Books for the young adult audience have always had their own charm and adult fans, but recently it seems that many have taken off and found mainstream success that goes far beyond a teen audience. The next one to do that may just be “Flicker” by Melanie Hooyenga.

Jennifer Hudson has a great story. Girl from Chicago, raised by a single mom, goes on American Idol, gets booted early, ends up starring in a movie that leads to her winning an Oscar, but her joy is tempered when three of her family members are killed under tragic circumstances. Then she loses a ton of weight using Weight Watchers. These facts might make you believe this book would be really interesting. You would be wrong.

“Where’d You Go Bernadette” is not your average book… and it likes it that way. Through a series of emails, documents and a narrative told from the point-of-view of a 14-year-old named Bee, we see the story of Bernadette Fox unfold. 

Recently I have been seeing trailers for the movie “Warm Bodies” (in theaters Feb. 1), which is based on the book. They were interesting and amusing enough that I decided to pick up the book. Wow, am I ever glad I did. 

Alex Dorenfield, 29, and her little dog Peaches have just died after being run over by a car during a late night walk. This is the bad news. The good news is that they’ve gone to heaven where she is reunited with her beloved grandparents, given the house of her childhood dreams and meets the cutest neighbor ever. The afterlife looks to be good until her guardian angel breaks the news that Alex has only been deposited on the coveted 7th level of heaven on a trial basis because she died so young. There is some concern about how she lived her life and where it was going and until she writes an essay about the 10 best days of her short life on Earth, she might not be able to stay and may be relegated to the 4th level of heaven (which is good, but not nearly as good as 7). So Alex begins a journey of remembering her life, her mistakes, her happiest moments and her worst. 

Obviously, there was going to be a lot of interest in whatever JK Rowling wrote after her wildly successful “Harry Potter” series. The fact that she chose to write an adult novel, rather than a YA novel, probably came as a surprise to many.

As the American Cancer Society enters its 100th year in 2013, one of its key fundraising and awareness events, Relay for Life, is celebrating its own milestone in Oro Valley.

Halloween has become a holiday associated with children, but even adults can get in on the fun. There are plenty of spooky, or downright scary, reads that hit the shelves this time of year. Here are a few of my favorites:

I’ve heard a lot about Elin Hilderbrandt, especially since she recently had a new book out this summer “SUMMERLAND,” July 2012. So, when my book club picked her 2009 release “Nantucket Nights,” I thought I’d also review it for this paper. I’m sad to say I did not enjoy it whatsoever.

I first discovered Jenny Lawson, also known as The Bloggess, when her blog about buying a giant metal chicken, which she named Beyoncé, as revenge against her husband who did not want her to buy towels went viral. It was, quite possibly, the funniest thing I had ever read. I passed it along to everyone in my universe, read it out loud to my husband and had to wipe away tears from laughing so hard. Also, it made me want to buy a metal chicken and keep it in my yard so I could giggle like a little girl whenever I remembered the original story.

In “Gone Girl,” Nick and Amy Dunne are about to celebrate their five-year anniversary. Though celebrate is a relative term, since they are going through a desperately dark time in their marriage. After both losing writing jobs in New York, they’ve come back to Nick’s hometown in Missouri where he has opened a bar and they have both begun to harbor secrets and resentments. Thus, when Amy turns up missing, with obvious signs of some kind of violent struggle in their living room and kitchen, everyone suspects Nick. What follows is a long series of violent fantasies, psychopathic plans, frustrations and ultimately, shocking revelations in a thriller that I’m sure will stick with readers just as I am certain it will stick with me. 

We hold the history of our country so dear, with names like Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln spoken with a well-deserved reverence even hundreds of years after their lives and deaths. So when a writer wants to fictionalize those men and their lives, it is often met with suspicion and anxiety.  

In the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, lonely Laurel Shelton lives in a cove outside the backwoods town of Mars Hill. The suspicious town folk consider her birthmark an omen of evil, and all the hardship in her life, including the deaths of her parents and the injury of her older brother Hank in World War I, as proof that she is cursed and a witch. Her difficult life begins to change, though, when a mute flute player named Walter mysteriously appears in the Cove.