ARC's read lately...

I've been on a tear lately reading ARC's (advance reading copies) that I picked up from the TLA conference in April here is a list of what I've read lately along with a short synopsis:

The Blue Shoe by...?

I left this one at the office and can't get it to pull up on the web. I know Mary GrandPre is the illustrator (hello, HP made her famous too!). Anyway, it's a story about a cobbler who makes a fantastic, magical shoe for a mysterious customer who never comes to claim the shoe. Meanwhile, the boy who becomes his apprentice is caught being a thief and sentenced to prison on a faraway mountain that no one ever returns from. Can the boy come back from prison while freeing his father and the other people who are there? Comes out in October 2009


Killer Pizza by Greg Taylor http://us.macmillan.com/killerpizza

A nice cryptid story about zombies...refreshing since all the rave right now is vampires. The main character, Toby, gets a summer job at the new pizza place in town, Killer Pizza, where pies like the Monstrosity and the Frankensausage are on the menu. However, he may have bitten off more than he can chew in this summer job because it turns out he and his co-workers are being secretly recruited for a monster hunting organization! Can Toby and his friends kill the monsters and keep them from taking over the town? Great story for middle age kids and open for sequels! Came out in May 2009


The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan http://www.carrieryan.com/index2.php

I got a chapter preview of this at TLA and LOVED it! Later, in a book donation from a college professor of library science, I got hold of the entire ARC! Here is what it says on the back: "In Mary's world, there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village. The fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. Now she must chose between her village and her future, between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?" A little post-apocalyptic, coming of age, zombie-ish type novel. I really liked it. Came out in April 2009


evermore by Alyson Noel
http://alysonnoel.com/IMMORTALS/index_immortals.php

The first book in The Immortals series (hmm...I think I have a theme going on here...) stars 16 year old Ever, who after a horrible car accident that killed her whole family, "can see peoples auras, hear their thoughts, and know someones entire life story by touching them." Going out of her way to avoid people, she is branded a freak at her new, sunny, California high school where she moves to live with her aunt. But all of that changes when she meets Damen. "Damen is gorgeous, exotic, and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head - wielding a magic so intense it's like he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is -- or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she is falling deeply and helplessly in love with him." A lovely vampire story that seems to share some similar elements with the True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse stories. A quick, easy, spellbinding read. Came out in February 2009...the sequel blue moon comes out July 2009

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/books/unicorns/rampant/

Lions, and tigers, and unicorns? Oh my!
From the back: "Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns...Real unicorns are man-eating beasts with cloven hooves, bulletproof hides, and horns full of deadly poison. They can outrun a sports car and smell human prey from a mile away. And they can only be killed by virgin warriors descended from Alexander the Great. Fortunately, they have been extinct for more than a hundred years. Or not. And it is up to sixteen-year-old Astrid Llewelyn to hunt them down." Our heroine Astrid comes from a long line of hunters and when her boyfriend is speared by one her mom ships her off to unicorn hunter boot camp where she meets up with other girls like her. Apparently, hunters attract unicorns, but it's up to Astrid and her unicorn hunting friends to figure out why they have been chosen as hunters and what to do to kill a unicorn before it is too late. The only thing I don't like about this book is the title...I think it doesn't match the story really, definitely leaves it open for sequels at the end. Comes out in August 2009 (ARC says May but according to website release has been pushed back)