Strange Weather by Joe Hill is an anthology of four short stories. These stories are based on the four seasons.

The first story "Snapshot" is about a a young teen named, Michael. He finds that a woman he knows has been dealing with issues of Alzheimer's, and her husband has been trying his hardest to protect and take care of her. Michael is asked to help watch over the woman when the husband has to go off, and one day he finds a man with a strange Polaroid taking pictures of the woman. Later, Michael learns that the camera has special powers. The powers the camera has are not powers that Michael wants to use, but eventually he has to.

The second story "Loaded" is about several different people and their experience with guns, gun violence, and death. The story transitions from the past, to the present, and it has several different elements. Some of them didn't seem to blend together until the very end.

The third story "Aloft" is about a young man named Arthur, who gets stuck up in the clouds. He is on a sky diving mission after a friends death, and finds that things won't go as well as planned. Not only is he frightened of heights, but the woman he thinks he loves, Harriet, takes no notice of his love, and things are complicated between them. He is forced to jump as the plane starts to go down and the landing doesn't quite go as planned. Arthur learns that things are not as they should be, and he isn't quite sure what to do. Eventually he finds that there are things that he can do to improve his situation.

The last story in this book, "Rain" regards a young woman, Honeysuckle. She is surprised one day when rain comes out of the sky, but instead of the normal water it is crystal shards. The rain kills several people, including Honeysuckle's girlfriend, and she must find out why it happened and how. When she does find out who, or what, is behind the crystal spikes killing everyone.

I've read almost everything Joe Hill has written, all except Horns, which I may get to someday. Of this collection I enjoyed the first and last stories, but I really didn't care for the second and third, which is why I am giving this three stars.

"Snapshot" was a great view of what happens when one doesn't pay attention to the world around them. No one noticed, except Michael, that there is something amiss. The characters were quite interesting, although I would have liked to know a little more about the memories of the little girl throughout the story. It didn't end as I thought it would, but when one has power you never know what they will do with it.

Both "Loaded" and "Aloft" did not meet my expectations. "Loaded" was not sure whether it wanted to be pro or anti gun. There were moments when it seemed absolutely anti-gun, but it would have ended better as an pro-gun piece. I didn't care for the ending either. I thought it was a bad call to end it with the likely death of one of the characters, who, I personally, think should have lived. I know people thing it was ambiguous, but I don't agree with that.

"Aloft" was just too long. I feel that a lot of it could have been left out, and it was my least favorite. I didn't care for the ending, and the rest of the story was a tad bit boring. There really isn't much I can say about it.

"Rain" was the most interesting story. I thought the ending was surprising, and I think that the idea of crystal needles falling from the sky is an interesting one, and most of the characters were very well written and I enjoyed them.

So, I enjoyed half of the stories and didn't enjoy the other half. I am sure others might feel different about the two stories I didn't care for, so I would recommend this book.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green was an insightful book about mental illness and the life of a teen going through different issues.
 
Aza and her best friend, Daisy, find out that there is a reward leading to the discovery of a man on the run Russell Pickett. Daisy wants to find him and get the reward, yet Aza, who is dealing with several mental disorders (unspecified in the book), isn't sure she wants to get involved. Aza is especially concerned because she used to know Pickett's eldest son, Davis.
 
This was, at times, a hard book to read, partly because the narrator, Aza, is very unreliable due to her mental illness and one isn't always sure if what is happening is really happening (since this is part of her psychosis). Throughout the book, I did get a little annoyed at the character, much like some of the others in the book did, but then I thought about that, and when one is dealing with a family member, or specifically a child, with mental illness, this might be an example of their life. How do we protect the ones we love if the ones we love have no idea how to protect themselves? It's a provocative and thought provoking question.
 
In the novel Daisy balances her life, the friendship she has with Aza, and a sometimes boyfriend. Daisy may be one of the only people who can handle dealing with Aza long term, as they have been best friends forever. I loved Daisy as a character, I loved her honesty, especially in one moment when she and Aza had a confrontation. I loved this moment because it showed the real side of Daisy, and it showed how others who aren't dealing with the mental illness are affected. If one doesn't have it, they won't know what it is like, and going down a spiral into thoughts you can't control sounds horrifying.
 
Now, of course, this book may not be for everyone, and those who have people in their lives who do suffer from mental illness might not find this book enjoyable. Then again, they might find this book to be an accurate depiction of what they or their loved one is going through. Someone with mental illness might feel the same, they might find this book to be an accurate depiction, and others might find this offensive or untrue. It all depends on the person.
 
Now I have to say that the end of the book was a little disappointing. I felt as if the characters didn't learn much, and there was a short snippet of 2-3 paragraphs of the future of one of the characters, which felt like an attempt to say "everything is all right in the end," but in all honesty I don't think it added much to the overall story. I would have liked more detail about Davis' father, and I would have liked to know a little more about what happened to him, it almost felt like it was an afterthought to finish that part of the story.
 
I would have liked to see a little more in the way of development in both Davis and Noah Pickett. They were there to add to Aza's mental issues, but they didn't seem to add anything to the feel or the story.
 
I think if you want to read this you should, but don't expect a great story. This is more of a look inside mental illness, not a book that tells a great story.

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel is about a young girl, Lane, who has to move in with grandparents she never knew, and a wild cousin, Allegra. The reason for this is her mother's death, and her mother seems to have had a complicated relationship with her parents. Lane, has also had a complicated relationship with her mother, often feeling as if her mother did not, nor has ever, loved her. When there she falls in love, and learns of a dark family secret. Years later when Allegra disappears, Lane returns to Roanoke house to search for her, or clues as to why she might have left. While there she learns that the family she left behind continued to be as screwed up as they were the one summer she was there.

*Spoilers*
First, let me state that if you have any issues with sexual misconduct, molestation, rape, incest, any deviation in a person's sexual life, you should not read this book. Also, this book wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. I thought this would be more of a domestic noir, but it wasn't quite that either.

Lane finds out that her grandfather has been having sex with Allegra, and this is why she left when she was sixteen. The reader is also given the stories of the rest of the Roanoke family. Yates (the grandfather) has had sex with his sisters, his niece/daughter (who he is unable to consummate the relationship with due to an accident), his wife (who bore him three daughters), and two of his three daughters, as one died in infancy. Allegra was left behind when her mother ran away, and when she reached the age of fourteen Yates started having sex with her as well. He claims that the females of the family all wanted to do it, and from the stories told most of them entered into the sexual relationship willingly, and continued because there was something about Yates that drew them to him.

I was disturbed by this novel, as in the fourth chapter (or about there) it went straight to incest between Yancy and his sister, Jane. I didn't expect to read a story about continual, generational incest, otherwise I would not have picked up this book. I am really not interested in reading about incest, which is why I stopped reading the Game of Thrones novels.

The story itself was frustrating as Lane was not a likeable character, nor was she reliable narrator, always going between anger, and pretty much nothing else, it was always anger. It bothered me as there didn't feel like there was any relief for the reader.

The story was predictable, and the ending was a little obvious, as there was some foreshadowing to what might have to happen for Allegra to leave Roanoke. It was at times a very interesting story, but then at times it was predictable what the characters were all going to do.

I found the incest to be a little overwhelming, and the grandmother's attitude was a little off and off putting. I wouldn't have minded if there were more signs of what Allegra wanted, or why Lane didn't try to stay and help her, or find help. The family issues were all huge and yet, in the story, they all seemed so small.

I don't know if I would recommend it or not, it wasn't anything like something I have read before. So I guess that is a good point, and the reason I was stuck between 3 and 4 starts.