Fiction

Life Blossoms Like A Rose In Thorns
Raghavan Jayaprakash
Life Blossoms Like a Rose in Thorns is a work of fiction about Smitha, who cannot help but feel disgusted at the way that women are treated as inferiors in Indian society, particularly when it comes to marriage. Smitha vows to defy this even though her mother says, âWe canât change the customs society had been accustomed to for years. It takes a noble person to speak out against these evils.â Smitha becomes just such a noble person. She marries, and they settle down in Malaysia and have a son named Bhasker and the story begins to follow his life. As the title implies, this story focuses on the beautiful and wonderful aspects of life that occur even in the middle of the dark and painful moments. The characters face many obstacles on their paths to happiness. This could be an uplifting story that might be attractive to people interested in inspirational fiction.
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Jekel Loves Hyde
Beth Fantaskey
Jill Jekel has always obeyed her parents’ rulesâespecially the one about never opening the mysterious, old box in her father’s office. But when her dad is murdered, and her college savings disappear, she’s tempted to peek inside, as the contents might be the key to a lucrative chemistry scholarship.To improve her odds, Jill enlists the help of gorgeous, brooding Tristen Hyde, who has his own dark secrets locked away. As the team of Jekel and Hyde, they recreate experiments based on the classic novel, hoping not only to win a prize, but to save Tristen’s sanity. Maybe his life. But Jill’s accidental taste of a formula unleashes her darkest nature and compels her to risk everythingâeven Tristen’s loveâjust for the thrill of being . . . bad.
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That's Life, Samara Brooks
Daniel Ehrenhaft
"FUNNY! I'm officially jealous."--Gordon Korman, author of ONE FALSE NOTEIs playing blackjack in the school cafeteria that bad? Samara Brooks doesn't think so. She isn't out to hurt anybody. She just wants to create some drama. And she does. Drama . . . and trouble.When the principal threatens to call her parents, Samara proposes a way to save herself. She'll prove she's not a bad person by conducting a scientific experiment to show she has the same DNA as one of the friendliest girls in school: class president Lily Frederick. But then Nathan Weiss—a kid obsessed with UFOs and mysterious codes, gets involved. And things get really weird. . . . "If you like your mystery with a side of science and some delightful snark, you're in the right place," says New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray. And Leslie Margolis, author of Girls Acting Catty and Boys Are Dogs says, "Hilarious, wacky and charming."
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To Come And Go Like Magic
Katie Pickard Fawcett
Twelve-year-old Chili Sue Mahoney has never been outside of her small Appalachian town. Momma says Mercy Hill, Kentucky, is her “true home,” but Chili longs to see the world—to have the freedom to leave and to explore.So when Miss Matlock is brought in as the 7th grade substitute teacher, Chili and her classmate Willie Bright are thrilled. Everyone knows Miss Matlock has traveled around the globe. Why she’s come back to her childhood home after all this time is a mystery, but Chili and Willie are eager to befriend her despite the rumors. As the three spend time together, Chili learns about the jungles and deserts and cities of the world. But she also discovers that there’s more to Mercy Hill than she thought: beauty, in the people and places she’s known all her life, and secrets, sometimes where they’re least expected.Told in vignettes and set in 1970s Appalachia, To Come and Go Like Magic is a heartwarming and hopeful debut novel about family, friendship, and the meaning of home.
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Demon Possessed
Stacia Kane
When one of Dr. Megan Chase’s patients is convinced his problems stem from demonic possession by a “minister,” Megan can’t do anything about it without revealing the truth about her psychic abilities. Still, she’s determined to stop the less-than-holy man. Since the minister is holding a “Weekend Exorcism” next door, Megan figures she can kill two birds with one stone—but it may be Megan who is in danger of being killed. Someone’s planning on killing her and using the meeting to deflect blame. Meanwhile, Megan’s lover Greyson has become vulnerable to assassination, and what was supposed to be a relaxing, romantic weekend turns into a life or death, love or loss situation.
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The Story of Cirrus Flux
Matthew Skelton
London, 1783. Orphan Cirrus Flux is being watched. Merciless villains are conniving to steal the world’s most divine power—The Breath of God—which they believe Cirrus has inherited. Now he faces a perilous journey through the dirty backstreets of the city as a sinister mesmerist, a tiny man with an all-seeing eye, and a skull-collecting scoundrel pursue him. Cirrus must escape them, but he’ll need to trust some unlikely allies if he hopes to thwart his foes . . . and survive a grand and terrifying showdown.
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Shakespeare Makes The Playoffs
Ron Koertge
Fielding his social life is a bigger challenge for Kevin than hitting a fastballin Ron Koertge’s funny, insightful sequel to SHAKESPEARE BATS CLEANUP. (Age 12 and up)Fourteen-year-old Kevin Boland has a passion for playing baseball, aknack for writing poetry — and a cute girlfriend named Mira who’s not much interested in either. But then, Kevin doesn’t exactly share Mira’s newfound fervor for all things green. So when Kevin signs up for open mike night at Bungalow Books and meets Amy, a girl who knows a sonnet from a sestina and can match his emails verse for verse, things start to get sticky. Should he stay with Mira? Or risk spoiling his friendship with Amy by asking her out? Ron Koertge, master of snappy dialogue and a deft poet, offers a fast-paced, sympathetic story that interweaves two narrative voices with humor and warmth.
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The Dead-Tossed Waves
Carrie Ryan
Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.
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Smells Like Dog
Suzanne Selfors
Meet Homer Pudding, an ordinary farm boy who's got big dreams-to follow in the footsteps of his famous treasure-hunting uncle. But when Uncle Drake mysteriously disappears, Homer inherits two things: a lazy, droopy dog with no sense of smell, and a mystery.Why would his uncle call this clumsy dog his "most treasured possession?" And why did he put a gold coin on the dog's collar?And who will continue Uncle Drake's quest-to find the most coveted pirate treasure in the world?Join Homer, his sister Gwendolyn, and Dog on an adventure that will test their wits and courage as they leave their peaceful farm and head into a world where ruthless treasure hunters hide around every corner. Where they discover that Dog has a hidden talent and that treasure might be closer than they ever imagined...
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Meanwhile
Jason Shiga
Chocolate or Vanilla? This simple choice is all it takes to get started with Meanwhile, the wildly inventive creation of comics mastermind Jason Shiga, of whom Scott McCloud said “Crazy + Genius = Shiga.” Jimmy, whose every move is under your control, finds himself in a mad scientist’s lab, where he’s given a choice between three amazing objects: a mind-reading device, a time-travel machine, or the Killitron 3000 (which is as ominous as it sounds). Down each of these paths there are puzzles, mysterious clues, and shocking revelations. It’s up to the reader to lead Jimmy to success or disaster.Meanwhile is a wholly original story of invention, discovery, and saving the world, told through a system of tabs that take you forward, backward, upside down, and right side up again. Each read creates a new adventure! Awards and praise for Jason Shiga 2004 Eisner Award2003 Ignatz Award2007 Stumpton Trophy Award1999 Xeric Grant Recipient “Crazy + Genius = Shiga” ―Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics “If humankind ever finds itself at the brink of its own destruction and I am given the task to fill a small, space-bound time capsule with a collection of ten graphic novels that would present to alien eyes the best that the cartoonists of Earth had to offer the universe, Jason Shiga's Meanwhile would surely be among my picks.” ―Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese “A creator of comix that can be at once funny, disturbing, thoughtful, deconstructed, and cleverly put together.” ―Time online “Meanwhile is a wallop of a book/graphic novel! It delivers action, choices, problem solving, and engagement. And it reminds me of my own efforts in writing Choose Your Own Adventure, which I take as a great compliment coming from Jason Shiga. I wish I had written this book! Run, don’t walk, to your favorite bookseller and pick up a copy!” ―R. A. Montgomery, Choose Your Own Adventure author “Ingenious” ―Edward Packard, Choose Your Own Adventure author