Publisher: Dutton Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/08/2013
ISBN-13: 9780525425915
ISBN-10: 0525425918

Fiction. Can a whole life change in just a single day? Allyson Healey (a.k.a. LuLu) would say yes. Just after meeting laid-back, handsome young Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, usually-uptight LuLu impulsively travels to Paris with him for a whirlwind day of romance. When she wakes up the next morning and Willem is gone, LuLu is badly shaken -- but over the next year of her life, her first in college, she begins to explore who she really is instead of merely fulfilling her parents' expectations. Fans of author Gayle Forman's previous pair of romantic companion novels, If I Stay and Where She Went, will be pleased to know that Willem's side of the story is to be told in the book Just One Year, which publishes this fall.

Publisher: Dial Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/25/2012
ISBN-13: 9780803738157
ISBN-10: 0803738153

Mystery. Popular, privileged Nicole Castro is one of the most beautiful girls at school -- until someone throws acid on her face in a crowded hallway and then disappears. Now half of Nicole's face is permanently scarred, and the police haven't been able to determine her attacker's identity. But after Nicole and loner Jay Nazarro meet in the school psychologist's office, Jay, a talented hacker, resolves to find the culprit no matter what it takes. Told through narrative as well as with bits of evidence that Jay unearths, excerpts from Nicole's journal, and notes from her sessions with psychiatrists, this is a riveting read that, like Peter Abrahams' similarly gripping Reality Check, blends a dangerous investigation with romance.

Publisher: Scholastic Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/01/2012
ISBN-13: 9780545387897
ISBN-10: 0545387892

Science Fiction. Seventeen-year-old Banyan lives in a harsh future where plants no longer grow. He builds life-sized sculptures of trees for wealthy customers who want something beautiful to break the monotony of the ecologically devastated landscape. When Banyan is commissioned to create an entire forest of fake trees for a rich landowner, he meets a girl who holds clues to the location of the planet's last surviving trees -- and the whereabouts of Banyan's missing father. Embarking on a treacherous journey to find his dad (and the trees), Banyan encounters pirates, poachers, flesh-eating locusts, and many other dangers, making for a tense, gritty, and compelling story.

Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/06/2012
ISBN-13: 9780803737617
ISBN-10: 0803737610

Steampunk Mystery. This fun, frothy novel is full of "girl power with glitter and goggles, lit by gaslight" (Kirkus Reviews) and introduces a dynamic trio: Cora, who has an incisive intelligence and assists a mad inventor; Nellie, a bubbly yet clever girl who likes sparkly things and is the beautiful assistant to a powerful magician; and Michiko, a skilled martial artist who longs to be a proper samurai but instead works for a washed-up, duplicitous swordfighting instructor. Brought together by their shared discovery of a dead body, the three become friends -- and work together to solve the mounting number of murders occurring in foggy, early-20th-century London. While it's not for those who value historical accuracy in their fiction, this fast-paced, fun adventure is a wholly enjoyable read.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/06/2012
ISBN-13: 9780547601175
ISBN-10: 0547601174

Thriller. Perry Stormaire's life has calmed down significantly since Gobi, a Lithuanian exchange student who turned out to be a trained assassin, stormed into (and out of) his life in Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick. But when Perry's girlfriend, who works in the music industry, lands his band a 12-city European tour -- and Perry goes looking for Gobi on a whim -- explosions, double-crossings, kidnappings, boat chases in Venetian canals, and a shoot-out in the middle of a Santa Claus convention ensue. This action-packed sequel "deploys like machine-gun fire in clipped, feverishly paced chapters" (Publishers Weekly) and works in a good bit of humor and romance amidst the non-stop adventure.

Table of Contents  

Publisher: Razorbill
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/5/2006
ISBN-13: 9781595141149
ISBN-10: 1595141146

Dark Fantasy. Jack's life in London is dull until his best friend, Charlie, accepts an invitation to join a league of demon-fighters and begins to develop super powers. But Charlie's been tricked: the Scourge, an evil entity, has possessed him, incarnated as a writhing black tattoo that has a life of its own. The Scourge wants to destroy the world, and when it drags Charlie to hell to put its plans in motion, Jack has no choice but to follow. Luckily, Jack has met young warrior Esme, who has been training all her life to battle the Scourge and may be Jack and Charlie's -- and the world's -- only hope. This action-packed and suspenseful story will especially appeal to martial arts enthusiasts and is a great choice for Darren Shan's fans.

Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 1/1/2006
ISBN-13: 9780060546076
ISBN-10: 0060546077

Fiction. After 17-year-old Evan's parents divorce, he moves with his mother and sister into a broken-down Victorian house that his mom is renovating. Evan doesn't expect much to change in his life; the move hasn't required him to attend a new school or be separated from his girlfriend, Carrie. But then Evan starts having disturbing and erotic dreams about a mysterious girl he doesn't know. Turns out, the house he and his family moved into wasn't empty -- it still imprisons the ghost of Cora, a teenager who died there over 100 years before. Cora has mistaken Evan for her long-departed lover...and she wants him back. This eerie tale may not be science fiction, but fans of the tension and romance of The Host will want to give it a try.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/28/2012
ISBN-13: 9780307931887
ISBN-10: 0307931889

Fiction. Known to him/herself only as "A," the narrator of this philosophically electrifying novel wakes up every morning in the body of a different person. This constant, inexplicable change -- A is usually around the same age but has experienced different genders, ethnicities, personality types, etc. -- has made A unusually circumspect, mature, and careful not to alter anything that would impact the lives of those whose bodies s/he's inhabited. It makes for a lonely existence...until A falls in love with a girl named Rhiannon and breaks those rules, just to see her again. Like The Host, this mind-bending yet utterly accessible novel ponders "distinctions between essential human identity and its physical vessel" (Booklist) and will mesmerize fans of thought-provoking, emotional fiction.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9780373210022
ISBN-10: 0373210027

Paranormal Romance. Misunderstood and misdiagnosed as a violent schizophrenic, 16-year-old Aden Stone serves as the physical host to the souls of not one, not two, not even three, but four supernatural beings. Each of these entities has a special power -- such as raising the dead, whom Aden must then re-kill -- and when one of the souls uses its power, Aden gets the blame. This means that he's always in trouble...until Aden meets Mary Ann, who has an uncanny ability to still the four beings inside him. Fast-paced and packed with both action and romance (although not between Aden and Mary Ann -- they're just friends, and each of them finds a supernatural sweetheart), Intertwined is an intricate, page-turning read.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Graphia
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/21/2005
ISBN-13: 9780618585328
ISBN-10: 061858532X

Fiction. Although Helen died 130 years ago, her spirit is still bound to the earthly plane -- and she has "cleaved" to one human host after another, watching the world around her but not really participating in it. Currently, Helen observes the world through the body of a high school English teacher, and one day, she is startled to realize that one of the teacher's students can see her within the host! That student, James, recognizes Helen as a fellow "Light," or unmoored spirit, and this sensuous, beautifully written novel tells the story of how the two of them -- in other people's bodies -- fall in love.

First Chapter