Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 16 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Alien in the Family
Synopsis: Sci-fi action meets steamy paranormal romance in Gini Koch’s Alien novels, as Katherine “Kitty” Katt faces off against aliens, conspiracies, and deadly secrets. • “Futuristic high-jinks and gripping adventure.” —RT Reviews 

Planning any wedding is hard enough, but Katherine "Kitty" Katt and Jeff Martini have a lot more to worry about than seating arrangements, because multiple inter-stellar invasions, Alpha Team in mortal peril, and inter-alien conspiracies are all on the guest list—and the gifts they've brought contain some explosive surprises.

The discovery that Martini is actually a member of the Alpha Centaurion Royal Family brings additional bad news—emissaries are on their way to see if Kitty's royal bride material. And they're not the only things coming from the Alpha Centauri system. Amazonian assassins, spies, alien beasties, shape-shifters, and representatives from the Planetary Council, combined with a tabloid reporter who's a little too on the mark, create a deadly situation for Kitty and the rest of Alpha Team.

When the assassins strike far too close to home for anyone's comfort, Kitty realizes it's going to come down to more than throwing a bouquet—she's going to have to face an entire planetary consciousness and dethrone a monarch in order to make it to the church on time...

Alien in the Family is the thrilling third installment of the Alien novels.
Publication Date: 04/05/11
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Diary of a Part-Time Ghost
Synopsis: Fifteen-year old Ash wants nothing more than to be a normal kid and avoid trouble. And then his birthday gift transforms him into a ghost and zaps him back in time to the beginning of the American Revolution. If he thought that was bad, it's about to get a whole lot worse. Armed only with an ancient history book and the quirky advice of an annoying mentor, Ash must rescue his ancestor from one danger after another, including an implacable enemy who controls the very shadows. What starts out as a brief experiment in time travel rapidly changes into a race for his very survival, and Ash is running out of time. Despite his efforts to stay out of trouble, Ash finds plenty of it as he must decide what his role will be in the shifting balance of forces. Humorous and action-packed, Diary of a Part-Time Ghost will hold readers in its grip from the first sentence to the last. Book 2, 'Where Shadows Dance', is out: amazon.com/Where-Shadows-Dance-Ghosts-Volume/dp/1470179857/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Publication Date: 03/22/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Epiworld
Tracey Morait
Synopsis: Britain 2099. All human diseases have been eradicated by genetic cleansing, but there are still people who are 'unclean' and locked away in institutions. Travis is one of them, until one day Dr Alexander helps him to escape to a world where nothing makes sense. Travis has powerful seizures which take him and his new friend Demi on a quest through time to seek and destroy Chase, the man he hates. Along the way he has to deal with shocks, surprises, traumas, and death, until at last he ends up on a beach, where his fate will finally be decided.
Publication Date: 03/19/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
The Lens and the Looker
Lory S. Kaufman
Synopsis: Book #1 of The Verona Trilogy: Young Adult, Post-Dystopian Fiction 
 
 
 
It's the 24th century and humans, with the help of artificial intelligences (A.I.s), have finally created the perfect post-dystopian society. To make equally perfect citizens for this world, the elders have created History Camps, full sized recreations of cities from Earth's distant pasts.
 
Here teens live the way their ancestors did, doing the same dirty jobs and experiencing the same degradations. History Camps teach youths not to repeat the mistakes that almost caused the planet to die. But not everything goes to plan. 
 
 
In this first of a trilogy, we meet three spoiled teens in the year 2347. Hansum almost 17, is good looking and athletic. Shamira, 15, is sassy, independent and an artistic genius. Lincoln, 14, is the smart-aleck. But you don't have to scratch too far beneath the surface to find his insecurities. 
 
These three "hard cases" refuse the valuable lessons History Camps teach. But when they are kidnapped and taken back in time to 1347 Verona, Italy, they only have two choices; adapt to the harsh medieval ways or die. The dangers are many, their enemies are powerful, and safety is a long way away. It's hardly the ideal environment to fall in love - but that's exactly what happens. 
 
 
In an attempt to survive, the trio risks introducing technology from the future. It could save them - or it could change history. 
 
 
Series Overview:  The Lens and the Looker is the first book of The Verona Trilogy. It's followed by The Bronze and the Brimstone and The Loved and the Lost. 
 
 
The series takes readers along on the life-changing journey of three 24th century teens. While the three protagonists appear quite immature in the first half of The Lens and the Looker, this is not a series aimed exclusively at young teens. 
 
 
Lory Kaufman says he writes for readers 13 to 113, (and precocious 12-year-olds) This is borne out by the fact that about half the readership of the series is adult. 
 
 
What many readers say they love about this series is its wonderful mix of science fiction (the future) and historical fiction (the past). While there's time travel, there are also sword fights, and while there are detailed descriptions of ancient technologies, the story also includes many colorful characters who just happen to be artificial intelligences. There's allusions to a Romeo and Juliet love story and also characters who have murderous intentions toward the lovers. And the setting? Many readers are praising the accurately described historical setting of 14th century Verona Italy, where much of the story takes place.
Publication Date: 03/16/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
After Hours
Patricia Bray, Joshua Palmatier
Synopsis: Science fiction and fantasy readers have long shown an affinity for a good "bar story". Now some of today's most inventive scriveners have decided to tell their own tall tales-from an alewife's attempt to transfer the gods' curse to Gilgamesh, to Odin's decision to introduce Vikings to the Ur-Bar, from the Holy Roman Emperor's barroom bargain, to a demon hunter who may just have met his match in the ultimate magic bar, to a bouncer who discovers you should never let anyone in after hours in a world terrorized by zombies.
Publication Date: 03/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Cutting Cords
Jo Ramsey
Synopsis: When Shanna's father moves out, leaving Shanna alone with her mother, her home life goes from bad to worse. At least she has Jonah to remind her that she deserves a good life, even if she doesn't always believe him. Stressed about her parents' separation and worried about what it will mean for her, Shanna is glad for the distraction of her friend Tammi's request for information about guides. Although Shanna is still learning, she knows how to answer Tammi's questions. The problem is, the entity Tammi is asking about isn't really a guide. It's a dead spirit who wants to take over Tammi's life. And Shanna discovers that another entity, one with the power to destroy our universe, wants to use Tammi as well. Guided by Jonah and Tethys, and helped by another being of light, Shanna must send the dead spirit to the afterlife before it's too late-for Tammi and for the entire Universe.
Publication Date: 03/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
The Atomic Weight of Secrets OR The Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black
Synopsis: "In 1903, five truly brilliant young inventors, the children of the world’s most important scientists, are taken from their lives and their parents by the mysterious men in black. They take twelve-year-old Jasper and six-year-old Lucy Modest from London, England; nine-year-old Wallace Banneker from New York, United States; twelve-year-old Noah Canto-Sagas from Toronto, Canada; and thirteen-year-old Faye Vigyanveta from New Delhi, India, depositing them all at a strange, isolated farmhouse in Dayton, Ohio, with kindly schoolteacher Miss Brett. But what mysterious invention have all the children, unbeknownst to one another, been working on? Who are the men in black? And are the men in black trying to kidnap them―or protect them? And if they're trying to protect them―from what? An amazing story about the wonders of science and the still greater wonders of friendship, The Atomic Weight of Secrets, the first book of the Young Inventors Guild trilogy is a novel readers will forever treasure.In 1903, five truly brilliant young inventors, the children of the world’s most important scientists, went about their lives and their work as they always had.But all that changed the day the men in black arrived.They arrived to take twelve-year-old Jasper Modest and his six-year-old sister, Lucy―he with his remarkable creations and she with her perfect memory―from their London, England home to a place across the ocean they'd never seen before.They arrived to take nine-year-old Wallace Banneker, last in a long line of Africa-descended scientists, from his chemistry, his father, and his New York home to a life he'd never imagined.Twelve-year-old Noah Canto-Sagas, already missing his world-famous and beloved mother, was taken from Toronto, Canada, carrying only his clothes, his violin, and his remarkable mind.And thirteen-year-old Faye Vigyanveta, the genius daughter of India’s wealthiest and most accomplished scientists, was removed by force from her life of luxury.From all across the world, they've been taken to mysterious Sole Manner Farm, and a beautiful but isolated schoolhouse in Dayton, Ohio, without a word from their parents as to why. Not even the wonderful schoolteacher they find there, Miss Brett, can explain it. She can give them love and care, but she can't give them answers.Things only get stranger from there. What is the book with no pages Jasper and Lucy find in their mother’s underwear drawer, and why do the men in black want it so badly?How is it all the children have been taught the same bizarre poem―and yet no other rhymes or stories their entire lives?And why haven't their parents tried to contact them?Whatever the reasons, to brash, impetuous Faye, the situation is clear: They and their parents have been kidnapped by these terrible men in black, and the only way they're going to escape and rescue their parents is by completing the invention they didn't even know they were all working on―an invention that will change the world forever.But what if the men in black aren't trying to harm the children? What if they're trying to protect them?And if they're trying to protect them―from what?An amazing story about the wonders of science and the still greater wonders of friendship, The Atomic Weight of Secrets or the Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black, the first book of the Young Inventors Guild trilogy, is a truly original novel. Young readers will forever treasure Eden Unger Bowditch’s funny, inventive, poignant, and wonderfully fun fiction debut."
Publication Date: 03/01/11
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Science Fiction
Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel
Antonio Deleo, David Goodberg
Synopsis: In 2051, commercial time travel became a global reality. Opportunities abounded for curious history buffs, futurists, and corrupt entrepreneurs. Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel is a spellbinding collection of 37 tales that explore time travel tourism and its repercussions.

In various settings ranging from Earth to deep space, Selected Shorts presents tales of those brave (or foolish) enough to adventure through the space-time continuum. Explore an era devastated by the Worlds War of 2267, cluttered with time-traveling tourists and swindlers, terrorized by the all-powerful Icelandic Mafia, endangered by ruthless corporations, and threatened by vigilante space aliens.

The future as we know it will never be the same.

Publication Date: 02/08/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Messiah: Apotheosis
S. Andrew Swann
Synopsis: The last stand against the self-proclaimed God, Adam, has retreated to the anarchic planet Bakunin-a world besieged by civil war. Humanity's last hope lies with Nickolai Rajasthan, a Moreau who believes that the human race that created his kind is already damned beyond redemption.
Publication Date: 02/01/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
The Fallen: Raziel
Kristina Douglas
Synopsis: Kristina Douglas’s sexy new series introduces a realm of fallen angels and ruthless demons, where an eternal rebellion is brewing . . . and one unsuspecting woman can change the fate of the Fallen forever.

She was just an ordinary mortal . . .

“You’re dead” is so not what Allie Watson wants to hear. Unfortunately, it explains a lot. Like the dark, angelically handsome man who ferried her to this strange, hidden land. The last thing she remembers is stepping off a curb in front of a crosstown bus. Now she’s surrounded by gorgeous fallen angels with an unsettling taste for blood—and they really don’t want her around. Not exactly how she pictured heaven.

. . . until death catapulted her into a seductive world she never imagined.

Raziel is unsure why he rescued Allie from hellfire against Uriel’s orders, but she stirs in him a longing he hasn't felt in centuries. Now the Fallen are bracing for the divine wrath brought by his disobedience, and they blame Allie for the ferocious Nephilim clawing at the kingdom’s shrouded gates. Facing impossible odds at every turn, the two must work together to survive. Raziel will do anything to defend his spirited lover against the forces of darkness—because Allie may be the Fallen’s only salvation.
Publication Date: 01/25/11
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
The Vault Keepers
Christine G. Broome
Synopsis: Sixty-eight seasons of darkness have now passed since the vast majority of the Earth’s population ended in an explosive holocaust. Out of the destructive chaos, a new society emerged, one that strictly forbids any knowledge of the past. This poses great danger to Kally, Quinn, Jade, and Doc, four tightly knit friends from the village of Serenity, who stumble upon a secret hidden vault buried deep in the woods. In one of its main chambers sits an old journal containing the writings of a father and son, Jason and Tad Hastings. It is through their eyes that the four friends become fascinated as they explore the details of the events leading up to the Big Occurrence. Over the next several seasons, Kally and the others continue to secretly visit the vault, gaining knowledge and understanding of their current existence. Unfortunately, they find themselves faced with a difficult dilemma for they cannot share what they have learned without risking banishment or even death. While they contemplate this challenge, Serenity experiences a formidable event in the sky...something so bizarre and mysterious that the friends find themselves caught up in a new adventure. An adventure that will take them to new worlds - worlds that are in desperate need of the knowledge contained in the Vault and the Journal.
Publication Date: 01/24/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
A Crazy Day With Cobras
Sal Murdocca, Mary Pope Osborne
Synopsis: The  Magic Tree House series is back, but with the magic tree house comes terrible news: Merlin’s beloved penguin, Penny, has been put under a spell! Jack and Annie must find four things to break the spell. The first is a rare and precious emerald. When the magic tree house whisks them back to India over four hundred years ago to search for the jewel, they discover an amazing and exotic world filled with great danger.

Will Jack and Annie find what they’re looking for? Will they avoid the wrath of the all-powerful Great Mogul, survive a crazy ride on a wild elephant, escape an attack by king cobras—and make it back to the magic tree house alive?

Mary Pope Osborne brings together just the right combination of history, magic, and fast-paced adventure to satisfy kids, parents, teachers, and librarians. Magic Tree House books are known around the world as books that inspire reading.
Publication Date: 01/11/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
The Legacy
Gemma Malley
Synopsis:

When a Pincent Pharmaceutical van is ambushed by the rebel group known as the Underground, its contents come as a huge surprise-not drugs, but corpses in a horrible state. It appears that the pharmaceutical company's top drug, Longevity-which is supposed to eradicate disease and ensure eternal life-isn't living up to its promises. Now a virus is sweeping the country, killing hundreds in its wake, and Longevity is powerless to fight it. But when the unscrupulous head of Pincent claims that the Underground is responsible for releasing the virus, it's up to Peter, Anna, and their friends to alert the world to the terrifying truth behind Longevity before it's too late.

Publication Date: 01/05/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Secrets of the Demon
Diana Rowland
Synopsis: Homicide detective Kara Gillian has a special talent: she can sense the "arcane" in our world, and there's quite a bit of it, even in Beaulac, Louisiana. She's also a summoner of demons, and works on a task force that deals with supernatural crimes. Her partners are attractive and smart FBI agents, but they're not summoners, and they're not telling Kara why they are on this special force with her.

To complicate things even more, Kara has pledged herself to one of the most powerful of demons—Demon Lord Rhyzkahl—who helped save her partner's life, but now expects things in return. Meanwhile, she's trying to solve a string of murders that are somehow tied together by money, sex, rock music and...mud. But how can she concentrate on the case when she's not even sure who—or what—her partners are? Secrets of the Demon is the exciting third installment of the Kara Gillian series.
Publication Date: 01/04/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Invasion
J. S. Lewis
Synopsis:

He didn't ask to be a hero, but now all that stands between us and chaos . . . is Colt.

Colt McAlister was having the summer of his life. He spent his days surfing and his nights playing guitar on the beach with friends. He even met a girl and got his first car. But everything changes when his parents are killed in a freak accident.

He's forced to leave his old life behind and move to Arizona with his grandfather. The only person he knows at the new high school is a childhood friend named Dani. And Oz, a guy he's sure he's never met but who is strangely familiar.

But what if his parents' death wasn't an accident? His mother, an investigative reporter, was going to expose a secret mind-control program run by one of the world's largest companies. Before she could release the story, what if agents from Trident Biotech made sure she couldn't go public?

Vowing to uncover truth, Colt is drawn into a secret world of aliens, shapeshifters, flying motorcycles, and invisible getaways.

The invasion has begun.

Publication Date: 01/04/11
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Fallen Angel
Heather Terrell
Synopsis:

Heaven-sent?

Ellie was never particularly good at talking to boys—oranyone other than her best friend and fellow outcast, Ruth.Then she met Michael.

Michael is handsome, charming, sweet. And totallyinto Ellie. It’s no wonder she is instantly drawn to him.But Michael has a secret. And he knows Ellie is hidingsomething, too. They’ve both discovered they have powersbeyond their imagining. Powers that are otherworldly.

Ellie and Michael are determined to uncover what theyare, and how they got this way . . . together. But the truth hasrepercussions neither could have imagined. Soon they findthemselves center stage in an ancient conflict that threatensto destroy everything they love. And it is no longer clearwhether Ellie and Michael will choose the same side.

In this electrifying novel, Heather Terrell spins agripping supernatural tale about true love, destiny, and thebattle of good versus evil.

Publication Date: 12/28/10
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS