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The Q / Amy Tintera / Book Review

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For Maisie Rojas, one of the first kids born in the quarantine zone, life in the Q is all she's ever known. High-security perimeter walls to keep them in, artificial organs to keep them alive, and enemy territories vying for control of the supplies sent in by the outside sympathizers have been Maisie's entire life. For Lennon Pierce, however, all of this is new. Son of a U.S. Senator in the running president, he was bound to be kidnapped eventually. He just didn't expect to find himself in a plane heading into the restricted airspace over the Q. And he really didn't expect to be pushed out of that plane with only a parachute.  Given an experimental vaccine against the virus, Lennon is safe from infection... for now. But he has only days to get out of the Q safely, or he risks being barred from his home country forever. With unrest growing in the factions of the Q, getting to the gate is more difficult than ever, even with an expert like Maisie to guide Lennon there. And
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Friends Like These / Jennifer Lynn Alvarez / Book Review

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Nobody would miss Tegan Sheffield's annual end-of-summer party. It's the last big bash before senior year, after all. Jessica might not want to go--why would she, when her boyfriend Jake used to date Tegan?--but everyone will be there. It's a must. But then there's a video prank. Then there's a fight. Then the police get involved. When a body washes up on the shore in the days after the party, Jessica and Jake find themselves suddenly the center of attention. Have Crystal Cove's cutest couple become Crystal Cove's... killer couple? Jake doesn't remember, and Jessica doesn't want to find out. But it's a race against the clock as more evidence turns up... and more suspects start surfacing. 
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Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things / Maya Prasad / Book Review

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The four Singh sisters are as different as could be.  Nidhi is always in control. As the eldest, she has to be. But that doesn't stop her from having big plans--plans that include summer in Paris with her boyfriend. Even if the relationship has started to feel stale.  Avani is caught up in a go, go, go world of busywork, which isn't helped by her scatterbrained nature. She just wants her family to take her seriously. It would help if she could remember all the tasks she's supposed to do.  Sirisha might be painfully quiet, but she still deserves love. Even if that means breaking out of her shell. And learning how to take a chance on the cute new girl in town. Rani is a hopeless romantic, waiting for her Destiny to walk in the door. But definitely not the cute boy from last summer who ghosted her. She's got higher standards than that.
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At Midnight / Dahlia Adler, Editor / Book Review

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A man-eating tiger on the loose, a deadly prophecy between sisters, a wily Coyote on a quest, a heist and a hijabi...  Fifteen familiar fairy tales are woven anew in this anthology. The same old tropes and characters are transformed for the contemporary age, reaching back in time and far into our spacefaring future. From murderous  Emperors to social media magnates, this collection mingles magic with the mundane... and a fair bit of gore as well, as all good fairy tales do. 
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Princess of Souls / Alexandra Christos / Book Review

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Selestra Somniatis is trapped. For sixteen years, she has never left the confines of the palace  she calls home. Heir to the great Somniatis Witch--the last witch in the country, thanks to her family--the king won't let her leave. To let Selestra leave is to let his power--and his immortal future--fade. Tied by a blood oath to steal souls for the King of the Seven Isles, Selestra knows her future. Year after year, desperate people arrive for the Festival of Predications. Year after year, Selestra watches her mother predict their fates. Three times they must evade death to earn an impossible wish. Most of them do not succeed, and their souls come to rest at the king's immortal feet. Someday, Selestra will stand in her mother's place. A revered soldier in the king's army, Nox Laederic doesn't fit the usual desperate profile of those seeking a festival wish. And he has no plans to have his soul eaten by his king. No, he's out for blood. He's out for a chance t
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The Luminaries / Susan Dennard / Book Review

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When the evening fog rolls in, the monsters awaken.  Only the Luminaries keep the nightmares contained.  Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, an ancient order designed to protect humanity from the monsters of the night. Like her mother and her mother's mother before her, Winnie has a destiny. But that's easier said than done. Ever since her father was discovered to be a witch, Winnie's family has lived in shame--banished from all Luminary activities even if they still call Hemlock Falls home. But Winnie has a plan to change that. She's read the Handbook. She knows the rules. All Luminary children have the chance to prove themselves when they turn sixteen. The hunt is dangerous, sure, and even more so for a girl who hasn't been allowed to train with her cohort for the last four years. But it's her only way back into the fold. It is her destiny. She has to try. Or die trying. A very real possibility. When her hunt goes awry and Winnie l
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Pretty Dead Queens / Alexa Donne / Book Review

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On the surface, Seaview is a sleepy little town. Its only claim to fame is renowned author Maura Weston, queen of murder--and seventeen-year-old Cecelia Ellis's grandmother.  After Cecelia loses her mom to cancer, she goes to live with her estranged grandmother in an old Victorian mansion in the hills just outside Seaview, and she prepares herself for all the intimacies (and mundanities) of small town California life.  But Seaview isn't just Maura Weston's hometown. It launched her career when Seaview High's homecoming queen was murdered on the night of the dance--the perfect fodder for Maura Weston's debut novel.  Decades later, a new homecoming queen meets her death in the exact same way. With a copycat killer on the loose, Cecilia isn't just one to sit by and let the (incompetent) small-town cops do their jobs. She's the granddaughter of a famous murder mystery writer, after all. If she can't crack the case, who will? But the more she digs into Seavie
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