SSOJ Blogs

Beautiful Liars by Isabel Ashdown is a thrilling story that contains many twists and secrets. Beautiful Liars takes place many years after a girl named Juliet goes missing in London. The main characters are Juliet’s two friends, Martha and Liv. When Juliet first went missing, the two girls kept Juliet’s secrets, that could have possibly been connected to where Juliet was. Martha and Liv soon went their separate ways and Juliet’s case was soon given up on. Many years later, when Martha is a TV celebrity, she decides to create a detective show involving real cases. The first case she decides to attempt to crack was Juliet’s. Martha wants to get in contact with Liv by sending her a letter, however Liv no longer lives in that residence. The second perspective we read from is Casey’s. Readers don’t quite know who Casey is at first or why she is so interested in Juliet’s case. Readers do find out within the first chapters that Casey lives in Liv’s old residence and receives Martha’s letter....

       Five Feet Apart is a realistic fiction romantic novel. Much of the plot is based on a disease that the main characters have. It is called Cystic Fibrosis, or CF. It affects the lungs and digestive system. The main aspect of CF is the large excess amount of mucus the body creates. You must stay six feet apart from any other individual with CF. This is because if a patient were to catch a cough or spread germs to another CFer, they would get very sick and possibly die.          The main character of this novel is named Stella. She has Cystic Fibrosis and has thought of Saint Grace Hospital as a second home since she was six. She regularly comes in for even the slightest cold as a precaution for her health. She is very strict about her regimen (which is like a schedule/ to do list of medications and treatments) and staying alive, for the sake of her parents. Her older sister who she was super close with died recently at a young age in ...

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon follows a 17-year-old girl named Maddy who has severe combined immunodeficiency. She lives with her mother in a place that is constantly sanitized. The only other interactions she has with Carla, her nurse. After noticing a new boy named Oliver who moves next door, Maddy finds herself yearning for a new friend. Oliver (who goes by Olly) makes several attempts to meet Maddy, without knowing of her illness. Maddy finds a way for them to communicate using email and finds herself slowly wanting to have a face-to-face conversation with him. Carla notices her connection with Olly after Maddy spends more hours on her electronic devices. Wanting a more in-person relationship with Olly, Maddy begs Carla to let them meet in person. Reluctantly, Carla makes sure that Olly is sanitized and lets him into the house. She forbids any sort of contact between them, fearful that Maddy might become very sick. After Maddy talks to Olly face-to-face, she finds herself...