The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
The Scoop:
On New World, in the town of Prentisstown, Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. But Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts (including animals) in an overwhelming, constant stream of Noise. Just a month before the birthday that makes Todd a man, he and his faithful dog, Manchee, whose simple, loyal voice he also hears happen upon an area of complete silence. While Todd tries to keep thoughts of the silence out of his Noise he fails. He knows that the silence is part of an even larger secret the powerful men of Prentisstown are trying to hide from him and ends up on the run from them with only Manchee as his companion. Todd and Manchee return to the location where they first heard nothing and the two stumble upon the strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? They convince her they mean no harm and encourage her to join their escape. And, so, Todd, Manchee and Viola must try and escape from their pursuers who can hear their every thoughts.
The Forgotten Locket by Lisa Mangum
The Scoop:
As we start with the final book of the Hourglass Door Trilogy Abby has follwed through with her decision to go through the version of the hourglass door she created (built with Dante's blueprints from the time of da Vinci after the original one was destroyed) in order to close the loop to save Dante from blindness and possible death. But, it's not as simple as it sounds. Abby has to battle Zo (Dante's evil equal as a Master of Time), assimilate into a new time period so she herself doesn't get thrown in the dungeon and become useless, make sure the people that are from that time period (Dante and his brother, Orlando) don't run into their present (or past?) selves, and try and keep the river from rendering the (correct)present time non-existent. Will Abby be able to harness the power of time and the river and find out her own magical connection to the river, the bank and time before Zo takes away her one chance to save Dante and her family from a future that is anything but shiny?
My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody
The Scoop:
At two years of age "Baby Brooklyn" fell down a mine shaft. At 15 years of age Brooklyn (no longer Baby) listens to her best friend, Shayne, and decides to host a party in one of her mom's model homes and it catches on fire. In between there have been other decisions that had unfortunate circumstances and the house fire was the culminating disaster that led Brooks to believe that she was incapable of making good decisions. As her community service requirement for the house fire she is scheduled to assist at a local nursing home and becomes the sole entertainment of Mrs. Moody whose one and only form of diversion from her usually "moody" mood is being read to from the book series Choose the Story. In this series the reader makes various decisions to move the story along all in the hopes of coming to the end of the book as the victorious adventurer (but the majority of the storylines end up resulting in the adventurer's death). During the reading of these books to Mrs. Moody, Brooklyn comes up with the idea of getting other people to make decisions for her by creating a blog and polling her readers. And though some of her polls were unimportant in the grand scheme of things (to read The Grapes of Wrath or The Old Man and the Sea or whether or not to try out for the rugby team) there were some tough decisions that she put on the polls that Brooklyn left up to total strangers. Whether to stick with high-maintenence popularity and her faithless "best friend" by taking the path provided by the sexy new student, "Rhett Butler" or to take a new path of semi-ivisibility by becoming closer with "Heimlich" the debate team boy that saved her from choking. These decisions, plus many others, are on Brooklyn's path to finding out who and what she wants to be and in finally understanding WHO she is means maybe she can have her life decided.
The Indigo Notebook by Laura Resau
The Scoop:
Zeeta and her free-spirited, wanderlust, ESL-teaching, Rumi-quoting mother Layla have lived in 15 different countries. That's one country for each year that Zeeta has been alive. And for each of those countries, Zeeta has kept a notebook (well, since she could write, at least) that holds her observations, thoughts and the stories of the native people. This year, the year of living in Otavalo, Ecuador, Zeeta has an indigo notebook.
Now, more than ever (she's just three years away from going to college) with the year-after-year of moves and making new friends and learning new customs Zeeta wishes for her mother to finally grow some roots and just "stick." And, maybe, Zeeta's wish is going to come true in Ecuador. Even while enlisting her newfound friends at the local market to find a potential suitor for her mother Zeeta notices subtle changes in her mother. Because, after a near-death experience at a waterfall her mother is beginning to morph into somebody who could be more tradtional, more grounded, more parental. Layla goes from having a boyfriend that is a surfing clown (even down to making making balloon animals) to one that is more stable and has a career in the business world. During this time Zeeta has met an American teenager named Wendell who has traveled to Otavalo to find out the identities of his birth parents. Zeeta agrees to become his translator and they set out on a journey to learn of the Otavalenos and the Quechua Indians that might hold an answer to Wendell's heritage. And, Zeeta, besides being tasked to help Wendell to find answers to his own life (and mysterious abilities) might be finding out that maybe the life she's always been dreaming about isn't exactly what she wants after all.
Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs
The Scoop:
We pick up a few weeks after Lily and Quince are have their bond severed after the accidental kiss in the prequel, Forgive My Fins. The bond, however, opened Lily's eyes to how she really feels about Quince and they have become very close in a very short time. In Fins are Forever we are joined by Lily's cousin Dosinia (or Doe as she's called) who has been exiled from their underwater kingdom of Thalassinia by Lily's father, King Whelk. As an exile Doe doesn't have any of her mer-powers and must rely upon Lily for guidance on living in the human world. If you read the first book you will know that there is no love lost between the two girls and it is very begrudgingly that Doe accepts Lily's advice and teachings.
As a result of Lily's relationship with Quince she has decided to forfeit her reign as a mer-queen to live on land with the boy she loves. The life altering decision must also include what she will do with her life (instead of ruling Thalassinia like it was always expected). Along this path of decision-making Lily must find out the reason Doe was exiled and why she did what she did and determine the real reason her guppyhood friend Tellin has sought her out after all these years. Does he really want to just renew an old friendship or is there something more he isn't telling her?
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
The Scoop:
Kyra Leigh Carlson is almost 14 years old. Kyra loves books. Kyra is in love with Joshua. But those two loves don't matter because Kyra is one of The Chosen Ones. The Chosen Ones are a isolated, polygamous cult. And, Kyra, along with her 21 brothers and sisters, her three mothers, her father and everybody else in the Compound are under the rule of the Prophet Childs. Under his "reign," any book except the bible has been outlawed and removed from the Compound. It is also forbidden to be seen with, let alone touch or kiss, a sect member of the opposite sex. With her secretive trips to the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels for contraband reading and her clandestine midnight meetings with 16-year-old Joshua, Kyra is already wallowing in the guilt of her sins. When her family is family is visited by the Prophet and his Apostles it is assumed that it is to announce that her father will become a new apostle for The Chosen Ones. They are all stunned, none more than Kyra, when the announcement is that Prophet Childs has had a vision and it is of Kyra becoming the seventh wife to her 60-plus-year-old uncle. With the books from the Mobile Library (like Harry Potter and Bridge to Terabithia) opening her eyes to a bigger world than what she experiences closed off in her compound and Joshua's love opening her heart to more possibilities in life as well as the abject horror and repulsion she feels at becoming a wife to her uncle, Kyra begins a struggle within herself on whether she should stay with the family she loves and the life that she knows or run from the horrible future ahead into something completely unknown.
So, a few weeks ago I WOW'd about Maggie Stiefvater's upcoming book, The Scorpio Races. Now the book trailer has been released with original artwork and music by Maggie herself (I'm pretty sure you can call her a triple threat--she writes, she is artistically talented and she is musically inclined--if I didn't love all the stuff she did I'm sure I'd envy her talents) and it is pretty amazing.
Not only is there a fabulous trailer to drool over but there is also a CONTEST where you can win one of three autographed (and doodled) copies of The Scorpio Races. Even if you don't win you can preorder your very own autographed copy of the book (and her others) for a nominal fee here.
This contest ends August 21st!
Hourglass by Myra McEntire
The Scoop:
Emerson Cole has been through a lot. She has lost both of her parents in a tragic accident while on a family ski vacation, she had a mental breakdown and was committed to an institution and, oh yeah, she sees dead people. Her brother, Thomas and his wife Dru have taken guardianship of Emerson and her brother has tried specialist after "specialist" to help Emerson with the people that she is seeing. They finally find some help when Michael Weaver from someplace called Hourglass (which is just as mysterious as the people that Emerson sees). Finally, Emerson finds a kindred spirit (literally--their connection is so strong it causes lights to short out) who knows exactly what she what she is dealing with. Michael sees the same people that Emerson does. Michael is able to answer most of Emerson's questions. And, oh yeah, Michael wants Emerson to help him travel to the past to save his mentor. Emerson must trust her delicate state of mind to a vitual stranger who wants her to do the craziest sounding thing.
The Big Crunch by Pete Hautman
The Scoop:
Wes and June don't have a fun "how we met" story. They kinda, sorta, literally bumped into each other after floating in and out of each others orbits at school.
Wes had broken up with his girlfriend and the beginning of the school year and June had just moved to Minnesota--her sixth move in four years due to her father's job as a workout specialist (not as in gym club but as in turning failing companies around). Wes was flailing through life, not really sure what was going on with himself and June was, well, essentially consolation-dating his best friend, Jerry. After so many moves she had her friend-making plans down pat--"find a group of girls she could hang with, and a guy." If she hung out with the book club she'd end up with a "moody Chuck Palahniuk/Kurt Vonnegue/Life-Sucks-and-Then-You-Die" brooder. If she joined the high-fashion crowd it would be "a guy witha thumb ring, always playing with his hair and agonizing over the length of his jeans." And, if she tried out for cheerleading she'd end up with some jock. In the end, June befriends a trio of girls self-named "The Three Bitches" (like Musketeers) who have the self-appointed job of having fun. Things roll along smoothly between Wes and June and their respective friends and social circles until the night the literally knock each other senseless in a grocery store. June, for all her moving and leaving things behind, suddenly wants to belong and create more permanent relationships. Wes, after being unfocused in school and in life suddenly finds his life and wildly fluctuating emotions revolving around June and what she is doing--these wild emotions end up hurting and costing him his best friend. This story isn't about a passionate romance with adventure and jealousies. This is the subtle story of two people who didn't think they needed each other finding out what it means to be in love.
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
The Scoop:
Meet Sam LaCroix, college drop-out, fast food worker, and, oh, yeah, necromancer. Meet Douglas, head of the Council and all-around powerful necromancer. As we start the story Sam doesn't know he's a necromancer until he gets busted for smashing the tail light of Douglas's car during a rousing game of potato hockey. Douglas threatens Sam because he hasn't "registered" with the Council for the region. Sam is clueless about having any powers because his mother, a witch, and his uncle, a fellow necromancer, had his powers bound when he was a baby. Douglas doesn't care and decides to take matters into his own hands by kidnapping Sam, throwing him into a cage with Brid, a fellow abductee who happens to be a were-hound, and forcing him to learn the trade of necromancy. How will Sam get out of this jam in one piece? Along the way he is helped by his friends, Ramon, Frank and poor, be-headed Brooke, his mother and sister, and a waffle-loving harbinger named Ashley. Sam learns about his powers and finally finds some focus in his life after drifting along and not really feeling like he had a place in the world.
And, drum roll, please. Here is my very first review posting on my brand new book review blog (and bear with me as I find my legs in this venture and fine-tune my reviews over time). And I made it extra special by reviewing the first three books in the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. Reviews of the novellas in the series and the fourth book will be added post haste (or post when I get a chance to read them). Click on the title links to take you to the goodreads.com summary of each book.
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
We meet Meghan Chase just before her 16th birthday when all she is hoping for is that her mother remembers that she is supposed to take her to get her learner's permit--the learner's permit that will lead to a driver's license that will get her out of the backwoods pig farm where she grew up. (Well, where she grew up after she and her mother moved after her father's mysterious disappearance into a lake.) This doesn't ever end up mattering because between the time that school ends for the day and the time she finally gets home (after walking home when she thinks her mother has forgotten her promise about the learner's permit) her best friend, Robbie Goodfell, has given a pig nose to one of their classmates, Meghan has seen a mysterious pale-faced, dark haired boy watching her from the woods and her little brother has been replaced by a very vicious changeling who has attacked and wounded Meghan's mother. It's a this point that Meghan learns that she is the half-breed daughter of Oberon, King of the Seelie Court and Robbie is actually Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck, King Oberon's favorite lackey. Meghan and Puck venture into Nevernever to try and rescue her brother and defeat the Iron Fey and King Machina, who are trying to use the electonic/industrial advancements of humans to feed their rise.
