I'm also a sucker for a decent mystery, and Stateless is a historical and a mystery.
It's 1937, and European leaders are sponsoring a race for up-and-coming pilots to promote peace across the continent. As the only girl among them, immigrant Stella plans to keep a low profile—until she witnesses one pilot shoot down another. But all the planes look similar, and she was too far away to make a positive ID.
If she wants to survive, she must complete the multi-leg race without letting on that she witnessed the murder, even though one of her fellow pilots is determined to unmask the killer. My favorite of Elizabeth Wein's books since Code Name Verity!
A group of young pilots face intrigue and sabotage in a race around Europe in this thrilling murder mystery, from the bestselling author of Code Name Verity. Ideal for readers aged 12+
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It is 1937 and tensions are high. A spectacular air race around Europe seeks to promote unity among a group of young pilots, but distrust and animosity are rife. The British and sole female contestant, Stella North, is determined to prove not only her skill, but also her identity as her Nansen passport declares her 'stateless'.
However, barely a few hours in, Stella is witness to a…
Kim Long loves to write stories with a sense of adventure, a dash of magic, and a hint of science. Her debut, Lexi Magill and the Teleportation Tournament, was a 2021-2022 Texas Bluebonnet Master List Selection. She loves board games, scavenger hunts, and puzzles, so books with aspects of those elements have always appealed to her. Every book recommended below has at least one of those elements, and the great news is that it's also the first in its series, so if you fall in love with the first book, there’s a good chance you’ll love the others, too!
I love the idea of a competition run by a game/toy factory that is its own game that requires solving all kinds of different puzzles. There are brainteasers the reader can try and solve on their own, but it’s also a blast sitting back and reading how the competitors navigate other puzzles, like an obstacle course and maze. Family and friend relationships also play an important role as the main character strives to come out the winner!
Jody Feldman's popular, award-winning novel about a group of kids playing the Gollywhopper Games-the fiercest toy company competition in the country-will appeal to fans of The Amazing Race and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Gil Goodson has been studying, training, and preparing for months to compete in the Gollywhopper Games. Everything is at stake. Once Gil makes it through the tricky preliminary rounds and meets his teammates in the fantastical Golly Toy and Game Company, the competition gets tougher. Brainteasers, obstacle courses, mazes, and increasingly difficult puzzles and decisions-not to mention temptations, dilemmas, and new friends (and enemies)-are all that…
I’m an avid reader of speculative fiction: fantasy, science fiction, horror, “what-if” stories of our world with a twist... you name it, I’m in. But what really sells a spec-fic story for me is the characters that populate the world – the relationships that form the heart of the otherworldly story – and I’ve always found sisterhood, in particular, extremely compelling. I’ve actually written two speculative books featuring sisters myself, and have another sisters-driven adventure coming out next year! I’m also one of three sisters, and growing up, these relationships served as the basis of so many memories, as well as informed so much of who I am.
Kate Elliott’s young adult series feels a bit like Game of Thrones meets Little Women (both of which I loved, so Elliott’s concept was a dream mash-up for me!). The protagonist, Jessamy, lives in a fantasy world divided by class, a domain where laudable competitors compete in a series of various trials and tribulations called the Fives. As a writer, I found Elliott’s world so well thought out and executed, but it was the Little Women elements of this series that most claimed my reader heart. I treasured the quieter moments between Jessamy and her sisters, who are all memorable, fully rendered, and compelling, and the relationships between them, complex and real.
Now available in paperback, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's first young adult novel was praised by Kirkus for its "gripping, original plot; vivid, complicated characters; and layered, convincingly detailed world building."
Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But away from her family she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best contenders.
Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an improbably friendship between two Fives competitors--one of…
Kim Long loves to write stories with a sense of adventure, a dash of magic, and a hint of science. Her debut, Lexi Magill and the Teleportation Tournament, was a 2021-2022 Texas Bluebonnet Master List Selection. She loves board games, scavenger hunts, and puzzles, so books with aspects of those elements have always appealed to her. Every book recommended below has at least one of those elements, and the great news is that it's also the first in its series, so if you fall in love with the first book, there’s a good chance you’ll love the others, too!
Told in alternating points of view by several characters as they compete in a national competition to find the tastiest confection in the country, this book lets the reader into the minds of all the main competitors. The enemy isn’t really the enemy once we get to know their feelings and thoughts. Being in a candy factory is an added bonus, as it’s such a unique location.
Four children have been chosen to compete in a national competition to find the tastiest confection in the country. Who will invent a candy more delicious than the Oozing Crunchorama or the Neon Lightning Chew?
Logan, the Candymaker's son, who can detect the color of chocolate by touch alone?
Miles, the boy who is allergic to merry-go-rounds and the color pink?
Daisy, the cheerful girl who can lift a fifty-pound lump of taffy like it's a feather?
Or Philip, the suit-and-tie wearing boy who's always scribbling in a secret notebook?
This sweet, charming, and cleverly crafted story, told from each…
Well, truly, who doesn’t want to live inside of a magical castle? A few years ago, I was lucky enough to become the owner of a crumbling Victorian house. It was in bad shape—a hoarder had lived there before with lots of cats and also, somehow, rats?—but the place had “good bones.” My husband and I were determined to scrape away all of the rot and give it new life—all while I was writing my middle-grade novel. Now that both projects are done, I truly feel like I live in an enchanted space.
I bought this book for my niece for Christmas but found it difficult to wrap it because I was so immersed in the world Jessica Townsend conjured! Morrigan's main character has such a wry and endearing voice, and I loved following her on her adventures!
I especially loved the Hotel Deucalion, with its shifting rooms and smoking lounge filled with different flavors of mist—it felt like an utterly charming place to stay. Ultimately, this book was a lovely, magical escape!
A breathtaking, enchanting new series by debut author Jessica Townsend, about a cursed girl who escapes death and finds herself in a magical world--but is then tested beyond her wildest imagination.
Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she's blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks--and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday.
But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters…
This is an amazing fantasy duology and for very good reason—the first thing the two authors did was make me care about these terribly flawed characters. That set up some incredible tension as the story’s competition began. I found all the characters distinct, terribly tragic, and emotionally engaging.
The magick, identified as spells and curses, was designed with tons of imagination. Some were made to backfire. Some were incorrectly designed, and several of the strongest ones required blood in their crafting.
The worldbuilding is thorough, but the human story is what kept me glued to the pages. There are secrets, plots, manipulations, lies, alliances, friendships, betrayals, and distrust. The competitors’ families are despicable, which made my heart go out to the doomed characters even more.
You Fell In Love With The Victors of The Hunger Games. Now Prepare To Meet The Villains Of The Blood Veil.
After the publication of a salacious tell-all book, the remote city of Ilvernath is thrust into the spotlight. Tourists, protesters, and reporters alike flock to its spellshops and historic ruins to witness an ancient curse unfold: every generation, seven families name a champion among them to compete in a tournament to the death. The winner awards their family exclusive control over the city's high magick supply, the most powerful resource in the world.
I’ve always been surrounded by food culture. I grew up in a diner family. My parents started Lakey’s Cafe just before I was born. My first jobs as a kid were in that restaurant. After that, I worked in restaurants as a server for more than 10 years of my life. When the opportunity presented itself to throw in the napkin and become a writer, I did. My writing now as a professional writer centers around the food and beverage industry. One topic that I don’t see discussed enough is the role that food plays in science fiction and fantasy novels. Food in novels has a way of showing us something about ourselves.
You can’t get much more food-oriented in science fiction than a novel called The Hunger Games, and true to its name, food and food politics play a central role in the book’s theme. The book’s author, Suzanne Collins, uses juxtaposition and food politics throughout the series to highlight the difference between the haves and the have-nots. While all the books in the Hunger Games series highlight these discrepancies, it’s Collins’s second book Catching Fire where the differences are most pronounced. The feast in the Capitol, along with its potions to induce vomiting (and by extension, encourage more eating), stands out in particular: The reaction of the book’s main character, Katniss Everdeen, herself a poor girl from the Seam of District 12 makes this scene both comical and revolting.
The second book in the ground-breaking Hunger Games trilogy.
After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta return to their district, hoping for a peaceful future. But their victory has caused rebellion to break out ... and the Capitol has decided that someone must pay.
As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the districts on the Capitol's Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. Unless they can convince the world that they are still lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.
Then comes the cruellest twist: the contestants for the next Hunger…
Well,
I haven’t made it to the last book in the series yet but I’m about to begin
just as soon as I get off of this computer.
I loved America’s story, but Eadlyn
has more spunk and independence. I loved seeing how she handled whatever came
her way. Her strength is a huge highlight of the story.
Kiera Cass's Number 1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has enchanted readers from the very first page. In this fourth romantic novel, follow Illea's royal family into a whole new Selection - and find out what happens after happily ever after.
Kiera Cass's #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has enchanted readers from the very first page. In this fourth romantic novel, follow Illea's royal family into a whole new Selection-and find out what happens after happily ever after.
Eighteen years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won Prince Maxon's heart. Now the time has come for…
Chain Gang All Stars is the kind of book you read and you wish you
wrote.
From its concept (a dystopian future in which corporate prisons coerce
inmates to fight to the death in front of both live and televised audiences) to
its larger-than-life characters (the indomitable Loretta Thurwar and the
lightning-quick Hurricane Staxxx), the novel is all at once horrifying, darkly
comic, and heartbreaking.
It’s one of those books with everything. Biting
social commentary? Check. A complicated love story? Check. Longlisted for a
National Book Award, I’d put my money on this novel to win.
Enter a world where, watched by millions, prisoners fight like gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom.
'You cannot applaud [this] novel without getting blood on your hands...' NEW YORK TIMES
'A dystopian vision so...illuminating that it should permanently shift our understanding of who we are and what we're capable of doing' WASHINGTON POST
'Electrifying' GEORGE SAUNDERS
Welcome to Chain-Gang All-Stars, the popular and highly controversial programme inside America's private prison system. In packed arenas, live-streamed by millions, prisoners compete as gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom.
I fell in love the first time I ever picked up a fantasy novel. Suddenly a whole world of imagination and magic opened up in my head and I’ve been an avid reader and writer ever since. Competitions show up time and again in YA novels (from The Hunger Games to Red Rising), and I think it’s because they provide a good frame for stories about growing up, progress, or ambition. There are high stakes baked in and that makes for an exciting read. I hope you enjoy these books!
Kallia wants to be the most famous magician in the world, but she’s been kept hostage all of her life. She escapes her prison to join the competition to become the headliner for the Conquering Circus. She’s got talent, but there is magic woven into the city streets, and it’s hard to know who to trust, because her long-time mentor and captor, isn’t what he seems. He may not even be human.
Kalia is ruthlessly ambitious and I love that about her. This story is dark, decadent, and took me places I didn’t expect.
In a city covered in ice and ruin, a group of magicians face off in a daring game of magical feats to find the next headliner of the Conquering Circus, only to find themselves under the threat of an unseen danger striking behind the scenes.
As each act becomes more and more risky and the number of missing magicians piles up, three are forced to reckon with their secrets before the darkness comes for them next.
The Star: Kallia, a powerful showgirl out to prove she's the best no matter the cost.
