The serious subject matter of Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen, caught me off guard because I remembered her other books being pretty easy-going fare. 
In Dreamland, Caitlin's sister, who was supposed to have attended Yale, unexpectedly abandons her college plans and runs away from her family to go live with her boyfriend and work as an assistant on a daytime reality show. Caitlin and her parents are devastated, and Caitlin ends up in an abusive relationship with a young man who has himself been abused by his father. I've always found it very difficult to understand how women can stay in relationships where their boyfriends/husbands physically or emotionally abuse them, and the story Dessen tells here seems incredible. However, I know that Caitlin's story is all too real, so this was a disturbing book to read.
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, broke my heart. It took me a long time to finish this book because it is so terribly sad and sometimes I just couldn't face it. 
This is a book about the Holocaust, narrated by "Death," and told from the perspective of a young German girl named Liesel. Readers first meet her as she is on a train with her mother and brother. The two children are to go live with a foster family because their mother cannot afford to take care of them, but her brother dies on the train. Liesel goes to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann. She becomes especially close to Hans, her Papa, who teaches her to read. During World War II, Liesel steals a book that survived a Nazi book burning, and when she is finally able to read it she hungers for more. She ends up becoming "the book thief," stealing books from the library of the mayor's wife.
I found that I often forgot that "Death" was narrating the story instead of an omniscient narrator. When "Death" jumped in with some personal comment about what he did or saw, it was a little jarring, and I had to remind myself of who the "my" or "I" referred to. Nevertheless, having "Death" be the narrator enriches the story by emphasizing death's pervasive presence during that time and at that place. This book was a Printz Honor Book for 2007. I can't honestly say that I enjoyed it, but I certainly admire it and feel it was worth reading.
Marked, by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast, is the first book in the House of Night series. The fifth in the series, Hunted, was just released this month. I found this first book was a pretty good read, and I do think I'll read the second book, Betrayed, when I can get my hands on it. I have my doubts about how this series will stand up to the inevitable Twilight comparisons, though. The story is set in Oklahoma and the heroine, Zoey, is part Cherokee on her mother's side (although she learns about her Native American heritage from her maternal grandmother, rather than her mother). So far I'm thinking Harry Potter meets Twilight and not much else. Nevertheless, I have to admit I enjoyed Marked, and I think I should reserve judgmnent on the series as a whole until I've read at least one more book.
