Monthly Archives: April 2015

New Books in the Library – Toxic Heart by Theo Lawrence

Toxic_HeartA city in flames. A trust betrayed. A perfect love destroyed.

Has Aria lost Hunter, her one true love?

Ever since rebellion broke out in Mystic City, pitting the ruling elite against the magic-wielding mystics, Aria has barely seen her boyfriend. Not surprising, since Hunter is the leader of the mystic uprising, and he’ll do whatever it takes to win freedom for his people—even if that means using Aria.

But Aria is no one’s pawn. She believes she can bring the two warring sides together, save the city, and win back the Hunter she fell in love with.

Before she can play peacemaker, though, Aria will need to find the missing heart of a dead mystic. The heart gives untold powers to whoever possesses it, but finding it means seeking out a fierce enemy whose deepest desire is for Aria to be gone—forever.

New Books in the Library – Mystic City by Theo Lawrence

Mystic_CityAria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City’s two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents’ sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud – and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths.

But Aria doesn’t remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can’t conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place.

Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection – and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city – including herself.

New Books in the Library – I’ll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson

I'll_Give_You_The_SunA brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

Changes to the Library Team

wchslionWe have two new members of the Library Team starting today, Helen and Katie from S2. They will be learning how to issue and return books today, and finding out how to do all the other things the Library Team do for the rest of this week. Please be patient with them, they have a lot to take in!

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Looking_Glass_WarsToday’s Alice inspired work of literature is The Looking Glass Wars, by Frank Beddor, set in a darkly scary twisted version of our world.

You think you know the true story of Alice in Wonderland? Well think again. Alyss is destined to become Queen of Wonderland… until her parents are murdered. She flees to safety in our world. Years pass. Now it is time to return.

Step into a dazzling new world. Dare to enter the Looking Glass Maze. Because this is Wonderland as you have never seen it before!

Book of the Week – Looking Glass Girl by Cathy Cassidy

Looking glass girl

This year is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, so this week we are going to have an Alice week on the blog, starting with a brand new book by one of my favourite authors. Looking Glass Girl, by Cathy Cassidy is a modern re-telling of the Alice story – the blurb says…

Alice nearly didn’t go to the sleepover. Why would Savvy, queen of the school, invite someone like her?

Now Alice is lying unconscious in a hospital bed.

Lost in a wonderland of dreams and half-formed memories, she’s surrounded by voices – the doctor, her worries friends and Luke, whose kisses the night of the fall took her by surprise…

When the accident happened, her world vanished – can Alice ever find her way back?

Looking Glass Girl is on the display stand on the library desk, ask if you want to read it!

 

 

Five books to read whilst eating chocolate eggs…

BloodAndChocolate1. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Clause – Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?

OppositeChocolate2. The Opposite of Chocolate by Julie Bertagna – It’s a long, hot summer – and a climactic one. For 14-year-old Sapphire it brings the awesome, terrifying realisation that she is pregnant – a discovery that catapults her into the eye of a storm as her body, her future, her life, become a battleground for everyone’s needs but her own. Meanwhile, out in the humid urban night, a mysterious firebug is running wild, working out his own anger and confusion with dramatic consequences. Somehow, from this cauldron of emotion and fear, Sapphire must find a way to take control of her life – and make the most agonising and lonely of choices.

LovePeaceChocolate3. Love, Peace and Chocolate by Cathy Cassidy – Jess and Kady are best friends forever. They think nothing can come between them, but then the gorgeous, blue-eyed Jack Somers gets in the way.

He’s melted their hearts – but he won’t break up their friendship . . . Will he?

CharlieAndChocolate4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl – Enter the world of Golden Tickets, chocolate bars and the mysterious chocolate factory owner, Mr Willy Wonka. Charlie has won the chance of a lifetime and is one of the five lucky children to be allowed to enter the chocolate factory, but what delicious surprises await them on the other side of the factory gates?

Chocolat5. Chocolat by Joanne Harris – Chocolat is an enchanting novel about a small French town turned upside down by the arrival of a bewitching chocolate confectioner, Vianne Rocher, and her spirited young daughter.

All synopses from book jackets or publishers’ blurbs.

New Books in the Library – Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

RedQueenRed Queen was reviewed on the blog a few weeks ago, and it sounded so good that I decided I should buy it for the Library.

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers.And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until a twist of fate brings her before the Silver court. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly ability of her own.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the king hides her in plain view: betrothed to his youngest son. Trapped, Mare decides to use her new position to bring down the regime – from the inside.

But this is a game of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Red against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart…