Just right for kids

Price: Rs 499

Suitable for: 13+

Any high-school teenager will tell you that life isn’t all ha ha hee hee. There are boyfriend issues to be sorted (breaking up on Facebook,anyone?),weight problems to be managed (one just cannot go beyond a size two jeans,you know!),cool parties to wrangle an invite to and if that isn’t enough,your parents’ fragile relationships with each other and their new partners to be negotiated.

It’s winter break during junior year in posh Rosewood Academy in Pennsylvania. But life for Hanna Marin,Emily Fields,Spencer Hastings and Aria Montgomery is not without its daily dose of worry. Hanna’s nerdy boyfriend Lucas is off on a two-week break to Yucatan with his family and friends. But he has in tow his childhood friend Brooke and her family,who think the two should eventually get married. Emily’s “Christmas-zilla” mom is livid about a group of girls,who go by the name of Merry Elves,having supposedly stolen her precious Baby Jesus heirloom. She wants Emily to infiltrate the group and catch them in the act,so she signs her up to play Santa in the local mall. Aria’s Icelandic boyfriend Halbjorn lands up in Pennsylvania on a visa that expires in a week. He is on the run from the police back home for protesting against the demolition of a puffin colony. Aria has to think up a way to keep him out of trouble,and in the US. Spencer’s perfect Florida break goes awry when she discovers that the gorgeous tennis player Colin she has fallen for is married. Unknown to the girls,a stalker marks their every move,gathering fodder for blackmail.

Stunning,the next book in the Pretty Little Liars series,is slotted for a June release,until then this will keep the attention firmly on the girls and their (mis)adventures,and on a new extortionist,whose identity remains a secret.

Book: Dead Reckoning

Price: Rs 595

Suitable for: 13+

Merlotte,the bar where Sookie Stackhouse works,is firebombed and the fictitious town of Bon Temps in Louisiana is once again in the midst of intrigue. As the feisty,telepathic,cocktail waitress (who is also the heroine of HBO’s popular series True Blood) works her way through the mystery,she realises that there’s more trouble brewing: Victor Madden,representative of the vampire king Felipe de Castro,is challenging her lover Eric Northman’s position as vampire sheriff of Louisiana Area Five. If these weren’t worrying enough,Amelia Broadway,the witch landlady of her now-dead cousin Hadley,comes down for a visit and begins meddling with Sookie’s relationship with Eric,while old flame Bill Compton and werewolf Alcide Herveaux keep proclaiming their love for her.

Yet,for someone known to be outspoken,the hot-tempered but loyal Sookie seems somewhat subdued in this 11th adventure of the Southern Vampire series as she grapples with relationships and moral values. In the end,she comes to terms with the gray nature of the universe,even of one peopled with vampires,shape-shifters,fairies and elves.