Tempest by Julie Cross

19-year-old Jackson Meyer can time travel.  Not much, usually just back a few hours or days.  And when he does go back, nothing he does actually impacts the future - no one remembers interacting with him if it happened on one of his jumps, if he hurts himself he isn't seriously damaged when he gets back, and if he does something on one of his jumps, like break a window, that thing is undone when he gets back to the present.  It's not really serving a purpose, but he's having fun experimenting, and keeping it a secret from everyone but his science genius friend who is helping him figure out why it's happening and how to use it.  At least it is all fun until some people who also appear to be able to "jump" back in time show up at his girlfriend's college dor, attempt to kidnap Jackson, and kill his girlfriend in the struggle.  Now Jackson has jumped back 2 years, farther than he's jumped before, and no matter how hard he tries, he can't get back to his "real" time.  And the Enemies of Time are still after him.

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.

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).

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) 

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. 

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.

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.

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

The Poison Eaters, by Holly Black

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Nalia spends the first 16 years of her life thinking she is the princess and heir to the throne of Thorvald, only to be told that she was only a decoy, switched at birth with the real princess to try to avoid a prophecy made during the queen's pregnancy that the princess would be murdered horribly before her 16th birthday.  The king and queen, having averted their real daughter's death, send the false princess, named Sinda at birth, unceremoniously away from the castle to live in a small village with her only living relative, an aunt who is less than delighted to have a fully grown niece with no domestic skills sprung on her with no means of support.

Paranormalcy, by Kiersten White

One in a spate of paranormal-themed YA books, this one held my interest more than many of the others I've read lately.  Evie is a teen who has been fostered with the International Paranormal Containment Agency since she was 8 years old, working for them during that time as the only person able to see through any glamour from any paranormal.  It's not breaking new ground in terms of content or teen angst, but it does have some nice "surprises". 

Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher

Finn is a "cell-born" member of a Scum gang in Incarceron, the living prison with millions of electronic eyes and torture chambers, designed to recycled and re-use everything, even the people who are imprisoned there.  Finn remembers nothing before waking up in a cell, apparently remade from DNA of others who died, but his flashes of memory of the outside world convince him that he belongs outside.

White Cat by Holly Black, Curse Workers, Bk. 1

It was extremely hard not to read ahead in this book because I wanted to know what was going to happen next.  Little clues and pieces of info get scattered out like breadcrumbs, drawing you on, making you want to keep reading.  I figured out some of the twists before they came, but not all, and not too much before they were revealed.

Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist by R.L. LaFevers

Book 1: Flight of the Phoenix

When his parents disappeared while off adventuring, Nathaniel is sent to live with Phil A. Fludd, and aunt he did not know. With her he discovers that his parents, aunt and most of his ancestors are beastologists, "someone who studies beasts. Not any old beast, mind you. Only unusual beasts...like dodos. Or basilisks, or griffins, or manticores and the like." But Nate isn't sure he's cut out to be an explorer or adventurer, especially when his first beastology trip with his aunt results in her being held prisoner by Bedouins and Nate on his own to make sure a phoenix egg hatches, figure out how to rescue his aunt and keep the families Book of Beasts safe from a mysterious man who wants to steal it.

Sequel: The Basilisk's Lair

SLJ grades 3-5