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!