Friday Finds - February 18, 2011

Friday Finds was started by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

Check back each Friday to see what I've found, and make sure to stop by Should Be Reading's Friday Finds Post to see what other bloggers have found as well!

Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter (Pre-Order Hardcover @ Amazon)

Publisher : Arthur A. Levine Books

ISBN : 978-0545221306

Release Date : August 1, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone

Adult or YA :  YA

"The Luxe" meets the ancient world in the extraordinary story of Cleopatra's daughter.

Selene has grown up in a palace on the Nile with her parents, Cleopatra & Mark Antony—the most brilliant, powerful rulers on earth. But the jealous Roman Emperor Octavianus wants Egypt for himself, & when war finally comes, Selene faces the loss of all she's ever loved. Forced to build a new life in Octavianus's household in Rome, she finds herself torn between two young men and two possible destinies—until she reaches out to claim her own.

This stunning novel brings to life the personalities & passions of one of the greatest dramas in history, & offers a wonderful new heroine in Selene.

 

The Revenant by Sonia Gensler (Pre-Order Hardcover or Kindle Edition @ Amazon)
Publisher : Knopf Books For Young Readers

ISBN : 978-0375867019
Release Date : June 14, 2011
Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone
Adult or YA : YA

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When Willie arrives in Indian Territory, she knows only one thing: no one can find out who she really is. To escape a home she doesn't belong in anymore, she assumes the name of a former classmate and accepts a teaching job at the Cherokee Female Seminary.

Nothing prepares her for what she finds there. Her pupils are the daughters of the Cherokee elite—educated and more wea...moreWhen Willie arrives in Indian Territory, she knows only one thing: no one can find out who she really is. To escape a home she doesn't belong in anymore, she assumes the name of a former classmate and accepts a teaching job at the Cherokee Female Seminary.

Nothing prepares her for what she finds there. Her pupils are the daughters of the Cherokee elite—educated and more wealthy than she, and the school is cloaked in mystery. A student drowned in the river last year, and the girls whisper that she was killed by a jealous lover. Willie's room is the very room the dead girl slept in. The students say her spirit haunts it.

Willie doesn't believe in ghosts, but when strange things start happening at the school, she isn't sure anymore. She's also not sure what to make of a boy from the nearby boys' school who has taken an interest in her—his past is cloaked in secrets. Soon, even she has to admit that the revenant may be trying to tell her something. .

Dead on the Delta by Stacey Jay (Pre-Order Paperback or Kindle Edition @ Amazon)

Publisher : Pocket Books

ISBN : 978-1439189863
Release Date : May 31, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : #1 Dead on the Delta

Adult or YA : Adult 

If you believe in fairies, run. . . .

Once upon a time, fairies were the stuff of bedtime stories and sweet dreams. Then came the mutations, and the dreams turned to nightmares. Mosquito-sized fairies now indulge their taste for human blood—and for most humans, a fairy bite means madness or death. Luckily, Annabelle Lee isn’t most humans. The hard-drinking, smart mouthed, bicycle riding redhead is immune to fairy venom, and able to do the dirty work most humans can’t. Including helping law enforcement—and Cane Cooper, the bayou’s sexiest detective—collect evidence when a body pops up outside the barricades of her Louisiana town.

But Annabelle isn’t equipped to deal with the murder of a six-year-old girl, or a former lover turned FBI snob taking an interest in the case. Suddenly her already bumpy relationship with Cane turns even rockier and even the most trustworthy friends turn into suspects. Annabelle’s life is imploding: Between relationship drama, a heartbreaking murder investigation, Breeze-crazed drug runners, and a few too many rum and cokes, Annabelle is a woman on the run—from her past, from her future, and into the arms of a darkness waiting just for her. . . . 

Amazon Affiliates : 

Clicking on links in parenthesis in this post will redirect you to Amazon.com.  If you happen to make a purchase after clicking these links I will receive a small percentage of the profits.

Friday Finds - January 21, 2011

Friday Finds was started by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

Check back each Friday to see what I've found, and make sure to stop by Should Be Reading's Friday Finds Post to see what other bloggers have found as well!

 

Between the Sea & Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore (Pre-Order Hardcover @ Amazon)

Publisher : Bloomsbury USA Children's Books

ISBN : 978-1599904344

Release Date : June 7, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosinia, as a siren--the highest calling a mermaid can have. Then Dosinia runs away to the mainland, and Esmerine is sent to retrieve her. Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily to the capital city. There she comes upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood--a dashing young man named Alandare, who belongs to a winged race of people. As Esmerine and Alandare band together to search for Dosinia, they rekindle a friendship . . . and ignite the emotions for a love so great it cannot be bound by sea, land, or air.

Siren's Storm by Lisa Papademetriou (Pre-Order Hardcover or Kindle Edition @ Amazon)

Publisher : Knopf Books for Young Readers

ISBN : 978-0375842450
Release Date : August 9, 2011
Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone

Nothing has been the same for Will ever since what happened last summer. One day, on an ordinary sailing trip with his brother, there is a strange accident. When Will wakes up, he learns his brother has disappeared, presumed drowned. Worst of all, Will can't remember what happened—his family finds him unconscious, with no memory of the accident.

Now Will and his best friend and neighbor, Gretchen, are starting a new summer. Gretchen seems troubled—her sleepwalking habit is getting worse, and she keeps waking up closer and closer to the water. Will is drawn to Asia, the exotic new girl in town. Nobody knows where she's from—all Will knows is that her beauty and her mesmerizing voice have a powerful effect on people.

Then there is another mysterious drowning, and Will and Gretchen begin to wonder: Is Asia just another beautiful, wealthy summer resident? Or is she something entirely more sinister . . . and inhuman?

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini (Pre-Order Hardcover @ Amazon)

Publisher : HarperTeen

ISBN : 978-0062011992

Release Date : May 31, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : #1 Starcrossed 

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Publisher : Tor
ISBN : 978-0765328
Release Date : September 2011
Series or Stand Alone : #1 Anna Dressed in Blood 

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story. . .

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma (Pre-Order Hardcover or Kindle Edition @ Amazon)
Publisher : Dutton Juvenile
ISBN : 978-0525423386 
Release Date : June 14, 2011
Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone 

Chloe’s older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can’t be captured or caged. When a night with Ruby’s friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.

But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns home two years later, a precarious and deadly balance waits. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood.

Imaginary Girls is a masterfully distorted vision of family reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, laced with twists that beg for their secrets to be kept.

Amazon Affiliates : 

Clicking on links in parenthesis in this post will redirect you to Amazon.com.  If you happen to make a purchase after clicking these links I will receive a small percentage of the profits.

Friday Finds - January 14, 2011

Friday Finds was started by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

Check back each Friday to see what I've found, and make sure to stop by Should Be Reading's Friday Finds Post to see what other bloggers have found as well!

Blood Red Road by Moira Young (Pre-Order Hardcover @ Amazon)

Publisher : Margaret K. McElderry

ISBN : 978-1442429987

Release Date : June 7, 2011
Series or Stand Alone :  Stand Alone

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.

Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.

The Unbecoming of Marla Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (Pre-Order Hardcover @ Amazon)

Publisher : Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ISBN : 978-1442421769
Release Date : September 27, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone

Mara Dyer believes life can’t get any stranger than waking up in a
hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember
that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been
through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.

Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz (Pre-Order Hardcover @ Amazon)

Publisher : Hyperion

ISBN : 978-1401323905
Release Date : June 21, 2011
Series or Stand Alone : #1 Beauchamp Family 

The two novels will follow the lives of the Beauchamp girls, who live in the fictional town of North Hampton, as they struggle to stop an arch nemesis and restore the delicate balance between good and evil. De la Cruz will weave characters from her best-selling Blue Bloods young adult series into this new paranormal series for adults.

Putting Makeup on Dead People by Jen Violi (Pre-Order Hardcover @ Amazon)

Publisher : Hyperion Book CHISBN : 978-1423134817

Release Date : May 24, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone

It's been four years since Donna Parisi's father passed away, but it might as well have been four days. Donna makes conversation and goes through the motion, but she hasn't really gotten on with life. She's not close with anyone, she doesn't have a boyfriend and she's going to college at the local university with a major that her mother picked. But one day Donna has an epiphany. She wants to work with dead people. She wants to help people say goodbye and she wants to learn to love a whole person--body and soul. She wants to live her life and be exceptional...at loving, at grieving and at embalming and cremating,too. Even as she makes the decision, things start to change. Donna makes friends with the charismatic new student, Liz. She notices the boy, Charlie, at her table and realizes that maybe he's been noticing her, too. And she begins to forgive the rest of her family for living their lives while she's been busy moping.

Jennifer Violi's gentle, moving story of a girl who finds a life in the midst of death will appeal to any reader who's felt stuck and found inspiration in an unexpected place.

Raziel by Kristina Douglas (Pre-Order Paperback @ Amazon)
Publisher : Pocket
ISBN : 978-1439191927
Release Date : January 25, 2011
Series or Stand Alone : #1 The Fallen 

Kristina Douglas’s sexy new series introduces a realm of fallen angels and ruthless demons, where an eternal rebellion is brewing . . . and one unsuspecting woman can change the fate of the Fallen forever.

 

She was just an ordinary mortal . . .
 
“You’re dead” is so not what Allie Watson wants to hear. Unfortunately, it explains a lot. Like the dark, angelically handsome man who ferried her to this strange, hidden land. The last thing she remembers is stepping off a curb in front of a crosstown bus. Now she’s surrounded by gorgeous fallen angels with an unsettling taste for blood—and they really don’t want her around. Not exactly how she pictured heaven.

. . . until death catapulted her into a seductive world she never imagined.
 
Raziel is unsure why he rescued Allie from hellfire against Uriel’s orders, but she stirs in him a longing he hasn't felt in centuries. Now the Fallen are bracing for the divine wrath brought by his disobedience, and they blame Allie for the ferocious Nephilim clawing at the kingdom’s shrouded gates. Facing impossible odds at every turn, the two must work together to survive. Raziel will do anything to defend his spirited lover against the forces of darkness—because Allie may be the Fallen’s only salvation.

 

Amazon Affiliates : 

Clicking on links in parenthesis in this post will redirect you to Amazon.com.  If you happen to make a purchase after clicking these links I will receive a small percentage of the profits.

Friday Finds - January 7, 2011

Friday Finds was started by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

Check back each Friday to see what I've found, and make sure to stop by Should Be Reading's Friday Finds Post to see what other bloggers have found as well!

 

Dark Mirror by M.J. Putney (Pre-Order Paperback or Kindle @ Amazon)

Publisher : St. Martin's Griffin

ISBN : 9780312622848

Release Date : March 1, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : Unknown

Lady Victoria Mansfield, youngest daughter of the Earl and
Countess of Fairmount, is destined for a charmed life. Soon she
will be presented during the London season, where she can choose a mate worthy of her status.

Yet Tory has a shameful secret—a secret so powerful that, if
exposed, it could strip her of her position and disgrace her family forever. Tory’s blood is tainted…by magic. When a shocking accident forces Tory to demonstrate her despised skill, the secret she’s fought so hard to hide is revealed for all to see. She is immediately exiled to Lackland Abbey, a reform school for young men and women in her position. There she will learn to suppress her deplorable talents and maybe, if she’s one of the lucky ones, be able to return to society.

But Tory’s life is about to change forever. All that she’s ever
known or considered important will be challenged. What lies
ahead is only the beginning of a strange and wonderful journey
into a world where destiny and magic come together, where true
love and friendship find her, and where courage and strength of
character are the only things that determine a young girl’s worth.

 

 

Devil Without a Cause by Terri Garey (Pre-Order Paperback or Kindle @ Amazon)

Publisher : Avon

ISBN : 978-0061986390

Release Date : May 31, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : #1 The Devil's Bargain

 

Idle hands are the Devil's workshop...
Temptation and seduction are the tricks of the Devil's trade, and when offered the chance to regain his wings by playing guardian angel, Sammy Divine is hell-bent on doing things his way...

Faith McFarland is in need of a miracle. So desperate to save her sick child, she's willing to make a deal with the Devil: steal a ring worn by Finn Payne, the bad boy rock star who long ago sold his soul for rock n' roll. Temptation and seduction become necessary evils, yet Faith's salvation means Finn's damnation... because the ring is all that stands between him and Hell. Falling in love was never part of the bargain, but now that they've tasted heaven in each others' arms, can they convince the Devil to give up his due?

 

 

Hooked by Catherine Greenman (Pre-Order Hardcover or Kindle @ Amazon)

Publisher : Delacorte Books for Young Readers

ISBN : 978-0385740081

Release Date : August 9, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone

Thea Galehouse has always known how to take care of herself. With a flighty club-owner mom and a standoffish, recovering-alcoholic dad, Thea has made her own way in her hometown of New York, attending the prestigious and competitive Stuyvesant High School. But one chat with Will, a handsome and witty senior, and she's a goner—completely hooked on him and unable to concentrate on anything else.

Always worried that she loves Will more than he loves her, Thea is pleasantly surprised when their romance weathers his move to college and Will goes out of his way to involve her in his life. But then, Thea misses a period. And that starts Thea and Will on a wild ride that neither of them could have possibly prepared for. When they decide to keep the baby, their concerned parents chip in what they can to keep Will in school and give both teenagers a comfortable place to raise their child. But when a freak accident leaves Thea shaken and threatens to upend their little family altogether, Thea is forced to turn to the last place she would have chosen for comfort: her stiff, uncompromising father.

This smart, touching first novel brims with realistic, beautifully drawn characters, and reminds us that love is never as easy or predictable as we might like it to be. 

 

 

Subject Seven by James A. Moore (Pre-Order Paperback or Kindle @ Amazon)

Publisher : Razorbill

ISBN : 978-1595143044

Release Date : January 20, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone

Years ago, scientists began developing the ultimate military weapon: deadly sleeper assassins housed within the bodies of teenagers. Now, Subject Seven, the dangerous alter-ego living inside a 16-year-old boy, has escaped the lab and is on a mission. His objective? To seek out others like him and build an army capable of destroying their creators.

Hunter, Cody, Gene, Tina, and Kylie: five teenagers leading typical lives, until the day they each receive a call from a mysterious stranger--and learn that their destinies are intertwined. Subject Seven holds the key that connects them all. And a vicious, bloody battle for their lives is just beginning. 

 

 

Flying Blind by Deborah Cooke (Pre-Order Paperback)

Publisher : NAL Trade

ISBN : 978-0451233882

Release Date : June 7, 2011

Series or Stand Alone : #1 The Dragon Diaries Trilogy

 

Zoë Sorensson is perfectly normal – well, as normal as a girl with an obsession with drawing dragons can be. The thing is that she’s always been told she’s special and destined for great things. It’s not just because of her good grades, either. Zoë’s the Wyvern, the one female dragon shapeshifter with special powers. But Zoë is at the bottom of the class when it comes to being Pyr and her powers are AWOL. Worse, there’s no reference book to consult and the last Wyvern is dead…

Everything changes when Zoë’s best friend is bullied and Zoë reacts. Before she can blink twice, her inner dragon is loose, she’s suspended from school and headed to a boot camp for the Pyr guys she’s known all her life. But soon she’s doubting her powers—and even some of her friendships.

Zoë quickly realizes that she has to master her powers yesterday – the Pyr are in danger and boot camp is a trap. The Mages want to eliminate all shifters and the Pyr are next in line—unless Zoë and her friends can solve the riddle, work together and save their own kind…

 

Amazon Affiliates : 

Clicking on title links in this post will redirect you to Amazon.com.  If you happen to make a purchase after clicking these links I will receive a small percentage of the profits. 

 

Friday Finds - May 14, 2010

Friday Finds was started by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

Check back each Friday to see what I've found, and make sure to stop by Should Be Reading's Friday Finds Post to see what other bloggers have found as well!

 

 

Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams

Publisher : Pocket

ISBN : 978-1439182796

Release Date : May 25, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : #1 in new series

 

TARA SHERIDAN HAS A GIFT . . . AND IT ALMOST KILLED HER. 

 

As a criminal profiler, Tara used science and her intuitive skill at Tarot card divination to track down the dangerous and depraved, including the serial killer who left her scarred from head to toe. Since that savage attack, Tara has been a recluse. But now an ancient secret society known as Delphi’s Daughters has asked for her help in locating missing scientist Lowell Magnusson. And Tara, armed with her Tarot deck, her .38, and a stack of misgivings, agrees to try. 

Tara immediately senses there is far more at stake than one man’s life. At his government lab in the New Mexico desert, Magnusson had developed groundbreaking technology with terrifying potential. Working alongside the brusque but charismatic agent Harry Li, Tara discovers that Magnusson’s daughter, Cassie, has knowledge that makes her a target too. The more Tara sees into the future, the more there is to fear. She knows she has to protect Cassie. But there may be no way to protect herself—from the enemies circling around her, or from the long-buried powers stirring to life within. . . . 

High Before Homeroom by Maya Sloan

Publisher : Gallery

ISBN : 978-1439171295

Release Date : June 22, 2010

Series or Stand Alone :  Unknown

Losers, now you can get the bad-boy rep the girls find positively irresistible! Unleash your dark side with the Doug Schaffer plan for drug addiction and rehabilitation! (Kids, don't try this at home.)

At sixteen years old, Doug Schaffer knows two things for sure:

1. He is doomed to live in the shadow of his older brother, Trevor, a former high school football star who is stationed in Iraq.

2. Free-spirited Laurilee, the hot ear-piercing girl at the mall, only dates bad boys.

Cue Doug's foolproof plan to tarnish his own unremarkable reputation. The first step is to develop a drug addiction. His mom's too preoccupied with organizing care packages for Mothers Support Our Troops Northwest Oklahoma City Chapter to stop him. Besides, he just needs to get hooked on meth long enough to come back from rehab a totally different person. Someone people notice.

With the help of Trevor’s strung-out former high-school buddy, drug addict Doug has the confidence that loser Doug never mustered. He stays out all night, scores girls, and stands up for himself. Then Trevor unexpectedly returns home with a dark secret of his own, and everything Doug thought was true is shattered. Soon the brothers find a common ground they never knew they shared as they discover the price of pleasing others is the freedom to be yourself. 

 

When Rose Wakes by Christopher Golden

Publisher : MTV

ISBN : 978-1439148235

Release Date : September 28, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : Unknown

An enchanting tale by Christoper Golden about a teenager who wakes from a coma and slowly comes to realize that she is Sleeping Beauty of fairy tales.

 

What have you found this week?  Feel free to leave a comment (in fact, they're encouraged!)

Friday Finds - May 7, 2010

Friday Finds was started by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

Check back each Friday to see what I've found, and make sure to stop by Should Be Reading's Friday Finds Post to see what other bloggers have found as well!

 

 

Fat Vampire : A Never Coming of Age Novel by Adam Rex

Publisher : Balzar + Bray

ISBN : 978-0061920905
Release Date : July 27, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : Unknown

 

Doug Lee is undead quite by accident—attacked by a desperate vampire, he finds himself cursed with being fat and fifteen forever. When he has no luck finding some goth chick with a vampire fetish, he resorts to sucking the blood of cows under cover of the night. But it’s just not the same.

Then he meets the new Indian exchange student and falls for her—hard. Yeah, he wants to bite her, but he also wants to prove himself to her. But like the laws of life, love, and high school, the laws of vampire existence are complicated—it’s not as easy as studying Dracula. Especially when the star of Vampire Hunters is hot on your trail in an attempt to boost ratings.…

Leave it to Adam Rex to create a thought-provoking novel that takes on teen angst, sexuality, identity, love, and undeath in ways that break it out of the genre. 

 

 

Harvest Hunting by Yasmine Galenorn

Publisher : Jove

ISBN : 978-0515148534

Release Date : October 26, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : #8 in Otherworld Series

 

We're the D'Artigo sisters: sexy, savvy operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But being half-human, half-Fae means our supernatural talents can go haywire at any time. My sister Camille is a wicked good witch whose life recently took a drastic turn. Menolly's a vampire who's still getting the hang of being undead. And me? I'm Delilah, a werecat with a very interesting love life. But life isn't all fun and games. We're on the trail of the demon general who has decided that we've become quite a nuisance...

It's Samhain, and the Autumn Lord, has called for my training to begin with the Death Maidens...and I find that I like it. But we've got problems: werewolves are going missing and a new magical drug, "Wolf Briar," is being used as a weapon. My dear Chase and I have come to a delicate crossroads and there's no turning back from our decision. And most dangerous of all: Stacia Bonecrusher has put a bounty on our heads. Now it's a race to take out the demon general before she realizes the sixth Spirit Seal is within her reach...

 

 

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

Publisher : DAW Hardcover

ISBN : 978-0756406172

Release Date : June 1, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone

 

International award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor enters the world of magic realist literature with a powerful story of genocide in the far future and of the woman who reshapes her world.

In a post-apocalyptic Africa, the world has changed in many ways, yet in one region genocide between tribes still bloodies the land. After years of enslaving the Okeke people, the Nuru tribe has decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke tribe for good. An Okeke woman who has survived the annihilation of her village and a terrible rape by an enemy general wanders into the desert hoping to die. Instead, she gives birth to an angry baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand. Gripped by the certainty that her daughter is different—special—she names her child Onyesonwu, which means “Who Fears Death?” in an ancient tongue.

From a young age, stubborn, willful Onyesonwu is trouble. It doesn’t take long for her to understand that she is physically and socially marked by the circumstances of her violent conception. She is Ewu—a child of rape who is expected to live a life of violence, a half-breed rejected by both tribes.

But Onye is not the average Ewu. As a child, Onye’s singing attracts owls. By the age of eleven, she can change into a vulture. But these amazing abilities are merely the first glimmers of a remarkable unique magic. As Onye grows, so do her abilities—soon she can manipulate matter and flesh, or travel beyond into the spiritual world. During an inadvertent visit to this other realm she learns something terrifying: someone powerful is trying to kill her.

Desperate to elude her would-be murderer, and to understand her own nature, she seeks help from the magic practitioners of her village. But, even among her mother’s people, she meets with frustrating prejudice because she is Ewu and female. Yet Onyesonwu persists.

Eventually her magical destiny and her rebellious nature will force her to leave home on a quest that will be perilous in ways that Onyesonwu can not possibly imagine. For this journey will cause her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, the spiritual mysteries of her culture, and ultimately to learn why she was given the name she bears: Who Fears Death?

 

 

The Candidates by Inara Scott

Publisher : Hyperion Book CH

ISBN : 978-1423116363

Release Date : August 24, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : #1 Delcroix Academy 

 

Dancia Lewis is far from popular. And that's not just because of her average grades or her less-than-glamorous wardrobe. In fact, Dancia's mediocrity is a welcome cover for her secret: whenever she sees a person threatening someone she cares about, things just...happen. Cars skid. Structures collapse. Usually someone gets hurt.  So Dancia does everything possible to avoid getting close to anyone, belieiving this way she can supress her powers and keep them hidden.

 

But when recruiters from the prestigious Delcroix Academy show up in her living room to offer her a full scholarship, Dancia's days of living under the radar may be over. Only, Delcroix is a school for diplomats' kids and child geniuses--not B students with uncontrollable telekinetic tendencies.  So why are they treating Dancia like she's special? Even the hottest guy on campus seems to be going out of his way to make Dancia feel welcome.

 

And then there's her mysterious new friend Jack, who can't stay out of trouble. He suspects something dangerous is going on at the Academy and wants Dancia to help him figure out what.  But Dancia isn't convinced. She hopes that maybe the recruiters know more about her "gift" than they're letting on. Maybe they can help her understand how to use it...But not even Dancia could have imagined what awaits her behind the gates of Delcroix Academy.

 

What have you found this week?  Feel free to leave a comment (in fact, they're encouraged!)

Friday Finds - April 30, 2010

Friday Finds was started by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

Check back each Friday to see what I've found, and make sure to stop by Should Be Reading's Friday Finds Post to see what other bloggers have found as well!

Banished by Sophie Littlefield

Publisher : Delacorte Books For Young Readers

ISBN : 978-0385738521

Release Date : October 12, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : #1 in a new series 

There isn’t much worth living for in Gypsum, Missouri—or Trashtown, as the rich kids call the run-down neighborhood where sixteen-year-old Hailey Tarbell lives. Hailey figures she’ll never belong—not with the popular kids at school, not with the rejects, not even with her cruel, sickly grandmother, who deals drugs out of their basement. Hailey never knew her dead mother, and she has no idea who her father was, but at least she has her four-year-old foster brother, Chub. Once she turns eighteen, Hailey plans to take Chub far from Gypsum and start a new life where no one can find them.

But when a classmate is injured in gym class, Hailey discovers a gift for healing that she never knew she possessed—and that she cannot ignore. Not only can she heal, she can bring the dying back to life. Confused by her powers, Hailey searches for answers but finds only more questions, until a mysterious visitor shows up at Gram’s house, claiming to be Hailey’s aunt Prairie.

There are people who will stop at nothing to keep Hailey in Trashtown, living out a legacy of despair and suffering. But when Prairie saves both Hailey and Chub from armed attackers who invade Gram’s house in the middle of the night, Hailey must decide where to place her trust. Will Prairie’s past, and the long-buried secret that caused her to leave Gypsum years earlier, ruin them all? Because as Hailey will soon find out, their power to heal is just the beginning.

This gripping novel from thriller writer Sophie Littlefield blazes a trail from small-town Missouri to the big city as Hailey battles an evil greater than she ever imagined, while discovering strengths she never knew she had.

Blindsided by Priscilla Cummings

Publisher : Dutton Juvenile

ISBN : 978-0525421610

Release Date : July 8, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : Stand Alone

In many ways, Natalie O’Reilly is a typical fourteenyear- old girl. But a routine visit to the eye doctor produces devastating news: Natalie will lose her sight within a few short months.

Suddenly her world is turned upside down. Natalie is sent to a school for the blind to learn skills such as Braille and how to use a cane. Outwardly, she does as she’s told; inwardly, she hopes for a miracle that will free her from a dreaded life of blindness. But the miracle does not come, and Natalie ultimately must confront every blind person’s dilemma. Will she go home to live scared? Or will she embrace the skills she needs to make it in a world without sight? 

Enemy Lover by Karin Harlow

Publisher : Pocket Star

ISBN : 978-1439109823

Release Date : May 25, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : Unknown

When you have no alternative, then you call in L.O.S.T. Because with the Last Option Special Team, it’s do or die. . . . 

It’s Jax Cassidy’s first mission for L.O.S.T.—one that will give the former cop who went rogue a chance to prove herself. Her assignment: gain the trust of assassin Marcus Cross . . . eliminate him . . . then take down Marcus’s mentor, Joseph Lazarus, a man with a bold eye on the White House. But the woman who’s known by her team for being a femme fatale succumbs to passion, only to discover Cross’s deadly secret. He’s a vampire, and Joseph Lazarus is his creator. 

Left for dead by his platoon in the violent hills of Afghanistan, Special Ops sniper Marcus Cross was given a second chance at life. His newly heightened skills make him the perfect killing machine, and as Lazarus’s right-hand man, he’s quickly rising to the top of his dark empire, purging enemies with speed and precision. Only when dangerous beauty Jax Cassidy is sent to bring him in does he begin to question Lazarus’s motives and his own actions. But when Jax’s life is threatened by the one thing that can destroy them both, Marcus must make a bitter choice—her death or his. 

Girl Parts by John M. Cusick

Publisher : Candlewick

ISBN : 978-0763649302

Release Date : August 10, 2010

Series or Stand Alone : 1st in new series.

"Hello, David. My name is Rose. It’s a pleasure to meet you. We are now entering minute two of our friendship. According to my Intimacy Clock, a handshake is now appropriate…"

David and Charlie are opposites. David has a million friends, online and off. Charlie is a soulful outsider, off the grid completely. But neither feels close to anybody. When David’s parents present him with a hot Companion bot to encourage healthy bonds and treat "dissociative disorder," he can’t get enough of luscious red-headed Rose — and he can’t get it soon. Companions come with strict intimacy protocols, and whenever he tries anything, David gets an electric shock. Severed from the boy she was built to love, Rose turns to Charlie, who finds he can open up, knowing Rose isn’t real. With Charlie’s help, the ideal "companion" is about to become her own best friend. 

What have you found this week?  Feel free to leave a comment (in fact, they're encouraged!)