When Maddy discovers another one of the cats has come to life, she can't wait to get to know Nibs and start using her new magical power. But Nibs doesn't seem very friendly, and she's here for a reason—there's a new problem to be solved. It doesn't take long for Maddy and Nibs to figure out who needs their help. Maddy's cousin Chloe is having trouble settling into her new school. She's so miserable that she's decided to run away. Can Maddy and Nibs use their Shadow Magic to stop her?
Ranch-sitting for her aunt in Texas should be exactly that: good old ordinary, uneventful hard work. Only, Amy and her sister, Phin, aren't alone. There's someone else in the house with them--and it's not the living, breathing, amazingly hot cowboy from the ranch next door.
It's a ghost, and it's more powerful than the Goodnights and all their protective spells combined. It wants something from Amy, and none of her carefully built defenses can hold it back.
This is the summer when the wall between Amy's worlds is going to come crashing down.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
An ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults
Praise for Texas Gothic:
[Star] "You can't get much more Nancy Drew. . . . This engaging mystery has plenty of both paranormal and romance, spiced with loving families and satisfyingly packed with self-sufficient, competent girls."--Kirkus Reviews, Starred
[Star] "Teens looking for a rollicking adventure filled with paranormal events, dastardly evildoers, and laugh-out-loud moments as Amy and Ben argue and snipe their way to love will adore this book."--School Library Journal, Starred
"The author mixes suspense, humor, and lots of local flavor. . . . The enjoyable sum is a lively teen ghost story with sex appeal."--The Horn Book
"A deeply affectionate rendering of Texas landscapes and legends combines with an appealing cast of well-developed characters to give texture to this well-plotted mystery; truly scary moments are balanced by the humorous bumbles of the awkwardly developing romance between Amy and Ben, as well as Phin's sublime cluelessness about the way her eccentricities appear to other people."--The Bulletin
Fall of Eden
Myths are but shadows of a greater truth.
Fall of Eden is the second book in the epic trilogy, the Healing Crystal, suitable for ages 14+.
This book continues to follow the band of young Survinees as they are forced from their home by Narvin, a madman who desires the Healing Crystal no matter the cost. As the story unfolds questions also unfold:
At just sixteen, can Kairma protect her band of refugees from Narvin as he chases them through deserts and mountains and protect them from each other when the true nature of the crystal is revealed?
Will the rogue Colin win Kairma or be forever banned from her by religious law, by his wanderlust ways, or by the evil carried in Kairma's blood?
Will Kinter forever lie in the shadow of her sister Kairma or will a twist of fate bring her almost everything but what she most desires?
With the death of their companions will Naturi once again lose his father to depression, and, when the true nature of the crystal is revealed, as one's faith crumbles and the other's is renewed, will the gulf between them become impossible to cross?
Will Zedic and Trep ever see home and the women they love again?And what of the colony of Survin and those left behind?
Fall of Eden received the Editor's Choice award and Heir to Power, the first book in this epic trilogy received the Top Choice award from Flamingnet, a national YA book site.
Praise for The Healing Crystal Trilogy
The characters are real, drawn with psychological precision and expert dialogue, so clear that I feel I'd recognize them if I saw them on the street. --Eva F. Kosinski - Colorado
I could not put it down! This is sure to be a Best Seller. --Beth Duensing - Indiana
A strong-willed 16-year-old girl fights for survival in 18th-century North America.
Françoise Laurent has never had an easy life. The only surviving child of a destitute washerwoman and wayward soldier, she must rely only on herself to get by. When her parents die suddenly from the smallpox ravishing New France, Françoise sees it as a chance to escape the life she thought she was trapped in.
Seizing her newfound opportunity, Françoise takes a job as an aide to the wife of a wealthy fur trader. The poverty-ridden world she knew transforms into a strange new world full of privilege and fine things -- and of never having to beg for food. But Françoise's relationships with the other servants in Madame Pommereau's house are tenuous, and Madame Pommereau isn't an easy woman to work for. When Françoise is caught stealing a pair of her mistress's beautiful gloves, she faces a future even worse than she could have imagined: thrown in jail, she is sentenced to death by hanging. Once again, Françoise is left to her own devices to survive . . . Is she cunning enough to convince the prisoner in the cell beside her to become the hangman and marry her, which, by law, is the only thing that could save her life?
Based on an actual story and filled with illuminating historical detail, The Hangman in the Mirror transports readers to the harsh landscape of a new land that is filled with even harsher class divisions and injustices.
According to Mayan legend, the human age is scheduled to end today. That's what the Belizean tour guide tells Michelle's family as they paddle canoes out of the solstice sun and deep into the mysterious, dark cave system. The Earth trembles. The cave crumbles. Michelle is thrown back in time, away from everything she knows and everyone she loves, into an ancient world of palace politics, bloody warfare, and human sacrifice. Men Ch'o, second son of the ruler of a small Mayan city-state, has always stood in the shadow of his elder brother, but the unexpected arrival of the goddess Ix Chel in human form will shift the fulcrum of power and upset the balance of his heart.
The unlikely intersection of their lives just might change everything.
When she gets cast as a moaning, hunched-over old lady in the school play, she starts to forget about the rest of her life. Now she just wants to make it through freshman year. This unique take on the beginning of a new school venture will make the perfect back-to-school gift.
When Dana is invited to Faerie to be officially presented at the Seelie Court, it's no easy decision. After all, everyone knows Titania, the Seelie Queen, wants her dead. But Titania claims not to be the one behind the death threats; and her son, Prince Henry, makes the decision a whole lot easier when he suggests Dana might be arrested for (supposedly) conspiring with her aunt Grace to usurp the Seelie throne. So she and her father better do as they're told . . .
The journey through Faerie is long―and treacherous. Dana thought it would be a good idea to have friends along, but her sort-of-boyfriend, Ethan, and her bodyguard's son, Keane, just can't seem to get along, and Kimber's crush on Keane isn't making things any easier. When a violent attack separates Dana from their caravan, the sexy Erlking saves her just in the nick of time . . . and makes it clear that he hasn't given up on making her his own.
Arriving at Titania's beautiful palace should be a relief. But Dana is soon implicated in an assassination attempt against Titania's granddaughter, and is suddenly a fugitive, forced to leave her father behind as she and her friends flee for their lives. Will she be able to prove her innocence before the forces of the Seelie Court―or, worse, the Erlking―catch up with her? And will she save her father before he pays the ultimate price in her stead?
Sirensong is book three in Jenna Black's enchanting Faeriewalker series.
It's been four years since Maya, Simon, and Penny Nelson left the lost island of Tamarind. For Maya, the island is a nearly forgotten part of her childhood; for Penny, it's a secret place she can't remember, but longs to see; and for Simon, it's an adventure waiting to happen. An evil group called the Red Coral Project is lurking around the Nelson's home in Bermuda, and the children discover that the project has moved into Tamarind, and are desiccating it to ruin. Only the Nelson's can save the island.
In Tamarind, there is the mystery of the magical mineral ophalla that Red Coral is greedily mining, their old pirate ship, the Pamela Jane, and the secret of their friend Helix's parentage. This time, it is up to Simon to put the clues together, and save his sisters from the island and the nefarious Red Coral Project―and defeat Red Coral before the magnificent island is put to ruin.
Nadia Aguiar's sequel to The Lost Island of Tamarind, crafts a vivid story reminiscent of such classics as Peter Pan, full of adventure, magic, and haunting beauty.
The Elves of the Rhonas Empire have carved a path of conquest throughout the civilized lands, enslaving humans, chimera, manticores, goblins, and every other race they encounter. Now humans are a nearly extinct minority among the warrior-slave races, their will and memories suppressed by the tyrannical, magic-wielding elves.
But legends tell of a time when humans and the other slave races were free. There are tales of a hero who will return one day to lead them in an uprising against their masters. That hero, so the stories say, will be a human named Drakis.
But Drakis Sha’Timuran, a human warrior-slave of House Timuran, gives no credence to these legends. He fights for the glory of his House and his elven masters along with the other members of his Cohort.
But as they embark on the final stage of a campaign to bring down the last dwarf king, Drakis finds himself troubled by a song—a melody that coils itself around his mind and conjures disturbing visions of dark wings, claws, iridescent scales, and fire. In the midst of a devastating battle, the song leads Drakis to capture a mysterious dwarf as a prize of war.
When Drakis returns to his master with his prisoner, the dwarf uses his own magic to shatter the spell over the entire household. Along with the other slaves, Drakis suddenly recalls the truth of his enslavement, the terrible cruelty of his masters, and their deceit. But if everything he knows about his world and his life is a lie, what is the truth? And does the lure of the song—now calling him northward into the heart of a vanished civilization—herald the beginning of a new dawn or the promise of eternal night?
In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident? The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow, blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world.
This venerable collection of short stories brings together award winning authors and masters of the field such as Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Damien Broderick, Carrie Vaughn, Ian R. MacLeod and Cory Doctorow. And with an extensive recommended reading guide and a summation of the year in science fiction, this annual compilation has become the definitive must-read anthology for all science fiction fans and readers interested in breaking into the genre.
Though he knows about the secret Mayan prophesy that his father and grandfather were a part of, Josh still hasn't solved the mystery surrounding his father's death. But when Josh learns that a special artifact, the Bracelet of Itzamna, is the key to both that and the mystery of the codex, he must return to the hidden city of Ek Naab. Only this time he must do it alone-because as the stakes rise, Josh can no longer trust even his closest allies.
This second installment of the action-packed Joshua Files series brings readers back to the secret world of the Mayan civilization, where the mysterious 2012 prophecy still threatens the world. Does Josh have what it takes to make it out alive once again?
Picking up where "Solid" left off, Clio and her friends realize that they aren't ready to go home; they're determined to stay on campus and continue their journey of self- discovery. But someone doesn't feel the same way and will do anything to drive them away - even kill.
Friendships will be tested, abilities will evolve, and more secrets will come out as the teens race to stop the killer before he sets his sights on one of them...
