Okey-dokey, I have read quite a few since last post. I think my favorites have been: Hate List, Sunshine, Pretty Dead, Shiver, Wish You Were Dead, and Once. Even from those titles, you can see there's very little uplifting here! But they were all page-turningly good! I also finished the first two books in the Skinjacker trilogy (Everlost and Everwild) and think it has good potential. It'd make good booktalk/recommendation material for both boys and girls. And it was more upbeat than Nothing which I just finished today. I was expecting something more ethereal with that book, and it was jarringly brutal and dark. As a metaphor or symbolic book, I could stomach what those 7th graders did, but on a literal level it just about ripped my heart out. Well written, though, and a good discussion book; but I would find it hard to recommend to middle schoolers.
Still looking for that one standout book that I love....