Cambridge High School Library 2024

 By: Chelsea Abdullah Location: FIC ABD Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Retellings Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land—at the cost of sacrificing all jinn. With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan’s oldest son to find the artifact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen, and confront a malicious killer from Loulie’s past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything—her enemy, her magic, even her own past—is not what it seems, and she must decide who she will become in this new reality. Inspired by stories from  One Thousand and One Nights...

 By: Michelle Ruiz Keil Location: FIC KEI Genre: Myth, Greek, Fiction, LGBGT Inspired by the Greek myth of Iphigenia and the Grimm fairy tale "Brother and Sister," Michelle Ruiz Keil's second novel follows two siblings torn apart and struggling to find each other in early '90s Portland.   All her life, seventeen-year-old Iph has protected her sensitive younger brother, Orr. But this summer, with their mother gone at an artist residency, their father decides it’s time for fifteen-year-old Orr to toughen up at a wilderness boot camp. When their father brings Iph to a work gala in downtown Portland and breaks the news, Orr has already been sent away against his will. Furious at her father’s betrayal, Iph storms off and gets lost in the maze of Old Town. Enter George, a queer Robin Hood who swoops in on a bicycle, bow and arrow at the ready, offering Iph a place to hide out while she tracks down Orr. Orr, in the meantime, has escaped the camp and fallen in with The Furies...

 By: Finn Longman Genre: Thriller, Fantasy, LGBT, Queer Location: FIC LON  Review by Kate A fast paced, murderous thriller following an ace-aro teen assassin with a chronic illness as she attempts to live a life away from her abusive parents and the oppressive life of murder guilds. A dark and gritty exploration of trauma, PTSD, abuse (parental, medical, physical and mental) and the pains it takes to get help with a chronic illness, Finn Longman brilliantly places very contemporary issues within this dystopian setting. This works brilliantly as both a standalone and the start of a series and I look forward to seeing where Finn takes this story in future books. TW: abuse, trauma, panic attacks, PTSD Innocent by day, killer by night: a dark, twisting thriller about a teen assassin’s attempt to live a normal life. Trained and traumatised by a secret assassin programme for minors, Isabel Ryans wants nothing more than to be a normal civilian. After running away from home, she has a...

 By: H.F. Askwith Location: FIC ASK Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery Felix Ashe is sure of only one thing. In thirty days, on his eighteenth birthday, he will die. He might be the only one convinced of this, but the gruesome deaths of his three brothers before him seem to point to only one thing: a curse, one doomed to stop anyone inheriting his family's incredible fortune. Felix doesn't care about money, or himself, particularly. It's hard to have a stake in the future when you know you haven't got one. But he does care about his little brother Nick, very much. And when an opportunity to break the curse appears to present itself, it's impossible not to heed its dark call. Soon long-buried secrets will take Felix to the darkest underbelly of Jazz-Age New York, to the far-flung wilds of the Yorkshire moors and back again. And bound to everything is a deadly secret society who will either be Felix's downfall . . . or his one chance at redemption.

 By: Claire Legrand Location: FIC LEG Genre: Horror. LGBGT. Paranormal. Witches. Cult Reviews by Britanny There are ALL the content warnings for this one. Sexual assault, physical abuse, religious abuse, gaslighting, gore, murder... I would recommend this for those looking for a deeply unsettling horror fantasy with lots of religious trauma, wlws, and witches- so probably couldnt recommend it! From New York Times bestselling author Claire Legrand comes a new, bone-chilling YA horror novel about a girl who joins a coven to root out a vicious evil that’s stalking her village. Perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Grace Year . Her name is unimportant. All you must know is that today she will become one of the four saints of Haven. The elders will mark her and place the red hood on her head. With her sisters, she will stand against the evil power that lives beneath the black mountain—an evil which has already killed nine of her village’s men. She will tell no one of the whit...

 By: Laurie Lico Albanese Location: FIC ALB Genre: Historical Fiction- Goodreads Finalist 202 2 Who is the real Hester Prynne? A vivid reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the tragic heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and a journey into the enduring legacy of New England's witchcraft trials. The first Hester I met  had a surname Harrison was from Hamel Hamsted in Hertfordshire and her Dads name was Henry. Hester  Harrison from Hamel Hamstead Hertfordshire , lived at Henrys House! A vivid reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the tragic heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and a journey into the enduring legacy of New England's witchcraft trials. Who is the real Hester Prynne? Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced the...

 By: Xixi Tian Location: FIC TIA Genre: Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Romance, Sisters COVER LOVE!! "Tian excavates the awkward, ugly truths we avoid, and exposes them with raw emotional honesty and grace. This book made me feel seen in a way that very few books ever have. I found myself nodding and saying, 'Yes, that's so true!' over and over again." -- Misa Sugiura, author of This Time Will Be Different With five starred reviews, this is an acclaimed novel about sisterhood, family, and the pernicious legacy of racism. Perfect for fans of Tahereh Mafi, Jandy Nelson, and Emily X.R. Pan, with crossover appeal for readers of Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half. The Flanagan sisters are as different as they come. Seventeen-year-old Annalie is bubbly, sweet, and self-conscious, whereas nineteen-year-old Margaret is sharp and assertive. Margaret looks just like their mother, while Annalie passes for white and looks like the father who abandoned them years ago, leaving ...

 By: Mark Dawson Location: FIC DAW Genre: Thriller, Crime, Mystery Series: John Milton#1 “Come on,” Milton said. “Look at me—do I look like James Bond?” "This novel takes a hard look at gangs, drugs, alcoholism, poverty, working three jobs and still not being able to pay all of the bills, atonement, helping others, jealousy, corruption, theft, riots, murder, revenge, and much more." pam John Milton is the man the government call when they want a problem to vanish . . . but what happens when he's the one that needs to disappear? After a botched job leaves a bloody trail, government assassin John Milton does the one thing he's never done before: he hides. Disappearing into London's bustling East End and holing up in a vacant flat, Milton becomes involved with single mother Sharon and her troubled son Elijah, who are caught in an increasingly bloody turf war between two rival gangs. Unable to ignore the threat, Milton sets about protecting mother and son, meeting vio...

 By: S. A. Cosby Location: FIC COS Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery “I ain't gonna lie and say I get you, because I don't. I can't even pretend I know what it must be like to be... you. But if all this has taught me one thing, it's that it ain't about me and what I get. It's about letting people be who they are. And being who you are shouldn't be a death sentence.” A black father and a white father join forces on a crusade for revenge against the people who murdered their gay sons, by S.A. Crosby, the award-winning author of  Blacktop Wasteland. Ike Randolph has been out of jail for 15 years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid. The last thing he expects to hear is that his son, Isiah, has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Isiah was a gay black man in the American South; Ike couldn’t bring himself to attend his son’s wedding. Isiah was a man Ike never understo...

 By: Ausma Zehanat Khan Location: FIC KHA Genre: Thriller, Political Intrigue, Mystery This author is the real deal Ausma Zehanat Khan is a British-born Canadian living in the United States, whose own parents are heirs to a complex story of migration to and from three different continents. A former adjunct professor at American and Canadian universities, she holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law, with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre as the main subject of her dissertation. Previously the Editor in Chief of Muslim Girl Magazine, Ausma Zehanat Khan has moved frequently, traveled extensively, and written compulsively On leave from Canada's Community Policing department, Esa Khattak is travelling in Iran, reconnecting with his cultural heritage and seeking peace in the country's beautiful mosques and gardens. But Khattak's supposed break from work is cut short when he's approached by a Canadian government agent in Iran, asking him to look into the death of renowned C...

 By: Karen Cushman Location: FIC CUS Genre:  Historical Fiction. Medieval Now an Amazon Prime movie, written and directed by Lean Dunham, the creator of Girls. Shaggy Beard wishes to take me to wife! What a monstrous joke. That dog assassin whose breath smells like the mouth of Hell, who makes wind like others make music, who is so ugly and old! Catherine’s in trouble. Caught between a mother who is determined to turn her into the perfect medieval lady and a father who wants her to marry her off to much older and utterly repulsive suitor. Luckily, Catherine has a plan. She has experience outwitting suitors and is ready to take matters into her own hands. A fun and vibrant coming-of-age novel about a 14-year-old girl’s fight for freedom and right to self-determination. I won't be able to read another book for a while. I'm ruined. This book boasts a delightful heroine, and in spite of the (wonderful!) medieval setting, all the angst and rebellion and other feelings I had in my o...

By: Adam Hamdy Location: FIC HAM Genre:  Mystery, Thrille r “I couldn’t stop thinking about the story’s incredible twist…like no crime novel I’ve ever read.” —James Patterson For fans of Matt Haig and Anthony Horowitz, an “intriguing and thought-provoking” (Liv Constantine, author of  The Last Mrs. Parrish ) novel in which the lives of a disgraced police officer, a prolific author, and an upstanding citizen are inextricably bound together by a series of mysterious deaths. The Other Side of Night  begins with a man named David Asha writing about his biggest regret: his sudden separation from his son, Elliot. In his grief, David tells a story. Next, we step into the life of Harriet Kealty, a police officer trying to clear her name after a lapse of judgment. She discovers a curious inscription in a secondhand book—a plea:  Help me, he’s trying to kill me . Who wrote this note? Who is “he”? This note leads Harri to David Asha, who was last seen stepping off a cliff. Poli...

 By: Natalie Haynes Location: FIC HAY Genre: Mythology Fiction, Retellings, Fantasy “So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our teeth, our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.” Medusa is the sole mortal in a family of gods. Growing up with her Gorgon sisters, she begins to realize that she is the only one who experiences change, the only one who can be hurt. And her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know. When the sea god Poseidon commits an unforgivable act in the temple of Athene, the goddess takes her revenge where she can - and Medusa is changed forever. Writhing snakes replace her hair, and her gaze now turns any living creature to stone. The power cannot be controlled: Medusa can look at nothing without destroying it. She is condemned to a life of shadows and darkness. Until Perseus embarks upon a quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon... In  Stone Blind , Natalie Haynes - the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of...

 By: T.L.Huchu Location: FIC HUC Genre: Fantasy, Urban, Edinburgh A paranormal, surprising, entertaining, magical, fast pacing,  series of Scottish scary goodness Sixth Sense  meets  Stranger Things  in this sharp contemporary fantasy series, Edinburgh Nights, from acclaimed Scottish author T.L. Huchu. The Library of the Dead  introduces readers to Ropa, a precocious and cynical teen who can talk to ghosts. She explores the shadowy magical underside of modern Edinburgh searching for clues to uncover what’s behind the evil bewitching all the children, leaving them shells of themselves. Along the way she encounters an occult library, a magical mentor, and some unexpected allies. This atmospheric, paranormal fantasy series continues with  Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments . When a child goes missing in Edinburgh's darkest streets, young Ropa investigates. She'll need to call on Zimbabwean magic as well as her Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues. But as s...

 By: Nathanael Lessore Location: FIC LES Genre: Humour- Young Adult I loved this SO much. Laugh out loud funny, but also with such heart and emotional depth.  I haven't enjoyed a book so purely in a long time. Just brilliant. A fantastic read, real, deep social issues, peer pressure, fitting in with society finding your true self. Yeah they call me Growls, I'm like a tiger on the prowl. King of jungles so you better take a bow. King of concrete so you better say it loud! Shaun (aka MC Growls) is ready to drop his best bars and smash the competition at Raptology. That way, he's convinced Tanisha, his crush, will finally give him a chance. But when a livestream practice goes epically wrong, Growls's dirty laundry is literally exposed. He's finally achieved his dreams of going viral - not in the good way. Now Tanisha won't look at him, he's the joke of the school and there's no way he can show his face at the competition. Will he ever catch a break? Then a ...

 By: Tiffany Clarke Harrison Location: FIC HAR Genre: Contemporary Literary Fiction. Obama Read Blue Hour is on President Obama’s best of 2023 and deservedly so. This is a compact book at only 130 pages; Harrison makes every word count. Brutal and in your face making you see the world as it really is, and heartbreaking and tender and making you thankful for the moments of beauty that life offers to try to counter its pain. Our unnamed narrator is a bi-racial woman, someone who is having great difficulty maintaining a pregnancy, struggling with terrible loss in her family, trying to make a living as an artist, to work her way through insurmountable grief. Harrison creates a very intimate portrait, letting us see the raw, ragged life with all its anguish and possibilities for joy and connection. What is motherhood in the midst of uncertainty, buried trauma, and an unraveling America? What it’s always been—a love song. Our narrator is a gifted photographer, an uncertain wife, an infer...

 By: Shirley Marr Location: FIC MAR Genre: Magic Realism, Rascsim A touching and quietly magical story of family, belonging and strength that compassionately explores mental health, grief and the varying experiences of immigrants of all ages and backgrounds. A beautiful story about finding your place in the world. WINNER, CBCA Book of the Year - Younger Readers 2022 WINNER, WA Premier’s Book Awards - Writing for Children 2021 Meixing Lim and her family have arrived at the New House in the New Land, inherited from First Uncle who died tragically and unexpectedly while picking oranges in the backyard. Everything is vast and unknown to Meixing and not in a good way, including the house she has dubbed Big Scary. She is embarrassed by the second-hand shoes given to her by the kind neighbours, has trouble understanding the language at school, and with fitting in and making new friends. Her solace is a glasshouse in the garden that inexplicably holds the sun and the moon and all the secre...