Converted

On goodreads one will find some reviews for Conversion that are really good and one will find some that are very critical.  While I didn't give this book a 5, I did give it a 4.  I thought it was really good!  I thought the main characters were real.  And I learned stuff, too!

Like the real Salem Witch Trials didn't happen in present day Salem, MA. They happened in current-day Danvers, then Salem Village.  The book also points out that The Crucible is not really about the witch trials, but rather about social life in the 1950s and McCarthyism.
This book is set in both the 1690s in Salem Village and also in the 2010s in Danvers.  Back and forth it goes, the Salem story dealing with the witch trials and the contemporary story dealing with accusations and love and heartache and stress of the senior years of highly competitive girls at a highly competitive Roman Catholic school.
Good stuff.  I really did like this one.  It was an original take on a topic that has had a lot of play.
I also learned what Conversion Disorder is!

Sewickley!

I was actually sitting in my car, in Sewickley, just before work, listening to Wolf Hollow when I heard the narrator say, "Moreover, we did eat at Lancaster's in Sewickley twice a year."
That was very exciting!   Because I didn't realize that the book was set in Pennsylvania before hearing that!  Later on the book does make mention of Pittsburgh and Aliquppa, too.  But it was very exciting to hear "Sewickley" while in Sewickley!
Wolf Hollow is getting Newbery buzz.  And I did like Wolf Hollow.  And I do wonder if it will win the Newbery.  But man, it just wasn't all I thought it would be.
I agree with people who have said it was reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird. But that's the thing, it was a too too too much like TKAM.  And it also was a little too much like Stepping on the Cracks.  To be totally WOW for me.  I wasn't sucked in or blown away.  But it was good.  It just wasn't WOW.  3 of 5 stars for me.

Powerful Read

The Truth about Alice is one of best books I have read in a long time.  It takes place in a small town in Texas, but it could take place anywhere.  Its due out later this year and tells the story of power of rumor.
Alice Franklin was never one of the super popular girls in school, but she had friends and boyfriends, too.  One night after a party given by the most popular girl in school, Elaine, the most popular guy in school, Brandon, tells everyone that Alice slept with him and a college student on the same evening.  Alice becomes the school slut, but it gets much worse.  Brandon is killed in a car accident a few days later and now that he is gone everyone blames Alice for this death.  She is made a complete outcast.
The book is told from the POV of Elaine, Kelsie, Kurt, a shy kid with no social standing, Alice's former friend and Josh who was Brandon's best friend.  A really tough but great book.  The characters are real even and not stereotypical even though there is the whole super popular guy, super popular girl, nerd guy, side-kick going on.  I really like what Elaine has to say about wanting to stay in her whom town.  "Despite how odd this year has been in many ways, the thing is, I like it here and I don't ever want to leave.  I want to go to UT and then marry a guy who wants to stay in Healy forever and I want him to take over the business from my dad and I'll help run it, and I want to have a daughter who's just like me, and I'll join Healy Boosters and be the dance squad mom and help out during the Christmas Carnival and all of that.  I know what you are thinking.  So lame.  So small town.  But why is it lame?  Why is it lame to want to be in a place that feels safe to you and that you like?"