Reviewer (text)
Kat Szabo
If you’re a fan of Rick Riordan (as I am), you will not be disappointed by THE SWORD OF SUMMER, Book 1 of Magnus Chase And The Gods Of Asgard. It has everything that his fans will love: action, adventures, comedy, mythology (of course) and a great cast of characters. Fans of the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus series will love Magnus and his friends just as much as they loved Percy and his gang. There’s even a bit of a crossover between Magnus and a very familiar character from Percy’s world.
Teaser
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers. One day, he's tracked down by an uncle he barely knows --- a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.
Promo
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers. One day, he's tracked down by an uncle he barely knows --- a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.
About the Book
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.
One day, he's tracked down by an uncle he barely knows --- a man his mother claimed was dangerous. Uncle Randolph tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.
The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.
When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.
Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die...
Anthony Marra’s collection introduces a cast of remarkable characters whose lives intersect in ways both life-affirming and heartbreaking. A 1930s Soviet censor painstakingly corrects offending photographs, bewitched by the image of a disgraced prima ballerina. A chorus of women recount their stories and those of their grandmothers, former gulag prisoners. Two pairs of brothers share a fierce, protective love. Young men across the former USSR face violence at home and in the military.
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Kezia, Nathaniel and Victor are reunited for the extravagant wedding of a college friend. Now at the tail end of their 20s, they arrive completely absorbed in their own lives but soon slip back into old roles. In the midst of all this semi-merriment, Victor passes out in the mother of the groom's bedroom. He wakes to her jovially slapping him across the face. Instead of a scolding, she offers Victor a story she's never even told her son --- about a valuable necklace that disappeared during the Nazi occupation of France. And so a madcap adventure is set into motion.
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With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him, and the threat of prison dogging his every step, Colin Hancock is determined to walk a straight line. Maria Sanchez, the hardworking daughter of Mexican immigrants, is the picture of conventional success. Yet she has a traumatic history of her own, one that compelled her to return to her hometown and left her questioning so much of what she once believed.
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New York City, 1976. Meet Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city’s great fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by downtown’s punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor --- and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year’s Eve. When the blackout of July 13, 1977, plunges this world into darkness, each of these lives will be changed forever.
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Reviewer (text)
Jeanna Michel
Richelle Mead has always been an amazing writer. She floored readers with her great Vampire Academy and Bloodlinesseries. She is back to wow her audience again, this time with an entirely different idea; SOUNDLESS is a flawless take on a fantastical Chinese folktale. Read More
Teaser
For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom. When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation. But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.
Promo
For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom. When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation. But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.
About the Book
For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.
When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation.
But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.
Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei’s jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiguo, where a startling truth and an unlikely romance will change her life forever.
Reviewer (text)
Ariel G., Teen Board member
A genuine journey of discovery, ALL THE MAJOR CONSTELLATIONS by Pratima Cranse is told from the protagonist’s, Andrew’s, point of view. Caught in between the neglect of his parents, the abuse of his brother, the responsibility of his job, and a drunk driver’s reckless choice, is Laura Lettel, a strikingly beautiful girl from school who Andrew becomes infatuated with. Yet, as he knows Laura is a devout fundamental Christian, Andrew is apprehensive when she approaches him about his difficult home situation. Read More
Teaser
Andrew is leaving high school behind and looking ahead to a fresh start at college and distance from his not-so-secret infatuation: Laura Lettel. But when a terrible accident leaves him without the companionship of his two best friends, Andrew is cast adrift and alone --- until Laura unexpectedly offers him comfort, friendship and the support of a youth group of true believers, fundamentalist Christians with problems and secrets of their own.
Promo
Andrew is leaving high school behind and looking ahead to a fresh start at college and distance from his not-so-secret infatuation: Laura Lettel. But when a terrible accident leaves him without the companionship of his two best friends, Andrew is cast adrift and alone --- until Laura unexpectedly offers him comfort, friendship and the support of a youth group of true believers, fundamentalist Christians with problems and secrets of their own.
About the Book
When you’re about to face the world, who do you turn to?
Andrew is leaving high school behind and looking ahead to a fresh start at college and distance from his not-so-secret infatuation: Laura Lettel. But when a terrible accident leaves him without the companionship of his two best friends, Andrew is cast adrift and alone --- until Laura unexpectedly offers him comfort, friendship and the support of a youth group of true believers, fundamentalist Christians with problems and secrets of their own. Andrew is curiously drawn to their consuming beliefs, but why? Is it only to get closer to Laura? And is Laura genuinely interested in Andrew, or is she just trying to convert him?
This provocative and compelling debut novel will resonate deeply with readers as it explores questions of identity, sexuality and spirituality.
Anne Hawkins has an eclectic list ranging from thrillers to literary fiction to serious nonfiction. She also has particular interests in science, history, public policy, medicine and women`s issues. One of her first sales was the delightful novel EDDIE’S BASTARD by William Kowalski, which has been translated into 13 languages. The bestselling REAGAN: A LIFE IN LETTERS reflects Anne’s history and policy interests. Her clients include bestselling authors Tasha Alexander and Taylor Stevens, and Miranda Beverly-Whittemore.
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Reviewer (text)
Michael Magras
Wallace Stevens’ 1917 modernist poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” is among the writer’s most haunting works. It’s also one of his most inspiring. Many musicians have written pieces based on the poem’s 13 short stanzas. Read More
Teaser
Colum McCann’s latest consists of a novella and three short stories. In the title piece, mystery surrounds the death of a retired 82-year-old New York Supreme Court justice. The other stories involve a writer struggling to compose a story for a New Year’s edition of a magazine, a mother in Galway whose 13-year-old adopted son has disappeared, and an elderly nun who discovers that the man who kidnapped her 37 years earlier is now a diplomat.
Promo
Colum McCann’s latest consists of a novella and three short stories. In the title piece, mystery surrounds the death of a retired 82-year-old New York Supreme Court justice. The other stories involve a writer struggling to compose a story for a New Year’s edition of a magazine, a mother in Galway whose 13-year-old adopted son has disappeared, and an elderly nun who discovers that the man who kidnapped her 37 years earlier is now a diplomat.
About the Book
In such acclaimed novels as LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN and TRANSATLANTIC, National Book Award-winning author Colum McCann has transfixed readers with his precision, tenderness and authority. Now, in his first collection of short fiction in more than a decade, McCann charts the territory of chance, and the profound and intimate consequences of even our smallest moments.
In the exuberant title novella, a retired judge reflects on his life’s work, unaware as he goes about his daily routines that this particular morning will be his last. In “Sh’khol,” a mother spending Christmas alone with her son confronts the unthinkable when he disappears while swimming off the coast near their home in Ireland. In “Treaty,” an elderly nun catches a snippet of a news report in which it is revealed that the man who once kidnapped and brutalized her is alive, masquerading as an agent of peace. And in “What Time Is It Now, Where You Are?” a writer constructs a story about a Marine in Afghanistan calling home on New Year’s Eve.
Deeply personal, subtly subversive, at times harrowing and indeed funny, yet also full of comfort, THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING is a striking achievement. With unsurpassed empathy for his characters and their inner lives, Colum McCann forges from their stories a profound tribute to our search for meaning and grace. The collection is a rumination on the power of storytelling in a world where language and memory can sometimes falter, but in the end do not fail us, and a contemplation of the healing power of literature.
