New Books for the New Year - January 2016 New Books part 8

Red Girl, Blue Boy by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Contemporary Fiction 

As Katie's father and Drew's mother vie for the Presidency, the sixteen-year-olds start--and end--a romance, but the press finds out, both candidates' poll numbers rise, and the two are asked to flaunt their former relationship.

Rot & Ruin: Warrior Smart by Jonathan Maberry

Graphic Novel 

Four friends travel through the Sierra Nevada mountains, one step ahead of the zombie hordes and a long way from their destination.

Sasquatch by Andrea Schicke Hirsch

Mystery 

Following his parents' ugly divorce, Jake Oliver chooses to move with his father to a remote corner of Connecticut. It is bad enough that their new home turns out to be a fenced-in dump in the middle of nowhere, but it seems that the previous owner, his dad's late Uncle Horace, had been the local crackpot ridiculed by the community for his belief that a Bigfoot roamed the vast woodland preserve that lay beyond the property. Not everything about Jake's new life is bad, though. His job at the local market is okay, and it doesn't hurt that his coworker is pretty Nell Davis. But when odd things start to happen, like weird calls in the dead of night, stones thrown by an unseen assailant, and lingering foul odors wafting on the breeze, Jake starts to believe that maybe old Horace wasn't so crazy after all. With Nell's help, Jake is determined to make a name for himself by proving to the world that the mythical Sasquatch is alive and well and living in the woods just on the other side of that fence.

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

Fantasy 

On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom.

The Smart Girl's Guide to Privacy: Practical Tips for Staying Safe Online by Violet Blue

Nonfiction

Everybody's talking about online privacy, personal security and cybersecurity -- and for good reason: we have less privacy than ever before. Social media, online dating, photo sharing, mobile everything… It can make your life a dream -- or a nightmare. The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy is the only guide focused on privacy for women. This book helps you hack your way through the jungle of privacy chaos and fight back against sleazy marketers, unethical megacorporations, scammers, stalkers, hacked apps, and thieves. 

13 Horror/Thriller Books

With Halloween coming up in just a few weeks, everyone has the creepy, spooky, and scary on their mind.  Take a break from your horror movies to try one of these thrilling, scary, or creepy YA reads!

*Ghosts & Hauntings*

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters (YA HIS WIN)

In San Diego in 1918, as deadly influenza and World War I take their toll, sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort and, despite her scientific leanings, must consider if ghosts are real when her first love, killed in battle, returns.

~ Fantastic ghost story with dramatic historical backdrop. 

~ Enough twists to make me gasp in shock while reading 

~ Very suspenseful, a bit gory in parts, somewhat violent. 

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (YA PAR BLA)

For three years, seventeen-year-old Cas Lowood has carried on his father's work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat, but everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.

~ The plot of this book is quite dark and has its moments of creepiness but it lightens up whenever Cas puts in a thought or two (his humor really is quite good). 

~ This is definitely not your average ghost story! It's so much better!

~ Oh yes, this was a pretty scary one, especially when I was reading it at 2am and had to go to the kitchen for a snack break. 

The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco (YA PAR CHU)

Okiku has wandered the world for centuries, freeing the innocent ghosts of the murdered-dead and taking the lives of killers with the vengeance they are due, but when she meets Tark she knows the moody teen with the series of intricate tattoos is not a monster and needs to be freed from the demonic malevolence that clings to him.

~ Wow this was an incredibly gripping and engaging horror novel; I could not put this book down. Parts of this horror book are very graphic and gory, so just a heads up. 

~ A deliciously creepy, but horrifyingly amazing, spook to keep you up into the wee hours!

~ An incredibly creepy and chilling paranormal/horror novel that weaves both ghost story and Japanese legend.

Insanity by Susan Vaught (YA PAR VAU)

The intertwining stories of three teenagers who find themselves haunted beyond imagining in the depths of a Kentucky mental institution.

~ When I was reading at night, and the creepiest villain of the bunch appeared, I could not stop shivering. 

~ A quick, dark, paranormal read

~  I found myself reading into the night to see what happened to the characters, only to stop reading for fear of what might invade my dreams from reading right before bed.  

*Fear & Murder*

Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz (YA ACT STO)

Seven super fans have won the trip of a lifetime to meet the master of horror, legendary film director Justin Blake. But things quickly go from delightfully dark to dangerously deadly, when Ivy, Parker, Shayla, Natalie, Frankie, and Garth find themselves trapped in an abandoned amusement park. To earn a ticket out, they must face their darkest demons one ride at a time.

~ Lock your doors, turn on all the lights and leave yourself a an escape route before you start this one!

~ It was a mash-up of all my favorite things horror and left me with chills.

~ This is one book that is all kinds of messed up and in a good way. It’s scary, strange and engrossing all in one...

This Dark Endeavor by Kennth Oppel (YA SFF OPP)

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.

~ The story itself isn’t gruesome exactly, but is quite dark and has a fairly grim ending.

~ 304 pages of dark, adventurous and gothic goodness. 

~ If you love dark and twisted tales, then this one is for you. 

Shadowlands by Kate Brian (YA ACT BRI)

Rory, a girl in witness protection, thinks the serial killer she turned in has found her and is killing people around her. But as she investigates, she discovers a dark, disturbing truth about her new hometown.

~ Whoa. This is different. And scary. 

~ I finished this in one day, because I simply didn’t want to put it down.

~ For the first ninety pages or so I was absolutely terrified and almost stopped reading because I wasn’t sure I could handle it. 

Ten by Gretchen McNeil (YA ACT MCN)

Ten teens head to a house party at a remote island mansion off the Washington coast . . . only for them to picked off by a killer one by one.

~ I was sucked into reading this book, and couldn't put it down until I finished and learned who the killer was.

~ Both thrilling and pretty frightening when it had to be.

~ Reading Ten was kind of like reading a horror movie in book form.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (YA MYS LYG)

Seventeen-year-old Jazz learned all about being a serial killer from his notorious "Dear Old Dad," but believes he has a conscience that will help fight his own urges and right some of his father's wrongs, so he secretly helps the police apprehend the town's newest murderer, "The Impressionist."

~ A rather graphically violent story with plenty of psychological thriller to it.

~ Dexter fans will love it!

~ This is not a story for the faint of heart. 

*Monsters & Demons*

The Diviners by Libba Bray (YA HIS BRA)

Seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill is thrilled when she is exiled from small-town Ohio to New York City in 1926, even when a rash of occult-based murders thrusts Evie and her uncle, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, into the thick of the investigation.

~ There are parts of this book that are extremely creepy where you feel like screaming at the characters “No! No! Don’t go down into the creepy basement cellar.”

~ This book was full of creeping, brilliant horror, which I was absolutely not expecting.

~ Fantastic combination of horror with historical fiction. 

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff (YA PAR YOV)

Sixteen-year-old Mackie Doyle knows that he replaced a human child when he was just an infant, and when a friend's sister disappears he goes against his family's and town's deliberate denial of the problem to confront the beings that dwell under the town, tampering with human lives.

~ Think of the scariest movie you've ever seen, the sadest song you know, and the one fearless leader you've always looked up to. Put them into one book and you'll have Yovanoff's "The Replacement."

~ Awesome...I totally loved it! It certainly had a dark and haunting feel to it. (I mean...look at that cover!) 

~ An eerie book that kept me up late at night.

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (YA SFF MAB)

In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

~ I picked it up planning to start it, read a chapter or two, and go to sleep at a reasonable time. Then it was 5 a.m. and I was finishing it. 

~ I liked the characters, lots of actions, lots of suspense! 

~  Was on the edge of my seat a lot of the time. I just couldn't stop reading once I got started.

Zom-B by Darren Shan (YA SFF SHA)

When the news starts reporting a zombie outbreak in Ireland, B's father thinks it's a hoax-but even if it isn't, the two of them joke, it's only the Irish, right? That is, until zombies actually attack the school. B is forced on a mad dash through the serpentine corridors of high school, making allegiances with anyone with enough gall to fight off their pursuers. But when they come face-to-face with the ravenous, oozing corpses, all bets are off. There are no friends. No allies. Just whatever it takes to survive.

~ Prepare yourself for a couple of complete surprises and a really good cliff hanger.

~ It's an exciting, entertaining, fast read that is well suited to zombie fans

~ I would recommend to anyone who loves zombies and guts, or anyone who wants a quick read with some action.

**Review tidbits from the LION online catalog and from Amazon.com**

First New Books of 2014~ Part 4

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Three teens at a summer program for gifted students uncover shocking secets in the sanatorium-turned-dorm where they're staying--secrets that link them all to the asylum's dark past.

 Muckers by Sandra Neil Wallace

Felix O'Sullivan, standing in the shadow of his dead brother, an angry, distant father, and racial tension, must lead the last-ever Muckers high school football team to the state championship before a mine closing shuts down his entire town.

 Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrongby Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks

Charlie is the laid-back captain of the basketball team. Nate is the neurotic, scheming president of the robotics club. Their unlikely friendship nearly bites the dust when Nate declares war on the cheerleaders and they retaliate by making Charlie their figurehead in the ugliest class election campaign the school has ever seen. At stake is funding that will either cover a robotics competition or new cheerleading uniforms-- but not both. Bad sportsmanship? Sure. Chainsaws? Why not. Running away from home on Thanksgiving? Nothing can possibly go wrong...

Navy Seal Dogs by Mike Ritland

Navy SEAL Dogs is the true story of how Mike Ritland grew from a skinny, bullied child, to a member of our nation's most elite SEAL Teams, to the trainer of the world's most highly skilled K9 warriors.

  Fire & Ash by Jonathan Maberry

When Benny and his friends learn that a scientist may have discovered a cure for the zombie plague, they mount a search and rescue mission, unaware that the reapers want the cure to wipe humanity off the face of the earth.

Halloween books - Zombies!

For you zombie lovers out there, here's what we got for zombie books~

After a disease turns everyone over sixteen into brainless, decomposing, flesh-eating creatures, a group of teenagers leave their shelter and set out of a harrowing journey across London to the safe haven of Buckingham Palace.

Each time fifteen-year-old Hannah and her out-of-work father move she has some fears about making friends, but a classmate warns her that in Maplecrest, Vermont, the cheerleaders really are monsters.

Streetwise, tough, and savvy, Nick and his quick sarcasm are the stuff of legend... until the night when his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity. With his fellow students turning into flesh-eating zombies, how can he stop them... without getting grounded by his mom?

Having learned that she has powers both to heal people and to create zombies, sixteen-year-old Hailey is trying to lead a fairly normal life with her brother and aunt in Milwaukee, but when she attempts to contact her boyfriend, she brings dangerous villains--both alive and undead--to her doorstep.

Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the Unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.

When dead teenagers who have come back to life start showing up at her high school, Phoebe, a goth girl, becomes interested in the phenomenon, and when she starts dating a "living impaired" boy, they encounter prejudice, fear, and hatred.

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.

In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

ZOMBIES VS UNICORNS - Twelve short stories by a variety of authors seek to answer the question of whether zombies are better than unicorns.

Graphic novels~

A mysterious illness is spreading rapidly through the halls of Fujimi High School. In a matter of hours, the campus is transformed from a place of learning into a hive of nightmares, as the infected students collapse and are reborn as flesh-hungry zombies! Only a handful of students escape the initial outbreak - among them Takashi Komuro and his childhood friend, Rei. He manages to protect Rei from the initial onslaught, but how long can Takashi and the other students hope to survive when the whole school - maybe the whole town - is out for their blood?!

St. Petersburg High school juniors Dicey Bell, a baseball star, and Jack Chen, who loves science and role-playing games, discover a mutual attraction when paired for a project, but on their first date, a zombie-producing fungus sends them on the run.

Nonfiction~

The Zombie Handbook' explains how to identify a zombie, survive an attack, and ultimately, defeat the undead hordes. Packed with sound, practical advice, true-life encounters, and a world history of these drooling brain munchers, this little book is a must for everyone who wants to know the truth about the undead!

So you're a zombie. What now? Slow down -- and flesh out the life of the mindless with this essential guide for the newly undead. The vacant stare, the shambling gait, the sense that you're falling apart -- adjusting to "life" as a zombie takes a little getting used to. And what's with the sudden obsession with brains? Time to get your outstretched hands on this comprehensive handbook spelling out all things z-o-m-b-i-e.

New Books: Oct. 2012 (Part 2)

Scarlett Dedd by Cathy Brett

Check the Catalog

When misfit goth girl Scarlett accidentally kills herself and her family, she at first is amused by being a ghost, but then she begins to get lonely and bored.

 Fullmetal Alchemist: Vol. 6 by Hiromu Arakawa

Check the Catalog

The origin of the Elric Brothers!  Once, Edward and Alphonse Elric were willing to do anything to become alchemists.  But when they tried to use their newfound skills to resurrect their dead mother, they broke a taboo and encountered something more terrifying than death itself.  Now, hardened by years of military training, Edward and Alphonse have returned to the woman who first taught them alchemy...but can she help them, or even forgive them?

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Check the Catalog

Rendered a subject of gossip after a traumatic night that left her with terrible scars on her arms, Echo is dumped by her boyfriend and bonds with bad-boy Noah, whose tough attitude hides an understanding nature and difficult secrets.

 From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer & Valerie Thomas

Check the Catalog

Just before her graduation from La Jolla's exclusive Freiburg Academy, valedictorian and scholarship student Kylie Flores inadvertently ends up in Ensenada, Mexico, with Max, one of the most popular boys in school, where, in twenty-four jam-packed hours, their lives dramatically change.

Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry

Check the Catalog

Benny, Nix, Lou, and Lilah journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America searching for the jet they saw months ago, while evading fierce animals and a new kind of zombie.

Presents for my YAs! December books! - Part 3

Gossip Girl: Psycho Killer by Cecily von Ziegesar

Check the Catalog

A reimagined version of the first Gossip girl novel. Just as in the original story, Serena returns from boarding school hoping to make amends with her BFF Blair Waldorf--things just haven't been the same since Nate Archibald came between them. But here's where our dark tale takes a turn: Serena decides that the only way for her to make things right with Blair is to eliminate Nate. If that means killing him, well, c'est la vie. Her attempted murder doesn't go unnoticed by Blair, however, who isn't about to let Serena kill whoever she wants-not when there's Cyrus Rose and Chuck Bass and Titi Coates and everyone else who's ever irritated Blair to get rid of first.

 Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Check the Catalog

Seventeen-year-old Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters--the chimaerae who form the only family she has ever known.

 Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry

Check the Catalog

In post-apocalyptic America, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura and his friends set out into the great Rot & Ruin hoping to find a better future but are soon pitted against zombies, wild animals, insane murderers, and the horrors of Gameland.

 Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

Check the Catalog

Evan is haunted by the loss of his best friend, but when mysterious photographs start appearing, he begins to fall apart as he starts to wonder if she has returned, seeking vengeance.