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The Waking Land — Callie Bates (ARC Review)

At five years old, Elanna Valtai is seized from her family at gunpoint and kidnapped by a powerful king who raises her as his own, in his palace, under one condition: her father is never to come and reclaim her. In her home land of Caeris, Elanna was loved and doted upon, warmly welcomed for her natural inclination to magic; in the royal city of Laon, however, despite the king's growing affections for her, she is subjected to prejudices for her darker skin, her Caerisian blood, and her family name. Worst of all, she must hide her magic at all costs, for the witch hunters would surely execute her if they found out her blood could wake the stones and the earth, and bring forth spirits of ancestors past.

When the king is poisoned and his daughter takes her place as Queen, she accuses Elanna of regicide, and thus begins an adventure that leaves Elanna running for her life - right into the arms of the family she was stolen from. They've got big plans for her and her magic, but will she be able to leave behind the life the kingdom gave her?

Thirteen Chairs — Dave Shelton

When Jack enters the old, dark house, he isn't sure what he'll find in these mysterious rooms, this long hallway with a sliver of candlelight beneath just one cold door. Jack is more curious than sensible, though, and allows himself into the meeting of twelve, each surrounding a table, each facing a candle. Each will tell a story, and in time, Jack must tell a tale of his own, too.

The Lightning Thief — Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson has always felt kind of... different. He has ADHD and dyslexia, struggles to fit in, and keeps finding himself kicked out of school. When he is admitted to his sixth school in six years, things seem to finally be working out for Percy, until a field trip goes awry and he kills (disintegrates?) his pre-algebra teacher.

Percy's mother, in a panic, sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood: a summer camp for kids like Percy, who are demi-gods, born to one mortal parent and one god parent. He finally begins to realize why things have never worked out for him like other, normal kids, but the wild adventure is only getting started.

Stalking Jack the Ripper — Kerri Maniscalco

“Roses have both petals and thorns, my dark flower. You needn’t believe something weak because it appears delicate. Show the world your bravery.” The year is 1888, and Audrey Rose is determined to go against everything that society expects of a young, British lady: rather than waste her time with tea parties and courting politicians, she sneaks out in the evenings to train under her uncle in the forensic sciences. She prefers slicing open corpses to being coddled and reprimanded,...

We Are Okay — Nina LaCour

Winter break has come, and while everyone else has gone home to see families and significant others for a few weeks, Marin would be perfectly content to stay in her dorm room, alone with her grief, pretending that her life from before doesn't exist anymore. Life is never quite that simple, though, and Mabel is coming to visit, shoving her way into Marin's after. Marin has a lot of skeletons in her closet that need to be faced, but can she handle letting go of her denial long enough to heal - and to move forward with Mabel?

The Roses of May — Dot Hutchison

It's hard enough on the agents when the butterflies start falling apart, but suicides of girls who can't seem to fit back in outside of the Garden are only half of the heartache that Eddison has to face down now. While the girls await their day in court with the Gardener, another killer is at large: the Spring Killer, who kills one teen every spring, and has done so for 17 years without exposing himself. His only marker is the flowers that he leaves around each girl's lifeless body.

The Seafarer’s Kiss — Julia Ember

Ersel's tribe of merpeople has been exiled to the coldest habitable water remaining, far north, and every year, their population dwindles as mermaids' eggs are frozen in their wombs, doomed to infertility. In an act of desperation, the king has enforced a law that, in their nineteenth year, each mermaid must undergo a test of fertility - and the female with the highest likelihood of successful brooding becomes a prized possession, coveted by all of the mermen. To be fertile, and wanted, is the greatest pride any mermaid in their tribe can hold.