When fifteen-year-old Evie’s stepfather, Joe, returns home from the World War II, he is different. After receiving a mysterious phone call, he suddenly decides to pack up Evie and her mom, Bev, for a trip to Palm Beach, Florida. Palm Beach is dead in the off season, but the family forms a friendship with the Graysons, another vacationing couple, and Evie becomes smitten with Peter, a private in

Sixteen-year-old Dru has grown up knowing that the Real World is full of things that go bump in the night. Dru was born with “the touch”- a sixth sense that allows her to sense when something supernatural is near. Dru and her father move from town to town hunting and fighting creatures of the Real World. When her father is killed and reanimated as a zombie, Dru is forced to kill the zombie and

After her parent’s divorce, Maddy moves from Boston with her mother and younger sister in with her grandmother in New Hampshire. Maddy is miserable in her new school, where she has been made an outcast from her first day by The Haters, the reigning group of teens. Maddy finds solace in her manga art and the game Fields of Fantasy. In Fields of Fantasy, Maddy creates a beautiful elf magician

When her teacher announces that there are more French boys than English boys participating in the pen pal program and a few English girls will need to have male pen pals, Jess quickly volunteers. With the help of her best mate Fred, Jess sends a slightly doctored photo to her new pen pal and hopes for the best. When Edouard arrives, however, Jess is disappointed. Edouard is small, mousy, and

Sixteen-year-old Tessa has run out of time- the cancer that she has been battling for years has taken over her body and she has run out of medical options. After moping over her situation, Tessa decides to get back to the business of living and creates herself a list of things she wants to do before she dies- including having sex, doing something illegal, trying drugs, becoming famous, and

Rose has felt off since the fight with the Strigori that killed her friend Mason, so much so that she begins to see his ghost around campus. Mason’s ghost begins to affect Rose’s training at a time when the school needs her most.The newest installment in the Vampire Academy series was slightly disappointing. Better editing should have caught repetitive explanations and incorrect character names

When Phillipa sees the job posting seeking a nanny for ten-year-old twins that “must love black” she is intrigued. Phillipa does love black, so much so that it is the only color in her wardrobe- but don’t call her goth! Her new job at Chrysalis Cliff, a luxury spa and mansion, begins the same day as her father’s marriage and escaping a summer of newly wed love is extremely appealing to her.

After years of moving around so often that she never has time to make friends, Cynda rebels when her mom and step-father announce they are moving to Italy. She goes to live in Maine with her father in order to reconnect with him and his new family. Cynda struggles with life in the isolated Inn until the mysterious Vincent Morthanos checks into the inn. Cynda is drawn to Vincent who appears to

Daniel carries the heavy burden of his family’s expectations for his future. He has good grades, but his SAT scores are not high enough to get him into Cornell, so his parents have him classified as ADD just to get additional time on the test. He gains admission to Cornell, but he begins to resent the pressures that his parents have placed on him. When he meets Misty, a wild and dangerous

Julia DiVino avoids the gangs who rule her school and has remained neutral, even though she has several friends who are members of other gangs. Things change, however, when Julia begins dating Eric Valiente, the new guy at school, who decides to join the Flatbush Junction Crips. Julia dumps him for lying to her, but when her friend Marie, a member of a Bloods affiliate, tells her that the

A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms a small town and impacts the lives of several teenagers in the community. Johnson, Green, and Myracle weave interconnected stories that share the spirit of the holidays with a blend of romance. The conclusion wraps each of the stories up nicely and will leave readers feeling warm and cozy.

After Rue’s mother disappears, her father is charged with her murder and the murder of one of his students. Rue, who has recently begun to see unusual things, believes that there is something odd going on. As she begins to investigate, she discovers that her mom is really a faerie, who has returned to the faerie realm because of a broken promise. In order to save her mother, Rue must fight a

In the future, in that area that was once North America, the nation of Panem exists with its Capitol that dictates every aspects of life in the surrounding districts by harsh and cruel means. One of the worst punishments inflicted upon the districts following a failed rebellion is The Hunger Games, a reality game that is in essence a fight to the death and one boy and one girl from each District

Pierce returns to the Circle Universe (The Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens quartets) to follow Evvy, the young stone mage from Street Magic. Evvy is traveling with two Winding Circle mages Rosethorn and Myrrhtide to the Battle Islands to see if they can discover why plants and animals on the Islands are dying for no apparent reason. Evvy hates traveling by sea and once she arrives on land

Following the attacks of September 11th, Robin Perry feels compelled to join the army. Having completed basic training, Robin is headed off to Iraq as a part of a Civil Affairs Unit. Robin struggles with the war, as he has a difficult time figuring out who exactly they are supposed to be fighting. Robin’s narrative is broken up by letters home to his parents, who he shields from the reality of

Jessica Packwood has a plan for getting a life during her senior year of high school, but when a bizarre exchange student from Romania arrives she finds her life changing in impossible ways. Lucius Vladescu not only claims that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess but also that he is her fiancé. This is not what Jessica had in mind for her future, but soon she finds herself increasingly drawn

Bella, a naïve recent immigrant from Italy, arrives in the States desperate to earn money to send back to her mom and siblings so that they can buy food. Yetta, a Jewish Russian immigrant has been working in the deplorable conditions of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and is one of the workers spearheading the strike. Jane is a wealthy socialite who wants to do more with her life than wed and

After Evangeline discovers her mom’s secret library of romance novels, she sets out to get her own “Crimson Kiss”- a spectacular, heart-stopping kiss. Unfortunately, her high school is lacking in possibilities as the good kissing prospects turn out to be duds. Evangeline soon finds herself with a bad reputation and when she unknowingly kisses her best friends crush, her quest for the prefect

One night everything in Jamie’s life is turned upside down, the night that his mom’s boyfriend Van picked his baby sister out of her crib and threw her across the room. Jamie’s mom steps in and catches her just in time. She loads the kids in the car with only the barest necessities and takes off. Jamie’s story is told through simple narration and presents the horrors of domestic abuse from a

Shakespeare Shapiro hates few things more than his name and the story of how his parents came to name him. Shakespeare describes his life as a series of catastrophes, one after another and has to face some cold hard facts each morning: he only has two close friends (one of whom only likes to talk about his bowel movements), he has never had a girlfriend or even kissed a girl, and his younger

When Lakshmi is thirteen-years-old, the devastating rain destroys her family’s crops and her step-father informs her that she must go to the city to earn money to support her family. Lakshmi believes that she is going to work as a maid for a wealthy woman, but instead her step-father has sold her into prostitution. While she initially fights her situation, she is eventually drugged into

Helen of Sparta wants to be more than just a beautiful princess who will one day marry and rule her kingdom. Feisty and independent Helen convinces her brothers’ trainer to teach her the same fighting skills that he teaches her brothers. Helen, dreaming of adventure, convinces her parents to allow her to accompany her brothers and sister to the kingdom of Mykenae where Clymenstra will be wed.

Cammie Morgan found herself being debriefed by the CIA after the events that occurred during her last semester at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. This semester, Cammie is determined to follow the rules, well as much as a girl who attends a top secret school for spies can anyway. Cammie’s resolution is quickly tested, however, when she learns that there is a boys school like

Sylvie is obsessed with the stars and plans to study astronomy in college. Her best friend Cherise is also obsessed with the stars- but in a more metaphorical sense. Cherise obsession with star charts, astrology, and numerology is difficult for Sylvie to understand. When Sylvie loses the diamond from her late mother’s ring and Cherise argues that it is a sign that love is about to enter her

Isabel’s mistress Miss Mary Finch promised her that she and her younger sister Ruth would be freed in her will. But when Miss Mary dies and no will is available, Isabel and her sister pass into the possession of her nephew who takes them to Newport and sells them to a wealthy Loyalist couple. When Isabel arrives in New York City with her new owners, she is immediately asked to spy on them and