Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, by Beth Fantaskey (354 pages) – Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess, according to new exchange student, Lucius Vladescu. So now Jessica must transform herself from ‘average American teenager to a glam European vampire princess’. It sure ain’t easy.
First line: ‘The first time I saw him, a heavy, gray fog clung to the cornfields, tails of mist slithering between the dying stalks.‘
Witch and Wizard, by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet (329 pages) – This is the first in Patterson’s latest series. Whit and Wisty Allgood are accused of witchcraft and are thrown into prison, along with thousands of other young people. The New Order are out to get all users of magic and crush all expressions of art and liberty. It’s 1984 meets Harry Potter! At last!
First line: ‘It’s overwhelming.’
Homestretch, by Paul Volponi (151 pages) – Seventeen-year-old Gas runs away from his abusive father and finds work on a racetrack in Arkansas. His new job challenges his racism and he also becomes a jockey! He is short.
First line: ‘I’ve always been small – the shortest kid in my class, from kindergarten through the end of my junior year in high school.‘
The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams (213 pages) – Kyra is thirteen, and lives in a religious community where men have lots of wives. She’s been told she will have to marry a 60-year-old who already has six wives. She’s been reading forbidden books (from a library! yay, libraries) and knows she’s got to get out. But how?
First line: ‘“If I was going to kill the Prophet,” I say, not even keeping my voice low, “I’d do it in Africa.”‘
Fire, by Kristin Cashore (491 pages) – A companion book to Graceling (there is one common character). So! If you liked that you will like this, according to Grimm. ‘Cool cover,’ she adds.
First line: ‘Larch often thought that if it had not been for his newborn son, he would never have survived his wife Mikra’s death.‘
Cupid’s Arrow, by Isabelle Merlin (336 pages) – Fleur’s mother inherits a ‘magnificant’ library that belonged to a famous French author, so they head to the ancient French town of Avallon. That sounds like the best thing ever! Mais non! ‘Fleur’s nightmare is just about to begin …’
First lines: ‘I’m running. Running very fast. Running for my life.‘
Secrets at St Jude’s : Jealous Girl, by Carmen Reid (226 pages) – Gina is from L.A. and spends her time in pools, malls, and so on. But she also has to go to school in Scotland, where it rains and is probably a little less glamorous although there are castles and the Edinburgh festival, surely? But it’s all good, and Gina has loads of friends at St Jude’s.
First line: ‘”Gina, you can NOT go back there! You just can NOT leave us again!” Ria was lying back on a lilo in the pool, dangling a tanned arm into the cool turquoise-blue water.‘
Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld (440 pages) – This sounds pretty great, I think! ‘In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.’ The book has terrific illustrations throughout.
First line: ‘The Austrian horses glinted in the moonlight, their riders standing tall in the saddle, swords raised.‘
Exam Stress? No Worries, by Su Dorland (254 pages) – Here’s a guide to overcoming the anxiety that many feel before exams. There are techniques you can use to relax, and – AND! – it comes with a CD with ‘visualisation and relaxation tracks to help you stay calm and focused, and sleep well at exam time.’ Very timely.
The week of the short first sentence.
The Enemy, by Charlie Higson (407 pages) – Charlie Higson is the guy who’s been writing the Young Bond series (about James Bond when he was at high school). The Enemy is the first book in a new trilogy with zombies – a whole lot of zombies. Reviews suggest this is rather scary, and overall really rather good. Plus it has black page edges.
First sentence: Small Sam was playing in the park behind Waitrose when the grown-ups took him.
The Bride’s Farewell, by Meg Rosoff (186 pages) – the much anticipated new book from the author of How I Live Now. Pell runs away on the morning of her wedding and hits the road to uncover the secrets of her past.
First sentence: On the morning she was to be married, Pell Ridley crept up from her bed in the dark, kissed her sisters goodbye, fetched Jack in from the wind and rain on the heath and told him that they were leaving.
Fade to Blue, by Sean Beaudoin (201 pages) – “Fade”, one of the chapter headings tells me, is pronounced “Fa-day” and is the last name of Kenny, who is one of the characters whose point of view the reader is treated to, the other being Sophie Blue. As the title suggests, how Sophie and Kenny connect is what this novel is all about. The cover describes this rather complex novel as “part thriller, part darkly comic philosophical discussion, … accompanied by a comic book element.”
First sentence: The place was packed.
Real Life, by Ella West (192 pages) – the final instalment in the Thieves trilogy. Nicky is back at the Project, trapped by a tracking bracelet that can’t be removed. “When terrorists threaten [the Project], Nicky is sent to the dangerous heart of the matter,” says the cover.
First sentence: For a whole week we were free.
Lost, by Jacqueline Davies (235 pages) – set in New York in the early 1900s. The story of Essie, who lives in virtual poverty with her mother and siblings, is woven into a retelling of two historical events; the disappearance of a New York heiress and the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Nice cover.
First sentence: The new girl was lost.
Fire and Rayne, by Kate Cann (314 pages) – Rayne has escaped from London to the country and takes a job at a mansion house, hoping for peace and quiet. What she gets is ghostly warnings, a sinister new manager, and a jolly good reason to be afraid.
First sentence: Rayne woke screaming.
Warrior Princess, by Frewin Jones (346 pages) – another first in a series, and no, it’s not about Xena. Branwen is in Britain (I think: judging by the author’s and the character’s names, probably Wales more specifically) when the Saxons invade and kill her brother (among others). When a “mystical woman in white” fortells that Branwen will one day save her country, Branwen is forced to choose between her intended life path and that of the warrior princess.
First sentence: Branwen ap Griffith sat on the grassy hillside with her back to an oak tree, gazing out over the rugged landscape of bony hills and steep, wooded valleys that she had known since childhood.
Miss Understanding: My Year in Agony (314 pages) – Miss Understanding is her school agony aunt, but like most agony aunts, she’s rubbish at sorting out her own life problems. Through the course of this book she will become better at it, I think.
First sentence: Hey there you.
Midsummer Meltdown, by Cathy Hopkins (186 pages) – Lia is expecting her mother’s 40th to be the party of the decade, but then an ex of her’s (Lia’s) makes an appearance and things get complicated.
Do Secrets Count as Sabotage?, by Helen Salter (152 pages) – Holly is trying to keep gorgeous Luke a secret from her mother. Is this possible when jealous best friends are involved?
Just for something to do, this week I’ve subcategorised these. Some subcategories only have one – actually the maximum is two anyway – but there you go.
Vampires
The Eternal Kiss: Vampire Tales (416 pages) – Mwah. Embrassez moi, je suis un vampire. Short stories on the vampire theme by such supernatural stalwarts as Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, Rachel Caine, Nancy Holder and many more.
First sentence (courtesy of Karen Mahoney): Theo was late.
Blood Promise (a Vampire Academy novel), by Richelle Mead (503 pages) – Will Rose protect Lissa or hunt down the irresistible Dimitri and keep her promise to him (i.e. kill him, like, dead)?
First sentence: Once when I was in ninth grade, I had to write a paper on a poem.
As featured in an earlier blog post
Once was lost, by Sara Zarr (217 pages) – go here for a quick summary.
First sentence: The whole world is wilting.
Going Bovine, by Libba Bray (480 pages) – again, here’s a blurb.
First sentence: The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World.
Series
Forest Born (The Books of Bayern), by Shannon Hale (389 pages) – the fourth in the series. Rin is uncomfortable in the Forest, so she accompanies her brother Raz to the city and things progressively get more threatening and dangerous: someone wants the Fire Sisters dead.
First sentence: Ma had six sons.
The Pale Assassin (Pimpernelles), by Patricia Elliot (424 pages) – cleverly, the title of the series suggests something to do with the French revolution, unlikely heroes (or heroines, to be precise) and spies and the blurb backs this up (who’d have thought you could express so much in one word?). Eugénie de Boncoeur is caught up in the revolution and must rescue her brother Armand from death (at the hands of the “murderous spymaster” I think, but I could be wrong) and save her own life. A tall order.
First sentence: One summer evening outside Paris, a coach drawn by four black horses was creaking and swaying through the soft country twilight.
Comedy and Romance and Music and-
Blue Noise, by Debra Oswald (271 pages) – Charlie forms a band (Blue Noise), but bands never work, the back cover says (but, you know, don’t judge a book by its cover). “Blue” is a reference to the blues, which is a nice change from rock and roll and all.
First sentence: Ash Corrigan was in Guitar Heaven.
Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God, by Bill Condon (218 pages) – I thought this would be funny if it were a rebuttal of one of those Georgia Nicholson books but no. In 1967 the world is tumultuous, and Neil Bridges is at a Catholic boys’ school toughing it (life) out, but his life is about to get quite complicated and possibly quite dangerous (murder is mentioned). YA writers seem to be doing the Vietnam War at the moment (here and here as well for example).
First sentence: One huge shiver trudging on to the oval, that’s us.
Uh oh, something bad’s happening here
Candor, by Pam Bachorz (249 pages) – Candor is one of those “perfect” towns you just know is not in any way perfect. People are controlled by subliminal messages. Oscar, the son of the town’s founder, is doing a roaring trade smuggling kids out of Candor, and then Nia arrives.
First sentence: Ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk.
The Ghosts of 2012, by Graham Hurley (95 pages) – a quick read. Joe’s preparing for the 2012 Olympics in a military-run UK, but he’s okay with that (he’s preparing for the Olympics after all) until his ex-girlfriend goes missing.
First sentence: Sometimes in your life you get moments that stick out… you remember them forever.
Here’s a small amount of new stuff (no book covers though, as the server’s currently down). The little hooks are how we rate the first sentence.
Fade, by Lisa McMann (248 pages) – the sequel to Wake. Cassandra Clare calls the book “shuddersome”, which is kind of a cool word. The dream catchers Janie and Cabel must expose something horrid that’s going on at Fieldridge High.
First sentence: Janie spirits through the snowy yards from two streets away and slips quietly through the front door of her house.
Hate List, by Jennifer Brown (408 pages) – Val’s boyfriend, Nick, uses a list he and she created (of things and people they hate) to mow down their classmates in the cafeteria. The story is about Val coming to grips with her role in what has happened, the loss of her boyfriend, and how to move on.
First sentence: The scene in the Garvin High School cafeteria, known as the Commons, is being described as “grim” by investigators who are working to identify the victims of a shooting spree that erupted Friday morning.
Killer, by Sara Shepard (A Pretty Little Liars novel, 321 pages) – the sixth book in the series, the first paragraph on the dust jacket says it all: “In picture-perfect Rosewood, Pennsylvania, ash-blond highlights gleam in the winter sun and frozen lakes sparkle like Swarovski crystal. But pictures often lie – and so do Rosewood’s four prettiest girls.”
First sentence: What if, all of a sudden, you could remember every single second of your entire life?
When Irish Guys are Smiling, by Suzanne Supplee (211 pages), and The Great Call of China, by Cynthea Liu (246 pages) – these two titles are part of the series S.A.S.S., or Students Across the Seven Seas, about girls (mostly I think) who go on exchange, experience culture shock, learn about themselves, meet cute guys, and all the other things you’d expect.
Ember Fury, by Cathy Brett (232 pages) – Ember Fury’s parents are celebrities, and they are more interested in their own rise to the top than they are in Ember. So Ember – who hates the whole celebrity world – is a pyromaniac.
First sentence: ‘Fizzzzz … crack … whoosh … It was a tiny tongue at first, then it spread like a rippling, orange blanket over the floorboards and poured itself up the walls.’
Brainjack, by Brian Falkner (438 pages) – Sam Wilson, brilliant teenage computer hacker, has a go at the computer systems of the White House. This reckless obsession leads Sam into a dangerous world of ‘espionage and intrigue; of cybercrime and imminent war.’ Dangerous, sure, but pretty exciting you must admit.
First sentence: ‘On Friday, on his way to school, Sam Wilson brought the United States of America to its knees.‘
Mwah Mwah, by Chloe Rayban (263 pages) – Hannah’s plans for the holidays are foiled by her mother, who sends her off to Paris for a fortnight. Hannah isn’t too happy as she will have to stay with the unpleasant Matthilde (although I think we’d all like to grin and bear it if it means a couple of weeks in Paris).
First sentence: ‘”Mayjesweesewer. Annaseraravy! Weegrobeezoo. Abeeantow.”‘
Swerve, by Phillip Gwynne (228 pages)
Trashed (A Year in Girl Hell), by Meredith Costain (151 pages).
There are only six, which is less than usual! Never mind.
The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt (264 pages) – This came out in 2007 and won a Newbery Honor Medal in 2008. It’s about a boy growing up in 1967 on Long Island, in the U.S. A pretty tumultuous time.
First line: ‘Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun.‘
Pink, by Lili Wilkinson (288 pages) – Ava takes on a new image – she doesn’t want to wear black and she doesn’t want to like girls, so she takes to wearing pink and acting perky and even tries to get a boyfriend. Her new ’shiny reinvented life is far more fragile than she imagines.’
First line: ‘”You’re leaving?’ Chloe dropped my hand. “I know, it sucks,” I lied. ‘My parents think I’ll get better marks at a new school.” Another lie.’
Troubadour, by Mary Hoffman (290 pages) – Set in France during the Crusades. Elinor, a young noblewoman, is told she must marry a much older man. So she scarpers and becomes a troubadour, a wandering poet, like the guy she’s in love with, Bertram.
First line: ‘A small group of monks was making its way down to the river crossing.‘
King of the Screwups : A Novel, by K. L. Going (310 pages) – After getting in trouble yet again, popular high school senior Liam, who never seems to live up to his wealthy father’s expectations, is sent to live in a trailer park with his gay “glam-rocker” uncle [Catalogue description].
First line (well, of the second chapter): ‘“You’re a screwup, Liam. Do you think being Mr. Popularity will be enough to get you by in life?”‘
Time of Trial : The Fourth Volume of The Laws of Magic, by Michael Pryor (427 pages) – I’ve not read these and it’s difficult to find out the story’s premise. It looks cool! If anyone has read the series please comment.
First line: ‘Aubrey Fitzwilliam braced himself for the next attack from his young, tall and menacing adversary.‘
Raw Blue, by Kirsty Eagar (273 pages)
The latest CHERUB book is in! If you’ve reserved it you might get a copy soon. If you haven’t, you probably won’t see it for a while since it’s just so darned popular. It is called Brigands M.C. and is the eleventh in the incredibly popular series about teen spies working for the British government. (People don’t usually suspect kids to be secret agents.)
Here’s the blurb:
Every CHERUB agent comes from somewhere. Dante Scott still has nightmares about the death of his family, brutally killed by a biker gang.
Dante is given the chance to become a member of CHERUB, a trained professional with one essential advantage: adults never suspect that children are spying on them.
But when Dante joins James and Lauren Adams on a mission to infiltrate Brigands Motorcycle Club, he’s ready to use everything he’s learned to get revenge on the people who killed his familly …
Reserve yourself the library copy here. Here’s the official CHERUB site.
Here are this week’s new books. Further to the First Sentence idea we have added an arbitrary rating of hooks (based on how well the first sentence hooks you in (you see)). The hook looks like this – . So there’s one for a pretty meh first line, and for the sentence that makes you want to keep reading.
Fire on High, by David Hill (127 pages) – Jonno wins a trip to South America to watch a solar eclipse. While there he becomes alarmed at the increasing civil unrest, and is keen to return home. His return flight, however, is hijacked …
First line: ‘At exactly 10.43 a.m., the sun started to turn black.’
Deathwatch, by Nicola Morgan (279 pages) – Cat McPherson’s revealed a little too much information about herself online, and now someone’s watching her. Does she realise she’s being stalked? A psychological thriller!
First line: ‘In the hooded darkness, he watches from a high window.’
Flygirl, by Sherri L. Smith (275 pages) – 1940s Louisiana, and Ida Mae Jones wants to fly. She’s black, so it’s going to be tough. The opportunity to fly presents itself, but she has to pass herself off as a white girl to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots – and she soon realises that it’s difficult to escape who she really is.
First line: ‘It’s Sunday afternoon, and the phonograph player is jumping like a clown in a parade the way Jolene and I are dancing.‘
Secret Keeper, by Mitali Perkins (225 pages) – In 1974 when her father leaves New Delhi, India, to seek a job in New York, Asha, a tomboy at the advanced age of sixteen, feels thwarted in the home of her extended family in Calcutta where she, her mother, and sister must stay, and when her father dies before he can send for them, they must remain with their relatives and observe the old-fashioned traditions that Asha hates. [Catalogue description]
First line: ‘Asha and Reet held their father’s hands through the open window.‘
L. A. Candy : A Novel, by Lauren Conrad (326 pages) – This book is a semi-autobiographical account of a girl whose internship in L. A. leads to a role in a major reality show. Fame and fortune follow! And perhaps some soul-searching. The book’s author was in The Hills.
First line: ‘Jane Roberts leaned against her dresser, studying the way her white silk nightie looked against her sun-kissed skin.‘
Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater (392 pages) – A supernatural romance with (I think) a werewolf. A possible Twilight substitute, Grimm reckons. A sequel, Linger, is due out in 2010. Also, the entire book is printed in blue ink.
First line: ‘I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves.‘
Andromeda Klein : A Novel, by Frank Portman (424 pages) – High school sophomore Andromeda, an outcast because she studies the occult and has a hearing impairment and other disabilities, overcomes grief over terrible losses by enlisting others’ help in her plan to save library books–and finds a kindred spirit along the way. [Library catalogue]. Saving library books is something we can all get behind, I say.
First line: ‘The Universe is huge.‘
Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (391 pages) - This is the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy. It’s incredibly popular, so you’d better reserve it now if you haven’t. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic future where a new, authoritarian government pits teens against one another on television. The third book is due out next year, and a film is in the works.
First line: ‘I clasp the flask between my hands even though the warmth from the tea has long since leached into the frozen air.‘
Watch The Skies : Daniel X, by James Patterson and Ned Rust (251 pages) – Daniel’s parents were killed by an alien, and he now hunts alien monsters using his uber-powers, which include super-speed and the ability to create anything out of nothing (handy in a pinch).
First line: ‘It was a pretty regular early-summer night at 72 Little Lane.‘
Dull Boy, by Sarah Cross (308 pages) – Avery has superpowers, but in an attempt to remain anonymous he’ll pretend to be as dull and normal as possible. Of course, every superhero has a villain to deal with …
First line: ‘It’s Friday – another afternoon spent pounding the pavement in search of crimes to stop and people to help.‘
Blue Moon, by Alyson Noel (289 pages) – This is the second book in the Immortals series (the first one was Evermore). Ever travels to another dimension in an effort to save Damen; she soon must choose between his life, and going back into the past and saving her parents’ lives. Quite a toss-up.
First lines: ‘“Close your eyes and picture it. Can you see it?”
Also in!
A Student Writing Guide : How to Plan and Write Successful Essays, by Gordon Taylor (266 pages) - This book would be ideal for anyone at any level who wishes to write a cracking good essay. I recommend it!
At long last – the latest, newest books. In no particular order.
Stargazer, by Claudia Gray (329 pages) – This is a sequel to Evernight. Bianca’s parents are vampires, and she’s destined to become one (they’re glam vampires, rather than the scarier, cadaverous vampires, probably). But she falls in love with a vampire hunter, which throws a spanner in the works.
First line: ‘Frost began to creep up the walls.‘
Twenty Boy Summer, by Sarah Ockler (290 pages) – Sixteen-year-olds Anna and Frankie go to California for a holiday. They conspire to find a boy for Anna’s first kiss, but Anna has a secret – she’s already had a boyfriend, and it was with Frankie’s brother Matt who died tragically a year ago. Quite sad.
First line: ‘Frankie Perino and I were lucky that day.‘
Faketastic : A Frenemies Novel, by Alexa Young (244 pages) – Halley, Avalon, and Sofee (!) are all friends. Then enemies! Then friends! This is the second Frenemies book, and it looks like there will be more.
First line: ‘“Isn’t it amazing?” Avalon Greene breezed up behind Halley Brandon and gave her best friend’s shoulder an affectionate squeeze.‘
The Warriors of Ethandun, by N. M. Browne (371 pages) – the third and final book in The Warriors Trilogy. Unfortunately, we don’t have the second book, but we do have the first. Two time-travellers return from King Arthur’s era to the present, but are unable to fit back in. So back they go! This time they’re up against Vikings and something more …
First line: ‘Dan stepped out of the Veil of mist.‘
Bridge of Tears : Usagi Yojimbo vol. 23, by Stan Sakai (246 pages) – This is the latest Usagi Yojimbo collection. It’s a graphic novel, and the series is outstanding, even if you don’t usually like comics. I promise.
Zelah Green, Queen of Clean, by Vanessa Curtis (245 pages) – Zelah Green has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and is always, always on the watch out for dirt and germs. Her stepmother sends her to a camp to try to help her, and there Zelah meets Sol, who is gooorgeous. He doesn’t speak however.
First line: ‘My name is Zelah Green and I’m a Cleanaholic.‘
After Dark : A Vamps Novel, by Nancy A. Collins (180 pages) – The third in The Vamps series. The ultra-rich and ultra-dead girls of the exclusive Bathory Academy in New York are a little Gossip Girl, and a little Twilight, if that makes sense.
First line: ‘Cally had been to Rauhnacht parties before, but none as elaborate as this.‘
Renegade : Hell’s Underground 3, by Alan Gibbons (359 pages) – ‘Entertainingly gruesome’, ‘definately scary’, gripping, action packed story’. The book has a very creepy skull on the cover also. We’d love someone to review this for us!
First line: ‘Chaim Wetzel learned at an early age that the streets of London were as likely to be paved with horror as with gold.‘
New Girl : a Secrets at St Jude’s novel, by Carmen Reid (331 pages) – Gina spent all her money on clothes and failed at school, so her mother sends her to a boarding school in Scotland. Which is quite a contrast to California.
First line: ‘Gina Peterson didn’t hear the electric gates slide open, or the silver Mercedes convertible purr through into the drive.‘
Thirst No. 1, by Christopher Pike (564 pages) – This collects the first three books of a series originally published in the mid-90s, the The Last Vampire.
First line: ‘I am a vampire, and that is the truth.‘
Tuck, by Stephen Lawhead (443 pages) – The third book in the King Raven series, which are based on the legend of Robin Hood. Good historical fiction!
First line: ‘King William stood scratching the back of his hand and watched as another bag of gold was emptied into the ironclad chest: one hundred solid gold byzants that, added to fifty pounds in silver and another fifty in letters of promise to be paid upon collection of his tribute from Normandie, brought the total to five hundred marks.‘ phew
Revolver, by Marcus Sedgwick (219 pages) - The Arctic Circle, 1910; Sig, a teenaged Swede, is stuck in a cabin with the frozen corpse of his father. Sound grim, and can only get worse before it gets better. Full of twists! Here’s a glowing review.
First line: ‘Even the dead tell stories.‘
This week there’s lad lit, chick lit (complete with pink covers), some history lessons, thrillers, studies in complex psychology and rites of passage, spy books, serious stuff, frivolous stuff, books written in traditional prose, books that throw things like emails and lists in too.
North of Beautiful, by Justina Chen Headley (373 pages) – I was going to summarise this in my own words, but the last paragraph on the dust jacket seems to be just the ticket: a novel “about a fractured family, falling in love, travel, and the meaning of true beauty.” Fans of Sarah Dessen and Elizabeth Scott have a read and tell us what you think.
First sentence: Not to brag or anything, but if you saw me from behind, you’d probably think I was perfect.
A Certain Strain of Peculiar, by Gigi Amateau (261 pages) – Mary Harold, a 13 year old psychological mess retreats to her family home in Alabama where hard work, her Grandma Ayma, and friendship help her recover her sense of self and things like that.
First sentence: What happens in my mind sometimes is complicated.
Just Another Hero, by Sharon M Draper (280 pages) – the conclusion to the story begun in The Battle of Jericho and November Blues. The alarm goes off in school and everyone assumes it’s just a prank, but it’s not. Certainly not.
First sentence: “Grab his arms!”
Swim the Fly, by Don Calame (345 pages) – you thought right: this is a novel where swimming is involved. It’s a humorous coming-of-age novel which wonders if it’s harder to swim the 100 metres butterfly or impress a really hot girl. Doing the one well might cause the other to happen, and hopefully it’s not a case of neither.
First sentence: “Movies don’t count,” Cooper says.
Boy Minus Girl, by Richard Uhlig (246 pages) – Les seems to be the harmless, shy, geek type in whose life girls just don’t feature (see title), but then Uncle Ray arrives, who is quite the opposite and therefore either potentially a really good role model or a really bad influence.
First sentence: “Seduction Tip Number 1.”
City of Ghosts, by Bali Rai (385 pages) – a story based on events during the 1919 Amritsar massacre.
First sentence: Udham Singh watched the chairman of the meeting, Lord Zetland, gathering up his notes as another member of the panel answered a question.
If the Witness Lied, by Caroline B. Cooney (213 pages) - something terrible happened to Jack’s family three years ago and now his aunt has decided that the only way to heal and move on is to have some sort of healing and moving on fest – on camera. The press are dead keen, too (Jack’s not), and the re-hashing leads Jack and sisters to ask probing questions about what really happened.
First sentence: The good thing about Friday is – it’s not Thursday.
Killing God, by Kevin Brooks (233 pages) – from the author of Black Rabbit Summer. The blurb says: “Dawn Bundy is fifteen. She doesn’t fit in and she couldn’t care less. Dawn has other things on her mind. Her dad disappeared two years ago and it’s all God’s fault. When Dawn’s dad found God, it was the worst time ever. He thought he’d found the answer to everything. But that wasn’t the end of it.”
First sentence: This is a story about me, that’s all.
Girls to Total Goddesses, by Sue Limb (314 pages) – Zoe and Chloe have seven days to glamourise themselves. Will they do it? Will dastardly things foil their fabulous plans?
First sentence: “Right,” said Chloe.
The Agency: A Spy in the House, by Y S Lee (341 pages) – it’s Victorian London and Mary Quinn is a seventeen year old spy working for The Agency. The first book in a promised detective trilogy.
First sentence: She should have been listening to the judge.
Tales of the Madman Underground, by John Barnes (531 pages) – an epic tome. Karl Shoemaker is in his senior year at high school in 1973. Subtitled “An Historical Romance 1973″, I’m thinking this is one of those stories about completely normal boys that make for good reading and a laugh (see a bit further up too).
First sentence: I had developed this theory all summer: if I could be perfectly, ideally, totally normal for the f irst day of my senior year, which was today, then I could do it for the first week, which was only Wednesday through Friday.
Touch, by Francine Prose (262 pages) – something happened to Maisie at the back of the bus, and she becomes embroiled in the out-of-control aftermath; lies, rumours, stories that don’t match, the press… when your story is so heavily scrutinised working out what’s true and what’s not becomes increasingly difficult.
First sentence: “Are the boys who assaulted you present in the courtroom?”
It’s Yr Life, by Tempany Deckert and Tristan Bancks (280 pages) – Sim and Milla are opposites (poor/rich, male/female etc) and they have to email each other for a school assignment: the story unfolds from there. A story told in emails (like some others mentioned here).
First sentence: 10th Grade English Assignment: Communication.
The One, by Ed Decter (316 pages) – the first Chloe Gamble novel, because (the book says) there’s always more Chloe. Chloe is a big city girl in small town Texas, dreaming of becoming famous. Again a novel in manuscript excerpts, emails and not-to-do lists etc.
First sentence: When the police came to see me about the “incident” I told them a lot of things about Chloe Gamble, but I didn’t tell them about this manuscript.
Summer Sun & Stuff According to Alex, by Kathryn Lamb (172 pages) – the third pink cover this week. Alex’s boyfriend Mark is going to Italy with some other girl’s family and Alex and her friends are determined that she will get him back, but things never pan out in expected ways.
First sentence: I am HOME ALONE!!!!!
Ghostgirl: Homecoming, by Tonya Hurley (285 pages) – sequel to Ghostgirl, and also with a very cool cover and fancy silver-gilded page edges. After graduating Dead Ed Charlotte is a little dismayed to discover she now has to complete an internship at a hotline for teens.
First sentence: Dying of boredom wasn’t an option.
Plus some others:
Diary of a Snob: Poor Little Rich Girl, by Grace Dent (247 pages)
The Battle of Jericho, by Sharon R Draper (337 pages)
November Blues, by Sharon R Draper (383 pages)
Daniel X : Watch The Skies, by James Patterson (251 pages) – Further adventures of teenage alien hunter, Daniel X. This time the alien menace threatens humanity via television.
First line: ‘It was a pretty regular early-summer night at 72 Little Lane.‘
Girls Against Girls, by Bonnie Burton (128 pages) – This non-fiction book looks at the reasons why girls are sometimes mean to one another, what to do if one is being bullied, and why it is better to treat others with respect.
Girl Meets Cake, by Susie Day (215 pages) – Heidi has invented a boyfriend (she had to – it was an emergency). Now, because he’s so perfect, Heidi’s friends are messaging him all kinds of secrets.
First lines: ‘“Poop on a fork, Heidi. What part of ‘I don’t want to see your face in here Saturday’ did you not follow?” Betsy yells before I’m even halfway through the door of the Little Leaf cafe.‘
The Road of the Dead, by Kevin Brooks (292 pages) – Brother Ruben and Cole learn that their sister has been found, murdered, many miles from home. Determined to find out what happened, the brothers retrace her steps.
First line: ‘When the Dead Man got Rachel I was sitting in the back of a wrecked Mercedes wondering if the rain was going to stop.‘
Nicholas Dane, by Melvin Burgess (408 pages) – Fourteen-year-old Nick is sent to a boys’ home after his mother’s death, and things get much, much worse. Much worse.
First line: ‘Nick Dane lifted his head and stared blearily at the doorway.‘
Devil’s Kiss, by Sarwat Chadda (278 pages) – Billi SanGreal’s father belongs to The Order, who protect the world from the Unholy. She’s about to go through her Ordeal, which is he chance to join the Order. Look, an official website!
First line: ‘Killing him should be easy; he’s only six.‘
The Witching Hour, by Elizabeth Laird (417 pages) – 17th century Scotland; a bad time to be accused of witchcraft. Maggie’s grandmother is accused and so Maggie must flee to her uncle’s holdings, where he’s defying the English King. Historic thrills!
First line: ‘I was the first one to see the whale lying dead on the san at Scalpsie Bay.‘
Here’s some books that are the latest in continuing series:
Carpe Corpus : Book Six of The Morganville Vampires, by Rachel Caine (243 pages)
The Diamond Secret : Once Upon a Time, by Suzanne Weyn (209 pages)
Burned : A Year in Girl Hell 3, by Meredith Costain (139 pages)
Death by Denim : Death By 3, by Linda Gerber (211 pages)
My (Dating Disasters) Diary by Kelly Ann, by Liz Rettig (355 pages)
In brief:
Get Your Paws Off!, by Rachel Wright (145 pages)
This week’s lot (in order of how many words make up the title):
Jatta, by Jenny Hale (464 pages) – a fantasy thriller replete with dragons, werewolves, and a mystery that begins with bloody paw prints.
First sentence: Princess Jatta woke on the cold marble floor, groaning weakly.
Posse, by Kate Welshman (278 pages) – things have been tense between best friends Amy and Clare, and when Clare disappears while they’re on Year 11 camp (Year 12 in New Zealand) there are more questions than answers; about what actually happened, about friendship…
First sentence: It’s the kind of heat you can’t escape.
Stolen, by Lucy Christopher (301 pages) – Gemma is kidnapped from an airport and taken to the Australian outback where her kidnapper, “expected [her] to love him.” Reviews all say this is a really well-written and moving story. It’s written as a letter from Gemma to her kidnapper, which is an interesting angle.
First sentence: You saw me before I saw you.
Jinxed, by Sara Lawrence (331 pages) – on a rather different note, the cover of Jinxed says “It’s spring term at Stagmount and love has never felt so naughty.” Set in a riotous boarding school in Brighton.
Resistance, by Craig Simpson (357 pages) – set in Norway during World War II; a story about Resistance freedom fighters, sabotage and courage.
First sentence: Her dying cry echoed across the Hardanger plateau.
Bloodline Rising, by Katy Moran (343 pages) – set in the dark ages and the sequel to Bloodline, Cai is captured in Constantinople and sent to Britain where he’s taken in by Wulfhere, prince of Mercia. When war threatens Cai must choose between his own life and that of his new clan’s.
First sentence: The young man moved like a cat: quick, sure.
Blood Water, by Dean Vincent Carter (248 pages) – a deadly parasite has gone missing, threatening to kill everyone in the town and Sean and James must track it down and destroy it before it does so.
First sentence: I managed to steal another hour in the laboratory tonight to examine the specimen before retiring to bed.
Bad Company, by Mike Walker (264 pages) – a story of modern day piracy and people smuggling on the Indian Ocean, with just a small amount of romance thrown in.
First sentence: If Lewis Hamilton hadn’t snatched fifth place in Brazilian and won the World Championship I wouldn’t have been stuck with three thieving bastards on a leaking ship in the Indian Ocean with a pirate holding a gun in my face screaming that he was going to blow my head away.
‘Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?’, by Louise Rennison (315 pages) – the final fab confessions, with some unexpected spelling in the title (bas? baz?). The shiny gold cover is calling “Read me! Read me!” If you get a bit lost there’s a comprehensive glossary of Georgia terms in the back.
First sentence(s): Why. Oh why oh why?
New books for the week - part two.
Eagle Day, by Robert Muchamore (405 pages) – The much-awaited latest book in the Henderson’s Boys series. Charles Henderson is a British spy, who leads some kids in actions against the Germans during WWII (it’s not set in the present, obviously). There’s an official website with all kinds of interesting content and downloads.
First line: ‘It was eleven at night, but the port of Bordeaux crackled with life.’
Goldstrike, by Matt Whyman (265 pages) – Teen hacker Carl is being pursued by a bounty hunter and an al-Queda assassin. His only recourse is to hide out in a warehouse guarded by Cleo, a hyper-super-computer that doesn’t like intruders …
First line: ‘In black suits and dark glasses, the three men stand out among the throng.‘
Stolen, by Vivian Vande Velde (158 pages) – On the same day that a child-stealing witch is supposedly immolated in a house-fire, a girl appears in the forest with no memory of where she’s from. Could she have been taken by the witch six years earlier?
First line: ‘The old witch saw that she had gone too far.‘
Eternal, by Cynthia Leitich Smith (307 pages) – Miranda’s life is saved by her guardian angel, Zachary, but she’s consequently converted into a vampire. She is adopted by the King of the Mantle of Dracul, and Zachary pretends to be her assistant in an effort to save her soul. Has werewolves and romance also.
First line: ‘I may be heaven-sent, but I’m not perfect.‘
The Bower Bird, by Ann Kelley (196 pages) – Twelve-year-old Gussie has many plans; she wants to be a photographer, loves animals, and needs to cope with her parents’ divorce. Alas! She also needs a heart and lung transplant, and time isn’t on her side.
First lines: ‘We’ve been here for two weeks. I’m still not well enought to start at the local school.‘
Plague of the Undead : Chronicles of Blood, by Gary Cross (300 pages) – It’s 1650, and Lucius’ father – a newly-made vampire – has just killed his family. Lucius survived, and joins an elite band of vampire hunters, tracking down the master vampire who wants to turn the world into a vampire race. Written by a NZer!
First line: ‘The boy knew his father was going to kill him.‘
Fat Hoochie Prom Queen, by Nico Medina (290 pages) – Margarita “Madge” Diaz is ‘fat, foxy, and fabulous’; she and her rival, student-body president Bridget Benson, decide to compete with one another be named prom queen. The loser will back off, for good. Both will do whatever it takes to win.
First line: ‘I hate Bridget Benson.‘
Saving Rafael, by Leslie Wilson (410 pages) – Jenny and Raf are in love, but they live in Nazi-ruled Berlin – and Raf is Jewish. They join with others who must try to stay alive and eventually flee from immense danger.
First line: ‘We were in a cow byre, ten of us, cleaning out the stalls in our thin striped calico skirts and jackets.‘
Blood Sun, by David Gilman (400 pages) – This is the third in the Danger Zone series of books about eco-hero teen Max Gordon. Official website here!
First lines: ‘Darkness devoured him. Eyes wide with terror, he saw only the gaping void, heard his desperate breathing hammering through his skull as the rasping one-eyed monster pursued him.‘
Raven Rise : Pendragon Book Nine, by D. J. Machale (544 pages) – book nine is the second to last in the series and finds Bobby Pendragon trapped and the final battle for Halla about to begin. Can he save the world? The book cover says this is The Lord of the Rings for the Alex Rider generation. Discuss.
First sentence(s): “Ibara!” The tunnel remained silent.
Ghost Medicine, by Andrew Smith (357 pages) – After the death of his mother, Troy just wants to spend the summer hanging out with his friends and being sort of invisible, but life gets in the way with complex, dangerous twists and turns.
First sentence: I can see myself lying in the dirt, on my back, on a warm, starry night, with my feet up on those rocks, ringing a swirling and noisy fire, listening, laughing, seeing the sparks that corkscrew, spinning above me into the black like dying stars, fading, disappearing, becoming something else; my hat back on my head so I can just see my friends from the corners of my eyes.
Half Way to Good, by Kirsten Murphy (320 pages) – from the back cover: “A funny and moving novel about dealing with love, death and everything in between.”
First sentence: Waiting wasn’t anyone’s idea of fun.
The Stepsister Scheme, by Jim C. Hines (344 pages) – Cinderella (real name Danielle) is attacked by her stepsister Charlotte shortly after her (Cinderella, that is) marries Prince Armand. Martial arts expert and fairy-blessed Talia – or Sleeping Beauty – comes to the rescue, but not before Armand is taken to the Realm of the Fairies. Talia, and Snow White, both part of the Queen’s Secret Service, join with Danielle to get Armand back.
First line: ‘Danielle Whiteshore, formerly Danielle de Glas, would never be a proper princess.‘
The Poison Garden, by Sarah Singleton (284 pages) – Thomas’ recently deceased grandmother leaves him a magic box that enables him to enter a mysterious garden. He encounters her ghost there, where she reveals that she belonged to arcane guild of chemists. She was poisoned during a struggle for power, and now Thomas must find the murderer before he himself becomes a victim.
First line: ‘High in the tower the bell tolled, counting out eleven hours.‘
Bang, Bang, You’re Dead, by Narinder Dhami (247 pages) – A gunman is rumoured to be somewhere in Mia’s school, and the place is being evacuated. Mia has a dreadful feeling that the gunman is her brother, Jamie, who has been acting very weird lately. Can she get to him in time? This book has a terrific twist at the end that’s right I read the end first
First line: ‘The scene is normal: a family at breakfast on Monday morning before the kids go off to school.‘
In brief:
Brown Skin Blue, by Belinda Jeffrey (211 pages)
Butterfly, by Sonya Hartnett (214 pages)
Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories, by Deborah Ellis (169 pages) – a collection of short stories about teens whose lives are affected by the drug trade.
This is probably part 1 for this week’s new YA titles.
What World is Left, by Monique Polak (215 pages) – Anneke and her family are removed from Holland to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Anneke manages to survive through the darkest horrors by doing whatever it takes.
First line: ‘My bed is warm and cozy.‘
Sharp Beats : A Mickey Sharp Novel, by Dominic Barker (235 pages) – Mickey Sharp is a private eye for teenagers, but this time he may have bitten off more than he can chew. This is the latest in a series.
First lines: ‘Dum. Da da dum. Da da dum. Da da dum.‘
Envy : A Luxe Novel, by Anna Godbersen (403 pages) – This is the third Luxe novel, which are essentially ‘Gossip Girl set in the 19th century’. In Envy Miss Diana Holland, whose family’s fall from grace two months previously so shocked New York’s corset and crinoline-clad elite, has begun again to stir the waters of Victorian prudery.
First line: ‘“Surely a girl as lovely as you, a girl who personifies loveliness itself, should not be hidden away on a night like this, on a night when everyone wants to see a fine figure and starry eyes, and where yours are the starriest of all.”‘
Intensely Alice, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (269 pages) – It’s summer and Alice McKinley has a lot planned – she volunteers at a soup kitchen, does something wild and wonders about her visit to Chicago to see her boyfriend, Patrick. This is – I think! – the 24th Alice book.
First line: ‘“We’ve got to do something wild this summer.”‘
Along For The Ride, by Sarah Dessen (383 pages) – From the library catalogue’s description: ‘When Auden impulsively goes to stay with her father, stepmother, and new baby sister the summer before she starts college, all the trauma of her parents’ divorce is revived, even as she is making new friends and having new experiences such as learning to ride a bike and dating.’
First line: ‘The e-mails always began the same way. “Hi Auden!!!”‘
Dope Sick, by Walter Dean Myers (186 pages) – From the library catalogue’s description again (sometimes it’s easier to copy & paste) – ‘Seeing no way out of his difficult life in Harlem, seventeen-year-old Jeremy “Lil J” Dance flees into a house after a drug deal goes awry and meets a weird man who shows different turning points in Lil J’s life when he could have made better choices. ‘
First lines: ‘My arm was hurting bad. Real bad.‘
Dido, by Adele Geras (259 pages) – This is a retelling of a classical story, about a queen and a servant who both fall in love with the same chap. Adele Geras has written two other, similar retellings; Troy and Ithaka.
First line: ‘You knew that you were in a dream when the edges of everything you gazed at were blurred and when figures bent and blended into the background and arrived and disappeared magically, moving in a way that wouldn’t be possible in normal life.‘
Siggy and Amber, by Doug MacLeod (226 pages)
Taking The Plunge, by Helen Bailey (297 pages) – The fourth book about Electra Brown.
All book titles link to their catalogue entry.
Wicked : A Pretty Little Liars Novel, by Sara Shepard (310 pages) - This is the fifth in the Pretty Little Liars series of books. See the official website for more information, or look for it on central library’s revamped series shelves in the YA area.
First line: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly what people are thinking?‘
Reality Check, by Peter Abrahams (330 pages) – College football star, Cody, has everything. An injury puts an end to the season’s sport and his girlfriend, who has gone to boarding school across the country, disappears. Cody then discovers his inner detective when he attempts to find her.
First line: ‘Except for football fridays, Cody Laredo’s favourite day of the school year was always the last.‘
Adored : An It Girl Novel, created by Cecily von Ziegesar (224 pages) - This is the eight It Girl novel, and having not read any of them I can not even begin to summarise it. But! Don’t hesitate to look for them in the Central library’s wonderful new series area!
First line: ‘Jenny Humphrey leaned against a dark oak window frame in Dumbarton 303 on the Tuesday evening after Thanksgiving break.‘
Some Kind of Wonderful : An Inside Girl Novel, by J. Minter (242 pages) – Fran Flood, fabulous Manhattan socialite, heads to the beach to work for the summer at a resort. He ex-best friend is also going, unfortunately. Stink! See the new YA series area at the central library for the others in the series etc. etc.
First line: ‘Like it or not, my life changes fast.‘
The Phoenix Files : Arrival, by Chris Morphew (295 pages) – The first book in a ‘thrilling new series’. Luke moves to a town called Phoenix, where there are no cars, phones, or Internet. He discovers that someone is planning to wipe out the human race in 100 days … and Phoenix is the safest place in the world.
First line: ‘The end of the world is one of those things that you never really expect to end up being your problem.‘
The Awakening : Book 2 of The Darkest Power, by Kelley Armstrong (360 pages) – Chloe is able to see and raise the dead, thanks to being genetically altered by some sinister scientists at birth. She’s on the run now with three similarly gifted teens; a sorcerer, a witch, and a werewolf.
First line: ‘When the door to my cell clicked open, the first thought that flitted through my doped-up braind was that Liz had changed her mind and come back.‘
Carter Finally Gets It, by Brent Crawford (300 pages) – From the catalogue: ‘Awkward freshman Will Carter endures many painful moments during his first year of high school before realizing that nothing good comes easily, focus is everything, and the payoff is usually incredible.’
First line: ‘In the back room of the Pizza Barn, with only two weeks before the start of high school, my boys and I are at the Freshman Mixer.‘
Love is Hell, by Melissa Marr, Scott Westerfield, Justine Larbalestier, Gabrielle Zevin, and Laurie Faria Stolarz (263 pages) – A collection of short stories about love – with a touch of the supernatural.
Everything is Fine, by Ann Dee Ellis (154 pages)
There are heaps of new books this week. Heaps!
The Dead Girls’ Dance : The Morganville Vampires Book Two, by Rachel Caine (248 pages)
Midnight Alley : The Morganville Vampires Book Three, by Rachel Caine (245 pages)
Feast of Fools : The Morganville Vampires Book Four, by Rachel Caine (242 pages)
Lord of Misrule : The Morganville Vampires Book Five, by Rachel Caine (244 pages) – These bring the library’s collection of these big-in-the-US vampire books up-to-date. The next book is due out this month, and book six is due later this year.
Damosel : In Which the Lady of the Lake Renders a Frank and Often Startling Account of Her Wondrous Life and Times, by Stephanie Spinner (198 pages) – The Lady of the Lake, as everyone knows, was the one who gave King Arthur his sword. This is as adaption of the myth with her as its central character.
First line: ‘I am so well versed in The Rules Governing the Ladies of the Lake that I could recite them backward on a dare, but the wisdom I treasure most was gleaned not from that vast, ancient compendium, but from my own earnest blundering.‘
Something, Maybe, by Elizabeth Scott (217 pages) – Hannah’s parents are famous and notorious, and she’s managed to live life under the radar. But! Nothing is ever that simple, especially with crazy parents and falling in lurve.
First line: ‘Everyone’s seen my mother naked.‘
Highway to Hell, by Rosemary Clement-Moore (357 pages) -Maggie Quinn and friend Lisa look forward to spending their spring break (which is a holiday in the US when everyone goes to the beach) in a waterfront hotel and taking a break from fighting evil. But! They get stuck in a small town in Texas, where weird, probably evil things are happening.
First line: ‘Some people think that Texas has only one season, that it’s summer all year long.‘
Walkaway, by Alden R. Carter (202 pages) – Andy is fed up with his family and decides to walk away, into the Wisconsin woods. His skills allow him to survive but can he escape own ‘emotional demons’? It’s like Man vs Wild but with a dysfunctional family.
First line: ‘I’m between the car and the garage door.‘
First Strike, by Jack Higgins and Justin Richards (295 pages) – Twins Jade and Rich have saved the life of the US President, and during a tour of the White House they find themselves embroiled in a potential third world war.
First line: ‘Rich watched the tanks rolling down the main street.‘
Jarvis 24, by David Metzenthen (255 pages) – So far, Marc E. Jarvis has lost a white football boot, a school tie and a best friend. But when he completes ‘work experience’ at a local car yard he is truly shaken up. Then he meets Electra and nothing will ever be the same again. (From the book cover)
First line: ‘I tend to worry, I know I do, but only because I think there is lots of things to worry about.‘
The Dust of 100 Dogs, by A. S. King (330 pages) – In the seventeenth century, ‘famed teenage pirate’ Emer Morrisey was cursed to have to live the lives of 100 dogs. Now, centuries later, she’s a contempary American teenager with only one goal; to dig up her buried treasure in Jamaica.
First line: ‘With one last, almighty roar, the Frenchman fell to his knees and died.‘
Freefall : Book Three of The Tunnels Series, by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams (579 pages) – This follows Tunnels and Deeper in a series. A pretty popular series, too. Learn more about it all at the official website.
First line: ‘“Herrrrrph,” Chester Rawls groaned softly to himself.‘
The Thirteenth Child : Frontier Magic Book 1, by Patricia Wrene (344 pages) – Eff is a thirteenth child (bringing bad luck), and her twin brother is a seventh son (bringing good luck); I had to think about this for a few moments, but it does make sense. Their father is to be a professor of magic at the frontier (the magical divide that protects settlers from the beasts of the wilderness) and all kinds of crazy stuff goes down.
First line: ‘ Everybody knows that a seventh son is lucky.’
In brief:
Triple Shot Bettys In Love, by Jody Gehrman (249 pages)
Running on the Cracks, by Julia Donaldson (335 pages)
A Year in Girl Hell 2 : Dumped, by Meredith Costain (154 pages)
The Sweetest Thing : An Inside Girl Novel, by J. Minter (248 pages)
We’ve got a couple of new short story anthologies that girls in particular will be interested in.
Cleavage: Breakaway Fiction for Real Girls (186 pages) – “edgy” stories written by mostly (if not all) Canadian authors about girls who do things a bit differently, who “challenge convention and girls who wish they could.” Could be worth a look if you’re doing short stories at school, or just for a feel good experience.
Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? Stories about loving – and loathing – your body (214 pages) – this collection opens with a quote from Miss Piggy, so it’s got to be good. Contributors such as Megan McCafferty (Sloppy Firsts), Sarra Manning, Carolyn Mackler (The Earth, My Butt…) and Sara Zarr (Sweethearts)… it’s an impressive list of authors who write about girls of substance.
We’ve a new manga series in the YA collection. It is titled Case Closed, by Gosho Aoyama. Jimmy Kudo is a hyper-skilled high school detective who is transformed into first-grader by a’ strange chemical’. He adopts a new name – Conan Edogawa – and continues to solve crime while hunting for whoever’s responsible for his transformation.
We have 29 volumes, so the hunt may take awhile. The animated series is big in Japan and Germany, according to Wikipedia, but I don’t think we’re getting it.
(All our other manga series are listed on this page.)
A few extras to finish the week.
The Ask and the Answer, by Patrick Ness (519 pages) – the sequel to the multi award winning The Knife of Never Letting Go (which glared at me from my bedroom floor for four weeks before I concluded it wasn’t going to get read, for which I have a sense of un-achievement). Things aren’t going well for Todd; Viola is in the hands of Mayor Prentiss and he (Todd) has been imprisoned, then there’s the question of the Answer: who are they? Very cool cover.
First sentence: “Your noise reveals you, Todd Hewitt.”
Worldshaker, by Richard Harland (366 pages) – Worldshaker is a mobile city and Col is one of the privileged inhabitants. Then one day a girl called Filthy escapes and appears in his cabin. What follows is full of twists and turns, as any good action packed novel should be.
First sentence: A sound brought Col out of a deep sleep.
The 13 Treasures, by Michelle Harrison (326 pages) – Tanya uncovers an unsolved mystery while visiting her grandmother; a story of missing persons, magic and secrets. There’s a sequel planned for next year.
First sentence: She was aware of their presence in the room before she even awoke.
Frenemies, by Alexa Young (245 pages) – As the name suggests, Avalon Greene and Halley Brandon are about to have their friendship severly tested; by each other.
First sentence: Halley Brandon had survived the impossible: two whole months away from her best friend in the world.
Love and Kisses, by Jean Ure (254 pages) – Tamsin’s never had a boyfriend, until she meets Alex, then she finds out how complicated having a boyfriend can be sometimes and how hard it can be to “do the right thing”.
First sentence: I’ll never forget the day I first saw Alex.
Some new non-fiction:
War Is, edited by Marc Aronson and Patty Campbell (200 pages) – a collection of fiction and nonfiction on the subject of war.
Weighing it Up, by Ali Valenzuela (186 pages) – “a teenager’s frank account of her struggle with anorexia” says the cover.
New fiction on compact disc:
The Road of Bones, by Anne Fine (6 CDs, read by Tom Lawrence) – a story of freedom of expression set in an oppressive state.
Well better late than never, here’s the promised next batch of new books.
Dark Calling, by Darren Shan (216 pages) – this is Book 9 of The Demonata. The series will reach an earth-shattering conclusion next year with Hell’s Heroes, says the back pages. Can you wait? In Dark Calling Kernel Fleck is in a personal hell worse than hell – can he resist?
First sentence: A small, wiry, scorpion-shaped demon with a semi-human face drives its stinger into my right eye.
Dark Angels, by Katherine Langrish (346 pages) – Wolf has run away from the monastery where he was raised and finds himself on Devil’s Edge, a dark hillside infested with evil supernatural figures and haunted by ghosts. Set in and inspired by the world view of the Middle Ages.
First sentence: The first time the horn sounded on the hill, Wolf mistook it for a sheep bleating or a bird crying, and thought no more of it.
Falling, by Sharon Dogar (344 pages) – a love story with a twist: Neesha has overwhelming, repeated fragmentary nightmares about a girl falling in what appears to be the past. When she meets Sammy he appears to be her “rescuer”, and they are drawn to each other, but are they both repeating an old, nightmarish love affair that ended very badly?
First sentence: I saw a picture once.
Last of the Braves, by Archimede Fusillo (233 pages) – the back cover says “Under the influence of his idol. the hot-headed seventeenth-century Italian painter Caravaggio, Alex draws his mate Ces into an uncontrollable cycle of destruction and hurt.”
First sentence: Alex drew the serrated knife heavily along the bottom of his empty plate, his eyes fixed on a spot right at its centre.
Hell Week, by Rosemary Clement-Moore (327 pages) – Maggie Quinn fights supernatural baddies (demons and the like), but has she met more than she bargained for in the hellish cesspit that is sorority rush on a college campus?
First sentence: Bright teeth flashed; I fought the instinct to recoil.
Blue Flame, by K M Grant (241 pages) – Book One of the Perfect Fire trilogy. Set in the 12th century, the Blue Flame is a treasure everyone wants, and having it means power, but nobody seems to know its true meaning. Parsifal (an Occitanian knight) must enlist the help of Raimon (the son of a weaver) in order to prevent the destruction of the Occitanians.
First sentence: Last night I thought I saw them again: Raimon, throwing out his arms to the wind; Yolanda, delighting in the clear water running between her toes; and Parsifal, sitting near Yolanda, polishing his father’s sword.
Fen Runners, by John Gordon (136 pages) – another horror story for you. Tom Townsend lost the blade of his skate in an accident on the frozen fens years ago, and since then has been plagued by nightmares. His granddaughter, Jenny, is haunted too, and then her friend Kit pulls something out of the fen water.
First sentence: They stood with their toes curled over the edge of the bridge and looked briefly into the distance.
Pop Princess, by Isabelle Merlin (326 pages) – the cover of this book is all Chick Lit, but I’m not judging. Lucie Rees is an ordinary Australian teenager until she finds herself living in Paris working as a companion to Arizona Kingdom, a troubled pop star. Danger is involved.
First sentence: The most important moments of your life aren’t the ones you plan for.
Wings, by Aprilynne Pike (360 pages) – Laurel thinks she’s ordinary, but she’s about to find out that’s not the case: the subtitle of the book says “A new kind of faerie tale.”
First sentence: Laurel’s shoes flipped a cheerful rhythm that defied her dark mood.
The Musician’s Daughter, by Susanne Dunlap (317 pages) – a story of murder and perhaps love set in the Esterhazy court in eighteenth-century Vienna. The musician’s daughter is Theresa, who becomes Haydn’s copyist after her father dies mysteriously.
First sentence: The night it all began I dreamt that Papa returned from the concert with a new violin for me.
Fate, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (354 pages) – the sequel to Tattoo, this is set two years later. Bailey Morgan continues to lead a double life; ordinary high school student by day and “ancient mystical being” by night. Senior year may be complicated, but it’s nothing compared to her other life as the third Fate.
First sentence: Life.
Starclimber, by Kenneth Oppel (390 pages) – This is the sequel to Airborn and Skybreaker. Matt and Kate travel are astralnauts on board the spaceship Starclimber. An exciting race to the stars turns ‘into a battle to save their lives.’
First sentence: ‘Rising into the wind, I flew, Paris spread before me.’
Twilight : Director’s Notebook, by Catherine Hardwicke (163 pages) – The story of how they made the film. We wrote about it here.
Revelations : A Blue Bloods Novel, by Melissa de la Cruz (264 pages) – The third novel in the Blue Bloods series about vampires. Is Schuyler Van Alen a Blue Blood, or a sinister Silver Blood? ‘Romance, glamour, and vampire lore …’
First sentence: ‘On an early and bitterly cold morning in late March, Schuyler Van Alen let herself inside the glass doors of the Duchesne School, feeling relieved as she walked into the soaring barrel-ceiling entryway dominated by an imposing John Singer Sargent portrait of the school’s founders.‘
Glass Houses : The Morganville Vampires Book One, by Rachel Caine (247 pages) – This was the runner-up to the Selector vote-for-a-new-series thing we ran not so long ago. It seemed pretty good (and is very popular in the US) and worth getting. The Texas town of Morganville is home to a large number of vampires, who lived in peace with the resident mortals. Until the evil Bishop arrives, that is …
First sentence: ‘On the day Claire became a member of the Glass House, somebody stole her laundry.‘
Alligator Bayou, by Donna Jo Napoli (280 pages) – Set in Tallulah, Louisiana, the US, in 1899. A Sicilian family is caught in the middle of tensions between the black and white communities. Disaster dogs their family at every turn.
First sentence: ‘The night is so dark, I can barely see my hands.‘
Perfect Match : An Inside Girl Novel, by J. Minter (227 pages)
Inside Girl : An Inside Girl Novel, by J. Minter (229 pages)
Girls We Love : An Insiders Girls Novel, by J. Minter (215 pages)
The Inside Girl series won our Selector competition a few months ago, and they’re finally in! The third title is part of the parent series that a reader recommended we get.
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, by Helen Grant (342 pages)
The Good Daughter, by Amra Pajalic (314 pages)
The Lucky Ones, by Tohby Riddle (211 pages)
Cracked Up To Be, by Courtney Summers (214 pages)
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