UNCHAINED by L.B. Tillit-REVIEW

TJ has had a rough life. Both his parents have been hooked on drugs since he was a baby. He's been neglected for as long as he can remember. Being left on his own most of the time it's no surprise he comes into contact with the gangs of the community. He is just about to get heavily involved when disaster strikes at home and he is removed by Child Protective Services and placed in a foster home.

When TJ moves in with Miss Dixie, he is introduced to a world like he never knew existed. There, he learns what family is supposed to be and what is really important in life.

Eventually TJ's mother gets her act together enough to get TJ back. When he goes home his old friends are waiting for him to pick up right where he left off.

Will TJ be able to resist the world of fast money and dangerous people after knowing what life is supposed to be like and how family is supposed to behave?

UNCHAINED is a fast read from the Saddleback Gravel Road series. It is considered a Hi-Lo book - High interest, Low reading level. Hi-Lo books aren't usually very good, but this one is definitely worth reading.

VARIANT by Robison Wells-REVIEW

Benson Fisher has finally found the educational experience he’s been looking for. As a foster kid who has been bounced from home to home for all of his life, he’s never had a chance to stay at a school for very long. He wants to make something out of his life. He wants to learn. He is sick of the competing for learning with the deadbeats at school who don’t want to learn. He applied for the scholarship to Maxfield Academy as part of an outreach program for foster kids and got accepted. He couldn’t wait for his life to change.

It doesn’t take long for him to realize he made a very big mistake.

Maxfield Academy doesn’t have any adults on campus. All the teaching is done by the students. The day begins with announcements from a man the students call the Iceman. Once announcements are over the daily schedule appears on the screen. The schedule is different every day. Sometimes classes may start at 7 AM – sometimes they may start at 1:00 PM. There is no way of knowing.

This might not sound so bad. Follow the rules and everything will be okay. But, things can’t be right if the students are locked in can they? And what about the students that disappear and never come back after going to detention? What kind of school has students acting as security guards patrolling the perimeter of the property on 4 wheelers? Why is Benson the only one who wants to escape?

VARIANT is twisted! Usually I can kind of see where the story is going, but this one was very hard to predict. There were a couple of things that REALLY surprised me. The ending absolutely left me going, “W-W-What????” I’m definitely interested to see what happens in the sequel. I can’t even guess!!! ARGH!!!!

Language Content=Some
Sexual Content=None
Violence Content=There is fighting that gets pretty bloody