Friday Finds #20

What great books did you hear about / discover this past week?

Share with us your Friday Finds!

Larklight by Philip Reeve

Arthur (Art) Mumsby and his irritating sister Myrtle live with their father in a huge and rambling house called Larklight…that just happens to be traveling through outer space. When a visitor called Mr. Webster arrives for a visit, it is far from an innocent social call. Before long Art and Myrtle are off on an adventure to the furthest reaches of space, where they will do battle with evil forces in order to save each other—and the universe. A fantastically original Victorian tale set in an outer space world that might have come from the imaginations of Jules Verne or L Frank Baum, but has a unique gravitational pull all its own…

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Matt Cruse is cabin boy aboard the airship Aurora and has high hopes for promotion to junior sailmaker on this voyage - until Kate de Vries, one of the wealthy passengers makes friends with him. All their bravery is required when one night, in the middle of the ocean, they are boarded by pirates.

Wake by Lisa McMann

Not all dreams are sweet.
For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.
She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.
Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant...

  

Sorcery & Cecilia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

A great deal is happening in London and the country this season.

For starters, there's the witch who tried to poison Kate at the Royal College of Wiza...more

A great deal is happening in London and the country this season.
For starters, there's the witch who tried to poison Kate at the Royal College of Wizards. There's also the man who seems to be spying on Cecelia. (Though he's not doing a very good job of it--so just what are his intentions?) And then there's Oliver. Ever since he was turned into a tree, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone where he is.
Clearly, magic is a deadly and dangerous business. And the girls might be in fear for their lives . . . if only they weren't having so much fun!

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters by Gail Giles

Jazz Reynolds has died in a house fire. But the Reynolds family welcome her home with open arms. Everyone is overjoyed to have Jazz home, everyone except Jazz's sister, Sunny, who is convinced that this girl must be an imposter. She may look like her sister, know everything about her sister, but her real sister is dead...So who is this girl? This is a creepy, taut thriller, where family loyalties shift and secrets are revealed right up until the end...

Shadow of the Swords by Kamran Pasha

Saladin, a Muslim sultan, finds himself pitted against King Richard the Lionheart as Islam and Christianity clash against each other, launching a conflict that still echoes today.
In the midst of a brutal and unforgiving war, Saladin finds forbidden love in the arms of Miriam, a beautiful Jewish girl with a tragic past. But when King Richard captures Miriam, the two most powerful men on Earth must face each other in a personal battle that will determine the future of the woman they both love - and of all civilization.
Richly imagined, deftly plotted, and highly entertaining, Shadow of the Swords is a remarkable story that will stay with readers long after the final page has been turned.

The Wizard Test by Hilari Bell

Dayven has passed the test he wanted most desperately to fail -- he's been proven to have the powers of a wizard.
He had promised never to become one of the deceitful, disloyal sorcerers who believe in nothing and alter people's true destinies -- but now he has no choice. Thrown into an apprenticeship with a roguish wizard, Dayven discovers that loyalty and trust are never simple, and wizards are more deceptive than he could ever imagine.
The path that was once clear -- his friendships, his future, his destiny -- is now shadowed with dangerous twists and turns, and the world he knows must change forever.

Tagged by Mara Purnhagen

Can Kate Morgan stand up for herself - without being labeled a snitch?
Kate is just as confused as her best friend, Lan, when she arrives at Cleary High to find the building's been "tagged" with a life-size graffiti mural. Could the culprit be one of their friends or classmates? And is the kind-of-amazing creation really vandalism, or a work of art? She's tempted to stay out of it - mostly because, as the police chief's daughter, she's worried about being labeled a snitch. But when the same mysterious graffiti starts appearing throughout the state, putting more pressure on the authorities to catch the vandal, her investigative instincts kick in.
Now Eli, Kate's favorite coworker at the local coffee shop, is MIA. With Lan preoccupied with her own boy troubles, Kate needs to figure out some things on her own. Like why she can't stop thinking about Eli. And what she will do when all the clues about the graffiti point to someone she's close to.

Magic in the Mirrorstone: Tales of Fantasy

In this anthology for teen readers, fifteen best-selling and acclaimed authors--including Holly Black, Cecil Castellucci, Cassandra Clare, Eugie Foster, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and Gregory Frost - weave all-new stories filled with magic. Comic and dark, epic and entertaining, these stories will introduce readers to the new voices of Mirrorstone beside the treasured favorites of Young Adult fantasy.

X Isle by Steve Augarde

Ever since the floods came and washed the world away, survivors have been desperate to win a place on X Isle, the island where life is rumoured to be easier than on what's left of the mainland. Only young boys are in with a chance, the smaller and lighter the better. Baz and Ray are two of the lucky few to be chosen, but they soon discover that X-Isle is a far cry from paradise. Ruled by Kido, a dangerous religious fanatic, it's a violent, unpredictable place where terrible things can happen at any moment. Beaten, bullied and in constant fear of Kido's explosive temper, the boys dream of life on the island without their captors. Together with Gene, the island's genius mechanic, Baz and Ray come up with an ambitious plan. A plan that will blow Kido and his men right out of the water. But are they really prepared to kill to secure their freedom? Powerful and compelling, "X Isle" is a fast-moving thriller that will keep you guessing right to the very end.

Gods of Manhattan by Scott Mebus

Look. What do you see? Sidewalks, skyscrapers, pigeons? But there’s more. More that only twelve-year-old Rory Hennessey can see. More that only Rory can reveal to others.

So, look again. What do you see? Layered on our own New York is a spirit city inhabited by warrior cockroaches, malevolent subway trains, kung fu rodents, hungry gargoyles, and children made entirely of papier-mache. Built by history and legend, it’s ruled by the Gods of Manhattan, lions of New York like Peter Stuyvesant and Babe Ruth.

Now everyone is racing to find Rory—the boy who can see. The boy who can change the destiny of New York. 

Immoral by Brian Freeman

In Duluth, Minnesota, a young woman, Rachel Stoner, has gone missing. Cop Jonathan Stride, a sharply focused detective despite the stresses of his troubled personal life, is quick to suspect her stepfather of murder. And yet, he has his doubts. Even for a man accustomed to power, the accused seems remarkably convinced he'll go free. Could he be telling the truth? While Stride endeavours to make sense of the conflicting pieces of evidence, a young woman's body lies half-buried deep in the woods. But if it's not the body of Rachel, where is the missing girl? Is she dead, or is the terrible, unexpected fate that awaits Graeme Stoner one he does not deserve? In this dark, involving mystery, nothing is as it seems, and readers will be gripped to the very last page as the shocking truth gradually emerges. 

The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu

 See that girl, the one with the bright red hair, overstuffed backpack, and aura of grumpiness? That's Charlotte Mielswetzski. And something extra-ordinary is about to happen to her.

Oh, it's not the very cute kitten that appears out of nowhere and demands to go home with her. It's not the sudden arrival of her cousin Zee, who believes he's the cause of a mysterious sickness that has struck his friends back in England. It's not her creepy English teacher Mr. Metos, who takes his mythology lessons just a little too seriously. And it's not the white-faced, yellow-eyed men in tuxedoes, who follow Charlotte everywhere.
What's so extraordinary is not any one of these things....It's all of them. And when Charlotte's friends start to get sick one by one, Charlotte and Zee set out to find a cure. Their quest leads them to a not-so-mythical Underworld, where they face rhyme-loving Harpies, gods with personnel problems, and ghosts with a thirst for blood.
Charlotte and Zee learn that in a world overrun by Nightmares, Pain, and Death, the really dangerous character is a guy named Phil. And then they discover that the fate of every person -- living and dead -- is in their young hands.

Kiss & Hell by Dakota Cassidy

Delaney Markham doesn't just see dead people, she hears them too. And FYI - communicating with tortured souls all day can really wreak havoc on your love life. Sans boyfriend, Delaney makes the best of her gift by holding séances to make ends meet - that is until one incredibly annoying ghost just won't go away.
Besides being sinfully hot - in a college professor sort of way - all signs point to Clyde Atwell being much more than the ordinary spirit. In fact, he's a newbie demon whose first assignment is to take Delaney back down to hell with him. Yeah, like that's going to happen on the first date.

Double Helix by Nancy Werlin

Eli Samuels, barely out of high school, is offered a job at prestigious Wyatt Transgenics by its founder, a legendary molecular biologist. The salary's amazing, the work is interesting, and Dr. Wyatt seems to want to mentor him. It's almost too good to be true. But Mr. Samuels is vehemently against Eli's taking the job, and he won't explain why. Eli knows that there's some connection between Dr. Wyatt and his parents - something painful for his father. Something to do with his mother, now debilitated by Huntington's disease. As Eli works at the lab and spends time with Dr. Wyatt, he begins to uncover some disconcerting information - about himself.