2281 books
The beast of buckingham palace by David Walliams (2019)
Fly into a fiery and fantastical future with No. 1 bestselling author David Walliams, in an epic adventure of myth and legend, good and evil, and one small boy who must save the world... Illustrated by the artistic genius Tony Ross! It is 2120 and London is in ruins. The young Prince Alfred has never known a life outside Buckingham Palace - but when strange goings-on breach its walls and stalk the corridors in the dead of night, he is thrust into a world of mystery, adventure and monsters. And when his mother, the Queen, is dragged away to the Tower of London, Alfred must screw up his courage and battle to save her, himself... and the entire city.
Dexter in the dark by Jeffry P. Lindsay (2007)
Is evil alive ...? Dr Jerry Halpern is trying to find out, studying for his PhD on the subject. Dexter Morgan, meanwhile, has a few wicked things of his own to contend with - not least, planning his wedding to Rita to complete his nice-guy disguise. But when a student of Halpern's is found burnt, molested and headless - seemingly sacrificed to an ancient god - and Dex is brought in as forensic analyst to help investigate, he realises he could be dealing with someone a whole lot more sinister than he is. Soon it seems the dark passenger in Dexter's head has gone into hiding. And when something creeps out your friendly neighbourhood serial killer, you know it's serious ... As Halpern and Dexter are stalked by death, it looks like it's getting personal - especially as Dex now has a family to protect. Gradually, Dexter realises his stepchildren might share his extra-curricular interest in death. Could he help them target their bloodlust, just as he steers his own? But to do that, Dex must cope with a certain mutilated sergeant from his past, and more importantly ... stay alive ...
The Cavendon women by Barbara Taylor Bradford (2015)
"As the Inghams' and the Swanns' journey from a family weekend in the summer of 1926 through to the devastation of the Wall Street crash of 1929, the Cavendon women band together and bring their family into a new decade and a new way of life"--
Crystal Gardens by Jayne Ann Krentz (2012)
Moving to a country cottage where she seeks refuge in a paranormally charged garden, Evangeline Ames is rescued from a would-be assassin by the garden's owner, Lucas Sebastian, who taps Evangeline's detective skills to solve a buried-treasure mystery and stop a common enemy.
Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown (2013)
"Roan's one dream is to leave home and attend Pilot Academy like his older brother, father, and grandfather. But just as Roan is mysteriously denied entrance to Pilot School, he is invited to attend Jedi Academy, a school that he didn't apply to and only recruits children when they are just a few years old. That is, until now ... The novel follows Roan's first year at Jedi Academy where, under the tutelage of Master Yoda, he learns that he possesses more strength and potential than he could have ever dreamed. Oh, and he learns other important things too, like how to make a baking soda volcano, fence with a lightsaber, slow dance with a girl, and lift boulders with the Force."--Publisher information.
Across the wall by Garth Nix (2005)
Nicholas Sayre will do anything to get across the Wall, back to the Old Kingdom.Thoughts of Lirael and Sam haunt his dreams, and he has come to realize that his destiny lies there, along with all those he cares for. But here in Ancelstierre, far south of the Wall, the Charter is dormant, and among the obstacles Nick faces is one that is not entirely human, and which has a strange power that seems to come from Nicholas himself.With "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case," Garth Nix continues to explore the magical world of The Abhorsen Trilogy. In additional short stories that range from classic fantasy -- two widely different takes on the Merlin myth -- to a gritty urban version of Hansel and Gretel, to an unusual take on the role of nature in matters of love, and to a heartbreaking story of children and war, Garth Nix displays the range and versatility that have made him one of today's leading writers of fantasy for readers of all ages.
All Night Long by Jayne Ann Krentz (2005)
***An exciting novel of passion, murder, small-town secrets, and scandal brought to light***. Shy, studious Irene Stenson and wild, privileged Pamela Webb had been the best of friends for one short high school summer. Their friendship ended the night Pamela dropped Irene off at home-and Irene walked in to discover her parents' bodies on the kitchen floor. It was ruled a murder-suicide, and Irene fled the northern California town of Dunsley. But seventeen years later, when Pamela sends a cryptic e-mail asking for help, Irene returns to her hometown to find her old friend has died suddenly, leaving behind a lot of ugly, unanswered questions. Caught up in a firestorm of desperate deceit and long-buried secrets, Irene knows it would probably be smarter to just pack up and leave Dunsley behind again, but her reporter's instinct-and her own hunger to know the truth-compel her to extend her stay at the local lodge. Even more compelling is the man who runs the place-a hazel-eyed ex-Marine who's as used to giving orders as Irene is to ignoring them. Luke Danner can see the terror beneath Irene Stenson's confident exterior-and he is intent on protecting her. But he is also driven by passions of his own, and together they will risk far more than local gossip to sort out what happened to Pamela Webb, and what really happened on that long-ago summer night. . . .
Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich (2011)
Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, and she’s flying back to New Jersey solo. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead—and a ragtag collection of thugs and psychos, not to mention the FBI, are all looking for a photograph he was supposed to be carrying.
Minecraft by Max Brooks (2017)
An official tie-in to the globally popular video game traces the story of a new hero stranded in the world of Minecraft who must survive a harsh environment while unraveling the secrets of a mysterious island. By the best-selling author of World War Z.
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen (2021)
"It's December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless -- unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem's sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who's been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate. Jonathan Franzen's novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid characters and for their keen-eyed take on contemporary America. Now, in Crossroads, Franzen ventures back into the past and explores the history of two generations. With characteristic humor and complexity, and with even greater warmth, he conjures a world that resonates powerfully with our own. A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Jonathan Franzen's gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident."--
The Magicians by Lev Grossman (2009)
A thrilling and original coming-of- age novel about a young man practicing magic in the real worldQuentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.
What I Was by Meg Rosoff (2007)
In the 1960s, off the coast of East Anglia, a disgruntled boarding school student develops an obsessive friendship with a boy living by himself at the edge of the sea.
Le chevalier de Sainte-Hermine by Alexandre Dumas (2005)
After being in prison for three years and wondering what his fate will be, Hector is released, but forced into battle.
Inside the O' Briens by Lisa Genova (2015)
Patrol officer Joe O'Brien is third-generation Irish in Charlestown. A tough cop with a soft interior, a loving wife and four adult children, Joe is diagnosed with Huntington's disease. As Joe's symptoms worsen and he's eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while his daughter Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life "at risk" or learn their fate. "From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova comes a powerful new novel that does for Huntington's Disease what her debut Still Alice did for Alzheimer's. Joe O'Brien is a forty-four-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family's lives forever: Huntington's Disease. Huntington's is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe's four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father's disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father's escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she's gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing? As Joe's symptoms worsen and he's eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life "at risk" or learn their fate. Praised for writing that "explores the resilience of the human spirit" (The San Francisco Chronicle), Lisa Genova has once again delivered a novel as powerful and unforgettable as the human insights at its core"--
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman (2013)
***This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.*** The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.
Waking Up in Charleston (The Lowcountry Trilogy, Book 3) by Sherryl Woods (2006)
Oh, God! She's in love with her preacher.But it's not as if Amanda O'Leary set out to fall for the most gorgeous (and unattainable) man this side of South Carolina Low Country. It's just that he organized building a cozy home for her and her children at a time when the future looked darker than blackstrap molasses. Not even her own father, the arrogant and wealthy Big Max, would have done as much for her. But that's a whole other kettle of fish.Caleb can count on fingers and toes why his attraction to widowed Amanda is plain wrong. How can he objectively counsel this chin-up spitfire without letting his emotions--and imagination--run wild? And now that Big Max has burdened him with not one secret, but two, he knows his priorities should be mending fences between father and daughter--but he can't help trying to build a place for himself in her heart first....
Unbelievable by Sara Shepard (2008)
Four pretty little liars' charmed lives have turned into living nightmares. Emily's been shipped off to Iowa to live with her überconservative cousins. Aria's boyfriend is behind bars—because of her. Spencer's afraid she was involved in Ali's murder. But Hanna's fate is far worse: She's clinging to life in the hospital because she knew too much. If these girls don't start listening to me, Hanna's going to look like the lucky one. --A
Scattered Suns by Kevin J. Anderson (2005)
One of the today's most successful science fiction writers, Kevin J. Anderson is the author of many popular Star Wars and X-Files novels, as well as his bestselling Dune prequels, coauthored with Brian Herbert. Now Anderson returns with a stunning new chapter in the Saga of Seven Suns, his boldly imagined epic of interstellar intrigue and adventure... The war between the alien hydrogues and the faeros rages, reducing suns to blackened shells-including one of the fabled seven suns of the Ildiran Empire. Instead of protecting themselves, the Ildirans engage in bloody civil war and the many factions of humanity are bitterly divided. Can mankind and Ildirans overcome their own internal fighting to face a deadly new enemy that is ready to annihilate them? Newly ascended to the Ildiran throne, Mage-Imperator Jora'h must quash the rebellion launched by his mad brother before the hydrogues destroy what is left of the empire. Assailed from all sides, Jora'h turns to his beloved half-human daughter, dispatching her on a desperate mission to make peace with the hydrogues. Hope for humanity now rests with Jess Tamblyn, who continues to seed worlds with the watery wentals, the mortal enemies of the hydrogues. And on the ravaged planet of Theroc, home to a telepathic worldforest, a dead man is resurrected to prepare for the arrival of mysterious new allies in the fight. But Chairman Basil Wenceslas's vendetta against the free-spirited Roamers has blinded him to danger closer to home-the soldier machines that make up the backbone of the Hansa fighting force. King Peter has long suspected that the compies, built with the help of the ancient Klikiss robots, cannot be trusted. Now the shocking proof comes when the Klikiss launch their long-planned extermination of all things flesh and blood. And in the ensuing battle, humans and Ildirans alike will face their darkest choices yet...
Night Whispers by Erin Hunter (2010)
After the sharp-eyed Jay and the roaring Lion, peace will come on Dove's gentle wing. Jayfeather and Lionblaze are determined to uncover the real reason that ThunderClan was led into the deadly battle with ShadowClan. Meanwhile, Dovepaw must face a startling fact and realizes that evil is sometimes no more than a whisker's length away. As tensions between the four Clans grow, one cat will make a stand for what is right--but at what price? ---------- **Books in this arc** 1. [The Fourth Apprentice][1] 2. [Fading Echoes][2] 3. Night Whispers 4. [Sign of the Moon][4] 5. [The Forgotten Warrior][5] 6. [The Last Hope][6] [1]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14906957W [2]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5714273W [4]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17455355W [5]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16509079W [6]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16529186W ---------- **Arcs in this series** 1. [The Prophecies Begin][a] 2. [The New Prophecy][b] 3. [The Power of Three][c] 4. Omen of the Stars 5. [Dawn of the Clans][e] 6. [A Vision of Shadows][f] 7. [The Broken Code][g] 8. [A Starless Clan][h] S. [Super Editions][s] [a]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9228970M/INTO [b]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9235572M/Midnight_(Warriors_The_New_Prophecy_Book_1) [c]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7283723M/The_Sight_(Warriors_Power_of_Three_Book_1) [d]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24084711M/Warriors_Omen_of_the_Stars_1 [e]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25995097M/Dawn_of_the_Clans [f]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL26884472M/The_apprentice's_quest [g]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL27958224M/Warriors_The_Broken_Code_1 [h]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL32444897M/River/ [s]: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7288445M/Firestar's_Quest