Blood Red Road   by  Moira Young

Saba, Lugh and their younger sister Emmi live with their pa in Silverlake.  Their mother died while giving birth to Emmi and Saba has never been able to forgive her sister.  Tensions mount between Lugh and their pa as the family struggles to find enough water and food. 

Then one day four men come on horseback, kill their father, and kidnap Lugh.  Saba chases after them, but can't save her brother.  She yells to him that she won't stop until she finds him.  Now with only Saba and Emmi left, Saba must take over and watch out for her little sister.  They head out to find Mercy, a family friend who their father said to go to if something happened to him.  By the time they arrive they're exhausted, hungry, and thirsty.

Mercy agrees to take care of Emmi while Saba goes in search of her brother.  Soon after Saba heads out Emmi finds her and insists on tagging along.  The trail proves to be just as dangerous as Saba feared when they're both captured by some slave traders.

Saba is forced to be a cage fighter in Hopetown's arena.  If any cage fighter loses three fights they have to walk the gauntlet and get beaten to death by the crowd.  Determined to find her brother Saba stays alive and wins all of her fights.  She becomes known as "The Angel of Death".

Meanwhile she makes allies among the other cage fighters and hatches a plan to escape.  One of the friends she makes is a male cage fighter, Jack.  The heartstone Mercy gave her to wear heats up whenever she's close to him.  Even though Saba's plan for escape is pretty risky, she knows she has to get to Lugh, but can she do it, meet up with Emmi, and not get caught?

Sherwood Smith

Isn't it always the case: all the really popular e-books by the big name authors are checked out. So why not try something a little off the beaten path?

Rhis, princess of an incredibly small, completely isolated, but fabulously rich (jewel mines!) mountain kingdom has been invited to the ultimate month-long house party. Actually, make that a palace party: She and princesses from kingdoms far and wide will be hosted by the Royal Family of Vesarja in the hopes of finding a suitable wife for the handsome young crown prince.

Of course, Rhis isn't particularly interested in getting married off. What she really wants is a break from her family role as the Perpetual Disappointment. Is it really so terrible that a girl would rather go to parties, read romantic adventure stories, and have friends rather than studying hard and preparing to Do Her Royal Duty?

Her older sister tries to convince her to get her head out of the clouds: Real life isn't like the songs!

Rhis knows that: She doesn't want real adventure which usually involves hardship, terror, suffering, and things like war and revolution. She just wants, oh, to fall in love, or have a wonderful prince fall in love with her. And just a little bit of fighting, like a duel or two (not to the death) and some exciting chases, where nobody really gets hurt.

The only fly in the ointment of potential fun is that her family insists she travel and room with her perfect cousin Shera, the one Rhis is continually being compared to (and not favorably). But when she meets her cousin for the first time, she discovers Shera is just as frivolous, and the lonely teenager has her first real friend. And just in time! Rhis and Shera are immediately thrust into a whirlwind of parties, fancy clothes and social intrigue at Vesarja Palace. 

Are there realistic teenage girls complete with gossip, sniping, bonding and commiserating? How about deeply satisfying come-uppances for the insufferable, snobby, popular girls? Perhaps even more satisfying coming-into-their-own for the plain, shy, or awkward ones? What about truly, madly, deeply attractive princes, with plenty of opportunities for romance?

Yes to everything. And just to make matters more exciting, before the story is done there's a kidnapping and a royal plot, which only the posse of princesses can foil.

Take Georgette Heyer, cross her with Gail Carson Levine, add a dollop (just a smidge) of high adventure and you get a great read for anyone whose inner-13-year-old is alive and well. This small press gem is possibly one of the best unsung princess book ever.

For the E-book, visit www.kcls.org/downloads and follow the directions for Overdrive Media to get a copy for your e-book reader. For the-book-on-dead-tree, click on the links for A Posse of Princesses embedded in this blog.

The Statistical Probablity of Love at First Sight by Jennifer Smith

Is it really possible to fall in love at first sight?  How long does it take to fall in love?  For Hadley and Oliver it seems to be about ten hours, the length of their flight together.

Hadley isn't happy about attending her father's wedding.  When he went to England to work he fell in love and never returned to her family.  Her mother cried for days.  Now she's furious at both her mother and father for pushing her to attend his wedding with the woman he left her mother for.

In fact she's so upset she forgets some things and gets in an argument with her mother.  All of this adds up to causing her to miss her flight.  Fortunately she gets on the next flight, but she'll be lucky to make the wedding on time much less to get dressed up for it.

While waiting for her flight she runs into Oliver who is hot, British, and offers to assist her with her luggage.  Then they end up being seated in the same row on the plane.  An observant, kind older lady switches seats with them so they can talk.

Besides freaking out over going to the wedding and meeting her stepmom, Hadley has claustrophobia and hates being cooped up in a plane.  Oliver teases her which calms her down.  Meanwhile she talks about her anxiety over meeting her father's new lady and the wedding she's attending.

Oliver shares a little about himself, but not a lot.  When the plane lands Hadley worries about getting to the wedding on time, but also tries to keep track of Oliver so maybe they can connect one more time.  Then she loses track of him and is crestfallen.  But maybe she's got enough information to find him again.   This sweet love story shows how fate might possibly bring people together through a series of events.   

Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procastinator by Josh Berk

Guy Langman isn't a joiner.  In fact he prefers to come home and just play video games after school.  He actually works pretty hard at doing as little as possible.  The one thing that motivates him is getting the attention of Raquel who he's liked for a long time.

Then his father dies unexpectedly and he's trying to make sense of all the changes in his life. His mom languishes around the house, but does her best to keep things moving along as normal as possible for him.  To distract himself Guy starts a biography about his father full of the wisdoms his dad often spewed out.

Then his best friend, Anoop, encourages him to join the forensics club at school.  Anoop entices him with the promise that Raquel will be in the club.  Despite his reluctance to join anything he attends the club's first meeting and surprisingly really enjoys it.

Guy also starts learning things about his father's past he's never known and then there is a break in at Guy's home where some of his father's precious treasures are stolen.   During a competition with another forensics club he and Anoop stumble upon an actual dead body.  They discover evidence that indicates there may be is a connection between the break in and the dead body. 

Watch Guy transform from a lazy kid with little ambition to an obsessed detective gathering together multiple interrelated facts.  It appears that he could end up a hero in solving a crime and get the girl.  But will it be the girl he thinks?

by Stephanie Tolan

Twelve year-old Charley lost a month of her life. She has no memory of the accident, or the weeks after. The doctors say that's not unusual with head injuries like hers. She's got a steel pin running through her leg from hip to knee. Walking the woods trail around the lake hurts: inside and out. It's not fair: Why can't I forget the things I want to forget? The tangled woods trail brings back her mother's voice: There's more poison ivy out here than kudzu and barbed wire vine and honeysuckle put together. Charley doesn't want that voice in her head, not any more.

Charley pulled all the photographs her mother took down from the walls of her room. She's learned to walk past the ones in the house her dad left up without seeing them. She hardly ever speaks to her dad, except when he yells at her to get out of the house: You need to get back to normal. You will start by walking. Today. Is that clear? She's supposed to find something productive to do this summer. As if.

It's on that walk that Charley sees the dog. He's half-wild, starving; but beautiful. He reminds her of a wolf--or a coyote. He won't let anyone near, not even to give him food. Almost against her will Charley decides to try to tame him, but it won't come easy. So her dad insists she find something to keep her busy this summer? Fine.

She picks the dog. And nothing will stop her. 

Learning to walk again, that was the easy part. Learning to listen again, to remember, to care...

Sometimes it takes two broken creatures to heal.

The way the author, Tolan, describes the wild patch of South Carolina where Charley lives--it reads like you're there. And Tolan really knows dogs, and the people who care about them. If you're one (too) you won't want to miss Listen!  

My first thought was that this was just going to be "mean girls go South-ern", but there's more here than that. 

Yes, we have hoodoo, too.  What is hoodoo, or a hoodoo?  The Oxford English Dictionary says it mean "to bewitch" or "bring bad luck to."  It can also refer to "one who practices voodoo." 

Alexandria Lee's mother is killed in an accident, and she has to leave the CA commune she's known as home, and go live with her (very youthful-looking) grandmother in Savannah, GA.  Alex is of "healthy" build and is comfortable with dressing in very-used clothing. 

Her rich grandma, who prefers to be called "Miss Lee," wants her to dress in ridiculously expensive clothes and socialize with two shallow girls named Hayes and Madison.  Appearance and high-falutin' manners count in Miss Lee's circles. 

Alexandria is ordered to participate in the Magnolia League, the debutante society of Savannah that her grandmother basically rules.No wonder Alex's mother ran away from home. 

But there's more to the Magnolia League than white gloves and tea sandwiches.  Bargains have been made and there's a price for being beautiful, young-looking and rich.  I'm talking about Miss Lee, not Alexandria, although she's discovering that her name is on the occult credit card, too.  There's no such thing as a free lunch.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  And it sounds pretty darn good.  Eat anything you want and lose weight.  Be young forever.  Have plenty of money. 

What's the connection with the Buzzard family?  When Miss Lee hears Alexandria has been talking to Sam Buzzard, she goes ballistic.  Heck, he seems nice.  His family has a place way out in the middle of the marshlands.  Alexandria is attracted to Hayes' brother, Thaddeus.  But he has a history with Madison, so Alex is wary.  And Thaddeus is so handsome she fears he might be out of her league.

But the question remains--what's the price tag for this great new life (that's growing on Alex, after all)?  Read The Magnolia League by Katie Crouch to find out.

My Book of Life By Angel by Martine Leavitt

After Angel's mom died she grew more and more distant from her father.  Eventually she ran away to the streets of Vancouver B.C. in hopes of finding love and understanding.  Call discovers her shoplifting and invites her to his home.

She thinks she's discovered someone who can really love her, but what she's actually done is step right into a trap.  Not only does Call push her to sell her body on the street, but he also slips her drugs that she becomes totally addicted to.  Meanwhile girls on the street disappear and rumors fly about a killer named "Mr. P".

One of Angel's friends on the street, Serena disappears and Angel fears that she may be another victim.  Serena told her that when things are bad enough if you just think about angels you can get through.  Angel hopes that Serena is thinking about Angels wherever she is.

Angel sometimes longs to contact her father and just go back home.  Yet she knows that Call might do something to her family if she does.  He walks around with her little brother's stuffed animal to remind her of what could happen if she tries to get away.

Then Call brings in an eleven-year-old girl for her to train and Angel can't bear to see this girl caught in the same trap.  Can she help them both escape without putting her family in danger?  As Angel refuses to take anymore drugs and works double to keep Melli from turning tricks, it seems everything is stacked against her.

Welcome to the new year!

Did you hear that Star Trek's warp speed may really be possible now (some day)? Here are some other classic short stories from the annals of science fiction that either predicted the future or that the editors anticipate WILL come true at some future date.

These include stories from the century before last on newfangled ideas like armored tanks ["The Land Ironclads" by H.G. Wells] and the crazy idea that we would ever be able to fly across the oceans -- in a dirigible even! ["The Balloon Hoax" by Edgar Allan Poe].

There are also tales predicting such things as reality T.V. in 1958 ["The Prize of Peril" by Robert Sheckley] and even the internet way back in 1946 ["A Logic Named Joe" by Murray Leinster]. And one story so close to the secret truths about atomic bombs -- when they were still being developed during World War II -- that the FBI came investigating the author ["Deadline" by Cleve Cartmill]!

So then, I wonder when we'll ever see space elevators as told in Charles Sheffield's "Skystalk"  or have our genes on file in order to grow replacement parts for our bodies as Hal Clement's fantasizes in "The Mechanic"?!

Of course, if this is all too airy-fairy and optimistic for you, then you should check out, instead, Daniel Wilson's Where's my jetpack?: a guide to the amazing science fiction future that never arrived. The title says it all, doesn't it? Where, indeed, are my food pills, servant robots, and moon colonies? Geez...!

Supposedly, teenage boys don't care to read adventures with female main characters. If so, just wait until they meet Stephanie Harrington, a pioneer on the heavy-gravity planet of Sphinx. Adult fans of the Weber's Honor Harrington series will recognize the setting. It's a heavily forested alien wilderness featuring monsters like the hexapumas; giant six legged sabre-tooth tigers.

Back on her home planet, Stephanie was well on her way to becoming a junior forest ranger, and her new home promises to be an exciting place to explore. The problem is that perfectly reasonable adults tend to balk at letting young teens head out into untamed and uncharted wilderness. Her parents try to direct that frustration into a positive outlet: find out what critter keeps stealing the celery from her mother's supposedly secure greenhouse.  

It turns out to be the creature on the cover, a beast that Stephanie dubs a "tree cat" and that colonists had heretofore considered a legend.  But these aliens are not just smaller versions of the hexapumas: they're intelligent, tool-using sentients, with world-spanning tribal groups determined to stay secret from the encroaching humans.

Local politics: both human and tree cat, life or death adventures on an alien planet, all with an intelligent cat-being who could be your best friend? It's hard to imagine a more satisfying read for anyone who loves animals, adventure, and alien worlds. 

Read about their further adventures in Fire Season, out in October 2012.