Almost two stacks (a stack is equivalent to nine hardbacks) of books have arrived for this week’s New Book post. Quite a lot!

Impossible, by Nancy Werlin (376 pages) – Seventeen-year-old Lucy discovers that the women of her family were cursed by an Elfin Knight. To break the curse she must perform three impossible tasks and she only has nine months to do them.

First sentence: ‘On the evening of Lucy Scarborough’s seventh birthday, after the biggest party the neighbourhood had seen since, well, Lucy’s sixth birthday, Lucy got one last unexpected gift.‘

The Ashleys : Lip Gloss Jungle, by Melissa de la Cruz (239 pages)  - The Ashleys are the three most popular girls at their high school in California somewhere. Lauren Page wanted to destroy them, but now she needs to save them from Sadie.

First sentence: ‘It was just over a month since Ashley Spencer’s blowout Super-Sweet Thirteen birthday party, and Lauren Page was still recovering from the excess of that celebration, not to mention exhaustion from her “relaxing” winter vacation in the Italian Alps.‘

The Sky Inside, by Clare B. Dunkle (229 pages) – HM1 is a suburb that sits under a protective dome. All the children are genetically-engineered, and it is a perfect world. Martin’s sister disappears one day and no one wants to talk about it; should he stay in HM1, where it only seems safe, or should he brave the mysterious outside world?

First sentence: ‘The big television cameras of the You’ve Been Caught Napping game show prowled in the darkness at the edge of the set, their lenses focused on the old man’s face.‘

Things That Are, by Andew Clements (167 pages) – Alicia is blind, and her boyfriend used to be invisible. Now they – and the world – are under threat by a man who is invisible all the time.

First sentence: ‘The phone vibrated under my pillow – dash; dot, dot, dot.’

Lucy Zeezou’s Goal, by Liz Deep-Jones (273 pages) – Lucy’s mum was a supermodel, and she wants Lucy to become one as well; Lucy’s dad was an Italian football hero, and doesn’t think that girls should be in sport. Lucy, however, wants to play football for Australia.

First sentence: ‘The whistle blew … I was taken down inside the box and it didn’t look good.‘

The Carbon Diaries 2015, by Saci Lloyd (379 pages) - It’s 2015, and Britain has introduced carbon rationing. Laura Brown’s diaries chronicles her family life and the fairly sudden changes that global warming brings with it with humour.

First sentence: ‘Exhausted.’

Rumors : A Luxe Novel, by Anna Gobbersen (423 pages) – This is the sequel to The Luxe, and it appears to be a kind of Gossip Girl book set in 1899 Manhatten.

First sentence: ‘It has become almost regular for the lower classes of New York to catch glimpses of our native aristocracy in her city streets, tripping in for breakfast at Sherry’s after one of their epic parties, or perhaps racing sleighs in Central Park, that great democratic meeting place.‘

Take Me There, by Susane Colasanti (290 pages) – An ‘insightful, humorous, moving and never dull,’ this is the story of three New York teenagers trying to sort out relationships, family, and their future.

First sentence: ‘My life could not possibly suck more than it does right now.‘

Firefight, by K. Wild (317 pages) – Freedom Smith is a gypsy boy with extraordinary strength and agility. he works for Phoenix, a special police operation. This is a sequel in a series with its own website!

First sentence: ‘Three months ago I was just another gypsy boy – moving from place to place, earning a crust of bread here and there, and maybe getting into a few scrapes.‘

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (183 pages) – This came out two years ago, but this particular copy has photos from the film. Nick asks a stranger, Norah, to pretend to be his date for five minutes, and so begins their first date in the ‘middle-of-the-night mystic maze of Manhattan’.

First sentence: ‘The day begins in the middle of the night.‘

Into White Silence, by Anthony Eaton (393 pages) – In 1922 the exploration vessel Raven got itself stuck in the Antarctic icepack. The crew of 28 are entombed in darkness for months, and things start to get a bit intense.

First sentence: ‘The SS Loongana steamed slowly up the Derwent River towards its berth at the Salamanca Wharf, and Lieutenant (retired) William Downes, a young man distinguished by his service in France during the Great War, leaned on the portside rail, watching the city of Hobart slip slowly past in the hazy, late-afternoon light.‘

The Kiss of Death, by Marcus Sedgwick (248 pages) – This is a sequel to My Swordhand is Singing. The vampires here are more ancient-Romanian than Stephenie Meyer/Joss Whedon. It’s set in eighteenth century Venice and is rich with atmosphere.

First sentence: ‘Death can come in many forms, but in Venice, death comes by water.‘ Is this not the best opening sentence?

The Big Game of Everything, by Chris Lynch (275 pages) – Jock’s grandfather wears a kilt and is more than just a little eccentric, and when his similarly bizarre family end up working at Grampus’ golf course, they end up learning the rules of “The Big Game of Everything”.

First sentence: ‘You have to love your family.‘

My Mother is a French Fry and Further Proof of my Fuzzed-Up Life, by Colleen Sydor (255 pages) – Eli’s mother is uninhibited and can’t be embarrassed; which is bad luck for Eli, who blames her mother for making her life a misery. Things get worse when Eli’s mother gets pregnant and Eli soon begins to feel that she’s losing hold of everything.

First four sentences: ‘My mother is a french fry. Seriously. No shiz. She found her calling after applying for a part-time job at Burgers ‘n’ Frize one day and came home dressed as a gigantic carton of french fries.‘