Curl Up With One of February's New Books (part 3)

Concentr8 by William Sutcliffe

Action/Adventure

In a not-so-distant future London, riots have become the norm. But when the government suddenly stops distributing Concentr8--a behavioral modification "miracle" drug akin to Ritalin--the city's residents rise up fiercer than they ever have before. Amidst the chaos, five teens pick a man seemingly at random and chain him up as a hostage in a warehouse. Blaze is their leader, and Troy has always been his quiet sidekick--the only person he has ever trusted. But even Troy didn't see this coming, and as their story unfolds over six tense days, one thing is clear--none of them will ever be the same again. Told from the perspective of multiple characters in a world familiar to our own, this searing look at a group of teens who push back from the margins of society is perfect for fans of thoughtful fiction like Panic and The Program series.

Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Contemporary Fiction 

Ten years ago, God gave Braden a sign, a promise that his family wouldn't fall apart the way he feared. But Braden got it wrong: his older brother, Trey, has been estranged from the family for almost as long, and his father, the only parent Braden has ever known, has been accused of murder. The arrest of Braden's father, a well-known Christian radio host has sparked national media attention. His fate lies in his son's hands; Braden is the key witness in his father's upcoming trial. Braden has always measured himself through baseball. He is the star pitcher in his small town of Ornette, and his ninety-four mile per hour pitch already has minor league scouts buzzing in his junior year. Now the rules of the sport that has always been Braden's saving grace are blurred in ways he never realized, and the prospect of playing against Alex Reyes, the nephew of the police officer his father is accused of killing, is haunting his every pitch. 

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

Historical Fiction 

Helen must make a choice: Save her reputation, or save the world. London, 1812. Eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall is on the eve of her debut presentation at the royal court of George III. Her life should revolve around gowns, dancing, and securing a suitable marriage. Instead, when one of her family's maids disappears, she is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few able to stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons that has infiltrated all levels of society. Carlston is not a man she should be anywhere near, especially with the taint of scandal that surrounds him. Yet he offers her help and the possibility of finally discovering the truth about the mysterious deaths of her parents. Soon the two of them are investigating a terrifying conspiracy that threatens to plunge the newly Enlightened world back into darkness. But can Helen trust a man whose own life is built on lies? And does she have the strength to face the dangers of this hidden world and her family's legacy?

Don't Stay Up Late by R. L. Stine

Action/Adventure 

In the small town of Shadyside, don't stay up late, because horrible things can happen... Both day and night, Lisa Brooks is plagued with nightmares and hallucinations. Could they be caused by the horrifying accident that landed her in the hospital for weeks? When Lisa finds out that a neighbor is looking for a babysitter for her little boy, Lisa jumps at the chance to keep busy and take her mind off of her troubling thoughts. But then the murders start -- and her friends begin dying one by one. Are Lisa's nightmares coming true? 

The Emperor of Any Place by Tim Wynne-Jones

Historical Fiction

When Evan's father dies suddenly, Evan finds a hand-bound yellow book on his desk--a book his dad had been reading when he passed away. The book is the diary of a Japanese soldier stranded on a small Pacific island in WWII. Why was his father reading it? What is in this account that Evan's grandfather, whom Evan has never met before, fears so much that he will do anything to prevent its being seen? And what could this possibly mean for Evan? In a pulse-quickening mystery evoking the elusiveness of truth and the endurance of wars passed from father to son, this engrossing novel is a suspenseful, at times terrifying read from award-winning author Tim Wynne-Jones.

10 YA Books (and/or series) to Try While Waiting for More Game of Thrones

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

The gripping New York Times bestseller that is Game of Thrones for teens. In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power; brutally transforming their subjects' lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined: Cleo; A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct. Jonas; Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished; and finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making. Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past; and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield. Magnus:  Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword. . . . The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed? 

Series? - YES

Book 2 - Rebel Spring 

Book 3 - Gathering Darkness (December 2014)

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf? Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts--and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany--where she finds herself woefully under prepared--not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death's vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart? 

Series? - YES

Book 2 - Dark Triumph 

Book 3 - Mortal Heart (November 2014)

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

 Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy--until his destiny as a Dragon Rider is revealed. Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save--or destroy--the Empire.

Series - YES 

Book 2 - Eldest 

Book 3 - Brisingr 

Book 4 - Inheritance 

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

An epic fantasy of ancient magic, exile, feudal intrigue, and romance that rivets from the first page. Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere's walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin's unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems -- and the startling truth will test Finnikin's faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny. 

Series? - YES

Book 2 - Froi of the Exiles 

Book 3 - Quintana of Charyn 

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, spends the first years of her life under her aunt's guidance learning to communicate with animals. As she grows up Ani develops the skills of animal speech, but is never comfortable speaking with people, so when her silver-tongued lady-in-waiting leads a mutiny during Ani's journey to be married in a foreign land, Ani is helpless and cannot persuade anyone to assist her. Becoming a goose girl for the king, Ani eventually uses her own special, nearly magical powers to find her way to her true destiny. Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can become queen of the people she has made her own. 

Series? - YES

Book 2 - Enna Burning

Book 3 - River Secrets

Book 4 -  Forest Born 

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Lyrical, imaginative, and wholly original, this New York Times bestseller with 8 starred reviews is not to be missed. Rachel Hartman's award-winning debut will have you looking at dragons as you've never imagined them before... In the kingdom of Goredd, dragons and humans live and work side by side - while below the surface, tensions and hostility simmer. The newest member of the royal court, a uniquely gifted musician named Seraphina, holds a deep secret of her own. One that she guards with all of her being. When a member of the royal family is brutally murdered, Seraphina is drawn into the investigation alongside the dangerously perceptive--and dashing--Prince Lucien. But as the two uncover a sinister plot to destroy the wavering peace of the kingdom, Seraphina's struggle to protect her secret becomes increasingly difficult... while its discovery could mean her very life. 

Series? - YES

Book 2 - Shadow Scale (not till March 2015, sorry! :( )

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

"From now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight." And so young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Though a girl, Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to switch places: Disguised as a girl, Thom heads for the convent to learn magic; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin her training as a page. But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and to discern her enemies from her allies. Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna's first adventure begins -- one that will leard to the fulfillment of her dreams and the magical destiny that will make her a legend in her land. Alanna's journey continues... 

Series? - YES

Book 2 - In the Hand of the Goddess

Book 3 - The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

Book 4 - Lioness Rampant 

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

A witty, gripping adventure story featuring a boy and his not-so-tame djinni. Nathaniel is a young magician's apprentice, taking his first lessons in the arts of magic. But when a devious hotshot wizard named Simon Lovelace ruthlessly humiliates Nathaniel in front of everyone he knows, Nathaniel decides to kick up his education a few notches and show Lovelace who's boss. With revenge on his mind, he masters one of the toughest spells of all: summoning the all-powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand, Nathaniel finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, blackmail, and revolt. 

Series? - YES

Book 2 - The Golem's Eye 

Book 3 - Ptolemy's Gate 

Book 4 - The Ring of  Solomon 

Death Sworn by Leah Cypess

Ileni is losing her magic. And that means she's losing everything: Her status as the renegade sorcerers' most powerful rising star. Her purpose in life. The boy she loves. Her home. Exiled to teach sorcery to the assassins hidden deep within the mountains, she expects no one will ever hear from her again. The last two tutors died within weeks of each other. As Ileni unravels the mystery surrounding their deaths, she'll uncover secrets that have been kept for decades--and she'll find an unexpected ally and dangerous new love. But even he may not be able to protect her. Not when she's willing to risk everything. 

Series? - YES

Book 2 - Death Marked (March 2015)

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

Sixteen-year-old Eon has a dream, and a mission. For years, he's been studying sword-work and magic, toward one end. He and his master hope that he will be chosen as a Dragoneye-an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been masquerading as a twelve-year-old boy. Females are forbidden to use Dragon Magic; if anyone discovers she has been hiding in plain sight, her death is assured. When Eon's secret threatens to come to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a deadly struggle for the Imperial throne. Eon must find the strength and inner power to battle those who want to take her magic...and her life.  

Series? - Well, there's a sequel

Book 2 - Eona: Return of the Dragoneye

Voting for the Teens' Top Ten starts today!

Have you guys and girls heard of the Teens' Top Ten?  The Teens' Top Ten is like the teen's choice awards, for books! Teen book groups in sixteen school and public libraries around the country make lists of the books they really liked from last year and those nominations are posted online. Then, you guys read them and starting TODAY you can vote for your favorite online!  Anyone ages 12 to 18 can vote adn the winners will be announced in October.

You can VOTE HERE

Let's meet the books, shall we?  Here are the nominees for best teen books this year:

All Good Children by Catherine Austen

In the not-too-distant future, Max tries to maintain his identity in a world where the only way to survive is to conform and obey.

 (I just got this one, it will be on the shelf soon!)

 Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Alex, a resourceful seventeen-year-old running from her incurable brain tumor, Tom, who has left the war in Afghanistan, and Ellie, an angry eight-year-old, join forces after an electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky and kills most of the world's population, turning some of those who remain into zombies and giving the others superhuman senses.

(YA SFF BIC - I read this one and really liked it)

Abandon by Meg Cabot

A near-death experience, a horrible incident at school, and a move from Connecticut to Florida have turned seventeen-year-old Pierce's life upside-down, but when she needs him most John Hayden is always there, helping but reminding her of her visit to the Underworld.

(YA PAR CAB - haven't read this one, but Meg Cabot generally writes good stuff!)

 Tempest by Julie Cross

After his girlfriend Holly is fatally shot during a violent struggle, nineteen-year-old Jackson uses his supernatural abilities and travels back in time two years, where he falls in love with Holly all over again, learns that his father is a spy, and discovers powerful enemies of time who will stop at nothing to recruit him for their own purposes.

(YA SFF CRO - haven't read this one, like time travel thou - its on my to-read list!)

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Following her parents' bitter divorce as she and her father move from town to town, seventeen-year-old Mclean reinvents herself at each school she attends until she is no longer sure she knows who she is or where she belongs.

(YA FIC DES)

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

After modern science turns every human into a genetic time bomb with men dying at age twenty-five and women dying at age twenty, girls are kidnapped and married off in order to repopulate the world.

(YA SFF DES - LOVED this one!   Read it!)

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Adam, now a rising rock star, and Mia, a successful cellist, reunite in New York and reconnect after the horrific events that tore them apart when Mia almost died in a car accident three years earlier.

(YA FIC FOR)

 

Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen

Will Scarlet shadows Robin Hood, with an unerring eye for finding treasures to steal and throwing daggers with deadly accuracy, but when Gisbourne, a ruthless bounty hunter, is hired by the sheriff to capture Robin and his band of thieves, Robin must become Will's protector risking his own life in the process.

(YA HIS GAU)

 

Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman

Facing the ultimate battle for control of the land she calls home, Eona finds herself waging an internal battle every bit as devastating as the war threatening to break out across the kingdom.

(Don't have this one YET - we do have the books that come before it.  Until we get it, you can always request it from another library)

 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

(YA FIC GREE - haven't read this one but everyone else just RAVES about it)

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

When Paige Turner and her family move to New York City from rural Virginia, she tries to make sense of her new life through her sketchbook, and it helps bring her true personality into the open, a process that is equal parts terrifying and rewarding.

(YA GN GUL - the only graphic novel on the list)

 

Legend by Marie Lu

In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.

(YA SFF LU and YA BCD LU - I LOVEEEE Dystopia!)

Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Seventeen-year-old Emerson uses her power to manipulate time to help Michael, a consultant hired by her brother, to prevent a murder that happened six months ago while simultaneously navigating their undeniable attraction to one another.

(YA PAR MCE)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

As plague ravages the overcrowded Earth, observed by a ruthless lunar people, Cinder, a gifted mechanic and cyborg, becomes involved with handsome Prince Kai and must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect the world in this futuristic take on the Cinderella story.

(YA SFF MEY and YA BCD MEY - This is without a doubt my favorite on this list - CYBORG CINDERELLA? NOTHING could be better!!)

 

Shine by Lauren Myracle

When her best friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover the culprits in her small North Carolina town.

(YA MYS MYR)

 

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Thirteen-year-old Conor awakens one night to find a monster outside his bedroom window, but not the one from the recurring nightmare that began when his mother became ill--an ancient, wild creature that wants him to face truth and loss.

(YA SFF NES)

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

When his twin brother falls ill in the family's chateau in the independent republic of Geneva in the eighteenth century, sixteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein embarks on a dangerous and uncertain quest to create the forbidden Elixir of Life described in an ancient text in the family's secret Biblioteka Obscura.

(YA SFF OPP)

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Teenaged Amy, a cryogenically frozen passenger on the spaceship Godspeed, wakes up to discover that someone may have tried to murder her.

(YA SFF REV)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children , an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience.

(YA SFF RIG)

Divergent by Veronica Roth

  In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

(YA SFF ROT - another great dystopian!)

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author's family, includes a historical note.

(YA HIS SEP)

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Nineteen-year-old returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to keep hold of their dangerous water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.

(YA SFF STI and YA BCD STI)

 

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Told from their own viewpoints, seventeen-year-old Jill, in grief over the loss of her father, and Mandy, nearly nineteen, are thrown together when Jill's mother agrees to adopt Mandy's unborn child but nothing turns out as they had anticipated.

(YA FIC ZAR)

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

In a future where chocolate and caffeine are contraband, teenage cellphone use is illegal, and water and paper are carefully rationed, sixteen-year-old Anya Balanchine finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight as heir apparent to an important New York City crime family.

Now get reading and get voting!
VOTE HERE