New Books for April 2016 (part 6)

The Loudness by Nick Courage

Science Fiction 

Since the Tragedies, Henry Long doesn't have much: just an annoying low-watt buzz from his makeshift heart transplant, skinny arms, and a dusty library attic from which he charts the reconstruction of the Green Zone, the last habitable neighborhood of his ruined coastal city. While his parents work on making the Green Zone independent from a federal government that appears to have abandoned them, Henry's feels similarly abandoned—that is, until he discovers a refugee artists' colony called the Other Side. When the federales don't take kindly to the Green Zone's attempts at secession and kidnap Henry's parents, Henry and his new renegade friends—including one very courageous girl with whom he’s shared one truly shocking kiss—are forced from the colorful streets and underground rock clubs of the Other Side to an overcrowded capital city on the verge of collapse.

Marked by Laura Williams McCaffrey

Science Fiction 

Sixteen-year-old Lyla lives in a bleak, controlling society where only the brightest and most favored students succeed. When she is caught buying cheats in an underground shadow market, she is tattooed--marked--as a criminal. Then she is offered redemption and she jumps at the chance . . . but it comes at a cost. Doing what is right means betraying the boy she has come to love, and, perhaps, losing even more than she thought possible. Graphic novel-style vignettes revealing the history of this world provide Lyla with guidance and clues to a possible way out of the double bind she finds herself in.

The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork

Contemporary Fiction 

When Vicky Cruz wakes up in the Lakeview Hospital Mental Disorders ward, she knows one thing: After her suicide attempt, she shouldn't be alive. But then she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint, E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview, and offer her an acceptance she's never had. But Vicky's newfound peace is as fragile as the roses that grow around the hospital. And when a crisis forces the group to split up, sending Vick back to the life that drove her to suicide, she must try to find her own courage and strength. She may not have them. She doesn't know.

Millennium Snow vols 3-4 by Bisco Hatori

Manga (Japanese Graphic Novel) 

Toya still can’t shake his blood aversion, even though Chiyuki would happily share hers with him, and the malnutrition is starting to take its toll. Chiyuki tries to supplement his diet with solid food, but that’s just barely enough to keep him alive. Can Chiyuki find a way to support her vampire when he refuses the help she knows he needs?

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier

Paranormal 

The Night Gardener follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its family are not quite what they seem. Soon the children are confronted by a mysterious spectre and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives. 

Passenger by Alexander Bracken

Science Fiction 

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles, but years from home. And she's inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she's never heard of. Until now. Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods-a powerful family in the Colonies-and the servitude he's known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can't escape and the family that won't let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, his passenger, can find. In order to protect her, Nick must ensure she brings it back to them-whether she wants to or not. Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods' grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home forever.

New School Year, New Books! September New Books (part 6)

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell

Fantasy 

A retelling of Cinderella about an indomitable inventor-mechanic who finds her prince but realizes she doesn't want a fairy tale happy ending after all.

Ms. Marvel vol 3: Crushed by Willow Wilson

Graphic Novel 

Love is in the air in Jersey City as Valentine’s Day arrives! Kamala Khan may not be allowed to go to the school dance, but Ms. Marvel is! Well sort of — by crashing it in an attempt to capture Asgard’s most annoying trickster! Yup, it’s a special Valentine’s Day story featuring Marvel’s favorite charlatan, Loki! 

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Wanga

Contemporary Fiction 

Seventeen-year-old Aysel's hobby--planning her own death--take a new path when she meets a boy who has similar plan of his own.

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

Contemporary Fiction 

Never date your best friend 

Always be original 

Sometimes rules are meant to be broken...

 Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids-the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, ever do in high school. Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never die your hair a color of the rainbow , or #7, never hook up with a teacher . But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school . It's either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend . Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember. Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.

The New Order by Chris Weitz

Action/Adventure 

Old friends are separated when Jefferson tries to bring a cure for the mysterious Sickness back to the Washington Square tribe in New York City while Donna faces an unimaginable new world in England, but an even greater disaster than the Sickness looms.

New School Year, New Books! September New Books (part 4)

Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu

Contemporary Fiction 

Rachel Walker is devoted to God and her large family, but as her curiosity about the world her parents turned from grows and she finds that neither Calvary Christian Church nor her homeschool education has the answer she craves, she considers leaving her sheltered life, as an older sister did.

Fig by Sarah Elizabeth Schantz

Contemporary Fiction 

In 1994, Fig looks back on her life and relates her experiences, from age six to nineteen, as she desperately tries to save her mother from schizophrenia while her own mental health and relationships deteriorate.

The Heart of Betrayal by Mary Pearson

Fantasy 

Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Princess Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape--and even less of being together--as the foundations of Lia's deeply-held beliefs crumble beneath her while she wrestles with her upbringing, her gift, and her very sense of self to make powerful choices that affect her country, her people, and her own destiny.

Hold Me Like a Breath by Tiffany Schmidt

Action/Adventure 

Penny Landlow, seventeen, the overprotected daughter of a powerful crime family, has rarely left the family estate due to a blood disorder but when tragedy strikes and she is left alone in New York City, she must prove she is not as fragile as everyone believes.

Icebreaker by Lian Tanner

Science Fiction 

 Petrel is an outcast on the ancient ship, an icebreaker, that has been following the same course for 300 years. In that time, the ship's crew has forgotten its original purpose and broken into three warring tribes. Everyone has a tribe except Petrol. Nicknamed the Nothing Girl, Petrel has been ostracized ever since her parents were thrown overboard as punishment for a terrible crime. But Petrel is a survivor. She lives in the ship's darkest corners, and trusts no one except two large gray rats - that is, until a mysterious boy is discovered barely alive on an iceberg, and brought onto the ship. He claims to have forgotten even his name. The tribes don't trust strangers, so Petrel hides the boy, hoping he will be her friend. What she doesn't know is that the ship guards a secret - a secret the boy has been sent to destroy.

The Rest of Your Summer Reading ~ August New Books (part 7)

Proof of Forever by Lexa Hillyer

Contemporary Fiction 

Four former friends are transported back in time to a pivotal summer in all of their lives during a camp reunion.

Rook by Sharon Cameron

Science Fiction 

In the Sunken City that was once Paris the guillotine rules again, while Sophia Bellamy from the Commonwealth across the Channel Sea tries to rescue as many of the revolution's victims as she can smuggle out, and some prisoners disappear from their cells, with a red-tipped rook feather left in their place--but who is the mysterious Red Rook and where does Sophia's wealthy fiancé, René Hasard, fit in?

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

Contemporary Fiction 

A handless teen escapes from a cult, only to find herself in juvenile detention and suspected of knowing who murdered her cult leader.

A School For Brides: A Story of Maidens, Mystery, and Matrimony by Patrice Kindl

Historical Fiction 

In the early 1800s, in a remote corner of England with almost no eligible young men, the eight students at the Winthrop Hopkins Female Academy uncover a mystery while learning all the skills necessary to become a good wife.

Secret History: Conspiracies from Ancient Aliens to the New World Order by Nick Redfern

Nonfiction 

The book moves from biblical, Egyptian, Mayan, Greek, and early mysteries of antiquity to the clandestine doings of the Nazis and the Masons and assassination plots of the more recent past to the surveillance, monitoring, mind-control, and secret schemes of today. Researcher Nick Redfern investigates the stories, mythologies, lore behind incredible events and clandestine groups of yesterday and today. More than 60 entries dig deep into the manipulation of events by influential groups, including …

• Historical riddles—alien visitations, space gods, and human–alien crossbreeding.

• Government cover ups—mind control, murders, scientists, and secret agents.

• Powerful groups and intended consequences—9-11, new world order, bird-flu, and chemtrails.

New year, new books ~ Happy 2015! (part 7)

Signed Skye Harper by Carol Lynch Williams

In 1972, while her idol, Mark Spitz, is in Germany competing in the Olympics, fifteen-year-old Winston, her Nanny, and her crush, Steve, head to Las Vegas in Steve's parents' motorhome to reconnect with Winston's mother, who left ten years before to become a star.

Stranger by Rachel Manija Brown & Sherwood Smith

Many generations ago, a mysterious cataclysm struck the world. Governments collapsed and people scattered to rebuild where they could. A mutation called the Change arose, granting some people unique powers. Though the area once known as Los Angeles retains its cultural diversity, its technological marvels have faded into legend. "Las Anclas" now resembles a Wild West frontier town--where the Sheriff possesses superhuman strength, the doctor can warp time to heal his patients, and the distant ruins of an ancient city bristle with deadly crystalline trees that take their jewellike colors from the clothes of the people they killed. Teenage prospector Ross Juarez's best find ever--an ancient book he doesn't know how to read--nearly costs him his life when a bounty hunter is sent to kill him and steal the book. Ross barely makes it to Las Anclas, bringing with him a precious artifact, a power no one has ever had before, and a whole lot of trouble.

Storm Siren by Mary Weber

Seventeen-year-old slave girl, Nym, should not exist. In a world where Elementals are only born male, and always killed at birth, she is an anomaly at best. At worst, people around her die. When a court emissary identifies her weather-manipulating ability as a weapon, Nym is purchased and put to work honing her skills. With time running out for the kingdom of Faelen, Nym might be all that stands between it and the technologically-advanced horror racing down upon them--not to mention the rumored reemergence of the monstrous shapeshifter, Draewulf. But some elements even she can't control. Nym must decide whom to trust as she's unleashed into a world of assassins and political betrayal surrounding a young king fighting for his throne, a tired nation that has forgotten its calling, and her handsome tutor whose dark secrets could destroy both her people and her heart.

Swagger by Carl Deuker

High school senior point guard Jonas Dolan is on the fast track to a basketball career until an unthinkable choice puts his future on the line.

The Terminals by Royce Scott Buckingham

Nineteen-year-old Cam Cody takes the opportunity to join a covert unit of young spies who, like him, are terminally ill but have extraordinary abilities due to an experimental super-steroid, but he soon learns the program is not what it seems--and they may not even be ill.

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.

New November Books~ Part 3

Skinny by Donna Cooner

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After undergoing gastric-bypass surgery, a self-loathing, obese teenaged girl loses weight and makes the brave decision to start participating in high school life, including pursuing her dream of becoming a singer and finding love.

Black Butler, vol 1 by Yana Toboso

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Just a stone's throw from London lies the manor house of the illustrious Phantomhive earldom and its master, one Ciel Phantomhive. Earl Phantomhive is a giant in the world of commerce, Queen Victoria's faithful servant ... and a slip of a twelve-year-old boy. Fortunately, his loyal butler, Sebastian, is ever at his side, ready to carry out the young master's wishes. And whether Sebastian is called to save a dinner party gone awry or probe the dark secrets of London's underbelly, there apparently is nothing Sebastian cannot do. In fact, one might even say Sebastian is too good to be true .. or at least, too good to be human ...

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

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In a barren land, a shimmering glass dome houses the survivors of the Switch, the period when oxygen levels plunged and the green world withered. A state lottery meant a lucky few won safety, while the rest suffocated in the thin air. And now Alina, Quinn, and Bea--an unlikely trio, each with their own agendas, their own longings and fears--walk straight into the heart of danger. With two days' worth of oxygen in their tanks, they leave the dome. What will happen on the third day?

 Marshmallow Madness: Dozens of Puffalicious Recipes by Shauna Sever

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If you've never tasted a fresh, homemade marshmallow, are you in for a treat! Marshmallow Madness! shows how to whip up dozens of fluffy, puffy flavors--from Strawberry and Vanilla to Buttered Rum, Root Beer Float, Maple Bacon, and more. Author Shauna Sever also includes easy recipes for homemade graham crackers, drinks for mallow dunking, and a host of irresistible desserts, including Lemon Dream Whoopie Pies, Blonde Rocky Road, and S'mores Cupcakes.

Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin

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More than six months after the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano, Alex and Darla retrace their steps to Iowa hoping to find Alex's parents and bring them to the tenuous safety of Illinois, but the journey is ever more perilous as the remaining communities fight to the death for food and power.

New Books: Oct. 2012 (Part 3)

Outpost by Ann Aguirre

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Deuce struggles for respect in a new topside town where she is treated like a child and avoided by Fade, a situation that compels her to volunteer for patrol duty and protect topside citizens from an unexpected upsurge in Freak activity.

 Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

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Though she is from a family of clairvoyants, Blue Sargent's only gift seems to be that she makes other people's talents stronger, and when she meets Gansey, one of the Raven Boys from the expensive Aglionby Academy, she discovers that he has talents of his own--and that together their talents are a dangerous mix.

Shadows by Ilsa Bick

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The Apocalypse does not end. The Changed will grow in numbers. The Spared may not survive. Even before the EMPs brought down the world, Alex was on the run from the demons of her past and the monster living in her head. After the world was gone, she believed Rule could be a sanctuary for her and those she'd come to love. But she was wrong. Now Alex is in the fight of her life against the adults, who would use her, the survivors, who don't trust her, and the Changed, who would eat her alive.

Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George

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When her mother abandons her on Whidbey Island, Washington, a fourteen-year-old girl with psychic abilities meets a Ugandan orphan with a secret.

For What It's Worth by Janet Tashjian

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Living in Los Angeles' Laurel Canyon neighborhood, fourteen-year-old Quinn's life has been consumed by music and the famous musicians who live nearby, but in 1971, his first girlfriend, a substitute teacher, and a draft dodger help open his eyes about the Vietnam War.

New books for the new year part 2

Ashfall by Mike Mullin

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After the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano destroys his city and its surroundings, fifteen-year-old Alex must journey from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Illinois to find his parents and sister, trying to survive in a transformed landscape and a new society in which all the old rules of living have vanished.

 Under Dogs by Markus Zusak

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Three novels in one book, including The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, & Getting the Girl.

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

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Twenty years after the start of the war that caused the Collapse, fifteen-year-old Stephen, his father, and grandfather travel post-Collapse America scavenging, but when his grandfather dies and his father decides to risk everything to save the lives of two strangers, Stephen's life is turned upside down.

 The Watch that Ends the Night by Allan Wolf

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Recreates the 1912 sinking of the Titanic as observed by millionaire John Jacob Astor, a beautiful young Lebanese refugee finding first love, "Unsinkable" Molly Brown, Captain Smith, and others including the iceberg itself.

 Boyfriend Season by Kelli London

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First boyfriends, first love, first mistakes--and an invitation to the hottest teen society party of the year sends three friends into a tailspin. Can they handle the pressure of getting everything they think they want?

 Variant by Robison Wells

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After years in foster homes, seventeen-year-old Benson Fisher applies to New Mexico's Maxfield Academy in hopes of securing a brighter future, but instead he finds that the school is a prison and no one is what he or she seems.

Presents for my YAs! December books!

Here are the new books for December (its like Christmas came 25 days early!)

Yellow Mini by Lori Weber

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Mark, Mr. Popularity, tools around town in the yellow mini left to him by his recently deceased father; his new girlfriend Stacey can't believe her luck, but doesn't understand Mark's odd need to disappear into the woods from time to time; her former friends Mary and Annabelle try to find their place in the world - shy Mary transforms into a concert pianist and Annabelle into an world-changing activist with the idealistic and adoring Christopher by her side.

 Ashes by Ilsa Bick

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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.

 Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham

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When his best friend disappears from her bedroom in the middle of the night, thirteen-year-old Theo uses his legal knowledge and investigative skills to chase down the truth and save April.

 A Web of Air by Philip Reeve

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In Mayda, a post-apocalyptic city off the coast of Portugal, a brilliant young engineer and a mysterious recluse race to build a flying machine, unaware that powerful enemies will kill to possess--or destroy--their new technology.