Words by Sooz

Lost Girls. The title gives off a negative connotation. Maybe that was the intent or maybe the author and editors were oblivious. Robert Kolker wrote about the Long Island serial killer who dumped the bodies of at least four prostitutes in a marshy area along the shore area. But the title bothered me. A girl is someone who is under 18 years old. That’s the way I have always felt. Once a female hits 18, she considered a legal adult. When you start referring to females who are 22-27 as girls, you trivialize who they are as much as others who did so because they were prostitutes. These “girls” had to live more difficult lives than most people who will read this book. Titles are important to grab readers’ attention, but they shouldn’t insult the subjects in the process. I wrote a full review on Goodreads here . 

Jacob Lau is shipped off to live with his after his mother goes missing. This is just the beginning of his problems. The Soulkeepers (The Soulkeepers Series) is the first book in the series by G.P. Ching, and her debut novel. Jacob’s father died several years ago. His mother goes missing and is feared dead. He ends up in a town where generations of families have lived and don’t like newcomers. This town and some of their families hold secrets, and Jacob has one of his own. The stereotypical idea of small towns not liking newcomers (or those who aren’t white) seemed a little heavy-handed. Perhaps growing up in a diverse city, I didn’t see much of this when new people showed up in the neighborhood. But it’s a good way to force to characters together who may not have otherwise been friends. Jacob acts like a typical teenager in the middle of a crisis. There were some readers who thought he was acting childish, but he’s 15 and an essentially an orphan. There aren’t

Ilir Berisha might say he was one of the lucky ones. He got out of Kosova alive while living there during the war, and got to tell his story. Berisha’s book “ Summer Is My Favorite Season: A Memoir of Childhood and War in Kosovo ” paints a true story of a young boy who witnesses some of the worst the world has to offer. His parents are frustrated and frightened. They don’t know where they are going to get their next meal or when the electricity will return or if they will ever get running water again. His father has to work the black market to make money. And a beloved uncle is killed by a Serbian group. When three masked men storm their apartment on a night where NATO bombs are falling around them, Berisha doesn’t know if he and his family will make it out alive. The men could kill them or perhaps a bomb will miss its target. It wouldn’t be the first time Berisha wished for a quick death. And he was just 14 years old. Berisha’s memoir is gripping. He starts

I finally finished Mass Effect 3. I know. I know. It only took me more than a year. I even bought the game on the day of release. Even though it took me one week to finish ME2, even after all side missions, I just couldn’t finish ME3. I couldn’t do it. Here was the problem … I didn’t want it to end. I had a feeling of how it would all end even before all the “controversial ending” posts were written about it. (And if you don’t know how it ends, stop reading). Commander Shepherd had to die to save the universe. That part was obvious from the very beginning. I have played video games for a long time, starting with the original Zelda and Mario Bros., through Sonic the Hedgehog and Call of Duty games. Nothing touched me like the Mass Effect series though. I started playing the game on a whim. I was bored and the first game was sitting in the house. I had watched a few scenes of someone else and figured I would make my own ass-kicking Commander Shepherd to k