WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival 2014
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New and Recently Released!
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So close to you
by
Rachel Carter
After years of hearing the stories of dangerous experiments taking place at the abandoned military base, Lydia finds herself in the middle of one alongside Wes, a boy she is wary to trust.
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While we run
by
Karen Healey
After exposing a shady government programme to turn third-world refugees into slave labour on a starship, activists Abdi and Tegan are now prisoners of that same government. Tortured by their sadistic captors and forced to promote the starship program, they manage to hang on until they're rescued -- but will their relationship survive their ordeal? And, more urgently, can they still take down their enemies before it's too late? Set in a chilling future version of Australia and blending "diverse, well-realized characters with thought-provoking dilemmas" (Kirkus Reviews), this sequel to
When We Wake
is passionate, brutal, and utterly gripping.
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Everything leads to you
by
Nina LaCour
During her last summer before starting college, aspiring movie production designer Emi scores a killer internship in Los Angeles. While scouting for props at a famous actor's estate sale, Emi and her friend Charlotte discover an unsent letter from the actor and decide to deliver it themselves. Their efforts lead them to Ava, a talented young actress with a murky past. As Emi's attraction to Ava grows, she starts to look beyond her glamorous surroundings and realise that there's more to true happiness than a Hollywood ending. With its L.A. atmosphere and swoon-worthy romance,
Everything Leads to You
is the perfect pick for fans of
Francesca Lia Block.
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Amy & Matthew by Cammie McGovernAmy is brilliant, driven, and -- due to cerebral palsy -- she uses a computer to talk and a walker to get around. Her classmate Matthew struggles with school work as well as with severe anxiety in the form of obsessive compulsive disorder. When Matthew becomes one of Amy's peer aides during their senior year of high school, it's the beginning of a complex relationship that challenges them to push their own limits, take some big chances, and risk making big mistakes. Similar to Corey Ann Haydu's OCD Love Story but with even more turbulence, Say What You Will is a dramatic and refreshingly honest love story.
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We are the Goldens
by
Dana Reinhardt
Nell Golden expected that once she started going to the same high school as her adored older sister, Layla, they'd grow even closer together. Instead, Layla becomes suddenly distant. When Nell learns the troubling reason for Layla's suspicious behaviour, she's faced with the choice to either keep Layla's secret or reveal it -- and she knows that both choices could be seen as betrayal. Written in the form of a confession from Nell to Layla,
We Are the Goldens
is a poignant coming-of-age story as well as an intimate look at the damaged but fiercely loving relationship between two sisters.
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Sinner
by
Maggie Stiefvater
In this follow-up to the bestselling Wolves of Mercy Falls series, readers find out what happens to werewolf Cole and human Isabel after they leave Mercy Falls and wind up in Los Angeles. Cole, who claims to have kicked his drug addiction, is in town to revive both his music career and his rocky relationship with Isabel. But bitter, conflicted Isabel knows that neither of them can escape the past so easily. Those who are interested in the history of this "spectacularly messy, emotionally oh-so-human romance" (Kirkus Reviews) should start with Shiver, the 1st book in the series.
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If you're excited about the premiere of
If I Stay, the movie based on Gayle Forman's novel about a teen girl in a coma, check out these other books about the afterlife.
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The everafter
by
Amy Huntley
From the very first line ("I'm dead"),
The Everafter
pulls you into the afterlife of 17-year-old Madison, who can't remember exactly who she is or how she died. All she knows is that her spirit lives on, floating in a boundless void, surrounded by objects that she lost when she was alive. Touching each object allows Madison to re-experience a moment of her life, bringing her memories back and presenting her with a unique opportunity: to investigate her own death. If you enjoy carefully constructed mysteries filled with friendship, romance, and heartbreak, don't miss this inventive supernatural debut.
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More than this
by
Patrick Ness
When 16-year-old Seth walks into the churning waves of the ocean, he never expects to wake up -- especially not in a desolate, uninhabited version of his family's old neighbourhood in England. Could he be in hell, or is something stranger going on? Grieving for the forbidden love he shared with his best friend and nursing his guilt over a tragic childhood mishap, Seth tries to puzzle out what's really happening… and if he's really alone. "Stark and uncompromising" (Booklist),
More Than This
will appeal to older fans of gritty dystopian survival stories as well as to thoughtful readers who like to chew on mind-bending ideas.
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The undertaking of Lily Chen
by Danica Novgorodoff
In
The Undertaking of Lily Chen
Deshi, a hapless young man living in northern China, is suddenly expelled from ordinary life when his brother dies in an accident. Holding Deshi responsible for his brother's death, his parents send him on a mission to acquire a corpse bride to accompany his brother into the afterlife, in accordance with an ancient Chinese tradition that has many modern adherents. Eligible dead girls are in short supply, however. When Deshi falls into company with a young--and single--woman named Lily, he sees a solution to his problems. The only hitch is that willful, tart-tongued Lily is still very much alive. As Deshi and Lily adventure through a breathtaking mountain landscape, meeting a host of eccentric characters and dangerous adversaries along the way, Deshi just can't decide whether to kiss the girl or to kill her.
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Everlost
by
Neal Shusterman
Nick and Allie were both in a fatal car crash, but neither of them made it all the way to "the light." Instead, they've landed in Everlost, an in-between land where kids, buildings, and beloved objects go after they've ceased to exist in the living world. There are a lot of rules for surviving in Everlost (keep moving or you'll sink through the ground; avoid the beastly, talon-fingered McGill at all costs) and eventually Allie and Nick encounter the fellow lost soul who seems to be making those rules. Entranced by her, Nick might want to stay in Everlost, but Allie is determined to get home -- even if it means taking over the bodies of the living. Intrigued? Continue reading with Everwild and Everfound, the 2nd and 3rd books in the Skinjacker trilogy.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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