Embers


Karen Ann Hopkins - 2014
    Ember is one of them.Embers is an epic paranormal adventure/romance about a seventeen year old girl who discovers that she's immune to fire and any other injury when she’s in a horrific car crash that kills her parents. Following a violent episode with her aunt's boyfriend, Ember flees Ohio to live with an old relative in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Ember's exuberance at escaping a bad home life soon turns to trepidation when she learns that she's a Watcher, a descendant of angels. While Ember is instructed about her heritage and the powers that go along with it, she strikes up friendships with two teenagers who live in a frightening walled compound in the forest. Inexplicitly drawn to one of the young men in particular, an impossible romance develops. But it's cut short when Ember discovers that her new friends are fighting on the opposite side of a war that's been raging between two factions of Watchers for thousands of years. When the compound’s inhabitants threaten the townspeople, Ember takes action, sealing her fate in the ancient battle of good versus evil, and the grayness in between. Ember is up to the challenge, until she realizes that she isn’t only fighting for the lives of the locals and the souls of her new friends. She may be one of the few champions willing to make a stand for all of mankind as the rapture approaches and the end of days begin.Embers is the first novel in the dark and gritty YA paranormal romance series, The Wings of War.“An impending apocalypse provides a compelling backdrop for romance in this page-turning first installment of a new YA series. Hopkins expertly weaves her plotlines together in this compulsively readable teen romance story…Hopkins delivers many successful elements of young-adult romance—appealing lead characters, high-voltage chemistry, repressed sexuality—which will win her ardent followers." Kirkus Reviews“Embers is the start of an action-packed paranormal YA series. Ms. Hopkins draws the reader immediately in with her richly drawn prologue that introduces the lurking evil in a breath-taking manner. A must read for YA, paranormal, fantasy and suspense fans. Make that a delight for any reader!" Morgan Stamm, Ind'Tale Magazine

Starfire Angels


Melanie Nilles - 2009
    Mankind knows them as angels, and one of them left a child upon her death to be raised as a human.Raea is now a high school senior, and her life as a human is about to end. The crystal shard she bears is not a pretty pendant; it's a collective of powerful entities who chose her as their Keeper, a protector of one of the four shards that power a machine capable of destroying whole worlds. Those who desire the Starfire's power have sent an agent to find her, but she's too busy evading a nosy reporter ready to exploit her secret and dating a hot new foreign student to notice. Nevermind learning what she really is.Only one person on Earth can help her, the last person she ever expected. But he's not from Earth. Life as a human would be so much easier.

Sentinal's Tear


Christine Fonseca - 2012
    Nesy is the best of an elite group of angels – warriors called Sentinals – charged with the job of vanquishing the fallen. She’s never made a mistake, never gotten emotionally involved. But when she comes face-to-face with Aydan, she freezes. He is evil incarnate. A fallen angel that feeds off the souls of others. Everything Nesy is supposed to hate. But she can’t, because he’s also the human love of her former life as a teen; a life that ended too soon, tying her to emotions she should never feel. Now she must choose between doing her duty – damning Aydan to the fiery depths of hell – or saving him, and condemning herself. ***FORMERLY PUBLISHED AS LACRIMOSA

Edgewood


Karen McQuestion - 2012
    Before long Russ discovers he's developed incredible superpowers, and he’s not the only one. Three other young people—beautiful Mallory, arrogant Jameson, and mysterious Nadia—have had the same experience and all of them now have powers of their own. Mallory can control peoples’ minds, Jameson moves objects with his thoughts, and Nadia has empathic abilities.At first the four relish their newfound gifts, but things become serious when they learn they are being hunted by an organization that wants them for its own nefarious purposes. When Russ’s family is threatened, he’s forced into action. What transpires will change all of them in ways they never imagined.

Struck


Jennifer Bosworth - 2012
    She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

Exiled


RaShelle Workman - 2011
    DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER. ONLY LOVE WILL SAVE THEM.Venus isn't from Earth, she's from Kelari. On her planet she's next in line to rule, but there are those who will go to great lengths to make sure that doesn't happen. Including frame her as a traitor.Accused and sentenced, the gods of her planet exile her to Earth. They've given her one week to help a human find his true love. If she doesn't succeed, she'll die, but if she does she might lose her heart. Praise for this series:  "Michael and Venus have probably been the best pairing/couple that I've read about this year! GO READ THIS BOOK! You will love it. Seriously." Nancy, reviewer Tumbling Books"Writing that moves readers to ponder their hearts is good writing, and that's what readers will find with Workman. Her protagonist is strong willed, her antagonist is easy to hate, and her mentor is easy to love." Kathleen Brebes"What a ride!" Taffy Lovell Books in the Immortal Essence Series: EXILEDBANISHEDDISPLACEDBEGUILEDTEMPTEDMERGEDUNITED

Ink


Holly Hood - 2011
    Her heart tells her she can adjust, while her head begs for her old life back. Suddenly she's a misfit in a town of rich snobs and cruel teens. After almost being killed at a rock concert, she's dying to find out more about the guy who saved her...is he trouble? Is Hope in over her head?Slade Andrews, the tattooed bad boy and lead singer of the Evil Kings of Ink, is haunted by his past. When Hope moves to town, Slade is strangely drawn to her and determined to prove he is not the guy the town paints him to be. In a town full of lies, one secret could change everything.Not suitable for eighteen and under.

The Waiting Booth


Brinda Berry - 2011
    But when her science project reveals a portal into another dimension, she learns that travelers are moving in and out of her woods in the most alarming way and government agents Regulus and Arizona are policing their immigration. Mia’s drawn to the mysterious, aloof Regulus, but it’s no time for a crush. She needs to find out what they know about her brother, while the agents fight to save the world from viral contamination. But when Regulus reveals that he knows Mia’s secrets, she begins to wonder if there’s more going on than she thought...and if she was wrong to trust him...

Gateway


Christina Garner - 2011
    Ember's want her dead.Ember has always known she doesn't belong in this world, but when she takes matters into her own hands, she winds up in a mental institution.  There she draws the attention of Taren, a mysterious boy with a dangerous secret.  When demons attack and they are forced to flee together, Ember learns her secret might be the deadliest of all.  With a gateway to hell about to open in Los Angeles, Ember must choose--will she save the world... or end it?

Hexed


Michelle Krys - 2014
    Sure, her quirky mom owns an occult shop, and a nerd just won’t stop trying to be her friend, but Indie is a popular cheerleader with a football-star boyfriend and a social circle powerful enough to ruin everyone at school. Who wouldn’t want to be her?Then a guy dies right before her eyes. And the dusty old family Bible her mom is freakishly possessive of is stolen. But it’s when a frustratingly sexy stranger named Bishop enters Indie’s world that she learns her destiny involves a lot more than pom-poms and parties. If she doesn’t get the Bible back, every witch on the planet will die. And that’s seriously bad news for Indie, because according to Bishop, she’s a witch too.Suddenly forced into a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie’s about to uncover the many dark truths about her life—and a future unlike any she ever imagined on top of the cheer pyramid.

Meeting Destiny


Nancy Straight - 2010
    Destiny becomes reality when paths cross during a failed robbery attempt. Lauren and the stranger experience chemistry like no other and now her doubt over her long time relationship with her high school sweetheart is not her only secret…someone else knows about her keen intuition and sixth sense.A mysterious clairvoyant seeks Lauren out and tells her not only of her life now but what the future may hold. Soon Lauren is in the middle of a murder investigation and a questionable friendship with the key suspect. Law enforcement, friends and family are concerned for Lauren but unfortunately they are unaware of the true danger…Sinister forces are at work and will stop at nothing to destroy Lauren’s abilities.

My Boyfriend Merlin


Priya Ardis - 2011
    For fans of quests, swords, schools of magic, and awkward crushes.17 year-old Boston high schooler, Ryan DuLac just found out the guy she's been crushing on, hot biker Matt, is a little older than he was letting on. By a few eons... In fact, he is really Merlin--the Merlin, King Arthur's Merlin, the greatest wizard who ever lived. Frozen in a cave for over fifteen hundred years, he's woken for a purpose. But Ryan's not impressed. Tired of being a relationship loser, she'd rather kick his legendary behind.Sure, the world has been crazy ever since the sword and the stone fell out of the sky like a meteor. But despite gruesome gargoyles, a deadly new world of magic, and the guy driving her crazy, Ryan knows that family is everything. Will Merlin sacrifice hers to save the world? Will she be able to stop him?

The Truth Spell


Anita Oh - 2015
    I could never fit in at such a snobbish school – I was more IT girl than "it girl". But then I saw him.Sam Spencer. My childhood best friend. But it couldn't be. Sam Spencer had died three years ago, on the night that changed everything. I need to know what happened, why he's suddenly not dead and is hanging out with a bunch of rich kids.When the school is hit by a truth spell, it seems like the perfect chance to find out what Sam and his creepy new friends are hiding, but the weirder things get, the less I'm sure I want to know. Even for Sam, even for the free food, Amaris High might be more trouble than it's worth.

Solstice


P.J. Hoover - 2013
    Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles that threaten to destroy the earth. Amid this global heating crisis, Piper lives under the oppressive rule of her mother, who suffocates her even more than the weather does. Everything changes on her eighteenth birthday, when her mother is called away on a mysterious errand and Piper seizes her first opportunity for freedom.Piper discovers a universe she never knew existed—a sphere of gods and monsters—and realizes that her world is not the only one in crisis. While gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper’s life spirals out of control as she struggles to find the answer to the secret that has been kept from her since birth.An imaginative melding of mythology and dystopia, Solstice is the first YA novel by talented newcomer P. J. Hoover.

Entanglement


Dan Rix - 2012
    Casler Selavio, on the entanglement of halves.In a world like ours, humans are born in pairs. When a newborn boy takes his first breath in the coastal town of Tularosa, the exact time is noted, recorded in the Registry, and later compared to the birth times of other newborns around the globe. There will be one identical match—his half. They will meet on their eighteenth birthday and they will spend their lives together. Except this time, there is no match.Hotheaded heartthrob Aaron Harper is scheduled to meet his half in twenty-nine days, and he doesn’t buy a word of that entanglement crap. So what if he and his half were born the same day and share a spooky psychic connection? Big deal. After breaking one too many teenage girls’ hearts, he’ll stick to brawling with the douchebag rugby players any day.Until the day a new girl arrives at school and threatens everything he takes for granted.Cold and unapproachable, Amber Lilian hates the growing list of similarities between her and the one boy she can’t read, Aaron: born the same day, both stubborn, both terrified of meeting their halves. . . . All the more reason not to trust him. That she would rather die than surrender herself as her half’s property is none of his damn business. But once lost in Aaron’s dangerous, jet black eyes, she’s already surrendered more than she cares to admit.Tangled in each other’s self-destructive lives, Aaron and Amber learn the secret behind their linked births and why they feel like halves—but unless they can prove it before they turn eighteen, Aaron faces a lifetime alone in a world where everyone else has a soul mate . . . and he’ll have to watch Amber give herself to a boy who intends to possess not only her body but also a chunk of her soul.ENTANGLEMENT, a 75,000 word YA thriller, will appeal to readers of Michael Grant's GONE and Ally Condie’s MATCHED.