Acorn: A steampunk adventure novella with romance, danger, and flying machines

Acorn: A steampunk adventure novella with romance, danger, and flying machines
Author: Shelley Adina
Publisher: Moonshell Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 111
Release: 2022-11-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1950854590

Flying and love. Which poses the greater risk? To outsiders, Lewis Protheroe is merely private secretary to Lady Claire and Sir Andrew Malvern, the most famous inventors in steampunk London. But to insiders, Lewis is a financial wizard and the owner of the Gaius Club, where the hottest bets this month are on the races at the Kennington Oval. Lewis and Snouts can’t resist the chance to go. The races are illegal, but the purse is large enough to attract daring inventors of personal flying machines from all over the country. As long as they don’t get caught… Lady Philomena Noakes has been driven to the Oval by pride and despair. Women are not allowed to compete, of course, but women aren’t allowed to do very much in a Blood family, except be married off to the highest bidder. If she can just fool everyone long enough to show what she can do with her dilapidated flying machine, winning the purse could change everything. And perhaps two lonely people might discover that flying and love are the two things in the world that pose the greatest risk—and the greatest happiness. “This is one of those books you can't help but cheer for. The plot is exciting, the challenges are difficult, and the stakes could not be higher. It's a quick read, and will keep you on the edge of your seat.” —Lori Alden Holuta, author of the Brassbright Chronicles Acorn is the fifth novella that follows book 12 of the Magnificent Devices steampunk series. These short reads capture secondary characters about whom readers have wanted more. Though they can be read as standalones, there are threads of romance, friendship, and family running through them all. No strong language, just a very proper kiss or two and a satisfying solution. If you like books by Gail Carriger, Lindsay Buroker, or Nancy Warren, you’re in the right place. Enjoy!

Magnificent Devices

Magnificent Devices
Author: Shelley Adina
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2015-10-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781517797591

Book 3 of the Magnificent Devices series! An air voyage to remember turns into a disaster no one may survive. With her orphaned charges, Lady Claire Trevelyan joins the Earl of Dunsmuir's family on an airship voyage to the Americas. If she can stay out of Lord James Selwyn's way until her eighteenth birthday, she will be of age and cannot be forced into marriage. What she doesn't know is that Lord James is in the Americas, too, with Andrew Malvern closing in on him-and the wonderful device he stole. But when a storm cripples the airship and air pirates swoop in like carrion birds, Claire and the children must live by their wits to make their way across a harsh landscape. Will Andrew ever see her again and right the wrong he believes he has done? Will Lord James succeed in his monumental thievery? And how exactly does Rosie the chicken evade the soup pot? Tighten your goggles, pull on your gloves, and prepare yourself for stratagems and strangeness! "An immensely fun series with some excellent anti-sexist messages, a wonderful main character (one of my favourites in the genre) and a great sense of Victorian style and language that's both fun and beautiful to read." -Fangs for the Fantasy: The latest in urban fantasy from a social justice perspective, on Magnificent Devices

Unconventional Warfare (Special Forces, Book 1)

Unconventional Warfare (Special Forces, Book 1)
Author: Chris Lynch
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 122
Release: 2018-11-27
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0545861632

"All the sizzle, chaos, noise and scariness of war is clay in the hands of ace storyteller Lynch." -- Kirkus Reviews for the World War II series Discover the secret missions behind America's greatest conflicts.Danny Manion has been fighting his entire life. Sometimes with his fists. Sometimes with his words. But when his actions finally land him in real trouble, he can't fight the judge who offers him a choice: jail... or the army.Turns out there's a perfect place for him in the US military: the Studies and Observation Group (SOG), an elite volunteer-only task force comprised of US Air Force Commandos, Army Green Berets, Navy SEALS, and even a CIA agent or two. With the SOG's focus on covert action and psychological warfare, Danny is guaranteed an unusual tour of duty, and a hugely dangerous one. Fortunately, the very same qualities that got him in trouble at home make him a natural-born commando in a secret war. Even if almost nobody knows he's there.National Book Award finalist Chris Lynch begins a new, explosive fiction series based on the real-life, top-secret history of US black ops.

Endymion Spring

Endymion Spring
Author: Matthew Skelton
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2006-08-22
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0375841997

"You've stumbled on to something much larger than you can possibly imagine." In the dead of night, a cloaked figure drags a heavy box through snow-covered streets. The chest, covered in images of mythical beasts, can only be opened when the fangs of its serpent's-head clasp taste blood. Centuries later, in an Oxford library, a boy touches a strange book and feels something pierce his finger. The volume is blank, wordless, but its paper has fine veins running through it and seems to quiver, as if it's alive. Words begin to appear on the page--words no one but the boy can see. And so unfolds a timeless secret . . . .

Unbound: A Novel in Verse

Unbound: A Novel in Verse
Author: Ann E. Burg
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2016-09-27
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0545937876

From the award-winning author of All the Broken Pieces and Serafina's Promise comes a breathtaking new novel that is her most transcendent and widely accessible work to date. The day Grace is called from the slave cabins to work in the Big House, Mama makes her promise to keep her eyes down. Uncle Jim warns her to keep her thoughts tucked private in her mind or they could bring a whole lot of trouble and pain. But the more Grace sees of the heartless Master and hateful Missus, the more a rightiness voice clamors in her head-asking how come white folks can own other people, sell them on the auction block, and separate families forever. When that voice escapes without warning, it sets off a terrible chain of events that prove Uncle Jim's words true. Suddenly, Grace and her family must flee deep into the woods, where they brave deadly animals, slave patrollers, and the uncertainty of ever finding freedom. With candor and compassion, Ann E. Burg sheds light on a startling chapter of American history--the remarkable story of runaways who sought sanctuary in the Great Dismal Swamp--and creates a powerful testament to the right of every human to be free.

Polaris

Polaris
Author: Michael Northrop
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2017-10-31
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 133816399X

A crew of children must pilot a ship across unfamiliar seas while a strange creature lurks belowdecks in this fast-paced survival story from New York Times bestselling author Michael Northrop. Alone at sea, with only the stars to guide them...The proud sailing ship Polaris is on a mission to explore new lands, and its crew is eager to bring their discoveries back home. But when half the landing party fails to return from the Amazon jungle, the tensions lead to a bloody mutiny. The remaining adults abandon ship, leaving behind a cabin boy, a botanist's assistant, and a handful of deckhands -- none of them older than twelve. Troubled by whispers of a strange tropical illness and rumors of a wild beast lurking onshore, the young sailors are desperate to steer the vessel to safety. When one of their own already missing and a strange smell drifting up from below deck, the novice crew begins to suspect that someone -- or something -- else is onboard. Having steeled themselves for the treacherous journey home, they now have more to fear than the raging waters of the Atlantic...

Love, Theodosia

Love, Theodosia
Author: Lori Anne Goldstein
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2021-11-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1951627989

A Romeo & Juliet tale for Hamilton! fans. In post-American Revolution New York City, Theodosia Burr, a scholar with the skills of a socialite, is all about charming the right people on behalf of her father—Senator Aaron Burr, who is determined to win the office of president in the pivotal election of 1800. Meanwhile, Philip Hamilton, the rakish son of Alexander Hamilton, is all about being charming on behalf of his libido. When the two first meet, it seems the ongoing feud between their politically opposed fathers may be hereditary. But soon, Theodosia and Philip must choose between love and family, desire and loyalty, and preserving the legacy their flawed fathers fought for or creating their own. Love, Theodosia is a smart, funny, swoony take on a fiercely intelligent woman with feminist ideas ahead of her time who has long-deserved center stage. A refreshing spin on the Hamiltonian era and the characters we have grown to know and love. It’s also a heartbreaking romance of two star-crossed lovers, an achingly bittersweet “what if.” Despite their fathers’ bitter rivalry, Theodosia and Philip are drawn to each other and, in what unrolls like a Jane Austen novel of manners, we find ourselves entangled in the world of Hamilton and Burr once again as these heirs of famous enemies are driven together despite every reason not to be.

28 Days

28 Days
Author: David Safier
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2020-03-10
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1250237157

Inspired by true events, David Safier's 28 Days: A Novel of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto is a harrowing historical YA that chronicles the brutality of the Holocaust. Warsaw, 1942. Sixteen-year old Mira smuggles food into the Ghetto to keep herself and her family alive. When she discovers that the entire Ghetto is to be "liquidated"—killed or "resettled" to concentration camps—she desperately tries to find a way to save her family. She meets a group of young people who are planning the unthinkable: an uprising against the occupying forces. Mira joins the resistance fighters who, with minimal supplies and weapons, end up holding out for twenty-eight days, longer than anyone had thought possible.

Bonnie and Clyde: A Love Story

Bonnie and Clyde: A Love Story
Author: Bill Brooks
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2005-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780765311887

She preferred guys with an edge to them. Bad Boys, her mama called them. Then one night she met Clyde and knew her mama was right. If there was ever a bad boy, it was Clyde Chestnut Barrow. He had that look: those dark secretive eyes that never looked directly into yours. He had a pretty face and a smooth way of talking and she liked his silk shirt and the way he fit into it. He liked her too. They were destined to be star crossed lovers who blazed across the hot southwest in a time of drought and trouble. She wanted to be an actress and he wanted to rob banks. In an era that gave birth to the likes of Al Capone, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson--Bonnie and Clyde were to become America's version of Romeo and Juliet--with guns! Their love for each other was without rhyme or reason, their attraction and bond unbreakable. They vowed the only thing that would ever seperate them was a bullet. A vow the Texas Rangers hoped to make come true. Bonnie, the beautiful petite blond poet was Clyde's equal in every respect. She was his lover and partner, and was willing to die for her man. Clyde was tough and agile, a troubled soul of a man who loved only two things: bank robbing and Bonnie Parker. Whether behind the wheel of a fast-moving Ford V-8, or the sultry bedroom of a Texas motel, their love and lives were unparalleled in the annals of history. Theirs is more than just a story of a fast and furious short and violent life--theirs is a story of unshakable love and devotion few ever experience.

The Book of Night Women

The Book of Night Women
Author: Marlon James
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2009-02-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101011319

From the author of the National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf and the WINNER of the 2015 Man Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings "An undeniable success.” — The New York Times Book Review A true triumph of voice and storytelling, The Book of Night Women rings with both profound authenticity and a distinctly contemporary energy. It is the story of Lilith, born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of the eighteenth century. Even at her birth, the slave women around her recognize a dark power that they- and she-will come to both revere and fear. The Night Women, as they call themselves, have long been plotting a slave revolt, and as Lilith comes of age they see her as the key to their plans. But when she begins to understand her own feelings, desires, and identity, Lilith starts to push at the edges of what is imaginable for the life of a slave woman, and risks becoming the conspiracy's weak link. But the real revelation of the book-the secret to the stirring imagery and insistent prose-is Marlon James himself, a young writer at once breath­takingly daring and wholly in command of his craft.