We are inundated! Make sure you come into the library these holidays and take some off our hands. This batch is brought to you by the last sentence this time! (Except for when it would be totally giving it away.)

The Lying Game, Sara Shepard (307 pages) – from the author of the Pretty Little Liars series, currently gracing TV2 on Sunday night(ish)es. Emma’s long lost twin sister, the narrator, has died (murdered!), and Emma wants to know what happened, so she takes on the dead narrator’s life, including boyfriend and parents and whatnot. This could be dangerous, with the murderer on the loose.

Last sentence: I’ll see you in the morning… even though you won’t see me.

Strings Attached, Judy Blundell (310 pages) – who wrote What I Saw and How I Lied. This also is set in a historical context, this time the 1950s in New York, where Kit Corrigan is a struggling chorus girl in a Broadway show, who becomes involved with Billy and his father Nate, who is a mob lawyer. Love, deceit, intrigue, and murder, says the cover. Intriguing!

Last sentence(s): Or on an ordinary day, nothing sinister. Nothing noble. Just balloons.

Winter Longing, Tricia Mills (266 pages) – Sob! Winter finally declares her love for Spencer, *and then he dies in a plane crash*. A story of grief, and what it’s like to come through devastation.

First sentence: The drone of a plane engine stopped me in my tracks, and adrenaline surged through my veins.

Alabama Moon, Watt Key (294 pages) – Moon is raised by his father in the Alabama wilderness. When his father dies, Moon finds himself having to adjust to living in an institution. This is also a movie, available on DVD.

Last sentence: “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Desires of the Dead, Kimberly Derting (355 pages) – Violet can sense the dead, and can also tell who killed them. Naturally she’d rather people didn’t know, but she becomes the subject of interest. At the same time, she becomes interested in her boyfriend’s best friend’s tragic past, and stumbles across a deadly secret.

Last sentence: “I think we’re gonna be late,” she whispered, surrendering at last.

Mad Love, Suzanne Selfors (323 pages) – Alice’s mother is a romance novelist. When her mother is secretly admitted to the psychiatric ward of a hospital Alice must maintain the illusion that things are still trucking along as normal, which involves lying to her (Alice’s) boyfriend, answering fan mail… and then writing the next best seller! Luckily (maybe?) she meets a guy who says he’s Cupid and would like her to write about his tragic love with Psyche

Last sentence: Or the one beating inside our hearts, waiting to be set free.

Wither, Lauren DeStefano (358 pages) – a dystopian world where a virus causes males live to the age of 25 and females to just 20. To ensure the survival of the human race therefore girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous relationships in order to have lots of babies. Rhine is married to Linden, who seems okay, but she’s determined to escape (as you would be).

Last sentence: This time, I don’t know where the light will guide us.

Fishtailing, Wendy Phillips (196 pages) – a novel in verse. “Through a series of poems written for English class, interspersed with teacher comments and letters to and from parents, high school students Natalie, Tricia, Kyle, and Miguel describe their lives.” (catalogue)

Last sentence: I smell spring.

Mortal Kiss, Alice Moss (343 pages) – Faye and her friend Liz have to work out what’s going on in their town: there’s a dead body, a motorcycle gang, and the fact that it doesn’t stop snowing. Could these things be related to the fact that there are two new arrivals, “smouldering Finn and sexy Lucas”?

Last sentence: It shook the frost from its fur once, and then trotted out of the open door, disappearing into the dense forest outside.

The Big Crunch, Pete Hautman (280 pages) – “This is a love story for people not particularly biased toward romance” says the cover. The crowd cheers! June* and Wes have an everyday sort of relationship, where you’re not really sure if it’s love, you’re not sure what’s going to happen, you do some stuff you wish you hadn’t, and you might not exactly smoulder.

First sentence: The first time Wes saw June, he thought she was kind of funny-looking.

* Trivia: the cover blurb says she’s *Jen* but she’s not, we checked.