Book picks similar to
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Saving Mars
Cidney Swanson - 2012
Earth-Mars relations couldn’t be worse, and her brother is captured during the raid. Breaking rules of secrecy and no contact, Jess finds an ally in Pavel, nephew to a government official, but their friendship only makes more agonizing the choice before her: Save her brother or save her planet?
Accidentally on Purpose
Bree Stonefield
Accidentally. On purpose.
Falling Apart
Jacqueline Wilson - 1989
It’s nothing to do with what you said, Dad, I’d made up my mind to do this ages ago. Mum, maybe it will help to think of your twins together again.Jan, I’m leaving you my blue cashmere sweater and all my books, even though they mostly belonged to you in the first place.Louise, you can have my diamanté brooch and all my make up and any clothes you want. I’d like Carly to have my toy dog.Goodbye.Love from Tina.Tina is fifteen and having a miserable time at home since her twin brother died. She falls in love for the first time. Simon is from a private school and not part of Tina’s world. They don’t have much in common, but Tina convinces herself she’s in love. When Simon ends it with her, Tina’s world falls apart.First published in 1989, Falling Apart is an honest and thought-provoking story written by one of the world’s most popular writers. Jacqueline Wilson captures the voices of teenagers perfectly in this engrossing novel about couples and families, and what can happen when it all goes wrong.
Secret of the Emerald Star
Phyllis A. Whitney - 1964
Devery, whose whole world is Staten Island, strangers are not people: they are Jews or Catholics or Cubans or whatever is unlike herself, and therefore very strange indeed. All of which is rather ironic, of course, since the children of the neighborhood look upon the provincial, autocratic old woman herself as a witch.How well the label fits, thirteen-year-old Robin Ward is in a better position than most to know. She and her family are newcomers to secluded, fading Catalpa Court. From the window of her third-floor bedroom she commands a perfect view of the balconies and turrets of the house next door-can see everything that happens within the shrouded grounds of the big, forbidding Devery place.None of that first weird scene seems real. Round and round on the front lawn turns a girl in a white dress, her arms out wide as if she were flying, her voice making the tuneless, high-pitched sound of an insect. Suddenly the white-haired mistress of the house, dressed in clothes of another era, rushes toward the girl, grasps her angrily by the arm and virtually drags her away.A famous sculptor also living in Catalpa Court is willing to teach a limited number of talented beginners. Robin's eagerness to qualify becomes inextricably involved not only with the strange girl and her grim "jailer" but with the fate of a valuable pin made of emeralds and a diamond and shaped like a star. Mystery and menace progressively deepen with Mrs. Devery's behavior amid the ruins of an old house and her association with a short, fat man whose white moon face, bald head, and habit of sucking lemon drops add chills to each sinister moment he appears. Completely unmysterious is the point dramatized by this excellent and exciting book that prejudices about people can only harm the prejudiced.
The Only Girl in the Band
youXfoundXme - 2011
She's got the look and she's got the voice. The only thing that's stopping her is her stage fright...and an opportunity. But opportunity knocks when pop-punk band, The Velocity, holds auditions for a new lead singer at the restaurant that Vanessa works at. Getting in was the easy part. Surviving as the only girl in the band is the hard part. Can she do it?
Seeing Cinderella
Jenny Lundquist - 2012
Her best friend, Ellen, is acting weird, her parent's marriage is falling apart, and to top things off, she found out she needs hideously large and geeky glasses.But Callie soon learns they aren't just any glasses—they are magical and let her read people's thoughts. For the first time ever she's answering all the questions right in math class, and gets a glimpse of what goes through people's minds all day, including what Ellen—and her longtime crush—really think of her.As if dealing with these crazy glasses weren't enough, Callie tries out for the lead in her school's production of Cinderella and actually gets the part. Instead, Callie chooses to let Ellen have the lead and be Ellen's understudy—just like she has done for their entire friendship.Add in a new girl who has something to hide, a secret admirer, a best friend stealer who isn't what she seems, and Callie's year just went from ordinary to extraordinary.Can this supporting actress learn to be a leading lady in her own life? Or is she destined to stay in the background forever—even with her super-freaky-magic glasses?
Cruel Crown
Victoria Aveyard - 2016
As she travels the land recruiting black market traders, smugglers, and extremists for her first attempt at an attack on the capital, she stumbles upon a connection that may prove to be the key to the entire operation—Mare Barrow.Plus a Glass Sword sneak peek!An exclusive excerpt of the hotly anticipated second book in the Red Queen series, Glass Sword, transports readers to the world of Silver tyranny, a Red dawn rising, and one girl’s resolve to break down the system that will hold her back no longer.
The Woman in the Wall
Patrice Kindl - 1997
She is nearly invisible. At seven, terrified of school, Anna retreats within the walls of her family's enormous house, and builds a world of passageways and hidden rooms. As the years go by, people forget she ever existed. Then a mysterious note is thrust through a crack in the wall, and Anna must decide whether or not to come out of hiding. Patrice Kindl's astounding, inventive novel blends fantasy and reality -- and readers will not forget it.
The Specialists: The Complete Teen Spy Thriller Series
Shannon Greenland - 2017
It's 1500+ pages full of intrigue, adventure, bad guys, fun gadgets, and romance. Teen genius Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. A whiz with computers, she agrees to help her college RA, David, uncover some top-secret information. After all, she doesn't have many friends and David has always been nice to her. It doesn't hurt that he's super cute and irresistible, too. All she has to do is hack into the government's main computer system. But a few hours later, her whole life changes. She is caught and taken in for questioning, only this isn't your run-of-the-mill arrest. Rather than serve a juvenile detention sentence, she accepts the option to change her name and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover. As if that wasn't overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well! And before she even begins to understand what is going on, she's sent on her first mission as an undercover model. And who better to partner with than David himself!
Echoes and Empires
Morgan Rhodes - 2022
So when she’s caught up in a robbery gone wrong at the Queen’s Gala and infected by a dangerous piece of magic—one that allows her to step into the memories of an infamously evil warlock—she finds herself living her worst nightmare. Joss needs the magic removed before it corrupts her soul and kills her. But in Ironport, the cost of doing magic is death, and seeking help might mean scheduling her own execution. There’s nobody she can trust.Nobody, that is, except wanted criminal Jericho Nox, who offers her a deal: his help extracting the magic in exchange for the magic itself. And though she’s not thrilled to be working with a thief, especially one as infuriating (and infuriatingly handsome) as Jericho, Joss is desperate enough to accept. But Jericho is nothing like Joss expects. The closer she grows with Jericho and the more she sees of the world outside her pampered life in the city, the more Joss begins to question the beliefs she’s always taken for granted—beliefs about right and wrong, about power and magic, and even about herself.In an empire built on lies, the truth may be her greatest weapon.
Blue Plate Special
Michelle D. Kwasney - 2009
Until the day Tad, a quirky McDonald's counter boy, asks Madeline out for a date, and she gets her first taste of normal. But with a life thats anything but, how long can normal really last? Hanging with Jeremy, avoiding Mam, sticking Do Not Disturb Post-its on her heart, Desiree's mission is simple: party hard, graduate (well, maybe), get out of town. But after Desiree accepts half a meatball grinder, a cold drink, and a ride from her mother's boyfriend one rainy afternoon, nothing is ever simple again.Too many AP classes. Workaholic mom. Dad in prison. Still, Ariel's sultry new boyfriend, Shane, manages to make even the worst days delicious. But when an unexpected phone call forces a trip to visit a sick grandmother she's never met, revealing her family's dark past, Ariel struggles to find the courage to make the right choice for her own future.As three girls from three different decades lives converge, they discover they are connected ways they could never imagine. Each of them finds strength that brings her closer to healing a painful past, and faith that there is a happier future.
Amber
Julie Sykes - 2013
She doesn’t even know her real name. The only clues to her identity are a beautiful amber necklace and a broken mobile phone. She’s determined to learn the truth about her past life, and the secrets she’s hiding, but how many rules will she break along the way?
Dark Ride
Caroline Green - 2011
And the day she follows him into the abandoned fairground, she is totally unprepared for the turn her life is about to take.
The Breaker Boys
Pat Hughes - 2004
Anger—mainly at his father and stepmother—is what gets him there and what prevents him from making friends. Then, in the spring of 1897, it gets him kicked out and sent home. To avoid his family, Nate disappears on his bicycle every day. In this way he meets the breaker boys, who do dangerous, dirty work for his father, separating coal from debris. Nate admires these Polish immigrants, especially Johnny, and longs to become his friend. But the only way is for Nate to hide that he is the boss's son. As Nate and Johnny's friendship marches toward the moment of truth, Nate discovers that the mine workers are plotting a strike. Should he warn his family or protect his friend?This fascinating second novel features a hero who is blessed—or cursed—with the ability to see both sides of a painful issue and to accept that no one is impartial.
Fracture Me
Tahereh Mafi - 2013
He's reeling from his breakup with Juliette, scared for his best friend's life, and as concerned as ever for his brother James's safety. And just as Adam begins to wonder if this life is really for him, the alarms sound. It's time for war.On the battlefield, it seems like the odds are in their favor—but taking down Warner, Adam's newly discovered half brother, won't be that easy. The Reestablishment can't tolerate a rebellion, and they'll do anything to crush the resistance... including killing everyone Adam has ever cared about.Fracture Me sets the stage for Ignite Me, the explosive finale in Tahereh Mafi's epic dystopian series. Set during and soon after the final moments of Unravel Me, Fracture Me is told from Adam's perspective.