Tag Archive | behavior

A for assassin in Seeker, by Arwen Elys Dayton (book review) – higher purpose or highest bidder?

Apr1

book cover of Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton published by Delacorte PressYou can endure tough training for a good cause.
You can sacrifice personal ease for a higher purpose.
But what if it’s all a lie?

Quin’s shock at discovering that she and Shinobu have been honed into elite assassins instead of justice-seekers is matched by John’s fury at being denied that same life – the birthright that brought them together will separate them forever.

But John isn’t so ready to let the ancient artifacts slip away from him, craving the power of travel through space-time that Seekers use.

Find this February release at your local library or independent bookstore so you can get the whole story before it becomes a movie (yes, already in scripting!)

**kmm

Book info: Seeker / Arwen Elys Dayton. Delacorte Press, 2015. [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Trained in deadly martial arts since childhood to become a peace-Seeker like her stern father, Quin finds instead that she’s blood-bound into life as an assassin – unless she and her training partners can find a way to break free.

Family heritage and ancient artifacts allow Seekers to travel through time and space, but few apprentices train in the wilds of Scotland now. Shinobu lost his Japanese mother to an accident, John saw his mother vanish into thin air, and Quin’s mother tries not to hear the 3 teens’ mental grumbling about how hard Briac and Alistair work them.

When the Dreads arrive from somewhere in time to administer the Seeker oath, Quin and Shinobu learn the truth about their heritage and gift, while John has been cast out.

Brutal attack on the stronghold, leaping across the world to Hong Kong, strange messages from unexpected sources – can the Seeker way be turned back to peace or must they remain assassins for the highest bidder forever?

Chapters told by Quin, John, Shinobu, and the Young Dread add depth and dimension to this tale of determination to shift destiny’s course versus purpose warped by greed. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Searching for Sky, by Jillian Cantor (book review) – from island innocence to modern conflict

Mar25

book cover of Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor published by BloomsburyMoving to Island as babies,
surrounded by beauty and bounty and love –
swept away unwillingly into modern life!

Of course, an island paradise would be better than the strife and hustle of city life, but to discover that deceit and death were used to get baby Sky and toddler River to Island in the first place?

Pick up this May 2014 release at your local library or independent bookstore to see how Sky and River adjust to modern life, or if they even can.

And read the letter than the author wrote to her teen self on the Dear Teen Me site – wise words.

**kmm

Book info: Searching For Sky / Jillian Cantor. Bloomsbury, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Taken from their remote Island home where only four lived to the frantic noise of California, teens River and Sky must learn to cope with modern life and discover whether the world’s truth is their own.

On Island, River’s father Helmut and Sky’s mother Petal taught them all the skills of life – fishing in Ocean, counting, storing food in Shelter. But Helmut and Petal ate mushrooms and died, just before Sky’s 16th birthday.

Then a boat came and took them to the California place where Petal once lived. Now Sky and River are separated, and Sky must live inside a house-box with her mother’s mother and listen to Searching for Sky, by Jillian Cantor (book review) – from island innocence to modern conflictpeople who try to teach her about money and murder and reading.

Only Ben next door listens when she wants to visit Ocean, to not be called Megan.

Are these things the people say about Helmut true -murder and kidnapping?
Where has River gone?
Can Sky find any way to be herself again?

From innocence to confusion, Sky must suddenly grow up in a world she never imagined as she grapples with terrible truths and irresistible lies. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

A Different Me, by Deborah Blumenthal (book review) – surgery will make her life perfect

Mar21

book cover of A Different Me by Deborah Blumenthal published by Albert WhitmanThe bump on her nose absolutely dominates her face.
But no one else knows she hates it so.
If she could just make it go away, everything in her life would get better!

Having nose surgery isn’t a whim for Allie. At 15, she’s more than ready to erase the bump that’s bothered her for years, backed by teens she meets at online support group. If she can just convince her parents…

This September 2014 release should be available at your local library or independent bookstore. If not, ask for it – you need to read Allie’s story for yourself.

Would you change yourself drastically if you could?
**kmm

Book info: A Different Me / Deborah Blumenthal. Albert Whitman, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Allie tries to lay low at school so no one comments on her nose, but a mentoring assignment and an online support group give the New York City teen enough courage to ask her parents for surgery.

Keeping quiet, hoping she’ll “grow into her nose” – it hasn’t worked for Allie, who tells no one about her preoccupation with a surgical fix, not her best friend, not her examine-all-options parents.

Forced into mentoring Amber who’s fallen behind in English gives the 15 year old a look into someone else’s troubles and helps her ignore goth David taking pictures all the time at school.

She meets Mel and Katrina in an online rhinoplasty support group, and the three are there for each other as they research nose surgery facts and recommended area surgeons.

Can Allie ever convince her parents to allow this surgery?
Can Amber shake free of the worries that are hounding her?
Will David ever put away that stupid camera?

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when looking at your own face in the mirror is painful, it takes much more than platitudes to change that view.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Dissonance, by Erica O’Rourke (book review) – traveling to parallel worlds through music

Mar19

book cover of Dissonance by Erica O'Rourke published by Simon Schuster BFYREvery choice creates a parallel world.
Nothing can destroy these echo worlds.
But something is!

Del has the talent to Walk between worlds, but when an echo of popular Simon actually notices her, she ignores safety protocols and Walks from echo to echo until she finds a Simon who adores her. Then the trouble really begins!

Read chapter one here for free on the publisher’s site, find this 2014 book at your local library or independent bookstore, and look for just-published book 2 Harmonic, realizing that your choice might spin off another world…

**kmm

Book info: Dissonance (Dissonance, book 1) / Erica O’Rourke. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Following the family talent of world-walking, Del ventures far beyond what her apprenticeship allows, searching for love in the parallel worlds created by every choice and endangering our Key world with what she discovers!

Having older sister Addie supervise her final practice Walks instead of Mom or Dad or even ditzy Grandpa Monty doesn’t suit the Chicago teen, so musical Delaney explores on her own – entering the pivot where a choice split that echo away from the Key world, listening for an echo world’s specific frequency, leaving a tiny origami star in each world as a breadcrumb trail home, just in case.

When Del interacts too much with an echo, creating a dissonance in that world that the Consort of Walkers will need to erase, she saves them the trouble by doing it herself, with scary results.

Now forbidden by the Consort to Walk alone, stuck on a music class project with standoffish Simon yet aching to return to echo Simon who cares for her, Del only dares to Walk when Grandpa leaves the Key world to continue his search across echos for Grandma, an experienced Walker who never returned home.

Why can’t they just tune a dissonance instead of erasing an echo world?
Can she Walk and make a teensy change to fix something in the Key world?
Will the real Simon ever love Del?

When Del’s extracurricular Walks uncover a startling secret, the Consort of Walkers argues about the best course of action, but it may be too late to save the multiverse! First book in the Dissonance series. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Seed, by Lisa Heathfield (book review) – cult or commune? so many secrets

Mar12

book cover of Seed by Lisa Heathfield published by Running PressTending the crops,
striving to stop sinful thoughts,
did she really just imagine footsteps in the attic?

Pearl enjoyed an idyllic childhood at Seed, but as a young woman struggles with new ideas from Outside. Why would the children need school when Papa S. tells them everything they need to know?

Seed could be a commune, whose exceptional produce is eagerly sought by Outsiders at the market in town.

Or it could be a cult, whose leader controls every facet of life, from reproductive partnering to the exact moment for collecting honey from the beehives.

Just published on March 10, this novel is takes place in England today – even more frightening than a post-apocalyptic thriller or dystopian future tale.

**kmm

Book info:  Seed / Lisa Heathfield. Running Press, 2015. [author on Twitter]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: At Seed, Pearl and her extended family are safe under the watchful care of Papa S. until a young man from from Outside questions why they’ve rejected modern medical care and schooling.

At last, Pearl has become a woman at age 15 and may soon be Papa S’s companion, there in the big house where all the children of Seed and Kindred adults live together. Working the land, worshiping nature under the stars… Pearl loves Seed and hates going away to the town market where their produce is sold.

Papa S. announces that new people are arriving – a woman he knew long ago who wants healing from what life Outside has done, along with her teen son Ellis and little Sophie.

Ellis questions so many things that Pearl knows as truth – the origin of the stars, how the oil they rub into motors helps clean pollution from the air as they drive to market, why Pearl shouldn’t know which Kindred woman is her mother.

When Jack is injured in an accident and pregnant Elizabeth becomes desperately ill, Papa S. refuses to call a doctor – Nature will heal all.

Did Pearl really see someone in the locked attic’s window?
Could Ellis be right about men going to the moon and other things?
Does Pearl really want to be Papa S’s companion?

In present-day Great Britain, Seed  could be a haven celebrating life in harmony with nature or a cult whose founder must control everything. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Breaking Sky, by Cori McCarthy (book review) – flying away from her past?

Mar10

book cover of Breaking Sky by Cori McCarthy published by Sourcebooks FireIn 2049, the USA is under siege,
Cut off from the rest of the world,
One last chance to break the drone blockade…

Only teens have the physical resilience required to fly the new hyperjets at Mach 5 speeds – but will their passion for flying be enough to save the country from a relentless dictator or to outrun the demons from their own pasts?

Happy book birthday to Breaking Sky – a high-flying action-adventure with a deep emotional core.

**kmm

Book info: Breaking Sky / Cori McCarthy. Sourcebooks Fire, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Their country’s fate rests on skills of teen jet pilots who might finally outfly the Chinese dictator’s drone fleet surrounding the USA – if they don’t crack from Mach speed tests, the living ghosts from their pasts, or the possibility of love during wartime.

Hidden in the arctic, United Star Academy pushes the boundaries of speed and safety with new Streaker jet prototypes and the teens whose young bodies can stand the strain of hypersonic flight testing.

Nyx and Pippin fly Dragon – Chase lives up to her ‘daughter of chaos’ call-sign by avoiding emotional commitments with fellow cadets, while her eyes-in-the-sky genius best pal Henry accepted Academy placement so his family wouldn’t starve – while ice princess Sylph and Riot (Nyx’s latest breakup) fly Pegasus.

Just 2 Streakers, each with pilot and rio, until Nyx spots a third! When her commander denies its existence, Chase decides to make Phoenix show itself with a riskier-than-usual maneuver. But Nyx gets more than she ever bargained for when Ri Xiong Di retaliates against those who helped Dragon out of that jam.

New cadets, more challenges, Streaker tests accelerated – and 2049 becomes the year when America can begin to rise again or be swallowed up by the New Eastern Bloc.

Can Chase harness her need for speed?
Will the US government allow Streakers into actual combat?
Can a handful of teens outplay a dictator?  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Stronger Than You Know, by Jolene Perry (book review) – moving beyond abuse

Mar5

book cover of Stronger Than You Know by Jolene Perry published by Walt Whitman TeenAway from her abusers at last,
trying to become normal…
but what is normal?

Held captive all her life by her own mother, cigarette burned and hurt by mom’s ‘friends’ – how can Joy suddenly go to high school, or feel safe with a man in the same room, or let anyone get close to her?

A powerful story that isn’t all ‘woe is me’ or suddenly happy forever, Joy relates her struggles with things most folks take for granted – learning to use a cellphone, going to a restaurant – as her aunt, uncle, and cousins help her as best they can.

**kmm

Book info: Stronger Than You Know / Jolene Perry.  Albert Whitman Teen, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Rescued from a lifetime of abuse, fifteen year old Joy tries to move forward with her life with her aunt’s family, fighting the brokenness created by her own mother.

All the changes – from being locked in a California trailer for months at a time to having her own room in Seattle with a door that locks from the inside, from never going anywhere to attending a big high school, from having no one care about her to having family and friends who want Joy to be happy – even if they are good changes, it’s so difficult to forget the past, to get over the nightmares…

Perhaps today, Joy can stay in the room with her uncle, who wants to protect her.
Maybe soon, she’ll be able to hold hands with sweet Justin from history class.
Eventually, she might have to face her tormentors again…

A candid yet hopeful portrait of the shattering effects of abuse and the many adjustments large and small that can allow some measure of healing.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Not Otherwise Specified, by Hannah Moskowitz (book review) – no dance, no daring, no joy?

Mar3

book cover of Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz published by Simon PulseDancing her heart out,
Not worried about fitting in (except on stage),
but trying to change what’s impossible to change…

The heart and soul of a tall, willowy ballerina is firmly implanted into Etta’s short and curvaceous body. When the ballet director notes that she stands out too much in the cookie-cutter corps de ballet line, Etta spirals out of the elite dance troupe and into eating disorder group.

Happy book birthday to Not Otherwise Specified!

I just adore Etta and everything she does to rescue herself, to help her friends get to a better place, and to realize her dreams. This book isn’t just ‘checking off the boxes’ for diversity in ethnicity, sexual orientation, talents, and social situations – it turns a few expected tropes sideways, reverses others, and brings us a wholly unique story worth a standing ovation.

How tight do you hold on to your dreams?
**kmm

Book info: Not Otherwise Specified / Hannah Moskowitz. Simon Pulse, 2015. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Giving up food so she’d fit in the ballet corps, Etta doesn’t want to give up anything else, including a petite new friend who inspires the buxom, black, bisexual Nebraska native to audition one more time for an elite arts school.

At eating disorder group, curvy and talented Etta meets wispy, fragile Bianca who doesn’t eat (at all) and sings like an angel born on Broadway. Like every musical theater geek, Etta wants to be in New York City, dreams of attending performing arts school there, but has never made it past first round of tryouts.

Now, the principal of her private girls’ school recommends Etta for auditions. Wee Bianca, her equally talented big brother James, and his cute best friend Mason are trying out, too. Maybe concentrating on auditions will take her mind off the escalating bullying by the lesbian clique at school (for dating a guy…).

Hyper-religious parents won’t accept a gay son,
So-called friends won’t accept that a person can change.
And Etta won’t let little Bee starve herself to death, won’t let her own fears keep her from auditioning for Brentwood, won’t let the bullies force her to limit her life.

Doable: The Girl’s Guide to Accomplishing Just About Anything, by Deborah Reber (book review)

Feb28

book cover of Doable by Deborah Reber published by Beyond WordsA new project – yay!
New goals – hurrah!
Roadmap outlining how to do it all… umm?

Frame it right and your goal is indeed do-able IF you have some guidance that’s based on tested practice.

Peruse chapter 1 of Doable on the publisher’s site free here, then grab a copy at your local library or independent bookstore – you’ll refer to it often!

And be sure to check out the free resources on the author’s website, including your own personal Doable workbook and an ebook of career tips.

So…what do you want to do?
**kmm

Book info: Doable: The Girl’s Guide to Accomplishing Just About Anything / Deborah Reber. Beyond Words/Simon Pulse, 2015. [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: If you’ve ever begun a great project or set an important goal, then lost enthusiasm partway, take heart and reach for Doable, which will help you get where you want to go in life.

Step-by-step, the author outlines the 8 stages of doing what you deem important:

  • Define Your To-Do
  • Detail the Little Tasks
  • Defend Against Obstacles
  • Develop Support Systems
  • Determine What Success Looks Like
  • Do the Work
  • Deal with Setbacks
  • Deliver the Goods

Common pitfalls, workarounds for stalled projects, and examples from young women who’ve accomplished much are provided with each stage so that you can go from almost to all done on your own timeframe.

Whether you want to change yourself, change your school, or change the world, you can use the steps, worksheets, and good advice in this book to create a goal that you can control and a plan for reaching it. (One of 7,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Winterspell, by Claire Legrand (book review) – Nutcracker battle in alternate worlds

Feb26

book cover of Winterspell by Claire Legrand published by Simon SchusterIs that statue breathing?
Mother said that Godfather would always protect her,
but did she know that his fighting lessons might save them all?

The sugarplum fairy in this retelling of The Nutcracker tale uses her sweetness to conquer humankind, addicting them to her voice, stealing a kingdom and poisoning the land – and a mere human girl could be her undoing? Ha!

From iron mechanical bugs which constantly rebuild the city based on Anise’s dreams to the wizards who’ve barricaded themselves in an impassible forest rather than take any risks, Clare has many challenges as she fights with once-statue-imprisoned Nicholas to free the people of Cane and regain his kingdom.

Fairy tale retellings – which is your favorite?
**kmm

Book info: Winterspell / Claire Legrand. Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Desperate to save her kidnapped father, sixteen year old Clara rushes through a door between worlds, right into a war between iron-wielding fairies and the land’s magical nature – and she could be the deciding factor!

Since her mother’s mysterious death, Clara’s father has allowed organized crime to run the city. The young woman finds safety in Godfather’s workshop of wonders, whispering her worries to the statue there, as she always has.

When the mayor’s home is attacked by supernatural beings, the statue comes to life and Godfather’s inventions fight back, but cannot prevent the kidnapping of Clara’s father.

Clara, Godfather and former statue Nicholas leap into the kingdom of Cane, where time passes more quickly than in New York – and where the evil fairy Anise has enslaved the human population.

If Clara can get Father home in one week, the Concordia will spare her little sister…
If Nicholas can lead the humans against Anise, he can regain his kingdom…

Difficult choices, long-deferred dreams – this steampunk retelling of “The Nutcracker” examines the lure of power and the power of love.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)