teens

The day after Liyana experiences her first kiss, her father announces that he is moving the family from St. Louis, to his birthplace, Jerusalem. Liyana leaves everything she knows behind, and everything that won't fit in a few boxes and embarks on an adventure to experience a different kind of life.

In Jerusalem there are no white picket fences, or green lawns. Her father works as a doctor in a hospital, her mother stays home and Liyana and her brother are sent to different schools. Liyana carefully dips her toes in the sights, sounds, smells and tastes around her, soaking up the new culture

This story starts with a bang! Wil Jamieson is grabbed by two guys in an airport bathroom. They stick a needle in his eye, ask him a bunch of questions and tell him if he wants to live he has to come with them. Wil gathers from their conversation that he in an important piece in a war they are fighting. Wars have casualties, and before they escape the airport one kidnapper and Wil's girlfriend are dead. Barely trusting Eliot, Wil takes off cross country as a fugitive, trying to discover what makes him so special.

Years earlier in San Francisco, Emily is a resourceful teen, living of her

Adam scores the ultimate tickets to the last concert of rock star Jimmy Earle. How does he know that it is Jimmy's last concert? Because Jimmy has taken Death, the latest and greatest drug on the street. Live one glorious week on the high of your life...then die. Adam and his girlfriend Lizzie are there to see Earle give the performance of a lifetime, then die on stage. As the crowd goes wild, the two escape the area to find masked members of the Zealots handing out Death capsules on the street.

Without hope for a better future, thousands of young people around Lizzie and Adam happily accept

Ananna is the only daughter of the leaders of the Tanarau pirate clan. When her parents try to marry her off to the son of the Hariri clan, Ananna chooses to flee both families and the arranged marriage. The Hariri are so angered, they send a magic-using assassin after her. But when the assassin, Naji, confronts Ananna and she accidentally saves his life, he becomes bound to her through a powerful, magical curse. They set out on a quest to break this "impossible curse," all the while fleeing the angry Hariri clan and strange, otherwordly beings with a mysterious agenda.

The Assassin's Curse i

I love a good fantasy story, full of high adventure, mystery, intrigue, romance, and strange magic. For a long time, a lot of fantasy worlds, influenced by Tolkien's Middle-earth, have been based on a romanticized version of medieval Western Europe. Which is fine, I love me some Tolkien, but I've been wanting to branch out to other fantasy lately, fantasy that's less Tolkienesque. Someone recommended Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy, set in a world that's like a magical version of Tsarist Russia, and since a lot of my ancestors came from Russia, I dove into the first book, Shadow and Bone.

Alin

The kingdom of Carthya is in trouble. The royal family is dead, the neighboring kingdoms are starting to whittle away at its borders, and a civil war is brewing between nobles. To prevent chaos from descending upon Carthya, Conner, an unscrupulous nobleman, devises a desperate plan. What if the king's youngest son, who has been lost at sea, suddenly returns to save the kingdom and stop the invasion of its neighbors? All he needs is someone to act the part. Enter Sage, orphan, impertinent thief, and general pain in Conner's side. He is one of four boys chosen to be groomed to play the part of

The main character of Michael Ende’s Momo  is a nine year old girl who, after noticing subtle changes in her friends and neighbors, quickly finds herself battling the mysterious and evil Men in Grey. Who are these ominous, bald “salesmen” who go around convincing just about everyone that by saving as much time as possible and depositing that time in the Men in Grey’s bank, they will get it back with interest at some later point? No one really knows. One by one, though, everyone that Momo knows falls under their spell, turning their once friendly town into a bastion of meanness, irritability

Jonathan Stroud’s latest book is a thrilling fantasy set in England in which ghosts roam the nights. Only the very young can see, hear, or otherwise sense spirits. As children near puberty, abilities to see or hear spirits surface, and they are thereby trained and employed by businesses whose sole purpose is to identify and detain or destroy the spirits. As teenagers age into young adulthood, their powers of detection fade, leaving whole corps of preteens and teens to carry out the work, risking their lives in the process.



Anthony Lockwood has no intention of toiling away for a company

Standish Treadwell stands on the brink of bringing down an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the insidious rulers of the Motherland, an alternate-universe mashup of Stalinist Russia and the Nazi-era Germany. Messing with the Greenflies, as they’re known, means certain death. After all, they imprisoned and tortured his best friend Hector, killed his teacher, and threatened his family. They would certainly do worse to Standish, whose bravery does not go unnoticed by the evil rulers.   However, success means striking the Greenflies where they’re most vulnerable.  Standish’s love for Hector gives him

If you liked the dystopian themes in Kiera Cass' The Selection, Ally Condie's Matched or Gennifer Albin's Crewel, then ​Landry Park is for you.

In a future where nuclear energy has replaced electricity, there is a sharp divide between those who live privileged lives fueled by this energy and those who live oppressed lives working with the energy.  In this world, a young woman has to make the choice between what’s known, safe, and comfortable and the uncertain, dangerous, can’t-be-forgotten truth. Will she be loyal to her family and ancestors, or will she stand up for what she knows is right?

Friday crisscrosses Australia with her mother, hearing tales of how her female ancestors have all died of drowning on auspicious Saturdays. Her mother has a knack with weaving tales, and Friday Brown is caught in her web...until her mother is diagnosed with cancer. Friday watches her mother waste away to nothing, until she dies quietly in the night, her lungs filled with fluid.

Friday sets out on her own, heading into the city, looking for a father she never knew. Instead she finds a different family in a group of squatters lead by the fearless Arden. Friday doesn't feel comfortable in the

The Icarus is the largest and most technologically advanced ship in the universe. Traveling across space in hyper-drive, the ship is transporting valuable cargo, Lilac LaRoux, daughter of the richest man in the universe...in fact her father built the ship. Tarver Merendsen is a young war hero, recently elevated to the rank of Major. An unlikely pair, the two are thrown together when the Icarus is violently pulled out of hyper-drive ripping the ship to pieces. The two barely have time to get to an escape pod before the ship is destroyed and Lilac and Tarver, the only survivors, crash land on an

When Haley calls home and no one answers the phone by the 2nd ring, she is figures her dad is sleeping. When no one picks up by the 10th ring, she hopes he is mowing the lawn. When no one picks up by the 20th, she knows something is wrong. Something is horribly wrong. She begs a ride from Finn, the editor of the school newspaper who has been nagging her to write for him. But the car is too small, Finn drives to slow, and something is wrong at home. Haley can't breathe, she can't think, she needs out! When a police car pulls up beside them at a stop-light, Haley is down to her last thread of

John Green writes novels for young adults, but you don't have to be young to enjoy them.  I'm forty-three, and he's one of my favorite contemporary authors.  I became a fan of Green not by reading his books but by watching videos on his amazing YouTube channels CrashCourse, Mental Floss, and Vlogbrothers.  I thought I was too sophisticated and mature to read a young-adult novel, but I love Green so much I gave him a shot.  Most fans of John Green that I know love his book The Fault in Our Stars the best, but my favorite John Green novel is Looking for Alaska.  It’s the story of a 16-year-old

The morning after Seth walks into the Pacific Ocean and is crushed on the rocks by the brutal waves, he wakes up. It is impossible, his shoulder was broken, his skull pulverized on the sharp reef near his Oregon home. He has been transported to the small English town where he grew up (and left when he was only 8 for a better life in America). Everything is exactly the same as he left it...exactly. Nothing has moved, no one has trespassed, no one has cleaned. The house is filled with dust, the lawn has grown unruly and the cabinets are full of moldy food. When he steps outside he discovers that

Rudy's life changes drastically when the family moves to a remote island for his ailing little brother's health. A fairly popular guy at school (especially with the ladies) Rudy is one of the few people below 30 living on the island. Everyone on the island is there for one reason...the magic fish that appear to have the ability to heal any illness. When the doctors and medicine fail his little brother, Rudy's family risks everything to come to the island. 



While his little brother seems to improve, Rudy counts down the days until he leaves for college, and a return to a normal life. Meanwhile

Ryan Dean West, Winger to his friends, is determined to take control of his junior year. In the Venn diagram of life, most people overlap, or at least most junior guys at Winger's school, it is that little crescent outside that makes us stand out. For Ryan Dean, it is that he is a 14 year old junior, two years younger than his other classmates. That means he doesn't need to shave, hasn't hit his growth spurt, and has no skill with the ladies.



Winger's junior year gets off to a rocky start when he is placed in Opportunity Hall, a dorm for delinquent boys. His year continues to spiral downward

The smell of baking cookies brings back memories of mother's kitchen...Biting into a fresh tomato recalls the garden behind your childhood home...Watching the yellow powder and milk combine to create delicious macaroni and cheese reminds you of your first apartment. For author Lucy Knisley, as for many of us, food is a trip down memory lane. With a caterer mother and foodie father, her life has been defined and marked by some of the best (and worst food).

A graphic memoir, this book touches on the food that has shaped her life, from sushi visiting a childhood friend in Japan to the junk food

After years of living in the shadows, being glorified as sparkly lovers and dangerous enemies and on TV, vampires have revealed themselves to humans. After a nasty outbreak of vampirism, thanks to a misplaced act of mercy, the world cannot ignore the lore. Infected cities are walled off from the public, called Coldtowns, these places are exquisite prisons for vampires. Humans, enthralled with the beauty and horror of vampires flock to the Coldtowns to offer their sweet red blood for the chance of being turned.

An entire industry has sprung up around the Coldtowns. The elaborate masquerades of

The aliens have unleashed 4 waves of death upon humanity. The first, an electronic pulse to render all machines useless. The second, tsunamis to destroy coastal cities. The third, an avian plague called The Red Death. The fourth, Silencers, a race of humans implanted with alien intelligences as fetuses, an enemy we didn’t see coming. The 5th is upon us. Cassie, a 16 year old surviving on her own is one of the few left alive on earth. Armed with an M-16 and a teddy bear, she searches for her little brother with the hunky and mysterious Evan. Zombie, was an up and coming athlete when he was

When seventeen-year-old Tana wakes up hungover from a wild party at a remote farmhouse, surrounded by dead classmates, she thinks things can't get any worse...until she discovers a mysterious vampire named Gavriel chained up in the same room as her bitten ex-boyfriend Aiden, who is about to turn into a full-fledged bloodsucker at any moment.  Acting on impulse, she saves Gavriel and Aiden from the horde of vampires responsible for the massacre, and prepares to drive them to Coldtown--the quarantine zone where vampires mingle with humans in decadent parties that last for years, all broadcast on

Altered picks up immediately where Crewel left off. Adelice, Jost and Erik are on Earth and searching for a way to get back to Arras to save the ones they left behind and overthrow the Guild. They find themselves in the middle of a rebellion they never knew existed nor truly wanted to join. All three characters have their own motivations and secrets that they are hiding from each other, and very quickly the reader realizes that this will not be a smooth or safe journey. Adelice grows immensely in this novel, and Albin really excels in giving this character a voice and personality that shifts

Soren Bearskin has grown up in a United States colonized by the Vikings rather than the Puritans, a country where trolls hide in the mountains and Norse gods walk the land, where children learn how to sword-fight in school and every year the land is renewed by the god of light, Baldur, as he is resurrected from his winter death.  Except this year, Baldur fails to appear.  A search is begun, a boon is offered by Odin to whomever can return his missing sun, and Astrid Glyn, the daughter of the most famous seer in New Asgard, convinces Soren that it is their fate to find Baldur.  Together, they

This was a very engaging, interesting read. I especially appreciated the unusual point of view; this story was narrated by the disease itself. At first, the narrator was mildly suggestive: eat this, not that; run just a little further. As the anorexia began taking over, it became more and more demanding and controlling until it directed every aspect of 15 year old Mike's life. When he tried to make a decision that did not further the purposes of the disease, the anorexia talked to him, tricked him into believing that another choice was better. Mike actually heard the voice in his head and as

The time is now, but the world is more than a little different. The United States were settled and established by Scandinavians who worshipped the Norse gods--who are very real and very active in the world. And so you get Tessa Gratton's new series, The United States of Asgard, and the first book, The Lost Sun.

The Lost Sun is narrated by teen Soren Bearskin, born a berserker like his now-dead father, who is seeking ways to keep his innate berserker rage under control--or get rid of it entirely. When a new student, Astrid, daughter of a famous seer, comes to Soren's boarding school, he is

I have recently had two very drastically different experiences with audiobooks. The first was Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, about a popular girl at school who dies in a car crash and relives the last day of her life over and over, trying to fix what she has broken. The second was The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, about a boy who lives in a place called Prentisstown*, a settlement on an alien planet where all of the women were killed by a mysterious illness and all the men can read each others' thoughts.

Before I Fall was a book that had come highly recommended online and by

Robert is the last man in New York City after a massive epidemic that turned everyone into vampires. By day he sharpens stakes, makes runs to the abandoned grocery stores for dry goods, and maintains his generator and the protections around his house. By night they come. Crowding around the doors and windows they call to him, begging him to come outside. The loneliness is enough to drive a man insane, but to have to listen to them every night is almost too much for Robert. But after binge drinking for three days, Robert sobers up and realizes that he needs to either kill himself or move on, he

Everyone has felt the pressure around standardized tests. The thought, real or imagined, that how you perform in this one moment will decide the rest of your life. While we may be lending a dramatic flair to our own examinations, that fear is real for Cia. She has been chosen along with 3 other classmates from the 5 Lakes Colony to participate in The Testing. Every year, the best and brightest high school graduates are brought to Tosu City to undergo a series of exams that will decide who goes on to University. Of the 108 students that enter the capital city with Cia, only 20 will be accepted

Noa's life has been looking up. She ran away from the foster care system that failed her, set up a fake foster care family using her amazing hacker abilities, and has been working odd jobs to stay afloat. But that all changes when Noa wakes up on a cold metal table in an abandoned warehouse with a mysterious incision in her chest. Noa barely manages to escape the men in black suits who pursue her out of the warehouse and through the back alleys of Boston's southside.

Meanwhile, Peter, home alone in his parent's McMansion while they attend another fundraiser, rummages through his father's desk

In a world ruled by Barrons, magically gifted fighters, and their soulbound Healers, Kaya grew up in a small unskilled village. The daughter of two Barrons-in-hiding, as Barrons are not meant to marry each other, Kaya knows nothing of the hierarchy of Barrons and Healers that keep the countryside safe from Graplars (large dragonlike creatures) until one attacks at the village fair, killing her best friend. By killing the beast, her father draws attention to the family and Kaya is forced to attend Shadow Academy to become a healer. But what Kaya is really determined to do is learn how to fight