Divergent by Veronica Roth

I really enjoyed this book! I heard from a friend that this was the next Hunger Games series, and I completely agree. I read this book on the flight back from Israel and was entralled. Couldn't stop reading to take the nap that I needed! This will be a trilogy, but the next book is not out yet. Here is the summary from Amazon:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

Read: July 2011

Next Up: Northanger Abbey (How's that for a change?)

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

Did you read Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? What about the other three Traveling Pants books? Did you at least see the movie? Even though I was too old for them, I loved the Traveling Pants books and movies about four girls, their friendship and their crazy traveling pants.

Sisterhood Everlasting picks up with Carmen, Tibby, Lena and Bee 10 years later, as they are approaching 30. Each of the original books had a few heavy topics woven through the plot - heartbreak, death, divorce - so I shouldn't have been surprised that Sisterhood Everlasting had that too. It was pretty heavy, particularly since I thought it would be summer fluff. I don't want to give anything away, but it was good to see where the girls ended up. Mistakes they made, how they grew apart and how they came back together. In the end, it is a touching re-affirmation of friendship and what it really means. Oh, and it makes you want to call your BFFs for coffee asap.

Read: July 2011 in Israel
Next up: Divergent