Gold, Monsters, Thieves...and more!

I have been busy, busy, busy trying to keep up with all the books that keep ending up on my shelves.  Let me tell you, I've read some pretty good stuff over the last couple of weeks.  Here are seven new recommendations I have for you.

First up, is Walk on Earth a Stranger, by Rae Carson.  I absolutely loved Carson's Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, so I was really excited to read this first book in a new series, and it did not disappoint.  Lee Westfall is an only child growing up in the mid-1800's with her parents.  But when her parents are murdered, Lee isn't sure what to do.  When she realizes her uncle, who has become her guardian, is behind her parents' deaths because he wants to use Lee, she knows she has to get away.  You see, Lee has the ability to sense gold...and her uncle wants to use her to make him rich, because the California Gold Rush is beginning.  Lee runs away, but can she make it to California on her own and escape her evil uncle?  I love a good Western - and with the paranormal element of Lee's unusual ability added in, it made for a great story. I am already highly anticipating the next book!  You can find this book on MCPL's shelves or through MCPL's Overdrive.

Next up is Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children #3), by Ransom Riggs.  This book is the highly-anticipated last book in this well-loved series.  I won't say much, because I don't want to give anything away, but Jacob and the peculiar children are still hunting for Miss Peregrine, and they're running out of time.  Jacob discovers that he has another peculiar ability that might be able to help them.  Can they save her and all of Peculiardom?  You'll have to read Library of Souls to find out!  You can find this title on MCPL's shelves or through MCPL's Overdrive.

A potential Truman nominee I recently read was Matthew Jobin's The Nethergrim, the first book in a series.  In this fantasy story, the town of Moorvale celebrates their freedom from the evil nethergrim every year. The story of how the knight, Tristan, and the wizard, Vithric, defeated the nethergrim is known and celebrated by all.  But when darkness returns to the land and animals and then children start to disappear, Edmund believes the nethergrim has returned.  When his brother is taken, Edmund knows that he has to try to get him back.  Edmund is a self-taught student of magic...but does he know enough to save his brother, and himself, from the nethergrim?  You can find copies of this story in our Congress Media Center or at MCPL.

If you prefer a more humorous story, you might enjoy another potential Truman nominee - Also Known as Elvis, by James Howe.  Skeezie Tookis is about to spend a few weeks of his summer alone, because his three best friends are leaving town.  When his mom tells him he has to get a job to help out with the bills, Skeezie, who is also known as Elvis by some because of the leather jacket he wears at all times, isn't too excited.  But when his dad, who left two years ago, shows up and seems to want a second chance, Skeezie is really unhappy.  Having to navigate through all this without the help of his friends may prove to be his undoing.  If you like a good heartwarming story that will make you laugh along the way, AKA Elvis is a good book for you.  You can find a copy of this title at our Congress Media Center and at MCPL.

If you're looking for a post-apocalyptic dystopian story, you would probably really like Amy Engel's The Book of Ivy, first in a new series.  Ivy Westfall (no relation to Lee from Walk on Earth a Stranger) is in a bad situation.  After the nuclear war that led to much of the destruction of the U.S., Ivy's grandfather founded the town of Westfall.  But after the town was established, another family, the Lattimers took control and began their rule over the town. In the town of Westfall every May, girls from the losing side of town are chosen to marry boys from the winning side of town.  And this year, Ivy has been chosen to marry the president's son, Bishop.  But what Bishop and his family don't know is that Ivy is part of a plot to kill him and help her own father take back control of their town.  But once Ivy gets to know Bishop, she's not sure if she can follow through.  This story was a page-turner, and of course, it ends with a huge cliffhanger that will leave you waiting with anticipation for the next book in the series, The Revolution of Ivy, which is due out early next year.  You can find a copy of this book at MCPL or through MCPL's Overdrive.

If you read Leigh Bardugo's Grisha trilogy (Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising), then you'll love the first book in her new series called Six of Crows.  I just finished this book today and I'm still trying to catch my breath.  Though this book has a new cast of characters, the setting is the same world as in the Grisha trilogy.  Kaz Brekker is a lieutenant of the Dregs, a gang that is part of Ketterdam's streets.  When Kaz is approached to pull off what appears to be a nearly impossible heist, he puts together a team of six who just might be able to pull it off.  Their job: break into one of the best and most well-guarded prisons in the world and kidnap a prisoner.  This book is told from the perspectives of most of the six players in this fantastical Ocean's Eleven - like story.  I absolutely loved it and am a little devastated that I'm going to have to wait about a year for the next book in the series to come out.  Because, yes, giant cliffhanger at the end of this one.  You can find this title at MCPL or through MCPL's Overdrive.

Finally, if you're up for an action-adventure, alternate history thrill ride, then Wolf by Wolf, by Ryan Graudin is a must-read for you.  I got to read this book thanks to NetGalley. It was just published last week.  This story takes place in 1956 in a world where Hitler and the Axis powers won World War II and are in power.  Yael, a Jewish girl who was imprisoned in a death camp and experimented on as a child, escaped and is determined to get her revenge.  Because of the experiments done on her in the prison camp, Yael has the ability to skin-shift - to take on the identity of anyone she sees.  After escaping, Yael falls in with a resistance group and has been given the most important job they have.  She is to join the Axis Tour, an annual motorcycle race to commemorate the Axis' victory.  She must impersonate last year's winner, Adele Wolfe, and win the race.  If she wins, she'll be able to get close enough to Hitler to kill him, get her revenge, and start a revolution.  But she doesn't count on Adele's brother, Felix, and another former race winner, Luka, who make this job harder than she ever expected it to be.  This book was dark, but such an interesting look at how the world could have been had the Allies not won the World War.  It seems that there will be another book following Wolf by Wolf.  I hope so, because I don't think Yael's story is really over yet.  You can find this book on the shelves at MCPL.

That's it for now.  With a long weekend ahead due to parent-teacher conferences coming up, there's no better time to pick up something good to read over that break!

Fall Reads

The air is starting to get chillier and you know what that means...time to snuggle up with a good book!  Let me tell you about a few I've read recently.

First up, is a potential Truman nominee for next year called Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, by Maya Van Wagenen.  This is a memoir that Maya, who is currently 15, wrote about her eighth grade year when she embarked on a huge social experiment.  When a popularity guide written in 1951 turns up when cleaning out their house, Maya's mom suggests to her that she try following the advice of the author to see how well it would work in today's day and age.  Maya, who proclaimed herself to be at the very bottom of the social ladder in her school, decided to give it a try.  Each chapter is dedicated to a month in which she follows advice in areas such as: hair, makeup, posture, and more.  I think this is a must-read for every teen-aged girl.  It was hilarious, yet brought back so many memories of how awkward and completely unpopular we all feel during middle school (and sometimes even adulthood!).  If you're interested in this title, you can pick it up at MCPL or in our own CMS Media Center.

Another potential Truman nominee I recently read is Minion, by John David Anderson.  The main character Michael Morn was abandoned as a baby in a fast food restaurant and lived his first nine years in an orphanage.  Adopted at age 9 by a mad scientist sort-of-guy, Michael is getting along just fine, even when he realizes that the little black boxes his dad invents are being sold to the mob-like criminals who run his town.  Michael knows that he and his dad aren't the good guys, but they're definitely not evil either - just doing what they have to do to get by.  But when a super hero comes to town...one who is working to clean up the criminals, Michael worries that he and his dad are no longer safe.  They're going to have to decide - stay or go.  This was an entertaining book and is a companion book to Anderson's Sidekicked, another super hero story.  You can find this title at MCPL or in our CMS Media Center.

A final potential Truman nominee I've read is called Falls the Shadow, by Stefanie Gaither.  In this book, Cate's sister, Violet, died a few years ago and was immediately replaced by her sister's clone.  After a devastating plague wiped out a large chunk of the population when her parents were younger, they decided to clone their children in case the worst happened.  But when Violet's clone is accused of murdering a classmate and disappears, Cate knows she has to find her.  The anti-cloning community wants everyone to believe that clones are violent and unpredictable, but Cate feels a responsibility to find and defend her "sister".  She ends up caught in the crossfire of a battle between two sides that both think they're right.  This is a science-fiction action-adventure that will keep you turning the pages as you read it.  You can find a copy at MCPL and in our CMS Media Center.

Let me also tell you about two books that are set to release this coming Tuesday, October 6th.  I was able to preview both books thanks to NetGalley.

First up is A Thousand Nights, by E.K. Johnston.  This is based on the story known as 1001 Nights or Arabian Nights.  This was a fascinating story, but I will warn you that it is a slower-paced story.  It is beautifully written and thought-provoking story, though, if you're willing to give it the time.  In this story the only named character is a ruler named Lo-Melkhiin, who has married and killed 300 girls by the time he arrives at the main characters village looking for his next bride. Our main character knows her sister is likely to be chosen and in order to save her sister, she makes herself stand out and is chosen. She manages to survive one night, then another until she becomes the longest-surviving bride of Lo-Melkhiin because of the stories she weaves for him. And as she survives, strange things start to happen and she starts to develop her own strange magic that just might save her people if she can survive her husband.



For a faster-paced read, you might enjoy Spinning Starlight, by R.C. Lewis. This is a futuristic science-fiction action-adventure in which the major planets in the world are known as the Seven Points and they are connected through portals called conduits. When Liddy Jantzen, the heiress to the most powerful tech company in the galaxy is nearly attacked in her home, she learns that the person running her family's company, Minala Blake, is responsible. The conduits are failing and Minala has trapped Liddy's 8 brothers within the conduits and then implants Liddy with a device that will kill her brothers if she tries to get help for them. Liddy manages to escape to what everyone believed was the lost eighth point where she meets Tiav, who may be the only person who can help her. But she has to find a way to communicate without her voice. This is a page-turner of a book, and it will keep you guessing. My only complaint about this one is that it gets quite technical at times, which can be a little confusing, but the story is a good one.


That's it for now. More to come in the future!