Mountains and Plans Booksellers' Recommendations: The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Wolf by Wolf and These Shallow Graves

I recently attended the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers' Trade Show where I got lots of wonderful recommendations for new books coming out in 2016.  However, I also was alerted to three new novels by favorite authors that have  recently been released.  The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness (The Chaos Walking Trilogy) is a satire of the "Chosen One" genre that focuses on the kids living normal lives while the Chosen Ones battle other worldly beings. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin (The Walled City) is an alternate history fantasy which focuses on a shape-shifting concentration camp survivor in a world where Hitler won WWII. Finally, These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly ( A Northern Light and Revolution) is a turn-of-the-century murder mystery about an aspiring reporter investigating her father's death.

In Mikey's town the heroic "indie kids" have battled the undead, vampires, soul eating ghosts and are now trying to keep the Immortals from finding a vessel for their Empress to inhabit, so that they can take over the world.  Meanwhile, Mikey and his friends are just trying to get through senior year.  Mikey, whose dysfunctional family includes an alcoholic dad, a power hungry politician mom, and an anorexic sister, is struggling to overcome his OCD issues and get up the courage to ask his longtime crush Hanna to prom.  Each chapter opens with a brief description about the battle with the Immortals, but then switches to chronicling the trials and tribulations of being a "normal" kid amidst the chaos.  In The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Ness's parodies of the "Chosen Ones" novels are hilarious, with the underlying message being everyone is special in one way or another.

Wolf by Wolf, a story about Yael, a girl who survived Nazi concentration camps, imagines what would happen if Hitler won the war.  Yael, the Jewish subject of Nazi experimentation is now an Aryan looking girl who can shape-shift, assuming other people's identities.  A resistance fighter, Yael is charged with assuming the appearance of a cross-country motorcycle racer, Adele Wolf. Adele won the last Axis Tour, a global motorcycle race, and got to dance with Hitler.  Yael's plan is to pose as Adele, win the race, and kill Hitler during the victory dance.  She doesn't count on Adele's brother Felix accompanying her, nor her former lover Luka alternately helping her, then thwarting her plans. Can Yael keep her identity secret, win the race and carry out her plans?  The action in this alternate history fantasy is wonderfully fast paced, and the ambiguous, yet satisfying, ending will leave readers anxious for the sequel in the duo-logy.

In These Shallow Graves the year is 1890 and the only thing expected of Josephine Montfort is that she marry a suitable upper-class man and settle down; but Jo, an aspiring reporter, has other ideas. When her father dies of wounds supposedly suffered during a gun cleaning accident, Jo is determined to find the truth.  Enlisting the help of Eddie Gallagher, a reporter at her father's newspaper, she risks her reputation and searches for clues in the seamy underworld of NYC.  As Jo learns more about her family's sordid history, she struggles with family and societal expectations and her attraction to Eddie, who is an orphan and self-made man.  The suspense-filled story line moves forward with clues and revelations that keep the reader one step ahead of Jo, and the short chapters make this a satisfying page-turner.

New action adventures: Princess of Thorns, Exquisite Captive and The Walled City

It's winter break for students and teachers and time for some escapist reading filled with action and adventure.  Three recent reads that made my Top Titles for 2014 list include Princess of Thorns, a re-imagining of the Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake fairy tales, by Stacey Jay, Exquisite Captive, the first book in the Dark Caravan Cycle by Heather Demetrios, and The Walled City, a tale that focuses on three desperate teens in Hong Kong, by Ryan Graudin.

In Princess of Thorns, Sleeping Beauty's children, Aurora and Jor, have been in hiding with the fey for ten years, since their mother's assassination by the Ogre Queen.  When Jor is kidnapped, fairy blessed Aurora disguises herself as a boy (Ror) and hopes to hire an army to help her rescue him. Then she meets Prince Nikklas, who is cursed to turn into a swan on his 18th birthday unless he can marry a princess.  The Prince promises Ror his help in exchange for an introduction to his "sister" Aurora. With ogres pursuing them tirelessly as they travel across lands filled with enemies, Nikklas and Ror struggle to reach Jor and free him before he dies. Their mutual attraction is fraught with problems as Aurora tries to find a way to tell Nikklas the truth without losing his support. Told from both characters' points of view, this compelling story, filled with adventure and romance, is sure to appeal to fantasy/thriller fans.

Exquisite Captive introduces Nalia, a victim of the dark caravan, a lucrative jinni slave trade between Earth and the jinni world Arjinna.  Although she has great powers, Nalia is tied to Malek, her master who possesses her bottle which enables him to use her to sustain his lavish Hollywood lifestyle.  When she meets Raif, a leader of Arjinna's revolution, he promises to help her break free of her master and rescue her brother who was imprisoned during the revolutionary coup in Arjinna that killed nearly everyone she loved.  Although she should hate him, she finds herself attracted to Raif, but needs to convince Malek she loves him in the hopes of getting close enough to him to steal back her bottle which he wears around his neck. Only then can Riaf perform the unbinding ceremony to free her. This story blends traditional Arabian jinni lore with modern fantasy to create a riveting tale filled with magical political intrigue and romance. Readers will be anxiously awaiting the next book in the series. 

The Walled City takes inspiration from Kowloon Walled City, a Hong Kong slum destroyed in the 1990s. Three teens are struggling to escape their dire fates before the city is leveled.  Jin, a girl disguised as a boy, is searching for her sister who was sold into prostitution by their father.  Mei Yee, her sister, languishes in a brothel run by the Brotherhood of the Red Dragon.  Dai Shing, a drug trafficker, is hoping to obtain the brothel's ledger so he can exchange it for his freedom. The three stories are entwined to create one fast paced narrative, as Dai solicits Jin's help in a drug deal while at the same time establishing a connection with Mei Yee in the hope of convincing her to help him find the brothel's ledger. As their paths cross, they help each other achieve their individual goals and in the process become family. This thriller takes readers into a world of fear, danger and intrigue that will keep them turning pages until the last triumphant chapter.

All three titles are recommended for the more mature reader.  Although there are disturbing situations in each narrative, none of them is overly graphic. However, parents may not want their younger precocious readers exposed to topics of drugs, violence and sexuality.