Please enable JavaScript
All Books | Page 143 | LitPick Book Reviews
All Books
Spellbound
Monique N. Peterson
Synopsis: Have you ever wanted someone...you couldn't have? For almost a year, all Bea wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before her best friend left…but when Caid Knight comes into her life, everything changes. Even after Princess Jennipher returns, there is something different about the friendship they once shared as her relationships with fellow housemaids, Kerry and Lucy, begin altering and dwindling. News of a revolt against Crimson Isle’s four monarchies threatens the lives of those closest to her while her own safety becomes the most endangered as she considers leaving the only home she has ever known. As for Caid, her feelings for him are growing stronger with each passing day yet she doesn’t know how he feels about her. Before she can ask, she is told that fate will not allow them to be together, regardless of what she tries to do to be with him. Will she defy this foretelling or surrender herself to it?
Publication Date: 05/03/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Spellbound
Monique N. Peterson
Synopsis: Have you ever wanted someone...you couldn't have? For almost a year, all Bea wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before her best friend left…but when Caid Knight comes into her life, everything changes. Even after Princess Jennipher returns, there is something different about the friendship they once shared as her relationships with fellow housemaids, Kerry and Lucy, begin altering and dwindling. News of a revolt against Crimson Isle’s four monarchies threatens the lives of those closest to her while her own safety becomes the most endangered as she considers leaving the only home she has ever known. As for Caid, her feelings for him are growing stronger with each passing day yet she doesn’t know how he feels about her. Before she can ask, she is told that fate will not allow them to be together, regardless of what she tries to do to be with him. Will she defy this foretelling or surrender herself to it?
Publication Date: 05/03/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Romance
Storm - The Elemental Series
Synopsis: (Book 1 in the Elemental Series)
Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread lies about her, Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys - the ones she doesn't want. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water - just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They're powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

When Hunter, the mysterious new kid in town, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who's hiding the most dangerous truth of all...
Publication Date: 05/01/12
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Romance
Winesburg, Ohio
Sherwood Anderson
Synopsis: Winesburg, Ohio By Sherwood Anderson
Publication Date: 05/01/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Short Story
Life Guards in the Hamptons
Synopsis: Graphic novelist Willow Tate is a Visualizer, able to draw images of beings from the realm of Faerie and possibly to “draw” them from their world to ours in the process. Maybe she shouldn’t have decided to make her latest book about the god from Faerie whom she’d “rescued” when the fire bugs came to her for help. Or maybe she just shouldn’t have given him a part fish/part fowl sidekick. Had the creature shown up in Paumanok Harbor because she’d drawn it, or had she drawn it because it was calling out to her for assistance?
 
Either way, more weird things are happening in the Hamptons: robberies, embezzlement, rare bird sightings, rogue waves, and dolphins keeping the surfers out of the water. And though Willow swears she has nothing to do with any of it, none of the locals really believe her. Except, of course, the hero of her latest book—patterned after the new man in her life, a handsome Harbor veterinarian—happens to be a sea god....
Publication Date: 05/01/12
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Romance
Chicory Up
Irene Radford
Synopsis: Exiled from Pixie and deprived of almost all her Pixie magic, Thistle Down had made a life for herself with the help of Desdemona “Dusty” Carrick and her brother Dick. But trouble was brewing among all the Pixie tribes, fueled by Haywood Wheatland, a half-Pixie/half-Faery, who was determined to seize control of The Ten Acre Wood for the Faeries.
 
Thistle, Dick, Dusty, and her fiancé, Police Sergeant Chase Norton, thought the threat to Skene Falls and The Ten Acre Wood had ended with Haywood’s arrest, but they were wrong. The Pixie tribes were preparing for war, and only an inexperienced Pixie named Chicory was taking a stand. And even if he could convince Thistle and her new family to help him, it might already be too late.
Publication Date: 05/01/12
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Brotherband Chronicles Book 2 The Invaders
Synopsis: From the author of the global phenomenon Ranger's Apprentice!

Hal and the Herons have done the impossible. This group of outsiders has beaten out the strongest, most skilled young warriors in all of Skandia to win the Brotherband competition. But their celebration comes to an abrupt end when the Skandians' most sacred artifact, the Andomal, is stolen--and the Herons are to blame.

To find redemption they must track down the thief Zavac and recover the Andomal. But that means traversing stormy seas, surviving a bitter winter, and battling a group of deadly pirates willing to protect their prize at all costs. Even Brotherband training and the help of Skandia's greatest warrior may not be enough to ensure that Hal and his friends return home with the Andomal--or their lives.

Perfect for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, and George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series.
Publication Date: 05/01/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Brother from a Box
Iacopo Bruno, Evan Kuhlman
Synopsis: One new brother—assembly required. From the author of The Last Invisible Boy.

Matt Rambeau is officially a big brother—to a robot! Matt’s super-computer-genius dad is always getting cool tech stuff in the mail, but the latest box Matt opens contains the most impressive thing he’s ever seen: a bionically modified lifeform that looks human and calls Matt “brother” (in French)!
Norman turns out to be a bit of an attention hog and a showoff, but Matt’s still psyched to have a robotic sibling—even if he flirts with (ugh) girls. Then strange things start to happen. First a computer worm causes Norman to go berserk, and then odd men start showing up in unusual places. Matt soon realizes that someone is trying to steal the robot—correction—his brother!
In this zany, action-packed story with spies, skateboards, and plenty of artificial intelligence, acclaimed author Evan Kuhlman gets to the heart (and motherboard) of one of the most special relationships known to man (or machine): brotherhood.
Publication Date: 05/01/12
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Fiction
The Trials and Tribulations of Miss Tilney
Danielle Alexis, Sarah Elkins, David A Doub
Synopsis: Cub Reporter Henrietta Tilney is sent on her first assignment, to interview accused mass murderer Lord Beowulf Harwood. But young Henrietta quickly finds out there is much more to this story and its subject Lord Harwood. Will this plucky young reporter get her story and survive with her life intact?
Publication Date: 04/30/12
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Manga/Graphic Novel
Sprite (Annabelle's Story Part One)
Synopsis: Annabelle Walsh thought she had it all. She was the star of her swim team, had a loving family, a great boyfriend, and to top it off, she’d be starting at UCLA in the fall. One day, she’d be referred to as Dr. Annabelle Walsh. She was living every girl’s dream – until her life was turned upside down. All starting with finding out that she's not just a human, but also a water spirit. Half-human, half-sprite to be exact. Although not just any sprite, Annabelle is prophesied to be the only one who can save both the sprites and mankind. With a mix of current events, anecdotes from Greek mythology, tidbits of folklore, and Leigh’s own imagination, we join Annabelle in her journey to restore order beneath the sea. Each step of the way her mind, body, and soul are pushed to the limit begging the question, how much can one half-human, half-sprite take?
Publication Date: 04/30/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Series
The Trials and Tribulations of Miss Tilney
Danielle Alexis, Sarah Elkins, David A Doub
Synopsis: Cub Reporter Henrietta Tilney is sent on her first assignment, to interview accused mass murderer Lord Beowulf Harwood. But young Henrietta quickly finds out there is much more to this story and its subject Lord Harwood. Will this plucky young reporter get her story and survive with her life intact?
Publication Date: 04/30/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
A Horse Named Viking
Caroline Akervik
Synopsis: A rogue. An outlaw. An unlikely hero. Viking is the sole offspring of a savage and vicious mare. The colt is the pride of the stable until his dam kills a groom in her stall. Viking is a painful reminder of the tragedy, and so he is sold off. The black colt has a coarse face and a mean curl to his nostrils, but he is beautifully proportioned with magnificent gaits. With his teeth and thick weapon of a tail, Viking brutalizes everyone who handles him and humiliates the best trainers in the world until Anne O'Neil tries him. The first time she rides him, she declares she will not buy him if he was the last apple in the barrel. The second time, she rides him as if he is as sensitive as one of her Thoroughbreds, and she is amazed by the results. Kindness and sugar turn out to be the keys to Viking's heart. Viking and Anne become rising stars until a cruel and brutal trainer seeks to crush his spirit. A Horse Named Viking follows the life journey of an incredible, unforgettable horse.
Publication Date: 04/27/12
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Vonnegut:  Novels and Stories 1950-1962
Sidney Offit, Kurt Vonnegut
Synopsis: Before winning international fame with Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut was a master of the drugstore paperback and the popular short story. This authoritative collection of his brilliant early work opens with Player Piano (1952), a Metropolis-like parable of breakneck technological innovation and its effect on those it robs of their livelihoods. The Sirens of Titan (1959), the interplanetary adventures of the world’s wealthiest and most despised man, is both a pulp-fiction space opera and a satire on the vanity of human striving. The confessions of a German-American double agent well placed among the Nazi elite, Mother Night (1962) is a cautionary tale with a famous moral: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” Here too are six of Vonnegut’s best short stories, gems that display his matchless talent for hilarious invention and caustic social criticism.

A companion volume, Kurt Vonnegut: Novels & Stories 1963–1973, collects Cat’s Cradle; God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; Slaughterhouse-Five; Breakfast of Champions; and three short stories, including “Welcome to the Monkey House.”

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Publication Date: 04/26/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
The Mongoliad: Book One
Mark Teppo, Cooper Moo, Nicole Galland, Joseph Brassey, Greg Bear, Erik Bear, Neal Stephenson
Synopsis:

The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th century. In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia.

But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated.

Full of high adventure, unforgettable characters, and unflinching battle scenes, The Mongoliad ignites a dangerous quest where willpower and blades are tested and the scope of world-building is redefined.

A note on this edition: The Mongoliad began as a social media experiment, combining serial story-telling with a unique level of interaction between authors and audience during the creative process. Since its original iteration, The Mongoliad has been restructured, edited, and rewritten under the supervision of its authors to create a more cohesive reading experience and will be published as a trilogy of novels. This edition is the definitive edition and is the authors' preferred text.

Publication Date: 04/24/12
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Merits of Mischief: The Big Apple
Synopsis: The start of a mischievous new middle-grade series has trouble written all over it.

Twelve-year-old Seamus Hinkle is a good kid with a perfect school record—until the day he accidently kills his substitute teacher with an apple.
     Seamus is immediately shipped off to a detention facility—only to discover that Kilter Academy is actually a school to mold future Troublemakers, where demerits are awarded as a prize for bad behavior and each student is tasked to pull various pranks on their teachers in order to excel. Initially determined to avoid any more mishaps, Seamus nonetheless inadvertently emerges as a uniquely skilled troublemaker. Together with new friends Lemon and Elinor, he rises to the top of his class while beginning to discover that Kilter Academy has some major secrets and surprises in store….
Publication Date: 04/24/12
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus
Denise Brunkus, Barbara Park
Synopsis: 10 Top-Secret Personal Facts About Junie B

By Me, Junie B. Jones

My birthday is Junie the 1st! My mother's name is Susan, Susie, Suz, Mommy, and Mother. Plus sometimes Daddy calls her Buttercup. That is ridiculous I think. My favorite food is yummy, delicious lemon pie. Plus also I like 'pasketti and meatballs and whipped cream in a can, and sugar cookies! I do not like peas. Or Tuna Noodle Stinkle  (that dish does not smell delightful). When I grow up I would like to be the janitor of my school. The janitor saves people from danger. And paints litter cans. And carry keys that unlock the bathroom. Without the janitor we couldn't even go to the toilet. I would also  enjoy being Beauty Shop guy, I think.   My grandma, Helen Miller has a pet bird named Twitter. (Only I hate that dumb bird). I am not actually a fan of roosters either. One time, a boy named meanie Jim said that roosters can peck your head into a nub. And that is not pleasant, I tell you. The name of my school is Clarence somebody or other Elementary School. I usually take the stupid smelly bus to school.  Only some mornings I accidentally spill cereal down the front of me at breakfast. And then I accidentally dance with Teddy instead of changing clothes. And so I accidentally miss the bus. Then Mother has to drive me. She is not pleasant when that happens. When I am scared in the dark, I grab my bestest stuffed animal named Philip Johnny Bob. And then both of us sing, "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" from the hit musical Annie. My favorite fruits are fruit loops, cherry jello, grape Kool-aid, orange popsicles, strawberry shortcake, blueberry pancakes, and chocolate covered raisins.
Publication Date: 04/24/12
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Series

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS