New Books for April 2016 (part 7)

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Fantasy 

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from. 

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan

Fantasy 

Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok's lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna's survival depends on the world believing she is dead. But that doesn't stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized. With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.

Same But Different: Teen Life on the Autism Express by Holly Robinson Peete & Ryan Elizabeth Peete

Contemporary Fiction 

Being a teen is hard enough. But when you have autism--or when your sibling is struggling with the condition--life can be a topsy-turvy ride. What happens when you come face-to-face with dating, parties, sports, body changes, school, and kids who just don't get you? Where do you turn when your sibling with autism is the butt of jokes, the victim of misunderstood social cues, and the one everyone thinks is weird? Through alternating narratives based on their own lives, Ryan Elizabeth Peete and her twin brother, RJ, who has autism, bravely and honestly reveal what it means to be a teen living with the disorder. 

The Shadow Queen by C. J. Redwine

Fantasy 

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She'll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen. In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol's father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic of his own—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman—and bring her Lorelai's heart. But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn't going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

The Skeleton Tree by Iain Lawrence

Action/Adventure 

Less than forty-eight hours after twelve-year-old Chris sets off on a sailing trip down the Alaskan coast with his uncle, their boat sinks. The only survivors are Chris and a boy named Frank, who hates Chris immediately. Chris and Frank have no radio, no flares, no food. Suddenly, they've got to forage, fish, and scavenge the shore for supplies. Chris likes the company of a curious, friendly raven more than he likes the prickly Frank. But the boys have to get along if they want to survive. Because as the days get colder and the salmon migration ends, survival will take more than sheer force of will. 

Curl Up With One of February's New Books (part 6)

Little Dead Man by Jake Bible

Action/Adventure 

Garret Weir has just turned sixteen. But he's not the only sixteen year old in the family. Just the only one alive . Decades after the zombie apocalypse, seventeen year old Garret Weir just wants to be a normal teenager. As if dealing with the zombies isn't hard enough, his annoying twin brother refuses to leave him in peace. And it's not like Garret can just go to his room and shut the door to get away. His brother Garth is a zombie and conjoined to the top of Garret's spine. Good times. Forced from his hidden, mountain compound, Garret must learn who to trust and who to fear as he and Garth are thrust into a world more horrific than anything they could imagine. Fighting for their lives in a foreign landscape, the brothers head north to find their father who may have the answer to the deadly virus that caused the zombie apocalypse. Along their way they meet new friends, learn betrayal the hard way, fight for their mother's life, run from deadly ene-mies, and discover that life may have seemed difficult before, but can al-ways get a whole lot worse. 

The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry
Paranormal
Natalie's last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start...until she starts seeing the "wrong things." They're just momentary glimpses at first--her front door is red instead of its usual green, there's a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn't right. That's when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls "Grandmother," who tells her: "You have three months to save him." The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it's as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

Lucid by Jay Bonansinga
Paranormal
Lori Blaine is not your average seventeen-year-old high school student--she's cool and iconoclastic in her dreadlocks and natty thrift shop garb. With an IQ that's off the charts, she is the ersatz leader of the eclectic Goth group of Valesburg Central High School. But Lori Blaine has two problems--lack of sleep, and The Door. For months Lori's dreams have been perpetually haunted by a strange ominous door. The door is always there on the periphery. Beckoning to her. Daring her to see what might be waiting for her on the other side. At the urging of an overzealous school psychologist, Lori decides to face her fears, and propels herself through the dream door...and immediately plunges into a shattered, looking glass world. Welcome to the In-Between--the terrifying, surreal, topsy-turvy territory behind peoples' dreams. Here, Lori unwittingly becomes a conduit between nightmares and reality--and not just her own. As the universe begins to unravel and the entire space-time continuum crumbles, Lori is thrust into a new role: savoir, where she quickly learns her powers are beyond anything anyone could have imagined.

Mirrored by Alex Flinn
Paranormal
Celine's life is the stuff fairy tales are made of. She's beautiful, talented, and brave. Unfortunately, her tale comes complete with a wicked stepmother! When Violet steps into Celine's life, everything changes and weird things begin to happen to her--bizarre accidents, strange illnesses, and rabid animal attacks. Celine doesn't feel safe anywhere. It's almost as if some hateful witch is out to get her. And there is. Violet has been waiting all her life to have Celine's father to herself. Getting rid of his gorgeous daughter is child's play for a witch as powerful as she is. Happy-ever-after isn't enough for Violet. She wants to be the fairest of them all, and Celine is in the way . . . but not for long. Forced to take refuge with her friend Goose and his family, Celine gives up everything she loves and goes deep undercover. But will it be enough to fool Violet, or will Celine's fate be decided by a reflection in a magic mirror? And where do you find Prince Charming in Miami anyway? Mirrored is a modern retelling of Snow White--told from the points of view of Violet, Celine, and Goose--with all the magic and mystery readers will love.

The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos
Mystery
All Imogene Scott knows of her mother is the bedtime story her father told her as a child. It's the story of how her parents met: he, a forensic pathologist; she, a mysterious woman who came to identify a body. A woman who left Imogene and her father when she was a baby, a woman who was always possessed of a powerful loneliness, a woman who many referred to as "troubled waters." Now Imogene is seventeen, and her father, a famous author of medical mysteries, has struck out in the middle of the night and hasn't come back. Neither Imogene's stepmother nor the police know where he could've gone, but Imogene is convinced he's looking for her mother. And she decides it's up to her to put to use the skills she's gleaned from a lifetime of reading her father's books to track down a woman she's only known in stories in order to find him and, perhaps, the answer to the question she's carried with her for her entire life.

What's New in November? (part 1)

After Hours by Claire Kennedy

Contemporary Fiction 

Scandals and hook-ups abound in a summertime restaurant drama where four teens are all willing to do whatever it takes to make it through the work day...and hopefully to win the money in the afterhours dare-based game of Tips.

Batgirl vol 2: Knightfall Descends by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf, Ed Benes, Vicente Cifuentes

Comic Book 

Batgirl Barbara Gordon faces foe after foe now that she's back in the role of Batgirl. A deadly new gentleman killer, Grotesque, stalks the streets of Gotham City; The Court of Owls sets its sight on her father Commissoner Gordon; and an innocent woman sentenced to Arkham emerges more dangerous than the innmates she was locked up with!

A new chapter in the riveting adventures of Batgirl continue in stunning fashion, with script by fan-favorite Gail Simone and stellar art by superstar Ardian Syaf!

The Beast of Cretacea by Todd Strasser

Science Fiction 

Aboard the Pequod, seventeen-year-old Ishmael arrives on the planet Cretacea to hunt down great ocean-dwelling beasts to harvest and send back to the resource-depleted Earth. But the ship's captain, Ahab, who lost his leg to the Great Terrafin years ago, is obsessed with hunting down the beast. The classic tale of Moby Dick as set in the future.

College, Quicker: 24 Practical Ways to Savey Money and Get Your Degree Faster by Kate Stephens

Nonfiction 

her first day of college, Kate Stephens had no government aid, no private scholarships, no significant savings―and no idea how she was going to pay for her education. But she graduated with zero debt in just two years. Her secret? Finding faster, less expensive ways to earn credits toward her degree.

In College, Quicker, Stephens guides you to an affordable education, sharing practical tips on how to:

•Design your graduation plan. Are you still in high school? Already in college? Get the lowdown on how colleges' transfer credit policies work and sample schedules to organize your plan.

•Choose the credit-earning options that work best for you. Are you a good test taker? Do you feel cooped up in classrooms? Basics, benefits, and bottom-line financial savings help you weigh the pros and cons of each option.

•Get started now! Hit the ground running with step-by-step instructions plus insider tips, common mistakes to avoid, and bonus opportunities.

Dark Shimmer by Donna Jo Napoli

Fantasy 

A retelling of Snow White from the evil step mother's point of view as fifteen-year-old Dolce grows up on islands in a Venetian lagoon where she learns how to make mirrors, but when her mother dies she is taken in by a widower and his daughter while she secretly continues making mirrors and slowly goes mad from mercury poisoning.

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.

April Books bring May...more books! (April new books part 1)

The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith

Contemporary Fiction

The story of Ariel, a Middle Eastern refugee who lives with an adoptive family in Sunday, West Virginia, is juxtaposed against those of a schizophrenic bomber, the diaries of a failed arctic expedition from the late nineteenth century, and a depressed, bionic reincarnated crow.

All New Ultimates vol 1: Power for Power by Michael Fiffe

Graphic Novel

The next generation of Ultimates is here! Spider-Man, Black Widow, Kitt y Pryde, Bombshell, Cloak and Dagger unite to tackle the vicious, rampant crime wave overtaking Hell's Kitchen! But the young Ultimates are put to the test as they try to survive their first mission: going head to head with the city's most ruthless gang, the Serpent Skulls, led by Diamondback! Meanwhile, detective Brigid O'Reilly and her anti-gang unit are on the hunt for a serial mask killer called Scourge! As Jessica Drew adjusts to the mantle of Black Widow, Spider-Man falls for a villainess and Bombshell's life is changed by tragedy, Crossbones joins the fray! These young heroes have fought Galactus, but can they survive super-powered street gangs and psychopaths?

All Star by Jesse Lonergan

Graphic Novel

As the summer of 1998 nears, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are racing each other to break the home-run record, Bill Clinton is being questioned about a certain Monica Lewinsky, Semisonic's "Closing Time" is top of the charts, and Carl Carter is leading the Elizabeth Monarchs of rural Vermont to the state championship his senior year. The world is Carl's oyster: a full scholarship to the University of Maine awaits, going pro after college isn't out of the question, and he's so good he can do whatever he wants--until, that is, he makes one very arrogant mistake. 

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Contemporary Fiction

Told in alternating voices, when Theodore Finch and Violet Markey meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school--both teetering on the edge--it's the beginning of an unlikely relationship, a journey to discover the "natural wonders" of the state of Indiana, and two teens' desperate desire to heal and save one another.

Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen

Paranormal

Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too. The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast . . . unless she can figure out a way to break the curse forever.

Happy birthday to me! ~ New Books for March (part 6)

The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson

Historical Fiction  

Margaretha hopes her newest suitor, Lord Claybrook, will be her one true love, but when an injured man is brought to Hagenheim Castle claiming to be an English lord who was attacked by Claybrook, Margaretha is drawn into a plot, not knowing who is telling the truth.

The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Fantasy 

When her supernatural powers manifest in front of a noble court, Mare, a thief in a world divided between commoners and superhumans, is forced to assume the role of lost princess before risking everything to help a growing rebellion.

The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead

The epic conclusion to Richelle Mead's New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series is finally here... Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets-and human lives. After their secret romance is exposed, Sydney and Adrian find themselves facing the wrath of both the Alchemists and the Moroi in this electrifying conclusion to Richelle Mead's New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series. When the life of someone they both love is put on the line, Sydney risks everything to hunt down a deadly former nemesis. Meanwhile, Adrian becomes enmeshed in a puzzle that could hold the key to a shocking secret about spirit magic, a secret that could shake the entire Moroi world.

Sneaker Century: A History of Athletic Shoes by Amber Keyser

Nonfiction 

Whether you call them kicks, sneakers, runners, or gutties, you probably have a pair of athletic shoes in your closet.  The earliest sneakers debuted in the 1800s and weren't much more than a canvas upper and a flexible sole made of a crazy new material - rubber.  In Sneaker Century, follow sneaker fashions and the larger-than-life personalities behind the best known athletic shoe brands in history.

Stone Cove Island by Suzanne Myers

Mystery 

As Stone Cove Island, a quaint New England resort community, struggles to recover from a catastrophic hurricane, seventeen-year-old Eliza cleans out the island's iconic lighthouse and stumbles upon new evidence in an unsolved thirty-year-old murder case.

Temple Boys by Jamie Buxton

Historical Fiction 

Jerusalem, year zero.

Flea belongs to a gang of teenage vagrants living in the shadow of the Temple, with no family and no home, living on their wits and what they can beg or steal. The city is crowded with visitors for Passover and governed by an uneasy alliance between the Temple priests and the occupying Roman army, bringing talk of miracles and revolution. Flea and his comrades latch onto the newcomer in the hope that he'll offer them a secure home. As events accumulate and powerful forces gather around the Magician, Flea notices rumblings of discontent among his followers, and finds himself torn between one of them—the protective Jude, who employs Flea to run errands—and a brutal Roman spy determined to uncover the Magician's plans.

Is the Magician the savior he claims to be, or a fraud? Does Flea hold the fate of the Magician—and possibly the world—in his hands, as he begins to believe? Temple Boys vividly conjures up ancient Jerusalem and the Biblical era and boldly re-imagines the western world's most famous story from the point of view of a teenage boy.