Strangers in Paradise: High School! by Terry Moore
Francine and Katchoo have always been a study in contrasts. Francine is soft, chubby, and flighty, prone to fits of giddiness and a constant worrier. Katchoo is hard, lean, and dangerous, prone to fits of violence, and constantly vigilant. That these two should be best friends baffles, until you delve into their high school years.

For Francine, torture came in the forms of being a klutz, always being the odd one out, being the starry-eyed romantic when she's just a chubby girl on the fringe. Francine has a family who loves her, a mother who feeds her whenever something goes wrong, a father who spends an awful lot of time at the office, and a brother more interested in college life than his little sister.
Katchoo, on the other hand, is a self-declared outcast. She smokes, she rides a motorcycle, she is just as likely to punch you as to acknowledge you, and generally has no use for the people serving the same four-year term at puncture high. But where Francine's family provides (in their own way) comfort when the chips are down, Katchoo's family is likely to be the reason the chips are down.

Maybe it's not so surprising that these two girls find one another, and take solace in beig outcasts together.

I have heard about Moore's series but never read any before. So now I need to figure out how to read them and start from the first volume.

Charm City by Laura Lippman

Business tycoon "Wink" Wynkowski is trying to bring pro basketball back to town, and everybody's rooting fro him -- until a devastating, muckraking expose of his lurid past appears on the front page of the Baltimore Beacon-Light. It's a surprise even to the Blight's editors, who thought they'd killed the piece. Instead, the piece killed Wink -- who's found in his garage with the car running.

Now the paper wants to nail the unknown computer hacker who planted the lethal story, and the assignment is right up the alley of a former newshound like Tess. But it doesn't take long for her to discover deeper, darker secrets, and to realize that this situation is really more about whacking than hacking.

We see more development of her relationship with several characters including her parents. We see more of Uncle Spike (who may not even be related to anyone) who has been found beaten to a pulp in his bar, leaving him in a coma. He left Tess his very bow-beaten greyhound who she finds herself nursing back to health.

The mystery is kind of not the most important thing as the person who ended up doing was kind of far fetched and I didn't see it coming. But I find myself wanting to know more about Tess and her friends and family. So I'll keep reading the next one.

Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich
This is a "between-the-numbers" Stephanie Plum novel. Stephanie already has two guys in her life (cop Joe Morelli and bounty hunter Ranger), reconnects with Diesel, a third heartthrob. Diesel offers Stephanie a deal: if he lets her find Annie Hart, a relationship coach who's become a big-ticket bond on Stephanie's Most Wanted List after fleeing a charge for a robbery she didn't commit, then Stephanie can do Annie a big favor by playing Cupid for a number of Annie's lovelorn clients, including a shy butcher, a desperate vet, an overworked single mom, a 30-something virgin and the marriage-phobic fellow who just happens to be Stephanie's pregnant sister's boyfriend. Diesel and Stephanie's short but sweet adventure ends on a teasing note that will leave fans hungry for the next juicy Plum-a-thon.

More of a novela than a full fledged novel it is still packed with laugh-out-loud moments. I felt kind of let down by the ending but it's no more a cliff-hanger than the previous books. So we'll see what comes out this summer. If Diesel is still around or left behind.

Dream Angus: The Celtic God of Dreams (Myths, The)
by Alexander McCall Smith

A contemporary, lyrical retelling of the ancient tale of Angus, Celtic god of dreams and love. This is the latest entry in Canongate's Myth series, featuring such literary notables as Margaret Atwood, Chinua Achebe, and Karen Armstrong.

Angus is the son of chief Celtic god Dagda and Boann, a water nymph. Soon after his birth, the infant is snatched up by his formidable father and delivered to Dagda's other son, Midir, to be raised. Too young to know better, Angus assumes his brother is his father. The clever boy soon learns the truth and plays a trick on his self-absorbed dad. Alongside this playful plot, McCall Smith weaves modern-day yarns in which well-intentioned (and often devious) Angus transforms troubled lives: he remedies a newlywed couple's rocky start; bonds two beloved Scottish brothers, soon to be separated by thousands of miles; and quietly intercedes to prevent a father and son from coming to blows.

This was very different than previous novels by Smith. It felt kind of disjointed yet not at the same time. I've read most of his other series and I liked how this had a different voice. I cannot exactly say it was my favorite but it was good. I don't know how he finds time to write all that he does.

Higher Power of Lucky written by Susan Patron

2007 Newbery winner
When 10 year old, Lucky's mother is electrocuted and dies after a storm, Lucky's absentee father calls his ex-wife, Brigitte, to fly over from France to take care of the child. Two years later, the 10-year-old worries that Brigitte is tired of being her guardian and of their life in Hard Pan (pop. 42) in the middle of the California desert. While Lucky's best friend ties intricate knots and the little boy down the road cries for attention, she tries to get some control over her life by restocking her survival kit backpack and searching for her Higher Power and by eavesdroping on 12-step program meetings from her hiding place behind Hard Pan’s Found Object Wind Chime Museum & Visitor Center. Eccentric characters and quirky details spice up Lucky’s life just as her guardian Brigitte’s fresh parsley embellishes her French cuisine.

This was a lovely story. Sometimes I read the latest Newbery and say, ok, it was good - quirky and different. This one is all of those thing but it also has such a quiet feel to it. More descriptive than dialog and I think that is what makes it work so well. You feel like you are there with her in the heat and wind. This is truly a character who makes a difference in the lives around her. You want her to succeed and find happiness. Her worries became mine and I wanted her to find security.

Legend of Banzai Maguire by Susan Grant

1st in the 2176 series
We start in 2006 as U.S. Air Force fighter Bree "Bonzai" Maguire is preparing for a routine patrol between North and South Korea. She feels a shiver of apprehension and soon finds her foreboding to be well founded when she and her wingman, Cam, are trapped by a mad scientist and frozen alive—until treasure hunter Ty Armstrong rescues her 170 years later. Bree awakens to a new era in human history, one enhanced by advanced technologies but bereft of freedom. Almost immediately, Bree is stolen from Ty by the prince of the Kingdom of Asia, Kyber, who offers her innumerable luxuries. Bree knows, however, that she's little more than a treasured pet to him. Desperate to find her wingman, Bree turns to Ty, but she soon learns that he's as helpless as she and that his country, formerly the U.S. but now the bloated and unstable United Colonies of Earth, is even worse than Kyber's benevolent dictatorship.

Both are told to watch the shadows and sure enough when the mysterious Shadow voice takes over all communications Ty and Bree use the opportunity to escape to find out who and what the shadow voice is all about. Unfortunately we don't learn too much about that part as there are 4 more books in the series. I read the 2nd one first so know more about the Shadow people from book 2 - Day of Fire by Kathleen Nance which gives us more info about Canada, which because of the plague are shut off from the rest of the world.

I have enjoyed both books and it is interesting to have different authors write each book. The 1st and 5th book are both written by Grant. I'm already wanting to read book 3!

Hopeless Savages by Jen Van Meter, Christine Norrie & Chynna Clugston-Major

Story follows the members of the Hopeless-Savage family. Parents Dirk Hopeless and Nikki Savage are old-school punks who were part of the 70's punk scene. They married and moved to the suburbs to raise their children. The thread running throughout the stories is a family which superficially doesn't fit the "norm" but which can still stand together and function better than most "normal" families.

This storyline deals with Dirk and Nikki being kidnapped and their children trying to find them. They suspect it has something to do with their parents' past; so Arsenal, Twitch, and Zero first track down their older brother Rat, who they believe would know more about the situation but who left the family ten years earlier. Zero is at first reluctant to find him, feeling betrayed when he left. They finally locate him using their father's real name as a pseudonym and working at a trendy coffee company's corporate office, Monjava (a company resembling Starbucks). After attempting to de-program him they unravel the mystery of their parents' abduction, which stems back to copyright issues and Dirk's embarrassing past as a teen idol. Lots of kicking butt ensues. But most importantly will Skank get to her gig in time?

Rat Bastard's the eldest of the Hopeless-Savage children. At age fifteen he was rejected by a girl he was dating, prompting him to renounce his punk roots and move away from home.
Arsenal Fierce, second-oldest, runs a martial arts dojo and lives with her boyfriend Claude Shi, a fashion designer.

Twitch Strummer, third-oldest, works as an artist and dates Claude's younger brother Henry Shi, whom he dated in high school before breaking up to go to college. Unlike the rest of his family, Twitch identifies more with mod culture rather than punk. He sometimes exhibits hyper-active tendencies which some theorize is the result of controlled substances (he jokes about being on crack early in the first issue) and sometimes will work all night on a project without sleep.

Skank Zero is the youngest sibling and main protagonist of the series; most of the stories unfold around Zero. As a high school student, she's the only member of the family who's still in school. Zero fronts a band called the Dusted Bunnies and wants to study filmmaking as a "backup plan".

A fun interesting series. More out there from what I've read so will try the next edition to get a better idea. Skank's outbursts get a bit old for me.