Strange fiction
Witches, werewolves, murder, mayhem and mystery – let your imaginations run wild this holiday season.
Top Prospect Author: Paul Volponi Publisher: Carolrhoda Books, fiction
TRAVIS Gardner lives to play quarterback in American football and he’s been putting everything he has into the game at secondary school level – so much so that the head coach of a university team makes him a promise: Travis will have a place on his team and a scholarship to go with it if he can get through secondary school first.
The amazing offer brings sudden fame, and as Travis starts Year Nine, he realises he will not only have to earn his current teammates’ trust and dodge opposing players targeting the star quarterback but also stay focused in all the limelight. The pressure is on now, and Travis has to prove himself with every pass of the ball.
Laby rinth Lost (Brookly n Brujas #1) Author: Zoraida Cordova Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire, fiction
IN Latin American tradition, brujas are witches. Alex is one, a particularly powerful one, in fact – but she doesn’t want to be. So at a Day of the Dead celebration (when Mexicans remember the departed) Alex tries to rid herself of the hated magic. But her attempt backfires when she says the spell, and every single family member in her house vanishes. Desperate to get them back, Alex finds herself turning to Nova, a brujo (male witch) with strange skin markings, whom she doesn’t trust. At all. Nevertheless, she has to follow him into shadowy Los Lagos, the land in-between, a strange and dark type of Limbo, in search of her lost family.
Weregirl Author: C.D. Bell Publisher: Chooseco, fiction
CROSS-country runner Nessa Kurland is determined to win a college scholarship to get out of Tether, a small town on the brink of dying after being ruthlessly stripped of its natural resources by a conglomerate. When she’s bitten by a wolf, Nessa thinks her dream is over. Except she heals really quickly. And her running times improve. A lot. When the moon is full, she finds herself turning into a white wolf. Nessa is a werewolf, chosen to uncover the dark secrets kept by Tether’s powerful which could save the town.
Publisher Chooseco is famous for its bestselling Choose Your Own Adventure series; this is its first “linear” book that is the beginning of a series written by a creative team that includes author Cathleen Davitt Bell.
This Is Our Story Author: Ashley Elston Publisher: Disney Hyperion, fiction
FIVE boys go hunting at River Point. Only four come back. And they aren’t saying who shot the fifth. When evidence shows the shooting wasn’t accidental, the case ends up with the district attorney’s office. The DA wants to sweep the cause célèbre under the rug because the boys are from the wealthiest families in the small town of Belle Terre – but he doesn’t count on Kate Marino.
Kate is just a lowly intern for Mr Stone, the oldest lawyer at the office, but she knew Grant, the dead boy, and she’s determined to get justice for him even if she’s far from the rich teens’ circle. But Kate also has secrets, damming ones that are threatened, along with her life, as she investigates the case on her own.
Alterations Author: Stephanie Scott Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark, fiction
IN what seems to be a story loosely based on Billy Wilder’s 1954 romantic comedy Sabrina (remade in 1994 with Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear as the two brothers tangling over Julia Ormond as the titular Sabrina), Amelia is a shy teenager who daydreams of designing and going to the prom with her crush, rich boy Ethan (who doesn’t really notice her existence). When her abuelita (grandmother) enrols her in a month-long fashion internship in New York City, though, Amelia discovers a whole new world with bigger possibilities.
When she returns to Miami feeling super-accomplished, she doesn’t blink at agreeing to help Ethan with his socially-awkward brother Liam who wants to create a fashion app. As Amelia and Liam grow closer, Ethan begins to see Amelia with new eyes – and Amelia finds herself caught between two brothers and facing a whole lot of drama and a choice she never dreamed she’d have to make.
Ev ery day Magic Author: Emily Albright Publisher: Merit Press, fiction
MAGGIE wants to be a designer, but her father, an A-list director on the downward slide, brushes her hopes aside, insisting that she become an entertainment lawyer and work for him. And then he ups the pressure, literally blackmailing Maggie to date Ben, the hot young actor starring in his new movie, even though Maggie loves Preston. But Maggie sleuths out the reason why her father seems ready to sell her to the highest bidder, and breaks away. Designing a stunning red carpet gown for a hip young duchess, she implores Preston to give them another chance in an all-out bid to go her own way.
The French Impressionist Author: Rebecca Bischoff Publisher: Amberjack, fiction
ROSEMARY is 15 and gloriously free on her own for the very first time. As part of an exchange programme for aspiring artists, she arrives in southern France with one goal: she doesn’t plan to leave, ever. She wants a new life and a new identity. But her situation, crafted from lies big and small, is precarious. As Rosemary struggles to hide her lack of artistic talent and obvious communication disorder from her new family, she must ultimately choose whether or not she’ll tell the biggest lie of all, even if it means destroying the life of someone she cares about.