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The Blue Curtain
L. G. Metcalf
Synopsis: EXTRAORDINARILY SUSPENSEFUL, THE BLUE CURTAIN IS AN EPIC TALE OF LOVE, DESTINY, MAGIC AND SEDUCTION Devastated by her father’s brutal murder, seventeen-year-old Emily Bliss is determined to find his killers, even after everyone else has given up. As Emily attempts to follow their trail, she encounters a mysterious stranger at a party. Beneath his handsome looks, physical prowess, vast wealth, intimidating presence and hypnotizing eyes, she can sense that he is tormented by demons that she cannot yet fathom. Soon Emily is shocked yet thrilled to realize that she is falling uncontrollably in love with him to the point of obsession and that she is willing say or do anything to make him stay. But an early birthday gift Emily’s father left for her has revealed secrets about her life, buried centuries ago, that will hurl her into a dark underworld that she never dreamed existed and point to a great destiny awaiting her, if only she can survive long enough to seize it...Coming soon in Audio book format!
Publication Date: 05/24/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Series
Antisocial
Jillian Blake
Synopsis: What if your greatest secrets became public? For the students at Alexandria Prep, a series of hacks leads to a scandalous firestorm—and the students are left wondering whose private photos and messages will be exposed next. It’s Pretty Little Liars meets WikiLeaks.


ONE HACK. EVERY SECRET. EXPOSED.

Alexandria Prep is in total social chaos. Someone—no one knows who—has hacked into the phones of the school’s social royalty and leaked their personal messages and photos. At first it was funny—everyone loved watching the dirty private lives of those they envied become public. But when things escalate, the students realize anyone could be a target.

When Anna returns to school for senior spring, she’s initially grateful that all eyes are on everyone else’s problems...and not on her humiliating breakup with her basketball-star boyfriend. But as the hacks begin to shatter lives and threaten futures, Anna races to protect those she loves—as well as her own devastating secrets.

If only the students of Alexandria Prep could turn back the clock so they knew then what they know now: sometimes we share too much.

★ "This debut novel is timely, cautionary, and compelling." —VOYA, starred review

"In an age of adult anxieties over digital privacy, this book is #relevant." —Kirkus Reviews
Publication Date: 05/16/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Mystery
The Darkest Corners
Kara Thomas
Synopsis: "Gripping from start to finish . . . with twists that left me shocked."—Victoria Aveyard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Queen

For fans of Gillian Flynn and Pretty Little Liars, The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.

    There are secrets around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about what happened there that last summer.
    She and her childhood best friend Callie never talked about what they saw. Not before the trial. And certainly not after.
    But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.
    Only the closer Tessa gets to what really happened, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

And don't miss Kara's next "eerie and masterly psychological thriller" Little Monsters—on sale now (SLJ)!
Publication Date: 05/09/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Missing
Kelley Armstrong
Synopsis: Fans of CJ Omololu's The Third Twin will flock to the romantic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, now available in paperback.
 
The only thing Winter Crane likes about Reeve's End is that soon she'll leave it. Like her best friend did. Like her sister did. Like most of the teens born in town have done. There's nothing for them there but abandoned mines and empty futures. They're better off taking a chance elsewhere.

What Winter will miss is the woods. Her only refuge. At least it was. Until the day she found Lennon left for dead, bleeding in a tree.

But now Lennon is gone too. And he has Winter questioning what she once thought was true. What if nobody left at all? What if they're all missing?

"A compelling thriller that keeps the reader hooked until the end." -VOYA, Starred
Publication Date: 04/18/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
What Girls Are Made Of
Elana K. Arnold
Synopsis: A 2017 National Book Award for Young People's Literature Finalist

When Nina Faye was fourteen, her mother told her there was no such thing as unconditional love. Nina believed her. Now she'll do anything for the boy she loves, to prove she's worthy of him. But when he breaks up with her, Nina is lost. What is she if not a girlfriend? What is she made of? Broken-hearted, Nina tries to figure out what the conditions of love are.

"Finally, finally, a book that is fully girl, with all of the gore and grace of growing up female exposed." Carrie Mesrobian, author of the William C. Morris finalist, Sex & Violence
Publication Date: 04/01/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Richard Nixon
John A. Farrell
Synopsis: From a prize-winning biographer comes the defining portrait of a man who led America in a time of turmoil and left us a darker age. We live today, John A. Farrell shows, in a world Richard Nixon made.
 
At the end of WWII, navy lieutenant “Nick” Nixon returned from the Pacific and set his cap at Congress, an idealistic dreamer seeking to build a better world. Yet amid the turns of that now-legendary 1946 campaign, Nixon’s finer attributes gave way to unapologetic ruthlessness. The story of that transformation is the stunning overture to John A. Farrell’s magisterial biography of the president who came to embody postwar American resentment and division.
     Within four years of his first victory, Nixon was a U.S. senator; in six, the vice president of the United States of America. “Few came so far, so fast, and so alone,” Farrell writes. Nixon’s sins as a candidate were legion; and in one unlawful secret plot, as Farrell reveals here, Nixon acted to prolong the Vietnam War for his own political purposes. Finally elected president in 1969, Nixon packed his staff with bright young men who devised forward-thinking reforms addressing health care, welfare, civil rights, and protection of the environment. It was a fine legacy, but Nixon cared little for it. He aspired to make his mark on the world stage instead, and his 1972 opening to China was the first great crack in the Cold War.
     Nixon had another legacy, too: an America divided and polarized. He was elected to end the war in Vietnam, but his bombing of Cambodia and Laos enraged the antiwar movement. It was Nixon who launched the McCarthy era, who played white against black with a “southern strategy,” and spurred the Silent Majority to despise and distrust the country’s elites. Ever insecure and increasingly paranoid, he persuaded Americans to gnaw, as he did, on grievances—and to look at one another as enemies. Finally, in August 1974, after two years of the mesmerizing intrigue and scandal of Watergate, Nixon became the only president to resign in disgrace.
     Richard Nixon is a gripping and unsparing portrayal of our darkest president. Meticulously researched, brilliantly crafted, and offering fresh revelations, it will be hailed as a master work.
Publication Date: 03/28/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Biography
The Edge of the Universe
Shaun David Hutchinson
Synopsis: From the author of We Are the Ants comes “another winner” (Booklist, starred review) about a boy who believes the universe is slowly shrinking as things he remembers are being erased from others’ memories.

Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished.

More accurately, he ceased to exist, erased from the minds and memories of everyone who knew him. Everyone except Ozzie.

Ozzie doesn’t know how to navigate life without Tommy, and soon he suspects that something else is going on: that the universe is shrinking.

When Ozzie is paired up with the reclusive and secretive Calvin for a physics project, it’s hard for him to deny the feelings developing between them, even if he still loves Tommy.

But Ozzie knows there isn’t much time left to find Tommy—that once the door closes, it can’t be opened again. And he’s determined to keep it open as long as possible.
Publication Date: 02/07/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Mystery
The Origins of Benjamin Hackett
Gerald M. O'Connor
Synopsis: "O'Connor's lilting prose beautifies his tale [as he] tackles a serious theme of forlornness with sincerity, buoyancy, and wit." --Kirkus Reviews

All families have secrets. Most go untold...

In the summer of '96, Benjamin Hackett has come of age, technically. And in the midst of the celebratory hangover, his world is whipped out from under his feet. His parents have finally shared their lifelong secret with him; he's adopted.

At the age of eighteen, the boy still has some growing up to do, and with the help of JJ, his loquacious consigliore and bodyguard, he embarks on an adventure that'll put to bed a lifetime of lies.

Over the course of five days, they find themselves caught up in the darker side of Cork. But when they sweep through the misfits blocking their way and finally discover the truth of it...now that's the greatest shock of all.

The Origins of Benjamin Hackett is a tender tale of heartache and displacement told through a wry and courageous voice. Set in Ireland, it's a timely reminder that the world hasn't moved on just as fast as we fancy. Now, in this emotionally charged story, Gerald O'Connor explores conditioned guilt and its consequences in a country still hiding from the sins of its past.

Praise for THE ORIGINS OF BENJAMIN HACKETT...

"The Origins of Benjamin Hackett by Gerald O'Connor is a raucous and riotous coming of age story that is brutal, tender and hilarious." - Paul D. Brazill, author of A Case of Noir and Guns of Brixton

"O'Connor doles out killer dialogue that adds oodles of character to this hero's journey. Told with the lilt and panache of Joseph O'Connor and Dermot Bolger in their novels of the 90s, Gerald O'Connor is the new and improved voice we've been waiting for." - Gerard Brennan, author of Undercover and Wee Rockets

"Visceral writing that inherits a long Irish tradition. O'Connor's narrative contains sharp characterisation, and has an assured voice, while dramatising conditioned guilt with humour and style." - Richard Godwin, author of Apostle Rising, Mr. Glamour and One Lost Summer and others

"If you're expecting the usual coming-of-age tale, you're in for a big shock. This is a tale big on heart and one which the author, Gerald O'Connor, has hied religiously to the advice of Harry Crews for writers, to leave out the parts readers skip. None of those parts remain in these pages. An auspicious debut!" - Les Edgerton, author of The Death of Tarpons, The Bitch, The Genuine, Imitation, Plastic Kidnapping, Bomb, and others
Publication Date: 02/06/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Stones Don't Speak, second in series Tall King's Country
Synopsis: 1941, Norway. The population tries to cope with the German occupation. After her successful debut concert as a pianist, Ellen Langmo, resists the Nazis who want to use her talent in their endeavor to convince people that Hitler’s ideas are right. At the same time the resistance movements begin to take form and her friends want to involve her. Trying to escape the conflicting and dangerous demands, she flees from Oslo to Stavanger on the West Coast where life is calmer. She is still looking for Friedrich but tries to accept his death when she has a strange encounter.
Publication Date: 01/27/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Series
Skunks Dance
St John Karp
Synopsis:

Spivey Spillane's grandmammy always said there were only two good reasons to kill a man -- for cheating on a woman, and for serving drinks to a Yankee. She may have had a hand in winning the Revolutionary War, but even she never met the likes of Alabama Sam. Sam robs a bank under Spillane's name, casts him in an obscene one-man play wearing only a pink tutu, and starts a betting pool on how many wieners he has. Despite the indignities Spillane suffers, he chases Sam across Gold-Rush-era California because Sam is the only one who knows the location of a hidden fortune buried somewhere in the hills.

Meanwhile in the present, seventeen-year-olds Amanda and Jet have rekindled an old childhood rivalry. Amanda is obsessed with finding the treasure of her infamous ancestor Spivey Spillane. Jet and Amanda's feud comes to a head over an extended incident involving a broken window, an exploded car, and a charge of sexual assault with a candy Batman. Jet vows that he is going to find to Spillane's gold before Amanda does, but it doesn't take them long to realize that someone may have come this way already -- someone who wants the past to stay buried.

Inspired by the rickety world of 1960s British-made Westerns, SKUNKS DANCE is a tale of revenge, greed, and men in tutus.

Publication Date: 01/24/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Humor
Civilianized: A Young Veteran's Memoir
Synopsis: After twelve months of military service in Iraq, Michael Anthony stepped off a plane, seemingly happy to be home--or at least back on US soil. He was twenty-one years old, a bit of a nerd, and carrying a pack of cigarettes that he thought would be his last. Two weeks later, Michael was stoned on Vicodin, drinking way too much, and picking a fight with a very large Hell's Angel. At his wit's end, he came to an agreement with himself: If things didn't improve in three months, he was going to kill himself. Civilianized is a memoir chronicling Michael's search for meaning in a suddenly destabilized world.
Publication Date: 12/27/16
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Nonfiction
Curse of the Coloring Book: A Novel Inspired by a True Story
Synopsis: When Herald Lloyd, an attorney and family man, learns he’s been cursed with a catastrophic legal-malpractice lawsuit, his recurring Vietnam War flashbacks flood his consciousness, and he medicates his post-traumatic stress with alcohol. He was reckless to quit college to join the Army. Mocking the war, he bought a GI Joe Coloring Book and half-gallon of whiskey, for a drunken send-off with his fraternity brothers. Vietnam hurls Herald into becoming a decorated combat platoon leader, commanding stressed oddballs and misfits like Dogman, who walks point and only barks to communicate. Now he must fight again, this time to save his client, law practice, and family. Was the coloring book cursed?
Publication Date: 12/20/16
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Shadow Fall
Audrey Grey
Synopsis: How far would you go to save the one you love? 
Sixteen-year-old Maia Graystone lives in a world of fear. Trapped inside the hellish pit below Rhine prison with psychopaths and murderers, she spends every second worrying about the brother she left behind, knowing that if the other inmates don't kill her first, the asteroid hurtling toward the earth definitely will. 
 
When a mysterious benefactor rescues her from prison and offers her a spot in the Shadow Trials, she jumps at the chance to receive a coveted place for her and her brother on the space station in the stars. Things get complicated when she's paired with Riser, a dark soul harboring his own reasons for wanting the Emperor dead. With the asteroid days away, the Trials looming, and her brother's fate hanging in the balance, she discovers the only thing more dangerous than the Emperor's court is her conflicted heart. 
 
 
 
Publication Date: 11/22/16
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Bullets, Blood and Stones: Book 1 - Stones Trilogy Series
Synopsis: The first rule for survival when you’re a child soldier carrying an AK-47 is kill or be killed. But after you look at the blood of your first victim, you realize two things: one, you hate yourself. And two, there is no turning back. When Scott discovers a pouch of stones clasped in the bony fingers of a skeleton in an African cave, the magic of the ancients is released and he and his nemesis, Bruce, are whisked to Uganda. There they meet Charlie, a former child soldier who has escaped from Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. When Charlie is recaptured, the two teenagers set out on a daring rescue to save him and the children in a nearby village. Immersed in the insane evil of this rebel army, Scott and Bruce find themselves on a dangerous adventure beyond anything they could have ever imagined.
Publication Date: 11/15/16
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Series
The Diabolic
S. J. Kincaid
Synopsis: “The perfect kind of high-pressure adventure.” —TeenVogue.com
A New York Times bestseller!

Red Queen meets The Hunger Games in this epic novel about what happens when a senator’s daughter is summoned to the galactic court as a hostage, but she’s really the galaxy’s most dangerous weapon in disguise.

A Diabolic is ruthless. A Diabolic is powerful. A Diabolic has a single task: Kill in order to protect the person you’ve been created for.

Nemesis is a Diabolic, a humanoid teenager created to protect a galactic senator’s daughter, Sidonia. The two have grown up side by side, but are in no way sisters. Nemesis is expected to give her life for Sidonia, and she would do so gladly. She would also take as many lives as necessary to keep Sidonia safe.

When the power-mad Emperor learns Sidonia’s father is participating in a rebellion, he summons Sidonia to the Galactic court. She is to serve as a hostage. Now, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia. She must become her. Nemesis travels to the court disguised as Sidonia—a killing machine masquerading in a world of corrupt politicians and two-faced senators’ children. It’s a nest of vipers with threats on every side, but Nemesis must keep her true abilities a secret or risk everything.

As the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns there is something more to her than just deadly force. She finds a humanity truer than what she encounters from most humans. Amidst all the danger, action, and intrigue, her humanity just might be the thing that saves her life—and the empire.
Publication Date: 11/01/16
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Adventure
How Fast Can You Run
Harriet Levin Millan
Synopsis: Set across a backdrop of refugee migration that spans East Africa, the US and Australia, How Fast Can You Run's story of "Lost Boy" of Sudan Michael Majok Kuch unfolds with equal measures of inspiration and heartbreak. Five-year-old Majok wakes in the middle of the night to his burning hut and flees from the soldiers torching his village in South Sudan. He gets separated from his mother and begins a ten year journey, trekking through war zones and living in refugee camps, until he receives political asylum to the US. 
Majok, now Michael, is given a new start in the US. Yet his new life mirrors his migrant life as he faces discrimination once again, and ultimately betrayal.
This extraordinary novel, chosen as a 2017 Charter for Compassion Global Read and now a Foreword Review Book of the Year finalist, is in the words of Mukoma Wa Ngugi, "a beautiful and crucial story told by two people, one Sudanese with dreams of independence, the other, an American poet who listens to Michael Majok through her imagination...reminding us that the most human of all activities, the one thing that binds us all, is finding beauty even in impossible situations."
Publication Date: 10/28/16
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction

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