Reality Boy by A.S. King

Amazing book.
When Gerald was five years old, his family starred in a reality TV show. One of those ones where a nanny is brought in to help the family with their unruly children. Because Gerald, at age five, chose to take out his frustrations by pooping in various places - like on the dining table, in his mom's shoes, etc... he was the focus of the show and the "problem child". In reality, his behavior was due to the horrible dysfunctionality of his family - especially his older sister.
At age 17, Gerald is often called the Crapper and has problems in school as well as his family life. Then, Hannah, the junkman's daughter, a coworker and classmate of his befriends him. Romance blooms and the two dysfunctional teens help one another to overcome their insane families and find normality. The book is touching and funny and sad and just awesome. I highly recommend it!

The Passage by Justin Cronin

The military has endorsed development of a virus that was found in the Amazon jungle with bats that made people vicious and strong and unkillable - until they died. So, they used death row convicts to experiment on to try to make the virus safer to make an army of unkillable killing machines. Except of course, it backfired, unleashing the virus and the 12 killers into the world causing an apocalypse leaving the world a dangerous place full of vicious virals. Except for Amy, who was injected with the virus at age 6, with the lowest dosage, which made her the key to curing the whole thing. The author spent the first one third of the very long book introducing this along with Carter, the 12th convict injected, and the only innocent man from death row, and we don't hear from him again - perhaps he will be important in later books.
Honestly, this could have been done in one or two chapters rather than the whole first third of the book.
Then, it is almost 100 years later and we are with a colony of people who are dependent upon an aging and dying electrical system to light up the colony at night and keep the virals away. The last two thirds of the book deals with these characters and they run into Amy, who has now aged to about 14 due to the age slowing properties of the virus. Together, a group of young people and Amy travel to find other people and find a way to stop the virals.
There are two more books after this.
I got the second one.
It is really long.
No surprise.
The last one is not written yet.
I bet it will be long.

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Oh dear. This was a difficult book for me. I did not like the main character Victoria, or her foster mother, Elizabeth. The story is well written and drew me in at first and I found it fascinating and difficult to put down because I wanted to find out what was going on. Then it became difficult to read because I realized what was going on. Victoria, who had spent her entire life in the foster care system after being abandoned as an infant had her last chance to be adopted at age 10 by a woman named Elizabeth. The story is told in flashbacks from Victoria's adult life beginning at age 18 back to her childhood then her year spent with Elizabeth. While I understood Victoria's childhood decisions, I was appalled by some of her actions that she took as an adult. The book is wonderfully written and I understand why many people like it, but at the same time, it was also very difficult. I enjoyed seeing the different meanings of flowers and thought that was an interesting thing to include.

My Story by Elizabeth Smart with Chris Stewart

I found this to be a very moving book. Elizabeth tells the story of her kidnapping and the nine months she spent captive.  She is quite defensive and that definitely shows and it is a bit sad that she feels the need to be so defensive, but her story is well told and very inspirational. It is a quick read and it is inspirational that throughout her 9 month ordeal, Elizabeth felt strengthened by the Lord and that she is now helping other people who have been abused to recover.

Far Shore (The After Series book 3) by Traci L. Slatton

Another fantastic book! I was having technical difficulties and could not get the book onto my kindle and I could not wait for my husband to get home and help me so I sat at my computer and read the whole book in the last few hours. Now my neck hurts, but it was worth it. Emma battles to save Arthur, and help her friends and together they hope to find a way to end the mists that have destroyed so much. Great story and makes you really think about things. I look forward to the next book!                  

Cold Light (After Trilogy, #2) by Traci L. Slatton

In Canada, 16 months since she got home, Emma's life is once again shattered as raiders capture her 9 year old daughter, Beth. Following her husband, Haywood's precognition, Emma walks through the sub-freezing wasteland to rescue her child. When she reaches the Outpost, she finds that Arthur and her friends from Europe have crossed the ocean to get her. Emma is torn between her love for Arthur and her husband and family. Together, they go to rescue Beth. More adventure, friendship, love, sorrow, and paranormal abilities abound in this fantastic second book. Looking forward to the third book!

Fallen (After Trilogy, #1) by Traci L. Slatton

I was given a free copy of this book to review and I was just totally blown away by it! I could not put it down. It is an adult dystopian romance novel with a strong kick-ass woman protagonist who is also a mom. When a mysterious mist begins killing everyone and destroying all things made of metal, Emma, and her 5 year old daughter are in France, while her husband and older daughter are in Canada, one of the few areas of the world that seems to be safe from the mist. Emma is a survivor and as she wanders through the dystopian world, she takes in and cares for several children who she finds. When she runs into a group of men who seem well fed and whom her psychic child tells her have a good camp, she and the children join them and she joins Arthur, their leader. Battling cannibals and other roving insane people, captured by a psychotic Russian man and his camp, Emma proves herself to be a useful survivor due to the healing ability that she acquired after the mists came. With romance, action, surprising plot twists and a fantastic plot, this it a totally captivating story. I have already started the second book in the series and cannot put it down either. I totally recommend this series!