Thursday, November 26, 2015

New Fiction










The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey
Girl at Midnight: Book One
"A girl, who's adopted and raised by a race of creatures with feathers for hair and magic in their veins, becomes involved in an ancient war and a centuries-old love, discovering startling truths about the world she lives in. “ –WorldCat

The Glass Casket by McCormick Templeman
”Death hasn't visited Rowan Rose since it took her mother when Rowan was only a little girl. But that changes one bleak morning, when five horses and their riders thunder into her village and through the forest, disappearing into the hills. Days later, the riders' bodies are found, and though no one can say for certain what happened in their final hours, their remains prove that whatever it was must have been brutal.    Rowan's village was once a tranquil place, but now things have changed. Something has followed the path those riders made and has come down from the hills, through the forest, and into the village. Beast or man, it has brought death to Rowan's door once again.” –Amazon

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie
“Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Sunshine Griffith and her mother Kat move from sunny Austin, Texas, to the rain-drenched town of Ridgemont, Washington. Though Sunshine is adopted, she and her mother have always been close, sharing a special bond filled with laughter and inside jokes. But from the moment they arrive, Sunshine feels her world darken with an eeriness she cannot place. And even if Kat doesn't recognize it, Sunshine knows that something about their new house is just ... creepy.” –WorldCat

Like No Other by Una LaMarche
“Devorah is a consummate good girl who has never challenged the ways of her strict Hasidic upbringing. Jaxon is a fun-loving, book-smart nerd who has never been comfortable around girls (unless you count his four younger sisters). They've spent their entire lives in Brooklyn, on opposite sides of the same street. Their paths never crossed . . . until one day, they did. When a hurricane strikes the Northeast, the pair becomes stranded in an elevator together, where fate leaves them no choice but to make an otherwise risky connection.”  –Amazon

A Mad Wicked Folly by Sharon Briggs Waller
“Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes seventeen-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist—a nearly impossible dream for a girl.” –Amazon

Maid of Wonder by Jennifer McGowan
Maids of Honor; Book Three
“In 1559 England, Sophia Dee, a member of the Maids of Honor, Queen Elizabeth I's secret all-female guard, is pitted against some of Europe's most celebrated mystics, including Nostradamus, in a race to uncover the answer to a deadly prophesy.” –WorldCat

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne
Midnight Thief; Book One
“Growing up on Forge's streets has taught Kyra how to stretch a coin. And when that's not enough, her uncanny ability to scale walls and bypass guards helps her take what she needs. But when the leader of the Assassins Guild offers Kyra a lucrative job, she hesitates. She knows how to get by on her own, and she's not sure she wants to play by his rules. But he is persistent-and darkly attractive-and Kyra can't quite resist his pull.” –Amazon

Daughter of Dusk by Livia Blackburne
Midnight Thief; Book Two
“After learning the truth about her bloodlines, Kyra can't help but feel like a monster.  Though she's formed a tentative alliance with the Palace, Kyra must keep her identity a secret or risk being hunted like the rest of her Demon Rider kin. Tristam and the imprisoned assassin James are among the few who know about her heritage, but when Tristam reveals a heartbreaking secret of his own, Kyra's not sure she can trust him. And with James's fate in the hands of the palace, Kyra fears that he will give her away to save himself.” –Amazon

Polaris by Mindee Arnett
Sequel to Avalon
“Jeth Seagrave and his crew are on the run. The ITA, still holding Jeth’s mother in a remote research lab, is now intent on acquiring the metatech secrets Jeth’s sister Cora carries inside her DNA, and Jeth is desperate to find the resources he needs to rescue his mother and start a new life outside the Confederation. But the ITA is just as desperate, and Jeth soon finds himself pursued by a mysterious figure hell-bent on capturing him and his crew—dead or alive.” –Amazon

Stand Off by Andrew Smith
Sequel to Winger
“Now a senior at Pine Mountain Academy, fifteen-year-old Ryan Dean West becomes captain of the rugby team, shares his dormitory room with a twelve-year-old prodigy, Sam Abernathy, and through the course of the year learns to appreciate things he has tried to resist, including change.” –Amazon

Monday, November 23, 2015

New Fiction











The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith
"Skillfully blending multiple story strands that transcend time and place, award-winning Grasshopper Jungle author Andrew Smith chronicles the story of Ariel, a refugee who is the sole survivor of an attack on his small village. Now living with an adoptive family in Sunday, West Virginia, Ariel's story is juxtaposed against those of a schizophrenic bomber and the diaries of a failed arctic expedition from the late nineteenth century . . . and a depressed, bionic reincarnated crow." –Jacket

All Fall Down by Ally Carter
Embassy Row; Book One
“Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things: she is not crazy; her mother was murdered; someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay. As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her -- so there's no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door, who is keeping his eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands. Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can't control Grace -- no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do.” –Amazon

Born of Deception by Teri Brown
Sequel to Born of Illusion
Moving to London in the 1920s to join a prestigious European vaudeville tour and reunite with her boyfriend Cole, budding illusionist Anna must harness her special powers and navigate the underworld of magic before her murderous enemies catch up with her. –Summary

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
“In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever. Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily. Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town's most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept ‘separate but equal.’ Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.” –Jacket

Lion Heart by A. C. Gaughen
Scarlet; Book Three
After escaping Prince John's clutches and longing to return to Rob in Nottingham, Scarlet learns that King Richard's life is in jeopardy and accepts Eleanor of Aquitaine's demand that Scarlet spy for her and help bring Richard home safe.

The Map of Chaos by Felix J. Palma
Trilogia Victoriana: Book Three
"The action of the wondrous final volume in Spanish author Palma's speculative thriller trilogy (which began with The Map of Time unfolds in several Victorian eras in parallel universes, beginning with esteemed biologist Herbert George Wells' attempt to create a virus that will allow the residents of his doomed steampunk world to escape to another realm free of threat.” –WorldCat

Prairie Fire by E. K. Johnston
Dragon Slayer of Trondheim; Book Two
“Listen! For the song of Owen Thorskgard has a second verse. Every dragon slayer owes the Oil Watch a period of service, and young Owen was no exception. What made him different was that he did not enlist alone. His two closest friends stood with him shoulder to shoulder. Steeled by success and hope, the three were confident in their plan. And though Siobhan McQuaid was the first bard in a generation, she managed to forge a role for herself and herald Owen as a new kind of dragon slayer for a new kind of future. But the arc of history is long and hardened by dragon fire. Try as they might, Owen and his friends could not twist it to their will. Not all the way. Not all together. Listen! I am Siobhan McQuaid. I know the cost of even a small bend in the course of history. Listen!” –WorldCat

The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige
Dorothy Must Die; Book Two
“To make Oz a free land again, Amy Gumm was given a mission: remove the Tin Woodman's heart, steal the Scarecrow's brain, take the Lion's courage, and then Dorothy must die... But Dorothy still lives. Now the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked has vanished, and mysterious Princess Ozma might be Amy's only ally. As Amy learns the truth about her mission, she realizes that she's only just scratched the surface of Oz's past -- and that Kansas, the home she couldn't wait to leave behind, may also be in danger. In a place where the line between good and evil shifts with just a strong gust of wind, who can Amy trust -- and who is really Wicked?” –WorldCat

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski
Winner’s Trilogy; Book Two
"A royal wedding is what most girls dream about. It means one celebration after another: balls, fireworks, and revelry until dawn. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement: that she agreed to marry the crown prince in exchange for Arin's freedom. But can Kestrel trust Arin? Can she even trust herself? For Kestrel is becoming very good at deception. She's working as a spy in the court. If caught, she'll be exposed as a traitor to her country. Yet she can't help searching for a way to change her ruthless world . . . and she is close to uncovering a shocking secret." –Jacket

Friday, November 20, 2015

New Graphic Novels











The 47 Ronin by Sean Michael Wilson; drawings by Akiko Shimojima
“In the eighteenth century, forty-seven samurai avenged the death of their master in a plot that would take over two years to complete. After succeeding in their mission, the masterless samurai—known as ronin—all committed ritual suicide. The story, which is a national legend, remains the most potent example of Japan's deeply rooted cultural imperative of honor, persistence, loyalty, and sacrifice. The historical event has inspired many writers and artists over the years and numerous fictionalized versions and adaptations have emerged. In The 47 Ronin, Sean Michael Wilson has created a historically factual portrait, enhanced by evocative and often lyrical drawings by Akiko Shimojima.” –Amazon

Breath of Bones: A Tale of the Golem by Steve Niles; illustrated by Dave Wachter
“A British plane crashes on the outskirts of a small Jewish town, drawing the attention of Nazi forces. To protect their homes and families, one man gives his life to create a creature of legend -- the golem. Following the orders of the man's grandson, the golem fights for the town and becomes a friend no one expected.” –WorldCat

Ghetto Brother: Warrior to Peacemaker by Julian Voloj and Claudia Ahlering
"An engrossing and counter view of one of the most dangerous elements of American urban history, this graphic novel tells the true story of Benjy Melendez, son of Puerto-Rican immigrants, who founded, at the end of the 1960s, the notorious Ghetto Brothers gang. From the seemingly bombed-out ravages of his neighborhood, wracked by drugs, poverty, and violence, he managed to extract an incredibly positive energy from this riot ridden era: his multiracial gang promoted peace rather than violence. After initiating a gang truce, the Ghetto Brothers held weekly concerts on the streets or in abandoned buildings, which fostered the emergence of hip-hop. Melendez also began to reclaim his Jewish roots after learning about his family's dramatic crypto-Jewish background.” –Publisher

Girl in Dior by Annie Goetzinger
"The Girl in Dior is Clara, a freshly hired chronicler, fan of fashion and our guide in the busy corridors of the brand new house of Christian Dior. It's February 12, 1947 and the crème de la crème of Paris Haute Couture is flocking to the momentous event of Dior's first show. In a flurry of corolla shaped skirts, the parade of models file down the runway. The audience is mesmerized: it's a triumph! Carmel Snow of Harper's Bazaar cries out: "It's quite a revolution; your dresses have such a new look!" Dior's career is launched and Clara's story begins. Soon, she is picked by Dior himself to be his model.” –WorldCat

Hansel & Gretel by Neil Gaiman; illustrated by Lorenzo Mattotti
“Best-selling author Neil Gaiman and fine artist Lorenzo Mattotti join forces to create Hansel & Gretel, a stunning book that's at once as familiar as a dream and as evocative as a nightmare. Mattotti's sweeping ink illustrations capture the terror and longing found in the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Gaiman crafts an original text filled with his signature wit and pathos that is sure to become a favorite of readers everywhere, young and old.” –Amazon

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn; art by Fiona Staples
Volume Three
“When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe.” –Amazon

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn; art by Fiona Staples
Volume Four
"Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. As they visit a strange new world and encounter even more adversaries, baby Hazel finally becomes a toddler, while her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana struggle to stay on their feet. –Back cover

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn; art by Fiona Staples
Volume Five
"While Gwendolyn and Lying Cat risk everything to find a cure for The Will, Marko makes an uneasy alliance with Prince Robot IV to find their missing children, who are trapped on a strange world with terrifying new enemies.” –Cover

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
“David Smith is giving his life for his art―literally. Thanks to a deal with Death, the young sculptor gets his childhood wish: to sculpt anything he can imagine with his bare hands. But now that he only has 200 days to live, deciding what to create is harder than he thought, and discovering the love of his life at the 11th hour isn't making it any easier!” –Jacket

The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang; art by Sonny Liew
“In the comics boom of the 1940s, a legend was born: the Green Turtle. He solved crimes and fought injustice just like the other comics characters. But this mysterious masked crusader was hiding something more than your run-of-the-mill secret identity: the Green Turtle was the first Asian American super hero. The comic had a short run before lapsing into obscurity, but Gene Luen Yang has revived this character in Shadow Hero, a new graphic novel that creates an origin story for the Green Turtle.” –WorldCat

Wednesday, November 18, 2015










Burning Kingdoms by Lauren DeStefano
Internment Chronicles; Book Two           
“After escaping Internment, Morgan and her fellow fugitives land on the ground to finally learn about the world beneath their floating island home. The ground is a strange place where water falls from the sky as snow, and people watch moving pictures and visit speakeasies. A place where families can have as many children as they want, their dead are buried in vast gardens of bodies, and Internment is the feature of an amusement park. It is also a land at war” –Amazon

Call Me by My Name by John Ed Bradley
“Growing up in Louisiana in the late 1960s, Tater Henry has experienced a lot of prejudice. His town is slow to desegregate and slower still to leave behind deep-seated prejudice. Despite the town’s sensibilities, Rodney Boulett and his twin sister Angie befriend Tater, and as their friendship grows stronger, Tater and Rodney become an unstoppable force on the football field. That is, until Rodney sees Tater and Angie growing closer, too, and Rodney’s world is turned upside down. Teammates, best friends—Rodney’s world is threatened by a hate he did not know was inside of him.” –Amazon

Dorothy Must Die: Stories by Danielle Paige
”Three prequel novellas to the Dorothy Must Die series that follow Dorothy Gale as she transforms from good girl to Wicked Witch.” –WorldCat

Echoes of Us by Kat Zhang
Hybrid Chronicles; Book Three
”Fifteen-year-old Addie and Eva, still sharing a body as they fight for hybrid freedom, jump at the chance to go undercover and film the wretched conditions of a hybrid institution, but they price they might pay for the hope of a better future is higher than they could have imagined.” –WorldCat

The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedwick
”Four linked stories of discovery and survival begin with a Paleolithic-era girl who makes the first written signs, continue with Anna, who people call a witch, then a mad twentieth-century poet who watches the ocean knowing the horrors it hides, and concluding with an astronaut on the first spaceship from Earth sent to colonize another world.” –WorldCat

Golden Son by Pierce Brown
Red Rising Trilogy; Book Two
“As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.” –Amazon

The Golden Specific by S. E. Grove
Mapmakers; Book Two
“It is the summer of 1892, one year since Sophia Tims and her friend Theo embarked upon the dangerous adventure that rewrote the map of the world. Since their return home to Boston, she has continued searching for clues to her parents’ disappearance, combing archives and libraries, grasping at even the most slender leads. Theo has apprenticed himself to an explorer in order to follow those leads across the country—but one after another proves to be a dead end. Then Sophia discovers that a crucial piece of the puzzle exists in a foreign Age. At the same time, Theo discovers that his old life outside the law threatens to destroy the new one he has built with Sophia and her uncle Shadrack. What he and Sophia do not know is that their separate discoveries are intertwined, and that one remarkable person is part of both.” –Amazon

Kalahari by Jessica Khoury
"Deep in the Kalahari Desert, a Corpus lab protects a dangerous secret. But what happens when that secret takes on a life of its own? When an educational safari goes wrong, five teens find themselves stranded in the Kalahari Desert without a guide.” –WorldCat

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

New Fiction











A Mad Zombie Party by Gena Showalter
White Rabbit Chronicles; Book Four
“Kat Parker's spirit returns, insisting Frosty the Ice Man partner with rogue slayer Camilla Marks -- the one who betrayed them all, leading to Kat's death. But when Anima rises from the grave to become a force the slayers may not have the strength to overcome, Frosty, Camilla and all the slayers will have to work together to survive.” –WorldCat

And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard
“Senior Paul Wagoner walks into his school with a stolen gun, threatens his girlfriend, Emily Beam, and then takes his own life. Soon after, angry and guilt-ridden Emily is sent to a boarding school in Amherst, Massachusetts, where two quirky fellow students and the spirit of Emily Dickinson offer helping hands. But it is up to Emily Beam to heal her own damaged self, to find the good behind the bad, hope inside the despair, and springtime under the snow.” –Amazon

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
“Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he'll be safe. Simon can't even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can't stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. Simon is the most powerful magician the world has ever known; he never gets to relax and savor anything.” –WorldCat

The Fate of Ten by Pittacus Lore
Lorien Legacies; Book Six
“For years the Garde have fought the Mogadorians in secret, but now the invasion has begun. If the Garde can't find a way to stop the Mogs, humanity will suffer the same fate as the Lorien: annihilation. When the Elders sent the Garde to Earth, they had a plan -- one which the Garde are finally starting to understand. A group of the Garde traveled to an ancient pyramid in Mexico where they awoke a power that had been hidden for generations. Now this power can save the world or destroy it. It will all depend on who wields it.” –WorldCat

The Forever Man by Eoin Colfer
W.A.R.P.; Book Three
"Riley, an orphan boy living in Victorian London, who has achieved his dream of becoming a renowned magician, and Chevie, the seventeen-year-old FBI agent who traveled from the future and helped him defeat his murderous master, Albert Garrick, face the return of Garrick, an assassin-for-hire, and must destroy him once and for all.” –WorldCat

The Heir by Kiera Cass
Selection; Book Four
“Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won Prince Maxon's heart. Now the time has come for Princess Eadlyn to hold a Selection of her own. Eadlyn doesn't expect her Selection to be anything like her parents' fairy-tale love story ... but as the competition begins, she may discover that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.” –WorldCat

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children; Book Three
“Time is running out for the Peculiar Children. With a dangerous madman on the loose and their beloved Miss Peregrine still in danger, Jacob Portman and Emma Bloom are forced to stage the most daring of rescue missions. They'll travel through a war-torn landscape, meet new allies, and face greater dangers than ever. Will Jacob come into his own as the hero his fellow Peculiars know him to be?” –WorldCat

The Rule of 3: Fight For Power by Eric Walters
Rule of 3; Book Two
“In a world gone dark, life goes on for Adam and his fortified neighborhood of Eden Mills—even if the extreme steps taken by his battle-hardened mentor Herb, his police chief mom, and the other leaders in the name of security and survival are increasingly wrenching and questionable. But with renewed determination, Adam will follow Herb’s lead: he’ll do what it takes; he’ll make sense of having had to defeat the enemy in such awful ways. All that matters is that their suburban home is safe again.” –Amazon

The Secrets of Attraction by Robin Constantine
“Madison, whose life is turned upside down by a family friend's visit, and heartbroken guitarist Jesse, who is trying to find the inspiration to write music again, form a friendship that soon grows into romance.” –WorldCat

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
“Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he's pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he's never met.” –WorldCat

Friday, November 6, 2015

Remembrance Day 2015











November 11 gives us a day to reflect, pay tribute and remember those who have fought for freedom.

The CEC Library has numerous books focusing on various wars. Stop by the library and check out our selection.