The Day Before

      Lisa Schroeder
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One moment can change everything. Amber’s life is spinning out of control. All she wants is to turn up the volume on her iPod until all of the demands of family and friends fade away. So she sneaks off to the beach to spend a day by herself. Then Amber meets Cade. Their attraction is instant, and Amber can tell he’s also looking for an escape. Together they decide to share a perfect day: no pasts, no fears, no regrets. The more time that Amber spends with Cade, the more she’s drawn to him. And the more she’s troubled by his darkness. Because Cade’s not just living in the now—he’s living each moment like it’s his last.

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    The Alteration

      Kingsley Amis
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In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976 but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice. How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976.

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    The Castle of Kings

      Oliver Pötzsch
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An epic tale of murder, treachery, bravery, and love In 1524, in what is now Germany, hundreds of thousands of peasants revolted against the harsh treatment of their aristocratic overlords. Agnes is the daughter of one of these overlords, but she is not a typical sixteenth-century girl, refusing to wear dresses and spending more time with her pet falcon than potential suitors. There is only one suitor she is interested in: Mathis, a childhood friend who she can never marry due to his low birth status. But when a rogue knight attacks Agnes and Mathis shoots the knight to save her, the two are forced to go on the run together, into the midst of the raging Peasants’ War.   Over the next two years, as Agnes and Mathis travel the countryside, they are each captured by and escape from various factions of the war, participate in massive battles, make new friends both noble and peasant, and fall in love. Meanwhile, Agnes’s falcon finds a mysterious ring, and Agnes begins having strange, but seemingly meaningful dreams. Dreams that lead the two lovers to revelations about their place in the world and in the emerging German states. With The Castle of Kings, Oliver Pötzsch has written a historical yarn that calls to mind Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth and Bernard Cornwell’s Agincourt.

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    Mystify the Magician

      K. A. Applegate
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There is a place that shouldn’t exist. But does. And there are creatures that shouldn’t exist. But do. Welcome to a land where all of your dreams and nightmares are very real—and often deadly. Welcome to Everworld. Christopher, Jalil, April, David, and Senna thought they’d seen it all. Especially after “visiting” Neptune’s watery world and then ultimately finding themselves in Atlantis. Once again, they’ve managed to find a way to the next land—hoping it will be the passage back to the earth they know. Back to the real world. But when they wash up on a beautiful beach, they quickly realize that they’ve still not quite made it back home. That they’ve arrived in Eire. And it’s not the modern-day Ireland they’ve read about in class. This is a land of giants, leprechauns, and yes, more gods. But Christopher and the others have experience with these beings. The real problem is that Merlin is closing in, and this time he will not be outsmarted. And he will not leave without Senna…

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    Dead Sleep

      Greg Iles
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Jordan Glass, a photojournalist on a well-earned vacation, wanders into a Hong Kong art museum and is puzzled to find fellow patrons eyeing her with curiosity. Minutes later, she stumbles upon a gallery containing a one-artist exhibition called "The Sleeping Women," a mysterious series of paintings that has caused a sensation in the world of modern art. Collectors have come to believe that the canvases depict female nudes not in sleep but in death, and they command millions at auction. When Jordan approaches the last work in the series, she freezes. The face in the painting seems to be her own. This unsettling event hurls her back into a nightmare she has fought desperately to put behind her-for, in fact, the face in the painting belongs not to Jordan but to her twin sister, murdered one year ago. At the urging of the FBI, Jordan becomes both hunter and hunted in a duel with the anonymous artist, a gifted murderer who knows the secret history of Jordan's family, and truths that even she has never had the courage to face.

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    Overlooked

      Rose Christo
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"Don’t tell me you didn’t miss me!" Rafael’s devilish sister Mary has returned to the Nettlebush Indian Reservation after a year of absence and a failed stint in a rock band. But the reason behind Mary’s triumphant homecoming is anything less than sororal: Mary has her sights set on Paul Looks Over, the man responsible for her father’s death. Nothing—and nobody—will stop Mary from staking a Blood Law of her own, a decision that will force Rafael to choose between his love for Skylar and his very family.

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  • 526

    Veniss Underground

      Jeff VanderMeer
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In his debut novel, literary alchemist Jeff VanderMeer takes us on an unforgettable journey, a triumph of the imagination that reveals the magical and mysterious city of Veniss through three intertwined voices. First, Nicholas, a would-be Living Artist, seeks to escape his demons in the shadowy underground–but in doing so makes a deal with the devil himself. In her fevered search for him, his twin sister, Nicola, spins her own unusual and hypnotic tale as she discovers the hidden secrets of the city. And finally, haunted by Nicola’s sudden, mysterious disappearance and gripped by despair, Shadrach, Nicola’s lover, embarks on a mythic journey to the nightmarish levels deep beneath the surface of the city to bring his love back to light. There he will find wonders beyond imagining…and horrors greater than the heart can bear. By turns beautiful, horrifying, delicate, and powerful, Veniss Underground explores the limits of love, memory, and obsession in a landscape that defies the boundaries of the imagination. This special edition includes the short stories “The Sea, Mendeho, and Moonlight”; “Detectives and Cadavers”; and “A Heart for Lucretia” and the novella Balzac’s War, offering a complete tour of the fantastic world of Veniss.

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  • 526

    Loser's Bracket

      Chris Crutcher
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When it comes to family, Annie is in the losers bracket. Don’t get her wrong, her foster parents are great, even if Pop is a little too concerned about Annie getting an athletic scholarship. But Nancy, her birth mom, and her sister, Sheila, are . . . less than ideal. And no matter how hard Annie tries to stay away from them, she always gets sucked back in to their lives and their messes. She tells herself she’s doing it for Sheila’s son, Frankie, but she knows her issues with her birth family are more deeply rooted. Then a family argument at one of Annie’s swim meets escalates and Frankie goes missing. Annie can’t help but think that Frankie’s disappearance is her fault. With help from her new boyfriend, Tim, and her social service worker, Annie searches desperately for her missing nephew, determined to find him and finally get him in a safe home. Annie’s story is quintessential Crutcher, by turns gripping, heartbreaking, hopeful, and unflinchingly honest, and will appeal to readers of Matt de la Peña and Andrew Smith.

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    Coming Attractions

      Robin Jones Gunn
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Are you serious? And when Katie asks the question, will she believe the answer? Katie Weldon has only one more semester before she becomes a college graduate. The future is on her doorstep, and she's eager for answers to what's next. Rick is at the top of her list. She's ready for the future of their relationship to be finalized-or so she thinks. Is she really ready to make a serious commitment? Could it be that God is asking her the same question about her relationship with him? The third book in the Katie Weldon Series reunites the Christy Miller gang as Katie learns about relationships, change, and moving on in life.

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  • 526

    Dunkirk Crescendo

      Bodie Thoene
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As spring 1940 unfolds in Paris, war is inevitble. AP journalist Josephine Marlow is asked to undertake a dangerous journey back into the borders of the reich--just when the Fuhrer is gathering his forces for another invasion. If she is successful, a child will live. If not, he will die. And many other children, too. French colonel Andre Chardon knows that the undefeated Fuhrer will not hold back his Blitzkrieg long from France. But the plan of attack revealed in a coded message is so audacious that no one believes Andre. Whom can he convince? Who will have the courage to act before thousands of innocents are slaughtered? And is a miracle at Dunkirk Harbor possible?

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  • 526

    Lord of Darkness

      Robert Silverberg
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Set in the 17th century and based on a true-life historical figure, this novel is a swashbuckling tale of exotic lands, romance, and hair-raising adventures. Andrew Battell is a buccaneer on a British ship when he is taken prisoner by Portuguese pirates. Injured and ailing, Andrew is brought to the west coast of Africa where his only solace is Dona Teresa, a young woman who nurses him back to health. Once his health is restored, AndrewOCOs only hope to return home is to first serve his Portuguese masters, but it is a hope that dwindles as he is pulled further and further into the interior of the continent, into the land of the JaqqaOCothe regionOCOs most fierce and feared cannibal tribeOCooverseen by the powerful Lord of Darkness. Survival means becoming one with the Jaqqa; if he can endure their gruesome rites and initiations. Originally published in 1984, this story by a master of science fiction and fantasy demonstrates the timelessness of any great adventure and will provoke thought in a new audience on the determination to persevere at any cost."

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  • 526

    Dirty Talk: A Bad Boy Romance (Bluefield Bad Boys Book 2)

      Tess Oliver
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The premature death of his dad and a tumultuous childhood has left coal miner, Tommy 'Huck" Sawyer, hardened to emotion and relationships. Andi Sullivan is the one woman who can break through that tough exterior. But Andi, the twin sister of Tommy's best friend, is destined for better things, away from her harsh father's control and their sooty mining town. It seems everything is against Tommy ever having the one thing his heart wants most. Andi Sullivan has achieved her life's goal of a successful nursing career in the city, away from her hometown. She's even started dating a doctor. Everything is perfect and dreamy . . .almost. Something, or someone, is pulling at her heartstrings, pulling her back to Bluefield, the place she was so anxious to leave. When an accident pushes Tommy Sawyer, her troubled childhood friend, back into her life, Andi soon finds herself torn between two worlds and two happy endings. New adult contemporary romance

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  • 526

    The Graves of Saints

      Christopher Golden
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For centuries, Vatican sorcerers kept demons and monsters out of our world with the magic found in a grimoire called The Gospel of Shadows. Years ago, to save his people from madmen, Peter Octavian defeated those sorcerers and the Gospel of Shadows itself was banished from the Earth. Ever since, the evils and monstrosities lurking in parallel worlds have been waking to the realization that our magical defences are down – the barriers keeping them out of our world are crumbling. With massive demonic incursions in locations around the world, Octavian should be focused on using his own sorcery to drive the evil out and rebuild our defences. But a renegade vampire named Cortez has murdered the person Octavian loves the most and, even with his friends and allies around him, he is so lost in grief that he can think of nothing but revenge. There are others who can fight the darkness – mages, Shadows, witches, Reapers and vampire samurai – but only the warrior-mage, Peter Octavian, can defeat it. If he will answer the call.

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  • 525

    The Peacemaker

      Alfred Coppel
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The Arrow lanced down out of the night like a spear of flame, vengeful and deadly. The legends of Jaq Merril are legion—but legends. Hark, ye, then to the true story of the pirate benefactor of Mankind!The Arrow lanced down out of the night like a spear of flame, vengeful and deadly. The legends of Jaq Merril are legion—but legends. Hark, ye, then to the true story of the pirate benefactor of Mankind!

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  • 525

    Transcendence

      R. A. Salvatore
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It is the summer of 839. Brave and beautiful Brynn Dharielle sets out on a daring mission to free her beloved homeland from tyrannical rule. But she cannot imagine the depth of chaos, corruption, and betrayal that seethes admist a ruthless sect of warrior priests, led and manipulated by an evil chieftain who conceals a dark, age-old secret. For Brynn and her trusted elven companion, the way to Behren turns into a fierce and illuminating voyage beneath the Belt-and-Buckle mountains. And while they face many dangers, the knowledge they acquire will have profound implications for the future of the elven valley, a land shaped by the plotting of a queen desperate to hold onto her magic. Meanwhile, by the time Brynn reaches the land where she once saw her parents murdered, the seeds of revolution are already flourishing. For a courageous young woman and her elven mentor, the first salvo of a sweeping battle has begun–one that will threaten to destroy the heart and soul of their world.

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