All Books
Synopsis: Emma Burblee couldn't be more different from her parents if she tried. She'd rather dig for treasure in a park than try on the latest fashions or discuss her vain parents' favorite subject: themselves. When Emma mortifies her parents at a dinner party, her punishment is immediate. She must spend the summer with her Uncle Simon—a loathsome man with a huge appetite for food and get-rich-quick schemes.
Although Emma's days revolve around cooking and cleaning, there is one bright spot. Her uncle's sweet tooth means she gets to visit the town bakery, Mr. Crackle's Cake Shop, all the time. This world-renowned baker is as charming and kind as Uncle Simon is vile. But then Emma discovers a plot by Uncle Simon and one of his shady acquaintances; they've set their sights on ruining Mr. Crackle (and the entire dessert making industry for that matter). Can Emma stop their evil plan?
First-time author Meika Hashimoto's effervescent tale, filled with funny characters and adventures, will have readers checking their cupboards for mouth-watering ingredients and secret portals.
Although Emma's days revolve around cooking and cleaning, there is one bright spot. Her uncle's sweet tooth means she gets to visit the town bakery, Mr. Crackle's Cake Shop, all the time. This world-renowned baker is as charming and kind as Uncle Simon is vile. But then Emma discovers a plot by Uncle Simon and one of his shady acquaintances; they've set their sights on ruining Mr. Crackle (and the entire dessert making industry for that matter). Can Emma stop their evil plan?
First-time author Meika Hashimoto's effervescent tale, filled with funny characters and adventures, will have readers checking their cupboards for mouth-watering ingredients and secret portals.
Publication Date: 10/25/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis:
Publication Date: 10/16/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: This book is now out of print and not available. Republished as Laurel's Quest by publisher Books We Love
Publication Date: 10/05/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: Jacky Faber embarks on another rousing adventure to delight her ever-growing legion of fans. The irrepressible Jacky Faber, condemned for life to the English penal colony in Australia for crimes against the Crown, has once again wriggled out of the grasp of British authorities. Back on her flagship, the Lorelei Lee, she eagerly heads back to England in the company of friends and her beloved Jaimy Fletcher. But when the voyage is waylaid by pirates, storms, and her own impetuous nature, Jacky is cast into a world of danger that extends from the South China Sea to the equally treacherous waters of London politics. With the help of her loyal friends, Jacky meets her enemies head-on in this tale of love, courage, and redemption.
Publication Date: 10/04/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.
Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can't read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can't be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf's mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she's dragged deep into a hidden underworld of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.
MINDJACK: KIRA
Open Minds (Book One)
Closed Hearts (Book Two)
Free Souls (Book Three)
Mind Games (Book Four) - novella
The Handler (Book Five) - novella
The Scribe (Book Six) - novella
Keeper (Book Seven) - novella
MINDJACK: ZEPH
Locked Tight (Book One)
Cracked Open (Book Two)
Broken Wide (Book Three)
The Locksmith (Book Four) - novella
FORMATS AND TRANSLATIONS
Mindjack available in ebook, print, audiobook, French and German
LIVE ACTION TRAILER
Voted Best Trailer at the 2014 Illinois International Film Festival and one of 50 Most Cinematic Trailers Ever Made - check it out at Susan's website.
Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can't read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can't be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf's mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she's dragged deep into a hidden underworld of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.
MINDJACK: KIRA
Open Minds (Book One)
Closed Hearts (Book Two)
Free Souls (Book Three)
Mind Games (Book Four) - novella
The Handler (Book Five) - novella
The Scribe (Book Six) - novella
Keeper (Book Seven) - novella
MINDJACK: ZEPH
Locked Tight (Book One)
Cracked Open (Book Two)
Broken Wide (Book Three)
The Locksmith (Book Four) - novella
FORMATS AND TRANSLATIONS
Mindjack available in ebook, print, audiobook, French and German
LIVE ACTION TRAILER
Voted Best Trailer at the 2014 Illinois International Film Festival and one of 50 Most Cinematic Trailers Ever Made - check it out at Susan's website.
Publication Date: 10/03/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: Antiquitas Lost: The Last of the Shamalans is the award-winning debut novel of American cardiologist, Robert Louis Smith. It is an illustrated fantasy novel that chronicles the adventures of an American teenage boy after he stumbles through a magical doorway in his grandfather's basement, and into a war-torn fantasy world called Pangrelor. The main story arc involves the protagonist's gradual discovery of his unknown relation to Pangrelor, and his unlikely quest to help save its greatest civilization, which is centered around the mountaintop city of Harwelden. Several times during the story, the protagonist is told that success in saving this fabled city of Harwelden may help to save his own dying mother, who remains isolated from him and terminally ill back in New Orleans.Antiquitas Lost is noteworthy for its many high quality illustrations, making it somewhat unique to its genre. It was awarded "Most Promising New Novel" at the 2011 New York City Comic Convention, selected as a Kirkus 2011 Critics' Pick, and awarded a medal for "Best Juvenile Fiction" at the 2012 Independent Publishers Book Awards.
Publication Date: 10/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: In The Shadowed Valley, nothing is quite what it seems. What Celia faces here is worse than anything she experienced in the land of Dauthus. The evil residing in the valley messes with your mind.
Publication Date: 09/29/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis:
TJ s just an ordinary fourteen year old kid with extraordinary problems at home and school: A broken up family from his parents bitter divorce, evil bullies almost every afternoon, failing grades, boring classes, snobby girls, mean teachers, cut from basketball tryouts, few friends. Life is rough for TJ Cockrell.
And then that mysterious little green book had to go and throw him into the past. And not just any past, but into the untamed forbidding forests of 1802 eastern Tennessee along with the savage Indians, wild beasts, bloodthirsty robbers, backwoods ruffians, and log cabin living! Yup, it s definitely not 2011 Knoxville anymore.
And he thought his present life was bad news! But TJ s adventures are only beginning. Along the way, he fights off killer beasts and bandits and braves, gains a world of confidence in himself, finds his first real love, and meets a fantastic frontier family who really has it together. When he returns to the present, he s a brand new person ready to defeat deadly robbers in his own home, beat the bullies at school, win the girl, gain friends, and make great grades. He even gets his family back together again. Sort of. In the end, the little green book is really cool. And TJ can t wait to go on another action-packed adventure into the perilous past!
Publication Date: 09/21/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Adam Castle lives in a mansion in Beverly Hills. But for him, life is just like that for any other ordinary twelve-year-old. That is, until he mistakenly overhears the unsavory truth about his father. Dear old Dad is a homicidal maniac and lovely Mom is his beautiful accomplice. To make matters worse, Adam overhears a sweet little conversation where he learns that his dad’s next victim will be one of his favorite classmates, Jennifer Isles. Jen is the first girl Adam has ever really liked, I mean got-caught-staring-at-her-more-than-once liked. And his father has plans to kidnap her and bury her alive until a ransom is paid. It seems that Jen’s pretty little head will be whacked off by his loving father, if Mr. and Mrs. Isles don’t go along with his Dad’s maniacal plan. Adam’s ordinary life just took on a demented twist as he steps into the wonderful world of the macabre. Together with his best friend, Julian, the two boys know they have but one choice. They must stop the murder from happening. As they race against time and evil forces, Julian and Adam embark on a murder mystery tour of Los Angeles that would make Edgar Allen Poe shake with terror. The final bit of proof the two sleuths need lies in the bottom of an empty grave at Forever Hollywood Cemetery. Is Adam brave enough to climb into the empty abyss of death and claim the evidence they need to stop his father forever? If he is that brave, what will happen when he descends into the desperate pit of fear? This is a tale so bizarre that it proves that truth is stranger than fiction. It could only have been written by a grown-up kid who grew up in world of horror, in a big house in Beverly Hills, with a real-life dad who made his living scaring the wits out of innocent souls.
Publication Date: 09/21/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis:
TJ s just an ordinary fourteen year old kid with extraordinary problems at home and school: A broken up family from his parents bitter divorce, evil bullies almost every afternoon, failing grades, boring classes, snobby girls, mean teachers, cut from basketball tryouts, few friends. Life is rough for TJ Cockrell.
And then that mysterious little green book had to go and throw him into the past. And not just any past, but into the untamed forbidding forests of 1802 eastern Tennessee along with the savage Indians, wild beasts, bloodthirsty robbers, backwoods ruffians, and log cabin living! Yup, it s definitely not 2011 Knoxville anymore.
And he thought his present life was bad news! But TJ s adventures are only beginning. Along the way, he fights off killer beasts and bandits and braves, gains a world of confidence in himself, finds his first real love, and meets a fantastic frontier family who really has it together. When he returns to the present, he s a brand new person ready to defeat deadly robbers in his own home, beat the bullies at school, win the girl, gain friends, and make great grades. He even gets his family back together again. Sort of. In the end, the little green book is really cool. And TJ can t wait to go on another action-packed adventure into the perilous past!
Publication Date: 09/21/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: The campaign is going well. The SPHDZ word is getting out. 1000's of kids have signed up to say they are SPHDZ. But things haven't gotten any easier for Michael K. The SPHDZ are still trying to blend in to our Earth culture, but not very successfully. They're still mixing up Thanksgiving, cartoon plots, holidays, and commercials. This makes it especially hard for Michael K. to both hide the SPHDZ from Agent Umber and accomplish the SPHDZ Mission. He's forced to enlist the help of fellow fifth graders, Venus and TJ.
When they (Michael K. and the SPHDZ) are given the assignment to write and perform the school play, Umber thinks he's closing in on the aliens...the kindergartners playing the turkeys.
When they (Michael K. and the SPHDZ) are given the assignment to write and perform the school play, Umber thinks he's closing in on the aliens...the kindergartners playing the turkeys.
Publication Date: 09/20/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: Luke King knows a lot of things. Like four different ways to disarm an enemy before the attacker can take a breath. Like every detail of every book he's ever read. And Luke knows enough just enough about what his father does as a black ops infiltrator to know which questions not to ask. Like why does his family move around so much? Luke just hopes that this time his family is settled for a while. He'll finally be able to have a normal life. He'll be able to ask the girl he likes to take a ride with him on his motorcycle. He'll hang out with his friends. He'll be invisible just as he wants. But when his dad goes missing, Luke realizes that life will always be different for him. Suddenly he must avoid the kidnappers looking to use him as leverage against his father, while at the same time evading the attention of the school's mysterious elite clique of Russian hipsters, who seem much too interested in Luke's own personal secret. Faced with multiple challenges and his emerging paranormal identity, Luke must decide who to trust as he creates his own destiny.
Publication Date: 09/15/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: The thrilling final installment in Tanya Huff's military sci-fi adventure Confederation series
Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr was the very model of a Confederation Marine. She’d survived more deadly encounters than anyone in the Corps. No one who’d ever served with her could imagine her walking away from the Corps. But that was before Torin had learned the truth about the war the Confederation was fighting…before she’d been declared dead and had spent time in a prison that shouldn’t exist....
It was Salvage Operator Craig Ryder who had refused to believe Torin was dead. Craig who found and rescued Torin. And so, when her mission was complete, Torin resigned from the Marines to start a new life with Craig aboard his tiny salvage ship, the Promise.
But civilian life was a lot rougher than Torin had imagined. The salvage operators were losing cargo and lives to pirates. Because salvagers were an independent lot unwilling to turn to the OutSector Wardens for help, no one in authority seemed to take their ever-increasing threat seriously.
Then, on their first real run together, pirates attacked the Promise, kidnapping Craig and leaving Torin to die. But leaving Torin behind to die was never a good strategy. Against all odds, she survived, and certain—despite no evidence to prove her correct—that Craig was still alive, she decided to mount a rescue mission. When Craig’s salvager friends refused to join her, Torin had no choice but to call in the Marines—some very special Marines.
Then she discovered why the pirates had been trying to kidnap salvagers. And suddenly Torin’s mission expanded from saving Craig to stopping the pirates from changing the balance of power in known space....
Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr was the very model of a Confederation Marine. She’d survived more deadly encounters than anyone in the Corps. No one who’d ever served with her could imagine her walking away from the Corps. But that was before Torin had learned the truth about the war the Confederation was fighting…before she’d been declared dead and had spent time in a prison that shouldn’t exist....
It was Salvage Operator Craig Ryder who had refused to believe Torin was dead. Craig who found and rescued Torin. And so, when her mission was complete, Torin resigned from the Marines to start a new life with Craig aboard his tiny salvage ship, the Promise.
But civilian life was a lot rougher than Torin had imagined. The salvage operators were losing cargo and lives to pirates. Because salvagers were an independent lot unwilling to turn to the OutSector Wardens for help, no one in authority seemed to take their ever-increasing threat seriously.
Then, on their first real run together, pirates attacked the Promise, kidnapping Craig and leaving Torin to die. But leaving Torin behind to die was never a good strategy. Against all odds, she survived, and certain—despite no evidence to prove her correct—that Craig was still alive, she decided to mount a rescue mission. When Craig’s salvager friends refused to join her, Torin had no choice but to call in the Marines—some very special Marines.
Then she discovered why the pirates had been trying to kidnap salvagers. And suddenly Torin’s mission expanded from saving Craig to stopping the pirates from changing the balance of power in known space....
Publication Date: 09/06/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis:
WINNER of the 2012 BEST FIRST NOVEL Spur Award from Western Writers of America AND a 2012 FINALIST for the USA BOOK NEWS Awards - for Fiction: Western
A murder arranged as a suicide ... a missing deed ... and a bereft daughter whose sheltered world is shattered. August, 1869: Lily Granville is stunned by her father's murder. Only one other person knows about a valuable California gold mine deed -- both are now missing. Lily heads west on the newly opened transcontinental railroad, determined to track the killer. She soon realizes she is no longer the hunter but the prey.
As things progress from bad to worse, Lily is uncertain who to trust--the China-bound missionary who wants to marry her, or the wandering Texan who offers to protect her ... for a price. Will Lily survive the journey and unexpected betrayal?
WINNER of the 2012 BEST FIRST NOVEL Spur Award from Western Writers of America AND a 2012 FINALIST for the USA BOOK NEWS Awards - for Fiction: Western
A murder arranged as a suicide ... a missing deed ... and a bereft daughter whose sheltered world is shattered. August, 1869: Lily Granville is stunned by her father's murder. Only one other person knows about a valuable California gold mine deed -- both are now missing. Lily heads west on the newly opened transcontinental railroad, determined to track the killer. She soon realizes she is no longer the hunter but the prey.
As things progress from bad to worse, Lily is uncertain who to trust--the China-bound missionary who wants to marry her, or the wandering Texan who offers to protect her ... for a price. Will Lily survive the journey and unexpected betrayal?
Publication Date: 09/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: Things are looking up for Tyler Sato (literally!) as he and his friends scan the night sky for a star named for him by his Tokyo cousins in honor of his eleventh birthday. Ordinary stars tend to stay in one place, but Ty's seems to be streaking directly toward Earth at an alarming rate. Soon the whole world is talking about TY SATO, the doomsday asteroid, and life is turned upside down for Ty Sato, the boy, who would rather be playing hoops in his best friend's driveway.
Meanwhile, aboard a silver spaceship heading for Earth, M'Frozza, a girl with three eyes and five nose holes, is on a secret mission. M'Frozza is the captain of planet Mrendaria's Galaxy Games team, and she is desperate to save her world from a dishonorable performance in the biggest sporting event in the universe.
What will happen when Ty meets M'Frozza? Get ready for the most important event in human history--it's off the backboard, around the rim, and out of this world!
Meanwhile, aboard a silver spaceship heading for Earth, M'Frozza, a girl with three eyes and five nose holes, is on a secret mission. M'Frozza is the captain of planet Mrendaria's Galaxy Games team, and she is desperate to save her world from a dishonorable performance in the biggest sporting event in the universe.
What will happen when Ty meets M'Frozza? Get ready for the most important event in human history--it's off the backboard, around the rim, and out of this world!
Publication Date: 09/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Synopsis: Street kids, alone, unloved, and unwanted band together. One by one, they find each other and become a family mosaic of personalities-- a gang with one positive twist: They hate drugs, dealers, and violence. Hiding from a drug dealer who wants revenge, the gang looks for a good time at Point Amusement Park. The Tunnel of Terror brings a fatal accident. At the point of death, a mysterious being, The Face, captures the young teens and slips them into an underground dimension. Under control of their rescuer and His sword of death, they labor in caves. The Face brooks no backsliding, but feeds them well and trains them. Five years later The Face declares they are ready to move from servitude to leadership. He gives each gifts, what ordinary humans call superpowers, and returns them to their original dimension as ‘The Insiders’. They awake to discover they are in their original bodies maintained on life support by a secret government lab. A general wants control of their powers at any expense– including their lives. They must escape and complete The Face's directive: save the "innocent," children stolen by Human Traffickers and Pedophiles. As The Insiders learn about their new abilities, they discover their original talents enhanced. • Picker walks through walls and can transport others with him. A prison’s nightmare, few barriers can stop his molecules from sliding through. • Motor twists physics, allowing him to manipulate mechanical devices. Tied into the internet and power grids, he can manipulate machines like they’re remote control toy cars. • Bat forms shields and barriers, aiding Insider’s defense with protective bubbles. Adversaries find it hard to bring a guy down when attacks bounce off. • Babe mesmerizes and influences, able to persuade outsiders to aid their mission. When looks and charm fail, she turns on her hypnotic eyes that few can resist. • Ears can literally hear a pin drop– a hundred miles away. His super-hearing interprets languages and intercepts radio signals. Bad guys don’t talk about him behind his back. • Lookout's supervision sees through solids and into the distance. Closing the bathroom door doesn’t help with this guy, not that he’d peek. • Chief, narrator and nucleus of his Insiders cadre, becomes a strong leader with second sight and an ability to sense others in trouble. He’ll go to any length to protect them. Together The Insiders act as one. Only their skills and dedication stand against dark forces. As Earth's clock ticks down, the survival and renewal of the innocent and all humanity hang in the balance.
Publication Date: 08/31/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure