New Books for the Best Month ~ March 2016 (part 4)

It's All Your Fault by Paul Rudnick

Contemporary Fiction 

Seventeen-year-old Caitlin Singleberry is a proper Christian teenager and member of a family singing group, but today she has been given a truly impossible assignment--keep her cousin Heller Harrigan, Hollywood wild child, out of trouble for the last weekend before her first big movie debuts.

The Killing Jar by Jennifer Bosworth

Paranormal 

When she was ten years old Kenna discovered that she had the ability to drain the life from another human being, and ever since she has been afraid to touch anyone--but when she uses that power to save her mother and twin sister from an attacker, her mother finally reveals the secret origin of her power, and she is forced to choose between the Kalyptra and a human life.

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

Historical Fiction 

Near the turn of the nineteenth century, Dr. Thornhollow helps teenaged Grace Mae escape from the Boston asylum where she was sent after becoming pregnant by rape, and takes her to Ohio where they put her intelligence and remarkable memory to use in trying to catch murderers.

The Motherless Oven by Rob Davis

Graphic Novel 

In Scarper Lee's world, parents don't make children--children make parents. Scarper's father is his pride and joy, a wind-powered brass construction with a following sail. His mother is a Bakelite hairdryer. In this world, it rains knives and household appliances have souls. There are no birthdays--only deathdays. Scarper knows he has just three weeks to live. As his deathday approaches, he is forced from his routine and strikes out into the unknown--where friendships are tested and authority challenged.

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom

Contemporary Fiction 

Blind sixteen-year-old Parker Grant navigates friendships and romantic relationships, including a run-in with a boy who previously broke her heart, while coping with her father's recent death.

The Rest of Your Summer Reading ~ August New Books (part 4)

The Leveller by Julia Durango

The Leveller #1

Action/Adventure 

Nixy Bauer, a sixteen-year-old self-made video-game bounty hunter, gets in over her head when she attempts to rescue a game developer's son from a virtual trap.

Life Unaware by Cole Gibsen

Contemporary Fiction 

Regan Flay is on the cusp of achieving her control-freak mother's "plan" for high school success--cheerleading, student council, the Honor Society--until her life gets turned horribly, horribly upside down. Every bitchy text. Every bitchy email. Every lie, manipulation, and insult she's ever said have been printed out and taped to all the lockers in school. Now Regan has gone from popular princess to total pariah. The only person who even speaks to her is her former best friend's hot but socially miscreant brother, Nolan Letner. Nolan thinks he knows what Regan's going through, but what nobody knows is that Regan isn't really Little Miss Perfect. In fact, she's barely holding it together under her mom's pressure. But the consequences of Regan's fall from grace are only just beginning. Once the chain reaction starts, no one will remain untouched... especially Regan Flay.

Like It Never Happened by Emily Adrian

Contemporary fiction 

As one of The Essential Five theater students at her alternative high school, Rebecca Rivers is preparing to become an actress and enjoying junior year with the perfect boyfriend until life-changing rumors threaten everything.

Lost by S. A. Bodeen

Shipwreck Island #2

Action/Adventure 

Sarah Robinson and her family are shipwrecked on a remote and mysterious island. Their food is running out, and their fear is escalating-there is no sign of rescue. The mysterious girl they found unconscious at the beach is healing, and what she tells them about the strange island and especially about someone called the Keeper has the family on edge. When Sarah's dad and Marco's younger brother go missing, the mystery becomes dangerous. Now, it's a matter of life and death. Now, the family is truly lost.

New Books for June...Finally! (Part 8)

The Notorious Pagan Jones by Nina Berry

Historical Fiction 

Pagan Jones went from America's sweetheart to fallen angel in one fateful night in 1960: the night a car accident killed her whole family. Pagan was behind the wheel and driving drunk. Nine months later, she's stuck in the Lighthouse Reformatory for Wayward Girls and tortured by her guilt--not to mention the sadistic Miss Edwards, who takes special delight in humiliating the once-great Pagan Jones. But all of that is about to change. Pagan's old agent shows up with a mysterious studio executive, Devin Black, and an offer. Pagan will be released from juvenile detention if she accepts a juicy role in a comedy directed by award-winning director Bennie Wexler. The shoot starts in West Berlin in just three days. If Pagan's going to do it, she has to decide fast--and she has to agree to a court-appointed 'guardian,' the handsome yet infuriating Devin, who's too young, too smooth and too sophisticated to be some studio flack. The offer's too good to be true, Berlin's in turmoil and Devin Black knows way too much about her--there's definitely something fishy going on. But if anyone can take on a divided city, a scheming guardian and the criticism of a world that once adored her, it's the notorious Pagan Jones. What could go wrong?

The Novice by Taran Matharu 

Fantasy 

When Fletcher, a blacksmith's apprentice, learns he can summon demons, he travels with his demon to an academy for adepts where he is to train as a Battlemage in the Empire's war against the orcs, but he discovers that all is not as it seems.

Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry

Contemporary Fiction 

When a reluctant visit turns into an extended summer vacation among relatives Emily never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Paranormal 

When Delilah is united with Oliver, a prince literally taken from the pages of a fairytale, the line between what is on the page and what is possible is blurred, and all must be resolved for the two to live happily ever after.

The Porcupine of Truth by Bill Konigsberg

Contemporary Fiction 

Seventeen-year-old Carson Speier is bored of Billings, Montana, and resentful that he has to help his mother take care of his father, a dying alcoholic whom he has not seen in fourteen years--but then he meets Aisha, a beautiful African American girl who has run away from her own difficult family, and together they embark on a journey of discovery that may help them both come to terms with their lives.

Happy birthday to me! ~ New Books for March (part 3)

Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle

Contemporary Fiction

When seventeen-year-old Paige is discovered in Portland, Oregon, and brought to Hollywood to star in a major motion picture, she finds all of the fame and adulation she had dreamed of but also gets caught in a romantic whirlwind, both on and off screen. 

Famous Last Words by Katie Alender

High-schooler Willa has just moved to California with her mother and film director stepfather, and she will be attending a private school--but her real problem is that she keeps seeing things that are not really there, like a dead body in the swimming pool, and her visions may be connected to a serial killer that is stalking young girls in Hollywood.

Firebrand by Antony John

Science Fiction

In a dystopian United States, the colonists of Roanoke Island must find safety at the mysterious Fort Sumter, but as they get further from their home, their elemental powers begin to fade.

Friendship Bracelets All Grown Up: Hemp, Floss, and Other Boho Chic Designs to Make by Suzanne McNeill

Nonfiction 

Presents step-by-step, illustrated instructions for crafting bracelets using embroidery floss and hemp in a variety of intricate patterns of knots, including chevrons, stripes, and waves, with embellishments such as beads and buttons.

Heap House by Edward Carey

Science Fiction 

Young Clod is an Iremonger. He lives in at Heap House, his family's mansion at the center of the Heaps, a vast sea of lost and discarded items whose ever-shifting masses have been known to swallow people alive. The Iremongers are an odd old family, each the owner of a Birth Object they must keep with them at all times. Clod is perhaps the oddest of all--his gift and his curse is that he can hear all of the objects of Heap House whispering. Yes, a storm is brewing over Heap House. The Iremongers are growing restless and the house's many objects are showing strange signs of life. Clod is on the cusp of being 'trousered' and married off (unhappily) to his cousin Pinalippy when he meets the plucky orphan servant Lucy Pennant, with whose help he begins to uncover the dark secrets of his family's empire.