Showing posts with label orphans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orphans. Show all posts

Monday, February 1, 2016

Curl Up With One of February's New Books (part 9)

Velvet Undercover by Teri Brown
Historical Fiction 
Samantha Donaldson's family has always done its duty for the British Crown. In the midst of World War I, seventeen-year-old Sam follows in their footsteps, serving her country from the homefront as a messenger for the intelligence organization MI5. After her father disappears on a diplomatic mission, she continues their studies of languages, mathematics, and complex puzzles, hoping to make him proud. When Sam is asked to join the famed women's spy group La Dame Blanche, she's torn--while this could be an unbelievable adventure, how can she abandon her mother, who has already lost a husband? But when her handlers reveal shocking news, Sam realizes she can't refuse the exciting and dangerous opportunity. Her acceptance leads her straight into the heart of enemy territory on a mission to extract the most valuable British spy embedded in Germany, known only as Velvet. Deep undercover in the court of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Sam must navigate the labyrinthine palace and its many glamorous--and secretive--residents to complete her assignment. To make matters worse she must fight a forbidden attraction to the enemy--a dangerously handsome German guard. In a place where personal politics are treacherously entangled in wartime policy, can Sam find Velvet before it's too late . . . for them both? 

The Wanderers by Kate Ormand
Paranormal
Flo lives an eccentric life—she travels with a popular circus in which the main acts star orphaned children with secret shape-shifting abilities. Once Flo turns sixteen, she must perform, but she’s not ready. While practicing jumping a flaming hurdle in a clearing beside the circus, she spots a dark figure in the trees and fears he saw her shift. The news sends the circus into a panic.
In Flo’s world, shifters are unknown to humans with the exception of a secret organization—the EOS, referred to as “hunters.” Hunters capture and kill. They send some shifters to labs for observation and testing—testing they don’t often survive—and deem others useless, a danger to society, and eliminate them. To avoid discovery, shifters travel in packs, constantly moving and keeping themselves hidden. Up until now, the circus was the perfect disguise.

Zero Day by Jan Gangsei
Action/Adventure 
Addie Webster's kidnapping was the most notorious of the decade - her high-profile parents were forced to go through their grief in the public eye. Mark Webster is now the President of the United States, fighting to keep the oval office after a tumultuous first term when the unthinkable happens: his daughter resurfaces. Addie is brought back into her family's fold, but who is this sixteen-year-old girl with a quiet, burning intelligence now living in the White House? There are those in the president's political circle who find her timely return suspicious.


Tuesday, August 4, 2015

The Rest of Your Summer Reading ~ August New Books (part 6)

Nova by Margaret Fortune
Nova #1
Science Fiction 
Lia Johansen was created for only one purpose: to slip onto the strategically placed New Sol Space Station and explode. But her mission goes to hell when her clock malfunctions, freezing her countdown with just two minutes to go. With no Plan B, no memories of her past, and no identity besides a name stolen from a dead POW, Lia has no idea what to do next. Her life gets even more complicated when she meets Michael Sorenson, the real Lia’s childhood best friend.
Drawn to Michael and his family against her better judgment, Lia starts learning what it means to live and love, and to be human. It is only when her countdown clock begins sporadically losing time that she realizes even duds can still blow up. If she wants any chance at a future, she must find a way to unlock the secrets of her past and stop her clock. But as Lia digs into her origins, she begins to suspect there’s far more to her mission and to this war, than meets the eye. With the fate of not just a space station but an entire empire hanging in the balance, Lia races to find the truth before her time—literally—runs out.

Out of  Control by Sarah Alderson
Action/Adventure 
A girl looking to escape her past in New York City ends up on the run from a dangerous conspiracy in this sizzling, high-stakes novel. When seventeen-year-old Liva came to New York City, all she wanted was to escape the painful memories of her past and finally find a fresh start. Her hopes for a new future were dashed the moment she became the sole witness to a brutal murder. When she's taken into police custody-supposedly for her own protection-she realizes something isn't right, but it's too late. Soon, bullets start flying, and Liva realizes that she is not just a witness, but the target-and she needs to escape before it's too late. With the help of a sexy car thief that she met at the station, Liva manages to get away from the massacre unharmed, but now the two of them are alone in New York, trying to outrun and outwit the two killers who will stop at nothing to find them. Liva and Jay are living on the edge, but when you're on the edge, there's a long way to fall.

Outrage by John Sandford & Michelle Cook
Singular Menace #2
Action/Adventure 
Shay Remby and her gang of renegades have struck a blow to the Singular Corporation. When they rescued Shay's brother, Odin, from a secret Singular lab, they also liberated a girl. Singular has been experimenting on her, trying to implant a U.S. senator's memories into her brain--with partial success. Fenfang is now a girl who literally knows too much. Can the knowledge brought by ex-captives Odin and Fenfang help Shay and her friends expose the crimes of this corrupt corporation? Singular has already killed one of Shay's band to protect their secrets. How many more will die before the truth is exposed?

Princess Ugg by Ted Naifeh
Princess Ugg #1
Graphic Novel 
Princess Ülga isn't your standard princess, but her royal lineage goes back for generations. At her mother's bequest, [she] travels to the city-state of Atraesca, where the prestigious Princess Academy lies, so that she can learn about things like diplomacy-- hopefully for the benefit of her rough and tumble people. But Ülga will learn that she's more behind in her studies than she realized-- and that when you're a princess, you're bound to have a few enemies.

Prison Boy by Sharon McKay
Contemporary Fiction 
When the orphanage they live in is closed, Pax and a younger boy, Kai, are forced to live on the streets. Desperate to make enough money to send Kai to school, Pax does jobs for a shady character known only as Mister. When Pax is given a "special mission"--to deliver a heavy box to a certain location--Pax winds up charged with terrorism and plunged into a brutal prison environment where his captors will do anything to make him talk.


Thursday, June 11, 2015

New Books for June...Finally! (Part 13)

Undertow by Michael Buckley
Science Fiction 
A sixteen-year-old girl is caught in an epic clash of civilizations when a society of undersea warriors marches out of the ocean into modern-day Coney Island.

Urban Outlaws by Peter Jay Black
Action/Adventure 
Deep beneath the city live five extraordinary kids: world-famous hacker Jack, gadget geek Charlie, free runner Slink, communications chief Obi, and decoy expert Wren. Orphans bonded over their shared sense of justice, the kids have formed the Urban Outlaws, a group dedicated to outsmarting criminals and handing out their stolen money through Random Acts of Kindness (R.A.K.s). But the kids find themselves in serious trouble when they're caught in an epic battle to control Proteus, a genius super-computer. Proteus can crack any code in the world-and steal top-secret documents in nanoseconds. It's down to the Urban Outlaws to use their guile, guts, and skill to destroy the computer, avert world domination . . . and stay alive.

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
Paranormal 
Orianna and Violet are ballet dancers and best friends, but when the ballerinas who have been harassing Violet are murdered, Orianna is accused of the crime and sent to a juvenile detention center where she meets Amber and they experience supernatural events linking the girls together.

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader: Weird Inventions: Strange Gadgets You Can't Live WIthout by the Bathroom Readers Institute
Nonfiction 
From the nation's top collector of curious and interesting information comes a book of strange gadgets you never knew existed. The writers behind 'Uncle John's Bathroom Reader' present this totally true treasury of amazing gizmos - devilish devices you never knew existed, created by people who thought the world absolutely needed what they had to offer and sell. nbsp; Read all about:nbsp;* The onesie that turns your crawling baby into a mop * The fart-stifling blanket * The square watermelon * The video game you control with your mind * The weight loss device that sucks food out of your stomach nbsp;

What Waits in the Woods by Kieran Scott
Action/Adventure 
A hiking trip in the woods in upstate New York is out of the comfort zone for sixteen-year-old city girl Callie Velasquez, but she wants to bond with her new friends Lissa and Penelope, not to mention her new boyfriend, Jeremy--however, nothing could have prepared her for the true human darkness that waits for her in the wood. 

YOLO Juliet by William  Shakespeare and Brett Wright
Contemporary Fiction 
Two families at war. A boy and a girl in love. A secret marriage gone oh-so-wrong. What if those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet had smartphones? The classic Shakespeare play told through its characters texting with emojis, checking in at certain locations, and updating their relationship statuses.

New Books for June...Finally! (Part 12)

Super Mutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki
Graphic Novel 
SuperMutant Magic Academy is a prep-school for mutants and witches but their paranormal abilities take a back seat to everyday teen concerns. Science experiments go awry, bake sales are upstaged, and the new kid at school is a cat who will determine the course of human destiny. In one strip, lizard-headed Trixie frets about her nonexistent modeling career; in another, the immortal Everlasting Boy tries to escape this mortal coil to no avail. Throughout it all, closeted Marsha obsesses about her unrequited crush, the cat-eared Wendy.

Thirteen by Tom Hoyle
Action/Adventure 
Targeted by a dangerous cult, thirteen-year-old Adam must save himself--and the rest of London--before the New Year begins.

Three Day Summer by Sarvenaz Tash
Historical Fiction 
During the three days of the music festival known as Woodstock, Michael Michaelson of Somerville, Massachusetts, and Cora Fletcher, a volunteer in the medical tent who lives nearby, share incredible experiences, the greatest of which is meeting each other.

Tracked by Jenny Martin
Science Fiction 
Phee Van Zant, an orphaned street-racer on the corrupt planet Castra, gets swept up in the corporate rally circuit and an even bigger revolution.

The Undelightened by Bentz Deyo
Fantasy
Leam Holt's eighteenth birthday tomorrow caps the most depressing year of his life, marking the anniversary of his failed delightenment—the soul-darkening, magic-bestowing rite of passage that should’ve launched him into the fight between Darkness and Light. Making things worse,Leam’s insufferable brother, Zach, the pride of the family, is set to delighten in a few short hours.
When Gideon, the evil leader of Darkness, arrives to preside over Zach’s ceremony, the course of Leam’s life takes a drastic turn. Rather than fading farther into the background, Leam is ordered to undergo a series of brutal trials. Vast magical power is suddenly within Leam’s grasp if he triumphs, but Leam can’t seem to stay away from a beautiful girl of Light, and his testing is yielding disturbing results.
As Leam begins to uncover secrets on both sides of the war, he realizes the fate of humanity is at stake, and he may have the most to lose in the fight.


New Books for June...Finally! (Part 4)

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West
Contemporary Fiction 
When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she decides to do the unthinkable ... convince the cute guy waiting to pick up his sister to pretend to be her boyfriend for the night. Will Gia turn her fake boyfriend into a real one without exposing her lie and possibly destroying her friendships and her newfound relationship?

Forever: Maximum Ride by James Patterson
Action/Adventure 
Maximum Ride and her broken flock roam a postapocalyptic world, searching for answers to what happened.

Furious Jones and the Assassin's Secret by Tim Kehoe
Action/Adventure 
Upon witnessing his famous spy-novelist father's murder just seven months after his mother's death, twelve-year-old Furious, now an orphan, seeks clues in his father's latest novel to stop the murderer before he or she strikes again.

The Glass Casket by McCormick Templeman
Paranormal 
After the brutal murder of her cousin, everything changes for sixteen-year-old Rowan, who must not only seek the evil forces responsible before they destroy her family and village, but also set aside her studies when she becomes betrothed to her best friend, Tom.

The Good Girls by Sara Shepard
Mystery 
When a rich bully and someone else dies, Mackenzie, Ava, Caitlin, Julie, and Parker wonder if they're being framed. Or are they about to become the killer's next targets?

Monday, March 30, 2015

April Books bring May...more books! (April new books part 6)

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
Fantasy
In a world where it is forbidden, refugee Princess Wilhelmina's ability to do magic might be just the thing to help reclaim her kingdom, or ruin it forever.

Out of the Dragon's Mouth by Joyce Burns Zeiss
Historical Fiction
After the fall of South Vietnam, fourteen-year-old Mai is forced to flee to a refugee camp on an island off the coast of Malaysia, where she must navigate numerous hardships while waiting to be sponsored for entry into America.

Phantasm Japan: Fantasies Light and Dark, From and About Japan edited by Nick Mamatas
Science Fiction
From the editors of the acclaimed science fiction anthology The Future Is Japanese comes Phantasm Japan, which collects new stories--from the best Western and Japanese fantasists--that explore new worlds, ancient worlds, and this world.

Photos Framed: A Fresh Look at the World's Most Memorable Photographs by Ruth Thomson
Nonfiction
Explores some of the most famous photographs in history, including Stephen Dalton's "Ladybird Take-off," Charles C. Ebbets' "Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper," and Neil Leifer's "Muhammad Ali versus Sonny Liston.

Queen of Zombie Hearts by Gena Showalter
Paranormal
In the stunning conclusion to the wildly popular White Rabbit Chronicles, Alice 'Ali' Bell thinks the worst is behind her. She's ready to take the next step with boyfriend Cole Holland, the leader of the zombie slayers; until Anima Industries, the agency controlling the zombies, launches a sneak attack, killing four of her friends. It's then she realizes that humans can be more dangerous than monsters; and the worst has only begun.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Happy birthday to me! ~ New Books for March (part 8)

Wild by Alex Mallory
Contemporary Fiction
The forest is full of secrets, and no one understands that better than Cade. Foraging, hunting, surviving--that's all he knows. Alone for years, Cade believes he's the sole survivor. At least, until he catches a glimpse of a beautiful stranger. . . . Dara expected to find natural wonders when she set off for a spring break camping trip. Instead, she discovers a primitive boy--he's stealthy and handsome and he might be following her. Intrigued, Dara seeks him out and sets a catastrophe in motion. Thrust back into society, Cade struggles with the realization that the life he knew was a lie. But he's not the only one. Trying to explain life in a normal town leaves Dara questioning it. As the media swarm and the police close in, Dara and Cade risk everything to get closer. But will the truth about Cade's past tear them apart?

Wildlife by Fiona Wood
Contemporary Fiction 
Two sixteen-year-old girls in Australia come together at an outdoor semester of school, before university--one thinking about boys and growing up, the other about death and grief, but somehow they must help each other to find themselves.

Zits: Shredded by Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman
Contemporary Fiction
Zits jumps from the comics page to the bookshelf, and Zits: Shredded is perfect for fans of James Patterson's Homeroom Diaries as well as the Zits comic strip!
Jeremy Duncan and his friends Hector and Pierce are hitting the road! That is, if they can squeeze enough french fries to get their newly veggie oil–powered van to Dog Tired Records in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It's road trip time!

Zodiac by Romina Russell
Science Fiction 
When a violent blast strikes the moons of Cancer, sending its ocean planet off-kilter and killing thousands of citizens, Rhoma Grace, a sixteen-year-old student from House Cancer, must convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac against Ophiuchus, the exiled thirteenth Guardian of Zodiac legend, who has returned to exact his revenge across the Galaxy.

Zom-B Bride by Darren Shan
Science Fiction 
B Smith has been reunited with the murderous maniac clown, Mr. Dowling. To her shock and consternation, he's desperate to make B his partner in crime. Mr. Dowling disgusts her, but B thinks she can see a way to control him and maybe even save the world. But it will involve a sacrifice far greater and more surreal than any she has contemplated before...

Zomburbia by Adam Gallardo
Action/Adventure 
Displeased with her small-town life in Salem, Oregon, Courtney Hart sells drugs through the drive-thru at her job to earn enough money to run away to New York, while avoiding both the advances of boys in her high school and the town's ever-present zombiehorde.

Happy birthday to me! ~ New Books for March (part 5)

Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff
Contemporary Fiction 
After his best friend, Hayden, commits, suicide, fifteen-year-old Sam is determined to find out why--using the clues in the playlist Hayden left for him.

Polly and the One and Only World by Don Bredes
Science Fiction 
Set in a much-diminished future America called the Christian Protectorates, a poor country ravaged by coastal flooding, drought, and cataclysmic social upheaval, the story features 15-year-old Polly Lightfoot, a maiden witch of rich heritage and tender ability in the craft.  When the story opens, Polly is forced to flee New Florida, where she has taken temporary refuge to escape a military purge of the country’s infidels, pagans, and followers of false creeds.  With the help of her steadfast familiar, Balthazar, a raven, and her brave teenage companion, Leon, whom she meets on the way, Polly undertakes an epic journey from the deep south to the wild north to be reunited in Vermont with her family and to save her ancient craft from obliteration.

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen
Nonfiction
Stuck at the bottom of the social ladder at 'pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren't paid to be here,' Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular? The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise-meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. 

The Prey by Tom Isbell
Science Fiction 
After the apocalyptic Omega, a group of orphaned teen boys learn of their dark fate and escape, joining forces with twin girls who have been imprisoned for the 'good of the republic.' In their plight for freedom, these young heroes must find the best in themselves to fight against the worst in their enemies.

The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson
Contemporary Fiction 
Robert "Cali" Callahan, seventeen, gets swept up into the private-investigator business and must deal with the ramifications of looking for fellow runaways who may not want to be found--and with falling in love with one of them.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Thanks for the New Books! ~ November New Books Part 9

Sanctum by Madeleine Roux
Plagued by nightmares from their summer in the Brookline asylum, Dan, Abby, and Jordan return to New Hampshire College for a prosective students weekend, only to find themselves caught in a dark and dangerous mystery.  

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
There's a murderer on the loose--but that doesn't stop the girls of St. Etheldreda's from attempting to hide the death of their headmistress in this rollicking farce. The students of St. Etheldreda's School for Girls face a bothersome dilemma. Their irascible headmistress, Mrs. Plackett, and her surly brother, Mr. Godding, have been most inconveniently poisoned at Sunday dinner. Now the school will almost certainly be closed and the girls sent home--unless these seven very proper young ladies can hide the murders and convince their neighbors that nothing is wrong. Julie Berry's The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place is a smart, hilarious Victorian romp, full of outrageous plot twists, mistaken identities, and mysterious happenings.

Screaming Divas by Suzanne Kamata
At sixteen, Trudy Baxter is tired of her debutante mom, her deadbeat dad, and her standing reservation at the juvenile detention center. Changing her name to Trudy Sin, she cranks up her major chops as a singer and starts a band, gathering around other girls ill at ease in their own lives. Cassie Haywood, would-have-been beauty queen, was scarred in an accident in which her alcoholic mom was killed. But she can still sing and play her guitar, even though she seeks way too much relief from the pain in her body and her heart through drugs, and way too much relief from loneliness through casual sex. Still, it's Cassie who hears former child prodigy Harumi Yokoyama playing in a punk band at a party, and enlists her, outraging Harumi's overbearing first-generation Japanese parents. The fourth member is Esther Shealy, who joins as a drummer in order to be close to Cassie--the long-time object of her unrequited love--and Harumi, her estranged childhood friend. Together, they are Screaming Divas, and they're quickly swept up as a local sensation. Then, just as they are about to achieve their rock-girl dreams, a tragedy strikes.

Siege & Storm by Leigh Bardugo
Hunted across the True Sea and haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret.

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
Orphaned Meira, a fierce chakram-wielding warrior from the Kingdom of Winter, must struggle to free her people from the tyranny of an opposing kingdom while also protecting her own destiny.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

New Books ~ August 2014 ~ Part 2

Dragonball vol 1 by Akira Toriyama
Dragon Ball, a wry update on the Chinese "Monkey King" myth, introduces us to Son Goku, a young monkey-tailed boy whose quiet life is turned upside-down when he meets Bulma, a girl determined to collect the seven "Dragon Balls." If she gathers them all, an incredibly powerful dragon will appear and grant her one wish. But the precious orbs are scattered all over the world, and to get them she needs the help of a certain super-strong boy...

One Safe Place by Tania Unsworth
In a near future world of heat, greed, and hunger, Devin earns a coveted spot in a home for abandoned children that promises unlimited food and toys and the hope of finding a new family, but Devin discovers the home's horrific true mission when he investigates its intimidating Administrator and the zombie-like sickness that afflicts some children.

Conversion by Katherine Howe
When girls start experiencing strange tics and other mysterious symptoms at Colleen's high school, her small town of Danvers, Massachusetts, falls victim to rumors that lead to full-blown panic, and only Colleen connects their fate to the ill-fated Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago.

The Body in the Woods by April Henry
While helping the Portland County Sheriff's Search and Rescue to seek a missing autistic man, teens Alexis, Nick, and Ruby find, instead, a body and join forces to find the girl's murderer, forming an unlikely friendship, as well.

Women in Space: 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity Breaking Adventures by Karen Bush Gibson
An engaging collection profiles 23 women from 10 different countries whose careers span half a century of human spaceflight in a volume that includes coverage of such heroines as Sally Ride, Peggy Whitson, Mae Jemison and the women of Mercury 13.