Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 29 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Tantalize
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Synopsis: "Readers will be tantalized by this dark, romantic, and disturbing fantasy of vampires, werewolves, and a strong no-nonsense heroine. " — SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

CLASSIFIED ADS: RESTAURANTS
SANGUINI'S: A VERY RARE RESTAURANT IS HIRING A CHEF DE CUISINE. DINNERS ONLY.
APPLY IN PERSON BETWEEN 2:00 AND 4:00 PM.

Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything? TANTALIZE marks Cynthia Leitich Smith’s delicious debut as a preeminent author of dark fantasy.
Publication Date: 07/22/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Fancy White Trash
Marjetta Geerling
Synopsis: Finding love is simple with the One True Love Plan.

?If only life were as easy as your sisters.? Abby?s heard that one before. And it?s true ?Shelby and Kait aren?t exactly prim and proper. Abby is determined not to follow in their footsteps, so she has created the One True Love Plan. The most important part of the plan is Rule #1: Find Someone New. This means finding a guy who hasn?t already dated Shelby or Kait. But when Abby starts falling for the possible father of Kait?s baby, she has to figure out if some rules are meant to be broken.

This debut novel, a modern comedy of errors, is as lighthearted and irreverant as its title.

Publication Date: 05/15/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Romance
The Religion
Tim Willocks
Synopsis: May 1565. Suleiman the Magnificent, emperor of the Ottomans, has declared a jihad against the Knights of Saint John the Baptist. The largest armada of all time approaches the Knights€™ Christian stronghold on the island of Malta. The Turks know the Knights as the €œThe Hounds of Hell.€ The Knights call themselves €œThe Religion.€ In Messina, Sicily, a French countess, Carla la Penautier, seeks a passage to Malta in a quest to find the son taken from her at his birth twelve years ago. The only man with the expertise and daring to help her is a Rabelaisian soldier of fortune, arms dealer, former janissary, and strapping Saxon adventurer by the name of Mattias Tannhauser. He agrees to accompany the lady to Malta, where, amidst the most spectacular siege in military history, they must try to find the boy - whose name they do not know and whose face they have never seen€“and pluck him from the jaws of Holy War.
Publication Date: 04/29/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Back Creek
Leslie Goetsch
Synopsis: "It’s the summer of 1975. Eighteen-year-old Grace Barnett knows she should be preparing to leave for college in September. But a strange Memorial Day boating accident on the creek near her Virginia home―she’s the only witness to the apparent suicide―kicks off a series of events that will define her family’s future as well as her emerging view of life.On the very day of the victim’s funeral, Grace’s older sister, Lillian, absent from the family for the past five years, suddenly reappears. Unfortunately, it is also the day Grace’s mother chooses to quietly walk out on her family, leaving Grace to act as the mediator between her prodigal sister and her badly wounded father.As the summer wears on, Grace finds herself thinking less about college and more about how to mend the rifts in her family. She turns to her neighbor, Cal, a recently returned Vietnam vet, to help sort through her problems. After weathering her sister’s unexpected return and pregnancy, her father’s budding alcoholism, and Cal’s war-induced neurosis, Grace decides to set off to rural North Carolina with the intention of bringing her mother back home."
Publication Date: 02/01/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Rich Girl
Carol Culver
Synopsis: At an exclusive school like Manderly Prep, you really need your BFFs to get you through.

Victoria Lee, who spent her childhood in Hong Kong, has been transplanted to her parents' McMansion-unsupervised. Anyone else would think they were dreaming, but for Victoria, it's closer to a nightmare. Life alone in a big house can make you feel really empty.

Victoria feels like she's stepped out of the book she has to read for Brit Lit, A Tale of Two Cities. And it's not just Hong Kong vs. San Francisco. It's her parents' Ivy League dreams vs. her own dream of fashion school. And the snotty kids at Manderley Prep vs. her real friends, Cindy and Maggie. Then there's her crush Steve, who doesn't even notice her anymore.

She doesn't even feel at home at home-since the housekeeper's son, Gabe, acts like Victoria's very breath is destroying his precious environment. Maybe he's got a point. Maybe Victoria is miles from where she really belongs.

Publication Date: 01/02/08
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Untamed
P. C. Cast
Synopsis: Another thrilling and suspenseful novel from the P.C. and Kristin Cast.
Publication Date: 07/26/25
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Choices, My Secrets
Thomas Wade Bounds
Synopsis: My Secrets, the first of a series on Choices for young teens and their parents, tells the compelling story of Rachel, a teenager faced with unexpected choices in a quest to find her way after a summer romance brings her more than she bargained for. Searching for hope things spin out of control as she finds more issues while leaving out the possibilities to talk with friends, family and God until a chance encounter helps her think. See if she plows ahead or does she find her true self and gain the faith, hope, and courage to consider the best choices to guide her through her incredible journey. Thomas Wade Bounds, is a businessman and the founder of Heritage Values. He lives with his wife Elsa and their two children, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Publication Date: 11/15/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
The Band: Finding Love
D. L. Garfinkle
Synopsis: When rock band Amber Road is invited to play at a music festival in Berkeley, Tracie's parents forbid her to go, Sienna has plans that weekend, and Lily expects to hear about a solo record deal that she has not discussed with the others.
Publication Date: 11/06/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Romance
Lucky
Cecily von Ziegesar
Synopsis: Jenny Humphrey has attended some crazy parties at Waverly Academy, but none as hot as the bash at Miller farm, where the barn went up in flames. Literally. So when Dean Marymount announces that someone is going to be expelled, it's every owl for him- and herself.

Tensions are rising, rumors are flying, and pretty soon everyone is a suspect. Jenny is worried about her adorable, shaggy-haired new crush, Julian, whose lighter was found at the scene of the crime. Callie is afraid she and Easy will both get kicked out, because they were in the barn-together-when it caught fire. And Tinsley knows she'll take the heat for organizing the wild party in the first place.Luckily she's come up with a way to keep from getting in trouble: by blaming Jenny. Of course.

After all, Waverly's girls always fight fire with fire. But watch out, ladies-in a battle like this, someone's bound to get burned.
Publication Date: 11/01/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Balancing Acts
Emily Franklin
Synopsis: Three teenaged girls try to prevent their secrets from interfering with their love lives and their goals as they work at Les Trois, an exclusive Alpine ski resort, over the winter.
Publication Date: 10/02/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Betrayed
Kristin Cast, P. C. Cast
Synopsis:

Betrayed, the second installment in the bestselling House of Night series from P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast, is dark and sexy, and as thrilling as it is utterly shocking.

Fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird has managed to settle in at the House of Night. She's come to terms with the vast powers the vampyre goddess, Nyx, has given her, and is getting a handle on being the new Leader of the Dark Daughters. Best of all, Zoey finally feels like she belongs--like she really fits in. She actually has a boyfriend…or two. Then the unthinkable happens: Human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey's old life, she begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves. Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night, and Zoey must find the courage to face a betrayal that could break her heart, her soul, and jeopardize the very fabric of her world.

Publication Date: 10/02/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
The Second Virginity of Suzy Green
Synopsis:

Suzy Green used to be one of the coolest nonconformist “almost-Goth” party girls in Australia. That was before her older sister Rosie died and her family moved to a new town. Not even her best friend would recognize her now. Gone are the Doc Martens and the attitude. All she wants is to be like Rosie―perfect. The new Suzy Green makes straight As, hangs with the in-crowd at her new school, and dates the hottest guy around. And since all her new friends belong to a virginity club, she joins, too. So what if she’s not technically qualified? Nobody in town knows . . . until Ryan, Suzy’s ex, turns up.

As the past and present collide, Suzy struggles to find her own place in a world without her sister.

Publication Date: 09/08/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Red Rage
Rachel Ward, Brigitte Blobel
Synopsis:

A teen girl on the edge. A rage turned to violence.

Sometimes 15-year-old Mara loses control. She strikes out at people, then runs. Often, she can't recall what she's done. She knows losing control is dangerous, but she also feels that somehow the rage protects her, making her invincible.

Then she meets Tibor, a sweet guy who's not put off by her attitude or her messed-up home life. There's also a teacher at school who sees a better future than Mara's ever imagined for herself. The teacher even gets Mara a volunteer job in a preschool.

But the anger is never far away. The day Mara spots Tibor on his motorcycle with another girl, the rage takes over. Mara tracks the girl down and beats her senseless.

Horrified, Mara finally seeks help for her behavior. But salvation isn't that simple. The injured girl is Tibor's sister. Devastated by the news, but determined to make amends, Mara takes her first steps toward a life free of violence.

Filled with raw emotion and unflinching honesty, Red Rage is a vivid portrait of one teen lost in a vortex of her own violence.

Publication Date: 08/17/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
The Rhyme Killers
Naomi Helterbran, Judy Gooden
Synopsis:

Where murder takes on a rhyming quality and capture ends the verse.

Detective Katie Knight is Philadelphia's top monster hunter. Katie and her partner, Avis Rent are assigned to the Pied Piper case, the name the newspapers have given to the latest serial killer running amuck in the city.

The killer's signature is one Katie has never seen. Everything about the case is unusual and eluding.

Katie has to prove herself since the antiquated Chief of Detectives wants all women ...especially her out of the homicide division. Katie refuses to give up in spite of the numerous dilemmas she faces.

The Rhyme Killers has an ending so bizarre no reader will be able to determine the outcome.
Publication Date: 07/26/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Mystery
Bad Girls Club
Judy Gregerson
Synopsis: Destiny has a secret. She's been told not to tell anyone what happened at Crater Lake. She also can't tell anyone about her sister's bruises. Her friends all want her to report her parents, but Destiny won't. When the secret becomes too much to carry and
Publication Date: 07/24/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Sleep Before Evening
Magdalena Ball
Synopsis: Marianne is teetering at the edge of reason. A death in the family sends her brilliant academic career and promising future spiraling out of control until resentment towards those who shaped her past leads her on a wild and desperate search for the truth about herself. On the seedy side of New York, she meets Miles, a hip musician busking the streets and playing low-rent venues in a muddled bid to make his own dreams come true. In her new life, she finds anarchic squalor, home grown music and poetry, booze, drugs, sex, violence, love, loss, and, above all, exhilarating freedom on her troubled journey from sleep to awakening. This gritty, relentless story unfolds with the same cool detachment that motivates the central character to peel back the layers of her life and expose the painful scalding within.
Publication Date: 07/24/07
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Mystery

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS