learned to loosen up a little, started living fully her life and stopped blaming herself for her mother's departure.

Silly, ridiculous, funny, real-feeling portrayal. Some of this could so easily be high school stuff as usual anyway. I've not read the classic but I know a goodly amount of the Iliad story. Great for escapism too.

"3.5 out of 5 stars!! After being away from the small island of Swans Landing for around 12 years, Mara returns to live with her father (a man she never knew). Feeling lost and alone, Mara finds herself drawn to Josh. Josh is a teen who keeps to himself and compels her at every turn. However Swans Landing is an island FULL of secrets and once Mara finally understands what those secrets are will she be willing to stick around the island or will she “run” away as far as she can…

This is an intriguing and mysterious YA romance novel. It kept me guessing most of the way through while wishing for a good HEA to wrap it all up. What I got was..."

Read more of this review and TWO TEASERS here: https://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/2018/01/made-grade-swans-landing-seri...½

very cool!!! I read the Illiad 8 years ago, and I wish I had read this right after to make sense of it all!!!!

very cool!!! I read the Illiad 8 years ago, and I wish I had read this right after to make sense of it all!!!!

On the surface, Hannah Cohen's life is pretty perfect. She's smart. She's popular. Her parents have more money than they know what to do with. She has her whole life figured out. But if you take the time to dig a little deeper, you'll find that Hannah is slowly drowning.

"The rules are everything my parents have ever taught me."

Hannah's entire life has been dictated by thirty-two rules set by her mother. Thirty-two rules intended to make Hannah a successful, poised, perfect young woman. And Hannah has followed them to the letter.

Rule #1: Maintain the image of perfection.

Hannah is so focused on following all of the rules, on maintaining her image of perfection, that she can't even process everything that's going wrong in her life. Her father is in rehab after nearly dying of a prescription drug overdose. Her mother makes a habit of drinking a few too many cocktails with dinner. She can't talk to her friends about it, because that would mean admitting weakness. And Hannah doesn't trust anyone enough to break the rules and show weakness.

Rule #8: If reality wasn't the way you wanted it to be, create your own.

So Hannah pretends that she doesn't notice her mom's drinking. She plays along with her mother's lie that her dad is away at a "resort," not detoxing at a local rehab facility. She pretends that everything's okay, because that's what the rules taught her to do. And when her mom jets off to Paris to dodge the impending scandal, Hannah pretends that she's gone with her. Because she doesn't want her friends to know that she's really staying with her aunt in a small town a few hours away.

Rule #4: Never ask for help.

As luck would have it, Hannah's car gets a flat tire as she's driving through the North Carolina mountains on the way to her Aunt Lydia's house. It's then that she meets Jude Westmore, a seemingly friendly enough guy who asks if she needs help. The rules say that Hannah can't ask for help, but her cell phone has no signal, she has no idea how to change a tire, and there are no repair shops around.

Rule #21: Even the score as soon as possible.

With no choice but to ask Jude to help her change the tire, Hannah finds herself in an awkward situation. Her parents taught her never to be indebted to someone, even someone she'd never see again. So she whips out her checkbook, ready to offer to pay Jude for his time. The problem, of course, is that Jude is a gentleman, just helping her out of the kindness of his heart. Hannah's insistence on paying Jude offends him, and she leaves the situation feeling like a jerk.

"You rely too much on your rules, Hannah. You've let these rules control everything you do in your life."

For the first time in her life, Hannah is totally separate from her parents, and realizes that maybe the rules she was raised to follow have flaws. And without her parents to constantly criticize her mistakes, she is finally able to become her own person. With the help of her Aunt Lydia and her new friends, Hannah creates her own list of rules:

Rule #1: Be honest. Don't overcomplicate things.
Rule #2: Do what scares you the most.
Rule #3: Always do the thing that could get you arrested.
Rule #4: Don't be afraid to face reality.

I really enjoyed The Secrets Between You and Me. The only criticism I have is that while the writing overall was very nice, the dialogue was a little stilted. But the characters seemed real, and the conflicts felt like things that could actually happen in a teenager's life. I flew through this book, reading it over the course of just a couple hours. There's just a touch of romance, but it doesn't come on too quickly -- there's no instalove here. Same with the angst -- just a touch, not too much.

The Secrets Between You and Me is the companion novel to The Boyfriend Thief. I haven't read The Boyfriend Thief, but didn't feel like I was missing much of the backstory. The only thing I can say is that at the beginning of the book, Hannah has recently gotten out of a relationship, and while the whole situation has clearly had a strong effect on her, there really aren't very many details about what happened. This is where I assume The Boyfriend Thief comes into play, but again, I don't think it's necessary to read it to understand The Secrets Between You and Me.

In the end, I'd give The Secrets Between You and Me a strong 3.5/5, and highly recommend it to fans of realistic young adult books.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy!

[see all my reviews at the bibliophagist]

This book was just kind of "meh". It wasn't overwhelmingly good OR bad. Just kind of there.

This is overall a good book, but only for girls I think because it has a girl narrator and it's about being a girl. 3Q4P The cover art is okay and I'd recommend this to high school students. I chose to read this book because it was sitting in front of me for a while so I just grabbed it and after I'd read the Illiad I wanted to try reading this. AutumnM

The story picks up five months after the ending of the first book, Troy High. Troy and Lacede are somewhat on a ceasefire, Greg and Cassie are finally together and Hunter's arm is still in a sling. His shoulder injury from the homecoming game against Lacede has made Hunter feel useless, like he's nobody without football. Meanwhile, Cassie takes on her first leadership stunt by organizing a beach clean-up and her relationship with Greg is being threatened by Greg's ex-girlfriend. To top it all, Perry and Elena aren't doing so well together.

Now what do I think about Overtime? For one, I like it better than the first book. It's a novella so it's shorter and the pace isn't boring. The characters have improved as well. I like that Cassie stepped up to leadership. She found her voice and confidence to do something for her community. Well, her intentions aren't really for her community alone but also to help Hunter gain his former self and to somehow redeem Troy High's reputation. Although she was hesitant to be a leader, I think she did a very good job.

Another one is Elena Argos. I admire her desire to just be herself. She made the right decision at the end and I like her for that. Independent women ftw!

Unfortunately, Greg is still the same Greg. Clueless and frustrating. I mean, doesn't he realize what Nessa is doing? And he's so blind to see that it affects Cassie! What the heck? If Perry is my least favorite character, Greg is a close second.

Well, I'm glad Shana Norris wrote this ebook sequel novella to Troy High. It's a good follow-up to the story and it delved deeper to some of the characters' personalities. It gave them a good opportunity to redeem themselves since they're not totally likable in the first story. Not really my thing but it's enjoyable enough.

The Boyfriend Thief actually came off as a surprise because I wasn't expecting to really like it. I thought this would be a light, romantic, teenybopper book, but actually, it has deeper issues that make The Boyfriend Thief a really good read.

I could relate very well to the main character, Avery. She's this uptight, control-freak and perfectionist teenager who seems to always expect the worst in people. She built walls around herself to avoid caring for and being hurt by other people again. Who could blame her, though? Her mother left them four years ago and since then she has taken it to herself to take her of her dad and her little brother and make sure everything's in order. I love her being organized and goal-driven. She knows what she wants and she strives to achieve them. Sure, she may be stuck-up and unsociable, but I don't think that's always a bad thing. What I don't like about her is that Avery only sees what she wants to see. It's all black and white for her. She doesn't' let herself consider the gray areas.

Zac, on the other hand, blew me away. I adore his character. He's energetic and full of crazy but wonderful ideas. He's goofy and funny and carefree, but underneath all that, he's as messed up as anyone else. He's hiding what he really wants to be just so he won't disappoint his father. BUT, despite that, he still manages to make others happy. I think Avery and Zac suit each other because even though they're different, they balance each other out.

I like the fact that there wasn't insta-love in this book. It's not even 100% romance. The Boyfriend Thief delves into deeper and realistic struggles of a teenager way beyond her years. It tackles about family, friendship, forgiveness, acceptance and moving on.

It's well written, too. I'm quite picky with contemporaries because I'm always worried that they'll sound awkward and not at all realistic. I'm glad this book is put together nicely. It wasn't rushed. Zac's and Avery's relationship developed slowly. Like I said, no insta-love. And in the process, they learned a lot more about themselves.

All's well that ends well. I like that Avery was finally able to reach out to the people around her and settle things with them. It's also good that Zac brought her out of her shell and made her realize that not everything is about her. The Boyfriend Thief, on top of being enjoyable, teaches good lessons that I think everyone should know.

A really good read. Two thumbs up!


"I don't qualify as being in love with being happy. My happiness is not dependent on someone else's affections."

"Because you just don't walk away from someone when things get tough. You find a way to stick it out and figure out what's gone wrong."

"Everyone is messed up in their own way. The funny part is we all don't want anyone else to know, so we work so hard to hide it."

About the characters:

Cassie – the main character is not likeable. It's like she's this helpless heroine caught between two rivalring kingdoms (well, in this case, schools).
Greg – I don’t like him; he’s completely clueless about Cassie’s feelings towards him; he could have chosen not to take sides in the rivalry between Troy and Lacede but instead, he helped his brother carry out his stupid pranks, then tried to justify himself by insisting that he had no choice
Hunter – I sort of liked him because he is a real brother to Cassie, actually cares for her and tries to protect her, unlike Perry who does nothing but tease Cassie in front of the school
Elena – although she’s kinda shallow, I liked the fact that she’s a friend to Cassie, although the latter was thinking that Elena only uses her to get close to Perry. She sincerely cares for Cassie and helps her have other friends
Lucas – a pathetic loser who can't accept the fact that his girlfriend dumped him for an enemy (not that I can't blame him for being angry)

About the story:

It was kinda lame, the whole rivalry thing between the two high schools. The thing that bugged me though was the pranks. Putting laxatives in the cafeteria food? What if someone's allergic to laxatives and ate that spaghetti? Things could've been serious, right? And I think cutting off the Trojan statue's head is destruction of property. I can't believe these high school students would go that far just because of the long-standing rivalry between Troy and Lacede. And the worst thing is that the ones wholly responsible for those pranks got away with it. They weren't punished because the ones who were caught did not have to guts to tell the truth.

Here comes the reason why I find Cassie irritating. She could have ended the 'war' between her and Greg's school. She knew everything so she had it in her power to go to an authority and put a stop to those pranks. But she did not because 1.) she wanted to protect her brothers, 2.) she did not want to be an outcast again, and 3.) she insisted that this war has nothing to do with her friendship with Greg. And look what happened to that friendship. Her reluctance to do what is right made her a coward in my eyes and no, I can't tolerate characters like that.

The pace of the story’s somewhat slow although it became better towards the end. I expected that Troy High would win the homecoming game since it’s the school of the main character. But it’s a good thing they didn't. It lessened the predictability of the story.

It was an easy and light read. All in all, it was okay but not the kind of book I'd like to read twice.

I loved this collection. I had read some works from some of the authors and was excited to get this collection. It was an amazing compilation of "first love" stories. Being eight books it would seem long but you get engrossed in each story and before you know it you read the entire thing. Can't wait to read more from these authors.

This book is interesting, and kind of a fun read. It is also an easy read. I read this book because my teacher recommended it.

Norris, S. (2010). Troy High. New York: Amulet Books.

Appetizer: In this modern retelling of The Iliad, sophomore Cassie Prince has always been in the shadows of her popular, football playing brothers, Hunter and Perry at Troy High. She's in-like with her best friend Greg (a student at the rival high school, Lacede) and wants to be popular.

When the beautiful girlfriend of Greg's older brother, Elena Argos, has to transfer from Lacede to Troy due to redistricting, knowing Elena could be Cassie's one chance to become popular. All she has to do is lie for Elena and help her to win Perry's affections.

But when Elena doesn't handle her break-up with her Lacede boyfriend in the best way possible, what has been a school rivalry for 50 years turns into all out warfare that Cassie fears will lead to ruin.

I was really surprised how easily the plot of The Iliad leant itself to teenage drama, especially when focusing on the romantic entanglements. That was pretty awesome.

While I found the book enjoyable, I wasn't blown away by it. I thought the writing was so-so (especially when compared to the oral epic it is based upon) and when Norris tried to use metaphors of warriors to describe the football players, it felt very forced. (Plus, there were several pages of intense football description, which made me tilt my head to a side and ask, "Say, what's happenin' now?").

Nothing about Cassie's character or voice really impressed me. (But given the fact that she was based on Cassandra the seer, living up to the expectation was difficult.) I did find a few of her interactions with Greg to be cute (see the last quotation in the dinner conversation for an example).

Elena/Helen was annoying (but she often is) and Achilles/Ackley is barely memorable.

I also thought the ending was a little too quick for me. I won't give spoilers, but some people were too quick to forgive some incidents and other people remained unpunished for other incidents. I did not likey.

On the plus side, the book did make me want to reread The Iliad. Or watch Troy (Brad Pitt!). Whichever.

Troy time!

Smile, Achilles. Smile!

Dinner Conversation:

"It was a late Sunday afternoon when I kissed my best friend.
We had been playing our favorite video game, Martial Battle 2, in his parents' den. Playing video games was something we did a lot. Kissing was not" (p. 1).

"So, tomorrow's the big day," he said as he selected his next fighter. "We go back to being enemies again."
I rolled my eyes. "I can hardly wait."
Every school had a bit of a rivalry with other schools, but the one between Lacede High and Troy High was legendary. It made sense, I suppose, that our mascots were the Spartans and Trojans, respectively. Just as the Greeks and Trojans battled thousands of years ago, our schools fought wars on the football field" (p. 2).

"The second reason the rivalry had grown so huge this year was that over the summer the board of education had redrawn the school district lines to help ease overcrowding at Lacede. Which meant that some of the Lacede students would now be attending Troy High, starting tomorrow.
And the most beautiful girl at Lacede, Elena Argos, was one of those students" (p. 9).

"You haven't broken up with Lucas? But I thought you were so crazy over Perry?"
"I am," Elena said. "I'm going to break up with Lucas before I go out with Perry. I promise. Don't worry, Cassie, I'll treat your brother right.
It wasn't my brother I was worried about" (p. 52).

"Tell your brother that he has no idea what he's started. Steal from me, and you have to deal with every Spartan wanting revenge" (p. 69).

"Who's going to make sure you get back home okay then?" I asked.
Greg puffed out his chest. "I can take care of myself."
"And I can't?" I asked. "What do you think I am, some defenseless little girl?"
"Sorry," Greg said, rolling his eyes. "I didn't mean to offend you. What I meant to say was, let me ride home with you so that I can protect innocent pedestrians from making the mistake of thinking that they could easily overpower a ninja disguised as a five-foot-tall, one-hundred-pound girl" (pp. 144-145).

Tasty Rating: !!!

Surfacing was a nice change for me. When I picked Surfacing up to begin reading it, I honestly had no idea what the story was really about. I sort of just jumped into it. I have to say that I was immediately hooked after reading the first couple of pages. I really enjoyed it, but there were some parts that threw me off and had me annoyed at times, but I will get into that in a bit. When Mara’s mother dies she is sent off to live with her father who is a complete stranger to her. She knows nothing about him or what he is really like. Only what her mother shared with her, and even that wasn’t much. From the first two pages of the story I was already interested and wanted to know what was going to happen. The minute Mara arrives, she quickly learns that there is a huge mystery to the town and there’s obviously something she doesn’t know and no one is willing to share with her. Already half the town dislikes her and she has no clue. They look down on her and her family. The only friends she makes and that her father has are also disliked. With everything she is going through, losing her mother, moving in with a stranger, new town, new friends, that last thing she needs is enemies. Then she meets Josh, one of the “cool” kids and they quickly build a friendship, only it’s a secret friendship. It was just a lot of bad happening to her and if it were me, I would have had a break down. Mara started off as a strong character with a slick mouth and always spoke what was on her mind. She defended herself and she even defended those who weren’t really her friends. She just couldn’t stand bullying. I loved this about her, but then there were times where she would just annoy me. I understand the bitterness towards her father and the pain she is feeling, but at times she lashed out and it just bothered me a bit and felt unnecessary. Another thing that annoyed me a bit was that half the book, or a little more than half, it’s a whole bunch of, “You’re not ready to know the truth” or “It’s not my place to tell you.” After a while I got tired of everyone telling her this and I wanted to know the truth already. Once Mara does finally learn the truth and everything is revealed, the story got even more interesting. I also really liked the relationship Mara had with her friends, and the one she developed with Josh. If there is a second part to Surfacing, I would definitely like to read it. I enjoyed it, but I just wish Mara’s personality stayed consistent. She was up and down for me. There were also lots of moments that took me by surprise. I recommend this story! 3.5 out of 5 stars!

Sometimes, I get in a bit of what I Iike to call, a ‘book funk’, where books that would normally interest me don’t. It doesn’t last long but while it does, I’m usually looking for a light read, paticularly a contemporary romance. Shana Norris’ The Boyfriend Thief is exactly the type of book I was looking for. It’s a super cute and light read that left me with a smile on my face.

Underneath her strong exterior, Avery James is a girl struggling with the abandonment of her mother a few years back. Avery thrives on organization and keeping what’s left of her family together. Everything is perfect, everything is planned. Her goal is to save up enough money to work on a humanitarian program in Costa Rica. She’d love to go this summer, but working at the Diggity Dog only pays so much. Cue Avery’s ex-BFF Hannah. Hannah offers Avery the $500 she needs for Costa Rica, there’s only one little catch. Avery must steal Hannah’s boyfriend first.

Zac, the boyfriend in question, is funny and endearing. No one takes him seriously. Until Avery comes along. They show each other their worlds and ways of doing things. While Zac breaks Avery out of her shell and makes her live a little, she makes him focus and encourages the life he really wants. It’s only right that they find themselves falling in love. Norris has created beautifully flawed, realistic characters that lots of people will find easy to relate to.

After sometime with Zac, Avery comes to terms with her mother’s leaving and learns not everything can be perfect. Hearts are broken and plans unravel. But in the end everything comes together. The Boyfriend Thief is simply adorable but heartbreaking. It’s a fairly quick read, but it’ll leave you wanting more. I’m definitely hoping to see more of the same from Ms. Norris.

Hovering somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. It was SUPER cute, but Avery, the main character, occasionally was a little too uptight/bossy/mistrustful. Still very cute, though, and a great, sweet, easy, quick read.

Troy High is a modern version of Homer’s Iliad. Cassie, a student at Troy High has a best friend/secret crush that attends Lacede High. Cassie and her best friend that attends Laced High, Greg now have been friends for a few years. With these two high schools being rivalries Cassie is going to have to pick between Greg or her brother’s and loyalty towards her school. But to make matters even worse Lacede’s captain cheerleader gets transferred over to Troy, Elena the cheerleader instantly falls in love with Perry, who is Cassie’s older brother.

Cassie and Greg both have older brothers that play for the school football teams, Cassie’s brothers for the Trojans and Greg’s brother for the Spartans. When Elena get’s transferred over to Troy she meets Perry and they fall in love, mind you Elena already has a boyfriend. Lucas Elena’s old boyfriend is Greg’s older brother that plays on the Trojan’s football team.

Troy High and Lacede High both start pulling pranks on the other school. With homecoming being held at both schools, Lacede decides to pull at prank at Troy High that went a little too far… This leaves Cassie with no other choice but to show her loyalty to her school and older brothers.

Overall Troy High was a good book. Shana Norris could have done a better job with the ending though, it was not terrible it just could have been happier. It kind of makes you think the good thing will happen but it doesn’t so it surprised me towards the end. As a young reader I enjoyed this story because it was based off The Trojan war and this gave me a bit more of understanding towards it. I rated this book four stars because it was really funny and had some romance, but it also was a play off of the Trojan war, which interested me.

it is a very dramatic book it a bunch of girls and guys that are just very dramatic and they play on the football field and always prank each other back in forth they are always trying to pick a fight kinda, and the girls are always fighting over guys really and their in high school too its pretty much a boy drama book

itle: Troy High
Author: Shana Norris
Pages: 259
Pub: 2009; Amulet
Genre: Young Adult, Realistic, Mythology
Etc: Odyssey Retelling

The Short of It

High school life mirrors Homer’s Iliad.

The Long of It

Our narrator is Cassie. She’s a shy loner who lives in the shadows of her two older brothers, Hunter and Perry. And then Elena transfers to their school; beautiful Elena who was head cheerleader at Lacede. And even though she doesn’t really HAVE to, she befriends Cassie. Elena decides to ditch her Lacede boyfriend and begin to date egomaniac Perry. There’s a couple of problems with this scenario. One, Elena’s ex’s brother, Greg, is someone that Cassie has been crushin’ on FOREVER and now of course, Greg feels as though he has to side with his bro. And second, Hunter and Perry are football players. They’re the Trojans. They’re long-time opponent and rival school happens to be the one Elena came from. And they’re the Spartans. Ya see the parallels now?

The Thoughts about It

I have to admit readers, it has been a month or so since I read this book. I will admit also that it’s been MUCH longer since I read The Iliad. (Or was it The Odyssey. Am I the only one who gets them confused? Who knows. Maybe I read them both during my earlier lit courses. It seems as though it was probably expected, right?)

I thought this was a cute book. Perfect for my younger middle schoolers who want to read about boy drama. Because, really, it easily reads as that. The students “fight” on the football field and go back and forth pranking each other at school. There were moments when I seriously had flashbacks of Saved By The Bell. (Remember? That episode? Where Zach and the gang put together this prank? And of course it goes bad? And Mr. Belding…oh wait, back to the book).

What I did think to be neat happened AFTER the story was finished. Norris sorta fills in the “how is this relatable to the Illiad”. She identifies leading characters, and who they are in the classic. I TOTALLY dug this. My inner child nerdiness just knows that if it was me, and I was like twelve reading this book, I would immediately seek out The Illiad. And how cool is that? To encourage a youngster to pick up an intimidating piece of literature. Yay for Shana.

Overall, two thumbs up for the light fun reading. Sorry I can’t let you know how accurate it is as a retelling.

Troy High was a mixture of things- humorous, romantic, back-stabbing, and just full of that good old teenage angst. I’ve never read Homer’s Illiad, but it’s fairly easy to see just how much hard work and dedication was put into this novel. I’m considering reading it just to compare, and me reading classic fiction such as that is pretty odd.

Though the characters were a bit cliché, they were wonderfully crafted to make the war between schools even more bitter. My favorite battle was between Cassie, the narrator and her best friend turned crush, Greg. Though Shana wrote based on Illiad, their relationship was reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, which is never a bad thing. (Well .. only if you leave out the tragic ending.)

The pranks and betrayal and anger between the rival schools was incredibly entertaining and enthralling to read about. I read the entire book in one sitting; dying to know what prank one school did to get back at the other.

I don’t really have a lot to say about this one. It was a quick yet extremely entertaining novel. I suggest it to anybody in the mood for a light and comical read!

When I was at BEA, I picked up the ARC of Troy High, which looked cute and fluffy, I finished it last night, and I have to say, while it was both cute and fluffy, it was also smart, and well written. The allusions to the Trojan War were done perfectly, it was a pretty straight on retelling, but the connection didn’t overpower the story, I KNOW the story of the Trojan War, but I still wanted to know what happened in this story, I didn’t assume that since I knew a bit of the Iliad that this one could be written off as predictable.The character of Cassie was well developed and while there were the stereotypical HS characters (pretty cheerleader, jealous football player, outcast...) it's interesting to think of how these stereotypes can be applied to historical and literacy works like the Iliad, if Helen of Troy was alive now it’s not a big leap to assume she would be a popular cheerleader.It was a good read for the mood I have been in, dealing with a Death in the family, my brain couldn’t handle anything too intense or drama filled, but I also can’t read something that is completely devoid of intelligence. This was a perfect fit, a smart, fun, quick read that shows that High School isn’t all that different than War at times...

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

What would happen if you took the story of the Trojan War and set it in a modern-day high school? TROY HIGH does just that as it pits the Trojans against the Spartans starring typical teens in the lead roles of the great old story.

Cassie is a student at Troy High. She keeps herself pretty much out of the action and observes as her two brothers play football and act as big men on campus. Her main interests are playing flute in the band and playing video games with her best friend, Greg. They met two years ago when both their schools attended the same band camp.

There has always been a healthy rivalry between the Trojans at Troy High School and the Spartans from nearby Lacede. Things are different this year, however, because the geographical boundary line between the two school districts was changed, causing a shift in attendance requirements. Some of the Lacede Spartans are now required to attend Troy High. This change has disrupted the students and school loyalty is being tested.

Elena, formerly a Spartan, is now attending Troy. She already was acquainted with Cassie since she dated Greg's older brother. However, on her first day at her new high school, Elena discovers Cassie's brother, Perry. She immediately falls for him and decides to dump her Spartan boyfriend.

Cassie would like to steer clear of the romantic mess since she has some of her own to deal with, but Elena insists on turning their casual friendship into more of a best friend situation. At first, Cassie thinks it is because Elena likes her older brother, but Elena constantly assures her that she is seriously interested in becoming BFFs.

TROY HIGH is not just about romantic interests. The school rivalry heats up and students from both sides begin playing more and more dangerous and destructive pranks. The administrators are not happy with the escalating level of these pranks and threaten to suspend the involved students. The football season is also affected by the rivalry. Players are out not just to win, but to disable their opponents in order to end with a winning record.

Author Shana Norris explains in her author's note the amount of research necessary to make the famous Trojan War story come alive in this modern telling. She also lists the character parallels (Cassie/Cassandra, Greg/Agamemnon, Perry/Paris, Elena/Helen) just to name a few.

Fans of mythology will appreciate the comparisons, but anyone familiar with traditional high school rivalries will find things to like about TROY HIGH.

Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com

Sometimes you just have to have a place to vent, ya know?

That's why Libby Fawcett started her blog. She wrote about her most embarrassing moments, like when she caught her hair on fire in chemistry class right in front of Seth Jacobs! She posted an entry the day she found out her mom was dating someone and that it had been going on for months. She blogged about her morning breath that tasted like she'd "been eating socks" in her sleep and the pimple on her earlobe. And she wrote about her cousin, Roger, who was crushing on her best friend, Keisha. She wrote about everything. And why not? She'd taken precautions. The blog was set to private. No one else could see it. Could they?

Angel Rivera, Libby's sworn enemy, torments Libby on a daily basis at school. When the girls discover their parents are dating one another, the harassment escalates. When Libby finds herself suspended after one of Angel's pranks, she realizes that she's being used to help break up their parents. Does she really want to cause her mother that much pain? Doing the right thing becomes even more difficult after Angel manages to turn the entire school against Libby.

SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT by Shana Norris is funny and engaging, a wonderful glimpse into the topsy-turvy emotions of a teen in love, who's also dealing with a parent who's dating and in love. I was only a few chapters in when my twelve-year-old daughter snagged my copy and read it straight through. She loved it! This first novel by Shana Norris is definitely "SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT!"