Saturday, September 22, 2012

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

1st in Ruby Red series.  Sequel is Sapphire Blue.  First published in Germany.

Gwen is 16 and lives with her mum, siblings, grandmother, aunt and cousin in an upperclass London neighborhood.  Her extended family doesn't pay much attention to her, focused on her cousin, believed to be the carrier of the time-travel gene that runs through her family and sure to show up very soon in the form of an abrupt trip to somewhere in the past.  But all is not as it seems.  Since a mathematical formula had worked out that Gwen's real birth  date was the birth date of the next time traveler, and her cousin was also born that day, Gwen's mum and (late) father secretly falsified her records to indicate Gwen was born the day before, allegedly in the hopes that she would be able to live a normal life (and since she was born at home with a midwife, no one was the wiser.


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Prepare to Die by Paul Tobin

Despite being at their mercy, Steve Clarke, aka superhero Reaver, is inexplicably given a boon by arch-nemesis Octagon and his cadre of supervillains, Eleventh Hour - instead of killing him outright, they grant him 2 weeks to take care of his affairs before he reports back to them to fight to the death.  Steve uses the two weeks to come to grips with how he became a superhero in the first place, the loss of superfriends, his own moral ambiguity at times, and to reunite with his high school love, the girl who got away (or was pushed away due to Steve's unanticipated mutation caused by a chemical spill which transformed some of the cars occupants and killed others).

Saturday, August 18, 2012

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

Nora has a pretty good life - yes, her brother is still dead and her parents are still withdrawn into their own self-absorbed worlds, but she has made a new family of sorts, with bright, charming, boy-wonder Chris and his lovely, capricious girlfriend Adriane as her best friends, and moody, quiet, scholarly Max as her boyfriend.  She also has an engrossing translation project for a local professor to strengthen her link with Chris and Max - while they work on translating the "important" parts of an ancient mystical document the professor is obsessed with, Nora translates late 16th century letters from a young woman, stepdaughter to a great magician - busy work to the professor, but more and more fascinating to Nora.  When her translation of the letters leads to a new discovery, she never expects it to end with the professor insane, Chris dead, Adriane catatonic and Max gone and branded a murder...but that's what happens.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Sequel to Divergent

Tris, now on the run as war erupts, attempts to figure out what information is so vital, or so dangerous, that some factions would destroy others just to contain it.  

Divergent by Veronica Roth

In dystopian Chicago, society has been divided into 5 factions, each dedicated to cultivating a certain value:
  • Amity (the peaceful)
  • Candor (the honest)
  • Abnegation (the selfless)
  • Erudite (the intelligent)
  • Dauntless (the brave) 

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

The early days of the Robin Hood story, told from the perspective of "Will" Scarlet.  Known to Robin, John, and a few others as just Scarlet, she is a young woman posing as a young man after running away from an arranged marriage.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Star Crossed, by Elizabeth Bunce

Escaping from Green Men soldiers after a botched theft results in her partner's death, Digger convinces a boat of young nobles to help spirit her away, thinking they are helping "Celyn" escape from convent school.  Willing to leave the city of Gerse behind for awhile, Celyn becomes a maid to one of the nobles, a younger girl named Merista who is about to be presented to the marriage mart, and goes with Meri to reunite with her parents, exiled for the last several years for their part in a plot to overthrow the king and the corrupt church. 


Crossed, by Allie Condie

Sequel to Matched.




Three Thieves series, by Scott Chantler

Book 1:  The Tower of Treasure:  Dessa, a 14-year old acrobat in a traveling circus, gets lured into helping Fisk, the scheming troupe juggler, and Topper, the gentle strongman, rob the royal treasury when she decides it will help her learn more about the mysterious man who kidnapped her twin brother several years before.  Caught in the act, they are able to escape from the tower prison but are followed by the grasping Queen's honorable, duty-bound captain of the guards, Drake.  Graphic novel, good for older elementary and middle school - mysteries, fantasy, adventure readers.

  Book 2:  The Sign of the Black Rock:  After escaping from the royal prison, Dessa, Fisk and Topper flee to the coast, where they seek shelter at an inn from a ferocious storm.  The Queen's Dragons and Captain Drake aren't far behind, though, and soon the thieves are hiding from the guards, held captive by the scheming innkeeper, and set free by his abused and silent wife, who also shares more information with Dessa about the sorcerer who kidnapped Dessa's brother and scarred the innkeeper's wife in an attempt to cut out her tongue before she could tell anyone about the spell book and odd word she discovered in his room.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline

Lots and lots and LOTS of geek and pop culture references from the 80's, as a teenage boy and his cohorts/competition attempt to solve puzzles in an online game that will determine who controls the internet in a futuristic society that lives mainly online.  Full summary from the publisher after the break.  Good for advanced teens and adults interested in the tagged subjects.  2011.


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Pie by Sarah Weeks

Alice's aunt Polly, world-famous pie maker, dies and leaves her recipe to her grumpy cat Lardo, and her cat to Alice.  Alice's mother is jealous of her sister's success with pies and people, someone is out to steal the cat in order to get the pie recipe, and suddenly everyone is trying to make pies to fill the pie-gap.  Includes recipes.

SLJ: grades 4-6