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The Reckoning (Book 2 of The Taker Trilogy)
Synopsis: A love triangle spanning 200 years…Alma Katsu takes readers on a breathtaking journey through the landscape of the heart.

SECOND IN ALMA KATSU’S GRIPPING SUPERNATURAL TRILOGY THAT BEGAN WITH THE TAKER

Lanore McIlvrae is the kind of woman who will do anything for love. Including imprisoning the man who loves her behind a wall of brick and stone.

She had no choice but to entomb Adair, her nemesis, to save Jonathan, the boy she grew up with in a remote Maine town in the early 1800s and the man she thought she would be with forever. But Adair had other plans for her. He used his mysterious, otherworldly powers to give her eternal life, but Lanore learned too late that there was a price for this gift: to spend eternity with him. And though he is handsome and charming, behind Adair’s seductive façade is the stuff of nightmares. He is a monster in the flesh, and he wants Lanore to love him for all of time.

Now, two hundred years after imprisoning Adair, Lanore is trying to atone for her sins. She has given away the treasures she’s collected over her many lifetimes in order to purge her past and clear the way for a future with her new lover, Luke Findley. But, while viewing these items at an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Lanore suddenly is aware that the thing she’s been dreading for two hundred years has caught up to her: Adair has escaped from his prison. He’s free— and he will come looking for her. And she has no idea how she will save herself.

With the stunningly imaginative storytelling and rich characterizations that fascinated readers worldwide and made The Taker a singular and memorable literary debut and an international sensation, Alma Katsu once again delivers “a powerful evocation of the dark side of romantic love” (Publishers Weekly) in her breathtaking new novel.
Publication Date: 06/19/12
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
The Master of Misrule
Laura Powell
Synopsis: "Thriller, magic, mystery, love and betrayal: in the cards and in these pages." —Kirkus

When Cat and her friends put an end to the sinister Game of Triumphs, they thought they could simply collect their prizes and walk away. But they unwittingly created a monster. Before the dust has settled, the self-proclaimed Master of Misrule is engineering a sadistic lottery that will unleash the power of the Game onto an unsuspecting London. Misrule's agenda of chaos threatens life as they know it, gambling away free will for fickle fortune. And his power has quickly grown to proportions they never could have imagined. It all comes down to one final play. Cat, Flora, Blaine, and Toby must go back into the Arcanum and take fate into their own hands. This time they have everything to lose.

This spine-tingling follow-up to Powell's The Game of Triumphs is everything you could hope for in a sequel and more! It's every bit as thrilling and complex as the first book, with higher stakes and even a hint of romance added to the mix.
Publication Date: 06/12/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Girl Giant
Kristen den Hartog
Synopsis: A critically acclaimed bestseller in Canada, The Girl Giant is “emotionally exquisite and heartfelt”  (The Globe and Mail)—a gorgeous and moving literary novel about a girl whose affliction gives her the mysterious power to see into the dark secrets of her family’s past and present.

“Something good can come from even the most terrifying things. For eve y thing that is taken away, something else is given.”

Ruth Brennan is a giant, “a rare, organic blunder pressed into a dollhouse world,” as she calls herself. Growing up in a small town, where even an ordinary person can’t simply fade into the background, there is no hiding the fact that Ruth is different: she can see it in the eyes of everyone around her, even her own parents. James and Elspeth Brennan are emotionally at sea, struggling with the devastation wrought on their lives by World War II and with their unspoken terror that the daughter they love may, like so much else, one day be taken away from them. But fate works in strange ways, and Ruth finds that for all the things that go unsaid around her, she is nonetheless able to see deeply into the secret hearts of others—their past traumas, their present fears, and the people they might become, if only they have courage enough.
Publication Date: 06/12/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Lies Beneath
Anne Greenwood Brown
Synopsis: Fans of Amanda Hocking's novel, Wake, will dive into this paranormal romance featuring mermaids--the killer kind--and won't come up for air!

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans and absorb their positive energy. Usually, they select their victims at random, but this time around, the underwater clan chooses its target for a reason: revenge. They want to kill Jason Hancock, the man they blame for their mother's death.

It's going to take a concerted effort to lure the aquaphobic Hancock onto the water. Calder's job is to gain Hancock's trust by getting close to his family. Relying on his irresistible good looks and charm, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter Lily. Easy enough, but Calder screws everything up by falling in love--just as Lily starts to suspect there's more to the monster-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined, and just as the mermaids threaten to take matters into their own hands, forcing Calder to choose between them and the girl he loves.

One thing's for sure: whatever Calder decides, the outcome won't be pretty.

"Riveting! A cold-blooded tale of secrets, revenge, and forbidden love that will leave you terrified to go in the water."--Gretchen McNeil, author of Possess

"Scary and spooky . . . I really enjoyed reading this."--USA Today

“A haunting tale of revenge and romance.”--Justine Magazine
Publication Date: 06/12/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Rapture: A Fallen Novel
Synopsis:

The conclusion to the worldwide bestselling FALLEN series, with exclusive content from the darkly romantic world of FALLEN and an excerpt of Lauren Kate's novel TEARDROP.

A USA Today bestseller
A New York Times bestselling series
More than 3 million series copies in print!

When evil triumphs . . . when the world ends . . . trust your love.

The sky is dark with wings. . . . Like sand in an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the angels fell to earth. Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn't know if he can do this—live only to lose Luce again and again. Yet together they will face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies . . . and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed. And suddenly Luce knows what must happen. For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they've borne has always and only been about her—and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now will be the only one that truly matters. In the fight for Luce, who will win? The astonishing conclusion to the Fallen series. Heaven can't wait any longer.

And don't miss FALLEN on the big screen! The first book in the worldwide bestselling FALLEN series is now a motion picture available for streaming.

“Sexy and fascinating and scary . . . I loved loved loved it!”
—P. C. Cast, New York Times bestselling author on Fallen 

Publication Date: 06/12/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Summer At Forsaken Lake
Maggie Kneen, Michael D. Beil
Synopsis: With their father en route to Africa for Doctors Without Borders, city-kids Nicholas and younger twin sisters Haley and Hetty are off to spend the summer with their Great-Uncle Nick at his house on Forsaken Lake. Despite some initial doubts, Nicholas is right at home in the country: he learns to sail, learns about his father as a boy, and makes fast friends with a local-girl, the tomboy Charlie.

The summer takes a turn toward the mysterious, though, when Nicholas discovers an old movie that his father made as a boy: it tells the story of the local legend, The Seaweed Strangler, but was never finished. Before long Nicholas wants answers both about the legend, and about the movie. Together, he and Charlie work to uncover the truth and discover some long-buried family secrets along the way.

In this lovely middle-grade novel, Michael D. Beil has invoked one of his own favorites, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea, as well as other great summer books of years-past.
Publication Date: 06/12/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Spellcrossed
Barbara Ashford
Synopsis: It's not easy losing the love of your life...

But when Maggie Graham freed Rowan Mackenzie from the curse that bound him to this world, she took the first step toward her new life as director of the Crossroads Theatre. As a hectic new season begins, magic takes a back seat to ticket sales as Maggie balances the demands of her interfering board president and a company of actors that includes bewildered amateurs, disdainful professionals, a horde of children, and an arthritic dog. But magic is hard to banish from the old white barn, where memories lurk like ghosts in the shadowy wings and the unexpected is as time-honored a tradition as the curtain call. And when the tangled spells of the past turn Maggie's life upside down, it will take more than magic to ensure the happy-ever-after ending she longs for.
Publication Date: 06/05/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Awakened
P. C. Cast, Kristin Cast
Synopsis:

Exonerated by the Vampyre High Council and returned to her position of High Priestess at Tulsa's House of Night, Neferet has sworn vengeance on Zoey. Dominion over Kalona is only one of the weapons she plans to use against Z. But Zoey has found sanctuary on the Isle of Skye and is being groomed by Queen Sgiach to take over for her there. Being Queen would be cool, wouldn't it? Why should she return to Tulsa? After losing her human consort, Heath, she will never be the same―and her relationship with her super-hot-warrior, Stark, may never be the same either…

And what about Stevie Rae and Rephaim? The Raven Mocker refuses to be used against Stevie Rae, but what choice does he have when no one in the entire world, including Zoey, would be okay with their relationship? Does he betray his father or his heart?

In the pulse-pounding eighth House of Night Novel by PC Cast and Kristin Cast, how far will the bonds of friendship stretch and how strong are the ties that bind one girl's heart?

Publication Date: 06/05/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Glamorous Illusions: A Novel (Grand Tour Series)
Synopsis:

When Cora Kensington learns she is the illegitimate daughter of a copper king, her life changes forever. Even as she explores Europe with her new family, she discovers that the most valuable journey is within. The first book in the Grand Tour series takes you from the farms of Montana through England and France on an adventure of forgiveness, spiritual awakening, and self-discovery.

Publication Date: 06/01/12
Age Level: Adult
Genre: Fiction
Faelorehn: Otherworld Trilogy (Book One)
Synopsis: I never heard him come after me and even as I climbed the slope and stumbled onto our shaded back lawn, I didn’t look back. It was like the day the gnomes chased me all over again, but this time I was not escaping some horrible little creatures, I was fleeing from an incredibly good-looking guy who could very well understand me completely. I was either saving myself from that serial killer I always imagined lived down in the swamp, or I had finally gone over the deep end . . . Meghan Elam has been strange her entire life: her eyes have this odd habit of changing color and she sees and hears things no one else does. When the visions and voices in her head start to get worse, she is convinced that her parents will want to drag her off to another psychiatrist. That is, until the mysterious Cade MacRoich shows up out of nowhere with an explanation of his own. Cade brings her news of another realm where goblins and gnomes are the norm, a place where whispering spirits exist in the very earth, and a world where Meghan just might find the answers she has always sought.
Publication Date: 06/01/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Dark Frost
Jennifer Estep
Synopsis: An amazingly addictive new series. –Fresh Fiction

I've seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall. I know I'm supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I'm just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me--again.

Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects--and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school. But I'm also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way. The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom. So why do they have it in for me? It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can't use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me--and I'm in for the fight of my life.

Praise for Touch of Frost

"A great start to a new young adult paranormal series." –Night Owl Reviews

"At the Mythos Academy, surviving high school means staying alive!" –Kerrelyn Sparks

"It has literally everything: mystery, romance, mythology, boarding schools. What could be better?" --Simply Nerdy Book Reviews
Publication Date: 06/01/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Age of Amy: Bonehead Bootcamp
Synopsis: Amy is uprooted from the city she loves to the Midwest. The 16-year-old blasts her parents for destroying her happiness. But when her verbal attacks turn physical, she is sent away to a boot camp for troubled teens. Expecting Bonehead Bootcamp to be a laid-back country retreat, Amy instead enters a frightening fantasy world where a mutant farm animal manipulates time and space. Together with three other unruly teenagers, she must summon all her courage and ingenuity to get back home.
Publication Date: 06/01/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Faelorehn - Book One of the Otherworld Trilogy (eBook)
Synopsis: I never heard him come after me and even as I climbed the slope and stumbled onto our shaded back lawn, I didn’t look back. It was like the day the gnomes chased me all over again, but this time I was not escaping some horrible little creatures, I was fleeing from an incredibly good-looking guy who could very well understand me completely. I was either saving myself from that serial killer I always imagined lived down in the swamp, or I had finally gone over the deep end . . . Meghan Elam has been strange her entire life: her eyes have this odd habit of changing color and she sees and hears things no one else does. When the visions and voices in her head start to get worse, she is convinced that her parents will want to drag her off to another psychiatrist. That is, until the mysterious Cade MacRoich shows up out of nowhere with an explanation of his own. Cade brings her news of another realm where goblins and gnomes are the norm, a place where whispering spirits exist in the very earth, and a world where Meghan just might find the answers she has always sought.
Publication Date: 06/01/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Sara and the Chimera (Book 2) - Seven Stars (eBook)
Synopsis: The angel Rithrial made it very clear that Sara Starbright was in no way, shape, or form to even think about her father, lest she draw the attentions of the ancient beings and forces that hunt him.  But when you are only thirteen years old, have no home to go back to, and everyone you meet wants to take your gifts for themselves, following the rules is the last thing on your mind.
 
Free for now from the foul attentions of the fish-like Mongrel after shattering his sinister Prison of Light, Sara and the Chimera have yet to find a place amongst creation for themselves.  When an ill-fated attempt at going home again sends them again on the run, this time with Sara's mom in tow, things begin to again spiral out of control.  With their options quickly running out, Sara decides to gamble everything on locating her reclusive father, the mysterious Seventh Star of Twilight.
 
So how does a girl that quite literally knows everything go about finding an enigmatic primordial creature that has erased himself from history?  Even when your best friend is a constantly-evolving monster capable of nearly anything, it's hard to even know where to start.  With only straws to grasp at, Sara feels her best bet is gathering together as many allies as she can--all those who had been close to her father in recent years.  In numbers there is strength, and when that number is seven, there lies a little magic as well.
Publication Date: 05/30/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
The Chronicles of Egg: Deadweather and Sunrise
Synopsis: A stunning middle-grade debut--full of heart, humor, and nonstop action

It's tough to be thirteen, especially when somebody's trying to kill you.

Not that Egg's life was ever easy, growing up on sweaty, pirate-infested Deadweather Island with no company except an incompetent tutor and a pair of unusually violent siblings who hate his guts.

But when Egg's father hustles their family off on a mysterious errand to fabulously wealthy Sunrise Island, then disappears with the siblings in a freak accident, Egg finds himself a long-term guest at the mansion of the glamorous Pembroke family and their beautiful, sharp-tongued daughter Millicent. Finally, life seems perfect.

Until someone tries to throw him off a cliff.

Suddenly, Egg's running for his life in a bewildering world of cutthroat pirates, villainous businessmen, and strange Native legends. The only people who can help him sort out the mystery of why he's been marked for death are Millicent and a one-handed, possibly deranged cabin boy.

Come along for the ride. You'll be glad you did.
Publication Date: 05/29/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Believing in Horses
Valerie Ormond
Synopsis:

After her family moves to Maryland and her dad deploys to Afghanistan, Sadie gets a new young horse named Lucky who proves to be a handful—but all of that is just the beginning of the trouble in this young adult novel. Together, Sadie and Lucky encounter horse thieves, Maryland storms, and unwanted horses destined for auction and uncertain futures. Sadie makes it her personal mission to save these animals, meeting fellow people dedicated to rescuing horses along the way, while learning that others are driven only by greed.

Publication Date: 05/29/12
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fiction

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