Please enable JavaScript
Print | Page 112 | LitPick Book Reviews
Print
Kindling the Moon: An Arcadia Bell Novel (The Arcadia Bell series)
Kindling the Moon
Jenn Bennett
Meet Arcadia Bell: bartender, renegade magician, fugitive from the law. . . . Being the spawn of two infamous occultists (and alleged murderers) isn’t easy, but freewheeling magician Arcadia “Cady” Bell knows how to make the best of a crummy situation. After hiding out for seven years, she’s carved an incognito niche for herself slinging drinks at the demon-friendly Tambuku Tiki Lounge. But she receives an ultimatum when unexpected surveillance footage of her notorious parents surfaces: either prove their innocence or surrender herself. Unfortunately, the only witness to the crimes was an elusive Æthyric demon, and Cady has no idea how to find it. She teams up with Lon Butler, an enigmatic demonologist with a special talent for sexual spells and an arcane library of priceless stolen grimoires. Their research soon escalates into a storm of conflict involving missing police evidence, the decadent Hellfire Club, a ruthless bounty hunter, and a powerful occult society that operates way outside the law. If Cady can’t clear her family name soon, she’ll be forced to sacrifice her own life . . . and no amount of running will save her this time.

Book Details

Texas Gothic
Texas Gothic
Rosemary Clement-Moore
Amy Goodnight knows that the world isn't as simple as it seems. She also understands that "normal" doesn't mix with magic, and she's worked hard to build a wall between the two worlds. Not only to protect her family, who are all practicing witches, but to protect any hope of ever having a normal life herself.   Ranch-sitting for her aunt in Texas should be exactly that: good old ordinary, uneventful hard work. Only, Amy and her sister, Phin, aren't alone. There's someone else in the house with them--and it's not the living, breathing, amazingly hot cowboy from the ranch next door.   It's a ghost, and it's more powerful than the Goodnights and all their protective spells combined. It wants something from Amy, and none of her carefully built defenses can hold it back.   This is the summer when the wall between Amy's worlds is going to come crashing down.A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the YearAn ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young AdultsPraise for Texas Gothic:[Star] "You can't get much more Nancy Drew. . . . This engaging mystery has plenty of both paranormal and romance, spiced with loving families and satisfyingly packed with self-sufficient, competent girls."--Kirkus Reviews, Starred[Star] "Teens looking for a rollicking adventure filled with paranormal events, dastardly evildoers, and laugh-out-loud moments as Amy and Ben argue and snipe their way to love will adore this book."--School Library Journal, Starred"The author mixes suspense, humor, and lots of local flavor. . . . The enjoyable sum is a lively teen ghost story with sex appeal."--The Horn Book"A deeply affectionate rendering of Texas landscapes and legends combines with an appealing cast of well-developed characters to give texture to this well-plotted mystery; truly scary moments are balanced by the humorous bumbles of the awkwardly developing romance between Amy and Ben, as well as Phin's sublime cluelessness about the way her eccentricities appear to other people."--The Bulletin

Book Details

Leap
Leap
Jodi Lundgren
Finally, Natalie's turned fifteen.  She's officially a grown-up (just tell her mother that) and ready for anything.  School is out, and she and her best friend Sasha are going to be practicing with their dance team all summer.Dancing is Natalie's passion -- it's what got her through the break-up of her parents' marriage, and her father's move halfway across the country. Now she needs it more than ever as she tries to navigate the unpredictable world of older boys -- specifically Kevin, Sasha's older brother -- and learn the difference between love and lust.When her friendship with Sasha goes on the rocks, her relationship with Kevin goes too far, and her mother reveals a shocking truth, Natalie finds strength in her dancing. Will it be enough? And what will happen when a new teacher introduces her to the world of modern dance--will she find the confidence to take it on?

Book Details

A Kid from Southie
A Kid From Southie
Shea, Michael Harmon, Red, John
High school senior Aiden O Connor's life is in turmoil. Bored with school, his growing skill at boxing won t pay the rent when his drunken father leaves, and someone is keeping his mom from finding work in any pub in South Boston. Lured by childhood friend Tommy's promise of easy money, Aiden reluctantly gets mixed up with the Irish mob. Aiden s strong sense of honor makes him a bit too good at his job with the King of the Street, who wants to keep Aiden involved for reasons of his own. Conflicted about nearly everything, Aiden has to decode where his loyalties lie and when he has had enough. Exploding with tough choices and the grit of true crime, A Kid from Southie is the story of one teen s dangerous trip through the temptations of power and the sacrifices that come with it on his way to deciding who he wants to be.

Book Details

So Much Pretty: A Novel
So Much Pretty
Cara Hoffman
“So Much Pretty is a fearless first novel,” announced The New York Times Book Review, “for all the passion in this intense narrative, Hoffman writes with a restraint that makes poetry of pain.”Set in a rural community steeped in silence and denial, So Much Pretty explores all parents’ greatest fear, that their child will be hurt. But it also examines a second, equally troubling question: What if my child hurts someone else? The disappearance and murder of nineteen-year-old Wendy White is detailed through the eyes of journalist Stacy Flynn and a host of other richly drawn characters, each with their own secrets and convictions. After Wendy’s body is found, Flynn’s intense crusade to expose a killer draws the attention of a precocious local girl, Alice Piper, whose story intertwines with Wendy’s in a spellbinding and unexpected climax.

Book Details

Kings of Colorado: A Novel
Kings of Colorado
David E. Hilton
"A heartfelt portrait of young men in a bygone age” (Kirkus Reviews) about troubled boys, wild horses, and the high price of a childhood lost.Thirteen-year-old William Sheppard stabs his abusive father and is sent to the Swope Ranch Boys Reformatory, setting off a string of events that ultimately leads to a horrifying end in the Colorado mountains. Along the way, he befriends three boys who become his surrogate family. Their work together taming horses brings peace, as the boys struggle to survive a world of hurt and shocking cruelty wherein the only thing they can rely on is each other as the laws of normal society are stripped away.With a backbone of heart-wrenching suspense, Kings of Colorado is a beautiful portrayal of brotherhood set against the nobility, danger, and wildness of youth and horses. The bonds between man and beast, along with other themes of community, friendship, and atonement are boldly explored on every page. Kings of Colorado illustrates just how easily innocence can be stripped away, robbing us of something most precious: childhood.

Book Details

Ashfall (Ashfall Trilogy)
Ashfall
Mike Mullin
Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to seach for his family and finds help in Darla, a travel partner he meets along the way. Together they must find the strength and skills to survive and outlast an epic disaster.

Book Details

Gravestone: A Novel (Solitary Tales Series)
Gravestone
Travis Thrasher
His Fear Will Soon Turn to Anger…. At first, Chris Buckley was simply warned. And watched. But as Chris unravels the haunting riddles of the town of Solitary, he finds that much more than the life of a town is at stake. Whether facing a pastor with a house full of skeletons or a cousin he never knew existed, Chris is forced to choose between light and darkness, life and nightmarish death. Every choice he makes reminds him that the unthinkable has already happened—and if he trusts the wrong person, it may happen again. This second book in the Solitary Tales continues Chris’s journey toward finding out who he is and what his own role is in the darkness suffocating his tiny new hometown. Filled with shocking twists, Gravestone is a tale of a teenager thrown into a battle over a town, a secret—and ultimately his own soul.

Book Details

Nur Jahan of India (The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses)
Nur Jahan of India
Albert Nguyen, Shirin Yim Bridges
From the deepest heart of the Moghul palace, tucked away in purdah, her face hidden by veils, one princess came to rule all of Moghul India. She introduced efficiencies, encouraged trade, and made possible a great flowering of the arts. What gave her this power was love. This is a love story, the story of Nur Jahan, who, without breaking any of the rules, hunted tigers, rode elephants to war, commanded a nation from behind a curtain, and did many other things that girls were not expected to do.Richly illustrated and narrated with humor, The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Real Princesses brings to life the stories of real and remarkable princesses who managed to do what few thought possible.

Book Details

Isabella of Castile (The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses)
Isabella of Castile
Albert Nguyen, Shirin Yim Bridges
In a twist on the classic fairy tale, a princess in fifteenth century Spain refused to wait to be rescued by a prince but instead chose one for herself. Even then, she would not marry him until they’d reached an agreement that was revolutionary for her time—their marriage would be an equal partnership captured in the motto: To stand as high, as high to stand, Isabella and Ferdinand. This book tells the real and remarkable story of the princess, Isabella of Castile. The partnership that she made with her prince was a happy and successful one. Without her, both Spain and America would not exist as we know them.Richly illustrated and narrated with humor, The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Real Princesses brings to life the stories of real and remarkable princesses who managed to do what few thought possible.

Book Details

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS