Book picks similar to
Expendables by Alison Ingleby
young-adult
science-fiction
sci-fi
e-books
The Selection
Jayne Faith - 2015
Maya must get through just one more selection and then she can marry the man of her dreams. She should have been safe, but when a young woman who was supposed to compete dies the day of the selection, Maya is forced into the competition. Thrown into the fight of her life with no preparation, Maya must shed her innocence and win Lord Toric’s favor. And there is only one winner in the competition. The losers will be sacrificed. Will she survive the first round, or will she pay the ultimate price for her inexperience? Heat Level: Sweet to Mild
Collide
Shelly Crane - 2011
She's eighteen, works for a tabloid newspaper in Chicago and has a brother, Danny who is a lazy mooch. They live a pretty normal dull life with hippie parents and a normal existence. Then the moon dissapears and people start to go missing only to reappear later, but different. Sherry has an abusive ex-boyfriend who shows up and claims to be one of these beings that have been showing up around the world. He's no longer the same person in that body. He tells her he has come to protect her and her brother and takes her underground, against her will to save her, where they meet others like them. She begins to unravel the truth about Merrick, about what he's really doing here, about the way he looks at her, about the crazy dangerous world they live in. Can he convince her that he's here to help? Will she like what she finds when she opens up to the truth? Will he be the one to love her when everyone else has failed her? Will he be able to protect her?
The Gates
Iain Rob Wright - 2015
You cannot escape death when death is everywhere.FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS A TERRIBLE ENEMY HAS BEEN WAITING...NOW THE GATES ARE OPEN...AND HUMANITY'S EXTINCTION IS ABOUT TO BEGIN...All across the globe strange gates have appeared at random. Anyone who touches one dies. Anyone who tries to interfere with one dies. The world's best scientists have no idea what they are, but one thing is certain... these strange gates are about to open.Humanity holds its breath.On the United States' chaotic East Coast, Coast Guard captain Guy Granger sets off on a desperate journey across the Atlantic to find his kids. Mina Magar is a photojournalist forced to take pictures of horrors she could never have imagined as something terrible emerges onto London's busy Oxford Street. Rick Bastion is a fading pop star with his head in a bottle and no hope for the future--even before the apocalypse began on his doorstep.For all of them, staying alive is almost impossible, but they must try. Hell is coming and no one can escape it. Mankind must fight back or become extinct.The gates are open. And all Hell is about to break loose.
Fireseed One
Catherine Stine - 2010
Varik Teitur inherits a vast sea farm after the mysterious drowning of his marine biologist father. When Marisa Baron, a beautiful and shrewd terrorist, who knows way too much about Varik's father's work, tries to steal seed disks from the world's food bank, Varik is forced to put his dreams of becoming a doctor on hold and venture with her, into a hot zone teeming with treacherous nomads and a Fireseed cult who worships his dead father, in order to search for Fireseed, a seemingly magical hybrid plant that may not even exist. Fans of Divergent will likely enjoy this as well as those who like romance with their page-turners. ***Indie Reader notable, YA finalist in sci-fi & YA in USA News International Book Awards and Amazon bestseller. Includes discussion questions for book club or classroom.
The Killables
Gemma Malley - 2012
But inside? Inside, they were different too. You just had to know how to tell, what to look for. Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the 'evil' part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how 'good' they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K ...But no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again ...
Gone
Christine Kersey - 2013
Not only is her family missing, but another family is living in her house and claims to have lived there for weeks. As Morgan desperately works to figure out what has happened, she finds society has become obsessed with weight in a way she has never seen before. The more she searches for answers, the more she begins to wonder if she has somehow ended up in another world—a world she doesn't want to be a part of. Can she survive in this world until she can get home?Gone does not contain any profanity or sexual content and is appropriate for all ages.
Alignment
H.G. Suren - 2015
A sunless and moonless sky is covered with an enormous barrier that prevents any view of the heavens.And silence, pervasive and absolute, reigns. Nothing stirs. The air is oppressive and there is no wind, not even the softest breeze.As far as the five friends can tell, there isn’t another living thing on earth other than them, neither animal nor plant. What happened to life on Earth while they slept? Are they all that's left, these five closest of friends? Is humanity really gone? Are they really still on Earth or have they been transported elsewhere -- another planet, heaven, hell, pawns in a sophisticated computer game? Is it all just their imagination?Aram believes they aren't dead. He believes if there is a way into the Silent World, then there must be a way out. He must convince his friends to stay focused and put up a worthy fight to find their way back to the reality they once knew. He can't give up, because somewhere out there, beyond their frightening new world, is a new-born son waiting for his Daddy's return.The debut novel from H.G. Suren, Alignment: The Silent City, is a novel comparable to The Mist by Stephan King and Pines by Blake Crouch.
Nightmare City
Jack Conner - 2014
Lavorgna is a city of fog and shadows, undead servants soaring zeppelins, where mad scientists prowl the alleys, mob bosses strive for power and the dreaded Guild of Alchemists holds the land in an iron grip, while below the city lies a network of black caverns embedded with the ruins of an ancient race known as the Elders that worshipped Lovecraftian horrors. To survive and save the world from an unimaginable fate, Katya must navigate all these dangers and more. Running from the loan shark, she seeks out the local mob boss Ravic, only to learn that he’s embroiled in a vicious gang war with his rival Loqrin, a conflict that has supernatural overtones. A new horror has gripped the city, with mysterious creatures called haunts killing people by the dozen, and Ravic believes Loqrin is behind it. If Katya wants Ravic’s help, she must find out what Loqrin is up to – and stop him! To do this, Katya must use all her thieving skills and cunning, because if she doesn’t and Loqrin accomplishes his endgame, the whole world will suffer an awful fate. No pressure, Kat.
The Key to Fear
Kristin Cast - 2020
Lovers don't kiss, or even hold hands. Personal boundaries are valued above all. Break the laws, and you'll face execution. Elodie, a talented young nurse, believes in the mission of the Key and has never questioned the laws that control her life. But Elodie is forced to break the rules when she sets out in search of a terminal patient who goes missing while under her care. From the outside, it seems like Aiden was given everything he could want from the Key -- a purpose, an education, and a future. But Aiden knows more than he's letting on, and the dark secrets he's keeping could tear the Key's strict society apart. When Elodie and Aiden's lives collide, the fallout will be devastating. What do you do when the brutal system that once kept you safe hunts you down? Run.
The City Center
Simone Pond - 2013
Not about her city. Not about their leader, Chief Morray. But when Joseph gives her a secret journal from the past, the truth is revealed. She escapes with Joseph to the Outside, sending Chief Morray on an obsessive pursuit to retrieve his property. Ava has to decide if she should keep running, or return to the city center to save her people.
Rook
J.C. Andrijeski - 2011
With their insanely strong psychic powers, seers have been used to wage wars, commit terrorism, expand organized crime, even take over governments.As a waitress and college dropout, Allie only sees seers at a distance, usually working in front of sex clubs, or on the leash of powerful businessmen… until Revik bursts into her life.Before long, Allie is thrown into a world behind the world, one most humans never dreamed existed, where she discovers she may not be all that human, after all.Worse, Revik tells her that the seers believe she will destroy the world.She will kill all the humans.She will be the one to finally free them from slavery.Psychic romance. Apocalyptic.The first chapter in an epic, soul-crushing, science fantasy romance.THE BRIDGE & SWORD SERIES is a dark, gritty psychic warfare romance, from a USA TODAY and WALL STREET JOURNAL bestselling author. Set in a gritty, alternate version of Earth, it stars Alyson Taylor and her partner, dark and dangerous infiltrator, Dehgoies Revik. For fans of romantic, character-driven science fiction and fantasy worlds, filled with twists and turns and backstabbing betrayals, with heroes and villains who are sometimes the same people. The Bridge & Sword books span continents and historical periods as Allie and Revik try to save the human and seer races from destroying one another, and keep their friends and loved ones alive in the process.The world is dying. Everyone feels it, and yet... no one knows.They said that when the end was near, a Bridge would come, and lead them out of the darkness of that dying world.My name is Allie Taylor, and I am that Bridge.
The Nowhere Stone
Steve Kaide - 2018
Raised in a secluded valley with only his father for company, he was unable to experience the outside world. For 16 years, the jagged peaks of the Rocky Mountains were the only home he’d ever known. Lucas didn’t understand why they were hidden away, but he trusted that his father was keeping them safe. It was a happy, albeit lonely, life.Until everything changed. Lucas was torn from his sheltered life and thrust into a dangerous world, far different from that which he expected. A mysterious artifact known as the Nowhere Stone seems to defy the laws of nature, and a powerful corporation called SentiCorp seeks to unlock its power. Lucas has finally been introduced to humanity, and it’s every bit as terrifying as he thought it would be.
Halfskin
Tony Bertauski - 2012
No more kidney failure, no severed spines or blood disease. No cancer. Pharmaceuticals become obsolete. With each dose of biomites, we become stronger, we become smarter and prettier. We become better.At what point are we no longer human?Nix Richards nearly died in a car accident when he was young. Biomites saved his life. Ten years later, he’s not so lucky. The Halfskin Laws decree a human composed of 50% biomites is no longer human. Halfskins have no legal rights and will have their biomites shutdown. It’s not called murder, merely deactivation. Cali Richards has been Nix’s legal guardian since their parents died. She has lost far too many people in her life to let the government take Nix. She is a nanobiometric engineer and will discover how to hide him. But even brilliance can succumb to the pressure of suffering. And technology can’t cure insanity.Cali and Nix keep a slippery grip on reality as they elude a maniacal federal agent dedicated to saving humanity from what he calls 'The Biomite Plague'.
Night of the Purple Moon
Scott Cramer - 2012
Her younger brother, Jordan, is having no problem fitting in and making friends.Everyone on Castine Island is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the purple moon, caused by a comet entering the Earth's atmosphere. Scientists expected this thrilling phenomenon and food companies are churning out purple-colored products in celebration of the comet’s arrival.The morning following the comet’s debut Abby and Jordan make a chilling discovery: every adult on the island is dead. The children of the island band together to withstand their new circumstances, and the older kids quickly learn a gripping truth about their own ticking clocks. It's only a matter of time before they succumb to the comet bacteria, but can they raise the next generation to survive?"Frightening and inspiring" - Kirkus Reviews. Riveting dystopian drama for all ages (13+)Alternate Cover edition for ISBN 9780615637082
The Last Orphans
N.W. Harris - 2014
In a span of mere hours, the entire adult population is decimated, leaving their children behind to fend for themselves and deal with the horrific aftermath of the freak occurrence. As one of the newly made elders in his small town, Shane finds himself taking on the role of caretaker for a large group of juvenile survivors. One who just happens to be Kelly Douglas—an out-of-his-league classmate—who, on any other day, would have never given Shane a second glance. Together, they begin their quest to find out why all of the adults were slaughtered. What they find is even more horrifying than anything they could have expected—the annihilation of the adults was only the beginning. Shane and his friends are not the unlucky survivors left to inherit this new, messed-up planet. No, they are its next victims. There is an unknown power out there, and it won’t stop until every person in the world is dead. A spine-tingling adventure that will have you gasping for breath all the way until the last page, The Last Orphans is the first book in an all-new apocalyptic series.