« Previous Entries
» Next Entries

The Archives

Books, Grimm, New
New Stuff on the Horizon
21.07.11 | Permalink | Comment?

It’s time for a new batch of soon-to-be-published bestselling titles – reserve your preferred sequel / series continuer / riveting conclusion now, so you don’t have to wait!

The Power of Six, Pittacus Lore. This is the next in the Lorien Legacies, after I Am Number Four (the DVD has arrived in the library recently), and it focuses on Number Seven (who’s got a bit more breathing room than Number Four). There’s an exclusive extract here, or you can become a follower of Lorien Legacies on Twitter for more tips and things.

Crossed, Ally Condie (November/December 2011). Sequel to Matched, in which Cassia takes off to the Outer Provinces to track down Ky, which is a very basic straight forward summary of a mission that will be far from straight forward or basic. Have a look at the series website, or visit Ally Condie’s blog here.

Bloodlines, Richelle Mead (August/September 2011). Vampire Academy fans will be pleased to hear that this is the first in a new series, a Vampire Academy spinoff series even, and so you’ll recognise the world of vampire princesses and their protectors, so thumbs up! Read more about it here.

Inheritance, Christopher Paolini (November/December 2011). The final book in the Inheritance cycle will finally be here! Will Eragon and Saphira get the better of Galbatorix? You can read and excerpt here, watch some images of swords, dragon scales and eyes in the book trailer below, or catch up with more Inheritance news at Christopher Paolini’s website here.

People’s Republic, Robert Muchamore (August/September 2011). Meet 12 year old Ryan, CHERUB’s new recruit. Has he got what it takes to take on the most ambitious CHERUB mission yet? In the mean time visit the CHERUB campus for more info.

Silence, Becca Fitzpatrick (October/November 2011). The final in the Hush, Hush trilogy. There is an official Hush Hush fanclub – fallenarchangel. The site has FAQs, playlists, and more photos of and info about the famous cover model for Hush, Hush. There’s an official Silence countdown widget to be got at the author’s website here (perhaps the perfect gift for the reader who has everything?).

The Fear, Charlie Higson (September/October 2011). The next in the Enemy series, in which everyone over the age of 14 has become a zombified predator. Dog Nut and his mates must travel across London in search of lost friends, avoiding the terrifying, blood-thirsty adults. You can read Charlie Higson’s blog post about the book here.

The Clockwork Prince, Cassandra Clare (December 2011). This is the next in Cassandra Clare’s Victorian Steampunk with Shadowhunters series (the first being Clockwork Angel), and we will be ordering it next month!
Books, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, New, Simon, zombies
New Books
02.07.11 | Permalink | Comment?

We have loads of new books. We are overwhelmed! Something to do with the financial year ending, and budgets being spent. Today is the first day of the new financial year, so happy new financial year? Let us celebrate with some new YA fiction, as is traditional from times gone by.

Rot & Ruin, by Jonathan Maberry (458 pages) – It is the near future. And the world is no longer safe for anyone, thanks to a zombie apocalypse. Humans live in small settlements, and all teens have to start working at the age of 15 or they won’t get fed. Benny, who has just hit 15, reluctantly agrees to become a zombie-killing bounty hunter with his dull brother, Tom. What he thought would be a boring (!) job turns out to be … not boring at all.

First line: ‘Benny Imura couldn’t hold a job, so he took to killing.‘

The Betrayal of Maggie Blair, by Elizabeth Laird (423 pages) - Sixteen-year-old Maggie is accused of witchcraft, and flees for her life. For it is Scotland during the 1600s! Her grandmother, also accused, is hanged, so Maggie runs to her uncle’s place. Her uncle is part of a movement rebelling against the English crown, and she can not entirely escape her past (the whole ‘witch’ thing) when an old enemy puts in an appearance.

First line: ‘I was the first one to see the dead whale lying on the sand at Scalpsie bay.‘

You Killed Wesley Payne : A Novel, by Sean Beaudoin (359 pages) – Dalton Rev has just transferred to a new school. Dalton is a ‘hard-boiled PI’ and also seventeen, and he is going to take on his hardest case ever; to discover who killed Wesley Payne? A ’smart, slick, and hilarious detective novel.’

First line: ‘Dalton Rev thundered into the parking lot of Salt River High, a squat brick building at the top of a grassless hill that looked more like the last stop of the hopeless than a springboard to the college of your choice.‘

Pull, by B. A. Binns (310 pages) – David is (understandably!) distraught after his father kills his mother, and he – and his sisters – move to a new, tough inner-city school in Chicago. He tries to make a new life for himself, all the while dealing with the burden of his grief, but ends up having to make a very difficult choice; to take a basketball scholarship, or quit school to work and support his family.

First line: ‘It’s fourth period, and so far not one teacher has questioned who I am.‘

Enclave, by Ann Aguirre (262 pages) – From the catalogue! ‘In a post-apocalyptic future, 15-year-old Deuce, a loyal Huntress, brings back meat while avoiding the Freaks outside her enclave, but when she is partnered with the mysterious outsider, Fade, she begins to see that the strict ways of the elders may be wrong – and dangerous.’ According to Publishers Weekly, this book is for fans of The Hunger Games. Which is nearly everyone! So you can’t go wrong.

First line: ‘I was born during the second holocaust.‘

Divergent, by Veronica Roth (487 pages) – Another dystopian story! This is the first in a series set in a future Chicago, where everyone at the age of 16 must choose one of five factions to join. Each faction is dedicated to a certain virtue. Beatrice Prior has to choose between staying with her family or being true to herself (i.e., she doesn’t belong to any one faction and is, in fact, a Divergent.) She very quickly discovers that her world isn’t as perfect as she thought. ’Edgy,’ says Publishers Weekly. ‘Definately not for the fainthearted,’ they add.

First lines: ‘There is one mirror in my house. It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs.‘

How Lamar’s Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy, by Crystal Allen (283 pages) – Thirteen-year-old Lamar is a champion ten-pin bowler, but he is overshadowed by his uber-talented basketball-playing older brother. Lamar has no luck with the ladies, either. So a scheme to make money backfires he ruins his brother’s chance at getting into college as well as every relationship in his life. How can he mend everything? How?! ‘Heartwarming and humorous.’

First line: ‘Since Saturday, I’ve fried Sergio like catfish, mashed him like potatoes, and creamed his corn in ten straight games of bowling.‘

Like Mandarin, by Kirsten Hubbard (388 pages) – Catalogue says, ‘When shy, awkward fourteen-year-old Grace Carpenter is paired with the beautiful and wild Mandarin on a school project, an unlikely, explosive friendship begins, but all too soon, Grace discovers that Mandarin is a very troubled, even dangerous, girl.’ Thanks, catalogue!

First line: ‘The winds in Washokey make people go crazy.‘

The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff (343 pages) – Mackie Doyle is a changeling, and was left in a human baby’s crib 16 years ago; although he would rather fit in to our world, all the iron, blood, and consecrated ground here are slowly killing him. When Tate – the girl he fancies – loses her baby sister, Mackie is drawn back to Mayhem to try to find her. Here’s the catalogue’s summary (I know I keep copying from it, but this sounds really good!); ‘“Edward Scissorhands” meets “The Catcher in the Rye” in this wildly imaginative and frighteningly beautiful horror novel about an unusual boy and his search for a place to belong.‘

First line: ‘I don’t remember any of the true, important parts, but there’s this dream I have.‘

The Lost Tohunga, by David Blair (368 pages) – Mat is on holiday in Taupo, and all he wants to do there is study and catch up with his magical mentor. But! Warlocks, determined to dominate the hidden land of Aoteoroa, seek Te Iho, and soon Mat is caught up in a deadly no-holds-barred struggle. This is the sequel to The Taniwha’s Tear, itself the sequel to The Bone Tiki.

First line: ‘Auckland, 1956 – Whenever the girl heard the crunch of boots on the gravel path outside, she imagined that her father had come to take her away.‘
Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Simon, Trailers
Trailer Tuesday
21.06.11 | Permalink | Comment?

So! Here are some film trailers. And a book trailer.

The final Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt2 trailer is out! (We have the first part at the library, in case you can’t remember it? There was a lot of marching about in a forest?) Go Mrs Weasley!

Attack the Block. We love this trailer. Hope you like it too.

Katie Alender’s book, Bad Girls Don’t Die, has a sequel coming out soon. It is titled From Bad to Cursed, and here is its spooky trailer.

The Muppets official trailer!
Books, Fantasy, Horror, New, Simon
New Books
21.06.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Forgotten, by Cat Patrick (279 pages) – London (a girl) has a memory disorder; she can’t remember the past, but she know what the future will bring. She can not remember the boy she loves, and she can’t see him in her future, but she know that today she loves him. And also that there will be a car crash later today. Yikes!

First lines: ‘Aren’t Fridays supposed to be good? This one started badly.‘

Rockoholic, by C. J. Skuse (368 pages) – Jody is obsessed with the rock star Jackson Gatlin. At one of his concerts she is caught in a stampede and is carried backstage. Somehow she winds up kidnapping Jackson, as you do, but it soon becomes clear that he doesn’t really want to leave her garage. Someone on Amazon.co.uk says, “one of the funniest, most entertaining and highly original books I’ve read in a long time” so reserve it eh?

First lines: ‘To our local newspaper, my grandad’s death was ‘a shocking accident that brought Bristol city centre to a standstill’. To my mum, it was humiliation beyond words and a week’s worth of whispers from her colleagues at the bank.‘

The Last Summoner, by Sherryl Jordan (187 pages) – It is said that only men can summon dragons, but when the king needs help from the dragons when the land is under attack, Ari and her blind grandfather uncover the moondust mirror and travel to the swamp to summon them. Will the dragons answer Ari’s call?

First line: ‘Alone, the girl crept through the gloomy swamp.’

Heart Burn, by Anne Cassidy (215 pages) – Amazon’s product description says, ‘years ago, local bad boy, Tyler Harrington, did a favour for Ashley. Now Tyler has been beaten up and hospitalized, and he’s calling that favour in. Ashley must hide an envelope for him, but under no circumstances is she to look inside it When Tyler is abducted, Ashley opens the package. What she finds inside is the key to who is holding Tyler. But somebody else wants the envelope and, as long as Ashley has it, she is in mortal danger.’

First line: ‘I was waiting for Beth outside Whitechapel tube station when I heard what happened to Tyler Harrington.‘

Wood Angel, by Erin Bow (270 pages) – Kate lives in a time when witches are burned at the stake. Because she lives with a cat and makes and sells lucky wooden charms, she is voted Most Likely To Be A Witch when her village falls on hard times. Terrified for her life, she flees with a stranger who ‘has a plan more dangerous than she could ever have dreamed.’

First line: ‘A long time ago, in a market town by a looping river, there lived an orphan girl called Plain Kate.‘

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, from an original idea by Siobhan Dowd (214 pages) – Allow me to copy and paste from the catalogue; ‘Thirteen-year-old Conor awakens one night to find a monster outside his bedroom window, but not the one from the recurring nightmare that began when his mother became ill–an ancient, wild creature that wants him to face truth and loss.’ Siobhan Dowd died before this could be written, sadly, so Patrick Ness wrote the book. It is BEAUTIFULLY illustrated by Jim Kay.

First lines: ‘The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do.‘

The Thief-Taker’s Apprentice, by Stephen Deas (282 pages) – Berren has been a thief all his short life, but when he is noticed by the thief-taker after trying to pinch his reward for the capture of some other thieves, Berren becomes the thief-taker’s apprentice. He thought he knew the city, but now he has to contend with all the political intrigue, corruption, and murder that lie in the shadows.

First lines: ‘The crowd had come to watch three men die. Most of them had no idea who the three men were. Nor did they particularly care.’

Long Reach : An Eddie Savage Thriller, by Peter Cocks (401 pages) – Eddie Savage finds out that his brother had been working uncover to infiltrate the Kelly family, a dangerous gang in London. He also discovers that his brother is dead, supposedly by suicide, but Eddie ain’t having none of it. Determined to uncover the truth, Eddie infiltrates the gang and is soon up to his neck in Kelly business. A ‘gritty, glamorous thriller with a heart-stopping, brutal conclusion.’

First line: ‘Donnie gunned the Mercedes back across the Medway bridge.‘

Akata Witch : A Novel, by Nnedi Okorafor (349 pages) – Sunny lives in Nigeria, although she was born in NYC. She is albino, and feels that she doesn’t fit in. She discovers that she – like two of her classmates – are in fact ‘free agents’, full of magical power, and she has a lot to learn. When the magical authorities ask her and her friends to track down a capture a ‘hard-core serial killer’ with powers greater than theirs, Sunny discovers that magic has a dark, dark side.

First line: ‘The moment Sunny walked into the school yard, people started pointing.‘

Viola in the Spotlight, by Adriana Trigiani (283 pages) – Catalogue! I choose you! ‘Back home in Brooklyn, fifteen-year-old Viola has big summer plans but with one best friend going to camp and the other not only working but experiencing her first crush, Viola is glad to be overworked as an unpaid lighting intern when her grandmother’s play goes to Broadway.’ This is the sequel to Viola in Reel Life.

First lines: ‘There is no better place on Earth than right here on my stoop on 72nd Street in Bay Ridge. Borough of Brooklyn. City of New York. County of Kings. The Empire State.‘

Teeth : Vampire tales, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling (452 pages) - Do you like vampires? Do you like short stories? Do you like books? Do you like library books? Do you like reading? Books? Vampires? Vampire books? Reading them? Reading this? Well?

First line of the first story: ‘As it turns out, if a person dies badly, sometimes the soul can’t escape the body and will have to feed off the living forever.‘

Deadly Little Secret : A Touch Novel, by Laurie Faria Stolarz (252 pages) – Running out of tiiiiime, so here is the catalogue again; ‘When someone starts stalking high school junior Camelia, everyone at school assumes that it is Ben, who is new at school and rumored to have killed his previous girlfriend, but Camelia is nevertheless inexplicably drawn to him.’

First line: ‘I could have died three months ago. Ever since, things haven’t quite been the same for me.‘
Grimm, New
New Books Again
23.05.11 | Permalink | Comment?

A box of chocolates: horror, angels, love triangles, the origins of a New York icon, memoirs of addiction, high fantasy, gritty realism, dramas, and short stories, oh and chimpanzees again!

Non-fiction

We All Fall Down: Living With Addiction, and Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines, by Nic Sheff – Two memoirs with rave reviews on the subject of drug addiction, and companions to the book Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff. On Tweak: “The author details his immersion in a world of hardcore drugs, revealing the mental and physical depths of addiction, and the violent relapse one summer in California that forever changed his life, leading him down the road to recovery.” (Library catalogue)

Fiction

Half Brother, Kenneth Oppel (377 pages) – Oh fab! Ben’s father is a behavioural scientist, and on Ben’s 13th birthday, Zan comes to live with the family, as an experiment: Zan is a chimpanzee. Cool, you’d think. Well yes indeed!, although having a chimpanzee for a half-brother can have its hairy moments, and then when things start going wrong can Ben save Zan? (From what, I want to know, hoping it’s not horrible, and that it has a happy ending like the Chimpanzee movie.)

First sentence: This is how we got Zan.

Angry Young Man, Chris Lynch (167 pages) – Xan (not to be confused with Zan) is an angry young man, becoming increasingly involved in hard-core activism and groups of anarchists. Robert, his older brother, is completely different, steady and together. But when Xan appears to spiral out of control will Robert be able to rescue him, and is Robert such a solid, dependable hero anyway?

First sentence: I want you to understand my brother.

Huntress, Malinda Lo (371 pages) – High fantasy (complete with map) inspired by the I Ching, and prequel (by several centuries) to Ash, in Huntress the human kingdom is suffering: the sun never shines and strange creatures have begun appearing. Two seventeen year old girls are chosen to go on a dangerous journey to save the kingdom. Along the way they fall in love, but then it becomes clear that there should only be one Huntress saviour: will they be torn apart?

First sentence: She saw a beach made of ice, and she felt her heart breaking.

Summer and the City, Candace Bushnell (409 pages) – sequel to The Carrie Diaries and therefore also prequel to Sex and the City. Carrie’s having a good summer, enjoying the shopping, the parties, and the men the Big Apple provide, plus she’s in a writing class learning what will become her trade. During the summer she will meet two of her BFFs, Samantha and Miranda, and become more Carrie Bradshaw-ish.

First sentence: First Samantha asks me to find her shoe.

Dramarama, E Lockhart (305 pages) – Sadye (Sarah) and Demi (Douglas) become instant best friends when they meet at the auditions for a prestigious drama camp. When they both get in things look exciting – the chance to study under one of New York’s leading directors, for example, but it’s drama camp in more ways than one: can their friendship survive?

First sentence: Transcript of a microcassette recording: Demi: Is it on?

We’ll Always Have Summer, Jenny Han (291 pages) – the conclusion to the trilogy that began with The Summer I Turned Pretty. Belly and Jeremiah have been together for two years. Things should be happily ever after, but they aren’t really. Belly has unresolved feelings for Conrad, and when Jeremiah proposes marriage she must choose between the two, possibly breaking one of their hearts in the process. Obviously you must read this if you’ve read the others! And bring a hankie!

First sentence: On Wednesday nights when I was little, my mom and I would watch old musicals.

The Saga of Larten Crepsley: Ocean of Blood, Darren Shan (247 pages) – The prequel to Cirque Du Freak, where you get to learn more about Larten: what he was like as a teenager, rebelling against vampire authorities and hitting the road with his brother, leaving a trail of human destruction behind them. But are there dangers for him in this wanton, destructive lifestyle?

First sentence: The vampire known as Quicksilver threw a knife high into the smoke-clogged air of the tavern.

Fallen Angel, Heather Terrell (310 pages) – Ellie is shy and withdrawn around everyone except her friend Ruth, until she meets Michael. Together, she and Michael discover they have a similar secret: otherworldly powers, which will come in handy when they’re pitched into the eternal conflict, the battle between good and evil.

First sentence: I watched my curtains billow in the early autumn wind that wafted through my opened bedroom window.

Virgin Territory, Jame Lecesne (218 pages) – Set around the time of September 11 2001. Dylan’s father moves the family from New York to a small Florida town after the death of his mother. Dylan finds himself drifting through summer, losing a sense of his future while his past – and memories of his mother – appears to fade. When the Blessed Virgin Mary is sighted in town, interesting new arrivals bring a new perspective for Dylan: can he forge ahead and carve out a new future for himself?

First sentence: I’m staring out the passenger window of Doug’s banged-up Ford Explorer as we speed along I-95.

The Kissing Game: Short Stories, Aidan Chambers (215 pages) – including several pieces of flash fiction, which we like as a concept. The cover says, “In these sixteen short stories, acclaimed author Aidan Chambers examines moments of truth in which a conversation or an event suddenly reveals a surprising, sometimes life-altering meaning.”

First sentence (’Cindy’s Day Out’): Enough! she said to herself.
Grimm, New
New Books
17.05.11 | Permalink | Comment?

A Match Made in High School, Kristin Walker (278 pages) – some bright spark teacher at Fiona’s high school has decided to make her class do the mother of all social experiments/class projects called “Trying the Knot”: they have to be “married” for a year, and the mandatory pairings produce a story that is “laugh-out-loud funny, unpredictable, and fresh”, says Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

First sentence: I should have known.

The Sweet Life of Stella Madison, Lara M Zeises (228 pages) – read this if you like culinary things. Stella is the daughter of a famous chef (father) and restaurant owner (mother), but she’s more into food of the fast variety, so when she lands a summer job as a food writer she’s in for a challenge. But the summer also brings on other challenges of the relationship variety, with her own confused romances, and the lives of her separated parents.

Last line: “So what’s for dinner?” I say. “I’m starving.”

Leverage, Joshua C Cohen (425 pages) – the author is a gymnast and acrobat: the photo on the back cover proves it to be so. Anyhow Leverage is about the cauldron of high school sport, and the friendship between the school fullback (American football has fullbacks: Friday Night Lights taught me so) and a gymnast that grows out of the wake of what the book calls a “violent, steroid-infused, ever-escalating prank war”. [Edited to add: It's not for the faint hearted.]

First sentence: The high bar’s chalky bite threatens to rip the yellowed calluses right off my palms at the bottom of the swing, where the pull is heaviest.

The Iron Witch, Karen Mahoney (289 pages) – Donna Underwood needs Harry Potter as a mentor! Practically an orphan after the fey attacked and killed her father and drove her mother mad, she’s left with injuries that are magically fixed, but her hands and arms are covered with iron tattoos. Which makes her a powerful weapon in the war between humans and fairies. So, when her best friend is abducted by wood elves, Donna must accept her fate in order to save her friend (with the help of the gorgeous Xan).

First sentence: My father died saving my life when I was seven years old.

Abandon, Meg Cabot (292 pages) – A new Meg Cabot series! Following an accident (and while being worked on by hospital staff) Pierce died briefly and visited the Underworld, where she met a mysterious boy. The following year, a mysterious boy shows up at her school: the same mysterious boy. He wants to take her back. You might learn something about Persephone and Greek mythology while reading.

First sentence: Anything can happen in the blink of an eye.

The Dark Flight Down, Marcus Sedgwick (234 pages) – the conclusion to The Book of Dead Days. Boy and Willow are held captive in the Emperor Frederick’s palace where they are in constant danger, and must follow a “deadly trail” that will lead them to the Phantom. A gothic fantasy thriller.

First sentence: Midnight at the Imperial Court of Emperor Frederick III.

Chime, Franny Billingsley (361 pages) – Briony is a witch, a fact that she keeps secret on pain of death. She thinks herself to be dark and evil, until Eldric arrives and refuses to believe there is anything bad about her. Can his faith in her save her from death or insanity? “A wild, haunting mystery and romance,” says the cover.

First sentence: I’ve confessed to everything and I’d like to be hanged.

Afterlife, Claudia Gray (360 pages) – over to you, back cover: “Packed with romance, suspense and page-turning drama, Afterlife delivers a heart-stopping conclusion that won’t disappoint the many fans who have made the Evernight series such a runaway success.” So yes basically, if you’ve been reading Evernight you must read this one!

First sentence: “Sunrise is coming,” Balthazar said.

Still Sucks to be Me, Kimberly Pauley (374 pages) – Mina is a teen vampire, who has had to fake her own death in order to deal with the whole never-aging problem. Sensible! So, she’s had to move to a new town, without her bff and her boyfriend, where she finds herself in relationship tangles that even “vampire superstrength” can’t sort. The sequel to Sucks to be Me.

First sentence: I, Mina Hamilton, am officially dead.

Blink & Caution, Tim Wynne-Jones (342 pages) – cool cover (there are, like, bullet holes)! Blink and Caution are actually people, on the run (separately) until they run into each other, with Blink the unfortunate only witness to a crime and Caution escaping from her drug-dealer boyfriend. Can they work together to get out of their messes, and maybe perhaps begin an unlikely friendship?

First sentence: Look up at the Plaza Regent, Blink, in the shivery morning light.
Grimm, New
New Books
04.04.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Anna and the French Kiss, Stephanie Perkins (372 pages) – romantic tension in Paris, where Anna (against her will, go figure) goes to spend a year at school, leaving behind her almost-boyfriend and meeting the marvelous Etienne St Clair Smart who, problematically, has an actual-girlfriend.

First sentence: Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amélie and Moulin Rouge.

Across the Universe, Beth Revis (398 pages) – this one has an almost retro sci-fi type of cover (which you can’t tell much from the pic over there). Amy is cryogenically frozen, to wake 300 years into the future on a new planet, however her cryo chamber is unplugged and she’s stuck on her spaceship, Godspeed, with the scary Eldest and his son Elder, knowing that someone is trying to kill her.

First sentence: Daddy said, ‘let Mom go first.’

Matched, Ally Condie (366 pages) – The matching screen is a device used by society’s officials to determine who is matched with whom for life. Cassia’s best friend flashes up on the matching screen for her, perfect, she thinks, until she sees another face appear fleetingly. Cassia must choose between two lives, between “perfection and passion”.

First sentence: Now that I’ve found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night?

Birth of a Killer, Darren Shan (253 pages) – a new series from the horror man! Larten is a young man all alone, until he meets Seba Nile, who teaches him all about being a vampire, but will Larten turn his back on being human and embrace this new world?

First sentence: When Larten Crepsley awoke and yawned one grey Tuesday morning, he had no idea that by midday he would have become a killer.

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder, Julie Halpern (245 pages) – Things are changing in Jessie’s world, her friends are getting cooler (she’s not), so she’s on the lookout for a new set of friends. But can she befriend the Dungeons and Dragons crowd without being tainted with their geekdom?

First sentence: I so used to love the first day of school.

The Radleys, Matt Haig (337 pages) – the humorous side of abstaining from being a vampire. The Radleys are a fairly average family (two parents, two kids) living in a fairly average British town, except for the one thing (they’re vampires, but they’re abstaining). Then Uncle Will arrives, the black sheep of the family, and he’s going to shake things up a bit.

First sentence: It is a quiet place, especially at night.

Yellowcake, Margo Lanagan (235 pages) – Ten short stories from one of Australia’s literary fantasy queens.

First sentence (from ‘The Point of Roses’) – Billy flew into the kitchen.

Angel, L A Weatherly (507 pagtes) – Willow doesn’t know what she is, just that she’s different. Alex does know what she is, and that they are enemies. An “epic tale of love, destiny and sacrifice.” With angels, obvs.

First sentence: “Is that your car?” asked the girl at the 7-Eleven checkout counter.

Not That Kind of Girl, Siobhan Vivian (322 pages) – Natalie is the good, bright girl in school, but she nearly gets expelled anyway, so what’s the point in being good? Is it better to be the bad girl?

First sentence: On the first day of my senior year, I happened to walk past the auditorium during the freshman orientation assembly.

Five Flavours of Dumb, Anthony John (338 pages) – Piper is in a band called Dumb, and her bandmates do indeed seem to be a bit that way, plus she’s deaf, which makes being in a band particularly interesting: she has no idea if they’re truly terrible or really good. This doesn’t stop her from determindely finding a gig for them, with some self-discovery along the way.

First sentence: For the record, I wasn’t around the day they decided to become Dumb.
Books, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, New, Sci Fi, Simon
More New Books
02.02.11 | Permalink | Comment?

We have a few new books that continue already established series. I won’t go into too much detail about each (just because) but your favourite vampire/werewolf/spy series may be one of them.

Awakened : A House of Night Novel (Book 8 ), by P.C and Kirstin Cast (290 pages)
Demon Games : Changeling (Book 4), by Steve Feasey (343 pages)
Only The Good Spy Young : The Gallagher Girls (Book 4), by Ally Carter (265 pages)
Twelfth Grade Kills : The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod (Book 5), by Heather Brewer (325 pages)
Keys To the Repository : Blue Bloods (sort of a tie-in to the series), by Melissa de la Cruz (227 pages)

Here are the other new books!

A Waltz for Matilda, by Jackie French (479 pages) – This is a novelisation of the poem that is also a song (which I used to think was Australia’s nation anthem, oddly) about Matilda, her father (the swagman!), the billabong, and ‘Australia’s early years as an emerging nation.’

First lines: ‘August 1894 – Dear Dad, I hope you are well.‘

Whisper My Name, by Jane Eagland (394 pages) – A spooky book about Meriel, who lives with her strict Victorian grandfather. It is a solitary life but she’s not always alone - someone is ‘reaching out to her, someone who is close than she thinks …’

First line: ‘Meriel decided to place her deckchair as far as she could from Mrs Fitzgerald’s, but still within earshot.‘

Hit List, by Jack Heath (256 pages) – Teenager Ash and her pal Benjamin find stolen artifacts and return them to their owners for a fee. But when they’re asked to rescue a captive girl they soon find themselves up against corrupt governments, ruthless corporations, and assassins. Assassins!

First lines: ‘Practice. It would take practice, but it could be done.‘

The Exiled Queen : A Seven Realms Novel, by Cinda Williams Chima (586 pages) – This is the second book in the series. We wrote about the first one here. In this installment, according to the catalogue, ‘two teenagers, one fleeing from a forced marriage and the other from a dangerous family of wizards, cross paths and fall in love.’

First line: ‘Lietenant Mac Gillen of the Queen’s Guard of the Fells hunched his shoulders against the witch wind that howled out of the frozen wastelands to the north and west.’

Send Simon Savage, by Stephen Measday (266 pages) – Simon is thirteen when his father drowns. A secret government agency then tells him that he has the right DNA to handle the rigours of time travel, and he will be the first to travel into the future. Which he does! His missions are risky, but someone has to do it.

First line: ‘Simon spent a great Saturday body boarding with a few mates in rolling surf at the southern end of Bondi Beach.‘

Solitary : Escape from Furnace, by Alexander Gordon Smith (232 pages) – This is the sequel to Lockdown. Alex Sawyer attemped to escape from Furnace prison, where he has been imprisoned on false charges, but he failed and is now in solitary confinement. ‘… hurtle from thrill to chill in this rocket-paced prison-break odyssey where nightmares are made.’ Yeow!

First lines: ‘I have a confession. I’m not a good person.’

The Last Dragonslayer, by Jasper Fforde (281 pages) – Back in the day magic was powerful, but now it’s regulated by the government and it’s cheaper for people to get things done non-magically. But! Fifteen-year-old Jennifer, who runs an employment agency for magicians and soothsayers, begins to have visions that hint at dragons and Big Magic. (Fforde is a very funny writer, and has a lot of quality books in the adult section. Let me recommend them to you.)

First line: ‘It looked set to become even hotter by the afternoon, just when the job was becoming more fiddly and needed extra concentration.‘
Grimm, New
Some New Books
02.02.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Lots more supernatural romance, bad dreams, terrifying zombie adults, and a TV spin-off.

Pegasus, Robin McKinley (404 pages) – Princess Sylvi, as a member of the royal family, is supposed to have a pegasus as an “excellent friend”, but her friendship with Ebon becomes too excellent for the powers that be; will Sylvi and Ebon threaten the safety of their nation?

First sentence: Because she was a princess she had a pegasus.

Night Star, Alyson Noel (302 pages) – the new book in the Immortals series. Haven plans to destroy Ever and Damen and Jude; will Ever be able to foil her plan, and what is the terrible secret about Damen that is hidden in her past life?

First sentence: “You’ll never beat me.”

The Wager, Donna Jo Napoli (262 pages) – The handsome Don Giovanni makes a deal with the devil in exchange for unlimited wealth. He will not bathe or change his clothes for three years, three months and three days. We all are wondering if it’s worth it, especially if in taking a bath he will lose his soul.

First sentence: Don Giovanni looked out the castle window over the strait that separated the island of Sicily from the mainland.

Early to Death, Early to Rise, Kim Harrison (228 pages) – This copy here is autographed. Madison is the dark timekeeper, “in charge of angels who follow the murky guidelines of fate.” (The ’murky guidelines’ involve killing people.) Not happy with the status quo, she forms a renegade group to change things up a bit, never an easy task.

First sentence: Seventeen, dead, and in charge of heaven’s dark angels – all itching to kill someone.

Mice, Gordon Reece (309 pages) – After Shelley is bullied by her ex-friends, she and her mother move to a cottage in the country. One night a creak on the stairs wakes Shelley. A thriller

First sentence: My mum and I lived in a cottage about half an hour outside of town.

The Dead, Charlie Higson (450 pages) – The sequel to The Enemy. Jack and Ed are on the run with a bunch of other kids, and Greg who’s an adult (and a butcher, horror!) who says he’s immune to the disease that turns adults into flesh eating zombies. Then (while I’m preoccupied with worrying about whether Greg is dodgy) “a fresh disaster threatens to overwhelm London”, to make matters so much worse. Blimey.

First sentence: When the video is posted on YouTube it’s an instant hit.

Blue is for Nightmares, Laurie Faria Stolarz (283 pages) – Stacey’s nightmares have recently been about her friend Drea being stalked, trouble is Stacey’s nightmares come true. Can her magic gifts help her save Drea? Trouble is (again) her magic is supposed to be secret.

First sentence: They’re always the same.

Dark Heart Forever, Lee Monroe (372 pages) – More bad dreams! Jane lives in two worlds, one, a freaky dream world with supernatural creatures and a mysterious green-eyed boy, and the real world, with her romance-laced friendship with the lovely Evan. Which way will she lean?

First sentence: Branches whipped my face as I ran and my cheek stung where it had been lashed.

Noah’s Law, Randa Abdel-Fattah (338 pages) – Noah’s father wants to sort him out, so makes him work for the summer in a law office. It turns out to be a good move, as Noah gets the chance to see the grey areas of law and life.

First sentence(s): Fine. I’ll admit it was an immature thing to do.

Huge, Sasha Paley (259 pages) – April and Wil are fat camp roommates and friends with very different goals, one to lose, one to gain weight in the face of her parents’ disapproval. Based on a TV series that’s on in the states (from the producers of Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries, the book says).

First sentence: “Faster, faster!” Wil Hopkins’ trainer, Heather, yelled over the sound of crashing waves.
Books, Grimm
New Sarah Dessen and Libba Bray: Order Now!
22.01.11 | Permalink | Comment?

If you’re a Dessenite, then make sure that you reserve her soon-to-be-published (May, that is) book What Happened to Goodbye. Maclean and her father move to a new town after a horrid divorce, and she starts feeling at home (with the help of Dave, but with also a few lingering doubts and questions). Find out more about it on Sarah Dessen’s Ning (or Ning page: I don’t know what to call it!) at Sarah-Land.

Also, for Libba Bray fans, there’s Beauty Queens (cool cover). It’s not listed yet on the books page of her site (but I just stuck this link here anyway, for you to click on the big cow, and again, and again), but it will be available in late May/early June. A bunch of beauty queens end up stranded on a desert island (thanks to a plane crash). I like the product description (sourced from amazon.com): “Mysteries and dangers. No access to email. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.”