The Librarian Writer

Title: Undertow Author: Michael Buckley Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers Publication Date: May 5, 2015 ISBN-13: 978-0544348257 384 pp. ARC provided by publisher Undertow by Michael Buckley is a Romeo/Juliet story about a human girl named Lyric and a sea prince named Fathom set in modern day New York. It's not subtle in its parallels to current immigration fears as the sea folk known as Alphas arrive on Coney Island and are immediately vilified, segregated, and threatened with violence. Lyric is forced to befriend Fathom at school and, of course, sparks fly. There's lots of conflict, lots of tortured feelings, lots of high stakes as Lyric finds out THE TERRIBLE AND COMPLETELY OBVIOUS TRUTH about her family. Undertow isn't particularly groundbreaking, but it is a fun, fast read for paranormal romance fans. I'd recommend Undertow to readers who enjoyed Of Poseidon by Anna Banks or The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black.

Title: Innocent Darkness Author: Suzanne Lazear Publisher: Flux Publication Date: August 8, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-0738732480 408 pp. ARC from publisher via Netgalley Sometimes you wish a book was as good as its cover. While the cover for Suzanne Lazear's Innocent Darkness is dazzling, the book is less so. Noli is a young mechanically-minded woman living in early 20th century Los Angeles. This is an alternative universe where steampunk is crossed with fairies. The fairy Otherworld needs to sacrifice a girl with Spark once every seven years to survive. The last sacrifice was botched and so the Queen's hunstman, Kevighn Silver, must find an extra-Sparky girl to repair the damage. Noli doesn't realize that her best friend/next-door-neighbor/love interest V is an exiled fae prince who has been protecting her since she is an extra-Sparky girl. When Noli gets into trouble one too many times for her mechanical shenanigans, she gets sent to a school for wayward girls....

Title: A Breath of Eyre Author: Eve Marie Mont   Publisher: KTeen   Publication Date: March 27, 2012   ISBN-13: 978-0758269485 352 pp. Purchased ebook via bn.com I was totally excited about Eve Marie Mont's debut YA novel, A Breath of Eyre . Jane Eyre is one of my favorite novels, but I'm okay with taking liberties with it. Jasper Fforde has a ton of fun riffing on it in The Eyre Affair . A Breath of Eyre is getting a lot of love with positive reviews, including a starred review from Kirkus. But I got to tell you, I didn't feel the love so much. Emma is a quiet, lonely girl at an exclusive prep school. She's the scholarship kid, so she keeps under the radar to steer clear of the mean girls. Her mother died when she was young, and she feels disconnected from her father and step-mother. She crushes on her English teacher and thinks cute boy Gray, whom she has known since she was little, is equally out of reach. She doesn't have any friends except ...

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer Author: Michelle Hodkin Publisher: Simon & Schuster Publication Date: September 27, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-1442421769 446 pp. Reading copy via local library This book had a lot of buzz pre-publication and I can see why. Way cool cover. Intriguing premise of is-she/isn't-she crazy. And it almost delivers.  It kind of bums me that I didn't L-O-V-E it like I thought I would, but it's still a good read. Mara Dyer (not her real name as we learn in a prologue) wakes up in the hospital after an accident has killed her best friend Rachel, frenemy Claire, and boyfriend Jude. Mara has no memory of the accident and starts seeing Claire and Jude. Mara tries to convince herself that she has post-traumatic stress disorder and these sightings are merely hallucinations. Mara also convinces her family that what she really needs is to get away from places that remind her of her friends, so the whole family moves to Florida. There she enters...

Title : Teeth: Vampire Tales Editors : Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling Publisher : HarperCollins Publication Date : April 5, 2011 ISBN-13 : 978-0061935145 480 pp. Reading copy via local library This anthology of 17 vampire short stories (and 2 poems) isn't part of the Debut Author Challenge since many of the contributors are well-established authors such as Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, Melissa Marr, and Tanith Lee. But it was sitting so seductively on the shelf that I had to read it. I'm glad I did. I totally missed the Twilight bandwagon, and I wanted to see what other authors had to say about vampires. And this collection has all kinds of vampires. Funny vampires, gay vampires, creepy vampires, psychotic vampires, and regular teenage angsty vampires. I'm just going to list my top five favorites stories, but almost all stories are extremely strong (only one did I find a little clunky and I wasn't that interested in the tw...

Title: Wildefire Author: Karsten Knight Publisher: Simon & Schuster Publication Date: July 26, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-1442421172 400 pp. Advanced reading copy via Galley Grab Wowohwowohwowohwow. Wildefire grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go. There's action! Untimely death! Cute boys! Crazy-ass sisters! (not necessarily in that order) Ashline and her big sis Eve were adopted from an Polynesian orphanage and they've grown up in an upper middle class Jewish family in upstate New York. They were close ... until Eve runs away from home. And when she returns, bad stuff happens. Really. Bad. Stuff. Stuff so bad that Ashline decides her only chance at normalcy is to transfer to a boarding school across the country. And that's when stuff starts to get really weird. There are too many twists and turns to give away the plot, but the long and short of it is that Ashline discovers that she's the reincarnation of a volcano goddess. And her new fri...

Title : Through Her Eyes Author : Jennifer Archer Publisher : HarperTeen Publication Date : April 5, 2011 ISBN-13 : 978-0061834585 384pp. Reading copy through public library When I was thirteen, my parents moved our family from our suburban home to a small desert town. Let's just say that I was not happy with this new arrangement. Which means I instantly sympathized with Tansy Piper, the protagonist of Through Her Eyes . Tansy is used to moving from town to town since her mom is a writer and likes to live in the cities where she sets her books. But instead of some place like Austin or Memphis or San Francisco, Tansy ends up in Cedar Canyon, Texas, the small town her grandfather grew up in. She loves her Papa Dan, who lives with her and her mom, since he's the one who understands her best and has been her best friend no matter where they are. But Papa Dan isn't doing well, rarely talking and barely eating. And moving into their creepy new home seems to be making P...

Title: Angelfire Author: Courtney Allison Moulton Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books Publication Date: February 15, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-0062002327 464 pp. ARC provided by publisher through NetGalley I was comic book nerd when I was growing up. I read DC Comics (sorry, Marvel) and my favorite was Wonder Woman. She was one of the few strong female role models when I was growing up, which was before Buffy Summers slayed her first vamp. I bring this up for my review of Angelfire because Charles Moulton created Wonder Woman. Charles Moulton was the pen name of William Moulton Marston and I doubt he's related to Courtney, but I think he would have appreciated that another Moulton created Ellie, the heroine of Angelfire . Courtney Allison Moulton does a lot to keep the girl power tradition alive with Angelfire . Ellie is the girl-hero in the book, and yes, she does owe at least a passing nod to Buffy. Ellie has good friends and typical high school problems when she finds out...

Title: Lost Voices Author: Sarah Porter Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books Publication Date: July 4, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-0547482507 304pp. ARC provided by publisher through NetGalley This book isn't on my official Debut Author Challenge list , but I couldn't resist that cover. I mean, come on. It's gorgeous. Evocative. I had to read it. Lost Voices is no princess mermaid book. If a reader who loves the Emily Windsnap books is looking for a read-alike, this isn't it. Lost Voices has dark, edgy mermaids who are more Siren than Little Mermaid. The story centers on Luce, a 14-year-old girl who lives with her alcoholic uncle in a small Alaskan fishing village. Her mother died when she was young, but her father has just recently died in a shipwreck. Life with her uncle turns from horrible to horrific after one of his drunken rampages goes too far. Luce escapes him, only to inexplicably find that she has turned into a mermaid. She befriends a tribe of ...