tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77079858046847828822017-07-23T07:18:46.738-05:00BooksYALoveSearching for compelling young adult books beyond the popular bestsellers? You're in the right place! Discover outstanding YA books as we mine the catalogs of smaller presses and publishers' booklists for the really good stuff.Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.comBlogger326125BooksYALovehttps://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-54470046809694215112013-03-30T10:00:00.001-05:002013-03-30T10:00:02.361-05:00Moving right along - BooksYALove's new home base (reflective)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zqS10DwiFJA/UVLroJC404I/AAAAAAAAKow/9BHlDihy1lw/s1600/cat+on+books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="drawing of cat lying atop short stack of old books" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zqS10DwiFJA/UVLroJC404I/AAAAAAAAKow/9BHlDihy1lw/s320/cat+on+books.jpg" height="189" title="" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">courtesy of Dover Publications - free clipart for teachers</td></tr></tbody></table>After 325 posts, over 275 books recommended, and a goodly number of blog challenges, the BooksYALove blog is finally moving to its own website - <a href="http://booksyalove.com/">BooksYALove.com</a> - taking all its back-stock of enhanced book reviews, comments, and queries over there, too.<br /><br />So if this final post on the Blogger iteration of BooksYALove reached you by email or RSS, please come to <a href="http://booksyalove.com/">BooksYALove.com</a> and subscribe there - takes just a moment.&nbsp; And do change your bookmark to the new address, as I won't be adding any more book recommendations here.<br /><br />Yes, I still have a large bookcase filled with last year's books which I'll be recommending on <a href="http://booksyalove.com/">BooksYALove.com</a> as the <a href="http://evie-bookish.blogspot.com/p/welcome-to-2012-tbr-pile-reading.html" target="_blank">TBR2012 Challenge</a> continues through this year, new books arriving daily that I can't wait to tell you about, and 26 never-seen-before reviews for the <a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html" target="_blank">April Blogging AtoZ Challenge</a> that will appear on <a href="http://booksyalove.com/">BooksYALove.com</a> every day in April (except Sundays).<br /><br />The <a href="http://michellerafter.com/2013/03/11/the-2013-wordcount-blogathon-is-moving-to-june/" target="_blank">WordCount 2013 Blogathon</a> begins June 1st and will include at least one guest blogger recommending a favorite young adult book, some book haiku, word clouds, and a "favorite five" post. Check back with <a href="http://michellerafter.com/2013/03/11/the-2013-wordcount-blogathon-is-moving-to-june/" target="_blank">Michelle</a> in April for free registration; it's a great way to start your blog, enhance your blog-writing skills, and meet bloggers in your field and beyond.&nbsp; In fact, BooksYALove got its start just in time for the WordCount 2011 Blogathon!<br /><br />Happy reading continues at <a href="http://booksyalove.com/">BooksYALove.com</a> - c'mon over!<br />**kmm</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/V_yChpvEAhQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/moving-right-along-booksyaloves-new.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-29358019293923813482013-03-29T10:00:00.000-05:002013-04-06T22:21:48.604-05:00TBR2012 Challenge Marches On (reflective) - more 2012 titles recommended, more to go!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v9Pw2-Rl7QQ/UUtJk7u09II/AAAAAAAAKlM/9VErjpxnkBg/s1600/walking+stickman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="sketch of tired stickman walking from OpenClipartLibrary" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v9Pw2-Rl7QQ/UUtJk7u09II/AAAAAAAAKlM/9VErjpxnkBg/s320/walking+stickman.jpg" height="320" title="Onward!" width="175" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Onward!</td></tr></tbody></table>Another swath of my to-be-reviewed-2012 bookshelf cleared in March, bringing my total to 28 this-year recommendations of last year's books, including my <a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/01/january-progress-on-tbr2012-challenge.html">January</a> and <a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/rocketing-through-tbr2012-challenge.html" target="_blank">February</a> lists.<br /><br />Just in case you missed a few, try these 2012 titles:<br /><br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/dark-unwinding-by-sharon-cameron.html" target="_blank"><i>The Dark Unwinding</i></a> - Sharon Cameron<br /><br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/exposure-by-kim-askew-amy-helmes.html"><i>Exposure</i></a>&nbsp; - Kim Askew and Amy Helmes<i> </i><i>&nbsp;</i><br /><br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/mothership-by-martin-leicht-and-isla.html"><i>Mothership</i></a> - Martin Leicht and Isla Neal<i>&nbsp;</i><br /><br /><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/Accidental%20Hero%20-Jack%20Blank%20#1%20(fiction)%22%20href=%22http://booksyalove.com/2011/07/accidental-hero-jack-blank-1-fiction.html" target="_blank">The Secret War</a> (Jack Blank #2)</i> - Matt Myklusch<i>&nbsp;</i><br /><br /><i><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/sisters-red-by-jackson-pearce-fiction.html">Sisters Red</a>&nbsp; </i>- Jackson Pearce<i>&nbsp;</i><br /><br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/tempestuous-by-kim-askew-amy-helmes.html" target="_blank"><i>Tempestuous</i></a>&nbsp; - Kim Askew and Amy Helmes<br /><br />Making pretty good progress on the <a href="http://evie-bookish.blogspot.com/p/welcome-to-2012-tbr-pile-reading.html">TBR2012 Challenge at Evie's Bookish blog</a>, but wait till you see the list after the <a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html" target="_blank">Blogging from A to Z Challenge</a> in April!<br /><br />(sketch of Stickyman Tired courtesy of OpenClipArtLibrary <br /><a href="http://openclipart.org/detail/86137/stickyman-tired-by-cybergedeon">http://openclipart.org/detail/86137/stickyman-tired-by-cybergedeon</a>) </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/f3AltZAF75o" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/tbr2012-challenge-marches-on-reflective.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-86955960734302039172013-03-27T10:00:00.000-05:002013-03-27T10:00:06.451-05:00Secret War, by Matt Myklusch (fiction) - superhero-in-training with a deadly secret<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OLkM9DAg5W8/UVG_8HCbRrI/AAAAAAAAKoc/rKykLRxmQZo/s1600/Secret+War.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of The Secret War by Matt Myklusch published by Simon Schuster" border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OLkM9DAg5W8/UVG_8HCbRrI/AAAAAAAAKoc/rKykLRxmQZo/s200/Secret+War.jpg" title="" width="131" /></a></div>Job-shadowing true <a href="http://www.comicvine.com/teams/" target="_blank">superheroes</a>!<br />Saving humanity from brutal <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/robots/4343893" target="_blank">invading robots</a>!<br />Finding the robot virus too close to home...<br /><br />From a bleak orphanage to the technological marvels of the Imagine Nation, Jack has now found true friends, a productive outlet for his power to <a href="http://www.howstuffworks.com/m2m-communication.htm" target="_blank">communicate with machines</a>, and a growing sense of dread regarding the Rustov virus that has crept into his new home city.<br /><br />You can get all three books in the Jack Blank series now at your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a>.<br /><br />Be sure to read book one, <i>The Accidental Hero</i> (my no-spoiler review <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Accidental%20Hero%20-Jack%20Blank%20#1%20(fiction)%22%20href=%22http://booksyalove.com/2011/07/accidental-hero-jack-blank-1-fiction.html" target="_blank">here</a>) before you meet up with the Secreteers in book two, and yes, I'll have a recommendation of <i>The End of Infinity</i>&nbsp; (book three) on BooksYALove soon!<br /><br />How can you tell whether an inner voice is friend or foe?<br />**kmm<br /><br /><b>Book info:</b> The Secret War (Jack Blank #2) / Matt Myklusch. Aladdin/Simon &amp; Schuster, 2011 hardcover, 2012 paperback. [<a href="http://www.jackblank.com/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Secret-War/Matt-Myklusch/Jack-Blank-Adventure-A/9781416995647" target="_blank">publisher site</a>]<br /><br />&lt;strong&gt;My Recommendation&lt;/strong&gt;:&nbsp; Jack has found his place in the world at last, a superhero-in-training in the Imagine Nation. But some still think he has connection to the evil Rustov who won’t stop until they’ve conquered all worlds, and something inside Jack whispers that they might be right!<br /><br />Called into the real world on an emergency with their superhero mentors, Jack and his classmates have their first brush with the Secreteers who keep humanity in the dark about the Imagine Nation. Selective memory wipes erase the superheroes’ involvement in these outside rescues, although Jack is sure he saw the true form of one Secreteer.<br /><br />Jack’s gift of communicating with any machinery leads him to investigate the rumored Rustov virus that’s targeting the Mecha citizens of his city – another secret to hide from his School of Thought friends, like his growing concern that he really could turn into the most feared enemy of all.<br /><br />When a rogue Secreteer announces that he’ll sell any and all secrets of the Imagine Nation to the highest bidder, the young superheroes decide to track him down before he can further endanger everyone. But how can you find the best-hidden place in the universe?<br /><br />Will Jonas Smart buy the secrets and discover that Jack might truly become Revile?<br />Can Jack disarm the virus before it infects the city with evil?<br />Can he dismiss the new voice inside him that swears it is Rustov?<br /><br />This second book in the Jack Blank trilogy follows the astounding developments in Jack’s life told in book one, <i>The Accidental Hero</i>,&nbsp; and sets the stage for the mighty war at <i>The End of Infinity</i>,&nbsp; book three.&nbsp; (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.abookandahug.com/">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/0oDIYBiW1ps" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/secret-war-by-matt-myklusch-fiction.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-27309295679459540932013-03-25T10:00:00.000-05:002013-03-28T08:52:54.167-05:00April's AtoZ Blog Challenge (reflective) - 26 letters, 26 new book recommendations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fbhzvS1QPR0/UUxLYsg-llI/AAAAAAAAKnw/1Uk1KftN_IE/s1600/Mouse+w+umbrella+Dover.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="drawiing of mouse walking with big umbrella from Dover free clipart" border="0" height="185" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fbhzvS1QPR0/UUxLYsg-llI/AAAAAAAAKnw/1Uk1KftN_IE/s200/Mouse+w+umbrella+Dover.gif" title="" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">April showers of books!</td></tr></tbody></table>Twenty-six letters.<br />Twenty-six blog posts.<br />Twenty-six new book recommendations.<br />April showers - of books!<br /><br />You've heard the expression, "If you want something done, ask a busy person." That must be the reason that I'm taking on the <a href="http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html" target="_blank">Blogging from A to Z Challenge</a> again this April (especially after my so-so experience with it last year). Mainly, I'm using the A through Z theme to help clear more off my To Be Reviewed shelf of last year's titles, so that will get me further along on the <a href="http://evie-bookish.blogspot.com/2012/12/2013-tbr-pile-reading-challenge-sign-ups.html" target="_blank">TBR2012 Challenge</a>, too.<br /><br />Most are fiction books (over half with pre-2013 copyright dates), with a couple of brand-new nonfiction titles to keep it interesting.<br /><br />AND my new website is nearly done, so all BooksYALove posts (old and new) will be there very soon. I'll let y'all know when it goes live and will leave a notice at this site to make sure folks find it if they come to the party later.<br /><br />**kmm </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/KE_1FDZZMco" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com2http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/aprils-atoz-blog-challenge-reflective.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-35398064994239472232013-03-22T10:00:00.000-05:002013-03-22T10:00:10.670-05:00Exposure, by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes (fiction) - Predictions, fame, love, death<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJRXfby3DT4/UT3vMj2H8jI/AAAAAAAAKj8/TKZlr1qsf98/s1600/Exposure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Exposure by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes published by Merit Press" border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJRXfby3DT4/UT3vMj2H8jI/AAAAAAAAKj8/TKZlr1qsf98/s200/Exposure.jpg" title="" width="129" /></a></div>Competitive pals Duff and Duncan,<br />Three <a href="http://www.phillipcharette.com/yupik/yupik_masks.html">masks</a> predict doom,<br /><a href="http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/macbeth/Blood.html">Bloodstain</a> that will not wash away...<br />in an Alaskan high school instead of medieval Scotland.<br /><br />Welcome to the second book in Askew and Helmes' Twisted Lit series, definitely as brooding as <a href="http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/full.html">Shakespeare's "Macbeth"</a> which inspired it, as dark as the long winter nights in Skye's hometown of <a href="http://www.anchorage.net/ak/winter">Anchorage</a>, as dangerous as Beth's desperation to rise above her modest beginnings.<br /><br />If you know the "<a href="http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2267/whats-the-story-on-the-curse-of-em-macbeth-em">Scottish play</a>" well, some twists here will still surprise you; if not, you'll find that the plotline is largely faithful to the original, so you will have a better chance of following all the action in the play when you read it yourself.<br /><br />How far should ambition take us? How far is too far?<br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Exposure (Twisted Lit #2) / Kim Askew and Amy Helmes. Merit Press, 2013.&nbsp; [<a href="http://kimaskew.com/" target="_blank">Kim's website</a>]&nbsp; [<a href="http://amyhelmes.com/" target="_blank">Amy's website</a>] &nbsp; [<a href="http://www.adamsmedia.com/merit-press-books" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] &nbsp; [<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecxzoxeBffs" target="_blank">book series trailer</a>] <b>&nbsp;</b><b></b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Skye would rather be home in Anchorage, but how could she stay after what Craig did? A boyfriend who killed someone…</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">The summer that he moved north for his dad’s job, cute sophomore Craig hung out with Skye, but once school started, he was rapidly drawn into the popular clique. Skye would much rather hide out in the art room than listen to Beth and her posse giggle and posture. Just one more year, then she can get out of here…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">As photographer for the school paper, Skye at least gets to see Craig through her telephoto lens at hockey games. The team was lucky that he’d turned out to be a great power forward since their star player Duff had suddenly gone to Scotland as an exchange student. Rumor has it that former girlfriend Beth had something to do with that, but now she’s all over Craig. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Skye wishes that everything were as easy as developing film (yes, she’s old school about that). Then she could un-separate her parents, un-commit to going to prom with dorky Lenny, un-hear the eerie predictions coming out of the Native Yu’Pik masks worn by her three best pals for their art project.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">She told Craig that the party in the woods would only be a drunkfest, but came along anyway just to make his social-climber girlfriend mad. When flashlight tag in the snow begins, Skye retreats to the jeep, never dreaming that she’d overhear Beth telling him they’d keep it all a secret, never imagining that hockey player Duncan would be found dead beside the half-frozen creek the next day or that the police would still be investigating weeks later. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Life sort of goes on at school after Duncan’s death, with the crush of college applications, protests against chopping down its 200-year-old courtyard tree, the Running of the Reindeer and other efforts to keep the long Arctic winter at bay. Beth is sure that she and Craig will be Prom King and Queen, despite her increasingly bizarre behavior.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">How can Skye go away to college if Mom and Dad really do split up? Money was tight before they separated…</div><div class="MsoNormal">What’s the secret that Beth and Craig are keeping? It seems to be eating away at them…</div><div class="MsoNormal">Are the answers in Skye’s huge collection of senior year photos? Those eerie predictions might be right…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Macbeth</i> under the Northern Lights, this sinister tale uses quotations from “the Scottish play” as its chapter headings in Askew and Helmes’ second book of the Twisted Lit series.&nbsp; (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/4N85D41-mpc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/exposure-by-kim-askew-amy-helmes.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-40636055180680033912013-03-20T10:00:00.000-05:002013-03-22T11:29:00.872-05:00Mothership, by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal (fiction) - pregnant teens, space yacht, attacked!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fVIWCjWYdjo/UTn5I0YvO6I/AAAAAAAAKjs/Hatpc8JGCr4/s1600/Mothership.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Mothership by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal published by Simon Schuster BFYR" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fVIWCjWYdjo/UTn5I0YvO6I/AAAAAAAAKjs/Hatpc8JGCr4/s200/Mothership.jpg" title="" width="131" /></a></div><a href="http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-teen-pregnancy#" target="_blank">Pregnant at sixteen</a>,<br />the dad leaves town,<br />by 2074, some things haven't changed.<br /><br />But having such a surplus of unused earth-orbiting luxury cruise ships that one can be repurposed into a school for unwed mothers? That definitely puts this book into sci fi category (<a href="http://www.ghosttheory.com/2011/05/04/alien-abduction-of-woman-caught-on-cctv" target="_blank">aliens</a> as high school teachers and vid-ads targeted to your personal nutritional and health needs are just bonus!)<br />&nbsp; <br />You can find Elvie's rather offbeat pregnancy journey at your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a> as it's a 2012 release (still waiting on publication date for book 2).<br /><br />Anyone you know been abducted by aliens lately? <br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Mothership (The Ever-Expanding Universe, Book 1) / Martin Leicht and Isla Neal. Simon &amp; Schuster BFYR, 2012. [<a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.ca/Martin-Leicht/81533918/author_revealed" target="_blank">Martin's info</a>]&nbsp; [<a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.net/Isla-Neal/81533923/author_revealed" target="_blank">Isla's info</a>]&nbsp; [<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lukNiwZYfyw" target="_blank">video interview</a>] &nbsp; [<a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Mothership/Martin-Leicht/Ever-Expanding-Universe-The/9781442429604" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] [<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6KxtOux5Jc" target="_blank">book trailer</a>] <b>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Elvie wanted to go into space, but as part of the Mars colonization project, not as a pregnant teen in the first-ever low-orbit high school for unwed mothers… Getting attacked by paramilitaries wasn’t part of the plan either, but Elvie still has some brains despite the Bump.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">She’s been planning her whole life to travel everywhere, like her mom didn’t get to do, dying when Elvie was born, leaving behind a huge book of maps with notes about future family trips. Her dad has an emergency plan for absolutely any possible (or improbable) event and decides that Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers is just the place for her; he obviously didn’t know that Elvie’s nemesis in the Class of 2076 would be part of the school’s first group, too.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">And the baby’s daddy? Vanished into thin air as soon as Elvie told him the news. Thankfully, she has best-friend-for-life Ducky as backup; that guy is so dorky about researching pregnancy stuff. Too bad he’s on Earth, and Elvie’s in orbit with snooty cheerleader Britta, who got pregnant a couple of weeks before her. No, Elvie won’t tell her that Cole fathered both babies; she doesn’t have a death wish.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">When an unexpected ship docks onto the space cruise liner, Hanover is boarded by paramilitary forces…including Cole, who tells Elvie that her teachers are aliens and that their babies aren’t exactly their own anymore. She decides her baby belongs on Earth when it’s born in a few weeks, so she and the other very-pregnant teens waddle through escape routes and try to sabotage the aliens’ plans along the way.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">If the teachers are aliens, what are the paramilitary guys?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Should Elvie believe the handsome hunk who knocked her up and left town?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Will there be any chocolate-pretzel-caramel-prenatal ice cream left in the snack center?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In this first book in the Ever-Expanding Universe series, Elvie’s life changes drastically in a short time; the rest of Earth’s population is in for a big surprise as well!&nbsp; (Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher)</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/K61Tnj2ynyU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/mothership-by-martin-leicht-and-isla.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-9975237744449372992013-03-18T10:00:00.000-05:002013-03-18T10:00:11.904-05:00Sisters Red, by Jackson Pearce (fiction) - werewolf-hunting sisters long for love<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ej5siC-6FwM/UTiiOHqG13I/AAAAAAAAKjM/rzJZ44Z7JtM/s1600/Sisters+Red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce published by LBTeen" border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ej5siC-6FwM/UTiiOHqG13I/AAAAAAAAKjM/rzJZ44Z7JtM/s200/Sisters+Red.jpg" title="" width="131" /></a></div>Remote town or <a href="http://www.ajc.com/s/news/local/" target="_blank">crowded city</a>,<br />more "missing" young women reported,<br />time to hunt down the <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/werewolf.htm" target="_blank">werewolves</a>.<br /><br />The first in Pearce's Fairytale Retellings, <i>Sisters Red</i>&nbsp; takes the Little Red Riding Hood tale several steps into the present-day with chilling effectiveness.<br /><br />The Atlanta-based author keeps her Retellings series firmly rooted in today's South with <a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2011/08/sweetly-fiction.html" target="_blank"><i>Sweetly</i></a> (Hansel and Gretel...and Fenris) and <a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2012/10/fathomless-by-jackson-pearce-fiction.html" target="_blank"><i>Fathomless</i></a> (the Little Mermaid...and Fenris). Click the title links to go to my no-spoiler recommendations.<br /><br />Which cover art do you prefer - the new paperback release with the hatchet or the original hardback and paperback art with the two girls' faces and those red wolfeyes?<br />**kmm <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4cKyu7WlNO4/UTnnKIrY21I/AAAAAAAAKjc/qrrq6BGRmJY/s1600/SistersRed1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="original paperback cover of Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce published by LBTeen" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4cKyu7WlNO4/UTnnKIrY21I/AAAAAAAAKjc/qrrq6BGRmJY/s200/SistersRed1.jpg" title="" width="132" /></a></div><b>Book info</b>: Sisters Red (Fairytale Retellings #1) / Jackson Pearce. LB Teen, 2010 hardback, 2011 paperback. [<a href="http://jackson-pearce.com/bio/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jackson-pearce/sisters-red/9780316068673/" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] [<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMZUGMuwKzI" target="_blank">book trailer</a>] <b>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>:&nbsp; Girls are disappearing – time for Rosie and Scarlett to take up their hatchets, don their red cloaks, and hunt down the werewolves again. Perhaps the teen sisters can kill enough of these Fenris before their power becomes too strong…</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Closer than twins, Scarlett and Rosie feel like they are one heart divided between two people and that they have a mission to protect people from the Fenris who slaughtered their grandmother, clawed out Scarlett’s right eye, left the March sisters selling off Oma’s things to stay afloat – hunting killer werewolves near and far leaves no time for a regular job. At least Silas is back from California, back to being their nearest neighbor out in the Georgia countryside, even if he didn’t take the traditional woodsman’s path like the rest of his family.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Attacks on young women during the Apple Time Festival reveal that outside clans of Fenris are converging on their area, and the sisters’ scan of the news tells them that Atlanta is getting hit hard. It’s Silas who suggests that they temporarily move to the city to deal with the werewolf outbreak, the three of them hunting together again to keep unwitting victims safe.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Now the trio has a whole new landscape to learn, trying to remain unseen as they stalk the leering men whose skin bursts forth into full fur when their prey has no more way to escape, the two girls donning mysterious red capes to entice the Fenris away from others and into the death trap of their hatchets and knives.<br /><br />Silas insists that Rosie do something – just one thing – that’s not Fenris-related so she can keep her mind and soul together, so she tries an origami class. In the calm classroom, Rosie wonders if she’ll fight the Fenris forever, if she could have a future with Silas.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">What is luring the other Fenris into territory not their own?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Can the three young people stop them?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Is there more to life than fighting away this darkness?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Told in alternating chapters by Rosie and Scarlett, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sisters Red</i> brings an old fairytale into the here and now as the author’s home city is plagued by werewolves.&nbsp; (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/_MTYZzuJJdc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/sisters-red-by-jackson-pearce-fiction.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-3779758008410561702013-03-15T10:00:00.000-05:002013-03-22T13:20:37.504-05:00Tempestuous, by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes (fiction) - blizzard, robbery, clique wars, corndogs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b_zIEiVa2Hw/UTSu7hDvsVI/AAAAAAAAKic/o4PAtlA3Cy4/s1600/tempestuous.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Tempestuous by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes published by Merit Press" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b_zIEiVa2Hw/UTSu7hDvsVI/AAAAAAAAKic/o4PAtlA3Cy4/s200/tempestuous.jpg" title="" width="129" /></a></div>Popular crowd versus geek teens,<br />Trapped together by a blizzard<br />With <a href="http://www.wilsonsignalbooster.com/causes-of-bad-cell-phone-reception/" target="_blank">bad cellphone reception</a>... and a robber!<br /><br />It's <a href="http://gossipgirl.wikia.com/wiki/Gossip_Girl_%28novel_series%29" target="_blank"><i>Gossip Girl</i></a>&nbsp; and <a href="http://www.macgyveronline.com/pages/macgyverisms.html" target="_blank">MacGyver</a> woven into Shakespeare's play <a href="http://shakespeare.mit.edu/tempest/full.html" target="_blank">The Tempest</a> as authors Kim Askew and Amy Helmes throw the Bard's heroine Miranda Prospero into a winter-whipped shopping mall with Ariel as her corndog-cooking sidekick.<br /><br />Check your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a> for this first book in the Twisted Lit series from new publisher Merit Press.<br /><br />Kind of crazy, lots of fun! What other Shakespeare remixes do you know of? <br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Tempestuous (Twisted Lit #1) / Kim Askew and Amy Helmes. Merit Press, 2012. [<a href="http://kimaskew.com/" target="_blank">Kim's website</a>]&nbsp; [<a href="http://amyhelmes.com/" target="_blank">Amy's website</a>] &nbsp; [<a href="http://www.adamsmedia.com/merit-press-books" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] &nbsp; [<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwJikwdEPe0" target="_blank">book trailer</a>] <b>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Trudging through the snow toward the mall, Miranda again laments the unfairness of her life. Forced to work at a corndog stand in the mall to pay back the finks who turned her tutoring-matchmaking service into a cheating scam, Daddy taking away her platinum charge cards, wearing this hideous uniform with the revolving-wienie hat… at least other teens working in the mall turn to her for advice in sticky situations.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Thank goodness perky co-worker Ariel also pulled this Saturday night shift at Hot Dog Kebob, so Miranda can throw her a surprise birthday party for her after closing. The petite home-schooled 17-year-old deserves the ice cream cake that Grady the security cop will pick up later. Maybe moody Caleb from the game store and gangly Chad from the sports store will come by, but no one has seen their pal Mike from collectibles tonight.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The news is forecasting blizzard conditions overnight so the food court supervisor leaves early; in fact, most customers are heading out, but the closing employees must stay to lock up. Too bad Miranda’s ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend didn’t go when they could – the mall doors are now completely blocked by snow! No one is getting home from here tonight and the mall cop has just discovered a burglary!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Suddenly shoppers and workers try to find the best places to stay for the night, praying that the power stays on and that the robber stays away. Miranda accidentally gets handcuffed to Caleb, someone stalls the elevator with a panicked teen inside, and boredom threatens to become chaos if something exciting doesn’t happen soon. Finding another teen knocked out cold by the robber wasn’t in the plan!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">How long are the rival factions of teens going to be trapped in the mall?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> 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Priority="19" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style><![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Will Caleb’s impromptu concert keep things from getting crazy?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Can Grady trap the robber before someone else gets hurt?</div><div class="MsoNormal">How can Miranda get out of these handcuffs and get to the bathroom?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tempest</i>, this first book in the Twisted Lit series has more wild and crazy twists than Miranda ever dreamed of, with quotes from the play as chapter headings to add to the fun. (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/K9K8TKCFW60" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/tempestuous-by-kim-askew-amy-helmes.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-28142269237915562072013-03-13T10:00:00.000-05:002013-03-13T10:00:04.287-05:00Also Known As, by Robin Benway (fiction) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KqAe3qI-jSI/USzfyw5fcmI/AAAAAAAAKfM/yb2tW7f6WrQ/s1600/Also+Known+As.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Also Known As by Robin Benway published by Walker Books" border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KqAe3qI-jSI/USzfyw5fcmI/AAAAAAAAKfM/yb2tW7f6WrQ/s200/Also+Known+As.jpg" title="" width="131" /></a></div>Diagram of <a href="http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/ken-doyle-safecracker" target="_blank">safe</a>'s location in apartment? Check.<br />Plan for entry into said apartment? Check.<br />Keeping emotional distance from unwitting accomplice? Uh-oh.<br /><br />Imagine being a 17-year-old lifelong <a href="http://people.howstuffworks.com/spy.htm" target="_blank">spy</a>! A natural-born safecracker, helping her secret agent parents keep the world safe from evil, Maggie discovers that falling in love on her first solo case could put their whole organization in danger.<br /><br />Head for your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a> today to jump right into the action with Maggie, wild-child Roux, and handsome Jesse against the bad guys.<br /><br />Any spycraft skills in your educational future?<br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Also Known As / Robin Benway. Walker Books, 2013.&nbsp; [<a href="http://www.robinbenway.com/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/also-known-as-9780802733900/" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] <br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Maggie is bored by the usual assignments, but having to go to high school for the first time? This could be the teenage spy’s toughest job yet!</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">She and her parents work undercover for the Collective, stopping human trafficking and stifling illegal weapons sales through their unique talents for language decoding, computer hacking, and safe-cracking – Maggie’s special gift. A dozen passports with a dozen names and too many moves during her lifetime to count… at least Angelo, the world’s best forger and friend, is always by the family’s side, discreetly, of course.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">When they received the call to keep a New York City magazine publisher from running a story about the Collective (with names, aliases, and lots of photos), it falls to the 17-year-old to get the goods through his teenage son Jesse at the posh private high school. And she has to wear a uniform?!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">These privileged teens have known one another forever, so being the new kid means being an outsider - almost as much an outsider as Roux, who alienated the whole school last year with her bad behavior. Of course, it’s Roux who takes Maggie under her wing, convinces her to ditch school once in a while, and manages to get them into Jesse’s penthouse during a party.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">When the thumbdrive that Maggie liberates from Mr. Oliver’s home office safe doesn’t contain the article notes after all, she has to get closer to Jesse to figure out where the volatile materials could be. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">She didn’t count on falling for Jesse himself, or Jesse falling for her, or Roux spilling the beans about their first date, or possibly being pulled off the case and losing them both forever!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">How long can she keep Jesse in the dark about why she met him?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Can she find the article documents before it’s too late?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Will her first kiss be her only kiss?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Racing through the streets of Manhattan, avoiding the evil eye in the school halls, trying to imagine how her life will be when this assignment ends – Maggie finds action and adventure and a little romance in this debut novel. (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/1NfmbQT_p_g" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/also-known-as-by-robin-benway-fiction.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-89423895173776200762013-03-11T10:00:00.000-05:002013-03-20T10:09:04.509-05:00Fellowship For Alien Detection, by Kevin Emerson (fiction) - strange memories, time rewind, <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDey9zykvsM/UTX87jwPVWI/AAAAAAAAKis/1B6LVA-jsPU/s1600/Fellowship+For+Alien+Detection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Fellowship For Alien Detection by Kevin Emerson published by Walden Pond Press" border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDey9zykvsM/UTX87jwPVWI/AAAAAAAAKis/1B6LVA-jsPU/s200/Fellowship+For+Alien+Detection.jpg" title="" width="132" /></a></div>Voices in his head.<br />Time losses that catch her eye.<br />It really is <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225131618.htm" target="_blank">aliens</a> this time!<br /><br />It's easy to identify with Dodger's sense of never fitting in or with Haley's alternating affection and annoyance with her family, but entire towns experiencing 16 minutes of <a href="http://blog.onlineclock.net/missing-time-experiences/" target="_blank">missing time</a>? People vanished from each place? Radio transmissions from a town not shown on any map?<br /><br />Somehow, this is not the summer vacation that Dodger or Haley envisioned... and the extraterrestrials are trying to make them disappearance statistics, too!<br /><br />Published in late February 2013, Kevin Emerson's <i>The Fellowship for Alien Detection</i>&nbsp; is a bit more light-hearted than his Atlanteans series (see my review of <i>The Lost Code</i>&nbsp; <a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2012/05/lost-code-atlanteans-1-by-kevin-emerson.html" target="_blank">here</a>), but the perils for Dodger and Haley are very real.<br /><br />Any "missing time experiences" in your life?<br />&nbsp;**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Fellowship for Alien Detection / Kevin Emerson. Walden Pond Press, 2013.&nbsp; [<a href="http://www.kevinemerson.net/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Fellowship-Alien-Detection-Kevin-Emerson/?isbn13=9780062071859&amp;tctid=100" target="_blank">publisher site</a>]<b></b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b>My Recommendation</b>:&nbsp; Awarded money for a short summer trip to investigate their theories of aliens on Earth, two young teens find more adventure than they anticipated and more danger than they could have imagined during their search for missing people and a vanished town.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Haley follows obscure news online that might lead to a reporting breakthrough; that’s how she uncovered “missing time episodes” experienced by people in several towns and knows each place has missing persons now. She’s going to interview folks in those missing-time towns - if she can just get Dad to stick to the travel plan instead of trying to see every oddball attraction on their route west from Connecticut.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The radio station that unpredictably plays in Dodger’s head is from Juliette, Arizona (which is not on any maps) and from a different day and year than now. He’s always felt different, unsettled – and it’s gotten worse as the radio broadcasts started this year. His dad looks at him like Dodger is a disappointment – the trip from Seattle to Roswell, New Mexico is going to be mighty long if Dad has as little to say to him as usual.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Debit cards from the Foundation in hand, the two families depart from opposite coasts on their fellowship journeys. But soon Haley’s investigations are noticed by United Consolidated Amalgamations which owns old mines near every missing-time town, and Dodger becomes a transmitting loudspeaker for the Juliette radio station during the gathering at Bend.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The two fellowship winners aren’t the only folks who have made the connection between UCA mines and missing-time or who have heard KJPR from Juliette, but they’re the only ones who are tracking down the clues step by step – the falling star dream in missing-time towns, the significance of the 16-minute time loss, the radio transmissions from one April day years ago. And the extraterrestrials are tracking down them and their families!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">If Juliette is a real place, why isn’t it on the map?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Why does that same day play over and over on KJPR?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Can Dodger and Haley join forces before it’s too late?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">This summer before starting high school may be the start of something big…or the end of Earth as we know it!&nbsp; (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/9uSSpvejVxE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/fellowship-for-alien-detection-by-kevin.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-55058926115574119902013-03-08T10:00:00.000-06:002013-03-08T10:00:00.167-06:00Bruised, by Sarah Skilton (fiction) - trained to defend, frozen when it counts most<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cg2J66JTH9E/USuTWP0p21I/AAAAAAAAKdk/QWvuctCH584/s1600/Bruised.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Bruised by Sarah Skilton published by Amulet" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cg2J66JTH9E/USuTWP0p21I/AAAAAAAAKdk/QWvuctCH584/s200/Bruised.jpg" title="" width="131" /></a></div>She's a black belt.<br />She's practiced and sparred and competed.<br />She freezes when true danger strikes.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.taekwondo-information.org/taekwondo-belts.html" target="_blank">journey to black belt</a> in Tae Kwon Do or any martial art is long and rigorous, but under controlled conditions with <a href="http://ataonline.com/taekwondo/belts/forms.asp" target="_blank">traditions and rules</a> to follow.<br /><br />Imogen mentally punishes herself for not springing into action when the gunman attacks - can she fight through <a href="http://www.giftfromwithin.org/html/Guilt-Following-Traumatic-Events.html" target="_blank">survivor's guilt</a> to become a young woman of action and purpose again?<br /><br />Just published this week, <i>Bruised</i>&nbsp; follows Imo as she tries to rebuild her life to include Ricky's love and fill the void left by Shelley's departure for dance school and her own absence from Grandmaster Huan's dojang.<br /><br />How would you react when a situation bursts into violence? <br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Bruised / Sarah Skilton. Amulet Books, 2013. [<a href="http://www.sarahskilton.com/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.abramsbooks.com/Books/Bruised-9781419703874.html" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: As the youngest female to earn a black belt at the dojang, Imogen was sure she could handle any attack. But the gunman at the diner proved her wrong, undid her whole life’s work as a defender of the helpless. How can she get past the blood-drenched scene when her mind has built a wall around the robbery gone wrong?</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Tae Kwon Do is what she does, what she is, but she just froze at the diner, didn’t stop the robber before he pistol-whipped the cashier. She can remember hiding under a table, can remember the teen guy crouching under the next table, his new white shoes that became gory red and were taken as evidence, just like her bloodstained jeans. Gretchen called 911 from the bathroom, was smart enough to stay put – but Imogen should have been able to stop the situation before the guy was shot when he wouldn’t surrender.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">She just can’t process what went wrong there. Can’t talk to former best friend Shelley who decided to hook up with her big brother at Imogen’s own birthday party, can’t pay attention in school, except during counseling sessions with Ricky, the guy from the diner whose shoes became bloody evidence. Her heart seems to be a lump in her chest now.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Being teased leads to a fight at school, to being asked by Grandmaster Huan not to return to the dojang until she can regain her emotional balance by truly living the ‘child rules’ at the foundation of Tae Kwon Do – respecting her parents (including her dad who let his diabetes put him in a wheelchair) and doing all her homework without being asked.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Who is Imogen without her time revolving around learning and teaching at the dojang?</div><div class="MsoNormal">How can Ricky like her or respect her when she failed to stop a death?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Why can’t she remember what happened between crouching under the table and being blood-soaked in the police car?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A compelling story of expectations versus reality, Imogen’s heart and psyche are so <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bruised</i> that moving on with life will take more courage than any Tae Kwon Do belt test she ever tried.</div>(One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/aHUCTXu2sEI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com2http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/bruised-by-sarah-skilton-fiction.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-15485392142763226812013-03-06T10:00:00.000-06:002013-03-06T10:00:05.896-06:00Dark Unwinding, by Sharon Cameron (fiction) - invention, espionage, affection<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eRAa1I3DqDI/US9k78TpTLI/AAAAAAAAKho/xx-pLni-SrM/s1600/Dark+Unwinding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Book cover of The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron published by Scholastic" border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eRAa1I3DqDI/US9k78TpTLI/AAAAAAAAKho/xx-pLni-SrM/s200/Dark+Unwinding.jpg" title="" width="182" /></a></div>Clever <a href="http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/automaton/automaton.php?cts=instrumentation" target="_blank">clockwork devices</a>,<br />A hidden town,<br />A <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/pure-genius-the-inventors-hall-of-fame-785519.html" target="_blank">special man</a> with a child's heart,<br />A spy and traitor plotting destruction...<br /><br />Is it any wonder that Mr. Babcock used Uncle Tully's money to rescue working families from the <a href="http://www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk/homework/victorians/workhouses.html" target="_blank">poorhouses</a> and create a unique village to fill all the estate's needs? Or that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/crimea_01.shtml" target="_blank">agents from enemy countries</a> would try to steal Uncle Tully's work to use against England? Or that Katharine might finally find love?<br /><br />The author promises us a sequel in fall 2013, so visit Stranwyne Keep yourself soon - and watch out for Aunt Alice's sharp tongue!<br />&nbsp;**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: The Dark Unwinding / Sharon Cameron. Scholastic Press, 2012.&nbsp; [<a href="http://sharoncameronbooks.com/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/dark-unwinding" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] <br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: It seems that Uncle is squandering away the family fortune, so it falls to Katharine to quietly visit the old man and gather enough evidence to have him declared insane. As “the poor relative”, the young lady has no choice but to make the long carriage journey to Stranwyne Keep, and a mysteriously strange place she finds it indeed.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">A drowsy housekeeper, a mute young boy, a belligerent apprentice named Lane – that’s the entire staff for this huge English manor house? Mrs. Jeffries recognizes Katharine as Mr. Simon’s orphan daughter and avers that cousin Robert’s scheming mother must have sent her here to uproot Mr. Tully. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Where is all the money going if Uncle doesn’t throw lavish parties or buy fine horses? In his workshop across the moors, childlike genius Uncle Tully creates precise inventions in miniature with Lane’s assistance and keeps an unvarying personal timetable. Automatons, clockwork creations, part science, part magic, all Uncle Tully.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The family solicitor enlightens Katharine about how this estate is run – and how an entire village supports Uncle Tully’s projects as the estate supports its hundreds of workers rescued from London’s poorhouses! No wonder there is less money in the accounts than before… yet Mr. Babcock assures her that these projects will rebuild the fortune soon.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Katharine becomes convinced that some of her uncle’s entertaining inventions are very practical (others quite dangerous and alarming) as her fondness for this very special person grows, so she decides to support him in defiance of her aunt’s wishes, endangering her own chances of a safer financial future.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">But all is not well in this idyllic setting, as strange noises taunt Katharine in the manor, Lane warns her about upsetting her uncle, a visiting student of mechanics begins to court her, people disappear from one location and reappear far away, and the villagers turn against her in defense of their dear Mr. Tully. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Who can she trust now - Lane? Mr. Babcock? Her maid and friend from the village?</div><div class="MsoNormal">What’s causing those eerie noises and her new nightmares?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Is someone really planning to steal inventions from Uncle Tully’s workshop?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A mystery and a Victorian family drama rolled into one, this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Unwinding</i> twists and turns as Uncle Tully’s inventions tick-tock along, and a villain seeks to use them for nefarious purposes. (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/NslYxOHtuZc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/dark-unwinding-by-sharon-cameron.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-30570603099192410232013-03-04T10:00:00.000-06:002013-03-04T10:00:08.846-06:00Cats of Tanglewood Forest, by Charles De Lint (fiction) - saved and condemned, quest to make things right again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V9iiQUE9YcI/USy2ido1kPI/AAAAAAAAKeY/ELSxqYjyRHA/s1600/Cats+of+Tanglewood+Forest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles De Lint published by Little Brown" border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V9iiQUE9YcI/USy2ido1kPI/AAAAAAAAKeY/ELSxqYjyRHA/s200/Cats+of+Tanglewood+Forest.jpg" title="" width="137" /></a></div>The forest <a href="http://www.wyrdology.com/cats/psychic.html" target="_blank">cats</a> did what they could.<br />Is it so wrong to wish death away?<br />Lillian so wants to be a human girl again, but the consequences...<br /><br />Trying to follow the instructions of Old Mother Possum, meeting up with the <a href="http://www.nativeonline.com/bear_mother_legend.htm" target="_blank">Bear People</a>, Lillian only wants to make things right, even if she cannot undo everything that the cats' magic set in motion.<br /><br />An excerpt posted by Tor <a href="http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/02/the-cats-of-tanglewood-forest-excerpt" target="_blank">here</a> gives you the flavor of Lillian's story in this lyrical tale, much expanded from De Lint's 2003 "Circle of Cats" 44-page novella also featuring illustrations by Vess.<br />.<br />This most-magical book is being released tomorrow (March 5, 2013), so ask for it at your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a>.<br /><br />Indeed, is is so wrong to wish death away? <br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: The Cats of Tanglewood Forest / Charles De Lint; illustrated by Charles Vess. Little Brown, 2013.&nbsp; [<a href="http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] &nbsp; [<a href="http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/charles-de-lint/the-cats-of-tanglewood-forest/9780316053570/" target="_blank">publisher site</a>]&nbsp; <a href="http://www.greenmanpress.com/home" target="_blank">[illustrator's website</a>]<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: It was the cats who decided to save Lillian. She just wanted to say hello to the fairies, but here she lies, dying of snakebite. Changed by their magic from a dying girl into a live kitten, Lillian can’t comfort her aunt or the neighbors who search the old woods. She must find out how to turn back into herself… and then how to make right the consequences of her choice.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">These forest cats know that their magic might anger the Father of All Cats, that great black puma who stalks these ancient woods, who prowls in dark dreams. But they just couldn’t let the girl die, not after she’s been so generous with milk for them and respectful of the Apple Tree Man.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Lillian-kitten sets out to find Old Mother Possum, who might help her turn back into girl-Lillian. Accompanied by T.H. Fox (his mother named him Truthful and Handsome), she makes the long journey, despite his warnings that the part-witch-part-someone may not choose a solution that’s easy or simple.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Oh, turning back one death puts it onto another! Now Lillian has a bigger problem to solve and consults the wise woman at the Kickaha reservation nearby. Aunt Nancy sees only one path and not an easy one, as this problem is so big that Lillian must ask a difficult favor of the fearsome Bear People, no matter what the personal cost.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Does young Lillian have the courage to walk alone into the Bears’ den?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Why do the cats of the forest keep watching her?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Is love enough to turn away death?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Originally a very short picture book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cats of Tanglewood Forest</i> brings even more depth to Lillian’s journey as she searches for a way to make things right again in her world, despite the danger to herself. (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/LxshaOz0xg4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/cats-of-tanglewood-forest-by-charles-de.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-41324149283128723292013-03-01T10:00:00.001-06:002013-03-21T12:49:07.794-05:00Rocketing through the TBR2012 Challenge (reflective) - February update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7bokgNVsVbs/US0yqy1-irI/AAAAAAAAKgA/L9auRA4ruNo/s1600/Pulp-O-Mizer_Cover_Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="mock pulp magazine cover Amazing Wonder Stories BooksYALove from 2012 created at webomator" border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7bokgNVsVbs/US0yqy1-irI/AAAAAAAAKgA/L9auRA4ruNo/s320/Pulp-O-Mizer_Cover_Image.jpg" title="" width="208" /></a></div>With February being the shortest month, I had fewer <a href="http://evie-bookish.blogspot.com/p/welcome-to-2012-tbr-pile-reading.html" target="_blank">TBR2012 Challenge</a> titles on BooksYALove than in January (as listed <a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/01/january-progress-on-tbr2012-challenge.html" target="_blank">here</a>), but I am moving on through my to-be-reviewed stack at a fairly decent pace.<br /><br />Check out a few recent titles that you might have missed:<br /><br /><b>Fantasy</b>:<br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/down-mysterly-river-by-bill-willingham.html" target="_blank"><i>Down the Mysterly River</i></a>&nbsp; - Bill Willingham<br /><i><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/something-red-by-douglas-nicholas.html" target="_blank">Something Red</a></i>&nbsp; - Douglas Nicholas <br /><i><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/treachery-of-beautiful-things-by-ruth.html" target="_blank">The Treachery of Beautiful Thing</a>s</i>&nbsp; - Ruth Frances Long<br /><br /><b>Graphic Novel:</b><br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/peanut-by-ayun-halliday-and-paul-hoppe.html" target="_blank"><i>Peanut</i></a>&nbsp; - Ayun Halliday, art by Paul Hoppe <br /><br /><b>Paranormal</b>:<br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/dangerous-boy-by-mandy-hubbard-fiction.html" target="_blank"><i>Dangerous Boy</i></a>&nbsp; - Mandy Hubbard <br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/spookygirl-paranormal-investigator-by.html" target="_blank"><i>Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator</i></a>&nbsp; - Jill Baguchinsky <br /><br /><b>Sci-fi/thriller</b>:<br /><i><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/altered-by-jennifer-rush-fiction-build.html" target="_blank">Altered</a> -&nbsp; </i>Jennifer Rush <br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-girl-named-digit-by-annabel-monaghan.html" target="_blank"><i>A Girl Named Digit</i></a>&nbsp; - Annabel Monaghan<br /><a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/safekeeping-by-karen-hesse-fiction-on.html" target="_blank"><i>Safekeeping</i></a>&nbsp; - Karen Hesse<br /><br />So far in 2013, I've recommended 22 of my old-year titles for y'all&nbsp; (and no spoilers)<i> - </i>hurry to your library or bookstore to get some today.<br />**kmm </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/vd0PixeWA_8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/03/rocketing-through-tbr2012-challenge.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-82007139493167551292013-02-27T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-27T10:00:06.905-06:00Something Red, by Douglas Nicholas (fiction) - white winter journey, red beast of death prowling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6u2YPKivNsY/USN6R9FY2MI/AAAAAAAAKb8/UXR59chOOuc/s1600/Something+Red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Something Red by Douglas Nicholas published by Atria" border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6u2YPKivNsY/USN6R9FY2MI/AAAAAAAAKb8/UXR59chOOuc/s200/Something+Red.jpg" title="" width="132" /></a></div>If only they can make the coast before winter,<br />If only they can get through the pass before <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mlDW09qla0" target="_blank">snowfall</a>,<br />If only they can escape this winter hell with their lives.<br /><br />Dangers on all sides as Molly's pieced-together family survives the treacherous pass (thanks to <a href="http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1993/issue40/4022.html" target="_blank">warrior monks</a>!), but must reach the inn and the castle on their own. A deadly dangerous something is magically shielding itself from even&nbsp; Nemain's fey perception and is waiting...<br /><br />Fantasy, fear, <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/idr/index.htm" target="_blank">mythology</a>, a desperate trudge through snow and snow as <i>Something Red,&nbsp; </i>something evil stalks the travelers.<br /><br />Can you spy it just there, out of the corner of your eye, as Hob does?<br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Something Red / Douglas Nicholas. Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2012. [<a href="http://qwillery.blogspot.com/2012/09/interview-with-douglas-nicholas-author.html" target="_blank">author interview</a>] [<a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Something-Red/Douglas-Nicholas/9781451660074" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] <br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Just out of sight, danger stalks them along the remote forest roads. Dame Molly, her niece Nemain, mysterious Jack, and the orphan Hob push their ox-drawn wagons fast as they dare, hoping to escape the oncoming snows. But when an attacker is snowed-in with them, their castle safe haven becomes a death house.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">This is Hob’s first journey through the Pennines since Irish healer Molly adopted the young teen from the priest in his small north English village. Bandits regularly rob and kill travelers on these mountain byways, despite armed escorts by St. Germaine’s monks, veterans of the Crusades. Molly and burly Jack are on high alert, for something is trailing them on this steep road, hiding among the dense trees, its night-call darkening their souls.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">From the monastery-guarded mountain pass to the double-walled palisade of Osbert’s Inn, patrolled by a dozen vicious mastiffs, they hear tales of recent tragedies and join forces with pilgrims to travel together to Sir Jehan’s castle before the road is closed by snow.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The caravan is ambushed as snow falls harder still. Molly and Nemain of the old religion try to interpret the omens appearing in the blizzard’s shadows. Even within the castle stronghold, they will not be safe, it seems, for the relentless evil being stalking them along the road has arrived there, too.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">How did the death-bringer pass through prayers and countercharms around the castle?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Can massive warrior Jack protect those he claims now as family?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Why has this dreadful evil chosen them for its prey?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Wooden-wheeled oxcart, the traveler and the knight, mysterious forces consulted by Molly and Nemain, the high-born and the low, all spring forth in the intricate tapestry woven by poet Douglas Nicholas’first novel recounting this inexorable hunt by a hidden enemy. (Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.)</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/IHWUIQz1HJY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/something-red-by-douglas-nicholas.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-965053795127449112013-02-25T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-25T10:00:05.960-06:00Dangerous Boy, by Mandy Hubbard (fiction) - good girl, daredevil boyfriend, dangerous twin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHmzPsYFhAM/USJU6i987TI/AAAAAAAAKbI/FYWH7KduGhc/s1600/Dangerous+Boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Dangerous Boy by Mandy Hubbard published by Razorbill" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHmzPsYFhAM/USJU6i987TI/AAAAAAAAKbI/FYWH7KduGhc/s200/Dangerous+Boy.jpg" title="" width="132" /></a></div>New guy in the small-town high school.<br />Handsome, rich, <a href="http://www.tccokc.org/news/m.blog/23/accident-survivor-warns-of-summer-dangers-on-four-wheelers" target="_blank">daring</a>. <br />Falling for everyday girl Harper? <br />Swept off her feet, toward danger.<br /><br />Logan wants a fresh start to his life after the difficulties he and his brother had in their hometown. Harper's life after her mom's death had gotten quieter and quieter. Boom! Romance like a whirlwind, eerie <a href="https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/raddocs/tipvandl.htm" target="_blank">vandalism</a>, brother Daemon mocking Harper's affection for Logan.<br /><br />If you sense a whiff of Robert Louis Stevenson's novella <i>The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</i> (read it free at Project Gutenberg <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42" target="_blank">here</a>), you've found one inspiration for author Mandy Hubbard's fast-moving story of Harper's hope for happiness and the too-real peril she faces.<br /><br />Grab this one today at your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a> but do watch for strange happenings in your neighborhood, won't you? <br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Dangerous Boy / Mandy Hubbard. Razorbill, 2012.&nbsp; [<a href="http://mandyhubbard.blogspot.com/p/books.html" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781595145116,00.html?Dangerous_Boy_Mandy_Hubbard" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] <br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: When handsome Logan Townsend moves to her small town, Harper is intrigued. When he asks her out, she’s amazed and delighted. When his twin brother threatens her, she doesn’t know what to think. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>But if she merely thinks instead of acting, it might just be too late.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Living in the old Carson mansion with their uncle way out on the river road must be boring for Daemon, who’s doing school online instead of at Enumclaw High with his twin brother. He never comes along with Logan and Harper as they go to a Halloween haunted corn maze with friends or riding four-wheelers. Logan says that Daemon messed up relationships for him at their old school, so it’s better that he doesn’t want to be with their group anyway.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Bloody cow bones showing up in rural mailboxes, red handprints on every car in the school parking lot, stop signs stolen – this new rash of vandalism is getting dangerous.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Harper has never really liked doing dangerous things, but after her mother’s death, her own father is like a ghost, going through the motions at their farm, without enough energy to warn her against trying reckless things that Logan loves to do. That four-wheeler rollover when a wheel fell off was just an accident, right?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Wondering what Daemon did at the twins’ former school to make them leave that town, Harper does some checking on Facebook and the newspaper, but comes up with more questions than answers.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Why isn’t Logan tagged in any pictures with his former classmates?</div><div class="MsoNormal">What did Daemon do that was hushed up so quickly in the media?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Why does his twin want Harper to stay away from the creaking house that he shares with Logan?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Echoes of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde drift through this spooky tale, with a young woman’s safety and sanity depending on her reactions to the dangers she uncovers.&nbsp; (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/8sQhz5-UHDs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/dangerous-boy-by-mandy-hubbard-fiction.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-10199800442751100172013-02-22T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-22T10:00:02.600-06:00Down the Mysterly River, by Bill Willingham (fiction) - talking animals, deadly swords - quest, villains, friendship, memory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8egSusP6M_w/UR0cQnbZPwI/AAAAAAAAKaU/SIEDWGlt8_U/s1600/Down+the+Mysterly+River.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham published by Starscape" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8egSusP6M_w/UR0cQnbZPwI/AAAAAAAAKaU/SIEDWGlt8_U/s200/Down+the+Mysterly+River.jpg" height="200" title="" width="128" /></a></div>An <a href="http://www.oregonwild.org/about/press-room/press-clips/legendary-remote-forest-needs-help" target="_blank">unfamiliar forest</a>.<br />Talking animals.<br />A swordsman attacking to kill.<br />Not your average <a href="http://www.scouting.org/meritbadges.aspx" target="_blank">Boy Scout</a> camping trip...<br /><br />Max "the Wolf" has constantly improved his <a href="http://www.woodcraftwanderings.org/" target="_blank">woodcraft skills</a> as a Boy Scout and is a detective at heart, so he and his new companions watch for clues as they travel together in search of answers - and try to stay ahead of the vicious Blue Cutters.<br /><br />For his first novel for younger readers, Willingham taps the illustrating skills of his <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&amp;id=43178" target="_blank"><i>Fables</i></a>&nbsp; graphic novel series collaborator Mark Buckingham for the masterful sketches of each character, from Banderbrock the badger, Walden the black bear, and McTavish the Monster (or perhaps a cat) to their <a href="http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/longsword.htm" target="_blank">evil pursuers with swords</a>.<br /><br />Find this mystery/quest/friendship tale today in hardcover or paperback at your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a>. For a jump into the <i>Fables</i> universe, try&nbsp; Willingham's <i>Peter &amp; Max</i>&nbsp; novel which I reviewed <a href="http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2012/03/peter-max-fiction-fables-love-revenge.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />I do wonder what the animals in our lives would say to us if we could understand them talking... <br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>:<i> </i>Down the Mysterly River / Bill Willingham; art by Mark Buckingham. Starscape, hardcover 2011, paperback 2012. [<a href="http://www.billwillingham.com/about/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://us.macmillan.com/downthemysterlyriver/BillWillingham" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] [<a href="http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/40464977" target="_blank">audio interview</a>] <b>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Max is lost in an unfamiliar forest, being chased by swordsmen who’d rather kill than talk, meeting up with talking animals – this has never happened to the top-notch Boy Scout before!</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Using his woodcraft skills and powers of deduction (the young teen is a detective at heart), Max “the Wolf” decides to head downstream to find a town (and perhaps his memory). Along the way, he encounters Banderbrock the badger, who likewise is perplexed about being in this unknown forest, but remembers many tales of his daring and brave ancestors.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Dodging the Blue Cutter swordsmen who pursue all trespassers in this forest, Max and Banderbrock join forces with the black bear Walden, formerly sheriff in a quiet settlement in another forest, and McTavish the Monster, who looks very much like a battle-scarred tomcat to Max. All can understand one another perfectly, but their memories of time before this forest have unexplainable gaps.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Chased down the Mysterly River (as Walden named it) by the Blue Cutters and their hunting hounds, the friends try to find Prince Aspen (who is said to know many secrets) or anyone else who could help them escape to safety.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">For the Blue Cutters remove everything unique about new arrivals in this forest – and what could be more unique than speech in animals or a Boy Scout with no troop nearby…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Why did the boy, badger, bear, and cat all arrive here at the same time?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Can the quartet avoid the Blue Cutters’ vicious blades?</div><div class="MsoNormal">What will they discover at the end of the Mysterly River?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">An epic tale with an unexpected twist from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fables</i> graphic novel writer, Bill Willingham, who undoubtedly enjoyed adventurous stories around the campfire as a Scout. (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/5qDa1TX_uos" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/down-mysterly-river-by-bill-willingham.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-6609494884355802982013-02-20T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-20T10:00:02.247-06:00Treachery of Beautiful Things, by Ruth Frances Long (fiction) - supernatural music, dark longings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P4i_rND2M74/URzwTbU20lI/AAAAAAAAKZg/8G6--FnjDzE/s1600/Treachery+Beautiful+Things.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long published by Dial" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P4i_rND2M74/URzwTbU20lI/AAAAAAAAKZg/8G6--FnjDzE/s200/Treachery+Beautiful+Things.jpg" title="" width="132" /></a></div>The forest swallowed him.<br />Jenny watched it, <a href="http://blogs.psychcentral.com/healing-together/2011/06/death-of-a-siblingoverlooked-grief/" target="_blank">couldn't stop it</a>.<br />Now it wants her, too.<br /><br />Hoping for closure, Jenny returns to the woods where her big brother disappeared seven years ago... seven long years of psychotherapy, anxiety medications, and <a href="http://baysidemedical.com/files/bayside/inernal_docs/Sibling_grief_newletter_2006%5B1%5D.pdf" target="_blank">anguish</a>.<br /><br />Who would think that the beings of fairy tales and legend still lived inside that wood? Shielding themselves from the eyes of city folk, preparing to take back their ancient sites overrun by technology?<br /><br />Heartbreak and hope, legend and loss, <a href="http://artpassions.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/fairy-politics-in-shakespeare-the-quarrel-between-oberon-titania/" target="_blank">king and queen</a>, monster and lover - dare to enter the Realm and discover for yourself in this mesmerizing debut YA novel by Irish author Ruth Frances Long.<br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: The Treachery of Beautiful Things / Ruth Frances Long. Dial Books, 2012. [<a href="http://www.rflong.com/about/" target="_blank">author's website</a>]&nbsp; [<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheTreachery" target="_blank">book Facebook page</a>] [<a href="http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780803735804,00.html?The_Treachery_of_Beautiful_Things_Ruth_Long" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] [<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jHwfCBbPco" target="_blank">book trailer</a>] <b>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Tom was swallowed up by the woods when she was a young girl, her older brother snatched from her 7 years ago in front of her very eyes. Jenny returns to Burnam Copse for a final good-bye and hears his unmistakable flute music – and is drawn into the ancient Realm, in the midst of her modern British city!</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Attacked by fairies, rescued by a leaf-clad man named Jack, going farther and farther into the green mossy wood that’s immensely larger than the small grove she entered, Jenny is bewildered and exhausted and lost. Will her parents think that she’s been kidnapped, too?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">She asks again and again about the flute music she heard, learns that the Piper is in thrall to Queen Titania (once called Mab), meets a faun named Puck, and is nearly caught by the Wild Hunt. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Jenny travels with difficulty to the Palace where she discovers that Tom is the Piper – and that he has no memory of life outside the Realm. Her power to see through illusion makes the teen dangerous to many, coveted by others, and a threat to the power-hungry Queen.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Can Jenny find the key to restoring Tom’s memory in time?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Can she escape from the Realm?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Can she leave behind her feelings for Jack if she goes?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Soon Jenny’s resolve and skill will be tested to the limits as a power shift in the Realm threatens the outside world of mortals – and her actions will decide the fate of both worlds. (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/LPLR4qOIVTA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/treachery-of-beautiful-things-by-ruth.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-40631665385985773592013-02-18T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-18T10:02:22.932-06:00Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator, by Jill Baguchinsky (fiction) - vengeful ghosts in the locker room, mystery mansion calling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2BFLCjBV3go/URkvQpi1BeI/AAAAAAAAKYs/KS7mnGp6hdA/s1600/Spookygirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Spookygirl Paranormal Investigator by Jill Baguchinsky published by Dutton" border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2BFLCjBV3go/URkvQpi1BeI/AAAAAAAAKYs/KS7mnGp6hdA/s200/Spookygirl.jpg" title="" width="132" /></a></div>Able to see ghosts? All the time.<br />Talk to spirits? Piece of cake.<br /><a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ghost-stories-visits-from-the-deceased" target="_blank">See her own mom's ghost</a>? Not a chance...<br /><br />Violet's aunt thinks her gift is unclean, her dad wonders if she's talked to the ghost of her mom (but doesn't dare ask), and the ghosts in the area just want to chat.<br /><br />This debut novel won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Young Adult Fiction in 2011, and Dutton Books' editorial staff brought it out in hardback in 2012. Check it out at your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a> now, and see what the ghosts in Violet's town are gossiping about!<br /><br />Whose ghost would you like to have a conversation with? <br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator / Jill Baguchinsky. Dutton Books, 2012. [<a href="http://www.jillbaguchinsky.com/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780525425847,00.html?Spookygirl:_Paranormal_Investigator_Jill_Baguchinsky#" target="_blank">publisher site</a>]&nbsp;<b></b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Vengeful spirits in the girls’ locker room, boring school uniforms, and strange rumors running ahead of her… Violet would much rather stay in the apartment above Dad’s funeral home with Buster the ghost, but unfortunately high school is still mandatory.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Ghosts always talk to her, just like they talked to her mom. It’s been ten years since Mom died during a paranormal investigation with her dad, but Violet has never seen her ghost. Some online sleuthing leads Violet to another researcher from her parents’ past expeditions, but the now-semi-respectable psychic tries to convince her to stay away from Mom’s last place on earth.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A dead football player is hanging around Palmetto High’s art room, there’s a possible hell-portal in the girls’ shower, and one of the goth kids claims he’s half-vampire. Senior citizen ghosts (Florida is full of them) help Violet stage a memorable Halloween séance in the cemetery to “scare straight” some kids who want to dabble in the dark arts, but even they warn her to stay far away from the creepy deserted estate where her mother died.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s up to Violet to use her psychic gifts to clear up all this, so her new not-so-goth friends help her get ready to visit the estate, and maybe hear from Mom one last time (surely she wouldn’t head to the Beyond without saying goodbye?), but things go bad in a heartbeat.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">What can they do to placate the angry attacking poltergeist?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Can Violet ever reconnect with her mother’s ghost?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Are the friends going to make it out of there alive?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Spookygirl, scary fun, terrifying investigations!&nbsp; (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/wikaDXwaTzQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/spookygirl-paranormal-investigator-by.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-37866783519442762002013-02-15T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-15T10:00:04.753-06:00Return to Me, by Justina Chen (fiction) - moving away, moving on...or not<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_5HAM7GLQ0/URju2akd3II/AAAAAAAAKX4/bJcgnUeKldg/s1600/Return+to+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Return to Me by Justina Chen published by Little Brown" border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_5HAM7GLQ0/URju2akd3II/AAAAAAAAKX4/bJcgnUeKldg/s200/Return+to+Me.jpg" title="" width="130" /></a></div>Hooray for<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1332070-will-going-away-college-likely-lead-moving-away-life.html" target="_blank"> going away to college</a> at last!<br />Umm, family moving there, too?<br /><a href="http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/top-5-mistakes-divorced-parents-make" target="_blank">One part breaks</a>, everything shatters...<br /><br />Reb is trying to figure out whether she and Jackson can make things work for now, not forever. But this is not just another long-distance teen romance; it's a novel with real heart and soul (and a few visions along the way).<br /><br />How have long-distance, long-term relationships worked out in your life?<br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Return to Me / Justina Chen. Little Brown, 2013. [<a href="http://justinachen.blogspot.com/2013/01/return-to-me-book-party-photo-essay.html" target="_blank">author's blog</a>] [<a href="http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/justina-chen/return-to-me/9780316102551/" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] <br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: Rebecca is so ready to go far away to college. When her dad moves the whole family to her new college town across the country for his new job, then immediately abandons Mom, she’s shocked. If she can’t trust rock-steady Dad, who can she trust?</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">She’d already decided that she must break up with Jackson before the family leaves Seattle, convinced that a long-distance relationship won’t work out. Her best friends agree with her, but she just can’t do it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">When Reb gets an overwhelming sense of something about-to-happen, she learned long ago to keep it to herself. She will be able to use her innate sense of whether a space works or not as she studies architecture, following in the footsteps of her dad’s business-minded family.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In the too-large McMansion in suburban New Jersey, far from their cozy island home and Reb’s custom-built treehouse, she watches her mom crumble as Dad makes the separation permanent and sees her 10-year-old brother retreat ever further into himself. After Reb calls Grandpa for advice, he invites them to his Hawai’i home to restore themselves.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Perched in a tropical treehouse, Reb worries about Jackson, about whether she really wants to do commercial architecture, about whether she really wants to go to college at the end of summer.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">What’s this prophecy that women of her family can never stay with the men they love?</div><div class="MsoNormal">How can she balance family expectations about her career with what she truly wants to do?</div><div class="MsoNormal">How hard must she shake her phone so that Jackson will start communicating again?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Separation and reunion, perception and reality – Justina Chen once again brings readers a story with the right ending in a complex real world. (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/eZ9dwJYk2mE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/return-to-me-by-justina-chen-fiction.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-31926630853896548372013-02-13T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-13T10:00:03.388-06:00Etiquette & Espionage, by Gail Carriger (fiction) - curtsies, hankies, and poisoning lessons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a60ZoFN7Ulc/UQv0OnebPMI/AAAAAAAAKUk/79ffhDT575g/s1600/Etiquette+&amp;+Espionage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Etiquette &amp; Espionage by Gail Carriger published by Little Brown" border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a60ZoFN7Ulc/UQv0OnebPMI/AAAAAAAAKUk/79ffhDT575g/s200/Etiquette+&amp;+Espionage.jpg" title="" width="131" /></a></div><a href="http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/curiosity.htm" target="_blank">Curiosity</a>? Improper in a young lady of good family.<br />Interested in <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/10/3861066/your-robot-butler-is-still-decade-away-irobot-ceo-colin-angle" target="_blank">things mechanical</a>? How uncouth.<br />A potential assassin? Just right for Mademoiselle Geraldine's school!!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/category-technology/channel-steampunk/" target="_blank">Steampunk</a> plus young lady spies-in-training - smashing!<br />I do so want a steam-powered mechanimal dachshund like Bumbersnoot, even if I would have to break his coal into tiny nibbles.<br /><br />Read excerpts <a href="http://io9.com/etiquette-and-espionage" target="_blank">at io9</a> and <a href="http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/01/etiquette-a-espionage-excerpt" target="_blank">at Tor</a> to be properly introduced to Sophronia and her interesting world, browse politely inside the first pages of&nbsp; the Finishing School series: Book the First at <a href="http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/gail-carriger/etiquette-espionage/9780316190084/" target="_blank">the publisher's site</a>, then proceed in a stately manner to acquire <i>Etiquette &amp; Espionage</i>&nbsp; at your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a> - posthaste, as it was just published last week!<br /><br />And do watch for flywaymen and other air pirates along the carriage roads...<br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Etiquette &amp; Espionage (Finishing School, Book the First) / Gail Carriger. Little Brown, 2013. [<a href="http://gailcarriger.com/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/gail-carriger/etiquette-espionage/9780316190084/" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] [<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CCTCH_h9L0" target="_blank">book trailer</a>] <b>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: She’d much rather disassemble the robot butler than learn etiquette, but well-brought-up young ladies in 1851 British society must have impeccable manners. How else to distinguish persons of quality from vampires, werewolves, and other beings of lower social class?</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Tumbling out of the dumbwaiter covered with pudding was perhaps not the best way to meet the finishing school headmistress. However, Miss Geraldine accepted Sophronia to the Academy because of the 14-year-old’s curiosity and resourcefulness, despite her dreadfully subpar curtsy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Surviving an attack by flywaymen on their carriage journey, Sophronia is somewhat startled to find that the Academy floats above the moors, that the Miss Geraldine who visited her mother is not the Miss Geraldine who heads up the exclusive school, and that dashing Captain Niall is a werewolf (with impeccable manners, it must be noted).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Aboard the triple dirigibles of the Academy, she meets the real Miss Geraldine (who seems quite unaware of the deadly classes being taught on board), teachers of non-quite-human persuasion (but excellent taste in fashion), and the sooties below decks who stoke the mighty furnaces powering this most unusual finishing school.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Classes for dance and the deadly uses of hatpins, the sudden appearance a darling mechanimal dachshund (which needs wee bits of coal to keep going) bearing threats from villains about handing over a prototype, and odd preparations for an outing at their allied school for boys keep Sophronia and the other young ladies quite busy - but not so busy that they can’t do a little sleuthing of their own.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Why does Miss Geraldine not know that her school is training spies and assassins?</div><div class="MsoNormal">What is the device whose prototype is coveted by so many?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Will Sophronia learn to curtsy properly in the few months before her sister’s debutante ball?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Book the First of the Finishing School series brings together steampunk and high manners with great success, inviting readers along on the astounding journey of clever Sophronia, her new friends, and her new enemies.</div>(One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/z8UfrQ2CSMg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/etiquette-espionage-by-gail-carriger.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-72982894068915447302013-02-11T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-14T11:03:12.622-06:00Altered, by Jennifer Rush (fiction) - build-a-soldier: strength tweak here, loyalty serum there<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-svWKVXn4-8g/URKCVl_0bnI/AAAAAAAAKXA/950NwmJOg-U/s1600/Altered.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Altered by Jennifer Rush published by Little Brown" border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-svWKVXn4-8g/URKCVl_0bnI/AAAAAAAAKXA/950NwmJOg-U/s200/Altered.jpg" title="" width="133" /></a>Secret laboratory.<br />Experimental subjects.<br /><a href="http://www.infowars.com/u-s-super-soldiers-of-the-future-will-be-genetically-modified-transhumans-capable-of-superhuman-feats/" target="_blank">Super-soldiers</a> with no memories...<br /><br />Anna reads the journal that her mom left, makes the recipes just as she noted, wishes that she could be with Sam more often - but what future could she have with a memory-wiped young man who's confined like a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2755018/" target="_blank">lab rat</a>?<br /><br />What future is there for Anna anyway? She could never talk to outsiders, in case she accidentally said something about the Lab beneath their farmhouse, the Lab housing four young men that <a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/" target="_blank">the Branch</a> is secretly training for some sort of mission... the four young men who escape, taking Anna with them!<br /><br />This 2012 title is a "don't blink" thriller; imagine what will happen to the crew next!<br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Altered / Jennifer Rush. Little Brown, 2012.&nbsp; [<a href="http://www.jennrush.com/p/altered-series.html" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jennifer-rush/altered/9780316197083/" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] [<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMWHOAD_-VY" target="_blank">audiobook excerpt</a>] <b>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>:&nbsp; Anna is content in her secluded home-schooled world of the remote farmhouse with her dad and the underground lab where "the boys" live. Why the Branch wanted four young men with no memories to be part of this research was never discussed, nor were the many scars on those very physically fit bodies.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">When she turned 16, Dad asked Anna to assist him with testing Sam, Nick, Trev, and Cas, little knowing that she’s been sneaking downstairs to play chess with Sam every night for months. When a routine lab inspection by the Branch brings along highly armed soldiers to remove the boys, Anna’s calm life shatters as the boys manage to escape – and Dad sends her along with them, insisting that she must stay as far away from the Branch as possible!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Suddenly, they’re on the run, trying to outguess agents of the maybe-government-related Branch and stay ahead of police when desperation forces them to steal a car and food. Every hour away from the lab unlocks more of the boys’ impressive physical skills as they seem to react before danger occurs and fight as a team without speaking.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Somehow, tendrils of memory guide Sam to a remote farmhouse where he might have lived before his memories were wiped out by the Branch. Everything is now a clue that could help them unlock the boys’ secrets and regain their pasts. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">When Anna’s long-absent mother arrives at the farmhouse with surprising news, there’s little time for a tender reunion as gunfire from Branch agents zings through the walls and windows. Was this a set-up or an accident?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Fleeing again, Anna, Sam and company keep trying to figure out the meaning of the numbers within their scars and messages hidden in their tattoos. Code? Map coordinates?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Harder and harder to stay ahead of the Branch as the crew darts from hiding place to newly remembered landmark to safe house. Graveyards and memories, dead men and long-dead children… whatever happens, Anna cannot leave Sam!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Why were the four young men in the Branch lab in the first place?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Why were their memories wiped out?</div><div class="MsoNormal">How far will they all go to stay out of the Branch’s grasp forever?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Jennifer Rush’s debut novel races along faster than Anna’s feelings for Sam, diving into a dark past that could lead to an even darker future. (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/FzGzwGYlJuU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/altered-by-jennifer-rush-fiction-build.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-36742775143584655282013-02-08T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-08T10:00:00.305-06:00A Girl Named Digit, by Annabel Monaghan (fiction) - FBI takes teen math genius undercover<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aSNCY4J5HmI/UQ_x1dopCyI/AAAAAAAAKWM/HtcEh0f5LpY/s1600/Girl+Named+Digit.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of A Girl Named Digit by Annabel Monaghan published by Houghton Mifflin" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aSNCY4J5HmI/UQ_x1dopCyI/AAAAAAAAKWM/HtcEh0f5LpY/s200/Girl+Named+Digit.gif" title="" width="135" /></a></div>A <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/04/27/real-beautiful-mind-accidental-genius-draws-complex-math-formulas-photos/" target="_blank">brain for numbers</a> that never, ever stops.<br />A hunger to have a normal senior year.<br />A set of digits on television that shouldn't be there...<br /><br />And now Farrah goes from understated jeans to completely undercover as the FBI realizes that her <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/culturally-speaking/201207/doubt-therapy-changes-thinking-patterns-in-people-ocd" target="_blank">OCD</a> about numbers and patterns is their best bet for catching an <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/december/eco-terrorist-surrenders-two-fugitives-still-at-large/eco-terrorist-surrenders-two-fugitives-still-at-large" target="_blank">ecoterrorist</a> whose been sending others out to do his dirty work for years.<br /><br />Grab Digit's first adventure now in hardcover or eBook at your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a> (it won't be out in paperback with the <a href="http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/hmh/site/hmhbooks/bookdetails?isbn=9780544022485&amp;srch=true" target="_blank">much-better cover</a> until late May 2013) then hang on for Digit's first year at college when <a href="http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/hmh/site/hmhbooks/bookdetails?isbn=9780544105775" target="_blank"><i>Double Digit</i></a>&nbsp; is published in January 2014!<br /><br />Which of life's codes would you be most anxious to crack? <br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: A Girl Named Digit / Annabel Monaghan. Houghton Mifflin, 2012. [<a href="http://www.annabelmonaghan.com/" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/hmh/site/hmhbooks/bookdetails?isbn=9780547668529&amp;srch=true" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] [<a href="http://vimeo.com/51294247" target="_blank">fan-created book trailer</a>] <b>&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: To get away from the kids who nicknamed her “Digit” for her math abilities, Farrah transfers to another high school for her senior year. But it’ll take the FBI to keep her safe from the terrorist group that she accidentally exposes. Faking her own kidnapping wasn’t quite the way she’d planned to stay unnoticed at her new school…</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Farrah wishes that she didn’t see patterns in everything and has had to learn extreme coping strategies to blunt her obsessive-compulsive tendencies when real life is uneven and disorganized. Her math professor dad says she can put her “gift” to work later in life and urges her to enjoy being a teen for now. Wish it were that easy…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Numbers pop up on television when they shouldn’t be there, but the station says she’s imagining them. Her genius skills crack the code, pointing to a terror attack at JFK Airport, but her report to the FBI is ignored…until it happens.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Now a ruthless band of ecoterrorists is gunning for Digit, so she has to fake being kidnapped and go undercover to help the FBI break the rest of the code to prevent more attacks and catch the terrorists. Nice to really be appreciated for her skills, even nicer to be undercover with cute young FBI agent John as they race to interpret more clues.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">But somehow, the bad guys find one of the safe houses, John and Digit have to go into deep cover without contacting anyone, and the stakes in this math puzzle get deadly in a hurry.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">How fast can they unravel the last parts of this puzzle?</div><div class="MsoNormal">What will the ecoterrorists’ next move be?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Will Digit’s “kidnapping” have an unhappy ending?</div><br />(One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/cDAOypHzAlI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-girl-named-digit-by-annabel-monaghan.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-56548065081379411242013-02-07T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-07T10:00:09.493-06:00Safekeeping, by Karen Hesse (fiction) - on the run, will home still be there?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QeGGeKPPyg8/UQloDJM3rsI/AAAAAAAAKT0/GybtlB1XYmQ/s1600/Safekeeping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Safekeeping by Karen Hesse published by Fiewel and Friends" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QeGGeKPPyg8/UQloDJM3rsI/AAAAAAAAKT0/GybtlB1XYmQ/s200/Safekeeping.jpg" title="" width="131" /></a></div>The president <a href="http://timelines.latimes.com/us-presidential-assassinations-and-attempts/" target="_blank">assassinated</a>!<br /><a href="http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/M/MartialLaw.aspx" target="_blank">Martial law</a> declared.<br />No travel without permits.<br /><br />She got her plane ticket home as soon as she could, leaving the sweet children at the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/16/world/iyw-ahn-haiti-volunteer/index.html" target="_blank">Haitian orphanage</a> where she volunteered. But there was no way for Radley to know that her parents would not be at the airport waiting for her and that everything she knew as safe would be gone.<br /><br />Listen to the first chapter of <i>Safekeeping</i>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkUHZtv_TjU" target="_blank">here</a>, then grab the book at your local <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/libraries" target="_blank">library</a> or <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder" target="_blank">independent bookstore</a> so you can consider each of each black-and-white photograph as you worry through Celia, Radley, and Jerry Lee's desperate journey away from despair and danger.<br /><br />What would you do to survive if you were in Radley's mud-soaked shoes?<br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Safekeeping / Karen Hesse. Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan), 2012. [<a href="http://karenhesseblog.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">author's blog</a>]&nbsp; [<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tocNcp0hR5Y" target="_blank">author video interview</a>]&nbsp; [<a href="http://us.macmillan.com/safekeeping/KarenHesse" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] <br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>: When the president is assassinated, Radley rushes home from volunteering at a Haitian orphanage, but everything is going wrong. Her parents should be waiting for her at the airport, but they’re not. No one answers the phone at home, her credit cards no longer work, her cellphone is dead, and US marshals are everywhere.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">New curfews and travel restrictions mean that the teen must walk for days to cover the hour’s drive home, avoiding checkpoints and scavenging food where she can find it. Arriving at her empty house, Radley passes dark stains on the pavement and hides in a secret attic room as police pound on the door in the morning, over and over. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">No electricity, no food left, only mom’s photos escaped the looting. She can’t stay here, she’s got to get away – from the marshals, from the uncertainty about her parents’ whereabouts, from the totalitarian state that New Hampshire has become.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />So she heads north to Canada, traveling by night, avoiding other people and their potential dangers, staying clear of the small towns swarming with soldiers, until a big dog comes to her and begs that she follow him. Radley finds Celia ill and feverish, nurses her until the trio can continue plodding north through the rainy woods.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A small, safe place – that’s all they need – somewhere away from the soldiers and curfews and guns.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Can Radley, Celia, and Jerry Lee actually make it to Canada?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Where are their parents, their neighbors, their friends?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Will they ever be able to go home, or will martial law grip the US forever?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Karen Hesse’s own black-and-white photographs of the places where the girls and dog travel fill this book with darkness and light, as the cadence of her words measures the steps and steps and steps that Radley takes on this long journey.&nbsp; (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/1x_iiQ9qVnM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com2http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/safekeeping-by-karen-hesse-fiction-on.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707985804684782882.post-37652240393830625742013-02-06T10:00:00.000-06:002013-02-06T10:00:02.216-06:00Cinders & Sapphires, by Leila Rasheed (fiction) - British high society & true goodness collide<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bkGd7pxEhj8/UQlQEnm30zI/AAAAAAAAKTE/-93_YE-H1yY/s1600/Cinders+&amp;+Sapphires.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="book cover of Cinders &amp; Sapphires by Leila Rasheed published by Disney Hyperion" border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bkGd7pxEhj8/UQlQEnm30zI/AAAAAAAAKTE/-93_YE-H1yY/s200/Cinders+&amp;+Sapphires.jpg" title="" width="132" /></a></div>England and India are so different,<br />Not even the <a href="http://www.indiaheritage.org/science/vegetation.htm" target="_blank">green of the trees</a> is the same,<br />But whispers and rumors are too close in both lands.<br /><br />The objections to British rule over India have moved from prayers to violent demonstrations in 1910, especially following Lord Curzon's partition of the country to split off <a href="http://storyofpakistan.com/partition-of-bengal/" target="_blank">Muslim-majority Bengal</a>.<br /><br />This first book in the At Somerton series will appeal to both fans of <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/" target="_blank">Downton Abbey</a> and lovers of historical fiction with its upstairs-downstairs intrigues and political unrest abroad in the time just preceding "The Great War" which we call <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/overview_britain_ww1_01.shtml" target="_blank">World War I</a>.<br /><br />What's ahead for the Averley sisters and the others At Somerton as 1911 dawns?<br />**kmm <br /><br /><b>Book info</b>: Cinders&amp; Sapphires (At Somerton, book 1) / Leila Rasheed. Disney Hyperion, 2013. [<a href="http://leilarasheed.com/3.html" target="_blank">author's website</a>] [<a href="http://www.dbgcatalog.com/Disney/1670_1876_333339383939.htm" target="_blank">publisher site</a>] <br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>My Recommendation</b>:&nbsp; High society and propriety will encircle Ava’s life in 1910 once the ship reaches England, but an accidental (and unchaperoned) meeting on deck leaves her breathless, hopeful, and confused. People would be shocked if they discovered that she’d kissed a man before her debutante season, utterly appalled if they found out he was Indian!</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">How dreadful for her father to leave India under a cloud of suspicion after his distinguished career there! Now they are returning to their family estate with her sister Georgiana so that he can marry a wealthy and beautiful widow to keep it afloat for now. The suddenness of the wedding and so many guests descending on quiet Somerton has the servants running to and fro, especially housekeeper Mrs. Cliffe whose daughter is now a housemaid.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Suddenly, Lady Ava and Lady Georgiana will have brothers and another sister (so jealous of everyone), plus a fashionable stepmother who will steer Ava through the intricacies of the London Season to find a husband. Never mind that Ava wants to attend Oxford, wants to think for herself, wants to think at all! And Ravi is at Oxford, might even visit London…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">When Rose Cliffe is promoted to ladies’ maid for Ava and Georgiana, she’s sad that her evenings at the piano in the friendly servants’ sitting room are over. Music just flows through her veins, but a country girl like her could never afford piano lessons. The ladies’ maid to the new Lady Westlake hints strongly that learning secrets is the best way to get ahead in this world. The clandestine letters between Ravi and Ava, hinting of violence against the British in India, go through Rose’s hands…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Is there any hope for Ravi and Ava to be together?</div><div class="MsoNormal">What other secrets glide through Somerton’s elegant halls?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Must Ava marry someone, just to keep the estate intact?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">As upstairs murmurs and belowstairs whispers collide, more stories At Somerton will follow this debut tale of keeping up appearances, societal expectations, and scandalously delicious secrets. (One of 6,000 books recommended on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.abookandahug.com" target="_blank">www.abookandahug.com</a>) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BooksYALove/~4/YDXwJ907yxE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Katy Manck, MLShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06271516779182899993noreply@blogger.com0http://booksyalove.blogspot.com/2013/02/cinders-sapphires-by-leila-rasheed.html
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