Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

”A curse beyond her darkest fears.”
New Orleans and the southern half of Louisiana have been destroyed by two back-to-back Category Four hurricanes. No one was prepared for the devastation and no one returned. Thirteen years later, “no one in their right mind ventured past The Rim.” Now known as New 2, the once grand and now decaying city is privately owned and “A sanctuary for misfits and things that went bump in the night.” The Novem, composed of nine of the oldest families in New Orleans, created what is believed by most to be a sanctuary for the paranormal.
Ari Selkirk has gone to Rocquemore House to find information about her mother who gave her up to the state of Louisiana social services just after her fourth birthday. What Ari was not expecting to find out is that her mother was schizophrenic, had a delusion about snakes under her scalp and committed suicide six months after her self-admittance, on the eve of her twenty-first birthday. Even more surprising to Ari is that family claimed her mother’s body and buried her in Greece. The doctor she speaks to, Dr. Giroux, offers to give her a box of her mother’s things. She is a little disappointed by the light weight of the box.

At seventeen, Ari has teal-colored eyes and hair that is “the bane of her existence.” Light in color it looked silver in the moonlight and was full, glossy and unnaturally straight. Her hair brings her unwanted attention and always grows back no matter what Ari does to rid herself of it. Her current foster parents are bail bondsmen and Ari is employed in the “family business.” They are supportive of her desire to find out more about her birth mother. So when Ari finds a letter her mother wrote to her, she is surprised it tells her to run and stay away from New Orleans and those who can identity her. She decides to make a quick solo trip to New 2 to find her birth records, even though she knows it’s dangerous. Ari is attacked by a man who is intent on killing her. When she finally gets the upper hand and delivers a fatal blow, he fingers a strand of her hair and ‘so beautiful” before dying. Before she can regain her senses, a truck halts and asks Ari if she is alright.

Ari realizes that it is actually a mail truck from New 2 and she decides to hitch a ride with the driver, twelve-year-old Crank. Crank also offers Ari the opportunity to stay at her family’s house and she accepts. Crank tells Ari that her brother can help her locate the information she is looking for. When Ari meets Henri she immediately notices his eyes are like her own, not quite normal. After seeing the rest of the family, Ari decides to leave. But before she can, a guy walks in the door and looks at Ari “like he could see inside her and says, ‘They’re already looking for you, you know.’” The guy turns out to be Sebastian and he agrees to help Ari find her birth records. When she goes back through her mother’s box of things, she finds an old newspaper clipping and a letter her grandmother wrote to her mother. Their family is cursed. The women don’t live to the age of 21 and always leave a young daughter behind. Unfortunately her birth records bring more questions, including a link to a member of the Novem who happens to be Sebastian’s grandmother. Ari’s day gets worse when a voodoo practitioner refuses to remove the curse from her.

Join Ari on her journey of self-discovery as she tries to find out her family history and why she fits in in New 2. Who wants to kill her and what do the Novem want with her? And why is everyone she meets terrified of her? Nothing will stop Ari even when the stakes are too high or too dangerous. Just who or what is Ari?

Part paranormal, part mythology with a bit of mystery and romance thrown in, Darkness Becomes Her is the first in Kelly Keaton’s Gods and Monsters series.

Visit Kelly Keaton’s website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZoW82HrIt8

The Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting

The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.The Body Finder - Book One

Violet Ambrose has a unique ability, the dead call to her. By using an “echo”, she is able to sense a body’s location through smells, sounds and sometimes colors that they emit but only a body whose life has been cut prematurely short by the actions of another. Not only do the dead have an echo, but the person responsible for their death bears an identical imprint of their victim’s echo as well. A killer whether they mean to or not, cannot hide from Violet. An ability inherited from her grandmother, Violet is the only person who knows the echoes are there.
Violet discovered her first human body when she was eight-years-old while in the woods with her father. Now eight years later, she discovers body number two while celebrating the end of summer at the lake with her childhood friend, Jay Heaton. Soon the small town of Buckley, Washington is terrorized by a serial killer who is targeting young girls. For the first time Violet begins to see her ability as a gift in hopes she can located the killer before there is another death.

But sensing dead bodies isn’t the only complication in Violet’s life. Jay is causing some confusion in Violet’s life. Over the summer, he came into his own and now the girls at school have taken notice and so has Violet. Struggling to deal with her feelings towards her friend since childhood, Jay seems to be the same old Jay, except when someone else takes interest in Violet. When Violet hatches a plan to look for the serial killer, Jay reluctantly agrees to help. When things don’t go as planned and Violet puts herself in danger, Jay becomes fiercely protective and Violet begins to hope that his intentions are more than friendship.

What happens when Violet unknowingly attracts the killer’s attention and she becomes his next target? And can Violet figure out her burgeoning feelings for Jay before it’s too late? Equal parts mystery and romance, readers will be left on the edge of their seats to find out not only who the killer is but whether Violet and Jay will take their friendship to the next level.

Desires of the Dead - Book Two

On a day trip to Seattle with a friend, Violet Ambrose soon hears the echo of a body waiting to be found. When she realizes that it is locked in a shipping container, she places an anonymous phone call. Violet unwittingly draws the attention of the FBI, who realize that she possesses a special talent, even if they are not sure exactly what she can do.

As Violet is trying to figure out the rules of her new romantic relationship with her best friend Jay, she unwittingly becomes the target of someone's obbession. When Jay starts to spend more time with Mike, a new boy in town, Violet begins to flirt with the idea of using her abilities to help the FBI. But when the FBI becomes interested in Mike's family, Violet is drawn in to a dangerous mystery.

There are currently a total of four books planned in the Body Finder series with book three expected to be published in 2012.

Visit Kimberly Derting's website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zgf1GQJYBg

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Life is good for seventeen-year-old Mia, until that fateful day. One flake of snow closed school for the day and her family decides to visit a family friend’s new baby and then dinner with the grandparents. Only they never make it due to a fatal car accident. Not knowing how the wreck happened, Mia sees that her parents were killed instantly and soon finds her own injured body. Told from Mia’s perspective of an out of body experience and flashbacks, Mia recalls significant moments from her life while silently witnessing the reactions of her family and friends. Throughout the day, Mia realizes that only she is in control of her life. Will Mia decide to join her family in death or what will her life be like if she stays?

Visit Gayle Forman’s website

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrpMNXdEl3Q

Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan

“Last night my whole world came tumbling down. Now I’m running scared.”

As an immortal, Nastasya (her current name) is disgusted with her party-girl existence when her best friend Innocencio cruelly uses magick to break the back of their cabbie. Leaving him paralyzed in the streets of London, Nastasya becomes sickened not only by friend’s behavior but her own lack of action and begins to reexamine her life. Remembering another incident/accident 80 some years prior with Incy, Nastasya decides to take another immortal she met that night up on her offer. She leaves behind her friends and the life she knows to go to West Lowing, Massachusetts and live with River, if her offer is still available.

Arriving in West Lowing, Nastasya is unprepared for what awaits her; River runs a home for wayward immortals. Currently under the guise of an organic farm to the locals, River’s Edge is a rehab of sorts for immortals looking to make a change, as well as a school and working organic farm. River offers Nastasya a week to decide if she wants to stay and save her own life. Trading in her party-girl ways for organic food and a simplistic lifestyle, Nastasya feels out of place, especially when she runs into “the Viking god”, gorgeous and sexy Reyn. Reyn makes it clear early on that Nastasya has no business at River’s Edge and that she should leave. His attitude causes Nastasya to want to prove him wrong but she realizes that Reyn looks vaguely familiar. When her teacher refuses to waste time on someone who is just going to leave soon, Nastasya runs to Boston and into some old immortal friends. She learns that Innocencio is looking for her but gets a promise that no one will disclose her location. 

In thinking of Innocencio, Nastasya comes to the conclusion that Incy was dependent on her. They were always together. She had thought of him as her best friend, but he caused her to go places and do things she necessarily didn’t want to. Maybe he wasn’t good for her. Nastasya soon feels comfortable at River’s Edge. When she learns the history of the immortal power houses at dinner one night, her world comes crashing down when she realizes the truth about her family and her mother’s amulet. After dinner the next night, river takes a group to the woods for a magick circle. She is interested in why Nastasya gets sick when she performs magick. During the circle, Nastasya recalls a memory from over 400 years earlier in which a Viking raider almost raped her and he looked a lot like Reyn. He has claimed not to be that old.

Nastasya begins to put together the pieces of her past. Why was Innocencio always around her? What is the truth not only about her family’s lives but their deaths? Why did she survive? What is the significance of her amulet and the burn on the back of Nastasya’s neck? What is the deal with Reyn? Is he her worse nightmare or the possible love of her life?

Trilogy will continue with Darkness Falls in 2011 and concludes in 2012 with Immortal Light.

Visit Cate Tiernan's website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EMf1Ipg76Q

Divergent by Veronica Roth

“One choice can transform you.”

In dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions. Each faction strives to live by a particular virtue: Abnegation – selflessness, Amity – peaceful, Candor – honest, Dauntless – fearless and Erudite – intelligence. All sixteen-year-olds are given an aptitude test that tells them which faction they belong with. On a designated day of each year, a Choosing ceremony is held where the teens decide which faction to devote the rest of their lives to.

For Beatrice Prior, she has lived with her family as Abnegation for her sixteen years. Her brother Caleb is less than a year older and both take the aptitude test the same day. When Beatrice finishes her test, her examiner is a bit worried. Beatrice’s results were inconclusive and only two factions were outright eliminated. She displayed “equal aptitude for Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite.” People with this result are known as “Divergent”. Her examiner, Tori, warns her to never share her test results as divergence is extremely dangerous. Tori sends her home early because she has a lot of thinking to do. If Beatrice chooses Abnegation, she will stay with her family. By joining a different faction, Beatrice will not see her family again. On a roller coaster ride of emotions at the Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice shocks everyone, including herself, by choosing to become Dauntless.

Renaming herself Tris as she starts the highly competitive initiation process, Beatrice struggles to leave behind the Abnegation values of selflessness and forgiveness. She has trouble determining who her real friends are and embarks on a romance with one of her trainers, Four, who looks familiar. As she attempts to deal with her fears about leaving her family and her feelings for Four, Four discovers her secret of being Divergent. He lets her know that if her true result is discovered, it would mean her death.

But when Tris slowly realizes that something is going on not only within her chosen faction but with society as a whole, she finds being Divergent may save those she loves. Journey with Tris as she begins to discover not only who she is but those she loves as secrets and true identities are revealed. If you loved Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, Beatrice Prior will endear you to her as she begins her quest against society.

Visit Veronica Roth’s website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu5Erw-posg

The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima

Book One – The Demon King

Han Alister and his friend, Fire Dancer, are out in the early spring scavenging for what little can be found. At sixteen, most of the residents of Fellsmarch didn’t consider Han a man yet. Finding little, they decide to hunt for deer to provide some fresh meat for the table. When they locate a small herd of deer, the two boys also notice a weird colored fire. Missing the chance to shoot a deer, they take refuge behind a rocky outcrop to get out of the fire’s path. Soon three boys their age, dressed in fine clothes and riding horses, appear. Dancer realizes they are charmcasters or wizards and demands to know what they are doing on forbidden lands. The leader informs Dancer that his name is Micah Bayar and that they are on Queen Marianna’s orders to drive the deer to the valley below so that she and her daughters can hunt. Micah then questions Dancer if his real name is Hayden, which happens to be a wizard’s name. Words, blows and charms ensue between the two until Han draws his bow on Micah. Having the upper hand, Han orders the three young wizards to leave but not before commanding Micah to take off his powerful amulet. He clearly does not want to do it but sees no choice. Dancer wants to leave it behind but Han wraps it in a cloth for safekeeping.

Raisa, the princess heir to the throne of Fells, has spent the last three years of her life at the Demonai camp with her father’s clan. Now back at Fellsmarch Castle, she is hearing the whispering about her mother among the members of the court. The Queen is too close to the High Wizard, Lord Gavan Bayar who is Micah’s father. Raisa herself has entered a forbidden flirtation with Micah. But with the opportunity to hunt and ride, Raisa is chomping at the bit to go. Soon Raisa becomes uneasy but keeps her fears to herself until it is almost too late. The royal hunting party encounters Micah and his companions as the fire traps them in a canyon. Using the boys, Lord Bayar performs a chant that causes the fire to be put out.

Han, a former streetlord known as Cuffs Alister, has worn a pair of silver engraved wrist cuffs for as long as her can remember. They are clearly enchanted as he can never take them off and they grow with his body. His mother seems to not recall how they came to be. Han is trying to eek out a meager living for his mother and sister but his former gang life continues to follow him. Raisa begins to sense that not all is right in her world and unwanted and unexpected change looms on the horizon. Her mother’s queendom seems to be headed for disaster. Raisa desires to be a more powerful queen than her mother but the queen is more interested in a husband for her daughter.

What happens when Han and Raisa’s worlds unexpectedly collide and the long smoldering war between the wizards and the clans finally breaks out? The Demon King is the first book in the Seven Realms series. Readers will be hooked from the first page in this hard to put down fantasy read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEtfteO-9dU

Book Two – The Exiled Queen

SPOILER ALERT! Don’t read any further if you haven’t read The Demon King. Don’t want to ruin this incredible series for you!

All is not well in the Seven Realms. War continues amongst the brothers in Arden, each one jockeying to become king and the bloodshed seeps throughout. Princess Raisa, heir to the Gray Wolf throne, has fled the Fells with Amon Bryne and his triple after her narrow escape from a forced marriage to Micah Bayar on her naming day. Han Alister is reeling from not only the deaths of his mother and sister, but the discovery of his true identity. Both journey to Oden’s Ford to attend one of the various academies located there; Raisa, warrior school and Han the wizard school. But what happens when their paths cross once again? Will Raisa’s true identity be discovered? Is she cut out for military school? Will her broken heart be mended? Does Han have what it takes to become a wizard? And will the Bayar twins stand in his way?

Readers will be left gripping their books at the ending wondering where Raisa and Han’s paths will takes them.

The Seven Realms series continues with The Gray Wolf Throne on August 30, 2011.

Visit Cinda Williams Chima’s website.

Red Glove by Holly Black (Curse Workers book 2)

“The cons get twistier and the stakes get higher.”

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read the first book in the series, White Cat, Stop! I don't want to ruin the story for you.

“Curses and cons. Magic and the Mob.”


After spending the summer with his mother in Atlantic City looking for her next millionaire mark, Cassel Sharpe is almost looking forward to the start of school. In a short time, Cassel has discovered quite a few things about himself. He is the most powerful curse worker around. Cassel has the ability to transform with a touch of his hand. The girl he loves, Lila Zacharov, is no longer a white cat he unknowingly turned. But unfortunately, Cassel’s mother, an emotion worker, has cursed Lila to love Cassel and he can no longer trust what Lila says. And after spending the summer avoiding Lila, Cassel is stunned when she enrolls at Wallingford Prep. Looks like it might be an interesting school year.

Cassel is soon pulled out of class and called into the headmistress’s office. Upon his arrival, he notices two men waiting on him are federal officers. He is taken to their headquarters where he is eventually told that his brother Philip is dead and that he was working with the government at the time. Cassel is offered training and a job with the government if he finds out the information Philip was going to supply. The only clue the feds have to go on is a grainy image of a woman wearing a red glove. To make matters worse, at Philip’s funeral, Lila’s father offers Cassel a job. He also tells Cassel he wasn’t responsible for his brother’s death.

Which path will Cassel choose, the feds or the mob? Can he find out who is responsible for his brother’s death? And does Lila really love him or is it just the curse talking?

The trilogy concludes with Black Heart in 2012.

Visit Holly Black’s website.

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments book 4)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first three books in the Mortal Instruments series, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

It has been six weeks since the story ended with City of Glass. The Mortal War is over and most everyone is home from Idris. Clary is training to become a Shadowhunter and is finally free to pursue a relationship with Jace. Simon is adjusting to his new life as a vampire. Jocelyn and Luke are planning their wedding. But not all is right in New York. Jace seems to be pulling away from Clary and will not tell her why. Vampires are jockeying for Simon’s allegiance. And a newcomer is in town to help guide Simon.

But someone or thing is killing Shadowhunters and making it look like Downworlders are doing it. And the dead share a connection; all were members of Valentine’s Circle. Is Sebastian back from the dead? Why ha Camille come back to New York? Who is creating demon babies? And can Clary figure out what is going on with Jace?

The story continues in book five, City of Lost Souls.

Visit Cassandra Clare's website.

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Cryer’s Cross, Wyoming, population 212, is the home to Kendall Fletcher. Kendall suffers from compulsive-obsessive disorder (OCD) and it controls her life. When Tiffany Queen disappears without a trace in the spring, Kendall’s life is disrupted. Order is a necessity in her life and only her childhood friend/boyfriend Nico Cruz knows her secret. When Kendall and Nico’s senior year begins, Kendall is relieved to have a sense of normalcy back in her life. As the only girl her age at school, Kendall is surprised to learn that two new students will be attending her school, Marlena and Jacian Obregon.

Jacian is also a senior and angry to be in a new school where he feels his life has been turned upside down. Even worse, he was questioned in Tiffany’s disappearance since he was new in town. When Nico becomes distant towards Kendall and then disappears, the town is once again in an uproar that quickly dies down. Kendall’s life is spirally out of control, especially when soccer is cancelled due to not enough players. The sheriff implements a curfew for the young people and no one is to be alone. With Nico missing, Kendall is paired with Jacian, much to her dismay. But they soon find out they have a lot in common.

Who or what is causing the young people of Cryer’s Cross to disappear? And can Kendall figure it out before she becomes the next victim?
Visit Lisa McMann’s website.

Cloaked by Alex Flinn

“There once was a shoemaker who worked very hard, but was still very poor … -The Elves and the Shoemaker"

Johnny and his mother run a shoe repair business at the Coral Reef Grand, a posh resort located on Miami’s South Beach. Times are tight as Johnny works eighteen hour days and his mother works at a hot dog stand in a failing attempt to keep their heads above water. His dream is to be a shoe designer and Johnny spends his free time creating shoes. One day a beautiful princess checks into the hotel. Her reputation as a spoiled socialite precedes her. Johnny’s friend Meg, who runs the coffee counter next to Johnny, is unimpressed with the princess but he is a bit smitten.

When the princess drunkenly visits Johnny’s shop one night to fix her shoe, he is excited by the opportunity to work on such an exquisite shoe. The catch, he must personally deliver it to her when he is finished. The next morning, Johnny goes to her penthouse and soon learns the princess created a ruse about herself. She is really in Miami to search for her missing brother, the heir to the throne of Aloria. He fell for a village girl who was really a witch and she turned him into a frog. The spell can only be broken “by ze kiss of one wiz love in her heart.” But he is kidnapped and placed on a ship bound for Miami. The witch promised to break the spell on her brother if the princess marries the Zalkenbourgian heir and combined their countries. Johnny has a hard time believing the princess but soon realizes that she believes she is sincere.

The princess confides in Johnny because she sees him as a hard worker and a good boy who would be willing to help her. She offers to pay him handsomely and even marry him if her brother is found. Will Johnny decides to help the princess find her brother/frog? Does his dream of becoming a shoe designer come true? And just which young lady captures Johnny’s heart?

Cloaked is a mixture of several fairy tales including The Elves and the Shoemaker, the Frog Prince, Six Swans, and several others.

Visit Alex Flinn’s website.

Delirium by Laure Oliver

“They say that the cure for love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them. Until now. Now everything has changed. Now, I’d rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.”

In the future, the United States has closed off its borders. Love has been declared a disease and the root of all evil. Amor deliria nervosa is the “deadliest of all deadly things.” Boys and girls are under strict segregation policies most of the time until the cure can be safely administered. “The cured, incapable of strong desire, are thus rid of both remembered and future pain.” One cannot be cured until they reach their eighteenth birthday. Until then, one must be extra diligent not to succumb to the disease.

For Lena, her eighteenth birthday cannot come soon enough. An orphan since the age of six, Lena has lived with her aunt and uncle since her mother’s refusal to receive the cure for a fourth time and subsequent suicide. Lena walks a fine line in life, stay out of trouble, receive the cure and live her life. With her graduation looming on the horizon, Lena and her best friend Hana go to the labs for their Evaluations. Evaluation Day is the exciting rite of passage that prepares you for a future of happiness, stability and partnership.” Lena’s Aunt Carol has prepped her for years in saying the right things to get a good score and a better future. Lena’s nerves get the best of her during the Evaluation and her hopes for a good score are dashed until a disruptive demonstrative takes place in Lena’s Evaluation room. It seems the Invalids who live in the Wilds turn loose a trailer of cows in the lab facility to make a point. In the chaos, Lena notices a young boy grinning at her from the observation deck. All Evaluations are nullified and Lena breathes a sigh of relief.

Lena and Hana are distance runners. One day Hana decides they should look around the labs and see how the cows got in. Soon they run into a young guard named Alex and Lena realizes he is the same boy from the observation deck of her failed Evaluation. He claims not to know what she is talking about but Lena soon realizes he does. Alex does give Lena a cryptic message to meet him at the beach later that night but once she gets there, he is a no show. Later on Lena goes to Hana’s house and hears her listening to illegal music. Hana begs her to come to an unapproved party but straight-laced Lena refuses to go. Hana tells her she won’t end up like her mother, Lena’s greatest fear. After bed, Lena begins to question her decision and sneaks out to the party.

After finding Hana at the party, Lena soon realizes her mistake and turns to go home. On her way back to her bike, she encounters Alex once again. Lena questions him again about his appearance during her Evaluation, but is shocked when he asks why she didn’t meet him at the beach. Alex then tells Lena that he has noticed her for months on her runs and she just hasn’t noticed him. Soon they are dancing. Alex asks if Lena will meet him the next day and she agrees.

Soon Lena realizes that she is catching amor deliria nervosa or falling in love with Alex. She begins to question everything she knows. Is the cure all that the government leads its citizens to believe or is the joy and heartbreak of love and pain worth the risk? Only Lena can decide where her path will lead her.

Lena’s story will be continued in Pandemonium in 2012 and Requiem in 2013.

Lauren Oliver's descriptions are vivid and her writing make this a worthwhile read even if you are not interested in the subject matter. For those who are, one will throughly enjoy this cross between Matched by Ally Condie and Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series.

Visit Lauren Oliver's website.

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

"In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees ..."

At the age of fourteen, Clara Gardner discovers that she she is part angel, just like her mother. Eventually Clara will learn her purpose, what she was put on Earth to do. She soon begins to have visions after hre sixteenth birthday. A forest fire and a boy about her age, whose face she cannot see, occur to her when she least expects it. While on the phone with her estranged father one night, Clara sees a truck and is able to read its license plate in the vision. Six weeks later, Clara, her mother and younger brother move to Jackson Hole, Wyoming in search of her purpose.

On her first day of high school, Clara sees the truck from her vision in the parking lot. It is not until later in the day does she recognize the boy from behind. Upon walking closer to him, he turns around and their eyes meet. Clara is immediately transported back to her vision and promptly faints. When she awakens, Clara is helped by Wendy, her first real friend in Jackson. Soon the boy comes with the nurse and she finds out his name is Christian and faints again. Clara arrives to her English class late and sits next to Wendy. In introducing the class to one another, Clara learns that Christian has a girlfriend, Kay.

As Clara settles into her new life in Wyoming, everything seems to be falling into place regarding her vision about Christian. Soon Christian and Kay break up and Clara asks him to the prom. When Kay and Christian are crowned prom king and queen, Clara is left out when Kay breaks down in tears. Christian needs to take her home so Wendy's twin brother Tucker offers Clara a ride and she accepts. Clara realizes that Christian is still in love with Kay and that maybe all her vision means is that she is suppose to save his life, not necessarily fall in love.

When all of Clara's friends, including Christian, have plans for the summer away from Jackson, she is feeling abandoned. When Wendy arranges for Tucker to be Clara's tour guide for her birthday, she decides to go along for the adventure. Soon Clara and Tucker are spending every day together and Christian fades to a distant memory. But as fire season approaches, Clara is faced with the ultimate decision she never dreamed she would have to make. Don't fret at the ending, the author is writing book two in the series due out in January 2012.

Visit Cynthia Hand's website. 

The Lost Saint by Bree Despain (Dark Divine book 2)

"A family destroyed. A love threatened. An enemy returns."

SPOILER ALERT! Please do not read any further if you haven't read the first book in the series, The Dark Divine. I don't want to ruin the story for you.

Ten months have passed since the ending of The Dark Divine. Jude has disappeared, Daniel is cured of the wolf curse and Grace is learning more about her new found abilities. Life in the Divine house hold is difficult since Jude's disappearance. Grace's mother watches news reports and constantly looks for him in the background while her father is always gone looking for him. Now Daniel has become sistant and is pulling away from Grace. Grace is determined to use her neew wolf abilities into finding Jude, even if her life is in danger. Since Daniel is keeping secrets, Grace turns to Talbot, her volunteer partner for a service project for school. Talbot knows who Grace is and offers to help train her abilities and find Jude. But what happens when things aren't what they seem and a deadly enemy returns? Fans of The Dark Divine are going to be completely blown away by the ending and left waiting for the next installment.

Visit Bree Despain's website.

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

"A hidden truth. Mortal enemies. Doomed love."

When Jacinda and her friend Az sneak out early one morning to fly, they know they are breaking the rules of their pride. Jacinda and Az are draki, descendants of dragons, who are able to elude hunters by shifting into human form. When they encounter a group of hunters, things quickly go down hill for the pair. Az panics and Jacinda, the faster of the two, decides to draw the hunters to herself. Jacinda is injured and forced to hide in a cave along the shores of a deep pool. When one of the hunters, a gorgeous young boy her age comes looking for her, she never expects him to let her go. Even more surprising is what Will whispers when her touches her, beautiful.

Soon the hunters leave and Jacinda goes to look for Az. She is shocked to learn Az made it back to the pride and an alarm has been sounded. There hasn't been an alarm since her father's disappearance years ago. But Jacinda isn't an ordinary draki. She is the first fire breather in her pride in four hundred years and faster than Cassian, the alpha draki's son who has his eye on her. When her mother, who no longer manifests into draki form, decides to take her daughters away from the pride, Jacinda is crushed. Her twin sister, Tamra, who never manifested and is human, is thrilled to be leaving, especially since her crush on Cassian will never be reciprociated. Their mother takes them to the desert where her own draki dried out years earlier.

Tamra is enjoying their new life while Jacinda is miserable. Jacinda knows her draki is doomed until she feels a dangerous presence in her midst. She knows it is Will before she even sees him. It takes everything Jacinda has not to manifest in the school hallway. Tamra tells her to stay away from him, which becomes impossible when he sits next to her in study hall. Soon two other dangerous boys begin talking to Will. He intorduces Jacinda to his cousins Xander and Agnus and Jacinda realizes that they are hunters as well. Will tells her he is not a good  guy and leaves when the bell rings.

Jacinda feels her draki withering in the dry heat of the desert, except when it threatens to erupt around Will. Jacinda is desperate to get back to her pride, even though she realizes that her mother has been less than truthful about the pride and will become Cassian's mate. Will she risk everything to be with Will in an attempt to keep her draki alive even though he is her natural enemy? And what will happen when she realizes she is in love with Will and Cassian finds where they are hiding?

Jacinda's story continues in Vanish. 

Visit Sophie Jordan's website.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Ever since her younger brother's death, Andi and her parents have been swallowed by grief. Her father, a Nobel winning DNA scientist, is as consumed with his work as ever and has moved on with a new girlfriend. Her mother, an artist, paints portriats of Turman all day and night, commenting that she can never get the color of his eyes right. Andi is a senior at a prestigious Brooklyn prep school. She is gifted both academically and as a guitartist, but is failing out of school over her guilt in Truman's death. When her father finds out from the school that Andi hasn't started her senior thesis, he encounters a house filled with grief. He checks her mother into a mental hospital for treatment and takes Andi with him to Paris where he is going to be working on a project and she can begin her thesis outline.

Andi and her father go to stay with his college roommate, G, who is a world famous expert on the French Rvolution. G is looking for the financial backing to start a museum on the Revolution and has brought in Andi's famous father to help him on a gentic experiment. G wishes to do DNA testing on what is believed to be the heart of Louis-Charles, the son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette. When Andi sees pictures of the heart encased in its glass urn and a portriat of the ten year old heir, she immediately thinks of Truman. The resembalance is uncanny. G allows her to play an expensive antique guitar that he illegally purchased from someone who found it in the catacombs beneath Paris. Andi is thrilled to be playing such a fine guitar. In looking at it's case, she realizes that the lock is broken and begins to work on opening it. In a last ditch effort to free the lock, the key Andi keeps around her neck falls from her shirt. The key belonged to Truman and Andi has worn it since his death. She tries it in the lock and it works. When the bottom opens, Andi thinks she has broken the case but soon realizes that it has a false bottom. In it she finds a miniature portriat of Louis-Charles and a diary written during the Revolution.

Soon Andi is drawn into the diary of a young girl named Alex who was the companion for Louis-Charles. The diary is her way to get his story to the public but was lost for the past 200 years. Between working on her thesis outline and reading the diary, Andi meets a handsome young taxi driver who is an aspiring musician. She soon finds herself falling in love with Virgil but is terrified by becoming close to someone after walling herself and her emotions off from the rest of the world.

Will Andi be able to pick up the pieces of her life and resolve her feelings of guilt over Truman's death? Can she repair her broken relationship with her father and manage to write her thesis? Is Andi capable of revealing herself not only to Virgil but herself? And what will happen to Alex in the diary and the mysterious Louis-Charle? Does the story end well for either girl?

Visit Jennifer Donnelly's website.

Matched by Allyson Condie

In the future, Society will determine what you eat, where you work and how you spend your free time. More importantly, Society determines who you will marry. For Cassia Reyes, she is thrilled that her Matched ceremony occurs on her seventeenth birthday. Even better, Cassia is Matched with Xander, whom she has known since childhood. Cassia sees her life as perfect. She will get to spend the rest of her life with her best friend. So when Cassia reads her microcard on Xander from her Matched ceremony, she is shocked when Xander's photo fades into Ky Markham, a boy she also knows.

Later that evening while at rec time, an official from the Societal Classification Department comes to talk to Cassia. She informs Cassia that what happened is a rare mistake and hopes that someone didn't play a cruel joke. Cassia realizes that Ky is a Single, someone who will not be Matched or allowed to have children. Only those Matched are allowed children. No, the official says. "He's not a Single. Ky Markham is an Aberration." People who are Aberrations have usually incurred an infraction but that knowledge is not publically known. Cassia is told to keep this information to herself. She asks if she may tell her Grandfather whose 80th birthday is in a couple of days. The official says that would be alright. In Cassia's Society, one's eightieth birthday is also the day one dies. As Cassia's family prepares for Grandfather's final banquet, he tells Cassia to bring his mother's gold compact. The compact is Cassia's artifact, the one item from past society that she is allowed to keep. He reveals that there is a secret piece of paper inside that he finds comfort in. He also tells her to be true to herself before he passes away.

Since her Match ceremony and the blunder with the microcard, Cassia begins to see Ky Markham everywhere. She is surprised when they share the same summer rec activity, hiking. With no instruction, the group is told to meet at the top. Cassia takes off through the woods. Near the top, she stops and hides. She pulls out her compact to read the slip of paper hidden there. On it are two poems, but they are not a part of the 100 poems that Society has chosen. As Cassia reads the Dylan Thomas poem, she quickly realizes why it wasn't chosen. It is about fighting for what you believe in and Cassia begins to understand what her Grandfather's final words to her truly mean.

Soon Cassia finds herself drawn to Ky even though she is Matched to Xander. As the two get to know more about each other on their hikes, Cassia begins to question Society's control over every aspects of their lives, especially when Society begins to tighten their control. Will Cassia assume the role Society has planned for her or does she take her Grandfather's last advise and follow her heart?

Cassia'a story continues with Crossed on November 1, 2011.

Visit Allyson Condie's website.
Visit the official website for Matched.

Alex Van Helsing : Vampire Rising by Jason Henderson

"This doesn't happen ... does it?"

Alex Van Helsing has always gotten comments on his name, especially from those fascinated with the Dracula story. His father runs the Van Helsing Foundation, a research foundation that brings health care to Third World countries. Or so he is led to believe until he arrives at his boarding school, Glenarvon Academy, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Within three days of his arrival, Alex encounters two vampires and notices the late night wanderings of his literature teacher Mr. Sangster. Alex follows Mr. Sangster one night and hides in a roadside ditch when he hears a caravan of vehicles behind him. Turns out it is a caravan of vampires and Alex is soon spotted.

Alex takes off running and soon encounters Mr. Sangster coming to his aid on a motorcycle. They arrive at a safehouse where Alex finds he is well known. Turns out Alex has stumbled upon the Polidorium, a secret vampire hunting organization that is the firepower behind the Van Helsing Foundation. Alex is shocked to learn his true family heritage and that his father has been untruthful to him. The Polidorium are in the area looking for the Scholomance, an ancient vampire university rumored to be in the area and a vampire clan lord known as the Icemaker.

When two of Alex's friends are kidnapped by the Icemaker, will he embrace his vampire hunter heritage and go after them?

Alex's story will be continued in book two of the series, Voice of the Undead to be published July 26, 2011.

Visit Jason Henderson's website.
Visit the Alex Van Helsing website.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

"Ever wonder what it was like for the Beast?"

Beastly is the modern day retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale set in New York. Kyle Kingsbury has it all; money, looks and an elitist attitude to go along with it. He first notices Kendra Hilferty when she openly objects to the ninth-garde dance ballot on which Kyle is running for prince. She claims the people on it were chosen only for their physcial beauty. Kyle's father is a big-time network news anchor and he has been raised with the attitude that only the beautiful succeed and everyone else who is ugly should try and become beautiful. Kendra, who Kyle thinks looks like a witch, tells him that he is beastly.

When he notices her again sittting on the bleachers in P.E., they once again begin their debate on whether beauty is only skin deep or if true beauty is on the inside. He decides to ask her to the spring dance even though he already has a date with the very vain and social climbing Sloane Hagen. Sloane finds out about his plans with Kendra and is most pleased to find out that Kyle plans to make a mockery out of Kendra by standing her up at the dance. Sloane asks for a purple orchid for her slinky black dress. In continuing to string Kendra along, Kyle asks what color dress she will be wearing for the coursage, She asks for a single white rose, the symbol of purity.

The night of the dance, Kyle becomes livid when the housekeeper buys a white rose coursage. She tells him an orchid is a proud and vain flower but a rose is a beautiful thing. The box is dropped and a petal falls off. The housekeeper wishes he could be happy and see beautiful things. Instead she pities him. Kyle places the loose petal in his pocket and goes to pick up Sloane. She is not happy with the coursage and knocks it from Kyle's hand. Another petal falls off and he places it in his pocket as well.

At the dance, the girl taking tickets at the door comments on how beautiful the white rose is. When he sees she is serious, he gives her the flower. When Kendra arrives, Kyle and Sloane kiss in front of her to show that they are together. Kyle walks over and makes fun of her. He is surprised when Kendra is not hurt but knew all along Kyle was playing her. She tells him he just made her decision easier. When he asks what the decision is, she says, "You'll see."

After Kyle and Sloane are crowned prince and princess, Kyle begins to blow her off and a big scene occurs at the dance. Kyle leaves and when he gets home, Kendra is waiting for him. He is terrified at the sight of her and she says she has come to give Kyle his comeuppance. As she speaks, she begins to transform into a beautiful girl who tells Kyle that she is indeed a witch. She tells Kyle that he has done ugly things all his life and has received special treatment because he was beautiful. At the stroke of midnight, she turns him into a beast, a transformation of his inner self.

Kendra gives Kyle a slim second chance since he did perform a small act of kindness in giving the rose coursage away. Since he kept two petals, he will have "two years to find someone willing to look beyond your hideousness and see some good in you, someone to love. If you will love her in return and if she will kiss you to prove it, the spell will be lifted, and you will be your handsome self again. If not, you'll stay a beast forever."

What will happen to Kyle now that he is a beast? Will he find true love in time to break the spell? But more importantly, will Kyle learn the lesson Kendra hopes to teach him?

Visit Alex Flinn's website.

The movie Beastly opens in theaters March 18, 2001 starring Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens.

Beastly official movie web site.

Movie trailer

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

SPOILER ALERT!!! If you haven't read the first book in the trilogy, The Maze Runner, please don't read any further. I don't want to ruin the suprise for you.

 "The maze was only the beginning ... "

For Thomas, Teresa and the other Gladers, solving and leaving the Maze was suppose to be the end. Once in the dorms, everyone is relaxed, well-fed and sleeping well for the first time in ages. Teresa has been separated from the boys but she and Thomas are still able to communicate telepathically. After talking, Thomas falls back asleep only to hear Teresa yelling at him. He ignores her when he is unable to rouse himself awake. The next morning, Thomas awakes to chaos and the realization that Teresa is gone.

From their dorm windows, the boys see a diseased, bloody and sunburnt man who keeps yelling that he is a Crank and to kill him. They soon realize their door is locked. After breaking the lock, the boys flood the commons room where they ate the night before and discover their rescusers hanging from the ceiling, dead. They cross the room and find Teresa's door locked. Thomas notices a sign on the door that reads "Teresa Agnes. Group A, Subject A1. The Betrayer." Once they open the door, they hear someone in the bathroom. When the door opens, a boy instead of Teresa comes out. His name is Aris and he has no idea what happened to Teresa. He slept in the room the entire night. After hearing his story, Thomas and the other Gladers realize that WICKED ran two separate experiments. one with Teresa and the boys and one with Aris and girls. Thomas soon realizes that he can speak telepathically with Aris. Aris tells him that he had a relationship with a girl named Rachel the way Thoams and Teresa did but that Rachel was killed.

The boys discover they now have tattoos on their necks that say "Property of WICKED" with a group and subject number and a few have a description. Minho is the leader, Newt the glue, Aris the partner abd Thomas's says "To be killed by group B", the girls. They soon discover that things might not necessarily be what they seem when the dead bodies and Cranks dissappear. The boys go three days without food and Thomas seems to have strange dreams about his past. He awakens from one with Minho by his side with some food. Even more bizarre than the pile of food thathas appeared in ther commons room is a thin man in a white suit behind a desk reading a book. All he will tell them is that "we still have forty-seven minutes before I've been authorized to implement Phase Two of the Trials".

When the man finally speaks, he informs the boys that the Maze was just Phase One and now things will start to get difficult. He explains what has happened to the Earth; rampant disease and scorching heat from sun flares. WICKED was formed by the surviving nations to "fight the problems of this world." The man states the boys will help because they are infected with the disease called the Flare and at the end of the trials, the cure will be their reward. Phase Two, The Scorch Trials, will begin the following morning. Failure to go result in immediate execution.

The rules are simple, there are none with few supplies. Go through the Trans Flat at the time indicated and find open air. Head due north for one hundred miles to reach sfae haven or die. Will Thomas and the remaining Gladers be up to the challenge? What lies beyond the Trans Flat? Who is Aris and what happened to Teresa? What is Thomas' fate? Is her to be killed by the girls and where are they? Join Thomas and the Gladers for Phase Two of WICKED's experiment, The Scorch Trials.

The trilogy will conclude with the publication of The Death Cure in the Fall of 2011.

Visit James Dashner's website.

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

"Calla Tor has always known her destiny."

While on patrol, Calla Tor betrays her masters' laws all to save a human boy who was attacked by a bear. To make matters worse, Calla shifts from wolf to human form in order to keep him from bleeding to death. She finds that she is inexplicably drawn to him. And Calla is surprised that he doesn't seem to be afraid of who or what she is.Calla is the alpha female of the Nightshade wolf pack and is betrothed to Ren Laroche, the alpha male of the Bane wolf pack. Their union is set to take place on October 31st, Samhein and their eighteenth birthdays, and until that time Calla reamins pure and chaste while Ren is the campus heartbreaker at Mountain School. Once joined, a new pack will be formed with Calla and Ren as the leaders. Ren is doing all he can to draw Calla close to him because underneath it all, he really does care for her. He seems to be making headway in that department but their burgioning relationship hits a roadblock when a new student arrives at the school, Shay Doran, the same boy that Calla rescued from the bear.

After spending time alone with Shay, Calla is soon drawn into questioning everything that she has been taught and finds herself pulled between Shay and Ren, but also what her heart desires and her sense of duty to her pack. Join Calla on her journey of self discovery as she tries to figure out the truth and the mystery that surrounds Shay Doran.

There are plenty of shocking twists in the final chapters as the union ceremony draws near to leave the reader eagerly awaiting the continuation of Calla's story in Wolfsbane out July 26, 2011. Book three,  Bloodrose will be out in the Spring of 2012 . A companion novel to Nightshade that is still untitled is due out in Fall of 2012.

Visit Andrea Cremer's website.

Visit the Nightshade website.