Book picks similar to
Just Like Beauty by Lisa Lerner
fiction
dystopia
science-fiction
favorites
The Beauty
Aliya Whiteley - 2014
For when the women are all gone the rest of your life is all there is for everyone. The men are waiting to pass into the night.The story shall be told to preserve the past. History has gone back to its aural roots and the power of words is strong. Meet Nate, the storyteller, and the new secrets he brings back from the woods. William rules the group with youth and strength, but how long can that last? And what about Uncle Ted, who spends so much time out in the woods?Hear the tales, watch a myth be formed. For what can man hope to achieve in a world without women? When the past is only grief how long should you hold on to it? What secrets can the forest offer to change it all? Discover the Beauty.
Shades of Grey
Jasper Fforde - 2009
In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own color—but no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means. Eddie's world wasn't always like this. There's evidence of a never-discussed disaster and now, many years later, technology is poor, news sporadic, the notion of change abhorrent, and nighttime is terrifying: no one can see in the dark. Everyone abides by a bizarre regime of rules and regulations, a system of merits and demerits, where punishment can result in permanent expulsion. Eddie, who works for the Color Control Agency, might well have lived out his rose-tinted life without a hitch. But that changes when he becomes smitten with Jane, a Grey, which is low-caste in this color-centric world. She shows Eddie that all is not well with the world he thinks is just and good. Together, they engage in dangerous revolutionary talk.
The Wicked We Have Done
Sarah Harian - 2014
After committing a terrible crime, Evalyn Ibarra receives a ticket out of her prison sentence by participating in a top-secret experiment. Even with the risk of death, all she cares about is reclaiming the life she had before—her career, her art, and her love.Her cell bed is the last thing she remembers before waking to wilderness.There are others in these woods, criminals like her who volunteered for the experiment. Clues left behind at abandoned camps spell out their task: survive for thirty days.Evalyn’s best bet is to band with the others, but she’s not about to trust any of them, not when illusions of their gruesome crimes start manifesting in the forest like waking dreams.But when the illusions turn violent and begin to kill, she may not have a choice.
Tomorrow Land
Mari Mancusi - 2008
Now four years later, as she steps out from the fallout shelter and into a zombie-infested world, he’s the only thing on her mind. Thanks to her father Peyton is now built to survive: with razor tipped nails, ocular implants and cybernetics that make her stronger, faster, and able to protect herself in a world filled with monsters. Yet all the weapons in the world can’t protect her heart when she runs into Chris again. The once sweet boy of her childhood has now grown into a tortured man--still furious at her for breaking his heart and never telling him why. Now the two of them find themselves on the run, forced to fight their way down the monster strewn east coast to reach the last human outpost on Earth: Walt Disney World. Can they find a way to let go of old hurts and regain the love they lost--all while attempting to save what’s left of the human race?
The Choosing
Rachelle Dekker - 2015
But she never expected the moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for—her Choosing ceremony—would end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she’ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority. But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. The whispers contradict everything she’s been told; yet they resonate deep within. Then Carrington is offered an unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of, but she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an illusion. With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening the highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover the truth before it destroys her.
Black Hole Sun
David Macinnis Gill - 2010
The air reeks of burning fuel; the rivers and lakes seethe with sulfur. In the shadows, evil men plot terror and beasts hunt the innocent. Out on the barren crags of the terraformed planet, there is nowhere to hide. No one to heed a call for help.No one, except Durango.
Captives
Jill Williamson - 2013
Now alone, Levi is determined to rescue what remains of his people, even if it means entering the Safe Lands, a walled city that seems anything but safe.Omar knows he betrayed his brother by sending him away, but helping the enforcers was necessary. Living off the land and clinging to an outdated religion holds his village back. The Safe Lands has protected people since the plague decimated the world generations ago ... and its rulers have promised power and wealth beyond Omar's dreams.Meanwhile, their brother Mason has been granted a position inside the Safe Lands, and may be able to use his captivity to save not only the people of his village, but also possibly find a cure for the virus that threatens everyone within the Safe Lands' walls.Will Mason uncover the truth hidden behind the Safe Lands' façade before it's too late?
Made for Love
Alissa Nutting - 2017
Life with Hazel's father is strained at best, but it's got to be better than her marriage to dominating tech billionaire, Byron Gogol. For over a decade, Hazel has been quarantining in Byron's family compound, her every movement and vital sign tracked. So when Byron demands to wirelessly connect the two of them via brain chips, turning Hazel into a human guinea pig, she makes a run for it. Will Hazel be able to free herself from Byron's virtual clutches before he finds her?
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Harlan Ellison - 1967
This edition contains the original introduction by Theodore Sturgeon and the original foreword by Harlan Ellison, along with a brief update comment by Ellison that was added in the 1983 edition. Among Ellison's more famous stories, two consistently noted as among his very best ever are the title story and the volume's concluding one, Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes.Since Ellison himself strongly resists categorization of his work, we won't call them science fiction, or SF, or speculative fiction or horror or anything else except compelling reading experiences that are sui generis. They could only have been written by Harlan Ellison and they are incomparably original.CONTENTS"I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream""Big Sam Was My Friend""Eyes of Dust""World of the Myth""Lonelyache""Delusion for Dragonslayer""Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes"
The Bane
Keary Taylor - 2011
It had the ability to grow new organs and limbs, to heal the world. Until it evolved out of control and spread like the common cold. The machine took over, the soul vanished, and the Bane were born. The Bane won't stop until every last person has been infected. With less than two percent of the human population left, mankind is on the brink of extinction.Eve knows the stories of the Evolution, the time before she wandered into the colony of Eden, unable to recall anything but her name. But she doesn't need memories to know this world is her reality. This is a world that is quickly losing its humanity, one Bane at a time.Fighting to keep one of the last remaining human colonies alive, Eve finds herself torn between her dedication to the colony, and the discovery of love. There is Avian and West – one a soldier, one a keeper of secrets. And in the end, Eve will make a choice that will change the future of mankind.The Bane is The Terminator meets The Walking Dead with a heart-twisting romance.Previously published as Eden, due to reader demand it has been revamped and rereleased as The Bane: book one in The Eden Trilogy.
The Carbon Diaries 2015
Saci Lloyd - 2008
As her family spirals out of control, Laura Brown chronicles the first year of rationing with scathing abandon.
The Sowing
K. Makansi - 2013
It looks like we have a contender here." - Priscilla from PressedUpInABook.com #JoinTheResistanceRemy Alexander wants vengeance. When she and her friends discover a clue that could help reveal the truth behind the massacre that claimed her sister's life, she may finally get her chance. Valerian Orlean wants answers. Why the girl he was in love with disappeared three years ago. Why she joined the Resistance - a covert organization sworn to destroy everything he believes in. When he is appointed to lead a government program whose mission is to hunt and destroy the Resistance, he may finally find his answers - and Remy. In a world where the powerful kill to keep their secrets, and the food you eat can change who you are, Remy and Vale are set on a collision course that could bring everyone together - or tear everything apart. In this science-fiction dystopia, the mother-daughter writing team of Kristina, Amira, and Elena Makansi immerse readers in the post-apocalyptic world of the Okarian Sector, where romance, friendship, adventure, and betrayal will decide the fate of a budding nation. Be sure to continue the story with The Reaping, Book Two of the Seeds Trilogy, and The Prelude, a novella about Soren Skaarsgard, one of the reader's favorite characters. "The Sowing doesn't stop surprising." - C.G. Ayling, author of the Malmaxa trilogy. "An imaginative and well-described world ... Fans of The Hunger Games, Uglies, Inside Out, and Across The Universe will absolutely enjoy this." - Imran Siddiq, author of the Divided World series
Bloodtide
Melvin Burgess - 1999
London is in ruins. A bombed-out shell. A picked-over carcass where the only rule of law is might makes right. What remains of the city is being fought over by two ruthless gangs of warlords. In an effort to create peace, however, a truce between the two families is suggested by Val, patriarch of the Volson clan. His collateral? The hand of his fourteen-year-old daughter, Signy, in marriage to his blood rival, Conor. A rebellious, headstrong teenager who has dreamed all her life of joining her father's forces as a soldier in the war against Conor, Signy is stunned by the announcement. To agree to such a plan is unthinkable! Conor is her mortal enemy. To live as his wife is no better than to live as a slave...for the rest of her life.But what of the alternative? Does she dare defy her father? And what of the consequences of her rebellion? Her decision will set in motion a series of events--events both horrifying and tragic--that will change her life forever.Melvin Burgess has fashioned a powerfully dystopian vision of a young woman's coming of age against the backdrop of war that is shocking, harrowing, and compelling.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Carrie Ryan - 2009
The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?
Grasshopper Jungle
Andrew Smith - 2014
He's stewing in a self-professed constant state of maximum horniness, directed at both Robby and Shann. Ultimately, it's up to Austin to save the world and propagate the species in this sci-fright journey of survival, sex, and the complex realities of the human condition.