A Western, Chess, Adventure, & Mockingbirds?

As usual, I've been churning through book after book.  In fact, I just finished my 200th book of the year over the past weekend!  That means I'm overdue to make a few recommendations to you.

Let me tell you, I really like a good Western.  Seriously...and Vengeance Road, by Erin Bowman was a good Western.  Kate Thompson comes home from hunting to discover that her father has been murdered by a notorious gang, and she sets out across the Arizona desert intent on getting vengeance for her father.  Kate plans to hunt down every member of the gang and kill them.  Only then will her father be avenged.  Along the way, Kate picks up allies who join her to help her in her cause.  As Kate gets closer to hunting down the guilty gang, she discovers some surprising information about her family that she never knew about her dead mother and a secret, lost gold mine that some people will do anything to find.  Will Kate's thirst for vengeance heal the wound left by her father's murder?  You'll have to read Vengeance Road to find out!  You can check out a copy from MCPL or through MCPL's Overdrive.

Next up is the highly anticipated second book in Marie Lu's Young Elites series - The Rose Society.  I don't want to give away too much, but I will tell you this - Adelina Amouteru decides to embrace her badness and goes completely over to the dark side in this story.  I'm not usually a fan of a bad main character, but there is something about Adelina that keeps you rooting for her, even though you know you wouldn't want to run into her in a dark alley yourself.  If you liked The Young Elites, you'll definitely want to read this book to see how the story continues.

If you're looking for a good historical fiction mystery, you might want to give These Shallow Graves, by Jennifer Donnelly a try.  In this story that takes place in 1890, young socialite Josephine Montfort is close to graduating from her finishing school, and is likely to be engaged to the most eligible bachelor in New York when her father suddenly dies after accidentally shooting himself.  Jo, who is an aspiring writer, knows that in her society she has no chance of getting to be a reporter, but her inquiring mind can't accept that her father would accidentally shoot himself.  When she inadvertently overhears someone say that her father committed suicide, she can hardly believe that either, so she decides to investigate.  With the help of handsome reporter, Eddie Gallagher, Jo pieces together evidence that her father was actually murdered and it was staged to look like a suicide.  Now Jo has to figure out who murdered her father and why...before her own time runs out.  If you like a fun historical read with an interesting mystery, you'll like These Shallow Graves.  I received an advanced copy of this novel thanks to NetGalley.  You can find copies at MCPL or through MCPL's Overdrive.  

I've also been reading lots of prospective Truman nominees for next year.  One of those possible nominees is Grandmaster, by David Klass.  I admit, I know pretty much next-to-nothing about playing chess, but despite that, I really liked Grandmaster. Freshman Daniel Pratzer decides to join the chess club when he starts high school.  He's not much of an athlete, and he really doesn't know a whole lot about chess, but he wants to get involved in something.  When he's invited by two seniors to travel to New York for a parent-child chess tournament, he can't figure out why they'd invite him...until they tell Daniel that his dad was classified as a chess grandmaster as a teenager.  As far as Daniel knows, his dad has never even played chess, because his dad has never mentioned a word about it.  When Daniel's dad admits the truth and reluctantly agrees to play in the tournament, Daniel has to do his best to hold his dad together as he faces a past he'd rather forget.  If you like chess, and even if you don't, but you like a good story about relationships, then you'll like this book.  You can find copies at MCPL.

Another potential Truman nominee is The Girl Who Never Was, by Skylar Dorset.  This is the first in at least a 2-book series.  In this story, Selkie Stewart, who has been raised by her two elderly aunts, because her mother left and her father is in a mental institution, discovers that her whole life is one big lie.  When Selkie decides to try to find her mother, everything in her life falls apart...because it turns out that if her mother finds Selkie...she's going to kill her.  When Selkie discovers that Ben, the boy she's secretly in love with, has been captured by her mother, she knows she has to save him, even if it puts her own life at risk.  If you like fantasy and lots of adventure, you'll like The Girl Who Never Was.  You can follow it up with The Boy with the Hidden Name, where the story continues.  You can find copies of this in our CMS library and at MCPL.

Since we're currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird in reading class, you might enjoy this next potential Truman nominee;  I Kill the Mockingbird, by Paul Acampora.  In this story, Lucy and her two friends, Michael and Elena want to pay tribute to their teacher who died earlier in the school year.  They know that this teacher wanted his students to read To Kill a Mockingbird over the summer and they want to make sure that everyone WANTS to read this book.  So, they devise a campaign called "I Kill the Mockingbird".  They go into book stores and libraries and remove all the copies off the shelves and creatively shelve those copies elsewhere.  They leave flyers with links to a website and social media sites they've set up and start a sensation across the country and suddenly everyone, everywhere wants to get their hands on a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.  Since you're reading TKAM (you are reading it, right?), you'll appreciate all the references to the original story in I Kill the Mockingbird.  This was a really fun and entertaining read, plus it's pretty short!  You can find a copy of this at our CMS library and at MCPL.

Another potential Truman nominee is Midnight Thief, the first in a series by Lyvia Blackburne.  Kyra has been growing up on the rough streets of the Forge and has learned to survive as an orphan on the streets.  She's become an excellent thief and prides herself on being able to get into any building and steal just about anything.  When she's invited to join a group that is supposedly working for the greater good of the people, she gets to put her skills to further use.  But after awhile, Kyra begins to suspect that this group may not be all she thought they were.  In fact, they may be using Kyra to do things she is absolutely against, but she's not sure how to get out.  When she's arrested, she gets thrown together with knight Tristam of Brancel, who is out to find the Demon Riders, who murdered his friend.  Tristam and Kyra have to work together to stop Kyra's group and the Demon Riders from wreaking havoc on their town.  This is another fantasy, adventure story.  If you like this book, you'll want to read the second book in the series, Daughter of Dusk. You can find a copy at the CMS library or at MCPL.

Finally, let me tell you about a final potential Truman nominee, Codename Zero, by Chris Rylander.  Seventh grader Carson Fender is bored in his North Dakota town.  Nothing ever happens there...ever.  To keep himself entertained, Carson is always planning his next big prank.  In the midst of one of his elaborate pranks, though, a man in a suit who is being chased by strange, pale men hand Carson a wrapped box and asks him to deliver it to a Mr. Jensen and tells him that whatever he does...don't unwrap the box.  So what do you think Carson does...of course, he unwraps the box!  One thing leads to another and Carson ends up the newest agent for a top secret agency that is at work right there in his own town.  His job...befriend and protect the newest student at school.  Can Carson fulfill his mission, project this student, and maybe even save his town?  You'll have to read Codename Zero to find out.  If you like this one, you can check out book #2 Countdown Zero and a third book, Crisis Zero, will release in February of 2016.  You can find copies of Codename Zero at the CMS library and at MCPL.

There are lots of books that you can choose from here!  We're heading to the library later this week, so make a note of any of these you want to read!