The start of me and you

By:Emery Lord
Location: FIC LOR
Genre: Young adult- contemporary

"This was absolute perfection."- Stacee

It's been one year since it happened...

When Paige Hancock's first boyfriend died in a swimming accident, she shut out almost everyone. Now Paige has decided it's finally time to rejoin the world, and she has a plan. First on the list: go out with Ryan Chase, her longtime and newly single crush. And last on the list: swim. Terrifying, yet possible?

But when Ryan's sweet, nerdy cousin Max moves to town and recruits Paige for the QuizBowl team (of all things!), her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Starting over isn't easy, but Paige knows the scariest things are usually the most difficult. Can she face her fears and open herself up to life and love again?

“In friendship we are all debtors. We all owe each other for a thousand small kindnesses, for little moments of grace in the chaos.”

A man of shadows

By: Jeff Noon
Location: FIC NOO
Genre: Sci/Fi- Fantasy
Series: John  Nyquist #1

The brilliant, mind-bending return to science fiction by one of its most acclaimed visionaries

"Fantasy vs nior decective- Great for seniors!" Mr Mannins

Below the neon skies of Dayzone – where the lights never go out, and night has been banished – lowly private eye John Nyquist takes on a teenage runaway case. His quest takes him from Dayzone into the permanent dark of Nocturna.

As the vicious, seemingly invisible serial killer known only as Quicksilver haunts the streets, Nyquist starts to suspect that the runaway girl holds within her the key to the city’s fate. In the end, there’s only one place left to search: the shadow-choked zone known as Dusk

It's sci-fi, horror, urban fantasy and detective noir, so there's a lot going on here- This was a well written and imaginative book and I'd like to read more by this author. Faith 

Liberty- the spy who kind of liked me

By: Andrea Portes
Location:FIC POR
Genre: Young adult- Mystery

The bestselling author of Anatomy of Misfit and The Fall of Butterflies, Andrea Portes, is back with another irresistible snarky heroine in Liberty.

"I missed reading books such as this one. Silly but fun. Simple but original. Super fast but super engaging also.

In fact, I think these are the types of books that are of the hardest to write. The writing must seem effortless, like we’re having a coffee with the main character. The story must be impossible to put down, that’s how entertaining it is. I’ll just put it this way: this is the perfect book to read when you want to read something, but you don’t really feel like reading something. Lola Reviewer

                                                                                                                                                                             

        

What is a hero? Paige Nolan knows. Edward Raynes, the young man who exposed America’s unconstitutional spying techniques, is a hero, even if half the dum-dums in the country think he’s a traitor. Or Paige's parents, journalists who were captured by terrorists while telling stories of the endangered and oppressed. They were heroes, too. Were. . . or are—no one has ever told Paige if they’re still alive, or dead.

Not heroes? Anyone in the government who abandoned her parents, letting them rot somewhere halfway across the world. And certainly not Paige herself, who despite her fluency in five languages and mastery of several obscure martial arts (thanks, Mom!) could do nothing to save them.

Couldn’t, that is, until she’s approached by Madden Carter, an undercover operative who gives her a mission—fly to Russia, find Raynes, and discover what other government secrets he’s stockpiled. In exchange, he’ll reopen the case on her missing parents. She’s given a code name and a cover as a foreign exchange student.

Who is a hero? Not Paige Nolan, but maybe, just maybe, Liberty is.

Everlife Series- Firstlife and Lifeblood

By: Gena Showalter
Location: FIC SHO
Genre: Fantasy- Dystopia 

ONE CHOICE.
TWO REALMS.
NO SECOND CHANCE.

"Utterly unique and absolutely riveting- i couldn't put it down" Sarah J Maas

Tenley “Ten” Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live—after she dies.

There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.

In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul. Who can she trust? And what if the realm she’s drawn to isn’t home to the boy she’s falling for? She just has to stay alive long enough to make a decision…  

“I think I need to avoid the world today. There’s no way I
can adult.” 

Zombie Baseball Beatdown

By: Paolo Bacigalupi
Location: FIC BAC
Genre: Zombieness

"Don’t let the title completely fool you. Yes, there are zombies, there is baseball, and there is in fact a zombie baseball beatdown (so cool!). Paolo Bacigalupi’s middle reader novel is a whole lot of fun, but also, he packs quite the socially-conscious message, too. It’s a book for both the reluctant kid, and the kid who wants to read something with substance.
Zombie Baseball Beatdown is about an Indian boy named Rabi (a non-white protagonist), who lives in a small town in corn-country Iowa. A meat-packing plant supplies most of the jobs for the residents, and supplies the beef for seven neighboring states. He plays on the baseball team (or tries to) with his friend Joe, and best friend Miguel, as well as arch-enemy and bully, Sammy, who’s dad runs the Milrow Meat Solutions. And it’s the dad, Mr. Riggoni, who not only is behind pumping his fields of cows with drugs, feeding them full of chicken bones and scraps, and leaving them boxed-in like sardines in their own shit, and not to mention, has deported a number of his regular workers --which included Miguel’s mom, dad, uncle, and aunt-- only because they were forced to work in terrible conditions and wanted to go public. And it’s this tainted meat that’s creating these zombies …and zombie cows… and Milrow is willingly slicing and dicing them up, packaging the meat, putting them on trucks, and inciting the zombie apocalypse. And of course, as Rabi and his friends investigate, and just try to stay alive, it’s Milrow and their goons that try to shut them up and conceal their business practices.

So, to summarize, this is a middle reader book about zombies and baseball. But it’s also a middle reader book about immigration, racism, corporate greed, organic vs. processed foods, and finding one’s voice. There’s something here for all kids to enjoy, really. The only requirement is that they must have Brrrrraaaaaaaaaaiiiinnsssssssssssss!-Jordan

The Gunslinger

By: Stephen King
Location: FIC KIN
Genre: Fantasy/SCi Fi-King
Series: Dark Tower#1

Its a book- and its a movie! 

Its scary, but good.... 

Not my scene but it might be yours- but

 READ THE BOOK SERIES FIRST!

A week of Mondays

By: Jessica brody
Location: FIC BRO
Genre: Young Adult

Because sometimes it takes a whole week of Mondays to figure out what you really want....

When I made the wish, I just wanted a do-over. Another chance to make things right. I never, in a million years, thought it might actually come true... 

Sixteen-year-old Ellison Sparks is having a serious case of the Mondays. She gets a ticket for running a red light, she manages to take the world’s worst school picture, she bombs softball try-outs and her class election speech (note to self: never trust a cheerleader when she swears there are no nuts in her bake-sale banana bread), and to top it all off, Tristan, her gorgeous rocker boyfriend suddenly dumps her. For no good reason!

As far as Mondays go, it doesn’t get much worse than this. And Ellie is positive that if she could just do it all over again, she would get it right. So when she wakes up the next morning to find she’s reliving the exact same day, she knows what she has to do: stop her boyfriend from breaking up with her. But it seems no matter how many do-overs she gets or how hard Ellie tries to repair her relationship, Tristan always seems bent set on ending it. Will Ellie ever figure out how to fix this broken day? Or will she be stuck in this nightmare of a Monday forever?


“The truth is, we are never just one thing. We all have many titles and many labels, but far too often, we get trapped inside a single definition. The Teacher's Pet, the Rule Follower, the Cheerleader, the Athlete, the Princess, the Basket Case, the Criminal... the Rock Star's Girlfriend. Whether we wrote that definition or it was given to us, it somehow becomes our only identity. We get so lost in it that we forget about all the other pieces that make up who we are.” 

The Girl With All The Gifts - The Series

By: M.R.Cary
Location: FIC CAR
Genre: Horror and Zombies and Apocalyptic

The Girl with All the Gifts series is a sensational thriller, perfect for fans of Stephen King, Justin Cronin, and Neil Gaiman.
 

Just a fantastic fascinating beautifully formed reading experience. All the love for this one. Both the boy and the girl hit me right in the reading soul.

Highly Recommended. HIGHLY."-  LIZ

 

"The Girl with All the Gifts opens in the strangest classroom ever. (And as a teacher, I’ve seen some pretty strange classrooms.) After the zombie apocalypse in England, some infected children have, for reasons unknown, been turned into zombies but have also retained their human intelligence. Melanie is the research lab’s star pupil. Along with her classmates, who are all strapped in their chairs to keep them from, you know, eating the human teacher, they go through lessons and read stories, so the scientists can try to understand what makes these bright young zombies tick. Melanie is not really aware of what she is, or why she is there. This ‘school’ is the only life she’s ever known. But she is aware that once in a while her classmates disappear into the lab and never come back. She fears she may be called to leave sooner or later, and she doesn’t want to part with her beloved teacher.

Then one day, Melanie’s world changes. Class is dismissed forever. Melanie will have to decide where she stands. Is she one of the humans? Or are the humans her food? The book does a great (terrifying) job describing the sort of fungal infection that could plausibly mutate into a zombie-type disease. The characters are great. The death count is high, like worse than Walking Dead high, and the ending is both terrifying and beautiful. Like zombies? Check it out!"- review by Rick Riordan!

Melanie thinks: when your dreams come true, your true has moved. You've already stopped being the person who had the dreams, so it feels more like a weird echo of something that already happened to you a long time ago.”
― M.R. Carey, The Girl with All the Gifts  

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's daighter

By: Theodora Goss
Location: FIC GOS
Genre: Historical Fantasy

“Only an idiot would bring an important letter out in the rain.”

Based on some of literature’s horror and science fiction classics, this is the story of a remarkable group of women who come together to solve the mystery of a series of gruesome murders—and the bigger mystery of their own origins.

Ooooo, it’s several classic characters all in one place! Mary Jekyll is looking for her father’s old partner, the murderous Edward Hyde. If she turns him in, the reward will solve all her financial woes. Instead she finds Hyde’s daughter, Diana, and a group of other women: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein. With the help of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary and the others are going to solve the mysteries of their origins. This book is an epic nerdpurr! Book Riot Community

Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.

But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.

When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous 

The Reader

By: Traci Chee
Location: FIC CHE
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Sea of Ink and Gold #1

An instant New York Times Bestseller, this is a stunning debut set in a world where reading is unheard-of. Perfect for fans of Inkheart and Shadow and Bone. Finalist for the Kirkus Prize

"I was spellbound from the first page. An utterly transportive tale of swashbucklers and sharpshooters, masterfully written."--Renee Ahdieh, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn

"Traci Chee's The Reader Could Be The Next Big YA Fantasy Series"--Bustle.com

Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin's been taken, or if she's even alive. The only clue to both her aunt's disappearance and her father's murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book--a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened the day her father was killed--and punish the people responsible.

"But books are curious objects. They have the power to trap, transport, and even transform you if you are lucky. But in the end, books - even magic ones - are only objects pieced together from paper and glue and thread. That was the fundamental truth the readers forgot. How vulnerable the book really was."

Friend Request

By: Laura Marshall
Location:FIC Mar
Genre: Mystery- Thriller   

A GRIPPING, DEBUT PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER THAT PUTS A MODERN TWIST ON A CLASSIC CONCEIT.

When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything the girls Louise hangs out with aren't. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Uncensored and unapologetic. Days into their acquaintance, Maria and Louise are quickly on their way to becoming fast friends.

Decades later, when Maria reaches out over social media, Louise's heart nearly stops. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface--those first days of their budding connection, the awful judgment of the young women who felt at the time like her sole gateway to belonging. The fateful, tragic night that would change all their lives forever.

Her entire adult life, Louise has known if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria's sudden reemergence threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she'd severed ties with to get away from the past. Trying to piece together exactly what happened that night, she soon discovers there's much she didn't know. The only certainty is that Maria Weston disappeared that night, never to be heard from again--until now

“Turn down enough invitations and eventually even the most determined will stop asking. It would take a Herculean effort now to weave myself back into their lives and I don’t have the energy for it. Instead I watch from the sidelines on Facebook, liking photos of barbecues, birthday parties, days out, knowing that I only have myself”
― Laura Marshall, Friend Request  

Gap Year in Ghost Town

By: Michael Pryor
Location: FIC PRY
Genre: Fantasy- Paranormal- Ghost 

Let's get this straight - ghosts are everywhere. I can see them. You can't. And, see them or not, they're dangerous. This is why my family has hunted ghosts for hundreds of years to protect people like you.

The Marin family are outcasts of the ghost hunting world. They run a two-man operation in inner city Melbourne. Anton has the Ghost-sight, but his father does not.

Rani Cross is supremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat, with enhanced speed and strength thanks to her magical initiation into the Company of the Righteous.

When it comes to ghost-hunting methodology, Anton and Rani don't see eye to eye - Anton likes to 'ease their passage' to the next world, while Rani's all about the slashing.

But Melbourne is under threat; with a massive spike in violent ghost manifestations, Anton and Rani must find a way to work together to keep supernatural forces at bay.

And what with all the blindingly terrifying brushes with death, Anton must decide if he really wants in on the whole ghost hunting biz anyway.

“ You looked as if you’d become intensely interested in what’s happening.’
‘I was just being polite.’
‘Oh. And here I was, thinking that you were accidentally showing your true, deep attraction to the complexities of ghosts and ghost hunting.’”

“‘Why do I get the feeling that this unlikely one is the important one?’ I asked the ceiling.
Stupid ceiling. Didn’t have an answer.”

“ ‘A monkey could do that.’
‘A trained monkey,’ Bec said.
‘Why’s everyone looking at me?’ I said. ‘And why do I feel like eating a banana?’”

Learning to Swear in America

By: Katie Kennedy
location:FIC KEN
Genre:Sci Fi- Fiction -Romance

“It's not safe to know how to swear but not how to deal with people," Dovie said. "It's like walking around with your mouth loaded and the safety off.” 

I adored this book.

It was like if a YA version of the Martian met a YA version of Deep Impact. It was full of wonderful science, and scientists being jerks and bad guys (sort of) and science, of course, trying to save the day.

Yuri is a physics genius. He's seventeen but already a doctor and when NASA whisks him away from Russia to try and help solve the earth's asteroid problem, well it's not a surprise to him.
Because the problem is big, and if he and the other scientists can't get the math right, the asteroid will crash into LA, killing millions of people.
But Yuri is an anti-matter specialist, and the other scientists don't give him the time of day, even when he's trying to explain how his calculations could save everyone.

Yuri is alone, and lonely, until he meets Dovie, the daughter of a janitor. Yuri has no friends, and certainly never had the American high school experience, let alone any high school experience, and as the asteroid drifts closer and closer, so do Yuri and Dovie.
But maybe the scientists have made a mistake. And maybe the Asteroid is not what they expect. And maybe Yuri has to make decisions that will save or doom everyone, including his new found friends.

Yuri is wonderful. He's funny, and kind and you feel for him, being so alone and away from everyone and everything he knows. You feel his frustration when the other scientists won't listen to him, when he's alone by himself in his room, when he tries to Skype with his mother.

And Dovie, and her brother Lennon, are also wonderful. They're quirky and fun, and welcome Yuri so easily into their lives. The characters are so well-realized that I just wanted to be friends with all of them.

And then, of course, there's the wonderful science. There's not so much that you feel lost or confused or bored by it, but there's enough that the book just has this wonderful grounding of science, which leads to tension as the asteroid comes closer and closer.

Highly recommend to readers who like science based contemporary books, or books with romance or characters who are geniuses.- Sarah Aheirs

I loved this story--so funny and real and sensitive, perfectly balanced with tense, end-of-the-world stress and angsty teen worries. Now this is a damn good asteroid book.

Riders

By: Veronica Rossi
Location: FIC ROS
Genre: Fantasy Mythology
Series: Riders #1

 CAN YOU OUTRUN DESTINY?

"It's got the four horsemen of the apocalypse: War, Death, Famine, and Conquest. And if that doesn't excite your little heart, what will?

Oh I know what will: it also has demons, military, sass, an evil dragon, fiery horses, and incredibly tall stacks of pancakes."- Cait

“My team - an actor, a drunk, and a sociopath - didn't exactly inspire confidence.” 

Nothing but death can keep eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.

While recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can’t remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen—Conquest, Famine, and Death—are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.

They fail.

Now—bound, bloodied, and drugged—Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he’s fallen for—not to mention all of humankind—he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.

But will anyone believe him?
 

"Riders is a fun, page-turner read. I'd had a couple of laughs with the sarcasm and wittyness of the characters. The banters were also great, giving the extra ride and light for the novel. And thanks for its straightforward writing and narrative.
Totally engaging, with distinct and lovely characters, awesome horses, cool weapons, kickass action, demons, and a little of unreliable narrator, Riders is a fantastic ride!-Neil

Secondborn

By: Amy Bartol
Location: FIC BAR
Genre:Fantasy Dystopia
Series: Second Born #1

The synopsis of this makes me glad I am fourth born!!!

“It outlived its usefulness, so it was killed. There’s something to be learned in that.”
“Never outlive my usefulness?”
“Never, ever trust the pack.”

Firstborns rule society. Secondborns are the property of the government. Thirdborns are not tolerated. Long live the Fates Republic.

On Transition Day, the second child in every family is taken by the government and forced into servitude. Roselle St. Sismode’s eighteenth birthday arrives with harsh realizations: she’s to become a soldier for the Fate of Swords military arm of the Republic during the bloodiest rebellion in history, and her elite firstborn mother is happy to see her go.

Televised since her early childhood, Roselle’s privileged upbringing has earned her the resentment of her secondborn peers. Now her decision to spare an enemy on the battlefield marks her as a traitor to the state.

But Roselle finds an ally—and more—in fellow secondborn conscript Hawthorne Trugrave. As the consequences of her actions ripple throughout the Fates Republic, can Roselle create a destiny of her own? Or will her Fate override everything she fights for—even love? 

"There is plenty of political intrigue, deception and plot twists to keep me rapt throughout. Though Ms Bartol has brought nothing new to this genre, the intricacy of the story, characters and plot kept it refreshing and captivating.

Overall, this was a great read and I could not put it down. It definitely left me wanting more of Roselle and her fascinating world and I can’t wait for the next book"- Cheryl.  

Inferno Squad

By: Christie Golden
Location: FIC GOL
Genre: Star Wars

THE REBELLION HAS HOPE.

TEH EMPIRE HAS INFERNO SQUAD

This is a “Star Wars” prose novel, part of the new canon expanded universe. This is a tie-in book as part of the merchandising campaign of the “Star Wars: Battlefront II” video game. The story is set after “Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope” and before “Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back”.

After the humiliating theft of the Death Star plans and the destruction of the battle station, the Empire is on the defensive. But not for long. In retaliation, the elite Imperial soldiers of Inferno Squad have been called in for the crucial mission of infiltrating and eliminating the partisans—the rebel faction once led by notorious Republic freedom fighter Saw Gerrera.

Following the death of their leader, the partisans have carried on his extremist legacy, determined to thwart the Empire—no matter the cost. Now Inferno Squad must prove their status as the best of the best and take down the partisans from within. But the growing threat of being discovered in their enemy’s midst turns an already dangerous operation into a do-or-die acid test they dare not fail. To protect and preserve the Empire, what lengths will Inferno Squad go to . . . and how far beyond them?

Bad Soldier

By:Chris Ryan
Location: FIC RYA
Genre: Fiction/ Thriller

A writer who knows his stuff.....

Chris Ryan was born in 1961 in a village near Newcastle. In 1984 he joined the SAS. During his ten years in the Regiment, he was involved in overt and covert operations and was also Sniper team commander of the anti-terrorist team.

During the Gulf War, Chris was the only member of an eight-man team to escape from Iraq, of which three colleagues were killed and four captured. It was the longest escape and evasion in the history of the SAS.

For this he was awarded the Military Medal. During Ryan's last two years in the Regiment he selected and trained potential SAS recruits, he left the SAS in 1994. His work in security takes him around the world.


A migrant boat battles through the rough Mediterranean. Its passengers are desperate, starving and scared.
They are also being ruthlessly targeted by the SAS.
Islamic State militants are smuggling themselves into Europe using these boats. Only by locating such men before they make it into the UK can the Regiment stop them committing their acts of terror on British soil.
When one of these migrants reveals plans for a sickening Christmas Day atrocity in London, SAS operative Danny Black is tasked with infiltrating the most dangerous theatre of war in the world: Islamic State heartland. There, he and his team must lift a brutal IS commander - the only man who knows all the details of the London attack. The commander surrounds himself with vicious militants and a harem of sex slaves whom he treats in the most sadistic ways imaginable. And his jihadi wife is, if possible, even more abominable than him.
As Danny pits himself against the violent thugs of the Islamic State, he learns that it is not just the UK that is under threat. His very presence on the mission has put at risk the safety of those closest to him. And he discovers that there are greater forces at work here, who do not care if the innocent live or die.
Now there is nothing Danny will not do, no line he will not cross, to protect his family. Whether that makes him a good soldier or a bad soldier he neither knows nor cares. Because as he is fast learning, it is sometimes impossible to tell the difference between the two.
And as every SAS soldier is trained to understand, the worst threats often come from the most unexpected places...

Charisma

By: Jeanne Ryan
Location: FIC RYA
Genre: Sci Fi- Young Adult

A chance at the ultimate makeover means deadly consequences in this Sarah Dessen-meets-Robin Cook thriller

Aislyn suffers from crippling shyness—that is, until she’s offered a dose of Charisma, an underground gene therapy drug guaranteed to make her shine. The effects are instant. She’s charming, vivacious, and popular. But strangely, so are some other kids she knows. The media goes into a frenzy when the disease turns contagious, and then deadly, and the doctor who gave it to them disappears. Aislyn must find a way to stop it, before it's too late.

Part medical thriller, part social justice commentary, Charisma will have readers on the edge of their seats.  


"CHARISMA is filled with twists and turns, frightening and tragic outcomes, captivating and likable characters, and appealing between-the-chapter tidbits. It is a suspenseful page-turner that combines science that is not entirely fictional, mystery and romance into a story that is positively enthralling."- Rachel

Born a Crime

By: Trevor Noah
Location: NF 920 NOA
Genre: South African story 

This book made me want to go back, it made me understand more, it made my blood curdle and my heart sing. It made me laugh- and most of all it bought total delight to my Xhosa daughter in Africa- you are a hero to her Trevor- thank you for giving them hope, laughter and honesty!

The church bits- hilarious!!!!!

The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime story of one man s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.

The eighteen personal essays collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother s unconventional, unconditional love." 

The Possible

By: Tara Altebrando
Location: FIC ALT
Genre: Paranormal Mystery

What if...no one knows the truth about you? 

Unusual and gripping, The Possible will twist the reader round and round as it hurtles towards a sensational climax. For lovers of We Were Liars, Patrick Ness and Derren Brown.

It's been thirteen years since Kaylee's infamous birth mother, Crystal, received a life sentence for killing Kaylee's little brother in a fit of rage. Once the center of a cult-following for her apparent telekinetic powers, nowadays nobody's heard of Crystal. Until now, when a reporter shows up at Kaylee's house and turns her life upside down, offering Kaylee the chance to be part of a high-profile podcast investigating claims that Crystal truly did have supernatural mind powers. But these questions lead to disturbing answers as Kaylee is forced to examine her own increasingly strange life, and make sense of certain dark and troubling coincidences...

"I loved the mystery surrounding the telekinesis. And that ending!"-Aimee 

After the Fire

By: Will Hill
Location: FIC HILG
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

5 Words: Family, belief, control, isolation, survival.

 
"The things I’ve seen are burned into me, like scars that refuse to fade."

“Love changes how you see everything. It blinds you, but in a good way.”

"After the Fire takes inspiration from the Waco Seige (1993) and follows the story of a power-hungry man in the guise of a direct messenger of God who'd go to any means to ensure all things within the cult are under his control. Father John is believed to be a righteous man of faith, respected and feared by all. However, after years of being inside the Fence, Moonbeam has come to question everything around her, and finds herself in quite the dilemma when things happen that make her question her very faith. After a dreadful fire leads her to be placed under the care of the Government at a Municipal Centre, Moonbeam is made to relive her life inside the cult in the presence of her psychologist, Dr. Hernandez, and an FBI agent, Agent Carlyle. What follows is a riveting story of survival, acceptance and freedom.

While the storyline is gripping in itself, the author does himself proud by weaving together a suspenseful page-turner that wouldn't fail to keep you up reading late into the night- it certainly did me!  
 "I look back, and I think, and I try to be strong. It's painful, because there was a time, a long time, when I believed every word Father John said. Before my mother was Banished, I believed in him, and in the Legion, with all my heart, and part of me misses - will always miss - the certainty that came with that, the power and the pride that came with being part of something that was right and True."

Moonbeam was a fantastic protagonist, and I loved how her character arc progressed. We see her go from a girl full of faith and belief to being full of doubt and fear, and we see how she learns to put everything behind her and grow as a person, slowly learning to trust those who rescued her. You can put yourself right in Moonbeam's shoes as she finds herself in a place she never imagined herself to be in, and as she tries to come to terms with what happened to her and her Brothers and Sister in the cult. You'd find yourself rooting for her, for them, until the very end. Apart from Moonbeam, I also loved reading about Dr. Hernandez and Agent Carlyle. They turned out to be incredibly supportive and caring, and I'm glad they were there for Moonbeam until the very end.

We are told in the author's note all about how this riveting book was inspired by a real-life American cult, and it's all just so chilling to think about. While going into this book I did know that, I was so not prepared for the journey it took me on. We see how one man's greed for power leads to corruption and destruction, and how he strives to achieve his own ends by twisting faiths and beliefs of many, come what may. We see what happens to the lives that are entangled in this, and knowing that something similar, something possibly worse, happens, did happen, in real life is at times too much to process. The realism is just so brilliantly realized and jolting.

 After the Fire is a suspenseful, harrowing story of survival about a girl brought up within a cult, who's suddenly made to question everything she ever believed in. A must-read!"

Ruzaika Deen- Goodreads.com

The Sky Below

By: Scott Parazynski
Location: NF 920 PAR
Genre: Non Fiction- Space exploration

Dr. Scott Parazynski is a highly decorated physician, astronaut, and tech CEO, recently inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame.

An epic memoir from a man whose life is defined by exploration and innovation, The Sky Below re-creates some of the most unforgettable adventures of our time. From dramatic, high-risk spacewalks to author Scott Parazynski’s death-defying quest to summit Mount Everest—his body ravaged by a career in space—readers will experience the life of an elite athlete, physician, and explorer.
The Sky Below also portrays an astronaut’s engagement with the challenges of his life on Earth, including raising a beautiful autistic daughter and finding true love. 

"This fascinating read combines two of my greatest interests: Space exploration and mountaineering. A very interesting book."- Karen

Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too: A Book

By: Jommy Sun
Location: GRA SUN
Genre: SciFi Funny Graphic Novel of cuteness

This book is a hardcover hug to the human heart- Sadie

everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too is the illustrated story of a lonely alien sent to observe Earth, only to meet all sorts of creatures with all sorts of perspectives on life, love, and happiness, all while learning to feel a little better about being an alien—

Here is the unforgettable story of Jomny, a lonely alien who, for the first time ever, finds a home on our planet after learning that earthlings can feel lonely too. Jomny finds friendship in a bear tired of other creatures running away in fear, an egg struggling to decide what to hatch into, an owl working its way to being wise, a tree feeling stuck in one place, a tadpole coming to terms with turning into a frog, a dying ghost, a puppy unable to express itself, and many more.

Through this story of a lost, lonely and confused alien finding friendship, acceptance, and love among the creatures of Earth, we will all learn how to be a little more human. And for all of us earth-bound creatures here on this planet, we can all be reminded that sometimes, it takes an outsider to help us see ourselves for who we truly are.

The true colour of forever

By: Carrie Firestone
Location : FIC FIR
Genre: Romance

This novel combines humour, romance and wisdom while taking on timely issues including teen drug abuse, bullying, ethnic discrimination, and the importance of being kind and doing good.

After high school senior Sadie helps a baby in distress, she becomes an internet sensation and is introduced to other 'hometown heroes'. Despite all their differences, the five teens hatch passionate plans to secretly right local wrongs. But when they breach the boundaries of their world, they discover that there might be truth in the saying 'no good deed goes unpunished'.

Sadie is a high school junior who hung out with the seniors, as her own class was full of losers. The summer after she said goodbye to them all, including her bestie, she goes to work at a local fruit and veg stand--at least, she starts the summer doing that. Then comes the Incident. Which changes everything.

"Sadie is our narrator, fiercely observant, full of big questions, full of heart. She ends up at a community lunch where she meets some other local teens. The group of them get together, and then decide to form a secret organization that does random acts of kindness.

The story involves them all--goals, setbacks, motivations, promises. Problems, such as one girl's horrible descent into heroin addiction. Misunderstandings. Along the way, parents slowly become human beings, with pasts and problems of their own.

It's a fast-paced, vivid book full of typical teen humor, passion, grim things and good things. A dash of wish fulfillment, but in the best way. I found the book nearly impossible to put down."- Sherwood  

Emoji- Pride and Prejudice

BY:Jane Austens cell PHone
Location: GRA AUS
Genre: an emoji Pride and Prejudice

ICYMI, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice told in texts and emojis.

What would happen if the characters of Pride and Prejudice could text each other? Would Elizabeth call Mr. Darcy a [poop]? Would Darcy drink and dial and accidentally reveal his true feelings [heart]? In this laugh-out-loud re-telling of Jane Austen's famous work, you'll get a condensed modern interpretation of the world's greatest love story . . . all told through texts and emojis. Featuring hundreds of classic and new emojis along with a removable poster (featuring all the emojis), this is the perfect gift for the Austen lover.

Fun, fluffy retelling of the classic 

 

ALEX- Approximately

By: Jenn Bennett
Location: FIC BEN
Genre: Romance- contemporary

“Sometimes you have to endure painful things to realize that you're a whole lot stronger than you think.”

HIS WAS SO ADORABLE. It's basically a YA retelling of You've Got Mail set in California with surfers, pastries, fog, and museums.-CAIT

Bailey “Mink” Rydell has met the boy of her dreams. They share a love of films and talk all day – Alex is perfect. Well, apart from the fact that they’ve never actually met . . . and neither of them knows the other’s real name.

When Bailey moves to sunny California to live with her dad, who happens to live in the same town as Alex, she decides to track him down. But finding someone based on online conversations alone proves harder than Bailey thought, and with her irritating but charismatic (and potentially attractive?) colleague Porter Roth distracting her at every turn, will she ever get to meet the mysterious Alex? 

 

Noumenon

By: Marina J  Lostetter
Location: FIC LOS
Genre: Sci Fi- Space Opera

In all, this is a very different kind of sci-fi novel because it twists around so many familiar tropes in inventive new ways. - BETH


With nods to Arthur C. Clarke’s Rama series, the real science of Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves, a touch of Hugh Howey’s Wool, and told through echoes of Octavia Butler’s voice, this is a powerful tale of space travel, adventure, discovery, and humanity that unfolds through a series of generational vignettes.

In 2088, humankind is at last ready to explore beyond Earth’s solar system. But one uncertainty remains: Where do we go?

Astrophysicist Reggie Straifer has an idea. He’s discovered an anomalous star that appears to defy the laws of physics, and proposes the creation of a deep-space mission to find out whether the star is a weird natural phenomenon, or something manufactured.

The journey will take eons. In order to maintain the genetic talent of the original crew, humankind’s greatest ambition—to explore the furthest reaches of the galaxy—is undertaken by clones. But a clone is not a perfect copy, and each new generation has its own quirks, desires, and neuroses. As the centuries fly by, the society living aboard the nine ships (designated “Convoy Seven”) changes and evolves, but their mission remains the same: to reach Reggie’s mysterious star and explore its origins—and implications.

A mosaic novel of discovery, Noumenon—in a series of vignettes—examines the dedication, adventure, growth, and fear of having your entire world consist of nine ships in the vacuum of space. The men and women, and even the AI, must learn to work and live together in harmony, as their original DNA is continuously replicated and they are born again and again into a thousand new lives. With the stars their home and the unknown their destination, they are on a voyage of many lifetimes—an odyssey to understand what lies beyond the limits of human knowledge and imagination.

Confessions of a High School Disaster

By: Emma Chastian
Location: FIC CHA
Genre:Young Adult Contemporary





In the tradition of Bridget Jones’s Diary, a lovably flawed high school student chronicles her life as she navigates the highs and lows of family, friendship, school, and love in a diary that sparkles with humor and warmth.

 I’m Chloe Snow, and my life is kiiiiind of a disaster.

•  My best friend, Hannah, is driving me insane.

•  I think I’m in love with Mac Brody, senior football star, whose girlfriend is so beautiful she doesn’t even need eyeliner.

•  My dad won’t stop asking me if I’m okay.

•  Oh, and my mom moved to Mexico to work on her novel. But it’s fine—she’ll be back soon. She said so.

Mom says the only thing sadder than remembering is forgetting, so I’m going to write down everything that happens to me in this diary. That way, even when I’m ninety, I’ll remember how awkward and horrible and exciting it is to be in high school

"This book is hilarious and charming and I enjoyed every page. Chloe is, for me, a perfect funny contemp narrator: delightfully (lightly) bitchy, sharply observant in ways that felt both deeply, wonderfully specific and true to the character and her age, and possessing the kind of shoulders-back confidence I would've killed for as a kid and loooved living vicariously through on the page.

This book is just so damned fun to read. Among the things Chastain nails are theater kid culture, teen boredom, the way popular high school boys flirt, and Chloe's villainous mom, who is terrible in the most pitch-perfect way: she's a wannabe novelist, and Chastain infuses her airy emails with the woman's comic attempts at "writerly" prose. Every page has a funny or totally right observation that made me like, "YES, THAT."" Melissa 

Dog Man

By:Dav Pilkey
Location: GRA PIL
Genre: Graphic Novel- Humour
Series: Dogman#1

New from the creator of Captain Underpants, it's Dog Man, the crime-biting canine who is part dog, part man, and ALL HERO!

Dog Man was silly, scrawly, goofy, and fun.  - Raina

George and Harold have created a new hero who digs into deception, claws after crooks, and rolls over robbers. When Greg the police dog and his cop companion are injured on the job, a life-saving surgery changes the course of history, and Dog Man is born. With the head of a dog and the body of a human, this heroic hound has a real nose for justice. But can he resist the call of the wild to answer the call of duty? 

I really appreciate how Pilkey pushes boundaries of good taste here, but in a way that's going to thrill kids and probably annoy adults. The whole premise for Dog Man is a little macabre--a dog gets his head sewed onto a cop's body--but because the whole thing is couched in such silliness, you're not inclined to put that much thought into it. My favorite moment was when two cops high five each other while one of them is holding a pile of crap, and it splatters everywhere. Soooo gross, but, sooooo awesome!- Jason

Who Runs the World

By: Virginia Bergin
Location: FIC BER
Genre: Dystopia

Welcome to the Matriarchy

Sixty years after a virus has wiped out almost all the men on the planet, things are pretty much just as you would imagine a world run by women might be: war has ended; greed is not tolerated; the ecological needs of the planet are always put first. In two generations, the female population has grieved, pulled together and moved on, and life really is pretty good - if you're a girl. It's not so great if you're a boy, but fourteen-year-old River wouldn't know that. Until she met Mason, she thought they were extinct.

"It's 60 years into the future, and women run the world.

From the Little Ones to the Teens, the Mummas and Grandmummas - there are only women. Men have been, for the most part, wiped out by a virus that women are immune to.

You can imagine 14 year old River's surprise, then, when she comes across a boy, Mason, in the woods. Who is he and how did he get there? Plus, what will this mean for society?  An interesting read that raises interesting questions and maybe would be a good way for teenagers of both sexes to get a little introduction to gender, sexism, the patriarchy and misogyny.- Sharon

Dunkirk- Retreat to Victory

By: Julian Thompson
Location: NF 920 THO- Movie Section
Genre: Dunkirk

I went to see the movie.

Relentless
Desperate
Hopeless
Helpless
Lucky- oh so lucky
Unlucky
Brave
Foolish
Determined
Resigned

It was a movie that commanded silence, it was a movie that made we went to drag trump in by the hiar and make him watch it with a bunch of 18 year old men and yell at him to never ever allow them to go through what those lads had to.
It made me angry!

Here is the book of the same!