New Youth Fiction

Evan Angler

In a future United States under the power of a charismatic leader, everyone gets the Mark at age thirteen. The Mark allows citizen to shop, go to school, and even get medical care-without it, you are on your own. Few refuse to get the Mark. Those who do . . . disappear. Logan Langly went in to get his Mark, but he backed out at the last minute. Ever since, he's been on the run from government agents and on a quest to find his sister Lily, who disappeared when she went to get her Mark five years earlier. His journey leads him to befriend the Dust, a vast network of Markless individuals who dissent against the iron-grip rule of the government. Along the way to the capital to find Lily, the Dust receive some startling information from the Markless community, opening their eyes to the message of Christianity and warning that humanity is now entering the End of Days. In Storm, Logan and his friends are the leaders of the Markless revolution. But while some Markless are fighting Chancellor Cylis' army, the Dust is busy trying to find a cure for a horrible epidemic sweeping through the Marked. And it's difficult for them to know who to trust, especially when they aren't sure if Logan's sister Lily, one of the commanders in Cylis' army, is on their side or not. And all across the nation-and the world-the weather is become less stable, and a storm is brewing that bigger than any of them could have ever imagined....

Sandra Bryd

From the acclaimed author of To Die For comes a stirring novel told that sheds new light on Elizabeth I and her court. Like Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir, Sandra Byrd has attracted countless fans for evoking the complexity, grandeur, and brutality of the Tudor period. In her latest tour de force, she poses the question: What happens when serving a queen may cost you your marriage-or your life? In 1565, seventeen-year-old Elin von Snakenborg leaves Sweden on a treacherous journey to England. Her fiance has fallen in love with her sister and her dowry money has been gambled away, but ahead of her lies an adventure that will take her to the dizzying heights of Tudor power. Transformed through marriage into Helena, the Marchioness of Northampton, she becomes the highest-ranking woman in Elizabeth's circle. But in a court that is surrounded by Catholic enemies who plot the queen's downfall, Helena is forced to choose between her unyielding monarch and the husband she's not sure she can trust-a choice that will provoke catastrophic consequences. Vividly conjuring the years leading up to the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots, Roses Have Thorns is a brilliant exploration of treason, both to the realm and to the heart.

Amanda Davis

With microchips implanted in their skulls at birth, the slaves of Cantral and Cillineese have labored under the tyrannical rule of the nobles and their computers for decades. Monica, a noble who avoided the implanting and escaped a death sentence at the age of four, is now sixteen. She has risked life and limb to free the inhabitants of Cillineese, but the computers still rule the rest of the world.Now she must journey to Cantral and take the identity of her dying cousin, Amelia, to infiltrate the Nobles' world in the guise of a teenager who is a master computer programmer. Because of her childhood living among the slaves of Cantral, Monica knows little about programming and must improvise to stay alive.The fate of millions rides on Monica's shoulders. As the only chip-less person in the world, she must convince the Council of Eight of her innocence, destroy the computers, and free the world from the nobles before they discover her ruse.

DICKERSON, MEL

A daring rescue. A difficult choice. Sophie desperately wants to get away from her stepmother's jealousy, and believes escape is her only chance to be happy. Then a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle, claiming she is betrothed to his older brother, and everything twists upside down. This could be Sophie's one chance at freedom---but can she trust another person to keep her safe? Gabe defied his parents Rose and Wilhelm by going to find Sophie, and now he believes they had a right to worry: the girl's inner and outer beauty has enchanted him. Though romance is impossible---she is his brother's future wife, and Gabe himself is betrothed to someone else---he promises himself he will see the mission through, no matter what. When the pair flee to the Cottage of the Seven, they find help---but also find their feelings for each other have grown. Now both must not only protect each other from the dangers around them---they must also protect their hearts.

Scott Appleton

With Ilfedo's beloved wife buried, the Hemmed Land is destined to change, as is he. The sea serpents have again invaded the land and Ilfedo must discover the power behind the sword of the dragon, even as he accepts his people's call to become their Lord Warrior. His daughter grows into a beautiful young woman whose wisdom and love endears her to the people, and sets her on a journey to find a race of unique and powerful creatures. But far to the north an evil long ago stirred, and Letrias's workings soon threaten everything Ilfedo holds dear.
Pub Date:October 2011

Brock Eastman

HowlSage, the first of a series, is a fast-paced, exciting, and suspenseful action story about Tyler, a 14-year-old who is part of a secret society whose mission is to destroy the evil sages that walk the earth. As Tyler doggedly vows to solve the mystery of his missing father, does a pretty schoolmate's distraction cause dangerous consequences?
A coffin discovered in Egypt, a jewel heist, and holes that swallow people into the darkness form the crux of the adventures that keeps hearts pounding. They race against the calendar and the wickedness that faces the world during the full moon on October 31. Will the sage hunters defeat them in time?
With the help of his cousin, Jesse, and younger friend Ike, a budding scientist, they tackle the world of the unknown with bravery--armed with the Cross of Jesus and the Sword of the Bible.
Pub Date: August 2011.

CARLSON, MELOD

Bored and frustrated by her parents' traditional church, Vivian does what many teens are tempted to do: seek spiritual answers in other places. Blindly wanting to please her new boyfriend, Vivian abandons not only her faith but also her common sense. Before she knows it, she is isolated, afraid, and over her head in a religion that doesn't want to let her go.

Sandra Byrd

To Die For, is the story of Meg Wyatt, pledged forever as the best friend to Anne Boleyn since their childhoods on neighboring manors in Kent. When Anne's star begins to ascend, of course she takes her best friend Meg along for the ride. Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling at first, but as Anne's favor rises and falls, so does Meg's. And though she's pledged her loyalty to Anne no matter what the test, Meg just might lose her greatest love—and her own life—because of it.
Meg's childhood flirtation with a boy on a neighboring estate turns to true love early on. When he is called to follow the Lord and be a priest she turns her back on both the man and his God. Slowly, though, both woo her back through the heady times of the English reformation. In the midst of it, Meg finds her place in history, her own calling to the Lord that she must follow, too, with consequences of her own. Each character in the book is tested to figure out what love really means, and what, in this life, is worth dying for.
Though much of Meg's story is fictionalized, it is drawn from known facts. The Wyatt family and the Boleyn family were neighbors and friends, and perhaps even distant cousins. Meg's brother, Thomas Wyatt, wooed Anne Boleyn and ultimately came very close to the axe blade for it. Two Wyatt sisters attended Anne at her death, and at her death, she gave one of them her jeweled prayer book—Meg.
Pub Date: August 2011.
 

Jenny B. Jones

Grief brought Finley to Ireland. LOVE WILL LEAD HER HOME.
Finley Sinclair is not your typical eighteen-year-old. She’s witty, tough, and driven. With an upcoming interview at the Manhattan music conservatory, Finley needs to compose her audition piece. But her creativity disappeared with the death of her older brother, Will.
She decides to study abroad in Ireland so she can follow Will’s travel journal. It’s the place he felt closest to God, and she’s hopeful being there will help her make peace over losing him. So she agrees to an exchange program and boards the plane.
Beckett Rush, teen heartthrob and Hollywood bad boy, is flying to Ireland to finish filming his latest vampire movie. On the flight, he meets Finley. She’s the one girl who seems immune to his charm. Undeterred, Beckett convinces her to be his assistant in exchange for his help as a tour guide.
Once in Ireland, Finley starts to break down. The loss of her brother and the pressure of school, her audition, and whatever it is that is happening between her and Beckett, leads her to a new and dangerous vice. When is God going to show up for her in this emerald paradise?
Then she experiences something that radically changes her perspective on life. Could it be God convincing her that everything she’s been looking for has been with her all along?
Pub Date: October 2011.
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Robin Jones Gunn

Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen cross paths on their way to summer vacations that reveal what a gift it is to have a true Forever Friend.
    Now Boarding at Gate 10
After her high school graduation, still aching from Todd’s departure, Christy joins her family on a trip to Wisconsin to visit relatives. While there, she reunites with Matthew, an old friend from junior high. When Matthew starts to show a romantic interest in Christy, she realizes this summer vacation could change everything she thought her future would be.
    In the Event of a Water Landing
Fifteen-year-old Sierra Jensen can’t wait to spend her summer vacation with her friend Jana at a pristine lake in Montana. But when they arrive, it becomes clear that Jana’s only interest is acquiring a boyfriend. Sierra just wants to hang out with the guys as friends, but Jana turns every encounter into a possible romantic relationship. As their friendship begins to suffer, Sierra wonders if it’s possible to find a Forever Friend who will listen to you, laugh with you, and keep your confidences.
Pub Date: May 2011.
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Heather Burch

Split. After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven, and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret—and the wings that come with. A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As the mysteries behind the boys’ powers, as well as her role in a scientist’s dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world.
Pub Date: January 2012.

Bryan Davis

It has been fifteen years since Billy and Bonnie Bannister helped repel the demonic assault on Heaven. Now they and Ashley Foley sit in a maximum security prison where the authorities conduct experiments on them to learn the secrets of long life. Earlier, the world’s acceptance of dragonkind crumbled, and the Enforcers took the infant twins born to Billy and Bonnie and stole Excalibur, hoping to develop a weapon to battle the dragons that are sure to try to rescue their allies. All the while, a great secret from the past is being revealed to Bonnie through a dream. Joran and Selah, teenaged children of Methuselah, have been trapped in a strange world for centuries, yet still able to manipulate certain events in our world during that time.
Walter Foley finds the Bannisters’ son and hopes to use his dragon traits to help him rescue the prisoners. In the meantime, an ancient demon locates the Bannisters’ daughter and plans to use her to help him discover the hiding place of the most powerful ovulum in the world and squelch its protective song. With that ovulum in his possession, he will be able to conquer and control both Earth and Second Eden.
The fate of two worlds now rests on the Bannisters’ two teenagers who must use their dragon traits and their innate courage to battle demons, a sorceress, and soldiers in a military compound in order to rescue parents they don’t even know.
Pub Date: July 2011

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Bryan Davis

The mysteries unfold As a Starlighter, Koren knows her destiny is to save her fellow human slaves from the dragons’ bondage—but by following the orders of the smooth-talking dragon king, Taushin, has she in fact doomed her people and herself? As Koren struggles over her choices, Elyssa discovers a new aspect to her Diviner gifts when her pendant begins to unlock mysteries surrounding the stardrops from the Exodus star. Soon Elyssa, along with Jason and his father, also discover new truths behind the dragons’ prophecy and learn that Randall has teamed with Magnar and Arxad to wage battle against Taushin’s followers. With a major war imminent and talk of a new Starlighter in the air, confusion and uncertainty reign—something Taushin might have planned for all along.
Pub Date: August 2011.
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View more in the Dragons of Starlight series.

Karyn Henley

The stranger’s cloak had fallen back, and with it, a long, white, blood-stained wing.
When Melaia, a young priestess, witnesses the gruesome murder of a stranger in the temple courtyard, age-old legends recited in song suddenly come to life. She discovers wings on the stranger, and the murderer takes the shape of both a hawk and a man.
Angels. Shape-shifters. Myths and stories—until now.
Melaia finds herself in the middle of a blood feud between two immortal brothers who destroyed the stairway to heaven, stranding angels in the earthly realm. When Melaia becomes a target, she finds refuge with a band of angels attempting to restore the stairway. But the restoration is impossible without settling an ancient debt—the “breath of angel, blood of man,” a payment that involves Melaia’s heart, soul, and destiny.
Pub Date: June 2011.

D. Barkley Briggs

With Nemesia's defeat, the Barlows have helped turn the tide in the Hidden Lands. But the victory is short-lived. An even greater evil stirs in the north with a fierce new army bent on destruction. As the twins, Gabe and Garret, discover their own special powers, a thin thread of hope emerges: long ago, a fabled king was rescued from death on our world and hidden on Karac Tor. Who is he?
Pub Date: July 2011

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K.D. McCrite

If God wanted April Grace to be kind to her neighbors, He should have made them nicer!
Growing up in the country is never easy, but it sure is funny—especially if you happen to have a sister obsessed with being glamorous, a grandma just discovering make-up, hippie friends who never shower, and brand new neighbors from the city who test everyone’s patience. From disastrous dye jobs to forced apologies and elderly date tagalongs, you’ll laugh ‘til you cry as you read the Confessions of April Grace!
Here are just a couple of April's thoughts: On her sister, Myra Sue: "How anyone can be that dumb and still be able to eat with a fork is beyond me."  On senior citizen lovebirds: "What if they started smooching right at the table in front of God and everybody?"
In spite of all the loony characters in her life, April Grace is able to learn from her parents as they share the love of God—to even the craziest of characters!
Pub Date: June 2011

Amanda Davis

With microchips implanted in their skulls at birth, the slaves of Cantral and Cillineese have labored under the tyrannical rule of the Nobles and their computers for decades. Monica, a Noble who avoided the implanting and escaped a death sentence at the age of four, is now sixteen and is in hiding. She lives with the slaves inside the walls of the Cantral palace, pretending to be one of them while the slave council plots a way to use her chip-less state to destroy the all-powerful computers that strike down any hint of rebellion.
The Nobles hear of Monica’s survival and try to exterminate her before she ruins their upper-class utopia. The rebels send her to find a missing paper bearing instructions on how to shut down the computers that control the chips in Cillineese, a major city-state. The Nobles are alerted to the plan and prepare to seal Cillineese in a giant dome to gas the inhabitants, including Monica.
The fate of millions rides on Monica’s shoulders. As the only chip-less person in the world, she must find the paper, destroy the computers, and free Cillineese from the Nobles’ iron fist before they strike with the ultimate punishment—death for everyone inside the city walls.
Pub Date: October 2011.

Melody Carlson

Sixteen-year-old Haley's life is about to change. With divorced parents, she's allowed to choose who to live with. Tired of Mom’s restrictions (like no dating), she picks laid-back Dad, although that means she'll have to go to a new school. But even that situation starts to look up when hottie Harris Stephens flirts with her. And when he asks her out, Haley ecstatically accepts.
Chalking up a mysterious warning about Harris to jealousy, Haley continues seeing him. But infatuation turns to devastation when Harris does something totally unexpected. Humiliation and peer pressure keep Haley from disclosing what happened, and with no one to talk to, her torturous secret is overwhelming.
Pub Date: October 2011.
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CS Lakin

“It is not the land that is dangerous, Callen. The danger lies in your heart. Others have lost their lives searching for the bridge. Are you certain you are prepared to pay that price?”
    Jadiel is twelve and things couldn’t get much worse—or could they?  Not long after her mother is killed in a tragic accident, her father, Ka’rel, marries a vile and abusive woman named Huldah, but Jadiel sees how he simmers under Huldah’s intoxicating enchantment. Jadiel’s wicked stepmother means to get rid of Jadiel, and sends her off with a threat and an impossible task: bring back the leaves from the Eternal Tree by the next full moon or her father will die. Heartsick and hopeless, Jadiel sets out alone and afraid.
    Callen, a woodworking apprentice for Jadiel’s uncle in Wolcreek Vale, discovers some weathered drawings of an exquisitely detailed bridge made entirely of wood and embellished with mysterious symbols that appear to be ancient script. Obsessed with finding this bridge, he sets off seeking clues to its possible existence, unknowingly beginning a perilous and mystifying undertaking. On his journey, he rescues Jadiel from brigands and learns their quests are linked—as the elusive bridge Callen seeks is crafted from the rare tree Jadiel must find. The trail of clues leads them to the forbidden Land of Darkness, where they must face the greatest dangers of all—what lies in their hearts.
Pub Date:October 2011

D Barkley Briggs

IN THE BITTER NORTH, HOPE AND FEAR COLLIDE.
    The dreadful Goths have invaded Röckval, testing the strength of Bitterland’s beautiful, widowed ruler. Meanwhile, the Barlow brothers are growing stronger and stronger in their powers—all except for Ewan, who traded his gift away to save the life of his friends.
    Soon it becomes clear that the Goths are the least of their worries. A terrible machine is being built high atop Mount Vishgar, above Röckval, where the raging winds never cease. If the machine really does release the Song of Unmaking, what will happen? Can Arthur lay aside his grief and once more become a great leader of men? And what is the mysterious Doorless Tower, Nein Dyrr?
    As Kr’Nunos grows more bold, the Barlow brothers take their stand with the viks of the north. Yet it is Ewan alone who must answer the question: Is any music stronger than the most powerful song of destruction the world has ever known?
Pub Date:October 2011

Andrew Klavan