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Books, New, Simon
New Books!
17.01.12 | Permalink | Comment?

Here are the first batch of new books for the year. Please come and take them so we have some space on our shelves. But return them! And take some more! That is how libraries work.

Assault – Recon Team Angel, by Brian Faulkner (365 pages) – This is the first in a series set in the future (2030!) when we are at war with aliens. Recon Team Angel is an elite multinational group of teens who have been training for years. On X-Boxes, haha. Nah, joke. “Haha.” Their first mission; to sneak behind enemy lines and get into a top-secret alien facility.

First lines: ‘This is not a history book. The achievements of 4th Reconnaisannce Team (designation: Angel) of the Allied Combined Operation Group 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, from November 2030 through to July 2035, during the Great Bzadian War, are well documented by scholars and historians.‘

Equinox – The Rosie Black Chronicles Book Two, by Lara Morgan – It is five centuries into the future, most of Australia is submerged, and ‘Rosie’s dad is locked away, Pip has abandoned her, and Riley isn’t telling her the full story. Bent on revenge, Rosie is still working in secret to try and take down the evil Helios group. But what sacrifices is she prepared to make to destroy Helios?’ SO many names

First line: ‘Rosie took a steadying breath, licked her finger and touched it to her eye. The identification-distorter lens stuck to her skin and she lifted off her iris.‘

Stealing Phoenix, by Joss Stirling (265 pages) – Phoenix is part of a group of thieves with paranormal powers (they are quite cool but I won’t ruin it for you), and she is set to rob Yves Benedict, an American student visiting London. But lo! she discovers that he is ‘her destiny’ and ‘her soulmate’, and as there is no room for love amongst thieves, Phoenix must save herself and Yves. Which is pronounced like ‘Eve’ so you know.

First lines: ‘The boy seemed the perfect target. He stood at the back of a group taking the tour of the London Olympic stadium, attention on the construction vehicles beetling up the huge ramp to the athletes’ entrance, not on the thief watching him.‘

Outlaw, by Stephen Davies (236 pages) – Jake is fifteen and is sent to live with his parents in North Africa after getting into trouble one too many times at his English boarding school. Unfortunately he is kidnapped by Yakuuba Sor, the most wanted outlaw in the Sahara desert. Is he a terrorist or is he more like Robin Hood, without a forest?

First lines: ‘Jake Knight ran along the deserted towpath past Armley Mills and the Industrial Museum. It was two o’clock in the morning and he was so far out of bounds it was not even funny.‘

Good Fortune, by Noni Carter (489 pages) – Ayanna Bahati is brutally taken from her African village and brought to America, as a slave on a plantation. It’s a very dangerous life, but she’s able to secretely teach herself to read and write. Later she risks everything and escapes, heading north where she can be free and get an education; ‘can she shed the chains of her harrowing past to live the life she has longed for?‘

First lines: ‘His hand came down upon my cheek hard and fast. Stunned, I staggered backward.‘

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, by Jennifer E. Smith (236 pages) – Hadley is stuck at JFK airport after missing her flight to London. She meets Oliver, a Brit, who is also on the same flight as her. They talk and he’s pretty perfect, so they fall in love. Love! There when you least expect it, like a northerly gale in summer. Anyway, they lose track of each other once they land – can serendipity bring them back together? Is that the right word? A romantic comedy!

First line: ‘There are so many ways it could have all turned out differently.‘

Bittersweet, by Sarah Ockler (378 pages) – Hudson was a pretty swell ice skater, but when her parents divorced when she was fourteen, she ditches the sport and makes cupcakes for her mother’s upscale diner. But when she starts coaching the boys’ ice hockey team she rethinks her choices re: ice skating and taking chances with her life. Also a cute boy comes along.

First line: ‘It was the biggest competition night of my life, but all I could think about was the cheetah bra.‘

The Song of the Quarkbeast : A Last Dragonslayer Novel, by Jasper Fforde (290 pages) – This is the sequel to The Last Dragonslayer, which I didn’t read but DO know was very good. Fforde’s books are very difficult to put down, and why shouldn’t this be an exception.

First lines: ‘I work in the magic industry. I think you’ll agree it’s pretty glamorous: a life full of spells, potions and whispered enchantments; of levitation, vanishings and alchemy.‘

Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake (316 pages) – Cas Lowood kills the dead. He travels the country with his mother, a witch, and their spirit-sniffing cat, listening to local lore and legend. They go to kill a ghost called Anna Dressed in Blood (she’s covered in blood you know), who has killed everyone who has gone to get her. Except Cas, for some reason? Read to find out!

First line: ‘The grease-slicked hair is a dead giveaway – no pun intended.‘

Here is a pretty funny spoof trailer for The Hunger Games. Thanks for reading this far. I appreciate it.

Virtuosity, by Jessica Martinez (294 pages) – ‘Just before the most important violin competition of her career, seventeen-year-old prodigy Carmen faces critical decisions about her anti-anxiety drug addiction, her controlling mother, and a potential romance with her most talented rival,’ says the catalogue. Can’t beat the catalogue for a precise synopsis.

First line: ‘The balcony felt cold under my cheek.’

Paradise, by Joanna Nadin (262 pages) – Billie Paradise inherits her grandmother’s house, which is by the sea, and a definite improvement on the rental flat she lives in with her mum. But living in her mum’s childhood home dredges up secrets that might be best kept undregded. Buried. Underground.

First line: ‘We all have secrets.‘
Great Reads, Jesi, Sci Fi
Great Read: Human.4
13.01.12 | Permalink | Comment?

Human.4, Mike Lancaster

Ever think you’re missing what’s going on between what’s said and what’s not? And what if you did wake up and find the world was a completely different and scary place? Those things that go bump in the night? This book isn’t going to help you with those fears. It’s probably going to make them worse.

This book starts with an introduction, apparently from some unknown point in the future explaining about reading and books. What follows is the transcription of some tapes that have been found that were recorded around our time by someone called Kyle Straker. Kyle was living a normal life in a small town, his parents had a few issues, and he was doing his best to get out of going to the annual talent show. All pretty average stuff really. But during the talent show, he volunteers to be hypnotised. And afterwards he finds that the entire world has changed. People don’t seem the same, phones and computers don’t work anymore. And with only a couple of other “normal” people, finding out what is going on is rather difficult. I thought I knew what was going on about halfway in, then it turned out to be something just slightly, but rather critically different. And that’s about all I can say without giving too much away!

Totally a fantastic book. Dystopia and very much a classic science fiction story going on as well (not too strong though, so don’t worry if you aren’t into serious sci fi!)

Recommended if you liked the Gone series (Michael Grant), creepy dystopia books like Unwind (Neal Shusterman) and Peeps (Scott Westerfeld) or science fiction books like The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson. Also thoroughly recommended if you liked The Matrix as that’s what I kept thinking of when I was reading it!

And if you got an eBook reader for Christmas or like reading on your computer then this is also available on Overdrive, under the title “0.4″.
Books, Library Serf
Blood Red Road Wins an Award
05.01.12 | Permalink | Comment?

Blood Red Road by Moira Young has won this year’s Costa Children’s Book Award. Which is a slightly more exciting bouquet than the librarian’s choice sticker we bestowed upon it, but we do what we can.

The book trailer is here:

Other posts about book awards are here.
New, Simon
New Books
17.12.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Here are some new books! We provide so many ideas for things to read it is just ridiculous. Ridonkulous.

Belle’s Song, by K. M. Grant (298 pages) – Belle’s father can not walk thanks to an accident that she was responsible for. It is the 14th century so it is kind of important that he be mobile! So she heads to Canterbury with Chaucer (YES THAT CHAUCER) and handsome squire, Walter, in the hope that the pilgrimage has a miraculous outcome. However Belle is being blackmailed and Chaucer is up to his neck in politics and politics back then could be torturous, if you know what I mean. Hard times!

First lines: ‘Tragedy and opportunity, conspiracies and compulsions. And love. Unexpected love.‘

Wherever You Go, by Heather Davis (309 pages) – Holly’s boyfriend Rob died in an accident, and she has to spend most of her time caring for her sister and her grandfather, who has Alzheimer’s. Her late boyfriend’s best friend, Jason, steps in to help, and her grandfather says he is communicating with Rob’s ghost (who is in fact narrating the story from beyond the grave), meaning Holly has some tough and unexpected decisions to make.

First lines: ‘You’ve been by her side for six months, but she hasn’t noticed you.‘

Legend, by Marie Lu (295 pages) – The USA is now at war with itself; the Republic on one side, and the Colonies on the other. In this dystopian future some kids – one rich, the other not at all! – join together to fight against the injustice that authority has become. Nonstop action, a little romance, the ‘characters are likeable, the plot moves at a good pace, and the adventure is solid’, writes the Library Journal. The first in a series, and written about by us previously here (+ book trailer).

First lines: ‘My mother thinks I’m dead. Obviously I’m not dead, but it’s safer for her to think so.‘

Clockwork Prince : The Infernal Devices Book 2, by Cassandra Clare (502 pages) – Because this is the second book in the second series and I haven’t read any of it, here is the synopsis from the catalogue. Okay! ‘As the Council attempts to strip Charlotte of her power, sixteen-year-old orphaned shapechanger, Tessa Gray works with the London Shadowhunters to find the Magister and destroy his clockwork army, learning the secret of her own identity while investigating his past.’

First lines: ‘The fog was thick, muffling sound and sight. Where it parted, Will Herondale could see the street rising ahead of him, slick and wet and black with rain, and he could hear the voices of the dead.’

Dearly Departed, by Lia Habel (451 pages) – Nora Dearly encounters a ‘crack unit’ of teen zombies. They are the good guys! The bad guys are monsters hoping to boost their evil, foetid ranks. Nora begins to fall for one of the good zombies, Bram, who is ’surprisingly attractive.’ Not sure if the good guys are decomposing or if they’re somehow frozen in a freshly dead state? Is that still gross? The cover depicts them as a little pale but I can’t see any bones or exposed muscle. Still you have to consider these things. Though not too closely!

First lines: ‘I was buried alive. When the elevator groaned to a stop in the middle of the rocky shaft, I knew that I was buried alive.’

Wildefire, by Karsten Knight (392 pages) – Ashline Wilde is having it harsh at her school – her boyfriend cheated on her and her runaway sister, Eve, has returned to cause trouble. So Ashline starts at a new, private school in California, hoping for a fresh beginning. Buuuuut, Ashline discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have all been summoned to this one particular place. And she is one of them! Soon a war between the gods threatens sunny Blackwood Academy. Don’t know about you but that sounds like just another day for me.

First line: ‘Ashline Wilde was a human mood ring.‘

That’s about it for now! Check back later in the week for some more.
Grimm, Reviews
Best of 2011: Grimm’s Picks
17.12.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Froi of the Exiles, Melina Marchetta

The second book in the Lumatere Chronicles (the first being Finnikin of the Rock). In Finnikin, Froi was a street urchin with no moral compass. In Froi he has become a model student and an efficient assassin in waiting, devoted to his code of conduct and to the Queen of Lumatere. When Froi is sent to Charyn to assassinate the king it seems like an opportunity to prove his worth, but he finds himself embroiled in a chaotic uprising reminiscent of the French Revolution (hangings instead of the guillotine), and in a mysterious curse whose repercussions reverberate around Charyn, and appear to be knocking on the door of Lumatere.

This book is wonderful and epic (600 pages, but you’ll hardly notice). At its heart are really real characters, great dialogue, keen observations of the way people are, and an awesome rag tag group of wanderers that reminded me rather a lot of Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca etc. from Star Wars. Plus: there’s a very twisty twist at the end (third book due next year).

Also great:

Blood Red Road, Moira Young. A fantastic futuristic journey through a wasteland world, with land yachts, cage fighting, an epic quest, and a cool bird. Made me think of the Mad Max movies. Good thing that it’s going to be a movie then, by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator…).

The Floating Islands, Rachel Neumeier. A really successful, original fantasy world (with a mystical, Eastern element): had to try not to think of the movie Avatar with the floating islands idea, because it’s quite different. The potential romanceyness was well restrained, which is nice for a bit of a change.

~ Grimm
Grimm, New
Some New Books
11.12.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Cupcake, Rachel Cohn (310 pages) – if you’ve read Shrimp and Gingerbread then you need to read this! CC has moved to New York, leaving behind Shrimp. She’s on a mission to find the best job, the best coffee, the best cupcake (we hear you), and a new love. But then, oops, Shrimp shows up, and CC must decide whether to continue the New York dream, or follow the surf with Shrimp.

First sentence: A cappucino cost me my life.

Frost, Wendy Delsol (376 pages) – the sequel to Stork. Katla is adjusting to life being a Stork and her mystical abilities, and to snowy Minnesota. The attentions of Jack help, however when a snowstorm brings environmental scientist Brigid to town, Katla finds there’s competition for Jack’s attentions. Worse, on a trip with Brigid to Greenland, Jack goes missing, and Katla knows she’s the only one who can find him.

First sentence: There was one thing, and one thing only, that could coax me into striped red tights, a fur vest, and an elf cap: Jack Snjosson.

Dust & Decay, Jonathan Maberry (519 pages) – the sequel to Rot & Ruin. Benny and his friends are ready to leave in search of a better future (on a road trip!), but this is not so easy! Zombies, wild animals, murderers, and the rebuilt Gamelands are in their way, plus also possibly Charlie Pink-eye (who is supposed to be safely dead!).

First sentence: Benny Imura was appalled to learn that the Apocalypse came with homework.

My Life Undecided, Jessica Brody (299 pages) – Brooklyn can’t make decisions, so she blogs in the hopes that her readers will make up her mind for her. But things get messy when love gets involved.

First sentence: The sirens are louder than I anticipated.

Audition, Stasia Ward Kehoe (458 pages) – Sara moves to a new city and joins the prestigious Jersey Ballet. As she struggles to adapt she spends time with Remington, a choreographer on the rise, becoming his muse and creating gossip and scandal that may make it all seem not worth it. A novel in verse.

First sentence: When you are a dancer / you learn the beginning / is first position.

This Dark Endeavor, Kenneth Oppel (298 pages) – subtitled The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein and therefore the prequel to Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein. Sixteen year old Victor’s twin, Konrad, falls ill, and Victor is desperate to save him. He enlists the help of some friends in creating the Elixir of Life, but in the process pushes the boundaries of “nature, science and love”.

First sentence: We found the monster on a rocky ledge high above the lake.

Dead End in Norvelt, Jack Gantos (341 pages) – Over to the rather good catalogue description: “In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.”

First sentence: School was finally out and I was standing on a picnic table in our backyard getting ready for a great summer vacation when my mother walked up to me and ruined it.

A Need So Beautiful, Suzanne Young (267 pages) – Charlotte is a Forgotten, an earth-bound angel compelled to help someone. She’d rather spend her life with her boyfriend, so she must make the difficult, wrenching choice between her destiny and her love.

First sentence: I sit on the front steps of St. Vincent’s Cathedral and pick at the moss nestled in the cracks of the concrete.
Grimm, New
Waiting on Wednesday
07.12.11 | Permalink | Comment?

This week: two big future hits:

City of Lost Souls, Cassandra Clare – you might be waiting a while for this one, since it’s due in May next year. We’ve ordered it, which means you can reserve it! This is the fifth book in the Mortal Instruments series that began with City of Bones. The plot is a bit under wraps, as is the cover: all may be revealed in time!

Legend, Marie Lu – this one is getting a lot of publicity, and the film rights have already been purchased by the producers of Twilight. Legend is set in a dystopian future, where the United States is separated into several warring nations. Day, the country’s most wanted criminal, is on the run, and June, a fifteen year old military prodigy, is tasked with hunting him when her brother is murdered and Day become suspect #1. The legend of the title is revealed when their paths intersect.

Here’s the trailer (for the book!):

Thanks to Stephanie for the tips!
Books, New, Simon
New Books
06.12.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Brooklyn Burning, by Steve Brezenoff (202 pages) – Kid and Felix, two kids living on the streets in Brooklyn, are madly in love. Felix leaves, and Kid is left as the suspect in an arson. But! A year later Scout appears on the scene and Kid gets another chance with love. He – or she! for gender of the main characters is never specified, remarkably – also gets to be in a band. Punk rock!

First line: ‘On the corner of Franklin and India streets in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is the north wall of Fish’s bar.‘

Unforgettable, by Loretta Ellsworth (256 pages) – Baxter can remember every little thing that happens, from emotions to numbers. When his ability gets his mother’s criminal boyfriend locked away for credit card scam, Baxter and his mum move to a distant town to forget the past (not that he can actually forget it! but you know) where he falls for a girl who he met years ago and never forgot (he can’t!) but who has forgotten him. But the criminal boyfriend might be back!

First line: ‘It’s a warm spring day when Mom takes me to the playground near our apartment.’

All You Desire : Can You Trust Your Heart?, by Kirsten Miller (423 pages) – Catalogue summary has a go: ‘Haven Moore and Iain Morrow have been living a blissful life in Rome, an ocean way from the Ouroboros Society and its diabolical leader. But the mysterious disappearance of Haven’s best friend sends the pair running back to New York, where they encounter the diabolical, scheming Horae.’ So if that makes sense then you will know that this is from the Eternal Ones series and you want to read the sequel.

First line: ‘Haven Moore checked her watch and turned back towards the city.’

Water Balloon, by Audrey Vernick (312 pages) – Marley’s parents have split! And her best friend might not be so friendly anymore. AND she has to take the worst job ever, looking after her grandmother, some five-year-old twins, and all in a place without the Internet. She is stretched as tightly as a water balloon (hence the title) but she does meet a boy. Will love blossom? More importantly will she ever get back on the Internet?

First line: ‘The blitzing began five years ago, in second grade, on one of those amazing spring days that remind you how hot summer can be.‘

The Scent of Apples, by Jacquie McRae (183 pages) – Libby loves her grandfather, maker of cider and so scented by apples, but he is killed in a nasty accident. Faced with her parents’ seeming indifference, Libby takes to hurting herself as a coping mechanism. She is sent to boarding school and meets Charlie, a girl who teaches Libby that life can be about ‘fishing, whanau and laughter’. Libby is involved in another accident, sadly, forcing ’secrets to be revealed and truths told.’

First line: ‘Weeping willows, their skinny arms covered in ghostly green leaves, hang out over the riverbanks.‘

Enthralled : Paranormal Diversions, edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong (452 pages) – The list of contributors that I am not prepared to type out are a real who’s who of teen paranormal fiction authors. There are sixteen stories in this collection, and while some are continuations of various series, many are new stories. Vampires! Fairies! Angels! Probably ghosts! AwoooooooOOOoooo

Glow : Sky Chasers, by Amy Kathleen Ryan (385 pages) – Earth is off the cards, so spacecraft are sent into space (of course) to colonise other planets. Young sweethearts Kieran and Waverly have only ever known life on board Empyrean, and when it’s attacked and most adults killed, their lives are drastically changed. This is the first book in a series.

First line: ‘The other ship hung in the sky like a pendant, silver in the ether light cast by the nebula.‘

Always a Witch, by Carolyn MacCullough (276 pages) – ‘Haunted by her grandmother’s prophecy that she will soon be forced to make a terrible decision, witch Tamsin Greene risks everything to travel back in time to 1887 New York to confront the enemy that wants to destroy her family,’ accurately predicts the library catalogue, reading the tea leaves. This is the sequel to Once A Witch.

First lines: ‘I was born on the night of Samhain. Others might call it Halloween. Born into a family of witches who all carry various Talents. Others might call it magic.‘

Pregnant Pause, by Han Nolan (340 pages) – When sixteen-year-old Eleanor discovers she’s pregnant her parents want her to either go with them to Kenya, as missionaries, or move in with her older, married sister in California – in both cases, she has to adopt out the kid when it’s born. Instead she marries her true love and joins him at his parents’ camp for overweight kids. She is very headstrong! But it’s for the best … or is it.? (I had to read the last paragraph to find out.)

First lines: ‘Okay, I’m pregnant, and so here’s what I’m scared about. What if my kid turns out to be a mass murderer?‘

Keeper of the Night, by Kimberly Willis Holt (308 pages) – Isabel lives on the island of Guam. Her mother takes her own life, and Isabel is left to look after her family; her sister, who has night terrors, her brother, who starts carving words into his bedroom wall, and their father, who is distant, unable to cope, and sleeps on the floor where Isabel’s mother was found. So; a bit grim! But ultimately bouyant.

First lines: ‘My mother died praying on her knees. Her rosary beads were still in her hands when we found her.‘

Rip Tide, by Kat Falls (314 pages) – Ty’s father runs a subsea farm, and his family must deal with the threat posed by sharks, killer whales, and squids. Giant squids! Maybe! Anyway a subsea farm sounds pretty cool to me. I don’t know why exactly. Ty discovers an entire township, dead, tied to a sunken submarine at the bottom of a trash vortex. His parents are kidnapped and Ty worries they might share a similar fate. This is the sequel to Dark Life, set in a post-apocalyptic world with futuristic undersea cowboys to which Disney has picked up the film rights.

First line: ‘Easing back on the throttle, I slowed the submarine’s speed.‘

Where the Truth Lies, by Jessica Warman (308 pages) – Emily goes to school at an exclusive Connecticut academy for rich kids. Her father is the headmaster there; she has friends (who are rich), and her life is just wonderful. But she also has nightmares that may stem from something that happened to her when she was a kid. When the super-hot rebel Del Sugar arrives at school she is swept away. But! He is expelled! And Emily begins to question what she knows and doesn’t know, and soon nothing seems to be really what it seems to not be, sometimes. With a “bittersweet ending” which I just read and can confirm.

First line: ‘I have insomnia.‘

Across the Great Barrier, Patricia C. Wrede (339 pages) – This is book two of ‘Frontier Magic’ (the first is The Thirteenth Child), in which the wild west of the 1800s meets a world where magic is the norm. Catalogue helpfully says, ‘Eff is an unlucky 13th child. And yet, Eff is the one who had saved the day for the settlements west of the Great Barrier. Her unique ways of doing magic and seeing the world, and her fascination with the magical creatures and land in the Great Plains, push Eff to work toward joining an expedition heading west. But things are changing on the frontier.’

First line: ‘Being a heroine is nowhere near the fun folks make it out to be.‘
Grimm, New
The Week in New Books
17.11.11 | Permalink | Comment?

This week’s selection of new books kicks off with some alternating points of view:

Crossed, Ally Condie (367 pages) – sequel to Matched. Cassia finds that Ky has escaped into the canyons, where life is different and rebellion blooms. But it seems that Xander has some game-changing surprises up his sleeve. Told in alternating points of view by Cassia and Ky.

First sentence(s): I’m standing in a river. It’s blue.

Queen of the Dead, Stacey Kade (266 pages) – a Ghost and the Goth novel. Alona (ghost) is adjusting to her new job looking after the needs of lost spirits, for which she receives help from Will (goth). But her life becomes complicated, as her mother cleans out her room, and Will appears more interesting than loser-ish, and he, in turn, appears interested in someone else. Plus there’s a serious cliffhanging ending. Told in alternating chapters by the ghost and the goth.

First sentence: On television, ghost-talkers run antique stores, solve crimes, or stand on a stage in a nice suit giving the teary-eyed audience a toothy, yet sympathetic grin.

After Obsession, Carrie Jones & Steven E Wedel (305 pages) – told in alternating chapters by Alan and Aimee, who are drawn to each other by similarly supernatural secrets. Together they must help Alan’s cousin, Courtney, who has let herself be possessed by a demon/ghost in a desperate attempt to find her missing father. This proves not to be Courtney’s best move.

First sentence(s): You are mine. You all will be mine.

Sign Language, Amy Ackley (392 pages) – Abby North’s father has cancer, which changes her priorities, and her life perspective, as her family struggles to cope.

First sentence: The first thing Abby remembered about It was the scar.

I’ll Be There, Holly Goldberg Sloan (392 pages) – Sam and his younger brother Riddle were kidnapped by their father ten years ago, and now lead a life on the run. One day Sam hears Emily performing in a church, and they meet (in slightly awkward circumstances) only for him to vanish again. Emily, determined, tracks him down again, and things go from there, until Sam’s father discovers what he’s been up to… Great reviews!

First sentence(s): The days of the week meant nothing to him. Except Sunday.

Tiger’s Quest, Colleen Houck (479 pages) – a weighty tome. The second in the Tiger’s Curse series. Kelsey finds herself on another Indian quest with Ren’s black-sheep brother, Kishan, questioning her destiny.

First sentence: I clung to the leather seat and felt my heart fall as the private plane rose into the sky, streaking away from India.

Ashes, Ashes, Jo Treggiari (344 pages) – Things are bad bad bad for Lucy! Basically, the world as she knew it has ended (epidemics, floods, droughts), and she finds herself in the New York wasteland, alone, and fending off a pack of vicious dogs. Lucky for her, she is rescued by Aidan, who invites her to join a group of survivors; unlucky for them all, they are terrorised by the Sweepers, who threaten to infect them with the plague. Lucy and Aidan must save their friends from the Sweepers, but what if it’s actually Lucy the Sweepers are after?

First sentence: Lucy hunched over the corpse and felt a tiny bubble of hysterical laughter gurgle up.

Something Deadly This Way Comes, Kim Harrison (245 pages) – Madison died on the night of her prom, and now she’s in charge of Heaven’s hit squad. This has pros and cons, and when she has the opportunity to return to her body and be a real girl she’s torn: heaven or earth? Cool supernatural powers, or Josh?

First sentence: I’m Madison Avery, dark timekeeper in charge of heaven’s hit squad… and fighting it all the way.

Populazzi, Elise Allen (394 pages) – When Cara moves to a new school she has the opportunity to become one of the Populazzi – one of the girls at the top of the popularity ladder. The way up the ladder, her friend’s theory goes, is to form relationships with guys on further up rungs. So Cara tests the theory out, with some complicated results she doesn’t bargain on.

First sentence(s): “Don’t you see, Cara? This will be the year everything changes!”
Grimm, New
New Books This Week
10.11.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Could ghosts be the new vampires? Here at the teen blog we’ve recently noticed a whole bunch of interesting ghost stories are being published, some of them with Victorian, 19th-century sensibilities. Could this be the new black? we wonder. We will keep an eye out for more.

The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater (409 pages) – The Scorpio Races happen each year in November, where riders race waterhorses (presumably underwater). They’re a dangerous sport, and some riders don’t survive. Sean Kendrick has, he’s the current champion, back to defend his title. Then there’s Puck, who is going to be the first female rider ever, not fully aware of what she’s got herself in for. We’re thinking everyone’s going to get more than they bargained for.

First sentence: It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

Human.4, Mike A. Lancaster (231 pages) – When Kyle volunteers to be hypnotised at a talent show, he doesn’t expect the world to be completely changed when he wakes up. Now everyone behaves like he doesn’t exist, and TVs and computers just display a weird language. So, is this a new real world, or is Kyle still lost in a nightmare?

First sentence (Kyle Straker’s First Tape): … Is this thing on?

Drink Slay Love, Sarah Beth Durst (386 pages) – (The title is an Eat, Pray, Love reference, if you hadn’t already noticed.) Pearl is your average run of the mill vampire until one day she is stabbed through the heart by a unicorn. Now she can be out in daylight, which is kind of useful for vampires, and her vampire family agrees, and puts Pearl to use, enrolling her in high school with the intention of luring innocent humans to the vampire King’s feast (as, you know, the feast). But Pearl starts having second thoughts – especially about one particular cute guy – and finds herself torn between having her friends killed and being killed herself.

First sentence: “One hour until dawn,” Pearl said.

The Summer I Learned to Fly, Dana Reinhardt (216 pages) – Drew is a loner who hangs out in her mother’s cheese shop and owns a pet rat. One day she meets Emmett, a boy with an endless amount of mysteries surrounding him, and begins her first real friendship. The cover says “[it's] about a cautious girl swept up by new feelings. It’s about a charismatic boy in search of a miracle. It’s about what happens when they find each other”, which is quite nice.

First sentence: For some people it’s the smell of sunblock.

He’s So Not Worth It, Kieran Scott (360 pages) – the sequel to She’s So Dead to Us. “Told in two voices, Allie and Jake continue to be bombarded by family issues and pressures from the “Cresties” and their poorer counterparts as they spend a summer dealing with the fallout of their breakup.” (Catalogue)

First sentence: I had imagined my reunion with my father so many times over the past two years, I had every last detail down.

Anna Dressed in Blood, Kendare Blake (316 pages) – Cas Lowood is a ghost-killer who travels the country with his mother and cat, following legends and stories to hunt down harmful ghosts and, well, kill them. They arrive in a new town on the trail of the ghost known as Anna Dressed in Blood, who has killed every person who has entered the house she haunts – except, mysteriously, she decides to spare Cas.

First sentence: The grease-slicked hair is a dead giveaway – no pun intended.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Laini Taylor (418 pages) – newly arrived, and featuring in our Most Wanted list: this one is “a sweeping and gorgeously written modern fantasy about a forbidden love, an ancient and epic battle, and hope for a world remade” (cover), which makes it sound fabulous!

First sentence: Walking to school over the snow-muffled cobbles, Karou had no sinister premonitions about the day.

A Long Long Sleep, Anna Sheehan (342 pages) – This is a kind of fairytale-meets-futuristic-semi-dystopian-tale, which sounds really interesting. Rosalinda Fitzroy’s mega rich parents organised for her to “sleep” for sixty years in a stasis tube. When she is kissed awake by a strange boy she discovers the world quite changed, and must reestablish herself. But when an assassin threatens her life, things are turned up a notch, and Rose is forced to uncover some past truths and face the deadly threat head on.

First sentence: I’d try to hold on to my stass dreams as long as I could.

Haunting Violet, Alyxandra Harvey (344 pages) – Set in the 19th century. Violet’s mother is a fake medium, who holds séances to relieve various willing members of society of their cash. But at one particular session Violet is confronted by the ghost of a murder victim, who won’t rest until the killer is brought to justice.

First sentence: I was nine years old when my mother decided it was time I took part in the family business.