Here Come the New Books for May 2016! (part 5)

The Last Execution by Jesper Wung-Sung

Historical Fiction 

Based on the true story of the last execution in Denmark's history, this novel asks a question that plagues a small Danish town in 1853: does a fifteen-year-old boy deserve to be put to death?

 

 The Last Full Measure by Trent Reedy

Action/Adventure 

Trent Reedy brings his action-packed, provocative trilogy about the second American Civil War to a stunning and stirring close in The Last Full Measure.
Now, in this third book, the Second Civil War has come to an end in Idaho. The Feds have taken the fight to other fronts, and Danny and his friends are free of US. dominance. But that freedom comes with considerable costs, from Danny's disturbing flashbacks to the war, to the Brotherhood of the White Eagle, whose "security" for Freedom Lake looks more like outright thuggery. After Danny makes a shocking discovery about the Brotherhood's final aims, he and his friends lead a group of townspeople on a dangerous journey across a ravaged Idaho, hoping to build a better society of their own, and fulfill the dreams they had in what once was the United States.

 

The Lifeboat Clique by Kathy Parks

Action/Adventure 

Some people might say that Denver had a death wish. Why else would she have dared to sneak into a Malibu beach party where she’d be surrounded by enemies, namely including her ex-BFF Abigail? Oh yeah. Croix. Denver never thought in a million years he’d ask her out, but who was she to question this miracle of fate? Well, that wasn’t the only surprise fate had in store. During the party a tsunami hit the coast of California, wiping out everything in its path. Denver and a handful of others escaped death by holding onto the roof of the house and were swept out to sea. Of course, one of her fellow castaways was none other than Abigail, who could barely stand the sight of her. Now that she’s floating in the ocean, stuck on a small boat with the most popular kids in school and waiting to be rescued, Denver wonders what might kill her first-dehydration, sunstroke, or the girl she used to think of as a sister?

 

 Lumberjanes vol 3: A Terrible Plan by Noelle Stevenson

Graphic Novel 

This New York Times Bestselling series continues with Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley as they take on everything that goes bump in the night. From scary stories to magical portals that lead to a land untouched by time, it's definitely not your average summer.

 

Macbeth #killingit by William Shakespeare & Courtney Carbone

Contemporary Fiction 

William Shakespeare's tragedy told in the style of texts, tweets, and status posts.

 

 A Midsummer Night #nofilter by William Shakespeare & Brett Wright

Contemporary Fiction 

A retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream--with emojis.

 

New Books for February (part 1)

Action

There are many powerful people along Embassy Row who want Grace to block out all her unpretty thoughts. But Grace will not stop until she finds out who killed her mother and make the killer pay.

Mystery

Mob goddaughter Gina Gallo stands to inherit two million bucks from her great-uncle Seb, a master forger. But there's a catch. Uncle Seb wants Gina to make things right and return an extremely valuable painting to the art gallery. A reluctant Gina comes up with a plan for a reverse heist, but things never go as planned when her family is involved...

Historical Fiction

The inspiring story of Clara Lemlich, whose fight for equal rights led to the largest strike by women in American history A gorgeously told novel in verse written with intimacy and power, Audacity is inspired by the real-life story of Clara Lemlich, a spirited young woman who emigrated from Russia to New York at the turn of the twentieth century and fought tenaciously for equal rights. Bucking the norms of both her traditional Jewish family and societal conventions, Clara refuses to accept substandard working conditions in the factories on Manhattan's Lower East Side. For years, Clara devotes herself to the labor fight, speaking up for those who suffer in silence. In time, Clara convinces the women in the factories to strike, organize, and unionize, culminating in the famous Uprising of the 20,000. Powerful, breathtaking, and inspiring, Audacity is the story of a remarkable young woman, whose passion and selfless devotion to her cause changed the world.

Paranormal

There's something about the swamp in Sticks, Louisiana. Something different, something haunting . . . something alive. Everyone knows this, and everyone avoids going near it. And even the Mardi Gras-bead-decorated fence that surrounds it keeps people away. Until one morning when Sterling Saucier's older brother, Phineas, runs into the swamp . . . And doesn't return. Instead, a girl named Lenora May climbs out in his place, and all of a sudden, no one in Sticks remembers Phin at all. They treat Lenora May as if she's been Sterling's sister forever. Sterling needs to figure out what the swamp's done with her beloved brother and how Lenora May is connected to his disappearance--but first she's got to find someone who believes her. Heath Durham might be that someone. A loner shrouded behind rumors of drug addiction, Heath has had his own strange experience with the swamp. He and Sterling will have to piece together enough bits of memory and ancient swamp lore to get to the truth. But as the wild swamp encroaches on their town, Sterling and Heath may find a lot more than they expected . . . and Phin may be lost to them forever.

Action

Idaho is a war zone under Federal occupation, and Danny Wright and his friends in the Idaho Militia are determined to fight back, running guerrilla missions against the army--but what at first seemed like a straightforward battle against governmental repression quickly grows murky, and Danny finds that even winning the war does not mean an end to tyranny.

New Books for October ~ Part 6

In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.  Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily. Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town's most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept "separate but equal." Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

Shay Remby arrives in Hollywood with $58 and a handmade knife, searching for her brother, Odin. Odin's a brilliant hacker but a bit of a loose cannon. He and a group of radical animal-rights activists hit a Singular Corp. research lab in Eugene, Oregon. The raid was a disaster, but Odin escaped with a set of highly encrypted flash drives and a post-surgical dog. When Shay gets a frantic 3 a.m. phone call from Odin--talking about evidence of unspeakable experiments, and a ruthless corporation, and how he must hide--she's concerned. When she gets a menacing visit from Singular's security team, she knows: her brother's a dead man walking. What Singular doesn't know--yet--is that 16-year-old Shay is every bit as ruthless as their security force, and she will burn Singular to the ground, if that's what it takes to save her brother.

For a responsible sixteen-year-old, Michael Wilson has a lot of problems--his father was killed in Afghanistan in 2005, his overworked and overprotective mother will not talk about their situation, and does not want him playing football, and he has suddenly started to receive letters that his father wrote before his death.

After he joins the new football team, Jack, a new junior and a skilled piano player at a preparatory boarding school, must decide how far he is willing to go to fit in with his new teammates, and how much he is willing to compromise himself to play the kind of music the school expects him to.

After a synthetic hormone in beef kills fifty million American women, seventeen-year-old Avie struggles for a normal life in a world where teenage girls are a valuable commodity, but when her father contracts her to marry a rich, older man, Avie decides to run away with her childhood friend and revolutionary, Yates.

New Books for March ~ Part 3

The Last of Us: American Dreams by Neil Druckmann

19 years ago, a parasitic fungal outbreak killed the majority of the world's population.  In one of the few remaining quarantine zones, 13 year old Ellie begins her new life as a ward of a military boarding school, where a friendship with fellow student Riley leads to her first trip in the outside world.  Beyond the walls of the regimented civil order they know, Ellie and Riley are soon confronted with the violent ways of life of the insurgent group The Fireflies-and with the monstrous victims of the infection!

The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens by Brooke Hauser

Chronicles a year in the life of a diverse group of seniors, all recent immigrants for whom English is a second language, at the renowned International High School in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

 Divided We Fall by Trent Reedy

Danny Wright never thought he'd be the man to bring down the United States of America. In fact, he enlisted in the Idaho National Guard because he wanted to serve his country the way his father did. When the Guard is called up on the governor's orders to police a protest in Boise, it seems like a routine crowd-control mission ... but then Danny's gun misfires, spooking the other soldiers and the already fractious crowd, and by the time the smoke clears, twelve people are dead.

Avalon by Mindee Arnett

For fans of Josh Whedon's cult classic television show Firefly comes a fascinating and fast-paced sci-fi thriller from author Mindee Arnett, about a group of teenage mercenaries who stumble upon a conspiracy that threatens the entire galaxy. Jeth Seagrave and his crew have made their name stealing metatech: the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light. In a world where the agencies that patrol the outer edges of space are as corrupt as the crime bosses who control them, it's as much of a living as anyone can ask for. For years Jeth's managed to fly under the radar of the government that executed his parents for treason--but when he finds himself in possession of information that both government and the crime bosses are willing to kill for, he's going to find there's no escaping his past anymore. With pulse-pounding action, a captivating mystery, and even a bit of romance, Avalon is the perfect read for hard-core sci-fi fans and non-sci-fi fans alike.

Blythewood by Carol Goodman

Welcome to Blythewood. At seventeen, Avaline Hall has already buried her mother, survived a horrific factory fire, and escaped from an insane asylum. Now she's on her way to Blythewood Academy, the elite boarding school in New York's mist-shrouded Hudson Valley that her mother attended; and was expelled from. Though she's afraid her high society classmates won't accept a factory girl in their midst, Ava is desperate to unravel her family's murky past, discover the identity of the father she's never known, and perhaps finally understand her mother's abrupt suicide. She's also on the hunt for the identity of the mysterious boy who rescued her from the fire. And she suspects the answers she seeks lie at Blythewood.  But nothing could have prepared her for the dark secret of what Blythewood is, and what its students are being trained to do.