New Books for June - Part 2

The Blood Between Us by Zac Brewer

Mystery 

Growing up, Adrien and his sister Grace competed for everything. It wasn't easy being the adopted sibling, but Adrien tried to get along; Grace didn't. When their scientist parents died, they drifted apart. In their senior year, they are both back at the boarding school where their parents taught. Life gets more complicated when Adrien starts to suspect that Grace might be stealing their parents' research and claiming it as her own--or worse, that she was involved in their deaths. Adrien begins to wonder whether she's guilty and, if so, what he's going to do about it.

The Boy at the Top of the Mountain by John Boyne

Historical Fiction 

From the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas comes another extraordinary story of World War II and innocence in the face of evil. When Pierrot becomes an orphan, he must leave his home in Paris for a new life with his aunt Beatrix, a servant in a wealthy Austrian household. But this is no ordinary time, for it is 1935 and the Second World War is fast approaching; and this is no ordinary house, for this is the Berghof, the home of Adolf Hitler. Pierrot is quickly taken under Hitler's wing and thrown into an increasingly dangerous new world: a world of terror, secrets, and betrayal from which he may never be able to escape.

Chew: Taster's Choice by John Layman

Graphic Novel 

Tony Chu is a detective with a secret. A weird secret. Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. It also means he's a hell of a detective, as long as he doesn't mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why. He's been brought on by the Special Crimes Division of the FDA, the most powerful law enforcement agency on the planet, to investigate their strangest, sickest, and most bizarre cases.

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye

Fantasy 

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are the only enchanters in Russia, and when the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threaten to attack, the tsar wants a powerful enchanter by his side, and as an advisor for the prince, Pasha. He initiates the Crown's Game, a duel of magical skill, and the winner will become his Imperial Enchanter; the loser will die. For Vika and Nikolai, the game is a chance of a lifetime, but they come to realize that their growing regard for each other makes the game impossible to win. And as long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes increasingly clear to them that the Crown's Game is not one to lose.

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

Mystery 

When her father dies, Tessa is pulled back to the small Pennsylvania town where her life came apart when her father was sent to prison, her mother went to pieces, and her beloved older sister ran away, and where her testimony and that of her now-estranged friend Callie sent a serial killer to death row--a serial killer who may be getting a new trial as long buried secrets come to light.

Here Come the New Books for May 2016! (part 1)

Attack on Titan vol 10 by Hajime Isayawa

Manga (Japanese Graphic Novel) 

With no combat gear and Wall Rose breached, the 104th scrambles to evacuate the village in the Titan's path.  On their way to the safety of Wall Sheena, they decide to spend the night in Utgard Castle.  But their sanctuary becomes a slaughterhouse when they discover that, for some reason, these Titans attack at night!

Bluescreen by Dan Wells

Science Fiction 

Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors, as long as you have the right connections. That connection is a djinni--a smart device implanted right in a person's head. In a world where virtually everyone is online twenty-four hours a day, this connection is like oxygen--and a world like that presents plenty of opportunities for someone who knows how to manipulate it. Marisa Carneseca is one of those people. She might spend her days in Mirador, but she lives on the net--going to school, playing games, hanging out, or doing things of more questionable legality with her friends Sahara and Anja. And it's Anja who first gets her hands on Bluescreen--a virtual drug that plugs right into a person's djinni and delivers a massive, nonchemical, completely safe high. But in this city, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and Mari and her friends soon find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that is much bigger than they ever suspected.

Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina

Historical Fiction 

Nora Lopez is seventeen during the summer of 1977, when New York is besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam. Meg Media transports us to a time when tempers and temperatures ran high to share the story of a young woman who discovers that the greatest dangers are often closer than we like to admit.

Calamity by Brandon Sanderson

Science Fiction 

David prepares for a confrontation against the High Epic to help his friend, Prof, achieve redemption and embrace his destiny.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Fantasy 

The stunning sequel to Sarah J. Maas' New York Times bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses . Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court--but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people. Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms--and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future--and the future of a world cleaved in two.

The Crown by Kiera Cass

Science Fiction 

Kiera Cass's #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has captured the hearts of readers from its very first page. Now the end of the journey is here. Prepare to be swept off your feet by The Crown--the eagerly awaited, wonderfully romantic fifth and final book in the Selection series. In The Heir, a new era dawned in the world of The Selection. Twenty years have passed since America Singer and Prince Maxon fell in love, and their daughter is the first princess to hold a Selection of her own. Eadlyn didn't think she would find a real partner among the Selection's thirty-five suitors, let alone true love. But sometimes the heart has a way of surprising you...and now Eadlyn must make a choice that feels more difficult--and more important--than she ever expected.

New School Year, New Books! September New Books (part 8)

Reawakened by Colleen Houck

Paranormal 

When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification. 
And she really can't imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe.
 
But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world. 


Rebel Mechanics by Shanna Swendson

Fantasy 

It's 1888, and seventeen-year-old Verity Newton lands a job in New York as a governess to a wealthy leading family--but she quickly learns that the family has big secrets. Magisters have always ruled the colonies, but now an underground society of mechanics and engineers are developing non-magical sources of power via steam engines that they hope will help them gain freedom from British rule. The family Verity works for is magister--but it seems like the children's young guardian uncle is sympathetic to the rebel cause. As Verity falls for a charming rebel inventor and agrees to become a spy, she also becomes more and more enmeshed in the magister family's life. She soon realizes she's uniquely positioned to advance the cause--but to do so, she'll have to reveal her own dangerous secret.

Ruthless by Carolyn Lee Adams

Action/Adventure 

Ruth Carver has always competed like her life depends on it. Ambitious. Tough. Maybe even mean. It's no wonder people call her Ruthless. When she wakes up with a concussion in the bed of a moving pickup trick, she realizes she has been entered into a contest she can't afford to lose. At a remote, rotting cabin deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Ruth's blindfold comes off and she comes face-to-face with her captor. A man who believes his mission is to punish bad girls like Ruth. A man who has done this six times before. The other girls were never heard from again, but Ruth won't go down easy. She escapes into the wilderness, but her hunter is close at her heels. That's when the real battle begins. That's when Ruth must decides just how far she'll go in order to survive. Back home, they called her Ruthless. They had no idea just how right they were.

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life vol 1 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Graphic Novel 

Scott Pilgrim's life is totally sweet. He's 23 years old, he's in a rockband, he's ""between jobs,"" and he's dating a cute high school girl. Nothingcould possibly go wrong, unless a seriously mind-blowing, dangerouslyfashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruisingthrough his dreams and sailing by him at parties. Will Scott's awesome life getturned upside-down? Will he have to face Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends inbattle? The short answer is yes. The long answer is Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1:Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World vol 2 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Graphic Novel 

Does Scott and Ramona's burgeoning relationship have a future? Isn't Scott still supposedly dating Knives Chau? Who is Ramona's second evil ex-boyfriend, and why is he in Toronto? Who are The Clash At Demonhead, and what kind of bizarre art-punky music do they play? Who's their hot girl keyboardist, and what is Scott's relation to her? Why are they Knives Chau's new favourite band? Fights! Drama! Secrets revealed! The answers to all these questions and more!

The Rest of Your Summer Reading ~ August New Books (part 5)

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Contemporary Fiction 

Armed with her camera and a Magic 8-Ball and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college.

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Magonia #1

Paranormal 

Aza Ray Boyle's life has been defined by a unique lung disease and her evolving friendship with Jason, but just before her sixteenth birthday, she is swept up into the sky-bound world of Magonia and discovers her true identity.

Manga for the Beginner: Everything You Need to Start Drawing Right Away by Christopher Hart

Nonfiction 

With Manga for the Beginner, anyone who can hold a pencil can start drawing great manga characters right away. Using his signature step-by-step style, Hart shows how to draw the basic manga head and body, eyes, fashion, and more. Then he goes way beyond most beginner titles, exploring dynamic action poses, special effects, light and shading, perspective, popular manga types such as animals, anthros, and shoujo and shounen characters. By the end of this big book, the new artist is ready to draw dramatic story sequences full of movement and life.

Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake

The Goddess War #2

Paranormal 

The escalating war between the gods takes Athena and Cassandra across the globe, searching for lost gods, old enemies, and the great warrior, Achilles, and although their alliance is fragile, they must find a way to work together or all is lost.

Nearly Found by Elle Cosimano

Nearly Gone #2

Mystery 

High school senior and science whiz Nearly Boswell, called Leigh, is thrilled when she gets an internship in a forensic science lab, since it is a step toward college and a way out of the trailer park--but soon she finds herself the target of a serial killer, one who seems to know a lot about the residents of Sunny View Trailer Park as well as her absent father's secrets.

April Books bring May...more books! (April new books part 5)

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan

Contemporary Fiction

Brilliant fifteen-year-old Josie has a knack for languages, but her sister's engagement has Josie grappling with the nature of true love, her feelings for her best friend Stu, and how anyone can be truly herself, or truly in love, in a social language that is not her own.

Made for You by Melissa Marr

Paranormal

Southern small town darling Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital with the frightening ability to see through the eyes of the victims of a serial killer, and realizes that she, too, is a target of the depraved stalker.

Mosquitoland by David Arnold

Contemporary Fiction

When she learns that her mother is sick in Ohio, Mim confronts her demons on a thousand-mile odyssey from Mississippi that redefines her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane.

The Number 7 by Jessica Lidh

Historical Fiction

When sixteen-year-old Louisa moves from North Carolina to her father's childhood home in Pennsylvania, a phone call from the grave brings a buried family secret to life.

The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch

Fantasy

Fifteen-year-old Raim lives in a world where you tie a knot for every promise that you make. Break that promise and you are scarred for life, and cast out into the desert.

Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember. No one knows where it came from, and which promise of his it symbolises, but he barely thinks about it at all—not since becoming the most promising young fighter ever to train for the elite Yun guard. But on the most important day of his life, when he binds his life to his best friend (and future king) Khareh, the string bursts into flames and sears a dark mark into his skin.

Scarred now as an oath-breaker, Raim has two options: run, or be killed.

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

Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle

Contemporary Fiction

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

Famous Last Words by Katie Alender

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

Firebrand by Antony John

Science Fiction

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

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

Nonfiction 

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

Heap House by Edward Carey

Science Fiction 

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

New Books for February (part 5)

Contemporary Fiction

 Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else; an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they'd have a chance to remake their world. 

Action/Adventure 

Cassie Hobbes and the other members of the Naturals program of the FBI work to solve a string of serial murders carried out by a copycat killer.

Contemporary Fiction

Seventeen-year-old Kevin tries to reinvent himself when he runs away from home and the father he hates, but living with a mysterious uncle and befriending two homeless girls just adds more complications.

Historical Fiction

Inspired by a true story, this relates the tale of siblings Sosi, Shahen, and Mariam who survive the Armenian genocide of 1915 by escaping from Turkey alone over the mountains.

Nonfiction - Biography

When fifteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai spoke out against the Taliban's policy of forbidding education for girls, an attempt was made on her life. This is her story, which also includes information on other hardships faced by young women in Pakistan.

New Books for February (part 4)

Mystery

The Kinsey sisters live in an unconventional world. Their parents are former flower-children who still don't believe in rules. Their small, Northern California town is filled with free spirits and damaged souls seeking refuge from the real world. Without the anchor of authority, the three girls are adrift and have only each other to rely on. Rachel is wild.  Asha is lost.  Sarah, the good sister, is the glue that holds them together.  But the forces of a mysterious fate have taken Sarah's life in a sudden and puzzling accident, sending her already fractured family into a tailspin of grief and confusion. Asha has questions. Rachel has secrets. And Sarah, waking up in the afterlife, must piece together how she got there.

Graphic Novel (comic book)

With ex-Young Avenger Kate Bishop by his side, he's out to prove himself as one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes! SHIELD recruits Clint to intercept a packet of incriminating evidence - before he becomes the most wanted man in the world. You won't believe what is on The Tape! What is the Vagabond Code? Matt Fraction pens a Hawkeye thriller that spans the globe...and the darkest parts of Hawkeye's mind. Barton and Bishop mean double the Hawkeye and double the trouble...and stealing from the rich never looked so good.

Paranormal

There was a time when geeky, squeaky-clean Max Kilgore would never lie or steal or even think about murder. Then he accidentally unearths a devil, and Max’s choices are no longer his own. The big red guy has a penchant for couch surfing and junk food—and you should never underestimate evil on a sugar high. 

With the help of Lore, a former goth girl who knows a thing or two about the dark side, Max is racing against the clock to get rid of the houseguest from hell before time, and all the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos this side of the fiery abyss, run out.

Historical Fiction
When a marauding slave ship captures her sister, Melkorka, eight-year-old Brigid is lost at sea but survives, disguised as a boy, and sets out to rescue Melkorka, and as the years pass she becomes a woman, reputed to be fierce enough to conquer a man, but desirous only of reuniting with her family.

Mystery
John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it. He's spent his life doing his best not to live up to his potential. He's obsessed with serial killers, but really doesn't want to become one. So for his own sake, and the safety of those around him, he lives by rigid rules he's written for himself, practicing normal life as if it were a private religion that could save him from damnation. Dead bodies are normal to John. He likes them, actually. They don't demand or expect the empathy he's unable to offer. Perhaps that's what gives him the objectivity to recognize that there's something different about the body the police have just found behind the Wash-n-Dry Laundromat---and to appreciate what that difference means. Now, for the first time, John has to confront a danger outside himself, a threat he can't control, a menace to everything and everyone he would love, if only he could.

My gift to you...New Books for December! (part 1)

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, & Maureen Johnson

A collection of eleven short stories, previously published online, that illuminate the life of the enigmatic, flashy, and flamboyant High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane, a character in The Mortal Instruments series.

 Batman vols 4 & 5 by Scott Snyder

Before the Batcave and Robin, The Joker and the Batmobile, there was ZERO YEAR. The Riddler has plunged Gotham City into darkness. How will a young Dark Knight bring his beloved hometown from the brink of chaos and madness and back into the light?

Be a Changemaker: How to Start Something That Matters by Laurie Ann Thompson

Empower yourself in today's highly connected, socially conscious world as you learn how to wield your passions, digital tools, and the principles of social entrepreneurship to affect real change in your schools, communities, and beyond. At age eleven, Jessica Markowitz learned that girls in Rwanda are often not allowed to attend school, and Richards Rwanda took shape. During his sophomore year of high school, Zach Steinfeld put his love of baking to good use and started the Baking for Breast Cancer Club. Do you wish you could make a difference in your community or even the world? Are you one of the millions of high school teens with a service-learning requirement? Either way, Be a Changemaker will empower you with the confidence and knowledge you need to affect real change. 

Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann

What starts as a common fairy tale trope—Prince Hector and Princess Aurora are having tea the day after a ball—quickly turns dark and disturbing. The prince is charming but self-absorbed, and the princess is somewhat flighty and unprepared, when the ceiling appears to fall in, and they find themselves in a dark forest filled with other refugees, all Borrowers-small. While Aurora and her friend Plim adapt to their surroundings, taking charge and feeding the others they have found, Hector is only concerned with staring into space. None of the characters notice the dead body that they are playing on and living around (a human-sized girl, also named Aurora), and do not question where the items they are using are from (quite possibly the corpse's purse). The forest's animals do not speak, distancing this from other fairy tales.

Blood of My Blood by Barry Lyga

Jazz Dent, who has been shot and left to die in New York City, his girlfriend, Connie, who is in the clutches of Jazz's serial killer father, Billy, and his best friend, Howie, who is bleeding to death on the floor of Jazz's own home in tiny Lobo's Nod, must all rise above the horrors their lives have become and find a way to come together in pursuit of Billy.

Thanks for the New Books! ~ November New Books Part 7

Jackaby by William Ritter

Newly arrived in 1892 New England, Abigail Rook becomes assistant to R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with the ability to see supernatural beings, and she helps him delve into a case of serial murder which, Jackaby is convinced, is due to a nonhuman creature.

Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw

With acerbic wit and a hilarious voice, Shane Burcaw describes the challenges he faces as a twenty-one-year-old with spinal muscular atrophy. From awkward handshakes to having a girlfriend and everything in between, Shane handles his situation with humor and a "you-only-live-once" perspective on life. While he does talk about everyday issues that are relatable to teens, he also offers an eye-opening perspective on what it is like to have a life threatening disease.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time by Akira Himekawa

In the mystical land of Hyrule, three spiritual stones hold the key to the Triforce, and whoever holds them will control the world. A boy named Link sets out on a quest to deliver the Emerald, the spiritual stone of the forest, to Zelda, Princess of the land of Hyrule. The journey will be long and perilous, and Link will need all his skill and courage to defeat evil. The battle for Hyrule and the Sacred Realm has begun!

One Death, Nine Stories edited by Marc Aronson & Charles R. Smith Jr.

How could one teenage boy's life elicit other kids' first experiences -- even after he dies? Nine interconnected stories from nine top YA writers. Kev's the first kid their age to die. And now, even though he's dead, he's not really gone. Even now his choices are touching the people he left behind. Ellen Hopkins reveals what two altar boys (and one altar girl) might get up to at the cemetery. Rita Williams-Garcia follows one aimless teen as he finds a new life in his new job -- at the mortuary. Will Weaver turns a lens on Kevin's sister as she collects his surprising effects -- and makes good use of them. Here, in nine stories, we meet people who didn't know Kevin, friends from his childhood, his ex-girlfriend, his best friend, all dealing with the fallout of his death. 

Party Games by R. L. Stine

Her friends warn her not to go to Brendan Fear's birthday party at his family's estate on mysterious Fear Island. But Rachel Martin has a crush on Brendan and is excited to be invited. Brendan has a lot of party games planned. But one game no one planned intrudes on his party--the game of murder. As the guests start dying one by one, Rachel realizes to her horror that she and the other teenagers are trapped on the tiny island with someone who may want to kill them all. How to escape this deadly game? Rachel doesn't know whom she can trust. She should have realized that nothing is as it seems... on Fear Island.

Penny Chic: How to Be Stylish on a Real Girl's Budget by Shauna Miller

Fashion stylist and blogger Shauna Miller knows it's easy to look chic when money is no object. The real challenge is learning how to look good--and feel good--without spending a fortune.

Based on her hit blog of the same name, the Penny Chic style guide will help you identify your fashion inspirations and discover your personal style. It also includes budget-conscious tips for DIY projects and how to find and recycle old pieces, guidance about getting the most out of a shopping trip to stores like Walmart and Target, and advice on how to put it all together to create a killer outfit and wear it with confidence.

Look inside and discover what it means to be truly Penny Chic!