On Our Shelves: New Young Adult Fiction

Looking for something new to read, or want to place a hold on the newest books in our young adult collection? Well, you are in luck. Here is a list of some of our most recent additions that just might capture your interest regardless of if you are an adult or young adult.

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1. Playing Tyler by T. L. Costa
Tyler MacCandless is looking at a bleak future. With his father dead and his mother mentally checked out, Tyler is responsible for his older brother Brandon who’s in rehab for heroin abuse–again. With no skills to speak of outside of playing video games, a fast food future is all but a certainty. That is, until the day Tyler’s mentor Rick asks him to test a new video game. A good enough score can earn him a place in flight school. When Brandon goes missing, and Tyler discovers the game is far more than it seems.

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2. Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith
The discovery of a startling family secret leads seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd from a protected and naive life into a summer of mental illness, first love, and profound self-discovery.

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3. Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff
Sixteen-year-old Boy Nobody, an assassin controlled by a shadowy government organization, The Program, considers sabotaging his latest mission because his target reminds him of the normal life he craves.

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4. Far Far away by Tom McNeal
When Jeremy Johnson Johnson’s strange ability to speak to the ghost of Jacob Grimm draws the interest of his classmate Ginger Boltinghouse, the two find themselves at the center of a series of disappearances in their hometown.[Cover]

5.Charm & Strange by Stephane Kuehn
A lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy must either surrender his sanity to the wild wolves inside his mind or learn that surviving means more than not dying.[Cover]

6. Openly Straight by Bill Koningberg
Tired of being known as “the gay kid”, Rafe Goldberg decides to assume a new persona when he comes east and enters an elite Massachusetts prep school–but trying to deny his identity has both complications and unexpected consequences.

Other new titles include Vortex by S.J. Kincaid, Ship out of Luck by Neal Shusterman, Mortal Fire by Elizabeth Knox, September Girls by Bennett Madison, Spies and Prejudice by Talia Vance, Rules of Summer by Joanna Philbin, How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler, Careful What you Wish For by Shani Petroff, The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp, Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan, I’m with Stupid by Geoff Herbach, Golden Girl by Sarah Zettel, and The Lost Sun by Tessa Gratton.

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I’m With Stupid

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Mortal Fire

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Ship Out of Luck

 

Author Profile: Bella Andre

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Bella Andre

New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Bella Andre is one of the rare self-published phenomenons who has become an ebook millionaire.   She recently signed a groundbreaking 7-figure print-only deal with Harlequin MIRA for her Sullivan series.  They will be released in mass market paperback in a global launch with continuous back-to-back releases from June 2013 to April 2014.

She started out writing songs, then non-fiction books.  When she wrote her first Romance novel, she knew she’d found her perfect career.  She’s a savvy marketer who works non-stop to improve the sales of her titles.  When she released her first original self-published story in July 2010, she wrote a personal email to everyone who had ever written to her in the last five years to get the word out.  She is known for her sensual stories with sizzling alpha heroes and strong women.

Besides writing, her favorite things to do are reading her favorite authors, hiking, and swimming.  She is married with two children and splits her time between Northern California and a 100 year old cabin in the Adirondacks.

Available (or soon to be) at our library:

Sullivan Brothers Series

The Look of Love

From This Moment On

Can’t Help Falling In Love

*Coming Soon*

I Only Have Eyes for You
If You Were Mine
Let Me Be The One
Come A Little Bit Closer
The Way You Look Tonight
Book 10    coming Fall 2013

Also Available:

Hot As Sin

Never Too Hot

Wild Heat

Ebook (Overdrive Catalog) – Candy Store

Jenn Reads: One Mississippi by Mark Childress

One Mississippi was a book club pick for the book club I run with girlfriends outside of the library.

One mississippi, two mississippi…

Imagine: It’s 1973. Your favorite television program is The Sonny and Cher

One Mississippi by Mark Childress

Show. Desegregation has just happened in your school. You’re moving to a new home, in a new state, for the upteenth time. And you’re a junior in high school. Could it get any worse?

It does.

Written by the author of Crazy in AlabamaOne Mississippi is the story of Daniel Musgrove, a junior in high school in Minor, Mississippi. He’s moving with his family from Indiana (Yankee country, he believes) to Mississippi. The schools have just been integrated (seems a bit late to me) and they’re having their first interracial prom. Finding himself an outsider, Daniel gets a new best friend in Tim Cousins.

Things spiral quick out of control after the prom, when Arnita Beechman, is named prom queen, the first black prom queen in the school’s history, and she is involved in an accident. A small lie becomes a big lie and lives are forever changed.

While there were many moments of seriousness, there were moments of humor, wit, and “oh geez”. Childers wants us as readers, to remember what it was like to be in high school. We all had moments we’d like to forget, but we all also have moments we’d love to relive. A few of my favorites included Daniel and Tim meeting Sonny and Cher at a concert and Daniel’s house blowing up (you’ve got to read it!).

Unfortunately, Childers tries to stuff too many issues into 400 pages. There’s racism, teen sex, gay issues, bullying, Vietnam, etc, etc. As a group we felt if he had focused on just one issue, the book may have been more cohesive. Personally, I felt the storyline with Daniel’s brother Buddy, who goes off the Vietnam, was hugely ignored.

This is in no way a “teen” book, although it could be read by teenagers. And neither is it a book for those who lived in the 1970’s. My girlfriends and I, all in our mid-20’s enjoyed this book for a glimpse into life during that time period. While our own high school experiences were not as problematic as Daniel’s, we related and sympathized.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

On Our Shelves: New Picturebooks

Are you running out of picturebooks to share with your youngest book lovers, or just sick and tired of re-reading the same story over and over again?  Well, here are some of the most recent arrivals in our collection that you may want to check out.

That is NOT a Good Idea!

That is NOT a Good Idea!, written and illustrated by Mo Willems is reminiscent of silent movies, with the classic damsel in distress. The story starts with a hungry fox inviting a plump goose for dinner and as the story continues in a familiar fable-like arc, a young chick (and young readers and listeners) repeat in growing volumes that they think the choices made are NOT a Good Idea. Full-color illustrations, the repeated phrase, and the unexpected ending will make this a fast favorite and a requested re-read.

Little Mouse

Little Mouse by Alison Murray is a picturebook about a young girl who has the nickname of ‘Little Mouse”. However, sometimes she is annoyed by the nickname and wishes it was not hers. Sometimes she likes to be as loud as an elephant, waddle like a penguin, or be as fierce as a lion. But then again, sometimes, like when she wants to cuddle with her mother, the nickname is just fine.

Super Hair-o and the Barber of Doom

Super Hair-o and the Barber of Doom by John Rocco is a fun picturebook about a boy and his friends that play superhero a lot. Rocco believes that his super powers come from his hair, and that the crazier his hair gets, the more powerful he becomes. One day Rocco is dragged to the barber and gets a haircut. In his despair about the loss of hair, and possibly his powers, he discovers that the rest of his crew and their crazy hair, have all met similar fates. In the end, Rocco discovers that he is just as super as ever.

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The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot

The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot! by Scott Magoon is a clever twist on “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. It is told from the point of view of an unexpected narrator and, through snappy text and lighthearted illustrations, demonstrates the value of telling the truth, the importance of establishing trust, and (of course!) the possibility that a beast you created to get attention can become a real-life friend.

The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf

The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague Three pigs spend their money on different things: potato chips, sody-pop, and building supplies. It comes as no surprise that a wolf is able to blow down the first two pigs’ houses. When the wolf can’t blow down the third pig’s brick house, everyone comes together and the fun begins. The first two pigs give him potato chips and sody-pop, and the third pig makes everyone a healthy meal. Since only one pig has a house left, the other two pigs and the wolf move in with her. The somewhat bad wolf is no longer hungry.

Some of my other new favorites include Cheetah Can’t Lose by Bob Shea, Are the Dinosaurs Dead, Dad? by Julie Middleton and Russell Ayto, Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue, If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano and Erin Stead, The Day My Mom Came to Kindergarten by Maureen Fergus, and Ribbit! by Rodrigo Folgueira and Poly Bernatene.

Do you have a new favorite or discovery that you want to share?

9 New Cozy Mysteries for August

lady detective

New titles available at Cheshire Library for your reading pleasure!

New for August:

1.  Cross-Stitch Before Dying by Amanda Lee (An Embroidery Mystery)

2.  Do or Diner by Christine Wenger (A Comfort Food Mystery)

3.  Remnants of Murder by Elizabeth Lynn Casey (Southern Sewing Circle Mystery)

4.  Seed No Evil by Kate Collins (A Flower Shop Mystery)

5.  Cloche and Dagger by Jenn McKinlay (Hat Shop Mysteries)

6.  Pall in the Family by Dawn Eastman (A Family Fortune Mystery)

7.  Death Al Dente by Leslie Budewitz (A Food Lovers’ Village Mystery)

8.  Cover Story by Erika Chase (An Ashton Corners Book Club Mystery)

9.  If Bread Could Rise to the Occasion by Paige Shelton (A Country Cooking School Mystery)