Monday Morning Book Buzz

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Welcome to the Monday Morning Book Buzz, a preview of notable books being released this week. Some of them will be added to the Academy Library collection; if you read about a title that you would like added to the collection, let me know by either commenting on this post or by contacting me directly at the Library.

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This week’s releases are listed by category: Teen Fiction, General Fiction and Nonfiction. On-sale dates are indicated in parentheses.

Notable New Releases for the week of December 1st:

Teen Fiction

  • Vicious (Pretty Little Liars Series #16) by Sara Shepard (12/2/2014) — On trial for murdering an actually still-alive Alison DiLaurentis, only Aria, Emily, Spencer, and Hanna know they have been framed and resolve to beat Ali at her own game.
  • Scorpion Mountain (Brotherband, Book 5) by John Flanagan (12/2/2014) — From John Flanagan, author of the worldwide bestselling Ranger’s Apprentice — an all-new adventure featuring the Brotherband crew! Princess Cassandra of Araluen has already survived one assassination attempt, but when a second attempt proves that the deadly Scorpion Cult is involved, Hal, his Heron Brotherband crew, and the Ranger Gilan are dispatched to ensure her safety by launching a preemptive strike against Scorpion Mountain and its cult of assassins.
  • Ravencliffe by Carol Goodman (12/2/2014) — In the second book of the Blythewood Academy series, seventeen-year-old Ava Hall continues to learn more about herself and her heritage through her work in a New York City settlement house as well as through her social obligations with the Blythewood girls. “Rife with atmosphere, adventure and romance, this is a fantasy world worth getting lost in for a while.” — Kirkus Reviews
  • Seduction by Molly Cochran (12/2/2014) — The sequel to Legacy. Distressed that her boyfriend has changed so much since his wealthy uncle took him under his wing, Katy flies to Paris to attend cooking school and discovers a mysterious mansion which seems to be occupied by only beautiful, shallow people who never age. “A layered and well-told story with an unlikely and endearing heroine.” — Kirkus Reviews
  • Black Knight (Witch World, Book 2) by Christopher Pike (12/2/2014) — Jessica Ralle thought the worst was over: the mindblowing revelations, the terrifying danger, the heartbreaking loss. Turns out, discovering Witch World was just the beginning. “A brutal, exciting page-turner that mature readers will find to be a natural transition from the Hunger Games trilogy.” — Booklist
  • Valley of Fires: A Conquered Earth Novel by J. Barton Mitchell (12/2/2014) — Mitchell’s sci-fi tour de force Conquered Earth series concludes as the characters try and unite Earth’s disparate survivors to overthrow its alien invaders once and for all. “Readers looking for strong, diverse characters in an interesting postapocalyptic world—similar to Julianna Baggott’s Pure or Dan Wells’ Partials series—will want to add this trilogy to their list.” — Booklist
  • Diamond Boy by Michael Williams (12/2/2014) — When Patson’s family moves to Marange region of Zimbabwe, he begins working in the mines, searching for blood diamonds, until government soldiers arrive and Patson is forced to journey to South Africa in search of his missing sister and a better life. “Williams draws from real events to bring this harrowing story to life, infusing Patson’s narrative with terrifying accuracy.” — Publishers Weekly

General Fiction

  • Tom Clancy Full Force and Effect by Mark Greaney (12/2/2014) — A North Korean ICBM crashes into the Sea of Japan. A veteran CIA officer is murdered in Ho Chi Minh City, and a package of forged documents goes missing. The pieces are there, but assembling the puzzle will cost Jack Ryan, Jr. and his fellow Campus agents precious time. Time they don’t have.
  • How to be both by Ali Smith (12/2/2014) — Shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize, this is a novel all about art’s versatility. Borrowing from painting’s fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it’s a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions.
  • Once Upon a Grind by Cleo Coyle (12/2/2014) — When coffeehouse manager turned amateur sleuth Clare Cosi roasts “magic” beans for Fairy Tale Week, she brews up a vision that leads to a sleeping beauty in Central Park; a big, bad wolf of Wall Street; and an East Side enclave with storybook secrets.
  • Scorched Eggs (Cackleberry Club Series #6) by Laura Childs (12/2/2014) — In Childs’s bestselling mystery series, Suzanne, Petra, and Toni — co-owners of the Cackleberry Club Café — are equally good at serving up breakfast and serving up justice. This time they turn up the heat on a deadly firebug….
  • Woman with a Gun: A Novel by Phillip Margolin (12/2/2014) — This compelling thriller centers on an intriguing photograph that may contain long-hidden answers to the mystery of a millionaire’s murder.

Nonfiction

  • Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South by Andrew Maraniss (12/1/2014) –Based on more than eighty interviews, this fast-paced, richly detailed biography of Perry Wallace, the first African American basketball player in the SEC, digs deep beneath the surface to reveal a more complicated and profound story of sports pioneering than we’ve come to expect from the genre.
  • When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning (12/2/2014) — When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned over 100 million books and caused fearful citizens to hide or destroy many more. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops and gathered 20 million hardcover donations.
  • Playing It My Way: My Autobiography by Sachin Tendulkar (12/1/2014) — The greatest run-scorer in the history of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013 after an astonishing 24 years at the top. The most celebrated Indian cricketer of all time, he received the Bharat Ratna Award—India’s highest civilian honor—on the day of his retirement. Now Tendulkar tells his own remarkable story.

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