Friday, April 23, 2010

May YA Books

Old MagicOld Magic by Marianne Curley

His name is Jarrod Thornton. He has blond-red hair to his shoulders, nice clean skin and green eyes like fiery emeralds; but this is not why I can’t drag my eyes off him. There’s something else. Something disturbing…

Kate is at a loss. She meets a boy with extraordinary powers and a bizarre family history that can be traced back to the Middle Ages. But Jarrod doesn’t believe in the paranormal. When Kate tries to convince him that he has supernatural powers that need to be harnessed, he doesn’t take her seriously, and only puts up with her “hocus pocus” notions because he finds her captivating.

However, the dangerous, uncontrolled strengthening of his gift finally convinces Jarrod that he must take Kate’s theories seriously. Together, they embark on a remarkable journey – one which will unravel the mystery that has hung over Jarrod’s family for generations and finds them pitted against immense forces in a battle to undo the past and reshape the future.

BirthmarkedBirthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

After climate change, on the north shore of Unlake Superior, a dystopian world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. It’s Gaia’s job to “advance” a quota of infants from poverty into the walled Enclave, until the night one agonized mother objects, and Gaia’s parents are arrested.

Badly scarred since childhood, Gaia is a strong, resourceful loner who begins to question her society. As Gaia’s efforts to save her parents take her within the wall, she herself is arrested and imprisoned.

Fraught with difficult moral choices and rich with intricate layers of codes, BIRTHMARKED explores a colorful, cruel, eerily familiar world where one girl can make all the difference, and a real hero makes her own moral code.

MistwoodMistwood by Leah Cypress

The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwood. But when she is needed she always comes.
Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.
Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she may be his greatest threat.
Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.
Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything she thought she knew.

Beautiful Dead Book 1: JonasBeautiful Dead Book 1: Jonas by Eden Maguire

 Something strange is happening in Ellerton High. Phoenix is the fourth teenager to die within a year. His street fight stabbing follows the deaths of Jonas, Summer and Arizona in equally strange and sudden circumstances.
Rumours of ghosts and strange happenings rip through the small community as it comes to terms with shock and loss. Darina,Phoenix's grief-stricken girlfriend, is on the verge. She can't escape her intense heartache, or the impossible apparitions of those that are meant to be dead. And all the while the sound of beating wings echo inside her head! And then one day Phoenix appears to Darina.
Ecstatic to be reunited, he tells her about the Beautiful Dead. Souls in limbo, they have been chosen to return to the world to set right a wrong linked to their deaths and bring about justice. Beautiful, superhuman and powerful, they are marked by a 'death mark' - a small tattoo of angel's wings. Phoenix tells her that the sound of invisible wings beating are the millions of souls in limbo, desperate to return to earth.Darina's mission is clear: she must help Jonas, Summer, Arizona, and impossibly, her beloved Phoenix, right the wrong linked to their deaths to set them free from limbo so that they can finally rest in peace. Will love conquer death? And if it does, can Darina set it free?

The Poison Eaters: and Other StoriesThe Poison Eaters: and Other Stories by Holly Black 

In her debut collection, New York Times best-selling author Holly Black returns to the world of Tithe in two darkly exquisite new tales. Then Black takes readers on a tour of a faerie market and introduces a girl poisonous to the touch and another who challenges the devil to a competitive eating match. These stories have been published in anthologies such as 21 Proms, The Faery Reel, and The Restless Dead, and have been reprinted in many “Best of” anthologies. The Poison Eaters is Holly Black’s much-anticipated first collection of stories, and her ability to stare into the void—and to find humanity and humor there—will speak to young adult and adult readers alike.

4 comments:

Violet said...

I'm excited to read all of these books, but I am looking forward to Mistwood by Leah Cypress the most. :)

CallMeKayla said...

loving the cover for Old Magic! Oh, and I'm really liking this new blog layout!

Lexie said...

Ordinarily I'd say Holly Black, because I love her short stories, but I haven't read her Tithe books so it wouldn't be prudent to then read the short stories based on them...I'm hoping for Birthmarked or Mistwood

Missie, The Unread Reader said...

Sorry for the off topic, but when do discussion questions get posted?

Just finished Hex Hall, and I'm in real danger of losing everything I want to say about it soon. Stuff doesn't live in my head for a long time.

LOL

Thanks!