All These Monsters (#1) by Amy Tintera

Scrabs... they are monsters that have spread across the world in 2013.  They tunnel underground and pop up in heavy populated areas killing and destroying anything they come across.  The U. S. has mostly gotten it under control, but in Europe, they are heavily infested.  

Clara is 17 and decides to join the St. John's group who is going to train you and send you over seas to help fight the scrabs.  Her father is abusive and her mother and older brother do not really do anything to protect her.  When she leaves her dad tries to lock her in, but she escapes with her brother Laurence's help.  She reports to Atlanta to train and meets Julian, who is her team leader, he finds out that she doesn't have parental permission and is set to send her home, but she shares that she will NOT be going home and he deletes the email and lets her stay.  She qualifies and heads to Paris.  Once there they continue training after being attacked by scrabs.  She and Julian begin to "date" and the team begin to fight scrabs and discover there is something fishy with the MDG (Monster Defense Group) because they are doing something with the scrabs, like training them or something.  As they dig into the mystery surrounding MDG, Clara realizes not everyone is who they seem and some are dangerous.  

Has some language.  No sex, there is violence, of course.   I feel like I would be comfortable with 7th and up reading.

Scare Me by K. R. Alexander

Holy Smoke... if you like the scary stuff get on in here.

Kevin and his two friends known as the Bloody Banshees are competing in a haunted house contest.  There are 3 other teams.  Each one gets a floor in the town historical museum and theirs is the basement. Kevin has planned this all year and refuses to lose to Patricia again.  She cheated last year, by sabotaging them.  Kevin gets an idea to use one of the historical pieces, a missing bride mannequin, which is against the rules.  What he does is end up opening a door that none of them may escape from!  EEK!

Great for a read aloud, has all kinds of common fear elements, clowns, toys coming to life, mazes, locked in a haunted house, graveyards, etc.  Has some good character development and lessons learned with a twist end.

Ghost Hunter's Daughter by Dan Poblocki

The newest scary book from my favorite scary author....

Claire's dad is a famous ghost hunter with his own TV show!  He hunts ghosts to get rid of them.  

Lucas's grandma (who he lives with) can talk to ghosts when they come and knock on their door.  She wants to help them deliver a message to ones left behind.  Lucas has inherited the same gift.  

When Claire's deceased mom visits Lucas and tells him Claire's dad is in danger and they must go help him, he really doesn't want to go on this journey, but the ghost won't leave him alone until he does.  Claire and Lucas set off for Hush Falls Holler looking for her dad.  There they encounter another girl, Dolly who lost her mom last year to the ghost of Lemuel Hush.  As they dive deeper into the mystery they encounter more and more danger and they question becomes if any of them will survive!

Is a little slow at the beginning, but keep going.  Great book for a read aloud with themes of family, looking past first appearances, helping others, and of course supernatural. :)  

Really Truly (Pumpkin Falls Series book 3) by Heather Vogel Frederick

Disclaimer: I have not read the first two books in the series.  I didn't feel like I had missed anything coming into this one.

Truly Lovejoy lives in Pumpkin Falls, New Hampshire.  She is originally from Texas and her family had to move up North when her dad came back from Afghanistan missing an arm and work for the family business.  In this book Truly's whole Texas clan has come up for a family reunion.  On the one hand she's excited to see her favorite cousin, Makenzie, and her other family, but she is also a little embarrassed by the whole spectacle in this small town where everyone knows everyone and everything (typical teenager).  Truly and some others participate in a 4K on the 4th of July and the pumpkin prize trophy goes missing.  Truly and her friends (Pumpkin Falls Private Eyes), decide to try to solve the mystery, but the next day Makenzie ends up getting Truly and Jasmine and Cha Cha to all go to mermaid camp for a week.  Truly really does not want to go, but ends up having an okay time. While they are there they hear about pirates and a pirate treasure that ends up coming back to relate to Truly!  As the book goes on the missing pumpkin trophy ends up being solved along with the pirate treasure, but it does not work out how you think! 

The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray

Amelia (named after Amelia Earhart) has been one of 6 girls specially chosen to spend the weekend in Amelia Earhart's house!  Amelia is kind of a loner, she doesn't fit in, really doesn't have any friends, feels weird, loves to cube (Rubik's cube) and is into science.  Her dad's car breaks down on the way there and they are picked up by a turkey truck driver.  Amelia feels embarrassed by her arrival and starts to feel like an outcast already, until a motorcycle with a sidecar pulls up with another girl Thea.  As the girls settle in and Amelia starts to try to find her room to sleep in she discovers Earhart's aviator goggles with a letter!  Later in the evening they all gather for a meal and after find out they will have a scavenger hunt in pairs and the winners gets to sleep in Earhart's room!  Amelia gets paired up with Wren and as they begin to solve their clues the girls discover the goggles are missing!  Is this part of the scavenger hunt or has someone stolen the goggles?  Only one way to find out... read the book. :)

I enjoyed this book.  I think if you love mysteries and clues to solve this is for you.  Great book to encourage girls to go for their dreams and also has diversity of characters.  I did feel this might be for 6th grade and under.  

Summer and July by Paul Mosier

Julliet is living with her mom in CA for the month of July.  Her dad left them for another younger woman and is living in Switzerland.  Julliet is goth...white makeup, black lipstick, dark clothes, etc.  She meets Summer, who is a local, and starts to become friends with her.  Summer helps her get over some of her fears, like fear of the number 3, tsunamis, sharks, etc.  As she gets over her fears, she starts to set goals for herself for the month and gives some backstory of her life and how she blamed who she was on Fern (another friend from home).  At the very end of the book she kisses Summer.  I wish the author had just left it as they were good friends, because it kind of came out of nowhere.