Veronica Roth's Divergent (Divergent
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.Insurgent
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.
Grade Level: 9 and up
One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.
Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.
Grade Level: 8 and up
Partials ($2.99), by Dan Wells, has been on my wish list for a while; at this price, I've snapped it up. The next in the series, Fragments, is available to pre-order and it's at that magic $9.99 I remember from Kindle's early days.Book Description
The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.
Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.
Dan Wells, acclaimed author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, takes readers on a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival.
Grade Level: 9 and up
I voted for Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky ($2.99) when B&N was having their summer weekend deals; it lost, but this price is a dollar less anyway; also nabbed. If you have auditory listeners on your account, the (companion audiobook is $8.99 (half price).Book Description
Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.
Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.
A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.
In her enthralling debut, Veronica Rossi sends readers on an unforgettable adventure set in a world brimming with harshness and beauty.
Grade Level: 9 and up
The Old Man and the Wasteland ($0.99), by Nick Cole; great price drop on this one!Book Description
Forty years after the destruction of civilization . . . Man is reduced to salvaging the ruins of a broken world. One man's most prized possession is Hemingway's classic The Old Man and the Sea. With the words of the novel echoing across the wasteland, a survivor of the Nuclear Holocaust journeys into the unknown to break a curse. What follows is an incredible tale of survival and endurance. One man must survive the desert wilderness and mankind gone savage to discover the truth of Hemingway's classic tale of man versus nature.
Abandon the Night ($4.49), the third title in Envy Chronicles by Joss Ware (Colleen Gleason), was the only one I was missing from this series. Other titles in the series are $3.99 to $4.49 now and you have until February to get caught up, when the sixth title, Night Resurrected, will be released.Book Description
A brilliantly dark, unique paranormal world.... From the raging fires, five men emerge with extraordinary new powers. They are humankind's last hope . . . but they cannot survive this dark, ravaged world alone . . .
Quentin Fielding had everything. Money. Power. Women. But now that civilization is all but annihilated, Quent wants only one thing: revenge. Harnessing a strange new "gift," he embarks on a deadly mission to find the man responsible for the chaos and destruction, the man he should have killed years ago: his father. Only one thing stands in his way--a mysterious, arrow-wielding beauty . . .
ZoË Kapoor is on her own quest for vengeance, searching for the monstrous fiends who murdered her family. Soon she and Quent join together, journeying through the ruins of the world they once knew as a desperate desire builds between them. Drawing closer to an enemy they never imagined, ZoË and Quent must abandon all fear, abandon all regret, abandon the night . . .
One Grave at a Time ($4.99), is the sixth and latest novel in Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series; I would have grabbed this one for the cover alone, if browing in the bookstore. Luckily, I have the first five in the series, but if you don't they are now priced in the $4.99-$5.49 range. You also get a great deal on the companion audiobook for this one, at $4.99.Book Description
Having narrowly averted an (under)world war, Cat Crawfield wants nothing more than a little downtime with her vampire husband, Bones. Unfortunately, her gift from New Orleans' voodoo queen just keeps on giving-leading to a personal favor that sends them into battle once again, this time against a villainous spirit.
The Dog Walker ($1.99), by Corwyn Alvarez, I picked up last May from Bell Bridge Books.Book Description
Life is not as simple as he seems.
If there are guardian angels among us, surely Benny is one of them. Gently challenged and benignly observant, he lives with his long-suffering mother in the quirky and charming town of Mayfield. Benny is qualified for only one job: walking dogs. At that task, he is without peer. But Benny is more than a simple friend to the town's canines; he brings the same guileless compassion to the people around him. Sweet and honest, offering poignant loyalty, he changes their lives.
Hidden and Chilled ($2.99 each), by Kendra Elliot, are the first two titles in the Bone Secrets saga from Montlake Romance. both have companion audiobooks that are currently $4.99Hidden (companion audiobook)
Eleven years ago, the Co-ed Slayer murdered nine female students on the Oregon State University campus. Lacey Campbell barely escaped his attack, but lost her best friend whose remains were never found. As the sole surviving victim, Lacey helped send the sadistic serial killer to prison for life.Chilled (companion audiobook)
Now a forensic odontologist examining teeth and bones for the state Medical Examiner, Lacey is devastated when she arrives at a crime scene and identifies the skeletal remains as her college friend’s.
The remains are discovered on the land of ex-cop Jack Harper. Sparks fly between him and Lacey, even as they realize that the prosecution’s witnesses from a decade ago are now being murdered one by one. All the evidence points to the Co-ed Slayer as the culprit—only, he’s long since dead. So who’s the new killer? And is Lacey next in line to die?
Golden Heart finalist Kendra Elliot combines chilling suspense and steamy romance in a gripping tale, uniting in-depth forensic knowledge with a passion for thrillers. Set in the snowy winter of Oregon, Hidden creates spine-tingling chills.
As a forensic nurse on a search and rescue team, Brynn Nealey braves a dangerous blizzard to find the survivors of a plane crash in the Cascade Mountains. Joining her is Alex Kinton, a former US marshal with self-destructive tendencies. Alex lies his way onto Brynn’s team to find the man who killed his brother—and then administer his own brand of vigilante justice. But once the team members reach the plane’s wreckage, they discover everyone aboard has perished…except for the man Alex is hunting. Alex will do whatever it takes to track his target through the vast, snowy wilderness.
As the temperatures drop, however, so do Alex’s defenses. His contact with the sharp, kindhearted Brynn makes his lust for vengeance difficult to reconcile with his growing feelings for a woman who risks her life to help others. What will happen to Alex’s savage instincts when he finally has the opportunity to confront his brother’s killer?
Thicker Than Water ($1.99), G.M. Ford's latest Leo Waterman mystery is published by Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint; companion audiobook $4.99 (if you only wanted the audiobook, buy the ebook first and the combined cost is less than the one alone).Book Description
Hard living collects its fair share of casualties, but somehow Leo Waterman avoided becoming one of them. Destined for a trust fund that was taking too damn long to kick in, he spent years eking out a living in Seattle as a private investigator. Along the way he managed to survive countless run-ins with murderers, drug dealers, and jealous wives. But when Rebecca, the love of his life, dumped him to marry someone else…that was a different story. Still, he took it like a man, eventually collecting his family money and slipping into semi-retirement—until the day an unwelcome visitor brings him the worst possible news. Rebecca has vanished and no one, not even her manipulative, overprotective mother, can find a trace of her. Together with his band of informers and sidekicks (in truth a rather motley crew of homeless drunks and reprobates), Leo wades back into the game, determined to save Rebecca once and for all. But her trail is a twisted one, thick with deception and depravity that winds from the rain-swept streets of Seattle to the murky depths of the great North Woods. The stink of it all seems to emanate from none other than Rebecca’s new husband, Brett Ward, whose tangle of lies will cast Leo into the path of a ruthless gang that will stop at nothing—not even murder—to protect what’s theirs.
Angelfall ($2.99), Penryn & the End of Days series by Susan Ee, is published by Amazon Children's Publishing, another new imprint; companion audiobook $4.99.Book Description
It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back. Anything, including making a deal with Raffe, an injured enemy angel. Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco, where Penryn will risk everything to rescue her sister and Raffe will put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
Grade Level: 8th and up
Ricky Sides has released Despair ($2.99), the 11th novel in his The Peacekeepers series. I've been reading this series for a while and the later books in the series are much more polished than the earlier titles. Still, even the early efforts stand head and shoulders above many of the bestsellers I've read in this genre (Apocalyptic SciFi). You won't find long lists of survival items or a recitation of every model number of every weapon ever used by some military or militia group and you don't get bashed over the head with religious beliefs, (the lack of which) all of which contribute towards a more enjoyable read. I bought the first few books in the series, then started conversing with Ricky in some of the forums and now he sends me a review copy when the new ones come out (yay, me!). I just looked thru the Amazon listings and the individual titles are $2.99 (except the first, which is 99 cents) but the best savings come from getting some of the omnibus editions (1-3, 4 - 6 and 7 - 9), which take you thru all but the latest two novels.Book Description
Two peacekeeper ships are dispatched to New York City to organize the evacuation and resettlement of the survivors. The peacekeepers soon find themselves facing a myriad of problems. Wild animals roam the streets of the city, and the tunnels beneath it are home to millions of starving rodents. The underground is also home to cannibals who prey on other humans as a means of survival. Compounding matters is the hatred and mistrust the above-grounders have for the people who live beneath the city streets. The peacekeepers must somehow prevent the different factions from fighting long enough to arrange their mass departure from the city. Complicating matters even further is a group of men who have been sent to target the two crews. Their mission is simple. Prevent the peacekeepers from succeeding in their mission by harassing them at every opportunity, and kill a peacekeeper captain, if they can.
The captains of the Athens and the Bleakman expected to find despair in the hearts of the residents of New York City, but they didn’t expect their crews to find themselves face to face with that emotion on a personal level.
To close out today's post, I found a few good bargains in the MP3 store, since that $5 MP3 credit from the Kindle Fire SO and a $3 credit from buying a Kindle accessory were burning a hole in my pocket.
- Big Baroque Box, by Vanguard Classics ($1.29); 14+ hours of classical music and $292.74 less than buying the individual selections
- Tempest, by Bob Dylan ($5); this is his recent release, which is $9.99 over at Google Play
- Chimes Of Freedom: The Songs Of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years Of Amnesty International, by Amnesty International artists ($18.06); it's a bit pricey, but spans 4 discs on CD ($15.99), with 5-1/2 hours of great music
- Rattle Them Bones, by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy ($5); jazz
- Born and Raised, by John Mayer ($5)
- Deluxe: Greatest Hits, by Patsy Cline ($3.99); 25 selections and just over an hours of music, since radio play forced short cuts when these were written
- California 37, by Train ($5)
- 50 Best Relaxing Classical, by The Greatest Classical Music Ever! ($0.99); this is just one of 14 "Best" classical albums you can pick up for 99 cents, each of which contains several hours of music
