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Within the first few pages of debut author April Lindner’s Jane: A Modern Retelling of Jane Eyre, I closed the book and thought: “it’s been too long since I read a classic romance full of brooding, tortured men, innocent but likeable young women who struggle against adversity and yearn for their own independence, all set in some dark mysterious circumstance or place, full of danger, foreboding, or mystery.  Ah, I miss the Brontes! I’d forgotten how much I loved them!”  With unbridled delight I plowed through Jane in one weekend afternoon. Curious how the classic could be updated with modern characters, situations, and sensibilities, I was pleasantlyRead More →

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  Lingerby Maggie Stiefvater Lingeris the sequel to Stiefvater’s romance, Shiver.  In Linger, Sam and Grace can now be together, but their life is too complicated: Sam’s the guardian of the pack and there’s trouble when wolf Beck changes a guy name Cole.  As it turns out, Cole is famous rock star so it becomes much harder to keep the pack a secret. Later in the story, Grace start to get sick, which leads to a big surprise at the end. I liked this book because it’s a lot like Romeo and Juliet. I think Linger is a good book for people to read because shows that people will do crazy thingsRead More →

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In a country ruled by the iron grasp of a fanatical, paranoid, cruel despot, people are either cowed into submission or so desperate for freedom they turn to guerilla warfare and terrorism.  To strike closest to the ruler’s inner circle and cause the most upset to the veneer of a “peaceful” society, young women are indoctrinated to sacrifice their lives in a fiery blast.  Innocents die on both sides and few question the madness or the methods or if there’s really any difference between the tyranny of the ruler or the ruthlessness of the freedom fighters. No one until Grace. At 17, she has lived her life amongRead More →

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In Robin Benway’s newest book, The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June, 3 teen sisters’ lives are reeling: their parents have recently divorced and their dad has moved from LA to Houston; along with their mom, the girls have had to move to a new house in another part of L.A. and start a new school; and they’re on a roller coaster ride of emotion, including pain, guilt, confusion, and normal teen angst.  But things get really complicated when on a seemingly normal day at the start of the school year, Junior April, Sophomore May, and Freshman June suddenly discover they have “powers”: eldestRead More →

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Roger’s gift, or curse, is to be able to cross over and visit the Land of the Dead.   For most of his life, his cruel uncle has used Roger to prey on the hopes of simple common folk who want to speak to their lost loved ones.  But when his uncle is killed in part of a failed attempt to wreck and rob a ship, innocent Roger falls on the mercy of the ship captain’s widow.  She grudgingly writes a letter of recommendation for Roger and the hapless, naive teen finds himself as a laundress in the palace of one of the country’s rival Queens.  When his gift comesRead More →

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Finn and Chloe are two smart (maybe too smart) high school juniors in a small New Jersey town.  Bored and in need of something dynamic to make them stand out to college entrance officers, they hatch a deceptively simple hoax that will rocket them to the national spotlight: Chloe will disappear and after a sufficient amount of time, her devoted best friend, Finn, will miraculously find her unharmed and return Chloe to her family.  But once the hoax is in place, Finn watches their families and their community start to unravel and everything spins out of control until an innocent friend is accused of Chloe’sRead More →

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In a kingdom of merciless tyrants and swift, brutal justice, Jebel Rum’s family is honored as royalty because his father is The Executioner. But Rashed Rum is near retirement. And when he goes, there will be a contest to determine his successor. It is a contest that thin, puny Jebel has no chance of winning.  Humiliated and ashamed, Jebel sets out on a quest to the faraway home of a legendary fire god to petition for super-human powers so that he can become the most lethal of men and take over his father’s post.  He must take someone with him to be sacrificed to the god, and soRead More →

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Thirteen Days to Midnight, the latest from Patrick Carman, is a thriller from page one.  Being indestructible may seem like a fantastic super power to have, but as Jacob Fielding quickly learns, the addictive allure of testing the limits of fear, the thrill of escaping harrowing accidents unscathed, and even saving another person from certain death, aren’t what they seem to be.  With every heroic act Jacob and his 2 thrill-seeking friends accomplish, the strange power that inhabits Jacob seems to grow stronger, darker, and more like a curse.  He knows something terrible is about to happen, but he can’t convince himself, or his friends,Read More →

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Jill Jekel is devastated by the murder of her father. When the police discover that he had been involved in illegal activities they lose interest in finding his murderer. Jill discovers that her father had been secretly working in his laboratory in the middle of the night and used her college savings account to fund his experiments!  Now with her mother falling apart, Jill tries to find “normal” again. When the mysterious, handsome Tristen Hyde gives Jill attention and support she finds herself curiously drawn to him. And when their chemistry teacher suggests they work together in a competition for a chance to win a 30K scholarshipRead More →