Tag Archive | sisters

Coda, by Emma Trevayne (book review) – music=death, must play anyway

Jan17

book cover of Coda by Emma Trevayne published by Running PressIn the future, personal music is illegal.
Mainline the Corp’s music now and die later of mindrot.
Skip the Corp’s music-drug today and be mind-wiped tomorrow.

Chrome skin implants to gleam under the lights at the music club where the lower levels get their music fix every night, the credits for it earned by letting the Corporation siphon off brainwaves… this future’s so bleak that self-named Anthem’s craving to make his own music is like a torch – and the Corp is all-too-ready to stamp out any individual spark.

This first book in the Coda series is available now in paperback – grab it today at your local library or independent bookstore!

How far would you go to express yourself?
**kmm

Book info: Coda / Emma Trevayne. Running Press Teens, 2013.  [author’s Tumblr]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Only the Corporation may create music, deeply encoded and addictive, but a few citizens like 18-year-old Anthem sneak away to play their own punk-rock songs at the risk of being mind-wiped if caught.

In this not-so-distant future, video cameras everywhere record all your actions and implanted chips tell the Corporation if you’re not listening to enough life-shortening music tracks daily. Anthem’s younger sister and brother are his main reason for living; making his music is the only reason he feels alive. But a few stolen hours of playing his made-from-scraps guitar aren’t enough anymore…

Can Anthem and his friends find a way to perform in public?
Will they live long enough to keep his little brother and sister safe?
Why did the Corp turn music into a drug and a weapon?

Deciding who to trust, daring to love an Upper Level, the chance for revolution – this Coda may signal a change in the music of their lives or a crashing final chord.   (One of 7,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Beautiful and the Cursed, by Page Morgan (book review) – danger and dark secrets in Paris

Oct14
UK book cover of The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan published by Hot Key Books

UK cover

US book cover of The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan published by Delacorte Books

US cover

Brother missing,
Gargoyles watching,
Protectors or predators?

A different sort of paranormal creature stalks Paris as the 20th century peeks over the horizon – first novel I’ve read with gargoyles as central characters!

Read this one for

  • a new paranormal hero/villain
  • interesting family dynamics
  • a look into 1899 Paris

Book two in the series, The Lovely and the Lost,  is scheduled for May 2014 publication – more gargoyle intrigue impacting the human world, no doubt!
Hoping its cover is more like the UK cover of The Beautiful and the Cursed.

**kmm

Book info: The Beautiful and the Cursed / Page Morgan.  Delacorte Press, 2013.   [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover images courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Searching for her missing brother in 1899 Paris, Gabrielle finds gargoyles come to life, mysterious alliances, and danger at every turn as time runs out for his safe return.

Grayson was overseeing repairs at the gargoyle-bedecked old abbey that Mama had bought as an art gallery, but he wasn’t there when she arrived in dead of winter with his teen sisters – how unthoughtful!

But Gabby and Ingrid soon discover that his disappearance has interested not only the police, but also the warring factions of unworldly beings – the Dispossessed in human guise and the masters of Underneath, whose hellhounds have burst into the Paris nights.

For the gargoyles are indeed the Dispossessed, forced to stay in the world after their death because of their crimes in life, forever guarding and protecting the humans residing in their building, able to assume human form as needed, yet never letting people see them so.

And as for the hellhounds… their dark masters require more human blood and have broken a long-standing treaty with the Dispossessed to acquire it more quickly.

How can the gargoyle Luc protect Gabby and Ingrid when they keep leaving the abbey grounds?
Did one of the Dispossessed turn traitor and open the way for the hellhounds?
Where does Grayson fit into all this?

First in a series featuring a new type of paranormal hero, The Beautiful and the Cursed  brings the dark corners of the City of Light into sharp focus as two sisters risk much to find their brother.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Monster in the Mudball, by S.P. Gates (book review) – ancient hunger, on the loose!

Oct9

book cover of Monster in the Mudball by SP Gates published by Tu BooksTrapped for decades,
she awakens hungry,
violently hungry…

Every time ancient Zilombo is reborn, the monster from deep in an African lake has new and frightening powers that help her hunt – this time in England!

Try out three chapters for free here and you’ll be hooked as Jin, Frankie, and Mizz Z go after The Monster in the Mudball  along the Oozeburn River’s littered shores.

Do you hear the shivery jangle of a bottle cap anklet…  or is it just me?
**kmm

Book info:  Monster in the Mudball (An Artifact Inspector Book) / S. P. Gates. Tu Books, 2013.  [author biography]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: A baby, a monster older than the world, and a mysterious inspector – Jin and Frankie need the last one to help them rescue the first one from the middle one, before Zilombo eats him!

No one would expect that dusty old ball of mud contained an African monster which would gladly eat anything, especially when the mudball had been high on a shelf in a small British house for 20 years. How the dried dirt became mud again, hatched out its oversize feet and huge-clawed hands, escaped from its exile just before the Inspector of Ancient Artifacts arrived on her annual inspection… Jin knows, and Mizz Z the inspector knows that his baby brother is in great danger if this Zilombo monster isn’t caught – soon!

After such a long imprisonment, ancient Zilombo needs food and a hiding place, so she runs toward the scent of water, finding a secret spot near the river and sniffing for the delicious scent of that Smiler baby – oh, how she will enjoy eating it!

Jin and Mizz Z are on Zilombo’s trail, recruiting big sister Frankie along the way, but they may be too late, as baby Smiler chooses this night to take his first steps at Grandma and Grandad Tang’s riverside house.

Why does Mizz Z know so much about this ancient monster?
What new powers does Zilombo have in her newest form?
Can Jin and Frankie really save their baby brother?

Wild adventure along the muddy banks of the deceptively calm Oozeburn River as Jin, Frankie, and Mizz Z try to recapture the monster with her jangling ankle bracelet of soda bottle caps before she strikes again.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Linked, by Imogen Howson (book review) – illegal twin, found again

Oct7
US book cover of Linked by Imogen Howson published by Simon Schuster

US cover of Linked

Separated at birth,
each thinking she was alone,
yet connected by thoughts,
their suffering begins again.

“Telepathic twins in space” was UK author Imogen Howson’s working title for Linked,  and it describes the basic plotline well. Looking forward to scheduled 2014 sequel Unravel.

Grab this book if you like:

  • Mystery with a twist
  • Teens against a corrupt society
  • Action and adventure
  • Colonies in space
  • SciFi with grit

How far would you go to save part of your family, if it meant leaving the rest behind?
**kmm

UK book cover of Linked by Imogen Howson published by Simon Schuster

UK cover of Unlinked

Book info: Linked / Imogen Howson. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Elissa’s nightmares bring pain and bruises with them – not mental illness, but telepathy with her unhuman twin sister. Now they must escape the planet whose government wants to use them, regardless of the costs.

Brain surgery is the teen’s last hope of ending the visions of white-masked figures, the brutal pain, the bruises that bloom on her skin as she watches. Thankfully, their planet-colony has advanced medical care, thanks to the wealth that their unique spaceship engine technology brings in.

When Elissa discovers that her nightmares are the real thoughts and torture of another girl on Sekoia, she has to act. When she finds out that Lin is her sister, she doesn’t even know a word for it – twin? When she helps Lin escape, the girls become wanted criminals, and Elissa’s police chief father must catch them both!

How can two children be born at the same time, yet be separated?
Why are those people torturing Lin and other ‘unhuman’ children?
Can they convince brother Bruce to get them off-planet in a space academy ship?

A mystery, a terraformed planet filled with colonists and secrets, a race to safety… Lin and Elissa are linked through their minds – will they die that way?  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Ravens of Solemano, by Eden Unger Bowditch (book review) – journey of secrets, families lost?

Sep25

book cover of Ravens of Solemano by Eden Unger Bowditch published by Bancroft PressBelongings vanish, then reappear.
Mysterious coins and curious murals.
Fabulous food, but no parents to share it with.

The remote village hides the five Young Inventors and their teacher well, but it also hides many secrets, perhaps even the origins of the Mysterious Men in Black who guard, guide, and confuse them! Hopefully, its ravens can hide the children from evil Komar Romak long enough for them to solve a baffling problem which endangers the world.

Just published on Sept. 24th, The Ravens of Solemano  surprises with clever puzzles, endearing characters (except for Romak),and links to historical figures famous and obscure. Ask for it today at your favorite local library or independent bookstore – if they don’t have it, use the Book Info below to request it.

Of course, you’ll enjoy these further adventures of the Young Inventors Guild even more  if you’ve already read The Atomic Weight of Secrets (my no-spoiler recommendation here) , so check it out, too.

If the expectations of the world are on your shoulders, can you ever put family first?
**kmm

Book info: The Ravens of Solemano: The Order of the Mysterious Men in Black (Young Inventors Guild, book 2) / Eden Unger Bowditch. Bancroft Press, 2013.   [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: A daring escape, a too-brief family reunion, then the five Young Inventors must solve cryptic puzzles in a puzzling village before their dreadful enemy strikes again – now the world itself is in danger!

Fortunately, their schoolteacher Miss Brett is with Jasper and little sister Lucy, Wallace, Noah, and Faye as they must travel across the sea from the explosion site where they spent such a short time with their parents, on the run from evil Komar Romak. The Men in Black hustled the children and Miss Brett to safety aboard the strangest ship, crewed by more like them. Such wonders in its library and labs!

But a murdered man’s message sends danger their way, even before the Young Inventors reach the Italian village of Solemano with its ever-present ravens, mysterious garden labyrinth, and many puzzles to solve. Miss Brett helps the children settle in and resume their experiments – their inventive minds find much to ponder here.

Underground passageways with possible clues, garden statues that are not what they appear to be, friendly villagers with secrets of their own. How long will the children stay in Solemano? The Men in Black who guard/protect them cannot (or will not) say.

Has Komar Romak discovered their hiding place yet?
Can the Young Inventors discover enough of Solemano’s secrets to protect themselves?
Will they ever see their parents again?

This second tale in the Young Inventors Guild series takes readers far away, into an imaginatively peopled land of puzzles and parallels as the brilliant children who first met in The Atomic Weight of Secrets  must work together to save themselves and the world. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

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Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel, by Diana Lopez (book review) – cancer, promesas, and friendship

Sep13

book cover of Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel by Diana Lopez published by Little BrownBlack means super stressed-out,
Yellow is imaginative,
Pink means fearful and also breast cancer awareness – coincidence?

Experiencing such a range of emotions in one day is fairly common for teens, and Chia’s mood ring reflects that clearly after her mom is diagnosed with breast cancer.

So much that I loved about this book: Chia and her friends ask questions about surgery and cancer that grownups are often too polite to voice. They enjoy both paletas  and Baskin-Robbins ice cream. The girls have nicknamed their guy-friend Gumwad (always chewing gum and blowing bubbles) and he’s fine with that.

Chia gets mad at her family for little things and loves them unconditionally through the big things, like the family trip to make promesas at the shrine of the Virgen de San Juan and Mom taking Chia with her to pick out her post-op prosthesis.

And the author gets so much right about San Antonio that it feels like you’re there. Grab this summer 2013 release today at your favorite local library or independent bookstore.

**kmm

Book info: Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel / Diana Lopez. Little Brown, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Erica’s plans for a fun summer turn upside down as her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer and the eighth grader makes a promesa  to help Mom recover after surgery (mood ring=anxious).

All Chia (yes, Erica collects Chia pets) wanted was time with friends before their last year of junior high and a close encounter with a guy on her Boyfriend Wish List (mood ring=happy), but the sudden discovery of Mom’s cancer makes her head babysitter for her academically precocious little sister and always-active toddler brother (mood ring=unsettled).

Before the surgery, the family travels from San Antonio to a church in the Rio Grande Valley where people ask for miracles and celebrate healing, making promesas  to God, promises that they will do good things in thankfulness. Chia decides her promesa will be signing up 500 people as sponsors for the annual breast cancer awareness walk (mood ring=hopeful).

But fulfilling her promesa is more difficult than she anticipated – so many people turn away from her request to sponsor her in the walk (mood ring=angry)!

Can Chia juggle schoolwork, her friends, and getting sponsors signed up?
Will Mom make a full recovery from her surgery and treatments?
Is Chia’s Boyfriend Wish List going to crumble into dust before she gets her first kiss?

Supportive friends and freedom to ask the tough questions about cancer allow Chia to consult her mood ring, wonder if Shawtae’s dreams will ever predict something accurately, and daydream about boys and growing up in this true reflection of life in South Texas today.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Falcon in the Glass, by Susan Fletcher (book review) – secrets and more secrets in Venice

Aug21

book cover of Falcon in the Glass by Susan Fletcher published by Margaret K McElderry BooksSecrets passed from master to apprentice,
Sand to glass to beauty,
Death for sharing the secrets.

The all-powerful Doge did indeed control Venice with an iron fist during its heyday as a world trading center. Imagine how he’d respond to intelligent birds who could soar out of his reach, at the behest of their human partners!

Pick up this intriguing window into the world of medieval glassblowing, family bonds, and criminal skullduggery today at your local library or independent bookstore – and wonder if the Bird Children’s descendants may still live among us!
**kmm

Book info: Falcon in the Glass / Susan Fletcher. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2013.   [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Without help, Renzo cannot practice his glassblowing for the test. Without help, the refugee children and their birds will freeze. Without fail, the Doge of Venice will have them all killed if he finds them together in his city!

As the lowest helper in the padrone’s glassworks, twelve-year-old Renzo wishes he was still working with his father in their studio, before Papa was murdered and Uncle fled Venice with his glassblower’s knowledge and a price upon his head. Now Renzo must demonstrate to the Guild that he can work glass like his father or he will never become an apprentice.

Practicing late at night, Renzo spies a starving girl huddled in the studio’s warmth and her falcon in the rafters – no spies allowed in the glassworks, no strangers, no birds! If she is one of the green-eyed Bird Children who were banished from mainland Venice for witchcraft…but he needs another set of hands to work the glass and she needs only a place to rest.

With Letta’s help, he can create beautiful glass pieces, including a falcon that looks like it could fly. But the other Bird Children need warmth and food, too. Perhaps they can stay for a little while, even if their silent communication with their birds makes Renzo nervous.

But sometimes, doing good carries a heavy price. The ruler of Venice is intent upon capturing the Bird Children, a man who looks like Uncle is spotted on the island, and Mama worries about Renzo’s late nights at the glass furnace.

Can Renzo keep the Bird Children safe and out of sight?
Can he ignore the whispers about his uncle and criminal mischief?
Can he keep his hands steady on the glass pipe when the Guild test comes?

Strong is the psychic connection between these green-eyed children and their birds, strong is Renzo’s love for his mother and sister, strong are the Doge’s prisons awaiting the smallest error by these young ones in this fantasy set in the 15th century. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Fantasy and fairy tales to read with your ears

Aug9

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC bring us an old tale with new twists and the ‘rest of the story’ of an old favorite.

The first book in the Woodcutter series is filled with fairy tale characters you’ll recognize and spells and prophecies – my no-spoiler review of Enchanted  is here.

And Alice’s further adventures after returning from Wonderland are recounted as she steps Through the Looking Glass  to meet nursery rhyme friends and a terrible enemy.

Be sure to download these free, full-length audiobooks with professional narration by Wednesday, August 14; this summer’s last YA and classic audiobook pair goes live for download on Thursday, August 15.

CD cover of Enchanted by Alethea Kontis read by Katherine Kellgren published by Brilliance AudioEnchanted
By Alethea Kontis
Read by Katherine Kellgren
Published by Brilliance Audio

 

 

 

 

Through the Looking GlassCD cover of Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll read by Miriam Margolyes published by Bolinda Audio
By Lewis Carroll
Read by Miriam Margolyes
Published by Bolinda Audio

Which fairy tale or nursery character would you like to meet ‘for real’?
**kmm

Bubble World, by Carol Snow (book review) – virtual world, real love?

Aug5

book cover of Bubble World by Carol Snow published by Henry HoltParties, cute clothes!
More friend-time, less classwork.
Perfect world – or total illusion?

Freesia’s parents think she’s getting the best education available (and have the big tuition bills to prove it), the teen and her friendlies on Agalinas think school is a big party, and all of them are completely wrong!

This just-published novel starts off as frothy as Freesia’s favorite fruity beverage, but the secrets of Bubble World  are dark and deep. Ask for it at your favorite local library or independent bookstore and see if anyone escapes this school misadventure unscathed!

Is it wrong to want to run away from real life when it bores you to death?
**kmm

Book info: Bubble World / Carol Snow. Henry Holt, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Immersion classes and mega-parties on a tropical island – high school in paradise, with shopping, ziplines, and the cutest itty-cars! Freesia and her friendlies love being here, but these recent power outages are so wackacchino, like something is going wrong on Agalinas. Um, like what went wrong on the mainland?

Freesia’s parents and adoring little sister know the beautiful high schooler needs lots of time to be with her friendlies (and keep tabs on her enemies via bubble) and lots of shells to spend on clothes. Her bubble helps with Attire Assistance for her extensive wardrobe, holds her Outfit Registry (wear an outfit more than once every 4 months? Never!), and keeps her Chase Bennett music playing.

Her teachers match the snacks to the class, like bimbimbop and kimchee for Korean immersion and culture, but they don’t make the students wear themselves out speaking the language or doing homework. More time for parties and waterslides and shopping!

With exquisite houses and perfect beaches for these gorgeous teens, no one wonders why there’s no airport or passenger boat service to the mainland… but Freesia and best friend Ricky start to wonder about the more-frequent outages and discover startling things about Agalinas Island and Bubble World.

When one outage doesn’t reboot like normal, Freesia finds herself on the mainland, in her real non-beautiful body as Francine, in her family’s real house in the desert! What her parents thought about her virtual school is nowhere close to its reality; what Freesia thought was reality is closed off from her now.

How can Francine/Freesia cope with Phoenix instead of paradise?
Do her Agalinas friendlies miss her as much as she misses them?
How can she get back to the island??

Identity, reality, and friendship get spun and twisted around in this near-future tale of trying to use the digital world to avoid coping with the real world. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Stolen Magic, by Stephanie Burgis (book review) – rogue magic-wielder, powerful secrets

Jul22

book cover of Stolen Magic by Stephanie Burgis published by Atheneum Books for Young ReadersAn unlicensed magic-wielder on the loose,
A future mother-in-law trying to stop her son’s wedding,
The threat of war with France always looming…
Surely the teeniest bit of magic from Kat would make things better, right?

Of course not! And with her big brother finally deciding to watch over her, the youngest Stephenson sister can hardly practice her magic – if the Guardians will ever schedule her test, that is.

Do read chapter one of Stolen Magic  here (no major spoilers), and be sure to grab Kat, Incorrigible (book 1) and Renegade Magic (book 2) before you dive into finale of this early 19th century mystery-magic-political intrigue-adventure series!

If you had a bit of magic, what would you do?

**kmm

Book info: Stolen Magic (The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, book 3) / Stephanie Burgis.  Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Kat senses magic following as her family travels to Angeline’s long-delayed wedding, but soon discovers that England itself is in peril unless can stop the rogue magic-wielder!

At least she’ll get to see older sister Elissa again at the wedding, Kat sighs, as the borrowed coach bumps over country roads toward the Carlyle estate. Their brother Charles and Stepmama have kept Kat from practicing her magic, even as her initiation into the Order of the Guardians approaches.

Being a witch or a magic-wielder is frowned upon by Regency society, and Stepmama so longs to be accepted by those of ‘good breeding’ like Lady Fotherington. During introductions, the beautiful Marquise who knew Kat’s late mother has such an interesting reaction – were she and Lady Fotherington previously acquainted?

Even with the mansion filled by both families and many guests, Kat senses the rogue magic nearby, but can’t run off exploring while Lady Fotherington is watching her, trying to find some reason to disqualify her from the Order. Hoping to stop the wedding plans for good, Mrs. Carlyle has invited Frederick’s lovely childhood sweetheart to stay, and Angeline fears her beauty will steal her fiance’s heart.

Will there be a wedding for Angeline at last?
Can Kat find the rogue magic-wielder before it’s too late?
Is her initiation into the Order ever going to happen?

Secret passageways, caverns in the cliffs overlooking the sea, magic attacks by the rogue, and a threat on Kat’s life!

This final volume of The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson wraps up the mysterious magic of an alternate Great Britain during its Regency years as shared in Kat, Incorrigible  (book 1) and Renegade Magic  (book 2). (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)