Archive for the ‘supernatural romance’ Category
New Books Highlight: Blockbusters!
This week: three blockbuster books that are so very brand new that they aren’t even on the shelves yet. Within the covers: government conspiracies, cures for diseases both real and imagined, tons of thrilling, page-turning action. Get your holds placed now because these are already super popular!
Suicide is a national epidemic amongst teens and the only proven treatment is known as The Program. Those who return from it come back as blank slates, wiped clean of all memories, never to be the same joyful kids they once were. Knowing that teens who even so much as cry are being rounded up and thrown into The Program to save them, Sloane keeps her feelings bottled up. She lets loose only with James, who has promised to help keep them both safely out of harm’s way. Despite his promises, both Sloane and James recognize the symptoms within themselves so it may be only a matter of time before they are both sent away to lose themselves and their love.
Sneak Peek! “The air in the room tastes sterile. The lingering scent of bleach is mixing with the fresh white paint on the walls, and I wish my teacher would open the window to let in a breeze. But we’re on the third floor so the pane is sealed shut – just in case anyone gets the urge to jump.” (Text copyright © 2013 by Suzanne Young)
The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa
First of all: WOO HOO a new book by Julie Kagawa (author of the first in this Blood of Eden series, The Immortal Rules, and also the Iron Fey series)! No spoilers here: Allison Sekemoto now finds herself separated from the boy she loves, following a trail of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire who’s trying to kill him. Allie follows the trail all the way to her own birthplace, where she discovers a truth that could end human and vampire existence. Even immortality may not be eternal.
Sneak Peek! “I smelled blood as soon as I walked into the room.” (Text copyright © 2013 by Julie Kagawa)
This is the first solo book by Beautiful Creatures co-author, Margaret Stohl. Expect a lot of the same kind of heart-pounding action (and a little of the heart-melting romance) but in a completely different kind of story. In a future Los Angeles, four teens uncover a huge conspiracy that has shaped their lives when they are separately taken hostage. Inspired and enraged – their emotions run high, a trait they’ve been taught is a bad thing but which might just save them – by what they find out, they must fight their oppressive government to overcome their mysterious pasts and save the future.
Sneak Peek! (from the prologue) “One tiny gray dot, no bigger than a freckle, marks the inside of the baby’s chubby arm. It slips in and out of view as she cries, waving her yellow rubber duck back and forth.” (Text copyright © 2013 by Margaret Stohl, Inc.)
TAB Book Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, set in 1895, tells the story of stubborn Gemma. After her mother’s murder, Gemma is sent to a boarding school near London. She has strange visions and in one a little girl gives her the diary of Mary Dowd. Gemma discovers that Mary has visions like hers. Gemma makes friends with power-seeking Felicity, imaginative Pippa and bullied Ann. As Gemma’s visions grow into magical powers, life at the boarding school gets worse and worse.
This fantasy story is full of adventure, romance and secrets. The complex characters and mysteries bring the story to life as the secrets unravel.
- Written by TAB member Sabine P.
Read-to-Screen: Beautiful Creatures
AHHHHHH OMG! Beautiful Creatures THE MOVIE is hitting theaters everywhere this February. Just in time for your Valentine’s (or Gal-entine’s) movie date. Many of us go crazy over whether a movie does a great book justice. I feel like this one might do the book justice, but the book is pretty cinematic – from the moment you first step into the Deep South with its ominous weather and the even more ominous dreams of main character Ethan Wate – so it may be easy to make it into a great movie.
Here’s the scoop: Beautiful Creatures, out February 13, 2013. Who’s in it? This, I know, is key. Whose faces are going to take on the faces of the book characters you love? Ethan, our heart-throbby Southern misanthrope, will be played by relative unknown Alden Ehrenreich. He’s a little older than 16-year-old Ethan, so we’ll see if that truly works. Pale, mysterious, and beautiful Lena will be played by Alice Englert, another pretty unknown actress, hailing from New Zealand. The most well-known star to be seen in the cast is Emmy Rossum, of Phantom of the Opera fame, as Lena’s bad-girl cousin, Ridley. Also, Jeremy Irons will be Gatlin’s spooky-creepy Macon Ravenwood.
In advance of the movie, why not prowl the internet for all things Beautiful Creatures, re-read the books, and read other books that are similar, until you are well and truly excited!
- Start with author Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s website. Here, you can learn all about the writing duo, plus link to more info on the books.
- There are killer trailers and sneak peeks at the official website for the movie.
- Have you read To Kill a Mockingbird? There’s not a lot of thematic or plot overlap (besides the element of overcoming prejudice) in that American classic and the Beautiful Creatures series, but it is the book that Ethan Wate refers to in the beginning of Beautiful Creatures. Read it and get closer to Mr. Wate…
- And speaking of novels set in the south, check out some other Southern Gothics, like Texas Gothic and The Splendor Falls, both by Rosemary Clement-Moore, both of which feature characters with startling supernatural ability. Dying for more on the supernatural (and you know there’s no shortage of that!)? Go to The Calling by Kelley Armstrong and Misfit by Jon Skovron.
New Books Newsletter
Want to hear about the latest and greatest teen books? We’ve got an awesome newsletter that highlights some of the new teen stuff added to the library. See the covers, read some reviews, and find the book at the library. Here’s the complete newsletter and if you’d like to subscribe to find out about new stuff every month, go here.
a sample of the newsletter
Ghosts and Witches
A few great reads featuring ghosts and witches:
Hourglass by Myra McEntire
Emerson sees ghosts, apparitions from the past. And until she meets Michael, she fears for her sanity. After meeting Michael she fear’s for her heart. An innovative and delicious supernatural romance.
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Sophie, a witch, is sent to Hecate Hall after her spell goes terribly wrong and she’s discovered. At “Hex Hall,” she meets Jenna, her vampire roommate, Elodie, the mean girl who wants Sophie in her coven, and Archer, the hottest warlock at Hecate and Elodie’s boyfriend. Excitement ensues as Sophie learns more about her magic and tries to win Archer. Don’t miss the sequel, Demonglass!
If those two aren’t enough, here are a few more:
Immortal by Gillian Shields
Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough
Bras and Broomsticks by Sarah Mlynowski
Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore
The Other Side of Dark by Sarah Smith
Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe
I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder
A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb
Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
When Nimira meets a fairy automaton, a clockwork machine of a man playing the piano, her life changes forever. Hired by the wealthy sorcerer, Hollin Parry, to sing with the automaton as a stage act, Nimira finds herself involved in two mysteries. Is the handsome automaton haunted, enchanted by the fairies or something more sinister? And what secret is Mr. Parry hiding in the closed off third floor of his estate?
A gothic mystery wrapped in a fantasy setting, Magic Under Glass, is a charming story of romance and intrigue.
If Magic Under Glass sounds interesting, you might also like:
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry
Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
