Every time a lad came fowling on the stacs, he went home less of a boy and more of a man.
(If he went home at all, that is.)
Every summer, Quill and his friends are put ashore on a remote sea stac to hunt birds. But this summer, no one arrives to take them home.
Surely nothing but the end of the world can explain why they've been abandoned-cold, starving, and clinging to life in the grip of a murderous ocean. How will they survive such a forsaken pace of stone and sea?
(from goodreads.com)
War Girls: Book 1
Twelve-year-old Finn is used to people in his family disappearing. His twin sister, Faith, drowned when they were three years old, and now his mom has abandoned him and his dad with no explanation. Finn clings to the concrete facts in his physics books-and to his best friend, Gabi-to ward off his sadness. But then his grandmother tells him a secret: the women in their family are Travelers, able to move back and forth in time. Finn's mom is trapped somewhere in the timeline, and she's left Finn a portal to find her. But Finn soon learns he isn't the only one searching for her. Travelers have enemies. And keeping his family safe isn't as simple as changing the timeline, To succeed, Finn will have to put his trust in something bigger than logic.
(from book flap)
Slay
BY DAY, SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer-not her friends, not her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are a "distraction to keep the Black man from becoming great."
But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminal. Even worse, Kiera faces potentially being sued for "antiwhite discrimination," and an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to harass all the players and take over.
Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?
(from book flap)
Crying Laughing
WINNIE FRIEDMAN has been waiting for the world to catch on to what she already knows: she's hilarious.
It might be a long wait, though. After bombing a stand-up set at her own bat mitzvah, Winnies's been keeping her jokes to herself. Well, herself and her dad, a former comedian and her inspiration.
Then, on the second day of tenth grade, the funniest guy in school actually laughs at a comment she makes in the lunch line and asks her to join the improv troupe. Maybe he's even ... flirting?
Just when Winnie's ready to say yes to comedy again, her father reveals that he's been diagnosed with ALS. That is . . . not funny. Her dad's still making jokes, though, which seems like a good thing. And Winnie's prepared to be his straight man if that's what he wants. But is it what he needs?
Caught up in a spiral of epically bad dates, bad news and bad performances, Winnie's struggling to see the humor in it all.
But finding a way to laugh is exactly what will get her through.
(from book flap)
Blood Mountirfly Yellow
Carter and his sister, Grace, thought the hike with their dad and their dog would be uneventful. But the hike on Blood Mountain soon turns ominous as the siblings become separated from their father. They are lost, braving the wild elements, fighting to survive.
They are also being tracked, but who will reach them first: the young ranger leading the search, or the erratic mountain man living off the grid? When Grace injures herself in a fall, Carter decides to set out alone to find help, leaving them both more vulnerable.
(from book flap)
Every Stolen Breath
LIA FINCH is the only one still pursuing her father's killers, two years after attorney Steven Finch's murder by the Swarm. Devastated and desperate for answers, Lia will do anything to uncover the reasons behind his death and to stop someone else from being struck down. But due to debilitating asthma and PTSD that leaves her with a tenuous hold on reality, Lia is the last person to mount a crusade on her own.
After a close encounter with the Swarm puts Lia on their radar, she teams up with a teen hacker, a reporter, and a mysterious stranger who knows firsthand how the mob works to uncover the master puppeteer behind the group-and fast-or Lia may end up the next target.
(from book flap)
I Hope You Get This Message
Sevens days. Seven Days. The Earth might end in seven days.
When news stations start reporting that Earth has been contacted by a planet named Alma, the world is abuzz with rumors that the alien entity is giving civilization only a few days before they hit the kill switch.
For high school truant Jesse Hewitt, though, nothing has ever felt permanent. Not the guys he hooks up with. Not the jobs his underpaid mom works so hard to hold down. Life has dealt him one bad blow after another-so what does it matter if it all ends now? Cate Collins, on the other hand, is desperate to use this time to find the father she's never met, the man she grew up hearing wild stories about, most of which she didn't believe. And then there's Adeem Khan. While coding and computer programming have always come easily to him. forgiveness doesn't. He cant seem to forgive his sister for leaving, even though it's his last chance.
With only seven days to face their truths and right their wrongs, Jesse, Cate, and Adeem's paths collide, even as their worlds are pulled apart.
(from book flap)
Jack Pot
TO-DO LIST: - School. (Barf.) - Five-Hour Shift at the Gas 'n' Go. - Get little bro from sitter and ready for bed. - Repeat. - And again. When a hundred-million-dollar lottery ticket from her store goes unclaimed, Rico Danger *(that's DON-gur, thank you very much) has to find the winner. If she she can unite the ticket holder with the cash, maybe Rico will finally catch a lucky break . . . and a cut of the winnings.
For help with her mission, she recruits popular and wildly wealthy "zan" Macklin-the only other person who saw the suspected winner. As the hunt rolls of, the unlikely pair discovers things they weren't expecting: hidden resentments, shared struggles, and maybe even friendship. But what happens when haves and have-nots collide? Will this particular shared goal unite-or divide?
(from book flap)
Full Disclosure
Simone Garcia-Hampton is starting over at a new school, and this time things will be different. She's making real friends, making a name for herself as a student director of Rent, and making googly eyes at Miles, they guy who makes her feel like she's the most important person in the room. The last thing she wants is for word to get out that she's HIV-positive, because last time, the backlash nearly crushed her.
When Simone and Miles start dating for real, she's introduced to a whole new world of longing. As sex becomes more and more of a possibility, Simone knows she has to tell him she's positive, but she's terrified of how he'll react. Then she finds an anonymous note in her locker-one that threatens to expose her if she doesn't break up with Miles.
As much as Simone wants to keep her secret and keep her new life intact, she knows there's only one option: taking charge and controlling her own truth, even if that means doing what she fears most and risking her chance at first love.
(from book flap)
All the Things We Do in the Dark
There's no such thing as a secret. Something happened to Ava. The curving scar on her face is proof. But Ava would rather keep that something hidden-buried deep in her heart and her soul.
She has her best friend, Syd, and she has her tattoos-a colorful quilt, like a security blanket, over her whole body-and now, suddenly, she has Hailey. Beautiful, sweet Hailey, who seems to like Ava as much as Ava likes her. And Ava isn't letting anything get in the way of finally, finally seeking peace.
But in the woods on the outskirts of town, the traces of someone else's secrets lie frozen, awaiting Avas' discovery-and what Ava finds threatens to topple the carefully constructed wall of normalcy she's spent years building.
Secrets leave scars. But when the secret in question is not your own, do you ignore the truth and walk away? Or do you uncover it from its shallow grave and let it reopen old wounds-wounds that have finally begun to heal?
(from book flap)
Rogue Heart: Book 2
Neo Beijing, 2201.
Two years after the Battle of Neo Seoul, eighteen-year-old telepath Ama works in a cafe by the day and moonlights as a lounge singer in a smoky bar at night. She's anonymous, she's safe from the seemingly never-ending war, and that's how she's like to stay. But them PHNX, a resistance group specializing in espionage, approaches her with an offer to expose a government experiment exactly like the one she fled. Soon, Ama is traveling with PHNX on a series of dangerous assignments, using her telepathic powers to bring down the authoritarian Alliance.
As the war ramps up, PHNX is given its most dangerous mission yet: to infiltrate the base of the Alliance's new war commander, a young man rumored to have no fear of death. But when Ama sees the commander for the first time, she recognizes him: Alex Kim, the boy she once loved. The boy who betrayed her.
Now, Ama must use her telepathic abilities to pose as an officer in Alex's elite guard, manipulating his mind so that he doesn't recognize her. As the final battle approaches, Ama struggles with her mission and her feelings for Alex. Will she be able to carry out her task? Or will she give up everything for Alex again-only to be betrayed once more?
(from book flap)
Dangerous Alliance
Lady Victoria Aston has everything she could want: an older sister happily wed, the future of her family estate secure, and ample opportunity to while her time away in the fields around her home.
But Vicky's comfortable, idyllic life is overturned in the course of one night. Her sister's husband is a terrible cad and now Vicky must marry-or find herself and her family destitute. Armed only with the wisdom she has gained from her beloved novels by Jane Austen, she enters society's treacherous season.
Sadly, Miss Austen has little to say about Vicky's particular circumstances: wether the gorgeous and roguish Mr. Carmichael is indeed a scoundrel, if her former best friend-the much-grown and very handsome Tom Sherborne-is out for her dowry or for her heart, or even how to fend off the attentions of the foppish Mr. Silby, he of the unfortunate fashion sensibility.
Most unfortunate of all, Vicky's books are silent on the topic of the mysterious accidents cropping up around her . . . accidents that could prevent her from surviving until her wedding day.
(from book flap)
The Light at the Bottom of the World
IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST century, sea creatures swim through the ruins of London. Trapped in the abyss, humankind wavers between fear and hope-fear of what lurks in the depths around them, and hope that they might one day find a way back to the surface.
When sixteen-year-old submersible racer Leyla MacQueen is chosen to participate in the city's prestigious annual marathon, she sees an opportunity to save her father, who has been arrested on false charges. The prime minister promises the champion whatever their heart desires. But the race takes an unexpected turn, forcing Leyla to make an impossible choice.
Now she must brave unfathomable waters and defy a corrupt government determined to keep its secrets, all the while dealing with a guarded, hotheaded companion she never asked for in the first place. If Leyla fails to discover the truths at the heart of her world, or falls prey to her own fears, she risks capture-or worse. And her father will be lost to her forever.
(from book flap)
Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation: Book 1
CHARLIE THORNE IS A GENIUS. CHARLIE THORNE IS A THIEF. CHARLIE THORNE ISN'T OLD ENOUGH TO DRIVE. AND NOW IT'S UP TO HER TO SAVE THE WORLD
Decades ago, Albert Einstein devised an equation that could benefit all life on earth-or destroy it. Fearing what would happen if the equation fell into the wrong hands, he hid it.
But now a diabolical group known as the Furies is closing in on its location.In desperation, a ream of CIA agents drags Charlie into the hunt, needing her brilliance to help them find it first-even though this means placing her life in grave danger.
In a breakneck adventure that spans the globe, Charlie must crack a complex code created by Einstein himself, struggle to survive in a world where no one can be trusted, and fight to keep the last equation safe once and for all. (from book flap)
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD. Sixteen-year-old Audre is heartbroken, having just found out she's going to live in America with her father because her mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor's grand-daughter. Audre's grandmother (a dancer who drives a white convertible Mercedes and has a few secrets of her own) reassures Audre that she won't lose her roots, not even in some place called Minneapolis. "America have dey spirits too, believe me," she tell Audre.
MINNEAPOLIS, USA. Sixteen-year-old Mabel is starting at a picture of Whitney Houston, trying figure out why she feels the way she feels-about her ex, Terrell, about her girl Jada and that moment they had in the woods, and about the vague feeling of illness that's plagued her all summer. Mabel's reverie is cut short when her dad announces that a friend and his just-arrived-from-Trinidad daughter are coming for dinner.
Mabel falls hard and fast for Audre, and she's determined to help Audre find her way in America-never an easy thing for a Black girl, as she knows. But their romance takes a turn when test results reveal exactly why Mabel has been feeling low-key sick all summer. Suddenly it's Audre who must care for Mabel as she faces a deeply uncertain future. (from book flap)
To Best the Boys
THE TASK IS SIMPLE: DON A DISGUISE. SURVIVE THE LABYRINTH. BEST THE BOYS.
One girl makes a stand against society and enters a world made exclusively for boys.
Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of Pinsbury Port have received a mysterious letter inviting all eligible-aged boys to compete for an esteemed scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. The poorer residents look to see if their names are on the list. The wealthier look to see how likely their sons are to survive. And Rhen Tellur opens it to see if she can derive which substances the ink and parchment are created from, using her father's microscope.
In the province of Caldon, where women train in wifely duties and men pursue collegiate education, sixteen-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her mum succumbs to it as well? Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands-through the annual all-male scholarship competition.
With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm's labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize. Except not everyone is ready for a girl who doesn't know her place. And not everyone survives the deadly maze. WELCOME TO THE LABYRINTH
(from book flap)
Missing Presumed Dead
One touch.
That's all it takes for Lexi to see how and when someone will die.
So she protects herself. She stays away, never letting anyone get too close.
It's lonely being surrounded by future corpses. By the ghosts that linger.
Until Jane.
Once full of life, now full of vengeance.
Jane is out to catch her murderer.
She needs Lexi to help her.
Whether Lexi wants to or not.
(from book flap)
Rated
Societies thrive on order, and the Rating System is the ultimate symbol of organized social mobility.
The higher your rating soars, the more valued you are. The lower it plummets, the harder you must work to improve yourself. For the students at the prestigious Maplethorpe Academy, every single thing they do is reflected in their ratings, updated continuously and available for all to see.
But when an act of vandalism sullies the front doors of the school, it sets off a chain reaction that will shake the lives of six special student. Bex, Noah, Tamsin, Hana, Chase, and Javi don't have much in common at first glance, but soon each of them will be forced to face the unfair reality of the ratings-and decide whether they're willing to fight for a abetter future.
(from book flap)
Soul fo Stars: Book 2
ONCE ANA WAS AN ORPHANED SPACE OUTLAW. Then she was the Empress of the Iron Kingdom. Now, thought dead by most of the galaxy after she escaped from the dark AI program called the HIVE, Ana is desperate for a way to save Di from the HIVE's evil clutches and take back her kingdom.
Ana's only option is to find Starbright, the one person who hacked into the HIVE and lived to tell the tale. But when Ana's desperation costs the crew of the Dossier a terrible price, Ana and her friends are sent spiraling through the most perilous reaches of the Iron Kingdom to stop the true arbiter of evil in her world: an ancient world-ending deity called the Great Dark.
Their journey will take their sharp-witted pilot, Jax, to the home he never wanted to return to and the dangerous fate he left behind. And when Robb finds out who Jax really is, he must contend with his own feelings for the boy he barely knows, and questions whether he truly belongs with this group of outcasts.
(from book flap)
Scars Like Wings
AVA LEE has lost everything there is to lose. Her parents. Her best friend. Her home. Even her face. She doesn't need a mirror to know what she looks like-she can see her reflection in the eyes of everyone around her.
A year after the fire that destroyed her world, her aunt and uncle have decided she should go back to high school. Be "normal" again. Whatever that is.
Ava knows better. There is no normal for someone like her. And forget making friends-no one wants to be seen with the Burned Girl, now or ever.
But when Ava meets a fellow survivor named Piper, she begins to feel like maybe she doesn't have to have the nightmare alone. Sarcastic and blunt, Piper isn't afraid to push Ava out of her comfort zone. Piper introduces Ava to Asad, a boy who loves theater just as she does-and slowly, Ava tries to create a life again.
Yet Piper is fighting her own battle, and soon Ava must decide if she's going to fade back into her scars . . . or let the people by her side help her fly. (from book flap)
The Candle and the Flame
A GIRL WITH THE FIRE OF A DJINNI. A CITY SCARRED BY VIOLENCE.
FATIMA LIVES IN THE CITY OF NOOR, a thriving stop along the Silk Road. There the music of myriad languages fills the air, and people of all faiths thread their lives together. However, the city bears scars of its recent past, when the chaotic tribe of Shayateen Djinn slaughtered its entire population-except for Fatima and two other humans. Now ruled by a new maharajah, Noor is protected from the Shayateen by the Ifrit, Djinn of order and reason, and by their commander, Zulfikar.
But when one of the mostpotent of the Ifrit dies, trouble brews and Fatima is changed in ways she cannot fathom, ways that scare even those who love her. Oud in hand, Fatima is drawn into the intrigues of the maharajah and his sister, the affairs of Zulfikar and the Djinn, and the dangers of a magical battlefield. (from book flap)
Let's go Swimming on Doomsday
Sixteen-year-old Abdi thought the worst had already happened when his older brother Dahir was kidnapped by Al Shabaab militants and forced to become a child soldier. But three years later, it's Dahir's standing as a trusted member of the terrorist organization that gets the rest of his family abducted by a callous CIA operative. The price of their release: infiltrate Al Shabaab as a spy and gather information on the next planned attack.
Counting on is brother's help, he plunges into the world of militants, only to find that Dahir has now become Khalid, a true believer, and Abdi revealing himself as a spy could backfire with deadly consequences.
Abdi's only path forward is to get the Americans the information they want by earning the trust of Al Shabaab's leaders. But this means doing terrible things he never imagined himself capable of. Worse, he soon discovers the next planned attack has his brother donning a suicide bomber's vest. To keep Kahir and the rest of his family alive, Abdi hatches a risky plan that will cost him much more that just his own life if he fails.
(from book flap)
The Kingdom
Glimmering like a jewel behind its gateway, the Kingdom is an immersive fantasy theme park where guests soar on virtual dragons, castles loom like giants, and bioengineered species-formerly extinct-roam free. It is also home to the fantasists: seven beautiful android-hybrid princesses whose sole purpose is to make dreams come true.
As one of the most favored Fantasists, Ana adores her life at the park. But when she meets Owen, Ana begins to experience emotions beyond her programming, including, for the first time . . . love.
But the fairy tale takes a dark turn when Owen goes missing and is presumed dead. All evidence points to Ana. Ana is accused of Owen's murder, igniting the trial of the century.
(from book flap)
Permanent Record
On paper, college dropout Pablo Neruda Rind doesn't have a whole lot going for him. His graveyard shift at a twenty-four-hour deli in Brooklyn is a struggle. Plus, he's up to his eyeballs in credit card debt. Never mind the state of his student loans.
Pop juggernaut Leanna Smart has enough social media followers to populate whole continents. The brand is unstoppable. She graduated from child stardom to become an international icon, and her adult life is a queasy blur of private planes, hotel rooms, and strangers screaming for her just to notice them.
When Leanna and Pablo meet at 5:00 a.m. at the bodega in the dead of winter, it's absurd to think they'd be A Thing. But as they discover who they are, who they want to be, and how to defy the expectations of everyone else, Lee and Pab turn to each other. Which, of course, is when things get properly complicated.