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Strange Fire! technology is forbidden here – by Tommy Wallach (book review)

Nov13

book cover of Strange Fire, by Tommy Wallach published by Simon Schuster BFYR | recommended on BooksYALove.comTechnology destroyed the world,
never repeat the sins of the past!
But ignoring knowledge that could save lives??

Remnants of humankind survived the asteroid hitting Earth, rebuilt their world over thousands of years without the evils of technology, yet some people are seeking out and using forbidden knowledge!

After their parents are killed, older brother Clive vows that the heretic attackers must die.
Studying at the seat of all wisdom, younger brother Clover sees that technology is not purely evil.
The precarious power balance between church and military is shifting, but both want technology-users wiped out!

Look for Strange Fire at your local library or independent bookstore, and also check for Wallach’s earlier book, We All Looked Up , about a community waiting for the asteroid heading for Earth…very soon.

How do we balance technology overload with being truly alive?
**kmm

Book info: Strange Fire (The Anchor & Sophia, book 1) / Tommy Wallach. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2017.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Their family attacked by heretical rebels, teen brothers Clive and Clover must decide how – or whether – to fight back in their technology-averse society.

After sky-filling lightning devastated the world, its few survivors vowed to erase technology and never repeat the past’s mistakes, for their safety and their future.

Preaching this Descendancy gospel has been the Hamill family’s life work – and may destroy them when they discover a remote settlement purposely experimenting with forbidden science.

Clive knows technology is blasphemy and that long-adored Gemma will help soldiers from the Anchor find the rebels.

Clover wants to learn everything and begins to question the Descendancy’s stranglehold on knowledge.

When technology is blasphemy, can new ideas ever be accepted?
Is it right to keep the people of the Descendancy in ignorance?
What is truth? What is right? Who gets to decide?

This first book in The Anchor and Sophia series pits the power of the status quo against the struggle of knowledge to be free.

Words, gestures – All Rights Reserved… or pay! by Gregory Scott Katsoulis (book review)

Sep2

book cover of All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis published by Harlequin Teen | recommended on BooksYALove.com Every word is copyrighted = $$.
Each gesture and sigh is trademarked = $$
At age 15, the free ride is over…

Speth decides the ad-filled speech she must (contractually) read aloud the moment that she turns 15 is too much to bear, so she zips her mouth shut and triggers an unplanned revolution.

By saying not one syllable, day after day, she risks her siblings’ safety, as well as her own, in this future where lawyers and lawsuits rule the domed city.

Ask for this week’s new release at your local library or independent bookstore – and read your favorite passages aloud, while you can still afford it…

How could we afford to not say “I love you” to family?
**kmm

Book info: All Rights Reserved / Gregory Scott Katsoulis. Harlequin Teen, 2017.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: If she doesn’t speak, then Speth won’t add to her family’s debt, but the 15 year old’s silence is copied by other teens coming of age and deemed defiance by officials in this future where even a sigh is tradmarked and must be paid for.

A fee for every gesture (patented, of course), money charged for every word (all copyrighted) – of course, the poor slide deeper into debt and are taken away to pollinate crops in this bee-less world where Lawyers rule and the Cuff worn by all records every single syllable and shrug.

Speth had hoped that her Last Day speech would earn some product endorsement to supplement what older sister Saretha earned after their parents were Collected from them, but watching friend Beecher commit suicide rather than slave his life away to pay his family’s copyright-debt shocks her – into silence.

Can Speth and Saretha keep little brother Sam safe as their debt rises and rises?
Will she accidentally speak and void her Last Day speech contract?
How do the secretive Product Placers move so swiftly in the city dome?

And hidden in powerful lawyer Rog’s towering high-rise is a book, the book that can free them all…

They need pollution-escape, WANT a better life, by Cindy Pon (book review)

Aug19

book cover of Want by Cindy Pon published by Simon Pulse | recommended on BooksYALove.comPollution haze blankets future Taipei,
Rich wear super-filter-suits,
Have-nots just die – why must they?

No brakes on corporate villainy, no chance of escaping poverty, no wonder Zhou’s assembled-family of friends will risk everything to take down Jin Corporation (even his heart…).

Read the beginning of Want here, courtesy of the publisher, then go to your local library or independent bookstore for this June 2017 release.

Earlier this month in Long Beach, Cindy told me that she is working on the sequel!

What are you doing to make the world better for all?
**kmm

Book info: Want (Want. book 1) / Cindy Pon. Simon Pulse, 2017. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: To be in Taiwan now means blue sky is ancient history and humanity is one virus away from disaster.
To be ‘mei’ – a have-not – means dying early from pollution and preventable diseases.
To be ‘you’ – privileged, rich – means life-protecting suits, luxury, and ease.

The ransom money will pay for the tech that ‘mei’ Zhou and friends need to infiltrate and destroy the corrupt Jin Corporation.
The sleep-spell drug will ensure that ‘you’ Daiyu will forget that Zhou kidnapped her, brought her to his garden hideout.
Then Zhou masquerading as ‘you’ Jason must pretend that he and Daiyu have never met, ignore their growing attraction, get what he needs to blow apart her father’s suit-technology empire.

Everyone in Jason’s team has lost loved ones due to Jin’s greed which keeps pollution levels high and the cost of life-saving drugs even higher.
All are willing to risk death to give the ‘mei’ majority opportunities for a better life.
Just one chance for 18 year old Jason to get past the best tech in the world, just one…

Terrifying future tales – to read with your ears

Jul20

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC may be fiction, but they bring up possibilities vivid enough to scare you to pieces!

Click the link for each book and download before Wednesday (7/26/17),  so you have them on your computer or electronic device for listening now or later.

Thanks again to all the publishers who’ve let us download their great audiobooks all summer long through AudiobookSYNC!

CD cover of Gone (Gone, book 1) by Michael Grant | Read by Kyle McCarley Published by Tantor Media | recommended on BooksYALove.comGone (Gone, book 1) (download here free from 20-26 July 2017)
by Michael Grant
Read by Kyle McCarley
Published by Tantor Media

Suddenly, everyone over 14 is gone. Hunger and bullies – not gone. Scary new talents – on the rise. Civil behavior – declining fast. Mutating animals, fights over leadership – do Sam and friends have any chance of survival?
 

The One Safe Place (download here free from 20-26 July 2017)CD cover of The One Safe Place by Tania Unsworth | Read by Mark Turetsky Published by HighBridge Audio | recommended on BooksYALove.com
by Tania Unsworth
Read by Mark Turetsky
Published by HighBridge Audio

Leaving the farm after Grandfather dies, Devin hopes he’ll find safety and food in the city, or maybe be lucky enough to go the abandoned children’s home. But he finds the home is no safe place for any kid, especially one with his special abilities.

Have you read either of these dystopian tales before?
**kmm

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On the run – stories to read with your ears

Jun8

On the run! From the authorities? From the truth? From themselves?

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC are set in today’s stresses and someday-tomorrow’s conspiracies

Their free download week begins Thursday through Wednesday,  so click on the link following each CD’s title now. Of course, you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device.

Two great audiobooks weekly through August at  http://www.audiobooksync.com/

CD cover of If I Run by Terri Blackstock | Read by Nan Gurley Published by Zondervan | recommended on BooksYALove.comIf I Run (free download here June 15-21)
by Terri Blackstock
Read by Nan Gurley
Published by Zondervan
 
Her DNA is all over the crime scene, but Casey had no reason to murder her boyfriend. The detective isn’t sure if she’s psychotic or heroic, but she’s consuming all his thoughts and if he can’t find her before the police do…

Plus One (free download here June 15-21, 2017) CD cover of Plus One by Elizabeth Fama | Read by Julia Whelan Published by Elizabeth Fama | recommended on BooksYALove.com
by Elizabeth Fama
Read by Julia Whelan
Published by Elizabeth Fama

Smudges work at night, Rays work by day in this America – no mixing, ever. Until Sol decides the new baby on the Ray side of her family must visit their dying Smudge grandfather – kidnap, fugitive, conspiracy uncovered – what a time for a Ray and a Smudge to fall in love!

Ready to share their secrets? Ready to flee?
**kmm

Being different… is dangerous! Audiobook adventures

May25

Difference is the theme for this week’s free audiobooks from SYNC to read with your ears!

Keep these professionally produced audiobooks on your computer, tablet, or phone for listening at any time. However, you must download them between Thursday through Wednesday, as shown in the link after each title below.

Great audiobooks all summer long at SYNC: http://www.audiobooksync.com/

CD cover of Freakling by Lana Krumwiede | Read by Nick Podehl Published by Brilliance Audio | recommended on BooksYALove.comFreakling (download here May 25-31)
by Lana Krumwiede
Read by Nick Podehl
Published by Brilliance Audio

If anyone discovers Taemon’s lack of psi ability or his secret talent, he’ll be exiled – and his own brother is eager to betray him in this debut dystopian novel.

 

Boy (download here May 25-31)CD cover of Boy by Anna Ziegler | Read by Sarah Drew, John Getz, Travis Johns, Amy Pietz, Bobby Steggert Published by L.A. Theatre Works | recommended on BooksYALove.com
by Anna Ziegler
Read by Sarah Drew, John Getz, Travis Johns, Amy Pietz, Bobby Steggert
Published by L.A. Theatre Works

Raised as a girl following an accident as a baby, this Boy must decide how to live as a young person and as an adult.

How can different be safe?
**kmm

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Far away to the future – audiobooks take us!

May8

Quick, quick! Just 2 days left to download this week’s free audiobooks from SYNC so you can read with your ears!

These complete audiobooks are only available to download from Thursday through Wednesday weekly, but you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device

Bookmark the SYNC site now so you can download great audiobooks all summer long: http://www.audiobooksync.com/

CD cover of by M.T. Anderson | Read by David Aaron Baker, a Full Cast Published by Listening Library | recommended on BooksYALove.com Feed (download here until 10 May 2017)

by M.T. Anderson
Read by David Aaron Baker, a Full Cast
Published by Listening Library

Every thought directed by the computer chip in their brains, Travis and friends get hacked, hospitalized. Time to fight against the Feed?

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (download here until 10 May 2017)CD cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Read by Stephen Fry Published by Random House Audio | recommended on BooksYALove.com

by Douglas Adams
Read by Stephen Fry
Published by Random House Audio

Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox – they’re all here in the well-loved tale of the future. Remember your towel…

What does the future look like to you?
**kmm

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X for X-factor kids, the Randoms on space station, by David Liss (book review)

Apr28

book cover of Randoms by David Liss published by Simon Schuster | recommended on BooksYALove.comChosen for intelligence,
leadership,
and weirdness…

Of course, an intensive school on space station requires the best and brightest students from every known civilization – so why is sci-fi nerd Zeke the fourth kid on Earth’s team?

Because our popular sci-fi movies and television shows were preparing us for the actual alien tech that’s out there!

Look for Randoms in hardcover or paperback at your local library or independent bookstore now before grabbing book 2, Rebels. Book 3, Renegades, hits the shelves in September 2017.

What does your favorite sci-fi teach us about life and friendship?
**kmm

Book info: Randoms (Randoms, book 1) / David Liss. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, hardcover 2015; paperback 2016. [author site]  [publisher site]  [author video] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Recruited by the President for school on a space station, sixth grade gamer and average kid Zeke didn’t expect to be shunned by his fellow Earth students (all incredibly brilliant), visit other planets (picking up more teams for the competition), or discover that his favorite sci-fi shows were based on real alien technologies!

Then the attacks begin!

Earth’s future in the Confederation is at stake, so why was Zeke chosen?
How can he help his team succeed when they want him to stay away?
Can he level up enough that the US government will keep their promise to cure Mom?

Filled with quotes and references to all the science fiction movies, TV shows, games, and books that we love (or hate), Randoms is a rip-roaring ride into interspecies and intergalactic interactions. First in the trilogy, followed by Rebels (book 2) and Renegades (book 3).

T is The Last Tree, by Denise Getson – final hope for desert Earth?

Apr24

book cover of The Last Tree by Denise Getson published by CBAY Books | recommended on BooksYALove.comAble to make water where there is none!
Mutation? Gift?

Generations after the Devastation of chemical and biological weapons nearly wiped out life on Earth, mutations may be nature’s way of keeping humanity around, perhaps to save the very last tree in the whole world, hidden where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers once flowed.

Look for the first book in the series, Dry Souls (my no-spoiler review here), to visit Kira’s world as she first discovers her affinity for water in this parched future Earth.

How far would you go for friendship?
**kmm

Book info: The Last Tree (Dry Souls, book 2) / Denise Getson. CBAY Books, 2016. [author’s Facebook]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Kira isn’t sure how she can call water through solid rock into places where it once flowed, but the United Territory Council government will stop at nothing to capture her and find out how she can bring forth water when all land is desert.

The teen must stay free so she, Tuck, and J.D. can rescue friend Tamara and continue their stealthy mission to get Kira near old lakebeds to call their waters back.

When she is asked to help a special tree, how can Kira say no?
Is this last tree in the entire world truly the Tree of Knowledge?
But how can she keep her family of friends safe from the UTC?

Kira’s adventures in the dry and toxic world introduced in Dry Souls, book one of the series, continue as she jumps across the world from danger into world-altering risks.

M = Mars One & missing & mayhem, by Jonathan Maberry (book review)

Apr15

book cover of Mars One by Jonathan Maberry published by Simon Schuster BYFR | recommended on BooksYALove.comSix years to prepare,
Two ships to Mars,
One pair of broken hearts…

Of course, falling in love was an inconsiderate choice on his part, but how could Tristan’s teen self keep away from charming, lovely, phenomenal Izzy – even when he knew that he’d leave the planet forever at age 16?

In this near-future Earth’s desperate gamble to find more room by settling on Mars, not everyone agrees. Despite years of planning and training and built-in safeguards, small disasters begin on the Mars One spaceships – how?

Should humankind keep reaching for the stars?
**kmm

Book info:  Mars One / Jonathan Maberry. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2017. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As part of Earth’s first colony crew to Mars, 16 year old Tristan is elated, fully trained, and ready to launch… except that part about leaving girlfriend Izzy forever and worrying about anti-Mars violence coming to their Wisconsin hometown.

Intense preparations for launch of Mars One’s first two ships have taken years, bypassed national borders, and been documented on all media. Even Izzy’s and Tristan’s “doomed romance” is a reality TV show (paying for her college, that’s why). And the Neo-Luddites have protested every step of the way, now bombing sites related to the mission.

One of four teens on Mars One, Tristan has faith in his mom’s rigorous engineering safety checks – why are systems having problems in space?
These families have been training together for so long – can they keep finding solutions?
Psychological testing over and over – no one aboard either ship wants the mission to fail, right?

The further the two ships travel from Earth, the longer the communications delay becomes – goodbye, Izzy. Goodbye, everything?