Book picks similar to
Amber Sky by Amy Braun


steampunk
dystopian
young-adult
post-apocalyptic

The Harvesting


Melanie Karsak - 2012
    Raised by the town's medium, and dubbed the "weird" girl, the last thing she wants is to go home. When Layla gets a desperate phone call to return just as a mysterious outbreak sweeps the country, Layla's instincts urge her to go. Good thing, because the dead are rising. The town's residents, including the ex who jilted her, will need Layla's help if they hope to survive.

Earth Girl


Janet Edwards - 2012
    But can she prove to the norms that she’s more than just an Earth Girl?2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.Jarra invents a fake background for herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet. Somehow, she has to keep the deception going.A freak solar storm strikes the atmosphere, and the class is ordered to portal off-world for safety – no problem for a real child of military parents, but fatal for Jarra. The storm is so bad that the crews of the orbiting solar arrays have to escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And one is on collision course with their shelter.

After the Red Rain


Barry Lyga - 2015
    But one day she comes across a beautiful boy named Rose struggling to cross the river--a boy with a secretive past and special abilities, who is somehow able to find comfort and life from their dying planet.But just as the two form a bond, it is quickly torn apart after the Magistrate's son is murdered and Rose becomes the prime suspect. Little do Deedra and Rose know how much their relationship will affect the fate of everyone who lives on the planet.

Destiny's Fire


Trisha Wolfe - 2012
    Her home and her secret are threatened when the Council lowers the barrier, allowing the enemy race to enter the Shythe haven. As the Narcolym airships approach, Dez and her friends rebel against their Council and secretly train for battle. Not only is Dez wary of war and her growing affection for her best friend Jace, she fears the change her birthday will bring. When Dez's newfound power rockets out of control, it's a Narcolym who could change her fate...if she can trust him. Dez's guarded world crumbles when she discovers why the Narcos have really come to Haven Falls, and she's forced to choose between the race who raised her and the enemy she's feared her whole life.

Crossing in Time


D.L. Orton - 2015
    The future isn't hidden, it's a trap. If she ever wants to see him again, she'll have to take the risk. Fall into this "Funny, Romantic & Harrowing" (Publishers Weekly Starred Review) dystopian love story and prepare to encounter a finicky time machine, a mysterious seashell, and a very clever dog (some sex, some swearing, some violence, but no vampires and absolutely NO ditzes!)When offered a one-way trip to the past, Isabel sacrifices everything for a chance to change the rapidly deteriorating present--and see her murdered lover one last time. When she arrives twenty years in the past, buck naked and mortally wounded, she has 24 hours to convince a stunned but enraptured nineteen-year-old to change their future. Definitely easier said than done, as success means losing him to a brainy, smart-mouthed bombshell (her younger self), and that's a heart breaker, save the world or not.This offbeat tale is about falling madly in love when one is too cynical for such things, letting go of pessimism when it's the last life jacket on a sinking ship, and racing against the clock when one doesn't have the proper footwear. It's a coming-of-age story for old fogeys, a how-to-make-love guide for diehard celibates, and a laugh-out-loud tragedy with a hopeful twist.Alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here

Life After War (Life After War, #1-3)


Angela White - 2010
    It does not contain new material. It does include the free first chapter of book four, Adrian's Eagles. "This is Safe Haven Refugee Camp. Can anyone hear me? Hello? Is anyone out there?" "The End of the world has given us a harsh, merciless existence, where nature tries hard to push mankind to the very brink of extinction. Everything is against us, between us... “Untold miles of lawless, apocalyptic roads wait for our feet, and the Future, cold and dark, offers little comfort. Without CHANGE, there will be no peace. Only Survivors." "Set along the lines of The Stand and The Postman, this is a chilling vision of the collapse of all society in the year 2012 and the rebirth of a nation by those who survived. It’s so much more than just another fantasy series." -The Review Shop From dangerous trips into dark, apocalyptic cities, to patriotic rescues and furious revelations, Life After War is an action packed fantasy series where those left alive must come to terms with their mistakes in the old world, while fighting for a place in the new one. It’s the apocalyptic fantasy series that Stephen King fans have been searching for. This way, please… Summary in 20 words or less An action adventure quest, with a supernatural romance, and many other subplots, set during the aftermath of the apocalypse. So what’s really in this series? Here’s a short list: *The End of the World, right-up-close and full of apocalyptic horror. *A government conspiracy that caused the apocalypse. *An adventure into the wastelands to find family, supplies, and safety. *A supernatural romance with a dangerous secret about a child’s parentage and a love strong enough to survive the end of the world. *An invasion, ambushes, attacks from Nature and man - guns and magic. *A refugee camp with very different laws, picking up those who’ve survived. *A Hero you’ll love, even as you ponder the secrets that could lose him leadership. *A Witch, a Doctor, a government Storm Tracker, a TV Star, and three Marines struggling to keep their people alive and together as they prepare to defend themselves against Cesar’s Slavers. *A constant battle for survival that includes deadly trips into decaying American cities, insanity, relics of the past, and ghosts that stalk their every move. Life After War. Magic and Reality blended into a post-apocalyptic fantasy series that you won’t ever forget. The Survivors (book one) has been a bestseller on multiple retailers in fantasy series, dark fantasy, science fiction adventure, and romance series, with more than 150K downloads.

The Annihilation of Foreverland


Tony Bertauski - 2011
    Before they can go home, they will visit Foreverland, an alternate reality that will heal their minds.Reed dreams of a girl that tells him to resist Foreverland. He doesn’t remember her name, but knows he once loved her. He’ll have to endure great suffering and trust his dream. And trust he’s not insane.Danny Boy, the new arrival, meets Reed’s dream girl inside Foreverland. She’s stuck in the fantasy land that no kid can resist. Where every heart’s desire is satisfied. Why should anyone care how Foreverland works?

The Loners


Lex Thomas - 2012
    When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and died right in front of him. And that was just the beginning.A year later, McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults. The school is under military quarantine. The teachers are gone. Violent gangs have formed based on high school social cliques. Without a gang, you’re as good as dead. And David has no gang. It’s just him and his little brother, Will, against the whole school.

The Book of Ivy


Amy Engel - 2014
    A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual. This year, it is my turn. My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and restore the Westfall family to power. But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…

Survivors


Sophie Littlefield - 2011
    But surviving Aftertime requires the kind of toughness that can conquer the violent landscape of California and still retain its humanity.When a young boy and his dying grandmother are brought to the Box, the survivalist community where Cass takes shelter, she realizes that without her help he won't be long for this unforgiving new world. But while the Box is a haven from the roaming marauders—and the flesh-hungry Beaters—it forbids children within its confines. The boy will be turned out to fend for himself. All that stands between him and the brutal wilderness is Cass's protective instincts, and the stubborn resolve that's gotten her this far Aftertime."Littlefield has a gift...page-turning action and evocative, sensual, harrowing descriptions."—Publishers Weekly, starred review on Aftertime

Daynight


Megan Thomason - 2012
    Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance™. Reality: the SCI subjects Second Chancers to strict controls and politically motivated science experiments like Cleaving—forced lifetime union between two people who have sex. Punishment for disobeying SCI edicts? Immediate Exile or death.Meet Kira Donovan. Fiercely loyal, overly optimistic, and ensnared by the promise of a full-ride college scholarship, Kira signs the SCI Recruit contract to escape memories of a tragedy that left her boyfriend and friends dead.Meet Blake Sundry. Bitter about being raised in Exile and his mother’s death, Blake’s been trained to infiltrate and destroy the SCI. Current barrier to success? His Recruit partner—Miss Goody Two Shoes Kira Donovan.Meet Ethan Darcton. Born with a defective heart and resulting inferiority complex, Ethan’s forced to do his SCI elite family’s bidding. Cleave-worthy Kira Donovan catches his eye, but the presiding powers give defect-free Blake Sundry first dibs.Full of competing agendas, romantic entanglements, humor, twists and turns, daynight is Megan Thomason’s debut young adult dystopian novel and first in the daynight series.

Dangerous Voices


Rae Carson - 2012
    He lives for the moment each day when the window of his dungeon cell shines a bit of light onto his bearded face.But everything changes when he gets a new neighbor--a young girl with a voice as beautiful as the springrise.They both know the rules: No singing. No speaking. Voices are dangerous. But they can't help themselves. And soon enough, Errik begins to remember himself, why he's here in this dark place, and why his captors will stop at nothing to ensure his silence.

The Darkest Winter


Lindsey Pogue - 2019
    Billions died. The Ending began.A group of orphaned misfits.The wild lands of the last frontier. Superhuman abilities, harrowing adventures, and heartbreaking secrets.Elle - Haunting shadows are nothing new to Elle St. James, she’s been running from them all her life. But since the outbreak spread from the lower forty-eight, new monsters lurk in the darkness. After Elle wakes from The Fever, capable of horrific deeds, she fears she’s one of them. When she stumbles upon four orphans, Elle’s forced to discover what happens when her greatest fear becomes her darkest secret and her only hope of surviving.Jackson - After the world goes mad and takes his family with it, Jackson decides a bottle of bourbon and the depths of despair are preferable to any semblance of living. But when Jackson wakes from the black hole of oblivion with a gun in his face, he must choose whether he wants to die or fight to find something worth living for. Brought together under the worst possible circumstances, Elle and Jackson must face the inexplicable realities of the new world. Their past lives are over, and the arctic isn’t all that’s savage anymore.

The Park Service


Ryan Winfield - 2012
    That's what fifteen-year-old Aubrey VanHouten learns when he stumbles onto a post-apocalyptic paradise where the few remaining humans live on the run from deadly drones controlled by a mysterious Park Service. Torn between loyalty to his new best friend and trusting the girl of his dreams, Aubrey must learn to survive in a world he never dreamed existed while searching for answers to why everything he was taught is a lie. Beautifully written with challenging moral dilemmas and heart-melting friendships, The Park Service trilogy is an epic coming-of-age-story that will inspire and delight readers young and old.

Article 5


Kristen Simmons - 2012
    There are no more fines for bad behavior—instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested usually don't come back.Seventeen-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren't always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it's hard for her to forget that people weren't always arrested for reading the wrong books or staying out after dark. It's hard to forget that life in the United States used to be different.Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the military. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow.That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings—the only boy Ember has ever loved.