Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 27 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Furry and Flo
Stephen Gilpin, Thomas Kingsley Troupe
Synopsis: Flo Gardner isn't exactly thrilled when she and her mom move into Corman Towers, a giant apartment building in the middle of the city. To call their new home strange is an understatement. And things only get weirder when she meets Ferdinand, better known as Furry. It doesn't take Flo long to realize that there's more than one secret lurking in her new home.
Publication Date: 08/01/13
Age Level: 5 - 8
Genre: Adventure
Thimble Down
Pete Prown
Synopsis: THIMBLE DOWN is a country village where death and malice lurk the quiet lanes. When the vile, drunken Bing Rumple acquires a gem-laden treasure, violence begins to follow him everywhere. Where did Bing find such a precious jewel, and worse, is someone willing to kill to possess it? In this fast-paced adventure, the village bookmaster, Mr. Dorro, and his young companions Wyll Underfoot and Cheeryup Tunbridge are in a desperate race to find the answer—before death comes to Thimble Down.
Publication Date: 08/01/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Alchemist War (The Time-Tripping Faradays)
Synopsis: When their parents, two temporal researchers who travel through time to document history, are transferred to 16th-century Prague, Dawk and Hype hardly expect to find themselves in the middle of an alchemical mystery. In fact, the new, boring job is meant to be a punishment for Dawk and Hype’s bad behavior at their last temporal post. The two teenagers are from the 25th century―how could medieval Prague compare? But when they meet a man who claims he can turn metal into gold, Dawk and Hype find out that Prague holds deeper secrets.
Publication Date: 08/01/13
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
The Mountain's Depths
Snnaky Sword
Synopsis: The Mountain’s Depths is the first book, and in many ways the last book, of the Mysterious Mountain series. This series consists of seven books which tell of tales of exciting adventurous following one man’s extraordinary journey. Once a poor orphan working as a stagecoach driver, encounters a man who changes his fortunes forever. Years later, he finds himself propelled into adventure after adventure. Within the pages of The Mountain’s Depths , tells his tale of his first mountain adventure; an adventure which may very well be one of his last. His adventure leads him across the world, through darkness and danger, chasing the unknown. Need more of an explanation? Then perhaps you ought to read the book to obtain the answers of which you seek.
Publication Date: 07/30/13
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Quarantine: The Saints (Book Two)
Synopsis: A cross between the Gone series and Lord of the Flies, Quarantine #2: The Saints continues this frenetically paced and scary young adult series that illustrates just how deadly high school can be.

Nothing was worse than being locked in--until they opened the door...
McKinley High has been a battle ground for eighteen months since a virus outbreak led to a military quarantine of the school. When the doors finally open, Will and Lucy will think their nightmare is finished. But they are gravely mistaken.

As a new group of teens enters the school and gains popularity, Will and Lucy join new gangs. An epic party on the quad full of real food and drinks, where kids hookup and actually interact with members of other gangs seemed to signal a new, easier existence. But soon after, the world inside McKinley takes a startling turn for the worse, and Will and Lucy will have to fight harder than ever to survive.
The Saints brings readers back to the dark and deadly halls of McKinley High and the QUARANTINE series.

Releases simultaneously in electronic book format (ISBN 978-1-60684-337-6)
Publication Date: 07/09/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Shutdown
Heather Anastasiu
Synopsis:

The battle is all but over, and all hope seems to be lost. Zoe and her fellow Resistance fighters are on the run, having lost their home, their protection, and their leader. They are outnumbered and outmatched by the powerful corporation that controls the world, and the cruel Chancellor is inches away from completing a scheme that would kill most of humanity. Zoe's only remaining option is to chase the impossible dream of upending the Link system, freeing the world from the hardware that controls their thoughts and emotions, and hope it will trigger a revolution.

The plot requires a nearly impossible mission to infiltrate the dangerous Community, and it is a task that Zoe must unfortunately complete alone. After horrific torture at the hands of the Chancellor, Adrien remains unresponsive, an empty shell of the boy Zoe loves. With challenges and surprises at every turn, nothing goes according to plan. Adrien's visions of the future now show two possible outcomes: one in which they succeed, and one in which humanity falls. It all lies in Zoe's hands.

Full of high-adrenaline action and shocking twists, Shutdown is a heart-pounding conclusion to an exciting sci-fi adventure trilogy for young adults.

The thrilling conclusion to Heather Anastasiu's action-packed sci-fi Glitch trilogy

Publication Date: 07/02/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Ink
Amanda Sun
Synopsis: INK IS IN THEIR BLOOD

On the heels of a family tragedy, Katie Greene moves halfway around the world to live with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

When Katie meets aloof but gorgeous Tomohiro, the star of the school’s kendo team, she is intrigued by him...and a little scared. His tough attitude seems meant to keep her at a distance, and when they’re near each other, strange things happen. Pens explode. Ink drips from nowhere. And unless Katie is seeing things, drawings come to life.

Somehow Tomo is connected to the kami, powerful ancient beings who once ruled Japan—and as feelings develop between Katie and Tomo, things begin to spiral out of control. The wrong people are starting to ask questions, and if they discover the truth, no one will be safe.
Publication Date: 06/25/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Weather Witch
Shannon Delany
Synopsis:

The first in an exciting new young adult series from 13 to Life writer Shannon Delany, Weather Witch is about a young woman enslaved for being a weather witch, and who must fight for her freedom to be with the boy she loves.

Some fled the Old World to avoid war, and some fled to leave behind magick. Yet even the fiercely regulated New World--with its ranks and emphasis on decorum--cannot staunch the power that wells up in certain people, influencing the weather and calling down storms. Hunted, the Weather Witches are forced to power the rest of the population's ships, as well as their every necessity, and luxury, in a time when steam power is repressed.

Jordan Astraea hails from a flawless background with no taint of magick, but on her seventeenth birthday she is accused of summoning an unscheduled storm. Taken from her family, Jordan is destined to be enslaved on an airship. But breaking Jordan may prove to be the very thing her carefully constructed society cannot weather.

And losing Jordan forever may force her beau, Rowen, to be the hero he would have never otherwise dared become.

Publication Date: 06/25/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Written in Stone
Rosanne Parry
Synopsis:    Rosanne Parry author of Heart of a Shepherd, shines a light on Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest in the 1920s, a time of critical cultural upheaval.

   Pearl has always dreamed of hunting whales, just like her father. Of taking to the sea in their eight-man canoe, standing at the prow with a harpoon, and waiting for a whale to lift its barnacle-speckled head as it offers its life for the life of the tribe. But now that can never be. Pearl's father was lost on the last hunt, and the whales hide from the great steam-powered ships carrying harpoon cannons, which harvest not one but dozens of whales from the ocean. With the whales gone, Pearl's people, the Makah, struggle to survive as Pearl searches for ways to preserve their stories and skills.
Publication Date: 06/25/13
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
The Lantern Menace
Darren Craske
Synopsis: Princess Castria is a hurricane in a tiara who pushes her royal powers (and not to mention her best friend Finch’s nerves) to their absolute limits with her pranks. But when she steals a dusty old lantern belonging to a one-eyed wizard, not only has she put the kingdom of Fanthia at risk, but there’s a distinct possibility that the Wold itself might be in danger… Castria has no idea that the lantern contains the incarcerated soul of D’Monica Grace: the witch responsible for the darkest period in the Wold’s history – and now it has fallen into Fanthia’s enemies’ hands, with plans to reconstitute the ultimate evil into flesh, blood and bone once more. Along with Fanthia’s resident spell-crafter, Rufus Lightfoot, the troublesome princess (with Finch swept up in her wake) must set forth on a race against time to retrieve the lantern before D’Monica’s soul is reborn and the Wold is plunged into despair. It’s going to be an impossible journey with danger and betrayal at every turn, and many factions conspiring against Finch and Castria, determined to see them fail...and even if they are successful, nothing will ever be the same again.
Publication Date: 06/20/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Birth By Fire's Embrace
Ashleigh Galvin
Synopsis: A taut fantasy for all ages, Birth by Fire's Embrace explores how drastically things can change when the world that lies just beyond our senses begins to surface. When all that is familiar vanishes from Shar's life, she begins to look inside and find the strength and courage to carry on in a harsh world, and look towards another world that lies ahead.
At the beginning of the summer she was doing so well; done with school, a promising promotion in the works, the best boyfriend a girl could ask for, and the chance of a lifetime at the Academy. Then he came and it was all ashes. He had cost her everything, the job, the boy, the acting school, and even her family. He had cost her the world. What Shar didn't know was that the stranger was actually there to protect her from another dark intruder in her world. Caught in a deadly game between two lethal adversaries, she comes to know that there are forces around her that she has only dreamt of. Forces that will bring her to the edge of death and back again, that will show her a new realm to fill the void left by the one she has lost.
Publication Date: 06/17/13
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Adventure
Shadow Train
Charlene Keel, J. Gates
Synopsis: Middleburg's teen martial artists scramble to reunite the broken shards of the powerful and mysterious Shen ring, in an effort to locate their missing friend Raphael and avert worldwide disaster―but it won't be easy.

A pack of government agents, a secret order of Chinese kung fu masters, and a family of vengeful fallen angels stand in their way. Amid the struggle, tensions between the two teen gangs flare once again when one of the Flats kids gets jumped and put in the hospital. Zhai and Ignacio, the leaders of the rival factions, struggle to maintain peace and continue their quest for the ring shards amid the rising tide of confrontation.

Meanwhile, Middleburg's leading ladies Maggie and Dalton put their differences aside in an effort to wrest their friend Aimee from the clutches of the sultry and seductive Nephilim, Orias. But when a powerful fallen angel learns that Orias has imprisoned his father Oberon, a new supernatural menace is unleashed on Middleburg, one that threatens to bring all the conflicting factions together in one final, deadly conflagration.

The only hope is that Middleburg's missing teen hero will somehow reappear and find a way to set things right―but he's been gone for over two months, without leaving a single clue as to his whereabouts. As the situation grows more dire, all of Middleburg wonders: where is Raphael Kain? With mighty doses of kung fu, eastern mysticism, and star-crossed love, Shadow Train is the most poignant, romantic and explosive book in The Tracks series thus far!
Publication Date: 06/04/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Girl With The Iron Touch
Synopsis:

In 1897 London, sometihng not quite human is about to awaken

When mechanical genius Emily is kidnapped by rogue automatons, Finley Jayne and her fellow misfits fear the worst. What's left of their archenemy, The Machinist, hungers to be resurrected, and Emily must transplant his consciousness into one of his automatons—or forfeit her friends' lives.

With Griffin being mysteriously tormented by the Aether, the young duke's sanity is close to the breaking point. Seeking help, Finley turns to Jack Dandy, but trusting the master criminal is as dangerous as controlling her dark side. When Jack kisses her, Finley must finally confront her true feelings for him…and for Griffin.

Meanwhile, Sam is searching everywhere for Emily, from Whitechapel's desolate alleyways to Mayfair's elegant mansions. He would walk into hell for her, but the choice she must make will test them more than they could imagine.

To save those she cares about, Emily must confront The Machinist's ultimate creation—an automaton more human than machine. And if she's to have any chance of triumph, she must summon a strength even she doesn't know she has….

Publication Date: 05/28/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Travels With Gannon & Wyatt
Patti Wheeler, Keith Hemstreet
Synopsis: Winner of the 2013 National Outdoor Book Awards

When Gannon and Wyatt arrive in Botswana for an African safari, they find themselves tangled up in much more than a family vacation. After receiving word that a poacher has shot and wounded a lioness, they set off into the wild in the hopes of saving the mother and her cubs before the poacher finishes the job. While on this amazing journey, they encounter Africa's Big Five--elephants, rhinos, cape buffaloes, leopards, and lions--only to discover that the most dangerous predator in the African bush is not the king of beasts, but man himself. In the tradition of the historic journals kept by explorers such as Lewis and Clark, Dr. David Livingstone, and

Captain James Cook comes the adventure series Travels with Gannon and Wyatt. From Africa to the South Pacific, these twin brothers have traveled the world. You never know what they will encounter as they venture into the wild, but one thing is certain--wherever Gannon and Wyatt go, adventure is their constant companion.

You can find Gannon and Wyatt's blog, photographs, and video footage from their real-life expeditions at travelswithgannonandwyatt.com.
Publication Date: 05/28/13
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
McAlister's Spark
Richard Marman, Richard Marman
Synopsis: In an instant the developed world is destroyed and plunged into anarchy. Can Zach McAlister, Karen Davenport and Mike Farrow survive as they're thrust into a feral and deadly new order? Not only must they come to terms with their Stone Age environment and the use of only Medieval technology, but also face the terror of marauding tribal gangs, whose only method of survival is violence and conquest. Will they be able to forge a future themselves and their descendants? The question can only be answered through their courage, determination and friendship. But, is that enough? --------------------- Set in Australia, this is the second in the McAlister series and has "On the Beach" meeting "Mad Max". A thrilling and entertaining read for especially teenagers and young adults. Action and adventure abounds which keeps you turning the pages.
Publication Date: 05/27/13
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Adventure
Agent Colt Shore: Domino 29
Synopsis: When an ordinary kid learns he’s the heir to a secret agent dynasty, F.A.L.C.O.N puts him on a case to protect a famous rock group and find a missing journalist. Before he knows it, Colt Shore has gone from body guard to rock star to full-fledged agent when he learns that a human trafficking ring plans to kidnap a group of teenage girls. It will take more than his ingenuity and skills and a couple of cool gadgets to protect his new friends and rescue the captured girls before it’s too late.
Publication Date: 05/15/13
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS