New Books for April 2016 (part 4)

Gotham Academy vol 2: Calamity by Becky Cloonan

Graphic Novel (comic book) 

At the beginning of the term, Olive Silverlock returned to Gotham Academy a shadow of her former self. But thanks to her new friendships and their Detective Club sleuthing, Olive was finally starting to feel whole again. 

Then, abruptly, Olive’s mother died—or, she seemed to. In the weeks after the funeral, Olive begins seeing her mother around the school. An Arkham Asylum patient with a deadly dark side, Sybil Silverlock was a powerful and complicated woman. Could her spirit be reaching out from beyond the grave? And if so, is it motherly Sybil who haunts Olive—or her deadly alter ego Calamity?

Plus, the kids hunt a werewolf on campus and Maps teams up with the Academy’s newest transfer, Damian Wayne!

The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle

Contemporary Fiction 

Quinn Roberts is a sixteen-year-old smart aleck and Hollywood hopeful whose only worry used to be writing convincing dialogue for the movies he made with his sister Annabeth. Of course, that was all before--before Quinn stopped going to school, before his mom started sleeping on the sofa...and before the car accident that changed everything. Enter: Geoff, Quinn's best friend who insists it's time that Quinn came out--at least from hibernation. One haircut later, Geoff drags Quinn to his first college party, where instead of nursing his pain, he meets a guy--okay, a hot guy--and falls, hard. What follows is an upside-down week in which Quinn begins imagining his future as a screenplay that might actually have a happily-ever-after ending--if, that is, he can finally step back into the starring role of his own life story.

The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever by Jeff Strand

Contemporary Fiction 

After producing three horror films that went mostly ignored on YouTube, Justin and his filmmaking buddies decide it's time to make something epic. In fact, they're going to make The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever. They may not have money or a script, but they have passion. And, after a rash text message, they also have the beautiful Alicia Howtz as the lead.

Hemmed in by a one-month timeline and a cast of uncooperative extras, but aching to fulfill Alicia's dreams, Justin must face the sad, sad truth: he may, in actuality, be producing The Worst Zombie Movie Ever. 

Harmony House by Nic Sheff

Paranormal 

Something's not right in Beach Haven. Jen Noonan's father thinks a move to Harmony House is the key to salvation, but to everyone who has lived there before, it is a portal to pure horror. After her alcoholic mother's death, Jen's father cracked. He dragged Jen to a dilapidated old manor on the shore of New Jersey to start their new lives--but Jen can tell that the place has an unhappy history. She can feel it the same way she can feel her anger flowing out of her, affecting the world in strange ways she can't explain. But Harmony House is more than just a creepy old estate. It's got a chilling past--and the more Jen discovers its secrets, the more the house awakens. Visions of a strange boy who lived in the house long ago follow Jen wherever she goes, and her father's already-fragile sanity disintegrates before her eyes. As the forces in the house join together to terrorize Jen, she must find a way to escape the past she didn't know was haunting her--and the mysterious and terrible power she didn't realize she had.

Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend by Alan Cumyn

Paranormal 

Shiels is very pleased with her perfectly controlled life (controlling others while she's at it). She's smart, powerful, the Student Body Chair, and she even has a loving boyfriend. What more could a girl ask for? But everything changes when the first-ever interspecies transfer student, a pterodactyl named Pyke, enrolls at her school. There's something about him--something primal--that causes the students to lose control whenever he's around. Even Shiels, the seemingly perfect self-confident girl that she is, can't keep her mind off of him, despite her doting boyfriend and despite the fact that Pyke immediately starts dating Jocelyn, the school's fastest runner who Shiels has always discounted as a nobody. Pyke, hugely popular in a school whose motto is to embrace differences, is asked to join a band, and when his band plays at the Autumn Whirl dance, his preternatural shrieking music sends everyone into a literal frenzy. No one can remember what happened the next day, but Shiels learns that she danced far too long with Pyke, her nose has turned purple, and she may have done something with her boyfriend that she shouldn't have. Who's in control now? Hilarious and relatable (despite the dinosaur), Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend is about a teen who must come to terms with not being in control of all things at all times, break free of her mundane life, discover who her true self is, and, oh, finding out that going primal isn't always a bad thing.

What's New in November? (part 2)

Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics

Paranormal

When sixteen-year-old Amanda Verner's family decides to move from their small mountain cabin to the vast prairie, she hopes it is her chance for a fresh start. She can leave behind the memory of the past winter; of her sickly ma giving birth to a baby sister who cries endlessly; of the terrifying visions she saw as her sanity began to slip, the victim of cabin fever; and most of all, the memories of the boy she has been secretly meeting with as a distraction from her pain. The boy whose baby she now carries. When the Verners arrive at their new home, a large cabin abandoned by its previous owners, they discover the inside covered in blood. And as the days pass, it is obvious to Amanda that something isn't right on the prairie. She's heard stories of lands being tainted by evil, of men losing their minds and killing their families, and there is something strange about the doctor and his son who live in the woods on the edge of the prairie. But with the guilt and shame of her sins weighing on her, Amanda can't be sure if the true evil lies in the land, or deep within her soul.

The Detour by S. A. Bodeen

Action/Adventure 

Livvy Flynn is a big deal - she's a New York Times -bestselling author whose YA fiction has sold all over the world. She's rich, she's famous, she's gorgeous, and she's full of herself. When she's invited to an A-list writer's conference, she decides to accept so she can have some time to herself. She's on a tight deadline for her next book, and she has no intention of socializing with the other industry people at the conference. And then she hits the detour. Before she knows it, her brand new car is wrecked, she's hurt, and she's tied to a bed in a nondescript shack in the middle of nowhere. A woman and her apparently manic daughter have kidnapped her. And they have no intention of letting her go.

The Devil is a Part-Timer by Satoshi Wagahara & Akio Hiiragi

Manga

It's tough being evil when you have to pay the rent! This comical tale of a demon-lord-turned-fry-slinger follows the daily travails of (former) Devil King Sadao Maou and his general Shiro Ashiya as they navigate the complexities of life in modern-day Tokyo. Having suffered utter defeat at the hands of a plucky hero, they've been banished to Earth and stripped of magical power. And if that wasn't enough, that pesky hero is still hell bent on finishing the job. Artist Akio Hiiragi brings Satoshi Wagahara's story to hilarious life in this manga adaptation of the hit light novel series. It turns out crushing your enemies beneath your feet is tricky when you haven't even made manager yet!

Diary of a Haunting by M. Verano

Paranormal 

After her parents' high-profile divorce, sixteen-year-old Paige is forced to leave Los Angeles for a rambling Victorian mansion in small-town Idaho where she soon notices strange occurrences that seem to be building toward some unspeakable horror.

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor: Revolutions of Terror by Nick Abadzi

Graphic Novel 

Two strangers: the Doctor, charming, eccentric Time Lord with a past as dark and heavy as a black hole; Gabriella Gonzalez, waitress and wannabe artist with a future dragging her down like lead chains. Hurled together by a wave of psychic horror haunting New York, they embark on an epic new adventure across time and space...

New School Year, New Books! September New Books (part 9)

Shutter by Courtney Alameda

Paranormal 

Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat -- a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With an analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She's aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera's technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever. When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain. As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn't exorcise her entity in seven days or less, she and her friends will die. Now pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, Leonard Helsing, she must track and destroy an entity more powerful than anything she's faced before . . . or die trying. Lock, stock, and lens, she's in for one hell of a week.

Siren's Fury by Mary Weber

Fantasy 

Nym has saved Faelen only to discover that Draewulf stole everything she valued. Now he’s destroyed her Elemental storm-summoning ability as well.

When Nym sneaks off with a host of delegates to Bron, Lord Myles offers her the chance for a new kind of power and the whispered hope that it may do more than simply defeat the monster she loathes. But the secrets the Bron people have kept concealed, along with the horrors Draewulf has developed, may require more than simply harnessing a darker ability.

They may require who she is.

Set against the stark metallic backdrop of the Bron kingdom, Nym is faced with the chance to change the future.

Or was that Draewulf’s plan for her all along?

Slasher Girls & Monster Boys by various

Paranormal 

For fans of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, American Horror Story and The Walking Dead comes a powerhouse anthology featuring some of the best thriller and horror writers in YA A host of the sharpest young adult authors come together in this collection of terrifying tales and psychological thrillers. Each author draws from a mix of literature, film, television, and music to create something new and fresh and unsettling. Clever readers will love teasing out the references and can satisfy their curiosity at the end of each tale, where the inspiration is revealed. There are no superficial scares here; these are stories that will make you think even as they keep you on the edge of your seat. From blood horror, to the supernatural, to unsettling, all-too-possible realism, this collection has something for anyone looking for an absolute thrill. 

Stick by Michael Harmon

Contemporary Fiction 

"Stick" is the best wide receiver in the history of his high school--the football seems magnetically drawn to his hands, hence his nickname. Preston is an outcast, and his pipsqueak stature and nerdy social status couldn't be further from a star athlete's. Stick puts on his football costume every week to make others--his teammates, his dad, everyone but himself--happy, but he's fallen out of love with the sport and feels that he's lost control of his future. Preston puts on his homemade superhero costume every night to help others, too: to avenge his father's murder, he's determined to right the wrongs he sees in his neighborhood and regain control of the flawed world he sees around him. A twist of fate brings this unlikely pair together in a friendship that is as odd as it is true.

Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Nonfiction 

What happens when a person's reputation has been forever damaged? With archival photographs and text among other primary sources, this riveting biography of Mary Mallon by the Sibert medalist and Newbery Honor winner Susan Bartoletti looks beyond the tabloid scandal of Mary's controversial life. How she was treated by medical and legal officials reveals a lesser-known story of human and constitutional rights, entangled with the science of pathology and enduring questions about who Mary Mallon really was. How did her name become synonymous with deadly disease? And who is really responsible for the lasting legacy of Typhoid Mary? This thorough exploration includes an author's note, timeline, annotated source notes, and bibliography.

Happy birthday to me! ~ New Books for March (part 4)

I am Pusheen the Cat by Claire Belton

Graphic Novel 

Pusheen is a pleasantly plump cat who has warmed hearts and tickled funny bones of millions worldwide with her signature GIF animated bops, bounces, and tail wiggles. Now, Pusheen is ready to make the leap from digital to print in her first comic collection! Learn what makes her purr and find out why millions of people have already fallen in love with this naughty, adorable kitty. Featuring some of the most popular stories from Pusheen’s Tumblr and Facebook pages (plus a healthy serving of never-before-seen material), I Am Pusheen the Cat is a treat for cat lovers and comics fans alike.

I'm Glad I Did by Cynthia Weil

Historical Fiction 

In 1963 sixteen-year-old JJ Green, a songwriter interning at New York City's famous Brill Building, finds herself a writing partner In Luke Silver, a boy who seems to connect instantly with her music, and they start cutting their first demo with Dulcie Brown, a legend who has fallen on hard times, with a secret past.

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender

Mystery

While in Paris, France on a class trip, Colette Iselin enlists the help of her charming French tour guide to help uncover a possible connection between Marie Antoinette, a series of gruesome murders, and perhaps her own family history, and he also gives her insights into herself.

Mary: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan

Paranormal

Teens Jess, Shauna, Kitty, and Anna follow all the rules, but when their summoning circle is broken the vengeful spirit of Bloody Mary slips through, and as the girls struggle to escape Mary's wrath, loyalties are questioned, friendships torn apart, and lives changed forever.

Ms. Marvel: No Normal by Willow Wilson

Graphic Novel 

Kamala Khan is an ordinary girl from Jersey City - until she's suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm! When Kamala discovers the dangers of her newfound powers, she unlocks a secret behind them, as well. Is Kamala ready to wield these immense new gifts? Or will the weight of the legacy before her be too much to bear? Kamala has no idea, either. But she's comin' for you, New York!

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**

New Books for October ~ Part 7

Provides a comprehensive guide for teenagers to saving, spending, and earning money, and includes information on starting a business, preparing for interviews, opening a bank account, and purchasing car and property insurance.

Greenwich Village, 1970s: Rainey Royal, fourteen years old, talented, and troubled, lives in a once-elegant, now decaying brownstone with her father, a jazz musician with a cultish personality. Her mother has abandoned the family, and Rainey fends off advances from her father's best friend while trying desperately to nurture her own creative drives and build a substitute family. She's a rebel, even a criminal, but she's also deeply vulnerable, fighting to figure out how to put back in place the boundaries her life has knocked down, and more than that, struggling to learn how to be an artist and a person in a broken world. Rainey Royal is told in 14 narratives of scarred and aching beauty that build into a fiercely powerful novel: the harrowing and ultimately affirming story of a young artist.

Fourteen-year-old Mateo and other Caribbean islanders face discrimination, segregation, and harsh working conditions when American recruiters lure them to the Panamanian rain forest in 1906 to build the great canal.

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...

Miles's little brother Teddy is missing. The police believe he drowned at the beach-the very same day Miles had his first schizophrenic episode. But Miles knows better-Teddy is alive. Kidnapped. There was even a witness! Fueled by guilt, Miles sets off to rescue Teddy. There is so much to overcome, though. The endless pills he must take. The girl who steals his heart and plays with it. The black crows that follow him. As seen through Miles's distorted perception, his world closes around him as he pushes to keep it open. What you think you know about his world is actually a blur of gray, though, and the sharp focus of reality proves startling. 

July's New Books are (finally) Here! (part 4)

Teen Spirit by Francesca Lia Block

Julie wanted nothing more than to feel connected to her deceased grandmother, but when she actually makes contact with the other side it's not her grandmother that responds, but a spirit that has its own sinister agenda.

A Breath of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey

When three cousins in 1814 London discover their magical powers and family lineage of witchcraft, they accidentally open the gates to the underworld allowing the spirits of dark witches known as the Greymalkin Sisters to hunt and kill young debutante witches for their powers.

Changers: Drew by T. Cooper & Allison Glock-Cooper

Changers Book One: Drew opens on the eve of Ethan Miller''s freshman year of high school in a brand-new town. He''s finally sporting a haircut he doesn't hate, has grown two inches since middle school, and can''t wait to try out for the soccer team. At last, everything is looking up in life. Until the next morning. When Ethan awakens as a girl. Ethan is a Changer, a little-known, ancient race of humans who live out each of their four years of high school as a different person. After graduation, Changers choose which version of themselves they will be forever--and no, they cannot go back to who they were before the changes began. Ethan must now live as Drew Bohner--a petite blonde with an unfortunate last name--and navigate the treacherous waters of freshman year while also following the rules: Never tell anyone what you are. Never disobey the Changers Council. And never, ever fall in love with another Changer. Oh, and Drew also has to battle a creepy underground syndicate called "Abiders" (as well as the sadistic school queen bee, Chloe). And she can''t even confide in her best friend Audrey, who can never know the real her, without risking both of their lives.

Insanity by Susan Vaught

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

July's New Books are (finally) Here! (part 3)

Wickedpedia by Chris Van Etten

Don't open the door. Don't answer your phone. And whatever you do, DON'T turn on your computer. . . . Cole and Greg love playing practical jokes through Wikipedia. They edit key articles and watch their classmates crash and burn giving oral reports on historical figures like Genghis Khan, the first female astronaut on Jupiter. So after the star soccer player steals Cole's girlfriend, the boys take their revenge by creating a Wikipedia page for him, an entry full of outlandish information including details about his bizarre death on the soccer field. It's all in good fun, until the soccer player is killed in a freak accident . . . just as Cole and Greg predicted.

Code Name Komiko by Naomi Paul

In Hong Kong, high school senior Lian, code name Komiko, begins to investigate the Harrison Corporation, a clothing business using an illegal workforce, after a dead body washes up in Big Wave Bay. With the help of her cyber-investigating group 06/04, Komiko plunges into a world of corruption and danger to uncover Harrison Corps' crimes.

#scandal by Sarah Ockler

When pictures of Lucy kissing her best friend's boyfriend emerge on the world of social media, she becomes a social pariah after the scandal rocks the school.

Dear Life, You Suck by Scott Blagden

Irreverent, foul-mouthed, seventeen-year-old Cricket Cherpin, living under the watchful eye of Mother Mary at a Catholic boys' home in Maine, has such bleak prospects he is considering suicide when Wynona Bidaban steps into his world.

Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly by Conrad Wesselhoeft

Seventeen year-old dirt-bike-riding daredevil Arlo Santiago catches the eye of the U.S. military with his first-place ranking on a video game featuring drone warfare, and must reconcile the work they want him to do with the emotional scars he has suffered following a violent death in his family.

Fabulous February New Books ~ Part 3

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

YA SFF SAN

At age eight, David watched as his father was killed by an Epic, a human with superhuman powers, and now, ten years later, he joins the Reckoners--the only people who are trying to kill the Epics and end their tyranny.

Sick by Tom Leveen

YA ACT LEV

Brian and his friends are not part of the cool crowd. They're the misfits, the troublemakers--the ones who jump their high school's electrified fence to skip school regularly. So when the virus breaks out, they're the only ones with a chance of surviving.

Batman Volume 1: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder

YA GN SNY

After a series of brutal murders rocks Gotham City, Batman begins to realize that perhaps these crimes go far deeper than appearances suggest. As the Caped Crusader begins to unravel this deadly mystery, he discovers a conspiracy going back to his youth and beyond to the origins of the city he's sworn to protect. Could the Court of Owls, once thought to be nothing more than an urban legend, be behind the crime and corruption? Or is Bruce Wayne losing his grip on sanity and falling prey to the pressures of his war on crime? Collects issues #1-7 of Batman.

Coaltown Jesus by Ron Koertge

YA FIC KOE

Walker shouldn't have been so surprised to find Jesus standing in the middle of his bedroom. After all, he'd prayed for whoever was up there to help him, and to help his mom, who hadn't stopped crying since Noah died two months ago. But since when have prayers actually been answered? And since when has Jesus been so irreverent?

Atlantis Rising by T. A. Barron

YA SFF BAR

In a magical land called Ellegandia, a young boy named Promi scrapes by, stealing pies, cakes and sweets to survive. But little does he know that his country is a pawn in an ages-old war between good and evil, battled both in the spirit realm and in the human world. Harboring secrets of his own, Promi teams up with a courageous girl named Atlanta and the two vow to save their land; and each other; no matter the cost. But their vow has greater repercussions than they ever could imagine; in fact, it may just bring about the creation of Atlantis, an island cut off from the rest of the world, where magic reigns supreme.