Are you Alone, On Purpose is a telling story of how deeply grief settles in the heart of teenagers, especially when adults are unable or unwilling to listen. Both Allison and Harry harbor feelings of grief, resentment, isolation and desparation. Both want to "feel" loved. Ms. Werlin has tapped into the teen heart for this one.

Alison Shandling has always been the good child, the nerd, never causing her parents any trouble. They have enough to deal with with her autistic twin brother Adam. Harry Roth has always been a rude, cool kid who had his kicks by teasing Alison and her brother and torturing his father. But then one day at camp an accident leaves Harry in a wheelchair and even more bitter than usual. Alison recognizes that in a different way her family ignores her too and she procedes to try and be friends with Harry despite his protests. But slowly he starts to except her and they start to fall in love.

Great story. Alison and Harry are alike in many ways and that's what draws them together. You can really relate to them.

I loved this book. Alison reminded me a little bit of myself, afraid to cause trouble, but often one can't help it. She made Harry her business, even though he'd been mean to her and her brother. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever been kind to someone else. ( By the way, Harry has Alison sit on his lap to kiss her. )

I found the book "The Killer's Cousin" very satisfying. It is about a seventeen year old boy, David Yaffe, who is convicted of killing his girlfriend and is therefore sent to live with his aunt and uncle. While David is there he discover's that his aunt does not like him and the many mysteries of his 11 year old cousin Lily. The longer that David is there the more he begins to notice Lily. She begins to sabotage David's attic apartment day by day. Lily crashes his computer, empties all of the food from David's fridge and many more little tricks. Until one night David goes to confront his aunt and uncle about what Lily has been doing and all they can do is disagree with them and threat to kick him out of the house if he keeps on making up these lies. So now nobody will believe him and Lily keeps on harassing David. In the end he discovers a secret that has been kept inside for a very long time. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in mysteries because you are always wondering what is going to happen next. For example, they will give out bits and bits of information until finally they come to the conclusion. "The Killer's Cousin" was one of the best books that I have ever read.

Surely you've heard his name a thousand times, David Yaffe. In the papers, on the news, everywhere, stories of the killing. So he goes to live with his aunt and uncle, where he is met with an interesting sight. His aunt and uncle are not talking and their daughter really hates him. As life goes on, he finds out that the marriage of his relatives hadn't been stable since their oldest daughter had committed suicide. He keeps seeing this shadow and hearing this weird humming noise in his attic apartment. Will David ever find out what's up with this weird family? Read The Killer's Cousin and find out. This book started of kind of slow but once it got going I couldn't put it down. The secrets that David reveals about this family will just drop your jaw. I started off hating his cousin, Lily, but then her secret comes out and you pity her and all of the suffering that she has gone through. This was a really good book and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery. This book's title, which by the way has a double meaning, will make you think one thing then at that pivotal moment you realize all you first thought is all wrong.

Mystery

If you prefer books about mysteries and a book that will keep you reading, The Killer's Cousin, by Nancy Werlin, would be perfect for you. I rated it a 5. This book keeps you reading until the very end. There is usually a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter. ...The characters in this book didn't always get along, and you keep guessing till the end when they all got along. For example, the aunt and uncle David went to go live with thought he was crazy and his cousin, Lily, and he hated each other till the end. Those are the reasons you should read this book. Because it's very good ...

Frances's only friend was her brother, Daniel. But when they started at Pettengill school they started to grow apart, and now, 2 years later, she realizes that she didn't know anything about Daniel. He apparently killed himself with an overdose of heroin, and Frances feels terrible. To try to make herself feel better she wants to join Unity, the charity that gave them scholarships to the school. Daniel was very involved with Unity and was ashamed that Frances didn't want to join. But now when she wants to her brother's girlfriend Saskia, and most of the other members don't want her. She is confused by it and the more she finds out, the more she notices is strange with Unity.

Black Mirrow is a good book that I couldn't stop reading. Frances is an interesting character and I can relate to alot of what she is feeling. The other characters were well portrayed too and it was as much them as the plot of the story that made me want to find out what was going to happen. At the end I was completely suprised. Nancy Werlin is a good writer and all her books are great, but this one really made me think.

I absolutley loved this book. It was so thrilling and written so well! Absolutley one of my favorites (Ive read thousands of books in my short life time):D

Black Mirror is the story of a young girl searching for many things- a sense of family, her true identity and peace with herself.

The book follows a bumpy road of life after Frances's brother Daniel commits suicide. Frances, shy and suffering low self-concept, feels that without her brother, she should make some sort of effort to fit into the school she never really belonged to. Her odd life with divorced parents (her mother studying Buddhism miles away) and mixed heritage leads her to believe she can never fit in anywhere.

The author makes the characters both realistic and unique, creating an environment to completely immerse the reader in.

Frances decides to join Unity, a school charity group. But as the mentally challenged janitor James points out, it's "all fake work." Unity is a front for something else, and Frances and James are the only ones who know. Did her brother Daniel really commit suicide? Was there a note? And why is her art teacher so insistant that she join Unity, anyway? Read this, one of the best for YA in 2001, to find out.

I thought that Locked Inside by Nancy Werlin was a overall good book. I found that it kept my attention good. I do have to say that it is at sometimes a little boring. In the beginning they spend most the time describing Marnie, who is the main character, I think that this helps to a point but they got a little carried away when they started to go into describing the computer game, and all of Marnie's bad habits. Then in the middle of the book it was really interesting and that kept me wanting to read more, but then again at the end they got into describing to much. I think I would probally recommened this to someone depending on their reading levels.

I think that Locked Inside by Nancy Werlin was an overall good book. I feel that it kept my attention pretty good. I do feel however that at sometimes in the book it got a little boring. They spent a lot of time in the beginning and the end describing the character and what was happening to her emotionally and physically. During the middle of the book it got REALLY good because it was when Marnie, the main character, was being kidnapped and everything that happened to her while she was in there so that was really interesting. I think that I would recommend this to someone depending on their reading level because people with high reading levels would most likely find the book boring.

Locked Inside is a companion of sorts to Nancy Werlin's The Killer's Cousin, which I liked better, at least initially. Locked Inside is the story of Marnie Skyedottir, a wealthy sixteen-year-old orphan at a private school in northern Massachusetts. Her singer/songwriter/author mother died five years ago, leaving her in the guardianship of Max and the care of boarding schools. When Marnie is kidnapped, she has to confront the influence her mother left on her life.

Marnie is hard to warm up to at first, and not because she's unlikable; readers will identify with her stubbornness and the way she hates adults prying into her life. I assumed that Nancy Werlin didn't want readers getting close to Marnie, because Marnie doesn't really let anyone get close to her. It was a good device on Werlin's part, but it makes the book hard to get into.

There are also several lengthy descriptions of Paliopolis, the online role-playing game that Marnie is involved with. Werlin does a pretty good job of relationg these to what's going on with Marnie, but they're a little hard to get into and identify with if you're not a gamer.

The book cover is misleading because it gives the impression that Marnie does all her contemplation while she's kidnapped. I thought the book was going to be set mostly during the time she was "locked inside," but the major revelations about her mother come after she's been set free. It's fine, but it's not what I expected.

Frank Delgado, the sole friend of David Yaffe from The Killer's Cousin, makes an appearance in Locked Inside as the "Elf," one of Marnie's fellow gamers on Paliopolis, who comes to her rescue in real life when she's kidnapped. Honestly, realizing that the Elf was Frank was the highlight of the read for me. I enjoy it when characters make "guest appearances" in authors' other books, at least sometimes. Locked Inside gave some more insight into Frank's character, which simply doesn't come in The Killer's Cousin.

Marnie's change from the beginning of the book to the end is not as well-evoked as David's, in The Killer's Cousin, but it is still a strong read that features a resourceful, if shortsighted, heroine. Nancy Werlin writes Marnie as well as she did David, which is a nice accomplishment, to be able to evoke both boys and girls successfully.