Mab,  Queen of Air and Darkness has finally gotten Harry Dresden right where she’s always wanted him – in her debt and on her payroll. As her Winter Knight he’s obligated to take on the one assignment every cell in his magical body would rebel against- help Nicodemus Archleone.  It’ll take a host of his old allies to help him foil Archloene’s plans to stealing the Holy Grail.

The Shadows are two brothers who were introduced into the Black Dagger world as enforcers for The Reverend while hiding from future obligations to their queen. Their parents traded one brother’s freedom for a life of ease, and now the bill has come due. Will both brothers continue to try holding the inevitable at bay or will they confront the demands head on and risk everything to be free.

Set in 17th Century Amsterdam, The Miniaturist tells the story of eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman as she enters into an arranged marriage with Johannes Brandt.  Coming to Amsterdam from a small town, Nella must not only negotiate her new life as a wife, but must also learn to adapt to life in a large city where every move is watched and judged by others.  There is a mysterious element added to the plot as a miniaturist makes and sends items to Nella for the miniature replica of her new home.  These unusual items are eerily like the people and furniture found in Nella's real home and Nella is both puzzled and frightened by this intimate knowledge a stranger has.  When her husband, Johannes, is accused by a business rival of indecent acts and is then thrown in prison, Nella must draw on her inner strength to survive.

The author uses historical details to bring late 17th century Amsterdam to life.  While some of the plot elements are a bit fantastical, the descriptions of life are well  developed.  The mystery element will keep readers interested.

Jo Walton 's My Real Children tells the stories of Patricia Cowan's life.  Beginning when her fiancee gives her the ultimatum to marry him now or not at all--they were planning to marry when his career was more settled--the author gives Patricia's complete life story--twice--one where she marries and one where she doesn't and how this one decision changes everything.  Neither version of Patricia's life is ideal, although she is certainly happier in one of the versions.  Each version is told in alternating chapters covering the same time period.  By the end, we see that while everything matters, nothing matters.  By the end I was thoroughly depressed.  

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the “First Lady of the Air,” lived her whole life subjugated to the gender roles that were intrinsically assigned by society rules during the 1930s. During this time, the families --in general-- had specific expectations for each member of the household; and also, delineated the roadmap life of every member in the family. As a consequence of this period mindset, Anne Morrow Lindbergh was considered the weakest link in the family; and she lived her life under the shadows not only of her sibling, but also under the overshadow of her prominent aviator husband, Colonel Charles Augustus Lindbergh.

In this historical fiction book, the author Melanie Benjamin, rescues the strong spirit and courage of Anne Morrow to protect her essence as an individual. Her passion for writing and expressing her feelings, in a piece of paper, made her listen and follow her heart. As Anne mentioned in her story: “...for the first time in my life; [I am] no longer the discipline little girl my father admired, or the obedient wife my husband trained. I stepped through the looking glass to find the passionate woman who had been waiting for me, all these years.”

After a long battle to survive the assigned roles of society and the infidelities of her hero husband, the seventy-years old, Anne Morrow flies alone—for the first time-- in the sky looking her life in retrospective with the illusion of a better future. Now, she can look at the world with her own perspective and critical thinking without being told by others what to look for. This book is divided in twenty-two chapters.

Set in early 20th century London The Paying Guests tells the story of a down-on-their-luck mother and daughter who must take in boarders to help pay for the upkeep of their large home.  The two Wray sons were WW I casualties and the patriarch of the family has died leaving Mrs. Wray and her daughter, Frances, in dire financial straits.  The "paying guests" are a young couple, Lillian and Leonard Barber. 

From start to finish this is a dark, deep and powerful book.  The author does a masterful job of depicting post-war London with all the social conventions that were alive and well in society of the time.  She creates two sympathetic characters in Lillian and Frances, but they are also flawed.  Forced to keep secrets because of societal norms they do things both repulsive and horrific.  Just as in life, there are no easy answers in this book.  Choices made in the blink of an eye have long-lasting consequences for the entire cast of characters.  

In Steve Brezenoff’s book Guy in Real Life, we meet metal head Lesh Tungsten, who isn’t sure who he really wants to be. His best friend Greg has been trying to convince him to join the online gaming world for years, and when Lesh gets grounded (forever, his Dad says) he finally relents. At first the gaming world seems kind of lame, but then Lesh creates a new character, based on Svetlana, a girl he secretly likes. Playing as a girl is freeing, but Lesh keeps his new character a secret from Greg, from everyone. Then he and Lana actually start hanging out. Being a decent human being, connecting to a girl in real life, is a lot trickier than going on quests and collecting gold coins. And then there’s Lana. Sometimes she lives in a world all her own. She was actually looking forward to not having a lunch period with her friends so she would have more drawing time, more time to prepare for Gaming Club. But then Lesh happened. Can these two, who seem to be so wrong for each other, find a real connection in Guy in Real Life?

Yulia Chernina, who lives in Communist Russia, spends her days braving the black market, desperately trying to trade for food for her family. She, her mother, and her brother have been in hiding for years. Yulia is especially good at manipulating the black market because she uses a special power she has, where she can read peoples’ thoughts when she touches them. But one day when she tries to return home, she is kidnapped. It turns out that the KGB knows about her special power and they plan to force her to use it as a spy. Yulia is taken to a home with other teenagers training to be psychic spies – some willingly, some forcibly, like her. The safety of her family is constantly held over her head to keep her compliant, but Yulia is desperate to escape. Can she take the risk? And if she does, is it even possible to succeed, when her opponents can read her mind and predict her every move?

In John Sandford’s first teen book, Uncaged, Shay Remby and her brother Odin, who’ve been in the foster system for years, are used to depending only on each other. But then Odin, a computer genius, gets talked into joining an eco-terrorist group. He and his new friends target a research lab in Oregon, and uncover some seriously scary and illegal medical experimentation. Odin is forced to go on the run, and Shay takes off from their foster home for Oregon, with only $58 in her pocket. She’s stayed on the streets before, but now the stakes are so much higher – she’s alone, with just a knife and her wits to protect her. Shay knows her brother is out there, needing her help, but can she find him before the evil corporation who will do anything to get their research secrets back? Who can she trust? If you like fast-paced, action-packed books, check out Uncaged by John Sandford.

What if you had to answer every question you heard honestly? In Kimberly Pauley’s book Ask Me, Aria Morse is an Oracle. Her “gift” developed when she was 12 and she subsequently lost all her friends. Now 17, Aria is living with her grandparents and trying desperately to survive high school. She’s the school freak, the girl who’s always mumbling, speaking in rhymes. Her grandmother wants her to embrace her gift, but Aria just wants it to go away. Then Jade, the only girl at school who’s ever really been nice to her, disappears. Everyone is asking questions and Aria has answers. Should she share those answers, if she can make sense of them? Will anyone listen? All of a sudden people are paying attention to her and Aria has to figure out how to navigate a stressful new world of friendships, even romance. Then Jade’s body is found. She was murdered. Can Aria figure out who the murderer is? And if she does, will she be in danger? Ask Me is a fast-paced mystery that will make you think carefully about the questions, big and small, that surround us every day.

Hannah Morgenstern grew up around the stage. Her parents run a cabaret in Berlin, and she thrives on the drama and excitement of theatrical life. But Hitler has taken over power and even Hannah’s beloved parents have experienced trouble. They decide to send Hannah to stay with distant relatives in England until Germany is safe again. When she arrives, the family sends her to work with the servants. Hurt and embarrassed, Hannah is determined to make the best of the situation.

Anna Morgan arrives at the household at the same time as Hannah. With her beautiful appearance, she is assumed to be the distant relative from Germany and takes her place in the upper household among the other ladies. But Anna is really a spy, acting on her father’s orders to infiltrate the household.

Love by the Morning Star, despite being set in such a serious time in history, is a fun tale full of romance, plot twists, and winning characters.

Let’s say you are just an ordinary girl. You happen to live in a trailer park in Kansas and everyone happens to think you’re trailer trash. You don’t see yourself that way, but what does it matter when your classmates and teachers, even your own mother is convinced? Now let’s say there’s a crazy storm, a tornado, and your trailer happens to get sucked up into the vortex and land somewhere else. Somewhere like Oz. Would you freak out? Would you look for the yellow brick road, try to find the Emerald City? What if it turns out that this Oz is a seriously messed up place, where the little people are enslaved, forced to mine for magic? Dorothy, who arrived there years ago, has gone mad for power. She’s still wearing her wholesome blue gingham, but she’s morphed into a cruel tyrant. This is Amy Gumm’s reality. She is the other girl from Kansas and this is her chance to prove she’s not a loser. She’s going to rescue everybody, and the only way to do it is to kill the tyrant. That’s right, Dorothy Must Die.

We first meet Samantha Franco as she’s being rescued on the side of the road, bruised and bloody. She remembers nothing, not even her own name. The next few days are a confusing blur of unfamiliar faces and questions—so many questions—from the police, her family, her boyfriend, her friends. It turns out that when Sam went missing, she wasn’t alone. Her best friend Cassie was with her, and Cassie is still missing. Sam desperately tries to recover her memory, but almost everything is blank. Occasionally she gets frightening flashes of something – is it a memory? A dream? And then she starts getting menacing notes. “Don’t look back. You won’t like what you find.” What happened to Sam and Cassie? And where is Cassie now? Could she be dead? The things Sam uncovers make her more afraid and more confused. Would it be best just to follow the note’s advice, and Don’t Look Back? 

Being Sloane Jacobs is like The Cutting Edge and The Parent Trap combined into a really fun book. Sloane Emily Jacobs is a figure skater. She failed spectacularly at the Junior Nationals competition when she was 15 and hasn’t skated since. Now, pressured by her demanding parents, she’s attempting a comeback. Sloane Devon Jacobs is an ice hockey player. She’s recently developed a debilitating fear of failure every time she attempts a shot, and her biggest fan, her mom, is in rehab. The two Sloane Jacobs’ meet when they literally run into each other in the airport. They’re both scheduled to go to summer camps for their respective sports, and neither wants to go, so they trade places. At first it looks like they’re going to pull off the switch, but then Sloane Emily’s Senator father makes headlines in a sex scandal and their secret comes out. Will either girl find sporting success, happiness, or peace with their families? What exactly does it mean, Being Sloane Jacobs?

Colleen Rowley and her friends are seriously stressed out. It’s their senior year of high school – they go to the prestigious St. Joan’s Academy in Massachusetts – and they’re all waiting for their college acceptance letters. One day in class, Clara Rutherford, perfect Clara Rutherford, has a violent seizure. No one knows what caused it, but the whole school is buzzing with rumors and theories. Then other girls start getting sick – Clara’s best friend loses all her hair, and Colleen’s best friend starts vomiting pins. What is going on? St. Joan’s Academy just happens to be located in Danvers, Massachusetts, formerly known as Salem. That’s right, the town where the Salem Witch Trials occurred a few hundred years before. Is this a modern day case of hysteria? What really happened in Salem so long ago? Could something similar be happening again? Conversion is a fascinating character study, mystery, and exploration into the societal pressures faced by girls historically and today.

In Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins, Harper Jane Price is always appropriate. She is a Southern girl after all, and she is preparing for Cotillion, so politeness and propriety are at the top of her to-do list. But something crazy happens to her in the bathroom at a school dance – it involves a teacher and some kind of literal kiss of death, and Harper is totally freaking out. Even wilder things start happening, and finally Harper finds out she has been chosen, very much against her will, to be a Paladin. Sure it brings her superhuman powers, but it also means basically giving up her life to prevent the destruction of the world. So no thanks, she’d rather not. Harper just wants to enjoy being Homecoming Queen, and to come out as the best debutante ever. She is not going to let this little predicament get in her way. Check out Rebel Belle to see what happens when Harper’s duties as a Paladin come into conflict with what is supposed to be the most important night of her life, Cotillion.

Ever since her mother died, Tessa Sedgewick is just barely holding it together. It’s the end of her junior year, and her dad convinces her to miss the last week of school to take a road trip. But instead of what she imagined, the two of them finally talking, dealing with their sadness and the changes in their relationship, her dad drops her off at her grandmother’s house and leaves her. Tessa’s met her grandmother maybe once in her life, and this woman is not exactly the grandmotherly type. Furious at being left behind, but without the option to leave, Tessa is forced to wait. Then she meets Henry Lark, a mysterious, beautiful boy and begins to find refuge in the tiny but lively Parrish Island Library. Slowly, Tessa begins to reawaken. But with her return to life comes the vicious reminder of how angry she is that her mother is gone, and how deeply sad. Is living again, truly living, worth it?

Are you a Nancy Drew fan? The main character in Buzz Kill by Beth Fantaskey has to channel her inner Nancy Drew when her father is accused of murder. Millie Ostermeyer, school reporter, has a few enemies, including head cheerleader Vivienne Fitch, with whom she has competed since elementary school. But that’s nothing compared to the enemies of her high school’s hated head football coach, Mr. Killdare. When Millie discovers Coach Killdare’s dead body, the number one suspect is his Assistant Coach, Millie’s dad. With the encouragement of her own personal librarian, Ms. Parkins, and the help of her new friend Chase, Millie sets out to prove that her dad is innocent. Millie and Chase have a lot of work to do, especially since Detective Lohser is convinced Millie’s dad is guilty. But then Millie learns something about Chase that completely throws her off. Is Chase trustworthy? Who really killed Coach Killdare? And is someone else next? Read Buzz Kill to find out.

Lara Jean Covey and her sisters share a special bond. Their mother died several years ago and since then, the girls, especially Lara Jean’s older sister Margot, have worked hard to take care of each other and their father. Now Margot is going away to college in Scotland, and Lara Jean feels more responsible than ever for their little sister Kitty. Margot made it all look so easy, but Lara Jean is struggling. She’s terrified she might be in love with Margot’s ex-boyfriend Josh, who lives next door, and has been like one of the family for years. The way she copes now, the way she has always coped, is through writing. But when a stack of letters she wrote gets accidentally mailed, suddenly what she thought were her private thoughts are public knowledge. Lara Jean is mortified but worse, her relationships with her sisters are threatened. She concocts a complicated plan involving a fake boyfriend to rescue her reputation. Can her plan possibly succeed? Read To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before to find out.

Meet Josie Sheridan, gifted teen, speaker of many languages, high schooler who also happens to be in her sophomore year of college. Josie has an awesome family, including two older sisters, and a great best friend. But almost all the time, she feels like she’s translating – from the language of Josie into the language of High School, College, Friendship, Love. Being Josie is exhausting sometimes, especially when you’re sure that everything in life should be able to be expressed in an equation. When things aren’t so simple, like for example your older sister is getting married to someone who clearly is wrong for her, you feel lost. Josie is so sure she’s right, her sister is so sure she’s wrong, and her parents expect the two of them to figure it out. Plus now Josie’s best friend is speaking Boyfriend. The L word (love) even comes up. How can Josie be sure? And if she’s not sure, how can she act? Read Love and Other Foreign Words to find out if there’s really someone else who speaks the language of Josie.