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     Surrender, by Sonya Hartnett, is about the relationship between two boys Anwell (renamed Gabriel), and Finnigan. They made a boyhood pact that Gabriel would be an angel, he would only do good things, and Finnigan would only do bad things. Thier relationship is very twisted and confusing. The two will be friends one minute, and then they'll hate eachother the next. Finnigan seems to enjoy hurting Gabriel, making him revisit the mistake he made when he was younger. The boys are complete opposites. Gabriel comes from a stifling home, and Finnigan doesn't seem to have one. Gabriel knows right from wrong, but to Finnigan, it's all the same. And Gabriel knows how to love others, which is something that eludes Finnigan. Half of this story is written in flashbacks, showing the entier childhood of the two boys, and the other half is in the present, spanning one day, where Finnigan lives just as wild as always, while Gabriel is slowly dying. I enjoyed reading this book, but it was sort of hard to understand what was going on. The author didn't do anthing to differentiate between what was a flashback and what was in the present. The ending, though very poetic, is confusing, and doens't wrap anything up.

     The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris, follows Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee. A serial murderer, named "Buffalo Bill" has started killing and skinning 'bigger' young women. Starling is chosen by her supervisor, Jack Crawford, to interview the sociopathic psychologist Dr. Hannibal Lecter. From their first meeting, Starling and Lecter have chemistry. The two characters work very well together, and conversations flow smoothly and are easy to follow. Lecter, for the most part, seems to enjoy talking to Starling, if only just to play with her head. He gives her clues to catch the killer, just little bits of information here and there, that Starling has to piece together if she wants to stop the murders. Some parts of this book are definitely scary enough to give you goosebumps.

     I would recommend this book to anyone who saw the movie and loved it (the book is SO much better), or anyone who likes reading horror/mystery books. But probably only high school students should read this. There is some mature content, but nothing extreme. There is some FBI lingo, but it doesn't make the book hard to read. There are just enough characters to give the story a little flavor, but not so many that you forget who people are. I give this book a 9 out of 10. Read it if you get the chance!

     Thirteen Moons, by Charles Frazier is about the life and adventures of a boy named Will. his parents died when he was young, so he lives with his aunt and uncle, who, early in the story, send him away into the wilderness to run a trading post. There he befriends the local indians, and one of them, Bear, becomes a father-figure to him. He works at the trading post for a few years, until he saves up enough money to buy it, at which point he starts to travel. Will loves to learn, and he teaches himself French so he can read French poems. During his travels, he gets introduced to the court system, and eventually teaches himself how to be a lawyer. This is a very important development for him because about halfway through, the indians that have become Will's family are being evacuated from their mountain homes and forced to move west. Through the story, Will is in love with a girl named Claire, and he spends a lot of his free time at her house and horseback riding with her. Thirteen Moons quickly turns into a tragety, though. Will longs to be able to live in peace with the indians in River Valley, and he is entierly devoted to Claire, but both things seem to always be just outside his reach. There's always something in his way.

      I would have to give this book a 7 out of 10. This book was beautifully written, but there was too much detail. I'm sure some people like to read books like that, but I was easily distracted reading this. The characters are developed, but there isn't any connection to them. When bad things happened to the people in this book, I didn't care. The only thing that saved this book from being completely horrible is some of the scenes that are described. Reading some of the paragraphs, it's almost like you're right in the middle of what is happening.

This is a depressing but really good book all at the same time. It has true series of true stories with life lessons to match. Most stories are sad. But they are real these things happen, and to tell you the truth sometimes they're for the best. There are also a number of topics to choose from a few e.g. drugs/alcohol, self exeptance, family matters, suicide, tragety (bad choices/outcomes), abuse, courage,learning lessons the hard way, and so many other topics. But on top of this they have poems that people have written to this company expressing their veelings, etc. It has hotlines for those that are experiencing problems as well as other contacts (e.g. agencies).

It was a sad book with good intentions. and to tell you the truth I think you should give it a try.is you want to I have the book and will let you borrow it because it helped me. I realized what I had compared to so many others, I realized what I was giving up when others had so much worse. So I support all those who read it.