Sunday, August 30, 2009

Bite Me by Parker Blue


Having decided that half-demon Val is a bad influence on her little human sister, Val's parents kick her out of the house on her 18th birthday. Val's luck isn't all bad though. She befriends a telepathic hellhound and a cute vampire hunter. As a half-demon, Val is specially equipped to hunt vampires so she joins the special forces team and starts to make a life of her own. All that is threatened when the vampires target her little sister.

Read "BITE ME" here

Prom Nights From Hell, an Anthology


What does having a prom night from hell mean to you? Maybe you tear your dress on the way out of the limo so everyone sees your underwear. Or you spend the entire evening smiling for your friends' cameras with lipstick on your teeth. Perhaps you even get dumped on what is supposed to be one of the most important nights of your life. All of these things surely can add up to a prom night from hell, but at least you didn't have the prom night from Hell.

Five of your favorite teen authors have teamed up to produce a set of short stories about proms gone supernaturally, horribly wrong. While you're concerned about shoes matching your purse, the girls in these stories are worried about crossbows and vampires, zombie dates who've been dead for weeks, and a devil in a red dress who causes chaos by snapping high heels and breaking up couples.

Michele Jaffe (BAD KITTY) gives scary a twist of humor in her story "Kiss and Tell," in which Miranda, blessed (or maybe cursed) with superpowers, takes it upon herself to protect a 14-year-old chauffering charge named Sibby. Sarcasm and a roller derby outfit, however, might not be enough for Miranda to keep Sibby safe from a potential murder.

If you're a fan of Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT, then you'll love "Hell on Earth." What looks like your normal prom becomes a jumbled mess of broken jewelry, ripped dresses and destroyed romances thanks to the new girl, Sheba, who's really a 186-year-old demon in disguise. But will Sheba's meddling older sister keep the prom from being anything less than perfectly hellish?

If you love the classic horror stories, then flip straight to "The Corsage" by Lauren Myracle (RHYMES WITH WITCHES), a retelling of W.W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw." Frankie wishes for Will to ask her to the prom while holding a corsage she bought from a Juicy Couture-clad fortune teller. You know how the saying goes, though: Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. Frankie's wish comes true, and now Will is just dying to ask her to the prom.

For a twist on the Grim Reaper tale, look at "Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper" by Kim Harrison (A FISTFUL OF CHARMS). It's bad enough that Madison's date only takes her to the prom out of pity, but then the guy she leaves with kills her and completely botches her death. Now she's somewhere between human and ghost, relying on a stolen amulet to keep her solid.

And for those of you who are diehard vampire fans, open to page one and start reading "The Exterminator's Daughter" by Meg Cabot (AVALON HIGH). Vampires are alive, well, living in New York and taking Mary's best friend Lila to the prom. Mary, a vampire exterminator with her very own crossbow, is determined to save Lila. With Dracula in disguise at her high school, will Mary's prom completely suck?

Enter a world where Death and demons meet sequins and tuxedos. Whether you prefer a slow, detailed story or a tale that's funny and fast-paced, you'll find something here to enjoy. Your prom may not be as exciting as some of the ones in this book, but at least you won't have to worry about the new boy wielding a scythe.

Read "PROM NIGHTS FROM HELL" here

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume


Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. is a 1970 book by Judy Blume, typically categorized as a young adult novel, about a preteen girl in sixth grade who grew up with no religion. Margaret's mother is Christian and her father is Jewish, and the novel explores her quest for a single religion.

Read "ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET" here

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky


An incredibly accurate portrayal of early adolesence, this book consists of letters written by Charlie to an unidentified person during his freshman year of high school. Prone to depression, shy, introverted, on the fringes in everything, Charlie is a wallflower who, with the help of friends Samantha and Patrick, comes to terms with life and learns to interact. Although Perks covers just about every tough issue known to teen, the book has its moments of humor, and the tragic aspects are handled so well that it comes off as realistic rather than melodramatic or soap-operatic. A masterful book.

Read "THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER" here

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult


Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has never questioned… until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable… a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less?

Read "MY SISTER'S KEEPER" here

Roswell High by Melinda Metz


The 10-book series chronicles the adventures of three teen aliens and their human friends, who attend the fictional Ulysses F. Olsen High in Roswell, New Mexico. The Roswell High books served as inspiration for the television series Roswell 1. The Outsider 2. The Wild One 3. The Seeker 4. The Watcher 5. The Intruder 6. The Stowaway 7. The Vanished 8. The Rebel 9. The Dark One 10. The Salvation

Read "ROSWELL HIGH" here

Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz


The first book opens with 14-year-old orphan Alex Rider, the title character of the series, learning that his legal guardian and uncle, Ian Rider, has died in a car accident. Suspicious about the circumstances of his uncle's death, Alex decides to investigate and discovers that Ian was assassinated while working for MI6. MI6 recruit Alex and place him in a gruelling SAS training camp, before sending him undercover to continue his uncle's investigation of Herod Sayle, a Lebanese businessman. Successful in this mission, MI6 continually find new ways to blackmail Alex into working for them, and other intelligence agencies. MI6 always insist they only want him to gather intelligence, but Alex usually learns too much and has to fight his way out. Alex, during his missions, discovers that several members of his family have worked for MI6, including his father, his uncle, and his godfather. Alex also works for the CIA and ASIS.

Read here:
Stormbreaker
Point Blanc
Skeleton Key
Eagle Strike
Scorpia
Ark Angel
Snakehead

The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson


The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex- and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge around the authors' version of the Illuminati. The narrative often switches between third and first person perspectives and jumps around in time. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology and Discordianism.

The trilogy comprises The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple and Leviathan.

Read "THE ILLUMINATUS! TRILOGY" here

Katie Chandler Series by Shanna Swendson


Katie Chandler had always heard that New York is a weird and wonderful place, but this small-town Texas gal had no idea how weird until she moved there. Everywhere she goes, she sees something worth gawking at and Katie is afraid she's a little too normal to make a splash in the big city. Working for an ogre of a boss doesn't help.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, Katie gets a job offer from Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., a company that tricks of the trade to the magic community. For MSI, Katie's ordinariness is an asset.Lacking any bit of magic, she can easily spot a fake spell, catch hidden clauses in competitor's contracts, and detect magically disguised intruders. Suddenly, average Katie is very special indeed.

She quickly learns that office politics are even more complicated when your new boss is a real ogre, and you have a crush on the sexy, shy, ultra powerful head of the R&D department, who is so busy fighting an evil competitor threatening to sell black magic on the street that he seems barely to notice Katie. Now it's up to Katie to pull off the impossible: save the world and - hopefully - live happily ever after.

Read here:
Enchanted, Inc.
Once Upon Stilettos
Damsel Under Stress
Don't Hex with Texas

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


The Book Thief is set in Nazi Germany. Beginning in 1939, it focuses on a German girl, Liesel, who is sent by her mother to live with foster parents in a small town near Munich. As Liesel learns to cope with her new environment, all the pains she has endured, and the extreme unhappiness of pre-war and wartime Germany, she yearns to escape via reading. Her foster father Hans helps her learn to read, and Liesel finds books here and there — in a snowy graveyard, in a Nazi book-burning, and inside the local mayor's house. She has a few friends; first her neighbor and classmate, Rudy, and later the son of a soldier her foster father knew in WWI, Max, a Jew whom her new family must hide in their basement. While the toll of WWII, Allied bombing, and Nazi brutality increases, Liesel's world starts to crumble, but words and reading sustain her.

Read "THE BOOK THIEF" here

Fade by Lisa McMann


For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They're just trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck. Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody's talking. When Janie taps into a classmate's violent nightmares, the case finally breaks open--but nothing goes as planned. Not even close. Janie's in way over her head, and Cabe's shocking behavior has grave consequences for them both.

Worse yet, Janie learns the truth about herself and her ability. And it's bleak. Seriously, brutally bleak. Not only is her fate as a Dream Catcher sealed, but what's to come is way darker than she'd even feared...

Read "FADE" here

Wake by Lisa McMann


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....

Read "WAKE" here

A Certain Slant Of Light by Laura Whitcomb


In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: For the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen--terrified, but intrigued--is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess.

Read "A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT" here

Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause


Having fallen for a human boy, a beautiful teenage werewolf must battle both her packmates and the fear of the townspeople to decide where she belongs and with whom.

Read "BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE" here

Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho


Veronika seems to have everything she could wish for. She is young and pretty, has plenty of attractive boyfriends, goes dancing, has a steady job, a loving family. Yet Veronika is not happy; something is lacking in her life. On the morning of November 11th, 1997, she decides to die. She takes an overdose of sleeping pills, only to wake up some time later in Villette, the local hospital. There she is told that although she is alive now her heart is damaged and she has only a few days to live.

Read "VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE" here

The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith


Elena: the golden girl, the leader, the one who can have any boy she wants.

Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.

Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he'd kill to possess her.

The Vampire Diaries, the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.

Read here:
The Vampire Diaries - The Awakening - Book #1
The Vampire Diaries - The Struggle - Book #2
The Vampire Diaries - The Fury - Book #3
The Vampire Diaries - The Dark Reunion - Book # 4

Monday, August 24, 2009

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides


The story, which is set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 1970s, centers around the suicides of five sisters. The Lisbon girls' suicides fascinate their community as their neighbors struggle to find an explanation for the acts.

Read "THE VIRGIN SUICIDES" here

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella


Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She's made a mistake so huge, it'll wreck any chance of a partnership. Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she's mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they've hired a lawyer-and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can't sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope-and finds love-is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake. But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

THE UNDOMESTIC GODDESS

Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella


Emma is sitting on a turbulent plane. She's always been a v. nervous flyer. She really thinks that this could be her last moment. So, naturally enough, she starts telling the man sitting next to her - quite a dishy American, but she's too frightened to notice -all her innermost secrets. How she scans the backs of intellectual books and pretends she's read them. How she does her hair up like Princess Leia in her bedroom. How she's not sure if she has a G-spot, and whether her boyfriend could find it anyway. How she feels like a fraud at work - everyone uses the word 'operational' all the time but she hasn't a due what it means. How the coffee at work is horrible. How she once threw a troublesome client file in the bin. If ever there was a bare soul, it's hers. She survives the flight, of course, and the next morning the famous founding boss of the whole mega corporation she works for is coming for a look at the UK branch. As he walks around, Emma looks up and realizes... It's the man from the plane. What will he do with her secrets? He knows them all - but she doesn't know a single one of his. Or... does she?

Read "CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?" here

Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella


Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She's a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time...shopping. Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can't. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something - just a little something... Can Becky ever escape from this dream world, find true love, and regain the use of her Switch card? The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic... The perfect pick me up for when it's all hanging in the (bank) balance.

Read here:
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Shopaholic Takes Manhattan
Shopaholic Ties the Knot
Shopaholic & Sister
Shopaholic & Baby

The Host by Stephenie Meyer


Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves--Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Read "THE HOST" here

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer


Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balance precariously on the point of a knife -- between desire and danger.

Read here:
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk


The rise of a terrorist organization, led by a waiter who enjoys spitting in people's soup. He starts a fighting club, where men bash each other, and the club quickly gains in popularity. It becomes the springboard for a movement devoted to destruction for destruction's sake.

Read "FIGHT CLUB" here

Dragonlance by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman


The world of Krynn is on the precipice of a dark age. As a massive army led by the evil Verminaard prepares its final onslaught, paranoia and fear grips the populace. Only a small band of companions can save Krynn. But with even former friends ready to betray them, salvation may be impossible. Friendships will be tested. Lovers will be separated. And sacrifices will be demanded...

Read "THE DRAGONLANCE SERIES" here

Star Wars by George Lucas


Star Wars is an epic space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas.
The Star Wars film series has spawned other media including books, television series, video games, and comic books.

Read "STAR WARS" here

Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry


Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series and media franchise. The Star Trek fictional multiverse created by Gene Roddenberry is the setting of six television series, including the original 1966 Star Trek, and eleven feature films. The franchise also includes dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and instances of fan fiction, several fan-created video productions, as well as a themed attraction in Las Vegas. 

Read "STAR TREK" here

Animorphs by K.A. Applegate


Five humans and one alien obtain the ability to morph into any animal they touch; they name themselves "Animorphs". Using their ability, they battle a secret alien infiltration of Earth. It is told in first person, with a different narrator in every book. Applegate cycles through the six protagonists, telling their story of the secret war through each of their perspectives. By using this, she explores many of the dark aspects of the human condition.

1: The Invasion 2: The Visitor 3: The Encounter 4: The Message 5: The Predator 6: The Capture 7: The Stranger 8: The Alien 9: The Secret 10: The Android 11: The Forgotten 12: The Reaction 13: The Change 14: The Unknown 15: The Escape 16: The Warning 17: The Underground 18: The Decision 19: The Departure 20: The Discovery 21: The Threat 22: The Solution 23: The Pretender 24: The Suspicion 25: The Extreme 26: The Attack 27: The Exposed 28: The Experiment 29: The Sickness 30: The Reunion 31: The Conspiracy 32: The Separation 33: The Illusion 34: The Prophecy 35: The Proposal 36: The Mutation 37: The Weakness 38: The Arrival 39: The Hidden 40: The Other 41: The Familiar 42: The Journey 43: The Test 44: The Unexpected 45: The Revelation 46: The Deception 47: The Resistance 48: The Return 49: The Diversion 50: The Ultimate 51: The Absolute 52: The Sacrifice 53: The Answer 54: The Beginning

Read "THE ANIMORPHS SERIES" here

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett


Good Omens is the story of An angel and a demon who are both trying to do their jobs that are part of the Great Plan. Although Aziraphale and Crowley are adversaries by nature and profession, their relationship develops into a friendship merely because of the time spent together over thousands of years. In this unlikely pairing, compromises are made between the two of them so that they can both appear to be accomplishing their missions without overcoming the other too much. When the birth of the Antichrist occurs, they agree to work together and try to see if their influences on the child have any effect. By the time they locate the correct child, it is almost too late as Armageddon is about to begin. Events unfold and the world is saved.

Read "GOOD OMENS" here

Stardust by Neil Gaiman


In the tranquil fields and meadows of long-ago England, there is a small hamlet that has stood on a jut of granite for 600 years. Just to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here, in the hamlet of Wall, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. And here, one crisp October eve, Tristran makes his love a promise -- an impetuous vow that will send him through the only breach in the wall, across the pasture ... and into the most exhilarating adventure of his life.

Read "STARDUST" here

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman


In the deft hands of Neil Gaiman, magic is no mere illusion...and anything is possible. In this, Gaiman's first book of short stories, his imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders — a place where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks. Explore a new reality — obscured by smoke and darkness, yet brilliantly tangible — in this extraordinary collection of short works by a master prestidigitator. It will dazzle your senses, touch your heart, and haunt your dreams.

Read "SMOKE AND MIRRORS" here

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman


Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart — and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk.From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed — a dark subculture flourish in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city — a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known...Richard Mayhew is a young businessman with a good heart and a dull job. When he stops one day to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk, his life is forever altered, for he finds himself propelled into an alternate reality that exists in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations below the city. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.

Read "NEVERWHERE" here

Coraline by Neil Gaiman


In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close. The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. Only it's different. At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself. Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.

Read "CORALINE" here

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman


God is dead. But just wait till you meet the kids... When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie "Fat Charlie." Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing "gifts" his father bestowed — before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life. Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie's doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is to day, a brother who's going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun...just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie. Because, you see, Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion; he is able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, baffle the devil, and cheat Death himself. Exciting, scary, and deeply funny, Anansi Boys is a kaleidoscope journey deep into myth, a wild adventure, and a fierce and unstoppable farce, as Neil Gaiman shows us where gods come from, and how to survive your family.

Read "ANANSI BOYS" here

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling


The novels revolve around Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers that he is a wizard. Wizard ability is inborn, but children are sent to wizarding school to learn the magical skills necessary to succeed in the wizarding world. Harry is invited to attend the boarding school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each book chronicles one year in Harry's life, and most of the events take place at Hogwarts. As he struggles through adolescence, Harry learns to overcome many magical, social and emotional hurdles.

Read here:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Tall, Dark & Hungry by Lynsay Sands


New York hotels cost an arm and a leg, and Terri had flown from England to help plan her cousin's wedding. The new in-laws offered lodging. But they were a weird bunch. There was the sometimes-chipper-sometimes-brooding Lucern, and the wacky stage-actor, Vincent. (She couldn't imagine Broadway casting a hungrier singing-and-dancing Dracula.). And then there was Bastien. Just looking into his eyes, Terri had to admit she was falling for him - someone even taller, darker and hungrier than the other two. She was feeling a mite peckish herself. And if she stayed with him, those bloodsucking hotel owners wouldn't get her!

Read "TALL, DARK and HUNGRY" here

Falling Angel by Anne Stuart


Emerson MacVey was a ruthless, womanizing, corporate raider that hadn't thought twice about destroying Angel Falls. But suddenly, Emerson received the gift of a second chance at love. He became his own alter ego, Gabriel Falcone. Without divulging his identity, could Emerson--the new Emerson--right his wrongs and claim the one woman he should have loved?

Read "FALLING ANGEL" here

A Bite to Remember by Lynsay Sands


Rule #1: Never get involved with someone who won't be there for you when the sun comes up.

Once bitten, twice shy, and sexy PI Jackie Morrisey wasn't going there again. Vincent Argeneau may be the hottest guy she's ever met, living or dead, but she's here to stop a killer from turning this vampire into dust, not to jump into bed with him.

Rule #2: Never kiss a vampire . . . it can be a pain in the neck.

Okay, so Vincent's had four hundred years to perfect his kissing skills, and he does look rather tempting when he runs around the house shirtless. He's also charming, protective . . . did we mention he can kiss? Jackie needs to be on her guard, or else she'll have to come up with a new rule: If you're going to fall in love with a vampire, make sure it's a bite to remember.

Read "A BITE TO REMEMBER" here

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen


Rogerson Biscoe, with his green eyes and dark curly hair, is absolutely seductive. Before long, sixteen-year-old Caitlin finds herself under his spell. And when he starts to abuse her, she finds she's in too deep to get herself out...

Read "DREAMLAND" here

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen


Annabel Greene looked like the perfect girl, the one who had everything. She was a model, a popular girl, with the perfect family. It all begins to fall apart when her sister Whitney almost dies from anorexia. Then, when Annabel's best friend Sophie accuses Annabel of trying to sleep with her boyfriend, when he really tried to rape her, things change forever.

Read "JUST LISTEN" here

On the Couch by Alisa Kwitney


Marlowe Riddle is a wealthy but lonely psychotherapist who hasn’t had much luck with love or sex. It’s the age old problem – if the men are smart enough for her, she’s not attracted to them, but if they’re good-looking there’s usually not enough going on upstairs to keep her interested. So when she gets a call from a guy named Joe who seems to think she’s a high-priced prostitute, she can’t quite bring herself to tell him that he has the wrong number. NYPD Detective Joseph Kain is in a personal and professional slump. He’s still hung up on his ex-wife, who is having an affair with a famous actor, and he was recently demoted because of a disagreement with his supervisor. Once a member of an elite task force on organized crime, his latest case is nothing more exciting than a middle-aged man who apparently suffocated by accident during a kinky masturbatory act. But for some reason, Joe wants to pursue the case to see if foul play was involved, especially when he finds a listing for escort services next to the body. When Joe calls the number last dialed from the man’s cell phone, he starts a heavy flirtation with the woman who answers. The unusual call girl who quotes Swinburne and calls herself Marlowe is interesting and sexy, but sounds strangely reluctant to keep talking. Joe isn’t sure after a while if he’s pursuing her because she might be a link to his case or because he’s personally intrigued by her. But after a few phone calls, he knows that he has to meet this woman in person and see where the attraction takes them.

Read "ON THE COUCH" here

Flirting in Cars by Alisa Kwitney


An accomplished journalist, Zoë Goren can't drive and she doesn't cook. But that's never been a problem in Manhattan, where the streets are filled with taxis and takeout restaurants, and a busy single mother can find everything she needs right at her fingertips. In fact, Zoë can't imagine living or working anyplace else. But when Zoë's daughter is diagnosed with dyslexia, she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice, moving two hours from Manhattan in order to enroll Maya in an excellent school for children with learning differences. Stranded in a rural paradise, Zoë must grapple with isolation, coyote howls, and the lack of good delivery services. But when she decides to overcome her fear of driving and take lessons, she meets Mack, an unnervingly attractive townie, back from the war in Iraq and trying to adjust to civilian life. With a budding new romance and a reporting gig for the local paper, Zoë just might survive in the wilderness of small-town America after all.

Read "FLIRTING IN CARS" here

Does She or Doesnt She? by Alisa Kwitney


Delilah Levine is a part-time soap opera writer, whose husband, Jason, has taken to yelling at her when he's not simply ignoring her. Her only joys are her daughter, Sadie, and the elaborate fantasies that she has about her plumber, Ford. Jason is a corporate lawyer, in charge of a new product, an aphrodisiac called Biosensual. However, the drug is known to have some strange side affects. When Delilah accidentally sends her new soap opera script with some of Jason's notes on the back, the television station thinks that Delilah is proposing a plot about Biosensual. Delilah lets them go ahead, thinking that this will be good publicity for Jason, but when he learns about what Delilah has done, he is furious. Then attempts on Delilah's life begin. Delilah learns that Ford is not a plumber at all, but rather an FBI agent sent undercover to investigate Jason. As Delilah and Ford grow closer, their mutual attraction reaches a point where it cannot be ignored. But before they can be together, Delilah and Ford must learn what Jason is up to and who is trying to kill her

Read "DOES SHE OR DOESN'T SHE?" here

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques


A boy and dog trapped aboard the legendary ship, the Flying Dutchman, are sent off on an eternal journey by an avenging angel, roaming the earth throughout the centuries in search of those in need. Their travels lead them to Chapelvale, a sleepy nineteenth-century village whose very existence is at stake. Only by discovering the buried secrets and solving the dust-laden riddles of the ancient village can it be saved. This will take the will and wile of all the people-and a very special boy and dog! Brian Jacques turns from Redwall to a very different sort of story, and succeeds admirably.

Read "CASTAWAYS OF THE FLYING DUTCHMAN" here

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy


The story of the tragic decline of an Indian family whose members suffer the terrible consequences of forbidden love, The God of Small Things is set in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family -- their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).
When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.

Read "THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS" here


The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry


The narrator's point of view is interleaved in the first nine chapters and changes from third person to first person. In the first eight days of the narrator being stranded in the desert, the prince has been telling these stories to the narrator. The prince asks the narrator to draw a sheep. Not knowing how to draw a sheep, the narrator shows the prince a picture that he had previously drawn; a boa with an elephant in its stomach, a drawing which previous viewers mistook for a hat. "No! No!", exclaims the prince. "I don't want a boa constrictor from the inside or outside. I want a sheep!...". He tries a few sheep drawings, which the prince rejects. Finally he draws a box, which he explains has the sheep inside. The prince, who can see the sheep inside the box just as well as he can see the elephant in the boa, says "That's perfect".

Read "THE LITTLE PRINCE" here

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess


The previous books of this author (Devil of a State -- 1962 -- The Right to an Answer -- 1961) had valid points of satire, some humor, and a contemporary view, but here the picture is all out -- from a time in the future to an argot that makes such demands on the reader that no one could care less after the first two pages. If anyone gest beyond that -- this is the first person story of Alex, a teen-age hoodlum, who, in step with his times, viddies himself and the world around him without a care for law, decency, honesty; whose autobiographical language has droogies to follow his orders, wallow in his hate and murder moods, accents the vonof human hole products. Betrayed by his dictatorial demands by a policing of his violence, he is committed when an old lady dies after an attack; he kills again in prison; he submits to a new method that will destroy his criminal impulses; blameless, he is returned to a world that visits immediate retribution on him; he is, when an accidental propulsion to death does not destroy him, foisted upon society once more in his original state of sin. What happens to Alex is terrible but it is worse for the reader.

Read "A CLOCKWORK ORANGE" here

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley


The astonishing novel Brave New World, originally published in 1932, presents Aldous Huxley's vision of the future -- of a world utterly transformed. Through the most efficient scientific and psychological engineering, people are genetically designed to be passive and therefore consistently useful to the ruling class. This powerful work of speculative fiction sheds a blazing critical light on the present and is considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.

Read "BRAVE NEW WORLD" here

Saturday, August 15, 2009

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice


Lestat. The vampire hero of Anne Rice’s enthralling novel is a creature of the darkest and richest imagination. Once an aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France, now a rock star in the demonic, shimmering 1980s, he rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his eternal, terrifying existence. His is a mesmerizing story–passionate, complex, and thrilling.

Read "THE VAMPIRE LESTAT" here

The Claiming Of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice


In the traditional folk tale "Sleeping Beauty" the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. Anne Rice's retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire.

Read "THE CLAIMING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY" here

Of Love And Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez


From the Nobel Prize-winning author of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera comes an extraordinary reading experience, the story of a doomed love affair between a twelve-year-old girl and a bookish priest, three times her age, who's been sent to oversee her exorcism.

Read "OF LOVE AND OTHER DEMONS" here