Items being reviewed must meet the following criteria:

• Must be available through Port Colborne Public Library or a participating LINC library.
• Must be an appropriate reading level.
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• Must be at least 250 words in length (or longer).
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All I Want for Christmas by Wendy Loggia is a light, festive young-adult Christmas romance that follows Baily Briggs, a teen who loves all things Christmas. The novel is set during the weeks leading up to Christmas, making it a perfect cheerful and cozy holiday read.

The story features Bailey Briggs, a teenage girl who works at a local bookstore and absolutely loves Christmastime. She enjoys all holiday activities, including skating, baking, sledding, and spending quality time with family. This holiday season, Bailey is hoping for the perfect holiday kiss from her long-time crush, Jacob Marley. However, this year brings unexpected challenges important decision-making when it comes to love.

Bailey has crush on Jacob Marley, a local boy who is known to be player. At the same time, Baily accidentally meets a new boy named Charlie, with has a charming British accent and is visiting for the holidays. As far as she is concerned, he appears perfect in every way. The story highlights the contrast between someone familiar and someone new, and highlights Bailey’s uncertainty about love. Bailey begins to experience mixed emotions and confusion which leads to her reflecting on want she really wants in a relationship. While she desperately wants that perfect kiss under the mistletoe, she realizes she has some important decisions to make.

Overall, this novel is an enjoyable and relaxing read that is perfect for the holiday season. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy light romance and holiday-themed novels, especially during the winter months. I would rate this novel 4.5 stars.

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Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King (Reviewed by MD)

There has been a string of gruesome murders in the sleepy town of Tarker’s Mills, Maine, and, strangely enough, they have only been occurring on the nights of full moons. Everyone in the town suspects a regular man, a vagabond, perhaps, of being the killer. That is, until an eleven-year-old boy named Marty comes face-to-face with the killer and finds that he is no ordinary man, but a werewolf. Gaining the reputation as the boy who literally cried werewolf after having fought him off, he made it his secret mission to hunt down the werewolf once and for all.

I found the structure of the book unique, as it takes on a sort of calendar-style format where each chapter occurs in a different month. This formatting kept the book at a fast pace, as we weren’t waiting for the werewolf to attack, as we more or less start every chapter on the night of a full moon. However, the first several chapters felt like fodder, with characters being introduced only to be immediately killed afterwards.

Marty, the young main protagonist, also happens to be in a wheelchair. A recurring issue throughout the novel was the boy’s family’s brash insults about Marty’s disability. Often, the insults were so absurd and nearly comical that my focus was taken from the book, and I was unable to really relate to any of the characters. While King’s intentions were to flesh out a more sympathetic character in Marty, I feel as though these lines of dialogue served no real purpose in furthering the plot of the book.

Overall, this book would be a 3.25/5 star rating for me. This likely is not a book I would have chosen to pick up had it not been penned by the King of Horror.

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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Reviewed by MD)

In Panem, the former site of North America, there is a very wealthy city surrounded by twelve districts, known as the Capitol. Each year, the Capitol hosts the Hunger Games, a brutal, heavily televised event where two teens from each of the twelve districts will be chosen to fight to the death. The Games are used by the Capitol as a tool to instill fear in the Districts, by reminding them of what happens to those who rebel against them. By the end of the Games, there is expected to be only one victor. The victor of the Games will be rewarded with fame, riches, and extra food for their district.

The plot centers around 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who has been anointed the female tribute from District 12 after volunteering to take her sister’s place in the Games. A skilled hunter, Katniss still lacks the training that some of the tributes from the wealthier district had. District 12 is viewed as the loser district, as their only victor in the past thirty years is the town drunk. Before leaving for the Games, Katniss’ little sister, Prim, makes her promise that she will win so she can come home.

I found that Suzanne Collins’ greatest strength in her writing was her ability to humanize her characters even while slaughtering them like animals. Even through all the action of the back-to-back killings, Collins managed to make all of the characters easy to empathize with. A lot of the books I read have some sort of bloodbath within its pages, and this writing feature distinguishes The Hunger Games from other books I have read.

There are also some parallels that can be drawn between Panem and our reality. The Capitol prohibits any communication between each of the Districts, creating a divide between them. This is similar to the divide that the elite in the world try to put between the average citizens, making them believe that they’re enemies and not allies by pitting them against each other.

The Hunger Games is the first book I have read in a long time that I have rated a full 5/5 stars. This is a series that has been on my to-read list for a long time now, and I am kicking myself for not having read it earlier. The novel is a modern classic and should be regarded as essential reading for everyone of all ages.

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