Posted May 19, 2015 by Carmel in Fresh Meat / 9 Comments
Paranormal Romance:
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Witches Be Burned (Magic & Mayhem #2)
by Stacey Kennedy
Paranormal Romance
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]In Stacey Kennedy’s steamy paranormal romance novel, a rookie guardian sworn to combat the undead risks life and love in a world of violence, witchcraft, and seduction.
Trained as an Elite Guardian and witch, Nexi Jones has lost her family and she’s hell-bent on making sure she doesn’t lose anyone else. At least she has Kyden, her smoldering hot partner who’s been there for her every step of the way. But just as Nexi thinks she’s done mourning, tragedy strikes the Otherworld when a fellow guardian is murdered by a group of rogue vampires. Drawn into their dangerous games, she and Kyden trek into the Earthworld to hunt down a killer—and Nexi alone will be put to the ultimate test.
Although Kyden knows that Nexi must fight her own battles, his guardian instincts are raging as he struggles to keep her close. The ruthlessness of these vampires is like nothing he’s ever seen. And at their helm is the black witch Astoria, a demon with one burning desire: to shed blood in the name of vengeance. What troubles Kyden even more, though, is the warlock lurking in the shadows. Let the devil do his worst . . . all Kyden can do is love and protect Nexi until his last breath. [/learn_more] |
Urban Fantasy:
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Eighth Grave After Dark
(Charley Davidson #8)
by Darynda Jones
Urban Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]With twelve hellhounds after her, pregnant Charley Davidson takes refuge at the only place she thinks they can’t get to her: the grounds of an abandoned convent. But after months of being cooped up there, Charley is ready to pop. Both metaphorically and literally since she is now roughly the size of a beached whale. Fortunately, a new case has captured her attention, one that involves a murder on the very grounds the team has taken shelter upon. A decades-old murder of the newly-vowed nun she keeps seeing in the shadows is almost enough to pull her out of her doldrums.
Charley’s been forbidden to step foot off the sacred grounds. While the angry hellhounds can’t traverse the consecrated soil, they can lurk just beyond its borders. They have the entire team on edge, especially Reyes. And if Charley didn’t know better, she would swear Reyes is getting sick. He grows hotter with every moment that passes, his heat scorching across her skin every time he’s near, but naturally he swears he’s fine.
While the team searches for clues on the Twelve, Charley just wants answers and is powerless to get them. But the mass of friends they’ve accrued helps. They convince her even more that everyone in her recent life has somehow been drawn to her, as though they were a part of a bigger picture all along. But the good feelings don’t last for long because Charley is about to get the surprise of her crazy, mixed-up, supernatural life….[/learn_more] |
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Revive (Redzone #1)
by Tracey Martin
Urban Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]What the mind forgets, the heart remembers.
Alone in a train station bathroom, Sophia Hernandez has no memory of who she is or how she got there. All she’s certain of are three things: her college ID is a lie, bad people are coming for her, and no one can be trusted.
The only clue to her past is the fellow student who finds her. Although Sophia’s gut tells her Kyle is lying when he claims he can’t help her, his touch makes her heart race. Is it because of a red-hot natural attraction, or a missing memory of something far more dangerous?
As two mysterious, menacing men chase them from the station, Sophia’s memories return in frustrating fragments. So do deadly skills she didn’t know she had. In the next forty-eight hours, a loved one’s life will be on the line as she sifts through a mounting tangle of secrets and lies.
Including the most heart-wrenching secret of all. Not only isn’t she a normal college student, she isn’t even a normal human.
Warning: Contains one girl who is more than she seems, one boy who knows more than he’s telling, and enough twists to give you whiplash. Expect explosions of all kinds.[/learn_more] |
Science Fiction / Fantasy:
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Uprooted
by Naomi Novik
Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Naomi Novik, author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Temeraire novels, introduces a bold new world rooted in folk stories and legends, as elemental as a Grimm fairy tale.
“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”
Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.
Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.
The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.
But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose. [/learn_more] |
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The Scarlet Gospels
by Clive Barker
Fantasy
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| [learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The Scarlet Gospels takes readers back many years to the early days of two of Barker’s most iconic characters in a battle of good and evil as old as time: The long-beleaguered detective Harry D’Amour, investigator of all supernatural, magical, and malevolent crimes faces off against his formidable, and intensely evil rival, Pinhead, the priest of hell. Barker devotees have been waiting for The Scarlet Gospels with bated breath for years, and it’s everything they’ve begged for and more. Bloody, terrifying, and brilliantly complex, fans and newcomers alike will not be disappointed by the epic, visionary tale that is The Scarlet Gospels. Barker’s horror will make your worst nightmares seem like bedtime stories. The Gospels are coming. Are you ready?[/learn_more] |
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The Gracekeepers
by Kirsty Logan
Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]As a Gracekeeper, Callanish administers shoreside burials, laying the dead to their final resting place deep in the depths of the ocean. Alone on her island, she has exiled herself to a life of tending watery graves as penance for a long-ago mistake that still haunts her. Meanwhile, North works as a circus performer with the Excalibur, a floating troupe of acrobats, clowns, dancers, and trainers who sail from one archipelago to the next, entertaining in exchange for sustenance.
In a world divided between those inhabiting the mainland (“landlockers”) and those who float on the sea (“damplings”), loneliness has become a way of life for North and Callanish, until a sudden storm offshore brings change to both their lives–offering them a new understanding of the world they live in and the consequences of the past, while restoring hope in an unexpected future.
Inspired in part by Scottish myths and fairytales, The Gracekeepers tells a modern story of an irreparably changed world: one that harbors the same isolation and sadness, but also joys and marvels of our own age.
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When the Heavens Fall
by Marc Turner
Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]If you pick a fight with Shroud, Lord of the Dead, you had better ensure your victory, else death will mark only the beginning of your suffering.
A book giving its wielder power over the dead has been stolen from a fellowship of mages that has kept the powerful relic dormant for centuries. The thief, a crafty, power-hungry necromancer, intends to use the Book of Lost Souls to resurrect an ancient race and challenge Shroud for dominion of the underworld. Shroud counters by sending his most formidable servants to seize the artifact at all cost.
However, the god is not the only one interested in the Book, and a host of other forces converge, drawn by the powerful magic that has been unleashed. Among them is a reluctant Guardian who is commissioned by the Emperor to find the stolen Book, a troubled prince who battles enemies both personal and political, and a young girl of great power, whose past uniquely prepares her for an encounter with Shroud. The greatest threat to each of their quests lies not in the horror of an undead army but in the risk of betrayal from those closest to them. Each of their decisions comes at a personal cost and will not only affect them, but also determine the fate of their entire empire.
The first of an epic swords & sorcery fantasy trilogy, Marc Turner’s When the Heavens Fall features gritty characters, deadly magic, and meddlesome gods[/learn_more] |
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Seveneves
by Neal Stephenson
Science Fiction
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon comes an exciting and thought-provoking science fiction epic—a grand story of annihilation and survival spanning five thousand years.
What would happen if the world were ending?
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . .
Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.
A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.[/learn_more] |
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Hannu Rajaniemi
by Hannu Rajaniemi
Science Fiction
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Inside the firewall the city is alive. Buildings breathe, cars attack, angels patrol, and hyper-intelligent pets rebel.
With unbridled invention and breakneck adventure, Hannu Rajaniemi is on the cutting-edge of science fiction. His post-apocalyptic, post-cyberpunk, and post-human tales are full of exhilarating energy and unpredictable optimism.
How will human nature react when the only limit to desire is creativity? When the distinction between humans and gods is as small as nanomachines—or as large as the universe? Whether the next big step in technology is 3D printing, genetic alteration, or unlimited space travel, Rajaniemi writes about what happens after. [/learn_more] |
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Eternity’s Wheel (InterWorld #3)
by Neil Gaiman, Michael Reaves & Mallory Reaves
Science Fiction
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Joey Harker is a Leader.
With InterWorld trapped by HEX and his only other companion—the mysterious Time Agent Acacia Jones—missing in action, Joey’s the only one left. Though injured and alone, he refuses to give up. How can he, when all the worlds are depending on him?
As the threat of FrostNight looms ever closer, Joey seeks out more of his fellow Walkers across the Altiverse, training them as fast as he can and trying to track down InterWorld Base Town along the way. But even a solid team of recruits—including Acacia’s brother, Avery, who’s not a recruit so much as a tenuous ally—can’t prepare Joey for the ultimate showdown with InterWorld’s enemies, old and new.
Joey never wanted to be in charge. But he’s the one everyone is looking to now, and he’ll have to step up if he has any hope of saving InterWorld, the Multiverse, and everything in between.
Eternity’s Wheel is the heart-pounding conclusion to the InterWorld series, full of time and space travel, magic, science, and the bravery of a young boy who must now face his destiny as a young man.[/learn_more] |
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The Hanged Man
(Her Majesty’s Psychic Service #1)
by P.N. Elrod
Science Fiction / Steampunk
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]On a freezing Christmas Eve in 1879, a forensic psychic reader is summoned from her Baker Street lodgings to the scene of a questionable death. Alexandrina Victoria Pendlebury (named after her godmother, the current Queen of England) is adamant that the death in question is a magically compromised murder and not a suicide, as the police had assumed, after the shocking revelation contained by the body in question, Alex must put her personal loss aside to uncover the deeper issues at stake, before more bodies turn up.
Turning to some choice allies–the handsome, prescient Lieutenant Brooks, the brilliant, enigmatic Lord Desmond, and her rapscallion cousin James–Alex will have to marshal all of her magical and mental acumen to save Queen and Country from a shadowy threat. Our singular heroine is caught up in this rousing gaslamp adventure of cloaked assassins, meddlesome family, and dark magic.[/learn_more] |
Young Adult:
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Off the Page
by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]From #1 New York Times bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and her daughter and coauthor, Samantha van Leer, comes OFF THE PAGE, a tender and appealing romantic YA novel filled with humor, adventure, and magical relationships.
Meet Oliver, a prince literally taken from the pages of a fairy tale and transported into the real world. Meet Delilah, the girl who wished Oliver into being. It’s a miracle that seems perfect at first—but there are complications. To exist in Delilah’s world, Oliver must take the place of a regular boy. Enter Edgar, who agrees to play Oliver’s role in the pages of Delilah’s favorite book. But just when it seems that the plan will work, everything gets turned upside down.
Full of humor and witty commentary about life, OFF THE PAGE is a stand-alone novel as well as the companion to the authors’ bestseller Between the Lines, and is perfect for readers looking for a fairytale ending. Fans of Sarah Dessen and Meg Cabot are sure to appreciate this novel about love, romance, and relationships.[/learn_more] |
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Lion Heart (Scarlet #3)
by A.C. Gaughen
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Scarlet has captured the hearts of readers as well as the heart of Robin Hood, and after ceaseless obstacles and countless threats, readers will finally find out the fate of the Lady Thief.
Only the greatest loves can survive great danger. . .
Imprisoned by Prince John for months, Scarlet finds herself a long way from Nottinghamshire. After a daring escape, she learns that King Richard’s life is in jeopardy, and Eleanor of Aquitaine needs Scarlet’s help to free him. For a lifelong thief, this newfound allegiance to the crown-her family-is a strange feeling.
Scarlet knows that helping Eleanor will put her and those she loves back in Prince John’s sights. Desperate not to risk anyone’s life but her own, Scarlet formulates a plan to help save the king on her own. But fate-and her heart-won’t allow her to stay away from Nottinghamshire for long. Even if Scarlet and Rob can together stop Prince John from going through with his dark plans for England, will their love be enough to save them once and for all?[/learn_more] |
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Illusionarium
by Heather Dixon
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]What if the world holds more dangers—and more wonders—than we have ever known? And what if there is more than one world? From Heather Dixon, author of the acclaimed Entwined, comes a brilliantly conceived adventure that sweeps us from the inner workings of our souls to the far reaches of our imaginations.
Jonathan is perfectly ordinary. But then—as every good adventure begins—the king swoops into port, and Jonathan and his father are enlisted to find the cure to a deadly plague. Jonathan discovers that he’s a prodigy at working with a new chemical called fantillium, which creates shared hallucinations—or illusions. And just like that, Jonathan is knocked off his path. Through richly developed parallel worlds, vivid action, a healthy dose of humor, and gorgeous writing, Heather Dixon spins a story that calls to mind The Night Circus and Pixar movies, but is wholly its own.[/learn_more] |
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Hold Me Like a Breath
(Once Upon a Crime Family #1)
by Tiffany Schmidt
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]In Penelope Landlow’s world, almost anything can be bought or sold. She’s the daughter of one of the three crime families controlling the black market for organ transplants. Because of an autoimmune disorder that causes her to bruise easily, Penny is considered too “delicate” to handle the family business, or even to step foot outside their estate.
All Penelope has ever wanted is independence-until she’s suddenly thrust into the dangerous world all alone, forced to stay one step ahead of her family’s enemies. As she struggles to survive the power plays of rival crime families, she learns dreams come with casualties, betrayal hurts worse than bruises, and there’s nothing she won’t risk for the people she loves. [/learn_more] |
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Dangerous Deception
(Dangerous Creatures #2)
by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]From the world of Beautiful Creatures–a dangerous new tale of love and magic continues in the sequel to angerous Creatures.
After a disastrous car crash outside New York City, Ridley Duchannes-Dark Caster, Siren, and bona fide bad girl-has gone missing. Her wannabe rocker and quarter Incubus boyfriend, Wesley “Link” Lincoln, was driving, and when he comes to, Ridley is nowhere to be found. The only clue is the giant raven emblazoned on the hood of the truck that hit them, which can mean only one thing: Silas Ravenwood is back. And he has Ridley.
Determined to find her, Link reunites with old friends John Breed and Liv Durand, his New York bandmates, and the mysterious Lennox Gates-who has his own reasons for tracking down Ridley. Together they travel through the Caster Tunnels and the Deep South to New Orleans, where they uncover the truth about the infamous Ravenwood labs and exactly what Silas has been doing within those walls. By the time Link and his friends reach Ridley, she is no longer the Siren they know and love. She’s something new. This time, love might not be enough to save them.
In this sequel to Dangerous Creatures, the bestselling spin-off of the #1 New York Times bestselling Beautiful Creatures novels, coauthors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl deliver an intoxicating blend of magic, suspense, and danger. [/learn_more] |
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Chantress Fury (Chantress Trilogy #3)
by Amy Butler Greenfield
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Power and politics, heartbreak and danger, magic and mermaids—Lucy must conquer it all in the compelling conclusion to the enchanting series that began with Chantress and continued with Chantress Alchemy.
With a song, Lucy can control the wind and the water; she can bring castles and kingdoms to their feet. Since Lucy mastered her powers, King Henry has kept her close. And now he’s called her to investigate attempted murder—by a mermaid. All Lucy can glean from the creature they’ve captured is a warning: The sea is coming. We are coming. And we will drown you all.
And then the floods begin. Swaths of London are submerged as the people scramble to defend themselves against the water, and the monsters, that are flooding their streets. As mistrust of Lucy’s magic grows, the king relies on Nat, Lucy’s great love, to guide them through the storm. But Nat is cold and distant to Lucy. He swore his love only a year before, but now he calls her “stranger.”
Lucy is determined to defeat this powerful new magic alone if she must. But then she hears an eerie song within the water…can it mean that she is not the last Chantress after all?[/learn_more] |
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A School for Unusual Girls
(Stranje House #1)
by Kathleen Baldwin
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]It’s 1814. Napoleon is exiled on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four fronts. And Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, has become one of Regency England’s dark little secrets. The daughters of the beau monde who don’t fit high society’s constrictive mold are banished to Stranje House to be reformed into marriageable young ladies. Or so their parents think. In truth, Headmistress Emma Stranje, the original unusual girl, has plans for the young ladies–plans that entangle the girls in the dangerous world of spies, diplomacy, and war.
After accidentally setting her father’s stables on fire while performing a scientific experiment, Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam is sent to Stranje House. But Georgie has no intention of being turned into a simpering, pudding-headed, marriageable miss. She plans to escape as soon as possible–until she meets Lord Sebastian Wyatt. Thrust together in a desperate mission to invent a new invisible ink for the English war effort, Georgie and Sebastian must find a way to work together without losing their heads–or their hearts….[/learn_more] |
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From a Distant Star
by Karen McQuestion
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Seventeen-year-old Emma was the only one who hadn’t given up on her boyfriend, Lucas. Everyone else—his family, his friends, his doctors—was convinced that any moment could be his last. So when Lucas miraculously returns from the brink of death, Emma thinks her prayers have been answered.
As the surprised town rejoices, Emma begins to question whether Lucas is the same boy she’s always known. When she finds an unidentifiable object on his family’s farm—and government agents come to claim it—she begins to suspect that nothing is what it seems. Emma’s out-of-this-world discovery may be the key to setting things right, but only if she and Lucas can evade the agents who are after what they have. With all her hopes and dreams on the line, Emma sets out to save the boy she loves. And with a little help from a distant star, she might just have a chance at making those dreams come true.[/learn_more] |
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Nothing But Shadows
(Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy #4)
by Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Simon learns about James Herondale’s time at Shadowhunter Academy. One of ten adventures in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy.
It’s hard to be a Shadowhunter when you’ve got demonic powers. Simon learns about the school-time struggles of half-warlock James Herondale in this prelude to The Last Hours.[/learn_more] |
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The Choosing
by Rachelle Dekker
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for—her Choosing ceremony—to end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she’ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority.
But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. Though the whispers contradict everything she’s been told, they resonate deep within.
Then Carrington is offered an unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of, yet she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an illusion. With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening the highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover the truth before it destroys her. [/learn_more] |
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Thor’s Serpents (The Blackwell Pages #3)
by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr
Middle Grade
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]For fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the thrilling conclusion to The Blackwell Pages, written by New York Times bestselling YA authors, K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr.
Thirteen-year-olds Matt, Laurie, and Fen have beaten near-impossible odds to assemble their fellow descendants of the Norse Gods and complete epic quests. Their biggest challenge lies ahead: battling the fierce monsters working to bring about the apocalypse.
But when they learn that Matt must fight the Midgard Serpent alone and Fen and Laurie are pulled in other directions, the friends realize they can’t take every step of this journey together. Matt, Laurie, and Fen will each have to fight their own battles to survive, to be true to themselves, and to one another – with nothing less than the fate of the world hanging in the balance.[/learn_more] |
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Tags: Fresh Meat, May 2015
The Gracekeepers sounds like an amazing book! Love the title and cover, too. And I’ve already seen Hold me like a Breath floating around a few blogs. Will you be reviewing these?
Lot of good ones coming out today. 🙂
Stormi recently posted…Review of The Yard
“After accidentally setting her father’s stables on fire while performing a scientific experiment, Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam is sent to Stranje House. But Georgie has no intention of being turned into a simpering, pudding-headed, marriageable miss.”
Oooh, A School for Unusual Girls sounds like a fun read. Thank you for putting this on my book radar!
Holy crackers, so many books preordered this week!! O_o My TBR pile is EVERGROWING!!
Pili recently posted…Xpresso Book Tours Blog Tour for Hunting Season by Nikki Jefford!!
Thank you so much for posting these!!
kindlemom1 recently posted…Review: Siren’s Fury by Mary Weber
8th Grave I picked up on audio and then left my freaking phone at home *GAH*. Oddly I have already read The Choosing (I think most people will like it better than I did).
Felicia The Geeky Blogger recently posted…Task It Tuesday: Write RT Wrap Up Post
I see on here two awesome books that are released today: The Hanged Man and Uprooted. Do not miss those! 😀
Mogsy recently posted…Book Review: The Shadow Master by Craig Cormick
Witches Be Burned is one that I’ve been hearing goods things about lately.
Ooh Illusionarium! I am very excited for that one xD
Melanie (YA Midnight Reads) recently posted…Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas