Monstrous Discoveries

Monstrous Discoveries is a feature that mentions books that I have discovered through my sidetracking excursions around the web. While my bookshelf really is not never ending, it is always exciting to share the books I would add if it was.

Legends by Nick Percival
Releases: June 29, 2010
Publisher: Radical Publishing
Discovered on: Graphic Novel Reporter

Reinventing the popular Grimms’ Fairy Tale characters in a fantasy action-adventure that mixes elements of X-Men and Sleepy Hollow, this book is set in a post-industrial steam-punk backdrop. Supernatural immortals live in a dark, creature-infested world where nature, technology, and foul magic are in constant conflict. When the twisted, burnt remains of the half-wooden, half-mechanical warrior Pinocchio are discovered, wolf hunter Red Hood and giant-killer Jack realize the fragile rules of their existence have been shattered. With the help of other powerful Enchanted (the mercenary Goldilocks and psychic exterminators Hansel and Gretel), Jack and Red team up on an adventure to stop whatever, or whoever, is destroying their powers and murdering their kind.

The Rapture by Liz Jensen
Released: January 4th 2010 (Paperback)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Discovered on: Goodreads

In a merciless summer of biblical heat and destructive winds, Gabrielle Fox’s main concern is a personal one: to rebuild her career as a psychologist after a shattering car accident. But when she is assigned Bethany Krall, one of the most dangerous teenagers in the country, she begins to fear she has made a terrible mistake. Raised on a diet of evangelistic hellfire, Bethany is violent, delusional, cruelly intuitive and insistent that she can foresee natural disasters – a claim which Gabrielle interprets as a symptom of doomsday delusion. But when catastrophes begin to occur on the very dates Bethany has predicted, and a brilliant, gentle physicist enters the equation, the apocalyptic puzzle intensifies and the stakes multiply. Is the self-proclaimed Nostradamus of the psych ward the ultimate manipulator, or could she be the harbinger of imminent global cataclysm on a scale never seen before? And what can love mean in ‘interesting times’? A haunting story of human passion and burning faith set against an adventure of tectonic proportions, “The Rapture” is an electrifying psychological thriller that explores the dark extremes of mankind’s self-destruction in a world on the brink.

Lightborn (Darkborn Trilogy, #2) by Alison Sinclair
Released: June 1st 2010
Publisher: Roc Trade
Discovered on: Borders.com

The second book in the Regency-flavored fantasy trilogy of magic and manners from the author of Darkborn.

The Darkborn aristocracy has rejected magic, viewing the pursuit of science as the only worthy goal. But Lady Telmaine Hearne does not have that luxury. She has kept her own powers secret, fearful of being ruined in society…until her husband Balthasar draws her into a conspiracy to protect the archduke and his brother against a magical enemy. But who will protect them from her? 

The Limit by Kristen Landon
Released: September 7th 2010
Publisher: Aladdin
Discovered on: Recommended to me by Kristen of Bookworming in the 21st Century

An eighth grade girl was taken today . . . 

With this first sentence, readers are immediately thrust into a fast-paced thriller that doesn’t let up for a moment. In a world not too far removed from our own, kids are being taken away to special workhouses if their families exceed the monthly debt limit imposed by the government. Thirteen-year-old Matt briefly wonders if he might be next, but quickly dismisses the thought. After all, his parents are financially responsible, unlike the parents of those other kids. As long as his parents remain within their limit, the government will be satisfied and leave them alone. But all it takes is one fatal visit to the store to push Matt’s family over their limit—and to change his reality forever.

A Crack in the Sky by Mark Peter Hughes
Released: August 24th 2010
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Discovered on: Goodreads

Thirteen-year-old Eli Papadopoulos is worried. Even though he’s a member of the most powerful family in the world. Even though his grandfather founded InfiniCorp, the massive corporation that runs everything in the bustling dome-cities. Even though InfiniCorp ads and billboards are plastered everywhere, proclaiming:

Recently, Eli noticed that there’s something wrong with the artificial sky. It keeps shorting out, displaying strange colors and random images. And though the Department of Cool and Comfortable Air is working overtime, the dome-city is hotter than it’s ever been.
 
     Eli has been raised to believe that the dome-cities are safe, that the important thing is to keep working and consuming, and that everyone is secure and comfortable in InfiniCorp’s capable hands.
 
     But now he begins asking questions.
 
     All of a sudden, operatives from a dangerous band of terrorists keep contacting him. The Friends of Gustavo—or Foggers—want to tear down everything InfiniCorp has created. They promise Eli that they have the truth he seeks—if he’s brave enough to handle it.
   
  Eli isn’t convinced. And he’s about to find out that in the dome-cities, being a Papadopoulos isn’t enough to save a rule-breaker like him from being sent far away to learn right-thinking. In his new home, the Tower, Eli meets Tabitha, once at the top of her Internship class, now a forgotten slave. Together, and with help from Eli’s beloved pet mongoose, Marilyn, they just might be able to escape . . . and try to make a life for themselves in the scorched wilderness outside the domes.

This sweeping, high-concept eco-thriller recalls Disney/Pixar’s Wall•E and Lois Lowry’s classic The Giver, yet it is completely original, a remarkable, fully realized fantasy that will change the way you look at how we live.

Warped by Maurissa Guibord
Released: January 11th 2011
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Discovered on: Goodreads

Things get weird after Tessa Brody’s father buys a dusty old unicorn tapestry at an auction. The wild, handsome creature woven within it draws Tessa, and frightens her too. One day she pulls a silver thread from the tapestry and releases the unicorn. Only he isn’t one at all. He’s William de Chaucy, a young sixteenth century English nobleman with gorgeous eyes, a weird accent and haughty attitude to spare. Will was trapped in the tapestry by Gray Lily, a sorceress who stole the thread of his life and relies on its energy for her eternal youth. Now Gray Lily wants her unicorn back and she’ll do anything to get him.

If that isn’t bad enough “his lordship” de Chaucy seems to think Tessa is someone she’s not: the girl who trapped him so long ago in the forest. Despite the sparky chemistry between them he seems to have the strange idea that she’ll be his undoing once more. Maybe she will. Because there’s a connection, an attraction to Will that Tessa can’t deny. She’s even beginning to dream about events in a forest of long ago. Or is she reliving them? But Tessa knows one thing for sure. She could never be some heartless twit of a virgin who would trap a unicorn.

Masquerade by Nancy Moser
Released: August 1st 2010
Publisher: Bethany House Publisher
Discovered on: Goodreads

1886, New York City: Charlotte Gleason, a rich heiress from England, escapes a family crisis by traveling to America in order to marry the even wealthier Conrad Tremaine. She soon decides that an arranged marriage is not for her and persuades her maid, Dora, to take her place. What begins as the whim of a spoiled rich girl wanting adventure becomes a test of survival amid poverty beyond Charlotte’s blackest nightmares. As for Dora, she lives a fairy tale complete with gowns, jewels, and lavish mansions–yet is tormented by guilt and the presence of another love that will not die. Will their masquerade be discovered? Will one of them have second thoughts? There is no guarantee the switch will work. It’s a risk. It’s the chance of a lifetime. 

Kate

Kate is the co-blog owner of The Book Monsters. I am a twenty-something year old who is passionate about reading. I currently hold a B.A. in English and am married to my high school sweetheart. We have two (cat) children, Gracie and Kit, who are total divas. I have an insane and possibly unhealthy passion for reading. You can usually find me with my nose buried in a book.

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