Jennifer Ziegler

I really enjoyed this MG read. This was about a boy who is a bit of an outcast and has one friend. He's trying to deal with the upheaval in his personal and family life because his mother had a stroke. He has to learn to deal with his Aunt living with them to help his Mom to recover from her stroke and with his mother being a whole different person, he has to adjust to who she is and having a relationship with his Aunt as his mother figure.
As his life and living situation has been turned upside down, he doesn't have his own space and has to find another place to do his studying and homework. He ends up in a bookstore at a shopping center nearby and makes a deal with the bookstore owner to spend a couple of afternoons a week studying and doing homework. Then after a while, a girl he likes is talking about needing a place for a writing/book club and he offers to talk to the bookstore owner for her and her group to meet there. Then it turns into him and his friends trying to save the bookstore and figuring out about his new life and finding himself and figuring things out.
I won this in a giveaway. All thoughts and opinions are my own.… (més)

Worser (short for William Wyatt Orser) is a boy of logic and exacting vocabulary and grammar, to the point that he frequently polices other people's errors. His only friend at school is Herbie and they don't even get together outside of school. Back at home, Aunt Iris is the caretaker for his mother who suffered a stroke. Iris' flamboyant and artistic ways, and the sudden loss of the mother he knew upend Worser's stability. He believes he's found a safe place with the school's Literary Club, led by his crush Donya. But life has a way of overturning Worser's need for control in a shattered world. This book is a hilarious and tender treatment of change and loss. Worser seems to have it all together but the story is nicely nuanced to show that he doesn't, that loss materializes in various ways for different people. It's a story to reach the heart.… (més)

Meet Jennifer at TLA.

For Daphne, the glass is always half full, a situation is better managed with a dab of lip gloss, and the boy of her dreams—the one she's read about in all of her novels—is waiting for her just around the corner.
For Gabby, nothing ever works out positively; wearing any form of makeup is a waste of study time, and boys will only leave you heartbroken. Her best friend, Mule, is the only one who has been there for her every step of the way.
But when the richest boy in town befriends Gabby, and Daphne starts to hang out more and more with her best and only friend, Mule, Gabby is forced to confront the emotional barriers she has put up to stop the hurting. And for once, her sassiness may fall prey to her definition of stupidity.… (més)

Seventeen-year old Katie isn’t used to being in control. Her mother drives her crazy with her constant criticism and advice, and her boyfriend of two years just destroyed her whole world by dumping her on her birthday. It’s just as well that Katie’s headed to a summer program at the University of Texas in Austin–at least there, she can get over Chuck at her own pace. But Austin holds its own challenges–like Christine, a cooler-than-thou roommate whose rocker boyfriend is permanently camped out on the couch. When Christine drags Katie to the city pound to check out a potential pet, it’s Katie who’s mesmerized by a pair of brown doggie eyes. Before she can think it through, she’s standing out on the curb with her adorable new dog, Seamus.

There’s only one problem: Seamus is a holy terror. He chews up the apartment, barks maniacally, terrorizes their landlady’s cat, and seems destined to keep the cutest guy in their building at arm’s length. When Katie takes Seamus in for obedience training, she’s told, “You have to be the alpha dog.”

The alpha dog. The head of the pack. Katie has never wielded much power before, but she finds that being top dog can be addictive. Soon she’s acting the alpha dog in every phase of her life, and nothing will ever be the same.… (més)