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The Obsidian Blade
Pete Hautman
Synopsis: Kicking off a riveting sci-fi trilogy, National Book Award winner Pete Hautman plunges us into a world where time is a tool — and the question is, who will control it?

The first time his father disappeared, Tucker Feye had just turned thirteen. The Reverend Feye simply climbed on the roof to fix a shingle, let out a scream, and vanished — only to walk up the driveway an hour later, looking older and worn, with a strange girl named Lahlia in tow. In the months that followed, Tucker watched his father grow distant and his once loving mother slide into madness. But then both of his parents disappear. Now in the care of his wild Uncle Kosh, Tucker begins to suspect that the disks of shimmering air he keeps seeing — one right on top of the roof — hold the answer to restoring his family. And when he dares to step into one, he’s launched on a time-twisting journey
— from a small Midwestern town to a futuristic hospital run by digitally augmented healers, from the death of an ancient prophet to a forest at the end of time. Inevitably, Tucker’s actions alter the past and future, changing his world forever.
Publication Date: 04/09/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin
Synopsis: This funny fractured fairy tale goes behind the scenes of Rumpelstiltskin. New York Times Bestselling author Liesl Shurtliff "spins words into gold [Kirby Larson, Newbery Honor winner]."

In a magic kingdom where your name is your destiny, 12-year-old Rump is the butt of everyone's joke. But when he finds an old spinning wheel, his luck seems to change. Rump discovers he has a gift for spinning straw into gold. His best friend, Red Riding Hood, warns him that magic is dangerous, and she’s right. With each thread he spins, he weaves himself deeper into a curse.

To break the spell, Rump must go on a perilous quest, fighting off pixies, trolls, poison apples, and a wickedly foolish queen. The odds are against him, but with courage and friendship—and a cheeky sense of humor—he just might triumph in the end.

A Texas Bluebonnet finalist and winner of the ILA award for middle grade fiction, Rump is perfect for fans of Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted or Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark and Grimm. And don't miss Liesl Shurtliff's other fairy tale retellings: Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk and Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood.

"A fresh riff on the Grimm Brothers' Rumpelstiltskin, told with wit from the impish point of view of the troublemaker himself." —People

"Lighthearted and inventive, Rump amusingly expands a classic tale." —Brandon Mull, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fablehaven.
Publication Date: 04/09/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Inferno
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Synopsis:

The heat is on, and a new threat to humanity has risen . . .

Nick has his driver's license and he's not afraid to use it. But turning sixteen isn't what he thought it would be. While other boys his age are worried about prom dates and applying for college, Nick is neck deep in enemies out to stop him from living another day. No longer sure if he can trust anyone, his only ally seems to be the one person he's been told will ultimately kill him.

But life spent serving the undead is anything except ordinary. And those out to get him have summoned an ancient force so powerful even the gods fear it. As Nick learns to command and control the elements, the one he must master in order to combat his latest foe is the one most likely to destroy him. As the old proverb goes, fire knows nothing of mercy, and if Nick is to survive this latest round, he will have to sacrifice a part of himself. However, the best sacrifice is seldom the sanest move. Sometimes it's the one that leaves your enemies confused.

And sometimes, you have to trust your enemy to save your friends. But what do you do when that enemy is you?
Inferno is the fourth book in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Chronicles of Nick.

Publication Date: 04/09/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Infamous: Chronicles of Nick
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Synopsis:

The world has fallen in love with Nick Gautier and the Dark-Hunters.

Now Nick's saga continues in the next eagerly anticipated volume...

Go to school. Get good grades. Stay out of trouble. That's the mandate for most kids. But Nick Gautier isn't the average teenager. He's a boy with a destiny not even he fully understands. And his first mandate is to stay alive while everyone, even his own father, tries to kill him.

He's learned to annihilate zombies and raise the dead, divination and clairvoyance, so why is learning to drive and keep a girlfriend so dang hard? But that isn't the primary skill he has to master. Survival is.

And in order to survive, his next lesson makes all the others pale in comparison. He is on the brink of becoming either the greatest hero mankind has ever known.

Or he'll be the one who ends the world. With enemies new and old gathering forces, he will have to call on every part of himself to fight or he'll lose everyone he cares about.

Even himself.

Infamous is the third book in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Chronicles of Nick.

Publication Date: 04/09/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Emospherica (The Destiny of Jasmine Blade, #1)
Synopsis: Jasmine Blade has tightly bottled her emotions for 18 years, but when one chance encounter with a wanna-be rock star ends up in a whirlwind journey across the globe, everything changes. With the invention of 'Emosphere's', Jasmine now has the power to control the emotions of others. Her destiny is to prove to the Council of Carriers, Framers and Readers that Emospherica is a phenomenon capable of controlling the masses - but at what cost? Her unfolding destiny is both dangerous and risky, especially when she has to put absolute trust in others. But Jasmine is determined to remain tenacious and tough until the end - whether it is in jubilant victory or gut wrenching defeat. She is fast learning why emotional warfare is a dangerous game, and that sometimes love doesn't conquer all, no matter what rock star you fall for.
Publication Date: 03/26/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Incredible Adventures of Charlotte Sycamore
Synopsis:

Queen Victoria's court knows Charlotte Sycamore as the mild-mannered sixteen-year-old daughter of the Her Majesty's royal surgeon. Yet Charlotte has a penchant for inventing new gadgets, and most nights she sneaks out to sword fight with her best friends, Peter and Jillian. When the three are mauled by what look like rabid dogs, Charlotte is forced to hide both her friends and her own injury. As her symptoms worsen and people are murdered across London, she embarks in a race against time to find the antidote and ultimately save the queen's own life. Full of action, luxe royal court, engineered beasts, and a good dose of humor, this steampunk novel is a masterful blend of science fiction, fantasy, and alternative history.

Publication Date: 03/15/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Panic
Sharon M. Draper
Synopsis: This gripping and chillingly realistic novel from New York Times bestselling author Sharon Draper shows that all it takes is one bad decision for everything to change.

Diamond knows not to get into a car with a stranger.

But what if the stranger is well-dressed and handsome? On his way to meet his wife and daughter? And casting a movie that very night—a movie in need of a star dancer? What then?

Then Diamond might make the wrong decision.

It’s a nightmare come true: Diamond Landers has been kidnapped. She was at the mall with a friend, alone for only a few brief minutes—and now she’s being held captive, forced to endure horrors beyond what she ever could have dreamed, while her family and friends experience their own torments and wait desperately for any bit of news.

From New York Times bestselling author Sharon Draper, this is a riveting exploration of power: how quickly we can lose it—and how we can take it back.
Publication Date: 03/12/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Fat Angie
e.E. Charlton-Trujillo
Synopsis: Winner of a 2014 Stonewall Book Award

Her sister was captured in Iraq, she’s the resident laughingstock at school, and her therapist tells her to count instead of eat. Can a daring new girl in her life really change anything?

Angie is broken — by her can’t-be-bothered mother, by her high-school tormenters, and by being the only one who thinks her varsity-athlete-turned-war-hero sister is still alive. Hiding under a mountain of junk food hasn’t kept the pain (or the shouts of “crazy mad cow!”) away. Having failed to kill herself — in front of a gym full of kids — she’s back at high school just trying to make it through each day. That is, until the arrival of KC Romance, the kind of girl who doesn’t exist in Dryfalls, Ohio. A girl who is one hundred and ninety-nine percent wow! A girl who never sees her as Fat Angie, and who knows too well that the package doesn’t always match what’s inside. With an offbeat sensibility, mean girls to rival a horror classic, and characters both outrageous and touching, this darkly comic anti-romantic romance will appeal to anyone who likes entertaining and meaningful fiction.
Publication Date: 03/12/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Scowler
Daniel Kraus
Synopsis:

Equal parts haunting and horrifying, this literary horror novel gives readers insight into the mind of a controlling homicidal man and the son who must stop him. 

"Marvin Burke is one of the great monsters of literature, a figure of immense, credible terror and savagery."--Cory Doctorow, author of Little Children and coeditor of Boing Boing

Imagine your father is a monster. Would that mean there are monsters inside you, too?
Nineteen-year-old Ry Burke, his mother, and little sister eke out a living on their dying family farm. Ry wishes for anything to distract him from the grim memories of his father’s physical and emotional abuse. Then a meteorite falls from the sky, bringing with it not only a fragment from another world but also the arrival of a ruthless man intent on destroying the entire family. Soon Ry is forced to defend himself by resurrecting a trio of imaginary childhood protectors: kindly Mr. Furrington, wise Jesus, and the bloodthirsty Scowler.

Publication Date: 03/12/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Barchester Towers
Anthony Trollope
Synopsis: First published in 1857, Barchester Towers satirizes the conflict within the Curch of England between the High Church and the Low Church around the middle of the XIX century.
Publication Date: 03/05/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Intruder
C. J. Cherryh
Synopsis: The thirteenth novel in Cherryh’s Foreigner space opera series, a groundbreaking tale of first contact and its consequences…

Civil war on the world of the atevi is over but diplomatic disputes and political infighting continue unabated. Bren Cameron, brilliant human diplomat allied with the dominant Western Association, has just returned to the capital from his country home. But his sojourn was anything but restful, for Bren and his associates have had a small war of their own to contend with, ending with rebel leader, Machigi, joining the atevi congress representing the rebels as a member state.
 
Machigi, to Bren’s utter shock, has invoked an ancient law, changing Bren's role as negotiator for Tabini-aiji, Ilisidi, and other leaders of the Western Association to that of a specialized, entirely neutral negotiator between atevi adversaries. Tabini-aiji is enraged to have lost his personal negotiator, and Bren is becoming embroiled in a development that could result in his assassination.
 
But there are even more dangerous things afoot, as a crisis brews inside the immensely dangerous Assassins’ Guild. The recent dustup with the Shadow Guild may be only the beginning.

The long-running Foreigner series can also be enjoyed by more casual genre readers in sub-trilogy installments. Intruder is the 13th Foreigner novel, and the 1st book in the fifth subtrilogy.
Publication Date: 03/05/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Midnight Blue-Light Special
Synopsis: The second book in New York Times-bestselling Seanan McGuire's witty urban fantasy InCryptid series about a family of cryptozoologists who act as a buffer between humans and the magical creatures living in secret around us.

"The only thing more fun than an October Daye book is an InCryptid book." —Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Sookie Stackhouse series

Normal, adjective: Conforming to the standard or common type. See also "ordinary."

Abnormal, adjective: Deviating from the common type, such as playing monster-human on the rooftops of Manhattan. See also "Verity Price."

The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity—and to protect humanity from them. Verity Price is just trying to do her job, keeping the native cryptid population of Manhattan from getting into trouble, and doing a little ballroom dancing on the side.

Enter Dominic De Luca, an operative for the Covenant of St. George, and Verity's on-again, off-again boyfriend. When he tells her that the Covenant is sending a full team to assess how ready the city is for a purge, Verity finds herself between a rock and a hard place. Stay, and risk her almost-certain death, or flee, and leave the cryptids of New York with nothing between them and the Covenant.

With allies and enemies on every side, and no safe way to turn, it's going to take some quickstepping for Verity to waltz out of this one. There's just one question on everyone's mind: Is this the last dance for Verity Price? 
Publication Date: 03/05/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Books of Barakhai
Mickey Zucker Reichert
Synopsis: Benton Collins was a graduate student working in the bio lab to earn his way to his degree.  When a white lab rat somehow managed to escape its cage, Ben found himself chasing the rat into a storeroom that would ultimately lead him through a secret gateway into the realm called Barakhai.  And in Barakhai, Ben’s life would be forever changed, for this was a place peopled by inadvertent shapeshifters, humans forced to spend half their day—or night—in animal form.

Not everyone was happy with the life in Barakhai, a life where the general population was ruled by those few humans of royal blood who remained in their human form and were virtual dictators.  Ben, by virtue of being born on Earth, was not a shapeshifter either.  And a rebel named Zylas hoped that Ben could become the instrument to turn Barakhai around.  So Zylas and his comrade rescued Ben from certain death.  But if Ben agreed to join their cause, would he only be postponing the moment of his execution, and would he ever be allowed to return to his own world again?
Publication Date: 03/05/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Goddess Inheritance
Aimée Carter
Synopsis:

Love or life. Henry or their child. The end of her family or the end of the world.

Kate must choose.

During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can't stop her—until Cronus offers a deal.

In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees, he'll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of council. And if she refuses, Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.

With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders, Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in existence, even if it costs her everything.

Even if it costs her eternity.

Publication Date: 02/26/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Out of Reach
V.M. Jones
Synopsis: Pip dreads every soccer match. His father is always there, yelling and arguing, pushing him to be more like his older brother a winner. Plus, there's the girl next door who outshines him on the field and overlooks him off of it. Then one day, Pip stumbles into a new world inside a rock-climbing gym. He even stumbles into a new, cooler name: Phil. But he still has to find a way to break free from the old world and his father's grip. An award-winning New Zealand author makes her U.S. debut with this powerful novel.

"And in the unreal twilight of the deserted Igloo, it was as if someone else had taken over my body . . . and my mind. Suddenly I wasn't Pip McLeod, forever messing up. Pip; Pippin; Piphead; Pipsqueak: battling to be the son Dad wanted, and never even coming close. No-this was a new me, Philip McLeod, who'd been hidden away somewhere deep inside . . . who with each new handhold, was slowly but surely clambering his way out."

Publication Date: 02/26/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Feral Nights
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Synopsis: Fans of the Tantalize quartet will thrill to see werepossum Clyde and other favorite secondary characters — plus all-new ones — take to the fore in book one of an all-new series.

When sexy, free-spirited werecat Yoshi tracks his sister, Ruby, to Austin, he discovers that she is not only MIA, but also the key suspect in a murder investigation. Meanwhile, werepossum Clyde and human Aimee have set out to do a little detective work of their own, sworn to avenge the brutal killing of werearmadillo pal Travis. When all three seekers are snared in an underground kidnapping ring, they end up on a remote island inhabited by an unusual (even by shifter standards) species and its cult of worshippers. Their hosts harbor a grim secret: staging high-profile safaris for wealthy patrons with evil pedigrees, which means that at least one newcomer to the island is about to be hunted. As both wereprey and werepredator fight to stay alive, it’s up to mild-mannered Clyde — a perennial sidekick — to summon the hero within. Can he surprise even himself?
Publication Date: 02/12/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction

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