Teens
Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready
You might be thinking the worst problem a modern-day American girl could have is her rock-star-in-waiting boyfriend dying, and coming back as a ghost that she and those younger than her can see because of some untold event in the past, but suffering when he gets malevolent and becomes a shade, which means she has to help him move on before he's locked up in limbo. That's because you're not factoring in the last boy born before her, who can't see but is utterly repellent to ghosts, but who she's just about to fall in love with when her late love turns up again, this time with a strangely solid, corporeal form... Full review...
Grow Up by Ben Brooks
Jasper is seventeen. He spends his time pretending to revise for his AS levels, fantasising about sex with Georgia Treely, hanging out with self-harming best friend Tenaya watching cheesy TV shows, and taking ketamine and mephedrone with his friends. When he's at a loose end, he goes to sex chatrooms in a quest to see how far he can get without going private (paying). He's also convinced that his step-father, Keith, is a homicidal maniac whose next victim is likely to be Jasper's mother... Full review...
Milicent's Book by Charlotte Moore
'My name is Milicent Bella Ludlow and I am an orphan'.
So opens this story told in diary form of a year in the life of a young Victorian girl whose father has just died. Luckily there are some kind and loving relatives willing to help her and Mabel, her older sister, and they are able to stay living in their family home, Yotes, for a while. Full review...
Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
After his best friend fell in love with a faerie, James realised she would never love him that way. But his attempts to get away from her, and the unrequited love he still nurses, only lead him straight to more faeries than ever before. For at James' new school, Thornking-Ash, the student populace is entirely made of musical prodigies. And there's nothing that attracts faeries more than music. James has even attracted his own muse – the deadly and dangerously attractive Nuala. The music she helps him make is better than he could ever manage on his own, but James knows the deadly consequences of making a deal with faeries, and he knows Nuala won't give him freebies for long. Full review...
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
Clara wants what ordinary teenagers want: friends, good school grades, a boyfriend. Only Clara isn't an ordinary teenager – she's part angel. She's fluent in all languages, naturally gifted academically and in sports. All the good stuff comes with a price, but even that's not so bad. Clara has a Purpose, an angelic calling, to save a mysterious boy from a forest fire, revealed to her in a series of visions that can strike any time of day or night. Full review...
The Medusa Project: Double Cross by Sophie McKenzie
Each of the 'Medusa Project' books is narrated by one of the teens involved in turn, and this time it is Nico who is the first person speaker. Things are not going well for the group: their former mentor Geri has just tried to kill them, and by using all her government and police contacts she has managed to make it look as if they are guilty of murder. The four teens' psychic abilities allow them to escape to France, and now they need to work out how to stop Geri and clear their names. But things just get worse and worse: the strain of their situation and the introduction of new characters start to pull the group apart just at the time when they need to trust each other the most. Full review...
Chronosphere: Malfunction by Alex Woolf
The ideal paradise of life inside the Chronosphere isn't supposed to be like this. If you're like Raffi and his friends you're spending a year inside, which only takes a minute of real life, enjoying a hedonistic, summery lifestyle with time on your hands and little cares. Except it's getting more than summery, it's a hothouse; the food is running out; the exits are locked; and people are rioting and fighting amongst each other as tempers fly and people sicken and feel the end of their happiness. But then, if you're like Raffi and his friends, you are actually unknowingly there for a much more sinister reason, and someone's "project" is about to get much less Utopian. Full review...
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
At a young age Sean Kendrick watches his father die violently in the Scorpio Races – a race held every year on the beaches of the island where riders compete for a huge cash prize by riding the dangerous capaill uisce, the water horses. Years later Sean is a four-time winner of the Scorpio Races with a prized mare – Corr – and plans to win again. Meanwhile, Puck (Kate) Connolly has been orphaned by the capaill uisce and struggles for every meal; their main source of income is her brother Gabe, but when he announces that he is leaving the island Puck realises that she has to fight for the survival of her family. Seeing no other option she enters her island pony into the races. The stakes are high as Sean and Puck compete against each other for the highest prize of them all – freedom. Full review...
Closer by Maxine Linnell
This is one of those concise and powerful little books where it's best for the reader to come to it with as little knowledge of the plot as possible, so I'll feature the mood - and Mel has a lot of those. Beyond her yet-to-actually-start relationship with Raj, and her best friend Chloe, she has her family - fractious animosity with her older sister, a younger brother who only plays computer games, and little freedom it seems from her mother. At least her step-dad's a funky bloke though - although one mum finds fault with easily enough. It's hardly comfy domesticity, and is even worse when interrupted by something very disturbing. Full review...
Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling
Phoenix is a thief. She's a very good one, thanks to having some rather useful psychic abilities. Working for the cruel and dominating Seer, she's forced to follow his instructions to bring him whatever he wants – just as the rest of their community of savants are. Then she's told to get something from Yves Benedict, and for the first time in her life, fails to take what she wants. Yves has powers of his own… and he may be the one who's stolen her heart. Can Yves and his family rescue her from the Seer? Full review...
The History Keepers: The Storm Begins by Damian Dibben
Imagine if you lost your parents. Not just in place, but in time
Scary, huh? But this is exactly what happens to Jake Djones (silent D, dears). Believing his parents have gone to a bathroom convention, he's carrying on as usual until they get home. But then he's abducted on his way home from school and taken to a secret base hidden beneath the Monument in London. Jake discovers that his parents have kept a secret from him: they are secret agents working for the History Keepers, working to prevent evil villains from tampering with history itself, and they have gone missing in sixteenth century Venice. B Full review...
Celebriteens: In the Spotlight by Joanna Philbin
Girls usually get together because they've got something in common and for Lizzie, Carina and Hudson it's their famous parents. Lizzie's mother is a supermodel and even in her thirties she's still one of the most beautiful women in the world. Lizzie's – not. Well, she's not exactly ugly but compared to her mother (and she always is) she just doesn't come up to scratch. Carina's dad is a rich (very rich) businessman and he's determined that C (as she's known) is going to join the company and eventually take over. Carina has other ideas. Hudson wants to make music and you might think that having a pop diva for a mother is a good start, but Hudson's style is different and her mother can't accept that. Full review...
Wish Me Dead by Helen Grant
Rural Germany, in modern times. Steffi and her five friends lark about in a deserted building to summon a witch and get her to kill a local celebrity - who does indeed die. When a repeat attempt gifts a decent amount of cash to Steffi it becomes clear she is alone in having her wishes granted. So what will happen when she wishes for the town hunk - hasn't Steffi heard to be careful what you wish for? But how on earth can things get so bad she feels her story deserves *that* title? Full review...
Jessie Hearts NYC by Keris Stainton
After splitting up with Taylor, Jessie is desperate to forget about him, so her first ever trip to New York is heaven-sent – even if it does mean having to stay with her mother. Emma, her best friend, is equally thrilled to be coming with her. While Jessie is still upset at her mother’s decision to move to America, New Yorker Finn is facing problems of his own with his controlling family. Railroaded into working in his dad's insurance company during his summer holiday, he dreams of being an architect. He's also fallen hard for a girl - who happens to be his best friend's girlfriend. What will happen when these two meet? Full review...
The Breakfast Club by Kate Costelloe
Billie and her three best friends have grown to love the breakfast club they've formed, meeting every Saturday morning to pass the time and discuss the week they've had. Mario's is the perfect venue for it - so it's a huge shock when they find it's closing down! In addition, Billie's mother is adamant that she shouldn't pursue the career in music she wants more than anything, and Billie can't understand why. Can the girls find somewhere else to spend Saturday mornings, and can they persuade Billie's mum that music is what really matters to her? Full review...
The Game by Krystyna Kuhn
Meet Julia and Robert. They're siblings on their way to Grace College, an exclusive campus stuck up in the Canadian wilderness. It's a rum place, set by a lake under lowering mountains. It's a place of sudden night-time blackouts, unexpected screams through the dark, mysterious parties clandestinely held out of sight, and pupils declaring it all 'evil', but what is student prank and what is due to something more sinister? And what could Julia and Robert possibly be running from to force them to this strange end of the earth? Full review...
A Good Clean Edge by Vincent Caldey
After an acrimonious divorce, Vincent chooses to stay with his father and not his mother and sister. As his father works away much of the time, they go to live with Vincent's grandparents, who run an undertaking business. Vincent, a reserved and sensitive child, is being bullied on his way in to his new school by Frankie Lennox from the grammar school, who goes so far as to threaten Vincent with a knife. Full review...
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X Stork
Marcelo has spent his childhood and the majority of his teenage years at Paterson, a private school that caters specifically for those with disabilities, providing them with a protected environment where they can learn at their own rate and feel accepted. However, his father Arturo feels that it is time that Marcelo experiences the real world and really challenges himself. Using the promise of a senior year spent at Paterson rather than a public school, Arturo coerces Marcelo to take up a small position for the summer in the law firm that he owns. In the firm, Marcelo is forced to interact regularly with a plethora of different personalities, and while some prove to be enjoyable company, others leave him feeling confused and distressed. Things really come to a head when he is forced to make a momentous decision, one that requires him to either ignore his conscience, or end up betraying his father and by extension himself; it is not a decision that is logical, and will require Marcelo to not only empathise with others, but also understand what makes himself tick. Full review...
Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey
Violet Willoughby is the daughter of one of England's foremost mediums. With her mother in high demand, she follows her, assisting in her work as she puts the cream of society in touch with their dear departed. Of course, it's all fake. Violet has spent seven years helping her mother con the gullible into believing she has real psychic powers, so Violet herself certainly doesn't believe in ghosts. Which makes it all the more surprising when one appears to her… Full review...
The Grasshopper's Run by Siddhartha Sarma
India 1944, and the Japanese are coming. In a brutalopening, we see the inhabitants of a small village get massacred, and the brutal killing of Uti, grandson of the leader of the tribe who live there. His best friend Gojen escapes, as he's in school far away. On hearing of the tragedy, the youngster swears revenge, and embarks on a journey which will take him across his country in search of the man responsible for his friend's death. Full review...
Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon
Renee is a normal school girl living in sunny California. On her sixteenth birthday she is drawn to the woods by her house. There she finds the dead bodies of her parents, surrounded by scattered coins, and shreds of cloth in their mouths. The police say they both died from a heart attack, but Renee isn't convinced — something more sinister must be going on. Full review...
Gamerunner by B R Collins
The Maze is more than just a role-playing game. Rick is one of the many who immerse themselves entirely in the game, and essentially live their life in its virtual reality. He is one of the lucky ones. Thanks to the fact that his guardian, Daed, is the mind behind the Maze and is employed by the powerful and merciless firm Crater, Rick has lived a protected life, one spent inside the thick walls of the multi-storeyed headquarters of Crater. He has never had to go outside and live a life of extreme poverty under the constant threat of gangs or, even worse, the lethal acid rain that is a part of the intensely polluted atmosphere. Full review...
He's After Me by Chris Higgins
Anna's father has run off with a younger woman, the hated Jude. Her mother is a wreck because of it. Her little sister Livi is going off the rails and running with a bad crowd. All this mayhem is anathema to Anna, who is a reserved, cautious and hardworking girl with an ambition to study literature at university. If this is what unrestrained, rampant emotions result in, then Anna's having none of it. She's never been in love and in many ways she sees this as a blessing.
And then she meets Jem. Full review...
Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie
Back in 1990, Salman Rushdie followed up his controversial 'Satanic Verses' with a book dedicated to his then nine year old son, Zafar, called 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories'. Now, his second son, Milan, finally gets a book of his own, although he had to wait until he was 13 for his father to get around to it. 'Luka and the Fire of Life' is very much a follow up to 'Haroun' and it is certainly helpful, although not necessary, if you have read that book as many of the events in the first book are referred to here. Full review...
We Can Be Heroes by Catherine Bruton
Ben is spending the summer with his grandparents because his mother is ill again. She won't stop going out for runs and is not eating properly. She's gone back to stressing out about having the "right" cutlery and worrying about technology and health hazards. And her beautiful hair has started falling out. Ben's father was killed in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and with his mother incommunicado, he's feeling very lonely indeed. Full review...
Wolf Blood by N M Browne
Trista is a Celtic warrior girl and seeress. Her visions are always horrifying, full of blood and death. And one of her premonitions tells her she must escape from the tribe who have captured and enslaved her, for their time is running out. Fleeing into the snowy forest, she runs straight into two Roman soldiers and thinks this time the game is surely up. Surely she cannot survive a second time? But one of the soldiers has a secret - he is a shapeshifter. Part wolf, part man, Morcant also has both Roman Celtic blood in his veins and he has never felt truly at home in either world. Full review...
Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy by Andy Briggs
Robbie Canler is on the run. From what, it takes us a while to find out, but it's clear that it's something bad when the alternative is working for an illegal logging team in the jungle of the Congo. The work is tough at the best of times, and when things start going wrong for the team, it's definitely not the best of times. And then Jane Porter, his boss's daughter, disappears... Can she be found? And why do all these strange things keep happening to the loggers? It's almost as if there was a weird presence in the jungle. Full review...
Lula Does The Hula by Samantha Mackintosh
Talullah Bird, otherwise known as Tatty, Lu, or Lula, has finally been kissed! She has a boyfriend! Frikkly frik! This is exciting! Except there is an evil woman lusting after her boyfriend! Hoooo no! And her dad is weird! Hooo no again! If you think this review is annoying so far with the exclamation marks and strange words, you may want to avoid the book! Full review...
My Name Is Mina by David Almond
We first Mina in Skellig. A homeschooled, William Blake-loving, slightly precious child, she arrived in Michael's life with not a little whiff of the culture shock about her. Now, we can find out what really makes Mina tick as we read through her journal. Mina is full of contradictions. She likes to be different, individual, but she doesn't like being a misfit. She wants friends but she doesn't know how to make them or to keep them. She is both reflective and impulsive. Full review...
Empty Coffin: Envy by Gregg Olsen
A small town is stunned by the death of a young girl, Katelyn, and although the death is attributed to an accident, there are some who believe that suicide and homicide shouldn't be ruled out just yet. Although twins Hayley and Taylor Ryan weren't close to the girl at the time of her death, they used to be good friends and a combination of guilt and curiosity leads them to investigate the death and its true cause. They may just be teenagers, but combine the fact that they have a father who is a true crime author, with the mysterious supernatural abilities they share, the twins are more than well-equipped to discover the truth behind the death; however, they find themselves digging up more than they bargained for when tragic history, and revelations from the past begin to reveal themselves. Full review...
David by Mary Hoffman
It's 1501 and Gabriele is in Florence without a penny to his name. As a greenhorn country boy, he managed to get himself robbed almost as soon as he arrived in the city. But he does have one big advantage: a renowned sculptor as a step-brother. Gabriele hopes this will be enough to find him work, but little does he dream that he will soon find himself the model for one of the world's greatest pieces of art - Michelangelo's David. Or that he'll become intimately embroiled in the deadly rivalries and politics of the city. As the statue of David is slowly created, Gabriele will have to walk the line between the republican faction and those supporting the return of the Medicis without being exposed by either. It won't be easy... Full review...
The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan
Cynthia 'Sin' Davies is a Market girl through and through. Her whole life has been about the dance, the performance and the Market. But now the Market is at war with the magicians, Merris has pitted Sin against Mae – a tourist – for leadership of the Market, and everything is coming apart around her. Sin needs a plan, and fast. Unfortunately, Sin is more of a doer than a thinker. Thinking is where Mae excels, and the pink haired tourist is winning the race for leadership despite Sin's lifelong service to the Market. Full review...
A Million Angels by Kate Maryon
Mima's father is the light of her life. She loves him more than anything. But he's also an army officer and this story opens with him leaving for a six month tour of Afghanistan. Her mother is heavily pregnant and her grandmother is spending all her time thinking about her childhood sweetheart. Her friend Jess is busily trying to make friends at school - army brats are forever having to make new friends. So nobody really has time to pay attention to Mima, who can't get her fears about her father being killed and injured out of her mind... Full review...
Moondance of Stonewylde by Kit Berry
Magus of Stonewylde left us at a crucial turning point with Yul receiving the Earth Magic at the Solstice instead of Magus. However, Moondance of Stonewylde begins with Stonewylde operating normally, and the population unaware of the significance of the previous festival. Nevertheless, even the Machiavellian Magus can't keep covering the cracks that are beginning to show in Stonewylde's community for ever, and there are subtle signs of a revolution brewing. However, things take a turn for the worse when Magus discovers a way to use Sylvie to rejuvenate his Magic, and it is up to Yul and his only other ally, the ancient Mother Heggy, to stop history from repeating itself and save the girl that he loves. Full review...
Everfound by Neal Shusterman
We rejoin the limbo world of Everlost for this final volume in Neal Shusterman's Skinjacker trilogy with Mary Hightower asleep and encased in a glass coffin, Allie tied to the front of a train, and Nick still amnesiac and still puddling chocolate wherever he goes. Milos is trying to continue with Mary's demonic plan to end the living world, but he lacks her charisma and the vapour of Afterlights is getting smaller as a steady trickle decamps. Full review...
Truth and Dare by Liz Miles (Editor)
I love anthologies, especially ones containing a host of unfamiliar authors, so when I was given the chance to get my hands on a collection of twenty stories by writers who, in the main, I hadn't encountered before, I jumped at it. The selection, however, of this score of tales about slipping on the stepping stones of life left me feeling curiously unsatisfied in many cases. Full review...
Candle Man: Society of Dread by Glenn Dakin
We left Theo after he had discovered his true identity as the Candle Man and defeated his evil ex-guardian, Dr Saint. The young boy is still ambivalent about his superhero status and conflicted over his ability to use tripudon energy to melt his - and London's - enemies. But the fight against evil pays no attention to inexperience or moral ambiguity and Theo is about to find himself down in the Network again. This time, his attempts to return The Society of Good Works to its original benevolence are thwarted by the renaissance of an old, and even more terrifying, villain - Dr Pyre. With his friends abducted and enslaved, Theo must use his Candle Man abilities once again... Full review...
Bang Bang You're Dead by Narinder Dhami
Mia is holding her family together. She's never known her father, her mother is suffering from manic depression which she refuses to seek help for, and her twin brother Jamie is causing her real concern. So when the fire alarm is set off at school and rumours fly around that there's a pupil with a gun on the loose, she starts to worry that Jamie has done the unthinkable. Ignoring all common sense, she desperately tries to see for herself whether he could be the one with the gun... Full review...
Momentum by Saci Lloyd
London, 2030. Energy wars are consuming the globe now peak oil is past. Britain creaks on with ever-declining influence and is now partly dependent on aid from China. The gap between rich and poor is now so great that the poor (the Outsiders) live in dreadful slums while the rich (the Citizens) spend most of their time plugged into the net, experiencing life as a fantasy. Civil unrest is springing up, only to be ruthlessly put down by the Kossacks, the new security force. Full review...
Asylum by Rachel Anderson
Sunday arrived in the UK at Lowestoft. He'd have preferred Iceland, which, so he'd heard, was cold and treeless but democratic and respectful of human life. Sent from a refugee camp by his Auntie Pru, Sunday is very religious and very respectful of human life, unlike the militia who destroyed his village. So it's difficult for Sunday to become a Muslim. But that's what he has to do. His papers confiscated by a shady people trafficker, Sunday finds himself the unpaid caretaker at Hawk Rise, a condemned London tower block. And his name isn't Sunday any more; it's Piet Ali. Full review...
Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton
Growing up in foster care has always left Ari wondering where she came from. The teal coloured eyes and strange, unchangeable, silver hair just adds to the mystery surrounding her. When she searches for answers to her questions about her past, she finds a simple message left for her by her mother – RUN. Desperately seeking answers and with scary figures on her trail, she returns to her birthplace of New 2, once known as New Orleans, to find herself plunged into a power struggle which could have far reaching consequences. Full review...