No Time to Die & The Deep End of Fear


Elizabeth Chandler - 2010
    In No Time to Die, Jenny is devastated by the recent death of her sister, Liza. Looking for a sense of closure, she secretly signs up for the drama camp where Liza died. Jenny knows that someone here holds the key to what really happened to Liza that night, but if she doesn’t find out the truth soon, she may become the next victim. In The Deep End of Fear, Kate has tried to bury the horrible memories associated with the Westbrook estate. After her best friend Ashley drowned on the estate, Kate vowed never to return. But now, twelve years later, she is drawn back towards the house and that fatal icy pond. There, Kate still feels Ashley’s presence and the past seems to be pulling her back towards Ashley’s life-threatening dares.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp


Rick Yancey - 2005
    But after Alfred unwittingly delivers the sword into the hands of a man with enormously evil intentions, he sets off on an unlikely quest to try to right his wrong and save the world from imminent destruction. This gripping, fast-paced, hilarious novel is both a thrilling adventure story and an engaging account of one boy's coming of age.

The Morganville Vampires, Volume 2


Rachel Caine - 2010
    But after dark, students like Claire Danvers know that studying can take a backseat to staying alive. Now together in one bloodthirsty volume, the second two books of the Morganville Vampires series show why underestimating a vampire can be deadly....MIDNIGHT ALLEYClaire Danvers has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. But being under Amelie's protection doesn't offer much comfort when people start turning up dead, a talker resurfaces from Claire's past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons at his secluded home in Midnight Alley. To what end, Claire will soon discover - and it will give a terrifying new meaning to night school.FEAST OF FOOLSIn Morganville, vampires and humans have learned to live in relative peace, but the tenuous good-neighbor policy is abruptly turned on its head with the arrival of Mr. Bishop. The ancient old-school vampire is bad to the bones, and what he wants from the town's living and dead is unthinkably sinister. It's only at a formal ball attended by vampires and their human dates that Claire realizes Bishop's plan - and the elaborately evil trap he's set for the warm-blooded souls of Morganville.

The Finisher


David Baldacci - 2014
    A world with possibilities and creatures beyond her imagining.But she will be forced to fight for her freedom. And unravelling the truth may cost Vega her life.

Fairest of All


Serena Valentino - 2009
    Despite a few variations from telling to telling, the story remains the same—the Queen was jealous of the girl’s beauty, and this jealousy culminated in the Queen’s attempt on the sweet, naive girl’s life. Another tale far less often spoken of is the one that explains what caused the Queen to become so contemptuously vile. Still, some have attempted to guess at the reason. Perhaps the Queen’s true nature was that of a wicked hag and her beautiful, regal appearance a disguise used to fool the King. Others claim that the Queen might have hated the girl for her resemblance to the King’s first wife. Mostly, the Queen is painted as a morally abhorrent woman who never loved another being during the course of her miserable life.In fact, the theories about exactly what cause the Queen’s obsessive vanity and jealous rage are too numerous to catalog. This book recounts a version of the story that has remained untold until now. It is a tragic tale of love and loss, and it contains a bit of magic. It is a tale of the Wicked Queen…

Missing


Cathy MacPhail - 2000
    A gritty novel, both suspenseful and stylishly written, it tells how a school bully's actions force a troubled teenager to run away, leaving his younger sister to cope with grieving parents in a house devoid of love or hope for the future. She is misunderstood and alone--despite all of the voices around her claiming they understand and that they want to help. Maxine Moody's world was turned upside down when her older brother Derek went missing. Ten months later he is presumed dead--but that has not stopped Maxine's parents from hoping that he will be found alive. While they investigate possible sightings of their missing son, Maxine is packed off to stay with relatives. She feels unwanted and unloved. She harbours guilty feelings of resentment for Derek's disappearence and plays truant from school--a place where she has few friends and several enemies. There seems no way out for Maxine until a body is discovered in London, dressed in the clothes Derek was wearing when he was last sighted. Can Maxine's pain and confusion be finally over? Missing, however, is never that simple and underneath the bleak subjects at its core lies a compelling examination of what it means to love somebody--and what it might feel like to be unloved. Many lives are affected by Derek's actions. All are laid bare and examined. It's a highly readable, honest and mature novel that should be a part of growing up for everybody. (Age 12 and over) --John McLay

La Belle Sauvage


Philip Pullman - 2017
    And so perhaps it was inevitable that he would become a spy...Malcolm's father runs an inn called the Trout, on the banks of the river Thames, and all of Oxford passes through its doors. Malcolm and his dæmon, Asta, routinely overhear news and gossip, and the occasional scandal, but during a winter of unceasing rain, Malcolm catches wind of something new: intrigue.He finds a secret message inquiring about a dangerous substance called Dust--and the spy it was intended for finds him.When she asks Malcolm to keep his eyes open, Malcolm sees suspicious characters everywhere; Lord Asriel, clearly on the run; enforcement agents from the Magisterium; an Egyptian named Coram with warnings just for Malcolm; and a beautiful woman with an evil monkey for a dæmon. All are asking about the same thing: a girl--just a baby--named Lyra.Lyra is the kind of person who draws people in like magnets. And Malcolm will brave any danger, and make shocking sacrifices, to bring her safely through the storm.

Marvel Adventures Iron Man, Volume 1: Heart of Steel


Fred Van Lente - 2007
    The Armored Avenger blasts into the newest title in the critically-acclaimed, best-selling Marvel Adventures line Who is Iron Man, the world-renowned symbol of mega-conglomerate Stark International? And what terrible secret from his past forces billionaire inventor Tony Stark to become the Golden Guardian? Find out here Collects Marvel Adventures Iron Man #1-4.

Knife


R.J. Anderson - 2009
    She lives in an old oak tree at the bottom of a garden with the rest of the fairy folk. Never has she known a time when life hasn’t been hard, with many dangers and much adversity. But when she becomes the Hunter of the group and learns to do battle in the outside world, her adventures really take off...Don’t read this book if you’re expecting fairy dust – the last thing Knife is likely to wield is a magic wand...

Time Stops for No Mouse


Michael Hoeye - 1999
    But when adventuress and aviatrix Linka Perlfinger walks into his watchmaker's shop, his life becomes anything but ordinary.

The Sight


Jude Watson - 2010
    They've haunted her since before her mother's death, and she can't get rid of them. She doesn't know how to deal with them and she doesn't want to--they've never led to anything good. She never knows whether she's seeing the past, the present, or the future--it just comes to her.But Gracie is forced to try to use her premonitions. Her best friend, Emily, disappears, and the premonitions lead to the only clues to where she might be--and how she might be saved. Gracie's long-absent father returns, and his history seems mysteriously linked to the disappearance of a student many years ago--and the recent appearance of a body. Gracie's premonitions can lead to answers...but they can also unearth some dark secrets better left unknown.In these two novels, now in one volume, National Book award winner Judy Blundell takes readers on a suspenseful journey where premonitions become a matter of life and death.

Bone Music


David Almond - 2021
    Under a boundless starry sky, the unforgettable Sylvia Carr reconnects with the ancient past and discovers what it really means to be young in the world today.Sylvia, brave hearted and rebellious, moves into wild Northumberland from the city of Newcastle. She feels alien in this huge, silent, seemingly empty landscape, but then she meets Gabriel, a strange yet familiar boy. As they roam the forests and fells together, she sees nature with new eyes. She becomes aware that the past is all around her, and is deep inside herself. From the wing of a dead buzzard, they create a hollow bone - the kind of flute that was created and used in rituals in the distant past. This is a book of hope and joy - a book that celebrates humanity and explores the deep connections between ourselves and nature. It is timely and original. It speaks to young people about what it really is to be a human being alive today.

Radiance


Alyson Noel - 2010
    She has picked up life where she left off when she was alive, living with her parents and dog in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. When she's summoned before The Council, she learns that the afterlife isn't just an eternity of leisure. She's been assigned a job, Soul Catcher, and a teacher, Bodhi, a possibly cute, seemingly nerdy boy who's definitely hiding something. They return to earth together for Riley's first assignment, a Radiant Boy who's been haunting a castle in England for centuries. Many Soul Catchers have tried to get him to cross the bridge and failed. But all of that was before he met Riley . . .Radiance is the first book in the Riley Bloom series from bestselling author Alyson Noël.

The Black Book of Secrets


F.E. Higgins - 2007
    He arrives in the dead of night at a remote village, where he crosses paths with the tall and limping figure of Joe Zabbidou - a pawnbroker with a difference. For Joe trades secrets, not goods, for cash.Employed as Joe's assistant, Ludlow records the villagers' fiendish confessions in an ancient leather-bound volume: The Black Book of Secrets. There's the gravedigger who has been resurrecting bodies; the butcher who made a mouse-meat pie for his bullying father, with fatal consequences; the wizened bookseller who went to murderous lengths to get her hands on a priceless tome.Ludlow longs to trust his mysterious master, but he senses Joe has much to hide. But then Ludlow Fitch has his own, very dark, secrets . . .

The Book of Time


Guillaume Prévost - 2006
    They look as dusty as everything else in the Faulkner Antiquarian Bookstore, where 14-year-old Sam Faulkner seeks his father, who's been missing for days. But when Sam slips the coin into the statue, he's swept back in time -- to Scotland in 800 A.D. -- where he must find both the statue and another coin in order to return to the present. It's the first step in an adventure that will take him to ancient Egypt, World War I, even Dracula's castle -- and a mystery that will end only when Sam saves his father, or loses him in time . . .