Sunday, May 25, 2014

Stacking the Shelves #49

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Review

BOUGHT

The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley
After his parents' death, Michael Vyner's future is unclear. All he knows is that his new wealthy guardian has invited him to a remote country estate. But Michael begins to suspect something is not right on the very night he arrives, when he spots a mysterious woman in the frozen mists.

The chilling solitude of the house itself is another surprise. His guardian is rarely seen, and there's an evil force lurking in an old hallway mirror. Michael soon realizes that the house and its grounds harbor many more secrets - both dead and very much alive. And Michael's reason for being there is quickly becoming clearer. . . .

The Body at the Tower by Y. S. Lee
Now nearly a full-fledged member of the Agency, the all-female detective unit operating out of Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls. Mary Quinn is back for another action-packed adventure. Disguised as a poor apprentice builder and a boy, she must brave the grimy underbelly of Victorian London - as well as childhood memories of fear, hunger, and constant want - to unmask the identity of a murderer. Assigned to monitor a building site on the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, Mary earns the confidence of the work crew, inching ever nearer her suspect. But if an irresistible desire to help the city's needy doesn't distract her and jeopardize her cover, unexpectedly meeting up with an old friend - or flame - just might.

Green Jasper by K. M. Grant
Is it foolish to think that one boy and a blood red horse can save a fair maiden and the throne of England?

Will and Gavin de Granville have come back from the Crusade older, braver, and definitely wiser.

Ellie has been longing for their return. But they've changed. And home is almost as dangerous as the war they've just left.

The king is missing. The country is in turmoil. And some men would do anything for power. What will two brothers risk for the woman they both love and the king they have both sworn to protect and serve?

The Lioness & Her Knight by Gerald Morris
Luneta is tired of living in dull Orkney with her mother and father (who happens to be the most boring knight of King Arthur's Round Table). She prides herself on always getting what she wants, so when the opportunity presents itself, she jumps at the chance to stay at a family friend's castle near Camelot. Her handsome cousin, Sir Ywain - a young knight seeking adventure - arrives just in time to escort her.

Along the way they pick up a knight-turned-fool named Rhience, whose wit and audacity sets many a puffed-up personality in its place. Before arriving at Lady Laudine's castle, the trio stops at Camelot, where they hear the story of the Storm Stone, a magical object deep in the forest that soon sweeps everyone into a web of love, betrayal, and more than a bit of magic.

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
The small town of Cryer's Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn't that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain.

When a second student goes missing - someone close to Kendall's heart - the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall's not sure she can hold it together. When she starts hearing the voices of the missing calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she's losing her grip on reality.

But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school - messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there- Kendall decides that crazy or not, she'd never forgive herself if she didn't act on her suspicions.

Something's not right in Cryer's Cross - and Kendall's about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried.

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
It's been only months since Eragon first uttered "brisingr," an ancient language term for fire. Since then, he's not only learned to create magic with words - he's been challenged to his very core. Following the colossal battle against the Empire's warriors on the Burning Plains, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have narrowly escaped with their lives. Still, there is more adventure at hand for the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able to keep.

First is Eragon's oath to his cousin, Roran: to help rescue Roran's beloved from King Galbatorix's clutches. But Eragon owes his loyalty to others, too. The Varden are in desperate need of his talents and strength - as are the elves and dwarves. When unrest claims the rebels and danger strikes from every corner, Eragon must make choices - choices that will take him across the Empire and beyond, choices that may lead to unimagined sacrifice.

Eragon is the greatest hope to rid the land of tyranny. Can this once simple farm boy unite the rebel forces and defeat the king?

Bad Luck Girl by Sarah Zettel
Callie's cherished dream has come true. At last, her family is together, including her long-lost father, an Unseelie fairy prince. But instead of living happily ever after, Callie has ignited a war between the fairies of the Midnight Throne and the Sunlit Kingdoms. Now Callie and her best friend, Jack, are running for their lives.

But full-blooded fairies aren't the only magical creatures in the world. . . .or at war. Callie's bid to get her family to safety captures the attention of the Halfers, magical outcasts who are half fairy and half other - half paper, half steel girder, half electric spark - all laced with magic and big-city attitude.

As the war boils over, Callie's world falls apart. She might be the child of prophecy, but she doubts she can save anyone - the Halfers, her people, her family, Jack, or even herself. The fairies all say Callie is the Bad Luck Girl. . . .and she's starting to believe them.

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne
Your mother hollers that you're going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don't stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don't thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not - you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.

Only, if it's the last time you'll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you'd stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.

But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong. In Emmy Laybourne's action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world - as they know it - apart.

Sky of Fire by Emmy Laybourne
Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive while working together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope.

Knowing that the chemical weapons saturating the air outside will turn him into a bloodthirsty rage monster, Dean decides to stay in the safety of the store with his longtime crush Astrid and some of the younger kids. But their sanctuary has already been breached once. . . .

Meanwhile, Alex, determined to find their parents, heads out into the darkness and devastation with their leader, Niko, and the rest of the kids in a recently repaired school bus. If they can get to Denver International Airport, they might be evacuated to safety. But the outside world is even worse than they expected. . . .

Savage Drift by Emmy Laybourne
Dean, Alex, and the other survivors of the Monument 14 have escaped the disaster zone and made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Some of the kids have even been reunited with their families, and are making tentative plans for the future. Then, Niko learns that his lost love, Josie, has survived!

For Josie, separated from the group and presumed dead, life has gone from bad to worse. Trapped in a terrible prison camp with other exposed O's and traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue. Meanwhile, scared by the government's unusual interest in her pregnancy, Astrid - along with her two protectors, Dean and Jake - flees the camp to join Niko on his desperate quest to be reunited with Josie.

Curses and Smoke by Vicky Alvear Shecter
When your world blows apart, what will you hold onto?

Tag is a medical slave, doomed to spend his life healing his master's injured gladiators. But his warrior's heart yearns to fight in the gladiator ring himself and earn enough money to win his freedom.

Lucia is the daughter of Tag's owner, doomed by her father's greed to marry a much older Roman man. But she loves studying the natural world around her home in Pompeii, and lately she's been noticing some odd occurrences in the landscape: small lakes disappearing; a sulfurous smell in the air. . . .

When the two childhood friends reconnect, each with their own longings, they fall passionately in love. But as they plot their escape from the city, a patrician fighter reveals his own plans for them - to Lucia's father, who imprisons Tag as punishment. Then an earthquake shakes Pompeii, in the first sign of the chaos to come. Will they be able to find each other again before the volcano destroys their whole world?

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Circa Now by Amber McRee Turner
Twelve-year-old Circa Monroe has a knack for restoring old photographs. It's a skill she learned from her dad, who loves old pictures and putting fun digital twists on them. His altered "Shopt" photos look so real that they could fool nearly anybody, and Circa treasures the fun stories he makes up to explain each creation.

One day, her father receives a strange phone call requesting an urgent delivery, and he heads out into a storm. The unimaginable happens: a tornado, then a terrible accident. Just as Circa and her mom begin to pick up the pieces, a mysterious boy shows up on their doorstep, a boy called Miles who remembers nothing about his past. The only thing he has with him is the photograph that Circa's dad intended to deliver on the day he died.

As Circa tries to help Miles recover his identity, she begins to notice something strange about the photos she and her father retouched - the digital flourishes added to the old photos seem to exist in real life. The mysteries of the Shopt photos and Miles's past are intertwined, and in order to solve both, Circa will have to figure out what's real and what's an illusion.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends - the Liars - whose friendship turns destructive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.

The truth.

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
September 3, 1940. The peculiar children flee an army of deadly monsters. And only one person can help them - but she's trapped in the body of a bird.

The extraordinary journey that began in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. There, they hope to find a cure for their beloved headmistress, Miss Peregrine. But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. And before Jacob can deliver the peculiar children to safety, he must make an important decision about his love for Emma Bloom.

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly
Serafina, daughter of Isabella, Queen of Miromara, has been raised with the expectation - and burden - that she will someday become ruler of the oldest civilization of the merfolk. On the eve of the Dokimi ceremony, which will determine if she is worthy of the crown, Sera is haunted by a strange dream that foretells the return of an ancient evil. But her nightmare is forgotten the next day as she diligently practices her songspell; eagerly anticipates a reunion with her best friend, Neela; and anxiously worries about Mahdi, the crown prince of Matali, and whether his feelings toward her and their future betrothal have changed. Most of all, she worries about not living up to her mother's hopes.

The Dokimi proceeds, a dazzling display of majesty and might, until a shocking turn of events interrupts it: an assassin's arrow wounds Isabella. The realm falls into chaos, and Serafina's darkest premonitions are confirmed. Now she and Neela must embark on a quest to find the assassin's master and prevent a war between the mer nations. Their search will lead them to other mermaid heroines scattered across the six seas. Together they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world's very existence.


This Week, On The Reading Hedgehog.............

May 19, 2014 - Monday
May 20, 2014 - Tuesday
May 21, 2014 - Wednesday
May 22, 2014 - Thursday
May 23, 2014 - Friday
May 24, 2014 - Saturday

Next Week, On The Reading Hedgehog.............

May 26, 2014 - Monday
ARC Review: Mouseheart - Lisa Fiedler
May 27, 2014 - Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday #46: Top 10 Childhood Favorites
Teaser Tuesday #7
May 28, 2014 - Wednesday
Waiting on Wednesday #49 + WWW Wednesday #19
May 29, 2014 - Thursday
Review: Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo
May 30, 2014 - Friday
May Book Haul
May 31, 2014 - Saturday
Hedgie's Must Reads: May 2014

2 comments:

  1. I have been hearing really good things about the monument 14 books. Its a series I need to check out enjoy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not the best post-apocalyptic series out there - not even close. But it is entertaining enough. :)

      Delete

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