Dear Vincent, Mandy Hager (June/July) – the new novel by the New Zealand author of the Blood of the Lamb trilogy. “17 year old Tara McClusky’s life is hard. She shares the care of her paralysed father with her domineering, difficult mother, forced to cut down on her hours at school to help support the family with a part-time rest home job. She’s very much alone, still grieving the loss of her older sister Van, who died five years before. Her only source of consolation is her obsession with art and painting in particular. Most especially she is enamoured with Vincent Van Gogh: she has read all his letters and finds many parallels between the tragic story of his life and her own. Luckily she meets the intelligent, kindly Professor Max Stockhamer (a Jewish refugee and philosopher) and his grandson Johannes, and their support is crucial to her ability to survive this turbulent time.” (goodreads.com)

Crushed, Sara Shepard (June/July) – the 13th (13!) in the Pretty Little Liars series. “It’s springtime in suburban Rosewood, which means iced soy lattes, fresh manicures in shimmering pastels—and prom. But while everyone else is flipping through the racks at Saks in search of the perfect dress, Hanna, Spencer, Emily, and Aria are on a different kind of hunt: They’re looking for A… Hanna puts her campaign for prom queen on the back burner to volunteer at the burn clinic, where one of A’s victims is recovering. Emily digs into Ali’s past at the mental hospital with some very crazy consequences. Spencer contacts a private eye to help her stalk her stalker. But when their sessions get a little too private, they may forget to keep their eyes on A… And Aria’s worried that A is even closer than she thought. When her dark secret from Iceland finally comes to light, she discovers that maybe, just maybe, the one person she’s been trying to hide the truth from has known all along. The liars are finally taking the fight to A. But no matter what they do, A’s always one step ahead, ready to crush the girls completely.” (goodreads.com)

Black Friday, Robert Muchamore (September) – the 3rd in the Aramov subseries of the über popular CHERUB phenomenon. “The Aramov Clan has splintered into two rival factions and Ryan is joined by more CHERUB agents as his three year mission enters its final phase. Ryan is about to board a plane, knowing that the next twenty-four hours will change everything. His mission is to stop the biggest terrorist attack America’s ever seen. Ryan works for CHERUB, a secret organisation with one key advantage: even a trained terrorist won’t suspect that a teenager is spying on them. For official purposes, these children do not exist.” (goodreads.com)

The Lost Sun, Tessa Gratton (July) – the first in an interesting-sounding new series set in an alternate United States founded by Norse Gods. “Seventeen-year-old Soren Bearskin is trying to escape the past. His father, a famed warrior, lost himself to the battle-frenzy and killed thirteen innocent people. Soren cannot deny that berserking is in his blood – the fevers, insomnia, and occasional feelings of uncontrollable rage haunt him. So he tries to remain calm and detached from everyone at Sanctus Sigurd’s Academy. But that’s hard to do when a popular, beautiful girl like Astrid Glyn tells Soren she dreams of him. That’s not all Astrid dreams of – the daughter of a renowned prophetess, Astrid is coming into her own inherited abilities. When Baldur, son of Odin and one of the most popular gods in the country, goes missing, Astrid sees where he is and convinces Soren to join her on a road trip that will take them to find not only a lost god, but also who they are beyond the legacy of their parents and everything they’ve been told they have to be.” (goodreads.com)

Thanks goodreads!

Flora Segunda : being the magickal mishaps of a girl of spirit, her glass-gazing sidekick, two ominous butlers (one blue), a house with eleven thousand rooms, and a red dog, Ysabeau S. Wilce

This trilogy takes place in a world like you will never have encountered before with unusual and fantastical language. It takes a bit of getting used to; handy hint: read it in big chunks as it’s rather hard to follow if you pick it up and put it down a lot. Invest though, and you will be rewarded. Flora is one kick-arse heroine! She’s scrappy, determined, brave and best of all, gets up and keeps going even when things aren’t going her way. Things like, her house changing on her, the elevator not stopping when she tells it too and a magical (if rather diminished) butler trying to steal her soul. In the first book of the trilogy Flora goes on a quest with her best friend to rescue one of her greatest heroes. It’s a quest that will take her far from home into a mind-blowing muddle of intrigue and betrayal that changes her world forever.

Flora’s dare : how a girl of spirit gambles all to expand her vocabulary, confront a bouncing boy terror, and try to save Califa from a shaky doom (despite being confined to her room), Ysabeau S. Wilce

Flora has stood up to her mother; she’s come clean about her desire to be a ranger. But to do so she must master the magical—and dangerous—language of Gramatica. Along the way, she finds herself thrown into yet another life-altering adventure. Would a true ranger be intimidated by a tentacle that reaches for her from the depths of a toilet? Be daunted by her best friend’s transformation into a notorious outlaw, thanks to a pair of sparkly stolen boots? Be cowed by the revelation that only she can rescue the city of Califa from the violent earthquakes that threaten its survival? Never. Saving her city and her best friend are the least a Girl of Spirit can do! As Flora grows up, so too do the issues she faces. While book one was completely (and refreshingly) romance-free, book two introduces a dash of romance, introduces us more to Flora’s world and its history, and provides a much bigger role for the wide cast of fascinating characters and their relationships.

Flora’s fury : how a girl of spirit and a red dog confounded their friends, astounded their enemies, and learned the importance of packing light, Ysabeau S. Wilce

Everything Flora thought she knew about her life has been severely shaken (isn’t it always) and in the final book of the trilogy she’s on a quest to find some answers. To be honest, we’re struggling to write this summary without giving away some serious spoilers. So what we will say (vaguely) is that Flora is venturing further afield on this adventure as she goes looking for someone everyone else thinks is dead. Along the way there’s more than a dash of romance, several kidnapping attempts and general non-stop action. Warning: the final book is incredibly open ended. We’re taking this as a good sign for more adventures in Flora’s world. Especially as Ysabeau S. Wilce has said (on Facebook): “Nini Mo’s comment on the end of the Saga of the Second Flora: ‘Everything has an end, except for sausages, which have two.’” Fingers crossed for more! We were left with too many questions to be happy for this tremendous trilogy to end just yet. Which means that, technically, it would no longer be a trilogy. But as it stands, it is one tremendous trilogy.

First lines: “This was the beginning. Angie bit the end of her thumbnail awaiting the result. She had – unwittingly – found a rival.”

Revenge of the girl with the great personality, Elizabeth Eulberg (261 pages) – Everybody loves Lexi. She’s popular, smart, funny…but she’s never been one of those girls, the pretty ones who get all the attention from guys. And on top of that, her seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie, is a terror in a tiara, and part of a pageant scene where she gets praised for her beauty (with the help of fake hair and tons of makeup). Lexi’s sick of it. She’s sick of being the girl who hears about kisses instead of getting them, of being ignored by her longtime crush, of being taken for granted by her pageant-obsessed mom and she’s sick of having all her family’s money wasted on a phony pursuit of perfection. The time has come for Lexi to step out from the sidelines. Girls without great personalities aren’t going to know what hit them. Because Lexi’s going to play the beauty game – and she’s in it to win it.

First line: “Applying butt glue to my sister’s backside is, without question, not the first way I’d choose to spend a weekend.”

Inheritance, Lisa Forrest (376 pages) – Tallulah has always know she was different. She can communicate without speaking, a secret she shares only with her childhood nanny, Irena, who warns Tallulah that gifts like hers are not always welcome. When Tallulah begins training at the prestigious Cirque d’Avenir school, it soon becomes clear the troupe is not all that it seems. As Tallulah is drawn deeper into a world of dark, ancient powers and centuries-old greed, she must call on the skills Irena taught her – and on the protection of the mysterious cuff Irena gave her for safekeeping.

First line: “Tallulah Thomson could feel an insistent press on her shoulder but she was too exhausted to move; the muggy warmth that hovered on the edge of her consciousness promised no relief from the battle she’d been caught up in.”

Diva, Jillian Larkin, (280 pages) – This is the third in the Flappers series which finds the girls spending the last glorious days of summer sunbathing with socialites at Forrest Hamilton’s swanky villa. But Gloria Carmody is hiding an oh-so-scandalous secret while Clara Knowles is left heartbroken and depressed after Marcus leaves her for another girl. Lorraine Dyer thinks it will be a loveless marriage however and decides to save Marcus from it.

First lines: “All his life, Jerome had dreamed of crowds screaming his name. But this wasn’t what he’d had in mind.”

Nobody’s secret, Michaela MacColl (240 pages) – It’s 1846, and for fifteen-year-old Emily Dickenson, every day follows the same pattern: chores, chores, and more chores. A flirtation with mysterious, handsome young man therefore is a welcome distraction. Even if he playfully won’t tell her his name. That is, until he turns up dead in her family’s pond. Stricken with guilt, Emily sets out to discover who this enigmatic stranger was before he’s condemned to be buried in an anonymous grave. Her investigation takes her deep into town secrets, blossoming romance, and deadly danger.

First lines: “Emily lay perfectly still, hidden in the tall grass, her eyes closed tight. A chain of wildflowers lay wilted around her neck. But no matter how quiet she was, the bee would not land on her nose.”

The lost girl, Sangu Mandanna (390 pages) – Fifteen-year-old Eva is the ultimate insurance policy: she’s an echo, created by the “Weavers” to be an exact replica of her original, an Indian girl named Amarra. Eva’s entire life has been dedicated to studying Amarra’s life; should Amarra die, Eva will replace her, with only Amarra’s family the wiser. Shortly after Eva and Amarra turn 16, Eva is ripped from everything and everyone she holds dear to move from England to India, where echoes are illegal (meaning her death if she is found out), to fulfill her purpose.

First lines: “I remember being in town with Mina Ma. I must have been about ten. She wanted to buy a lottery ticket and I stood outside the newsagent’s and looked in the window of the toyshop next door.”

The originals, Cat Patrick (293 pages) – Lizzie is a clone, one of three 16-year-old “sisters,” raised under the strict supervision of their scientist mother. Everyone outside the house thinks Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey are the same person, Elizabeth Best, since their mother has the girls living in shifts but the girls are growing increasingly resistant to this arrangement, especially after Lizzie and Ella fall for two different boys at school. While the cloning isn’t really explored, it serves as a tool to explore themes of identity, sisterhood, and family.

First lines: “My part is first half. I go to student government, chemistry, trigonometry, psychology, and history at school, then do the rest of the day at home.”

This is what happy looks like, Jennifer E. Smith (404 pages) – Perfect strangers Graham Larkin and Ellie O’Neill meet online when Graham accidentally sends Ellie an e-mail about his pet pig, Wilbur. The two 17-year-olds strike up an e-mail relationship from opposite sides of the country and don’t even know each other’s first names. What’s more, Ellie doesn’t know Graham is a famous actor, and Graham doesn’t know about the big secret in Ellie’s family tree. When the relationship goes from online to in-person, they find out whether their relationship can be the real thing.

First lines: “Hey, we’re running pretty behind here. Any chance you could walk Wilbur for me tonight?”

Mind Games, Kiersten White (241 pages) – from the same author who brought you the Paranormalcy trilogy comes a new novel about two sisters, bound by impossible choices but who are determined to protect each other no matter the cost. Seventeen-year-old Fia and her sister, Annie, are trapped in a school that uses young female psychics and mind readers as tools for corporate espionage – and if Fia doesn’t play by the rules of their deadly game, Annie will be killed.

First lines: “My dress is black and itchy and I hate it. I want to peel it off and I want to kick Aunt Ellen for making me wear it.”

The Lucy variations, Sara Zarr (304 pages) – Sixteen-year-old San Franciscan Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a concert pianist. Her chance at a career has passed, and she decides to help her ten-year-old piano prodigy brother, Gus, map out his own future, even as she explores why she enjoyed piano in the first place.

First lines: “Try harder, Lucy. Lucy stared down at Madame Temnikova’s face. Which seemed incredibly gray. Try. Harder. Lucy.”

Last week I went to check out the Warhol Immortal exhibit at Te Papa – it was sooo cool, and I recommend you go! I’ll admit that while I was interested in seeing the exhibition, I wasn’t overly amped about it. But afterwards I was so glad I had gone, because it was awesome! I got way more from it than I had expected to; so cool.

So… imagine my glee this week when I fell upon some beeeaaauuutiful Warhol fashion illustrations! Did you know that he began his career illustrating fashion magazines? His artworks featured in Harper’s Bazaar, US Vogue and Vogue Paris, among others. You can see some beautiful examples here, as well as two of my fave examples here and here.

He’s known to have kicked it with numerous fashion designers, such as Diana Vreeland and Diane Von Furstenberg, and he also depicted many of the glamorous fashion icons who visited his studio, The Factory, in his work (there is a super sweet pic of Yves Saint Laurent featured in the Warhol Immortal exhibition).

Credited with merging fashion and art, Warhol was recognised as a fashion icon in his own right (Time magazine ranks him in the top 100 most fashionable people EVER – pretty impressive). His perception of the attitude toward fashion at the time was famously documented thus: “Fashion wasn’t what you wore someplace, it was the whole reason for going.” Amen to that! Best quote ever.

 He started his own fashion mag. Titled Inter/VIEW at the time, the magazine still thrives today as the ever-chic Interview magazine, edited by the now-famous André Leon Talley, and it remains the place to be seen for anybody that’s ever been somebody in fashion.

Warhol also generated the popularity of what became known as ‘Factory girl style’, characterised by exaggerated smoky eyes, huge accessories and short, 60s hemlines. Swoon!!

To this day, Warhol prints have been used extensively in fashion, being generously applied to garments and accessories by loads of different designers, including the collection recently released by Comme des Garçons.

We have lots of really pretty books at the library that are aaaaaall about Andy Warhol and fashion:

Andy Warhol fashion / [artwork by Andy Warhol] ; foreword by Simon Doonan.
“Before he found fame as the father of Pop Art, Andy Warhol was an accomplished advertising illustrator and commercial artist for fashion tastemakers such as I. Miller, Neiman Marcus, Glamour, Mademoiselle, and Harper’s Bazaar. A pop object in itself, Andy Warhol Fashion collects hundreds of his most delightful images. These witty drawings-fanciful shoes, chic hats, smart suits, and perfect accessories to match-showcase his unique ability to find inspiration in the everyday.” (Syndetics summary)

Factory made : Warhol and the Sixties / Steven Watson.Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties
“Cultural historian and filmmaker Watson traces the career of iconoclast artist Andy Warhol through the pinnacle of his career, year-by-year, from 1963 through 1968, with chapters on early life and work, and the aftermath of his flight. He includes many monochrome photographs. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)” (Syndetics summary)

Warhol : the biography / Victor Bockris.
“Artist, filmmaker, photographer, writer, publisher, interviewer, model, actor, business artist, fashion consultant, set designer, TV show host, rock choreographer, record producer, gourmet, jet setter, trendsetter, dog lover, fighter and modern dancer, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) transformed how we view and value our lives and world. As the leading exponent of Pop Art, he used his canvasses of dollar bills, soup cans, disasters, and celebrities to erase the distinction between high and popular culture. His spectacular career shaped and encompassed the underground scene of drugs, sex, and punk rock as well as the equally deviant worlds of big business, politics, show business, and high society. Victor Bockris was Warhol’s friend and worked at his famous Factory. Based on the author’s intimate knowledge and interviews with family, friends, lovers, business associates, and enemies, this definitive and only biography reveals the complex and controversial life of the single most important artist of the twentieth century.”–BOOK JACKET.

The Warhol look : glamour, style, fashion / Mark Francis and Margery King ; with essays by Hilton Als…[et al.]
“From his childhood in the 1930s, when he collected Hollywood fan mags and publicity photos, Andy Warhol was obsessed with glamour, style and fashion. After moving to New York in 1949 he soon made his mark in the world of advertising and commercial art, and when he turned to fine art in the 1960s, fashion and commercial imagery continued to pervade his work. This book illustrates the decisive impact of his work on fashion and glamour and how that involvement and the “Warhol Style” have powerfully influenced contemporary art. The book takes us on a grand tour of Warhol’s passion for the swank and the chic: the publicity shots of Marilyn Monroe; his fashion drawings of the 1950s; photos of his department store window displays; the “silver factory” works of the 1960s that blurred the lines between avant-garde and popular culture; his explorations of gender identity; and “Interview” magazine and the downtown club scene – epicentres of style and trendsetting.” (amazon.com)

We also stock Andy Warhol’s own fashion mag, Interview:

Interview.

Come in and check them out for yourself!!

Like any good New Year shindig Matariki’s all about reflecting on the year that has past and ushering in, hopefully, an even better one. While looking back and forward can mean a whole lot of different things to all of us the spirit of the season is to come together, share and celebrate. So with that in mind here’s a run down of Matariki inspired events to get us out and about with our municipal kinfolk.

As usual our shiny waterfront centrepiece Te Papa has a plethora of things on. They’re putting on a concert series with some great artists appearing Friday night including; Whirimako Black, Mihirangi and J & his geeks for all you NZ’s Got Talent fans. A clebration of the last year in New Zealand film making will happen on Sunday under the moniker of Matariki Film Festival: Whanau Shorts 2013. A Matariki craft village will also pop up on Saturday in the foyer to showcase a wide range of crafts for all you bohemian folk. This year there is an emphasis on navigation and it could be a great time for all you young adventurers to scrub up on South Pacific exploration.

Just outside Te Papa there will also be waka tours on Saturday.

One of our other swell museums, the Museum of Wellington: City & Sea is currently running an exhibition celebrating the creativity of us all here at Te Upoko o Te Ika a Maui (the head of Maui’s fish).

If you’d prefer something a bit more literary and find yourself over the age of 15 Patricia Grace’s Tu has been adapted by Hone Kouka and is running at Circa Theatre.

Want to hang with stars in another way? Author Mal Peet will be popping into the Central Library on Sunday to run a special one off creative writing course for young writers.

In sport the local roller derby girls meet again in TSB for a bout between Smash Malice & Brutal Pageant.

If you’ve tuned in to find something for your playlist this week why not try Portugal. The Man. Off of their new album Evil Friends here’s ‘Atomic Man’. Happy weekend!

More than this, Patrick Ness (September) – “A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighborhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust, and completely abandoned. What’s going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this…” (goodreads.com)

The clockwork scarab, Colleen Gleason (September) – “Two young women of similar age and standing have disappeared: one found dead and the other still missing. The only clue to connect them is a small Egyptian clockwork scarab. Only Miss Stoker and Miss Holmes are well-positioned enough – similar in age and stature as they are to the victims – to investigate. An unlikely pair, the fierce Evaline Stoker and logical Mina Holmes must follow in the footsteps of their infamous families – Miss Holmes has inherited her Uncle Sherlock’s keen investigative skills, while Miss Stoker has accepted her family calling as a hunter of the undead. The partners must find a way to work together, while navigating the advances of a strange yet handsome American, a clever Scotland Yard investigator, and a cunning thief, to solve the mystery of the clockwork scarabs.” (goodreads.com) In case you missed it, the two main characters are the niece of Sherlock Holmes and the half-sister of Bram Stoker (author of Dracula). They’d be an awesome detective duo, we think. The first in a new series.

Armageddon, James Patterson (Daniel X series - October) – “In the fifth installment of James Patterson’s action-packed Daniel X series, Daniel must now face an alien whose origins appear nearer to the depths of Hell than the outer reaches of the galaxy. Number Two is an unstoppable criminal that’s slowly been amassing an underground army of disgusting, disgruntled, and dangerous aliens to help him enslave Earth’s population. And it’s all in preparation for the arrival of Number One, the most powerful alien in the universe and Daniel’s arch-nemesis. To Daniel’s horror, thousands of humans defect to the alien’s side, making the odds of success that much more impossible. But for the first time in his life, Daniel isn’t alone in his fight. He’s connected with several military and intelligence groups–including the daughter of a prominent FBI agent – and is prepared to lead the ultimate showdown against the evil that has plagued planet Earth for so long. Readers, beware – and be prepared for a truly epic battle that evokes the ancient prophecies of Armageddon!” (goodreads.com)

Picture me gone, Meg Rosoff (September) – we’ve been waiting ages for the new book from the bestselling author of How I Live Now. “Mila is on a roadtrip across the USA with her father. They are looking for his best friend but Mila discovers a more important truth. Sometimes the act of searching reveals more than the final discovery can. Adults do not have all the answers. It all depends what questions you ask. A brilliantly atmospheric exploration of someone on the brink of adulthood…” (amazon.co.uk)

Divergent fans: don’t forget Allegiant, the final in the trilogy, which is out in October.

1. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green [no change]
2. Light, Michael Grant [up 3]
3. Clockwork Princess, Cassandra Clare [down 1]
4. 1D: One Direction: Forever Young [no change]
5. Looking for Alaska, John Green [down 2]
6. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins [no change]
6. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins [up 1]
8. The Elite, Kiera Cass [new]
9. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins [back]
10. Divergent, Veronica Roth [back]
10. Insurgent, Veronica Roth [back]
10. Kitchen Princess Omnibus 4, Miyuki Kobayashi [new]

Superhero Girl is the funniest, most down-to-earth, almost ordinary superhero we’ve ever seen. Which is why this gem of a book gets a whole post to itself. It’s the lightheartedness that we love about this comic, which we’ve tried to capture in our teaser panels below…

All images used with permission from Faith Erin Hicks

Like what you see? Here in the library we have another graphic novel of hers: Friends with boys which you can also find online here. For more Faith Erin Hicks, check our her tumblr, twitter or website.

Rise of the fallen, Teagan Chilcott (202 pages) – Appearing as students at a local Brisbane high school, Emilie and Cael are centuries-old elementals on the run. Their inseparable bond starts to fray when Soul, an irresistible demon, comes on the scene and Emilie follows him into the savage world where she and Cael were once kept captive.

First lines: “There was nothing but silence as I lay back on the soft, green grass of the oval. It was a clear day; the clouds that usually speckled the bright sky were missing.”

Invisibility, Andrea Cremer and David Levithan (358 pages) – Stephen has been invisible for practically his whole life — because of a curse his grandfather, a powerful cursecaster, bestowed on Stephen’s mother before Stephen was born. So when Elizabeth moves to Stephen’s NYC apartment building from Minnesota, no one is more surprised than he is that she can see him. A budding romance ensues, and when Stephen confides in Elizabeth about his predicament, the two of them decide to dive headfirst into the secret world of cursecasters and spellseekers to figure out a way to break the curse.

First lines: “I was born invisible. I have no idea how this worked. Did my mother go to a hospital, expecting me to be just another normal, visible baby?”

Spellcaster, Claudia Gray (389 pages) – Descended from witches, high school senior Nadia can tell as soon as her family moves to Captive’s Sound that the town is under a dark and powerful spell. A sickness is infecting everyone and everything in the town, especially Mateo, the teenage local whose cursed dreams predict the future. Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together to break the chains of his curse, and to prevent a coming disaster that threatens the entire town.

First lines: “Before anything else, Nadia felt the chill. She wasn’t sure why. Her father already had the car’s heat on because of the awful weather.”

Pantomime, Laura Lam (390 pages) – R. H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. It’s a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimaera is still there. It’s a place where anyone can hide. Gene, the daughter of a noble family, runs away from the decadence of court to this circus of magic, where she meets runaway Micah, a runaway who has quickly become the circus’s rising star. But Gene and Micah have balancing acts of their own to perform, and a secret in their blood that could unlock the mysteries of Ellada.

First lines: “”Well, boy,” the ringmaster said. “What can you do?” I swallowed. The clown who had found me eavesdropping tightened his grip on my shirt.”

Scarlet in the snow, Sophie Masson (318 pages) – When Natasha is forced to take shelter from a sudden, terrible blizzard, she is lucky to see a mansion looming out of the snow. Inside, it is beautiful despite the empty frames instead of paintings that hang on the walls. In the garden, she finds one perfect red rose about to bloom, a vivid splash of scarlet against the snow. Dreamily she reaches out a hand, only to have a terrifying, gigantic creature who looks like a cross between a bear and a man and demand vengeance on her for taking his rose. Sound familiar? There’s plenty of twists and intrigue to make this fairy tale fresh. Natasha will have a long journey, and many ordeals, ahead of her before there can be a happy ending.

First lines: “‘Ah, there you are! I might have known I’d find you up here, scribbling like some old clerk. Look at you – you’ve got ink all over your fingers! No, stop, don’t do that, Natasha, you’ll get it on your nose too!’”

Fathomless, Jackson Pearce (291 pages) – Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant until Celia meets Lo who is fighting to remember her past. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea – a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid – all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she’s becoming. There’s only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her … and steal his soul.

First lines: “There are lights at the surface. Lights so unlike the sun, that can’t reach down into the depths of the ocean. Lights we can see only when we look outside the water.”

Between the lives, Jessica Shirvington (330 pages) – For as long as she can remember, every 24 hours Sabine ’shifts’, living each day twice. She has one life in Wellesley, Massachusetts (where she is rich, popular and has the charmed future) and a completely different life in Roxbury, Boston (where she is poor, a delinquent and with a hopeless future). All Sabine has ever wanted is the chance to live one life. When it seems this might finally be possible, Sabine begins a series of dangerous experiments to achieve her goal. But is she willing to risk everything to get it?

First lines: “I am a liar. Not compulsive. Simply required. I am two people. Neither better than the other, no superpowers, no mystical destinies, no two-places-in-one-time mechanism – but two people.”

A necklace of souls, R L Stedman (366 pages) – In a hidden kingdom a mysterious Guardian protects Dana’s people with the help of a magical necklace. But evil forces are also seeking the power of the necklace, and as the Guardian grows weaker these forces threaten to destroy the kingdom. With the help of her best friend, Will, and the enigmatic N’tombe, Dana, the rightful heir, must claim the power of the necklace and save her people. But the necklace takes a terrible toll on whoever wears it – a toll that Dana may not be prepared to face.

First lines: “A true dream is when the events I see in my sleep have, or will happen. It’s a talent that runs in my family. I was thirteen when I had my first true dream. This was my dream.”