Science For Adults

It's 1915, and sixteen-year-old Lora Jones is finishing up her first year as a charity student at Iverson, a prestigious, gothic boarding school on England's southern coast. While she's always felt different from everyone around her, now she finally knows why: She is a drákon, a rare, enchanted being with astonishing magical abilities. As war hits Britain's shores, and Lora reels from an unimaginable loss, she finds that her powers come with grave and dangerous responsibilities.

Summer, 1518. A strange sickness sweeps through Strasbourg: women dance in the streets, some until they fall down dead. As rumors of witchcraft spread, suspicion turns toward Lavinia and her family, and Lavinia may have to do the unimaginable to save herself and everyone she loves. Five centuries later, a pair of red shoes seal to Rosella Oliva’s feet, making her dance uncontrollably. They draw her toward a boy who knows the dancing fever’s history better than anyone: Emil, whose family was blamed for the fever 500 years ago.

Kristen Simmons’ thrilling debut novel Article 5 is the first in an eagerly anticipated dystopian trilogy. In a world where soldiers have replaced police, arrests are made for minor infractions, and the Bill of Rights has been replaced with the Moral Statutes, 17-year-old Ember Miller longs for the days when things were different. But when her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 by the only boy Ember has ever loved, her peaceful, low-profile life is thrown into chaos.

After a car accident left my only parent - my father - in the hospital, I was swept away to the Dragon Born Academy by my estranged grandmother. If I had to be there, I'd be an observer of this place with its rituals and superstitions. After all, everyone's made it clear I don't belong. But then it happened, and Ashe Carrick - my impossibly irresistible bond-mate - happened. Being cracked open changed everything. Who I thought I was, what I thought I was.

Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life - no easy task for a 17-year-old who's pretty sure things can't get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.

Arktania is a virtual game with a steampunk style. It's a place where magic spells, enchanted artifacts, steam-powered machines, firearms, and mechanical golems are a part of everyday life. Gamer Andrew Falk begins his journey in a small village on the border of Orcish territory. The locals are the keepers of many secrets, but their behavior is too realistic for characters in a game; so realistic, in fact, that Andrew starts to treat them as if they were real people.

This modern classic of social history and media traces the precipitous decline of childhood in America today, and the corresponding threat to the notion of adulthood. Deftly marshaling a vast array of research, Neil Postman suggests that childhood is a recent invention. But now the division between child and adult is eroding under the barrage of television, which turns the adult secrets of sex and violence into entertainment and pitches news and advertising at the intellectual level of 10-year-olds.

Based partly on the author's experience, partly on her in-depth interviews, and partly on a questionnaire she developed with psychologist Holly Barrett to which almost 600 women responded, Father Loss provides the clearest portrait yet of a very special group of women. As a group, they express their insecurities ("Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be able to love a man totally...because that would mean I didn't love my father anymore." - Leslie).

Death had only ever been a small misunderstanding for the high mage. After his seventh reincarnation, he'd begun thinking of it differently, viewing it as nothing more than a slight hiccup in his plans. But he'd forgotten one thing: When those plans get in the way of those higher up the ladder, punishment is soon to follow. And one more death brought faint consolation.

The courageous groups of teens made their way home in a post-apocalyptic adventure story of survival after an EMP had virtually shut down modern technology across North America. What they find there after their long, dangerous journeys leaves them stunned. Their reunion begins in a hail of gunfire and only gets worse from there. The teens are shocked to learn that their town is under siege and their families, friends, and neighbors are being held hostage and some used as slaves.

The grand finale of the Dirty Girls series has readers hopping through time and space to the most unanticipated locations. The conclusion of this wild and adventurous tale finds our hero Kash getting all that he can handle, and every last thing that he deserves. A second chance. Again. Relationships grow, strengthen and heal. Catastrophes are recovered from, when not averted. And magnificent opportunities arise. Kash ends up a much better man than when his journey began, and he has plenty of supporters to prove it.

Echo Alkaev's safe and carefully structured world falls apart when her father leaves for the city and mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf - the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an ultimatum: if she lives with him for one year, he will ensure her father makes it home safely. But there is more to the wolf than Echo realizes.

Find out what happens to Connor, Risa, and Lev now that they've finally destroyed the Proactive Citizenry in this collection of short stories set in the world of the New York Times best-selling Unwind Dystology by Neal Shusterman. Connor Lassiter's fight to bring down Proactive Citizenry and find a suitable alternative to unwinding concluded in UnDivided. Now, Connor, Risa, and Lev are free to live in a peaceful future - or are they?

In a matter of moments, everything Taly ever thought she knew came crashing down around her. Her mother's spells were broken, her powers unleashed. She's no longer mortal but fey, and every day serves as a reminder that her entire life has been a lie. To make matters worse, Taly has been captured and imprisoned by a woman claiming to be the Time Queen. Her only way home is to play the queen's game and train in the art of time magic. The queen has commanded that she become an Acolyte - a task that could take years to complete.

Clara is an Obligate—a human servant at the Court of Dawn. She doesn’t know why. She knows only that she broke the Pledge and must therefore spend her days obliging the every whim of a capricious fae princess. If she can keep her head down and follow the rules, she might survive to the end of her Obligation, spending her days working in the vast palace library.

A year ago, Sunny Nwazue, an American-born Nigerian girl, was inducted into the secret Leopard Society. As she began to develop her magical powers, Sunny learned she had been chosen to lead a dangerous mission to avert an apocalypse, brought about by the terrifying masquerade Ekwensu. Now, stronger, feistier, and a bit older, Sunny is studying with her mentor, Sugar Cream, and struggling to unlock the secrets in her strange Nsibidi book.

Gorliad is the first crowned prince to hatch in centuries. But can he rule? Destined to one day conquer a kingdom of his own, he begins his rigorous training and progresses wonderfully. That is, until a rival dragon descends upon the kingdom in a ferocious battle that leaves Gorliad crippled and bereft of his birthright. The young dragon will need to find the fires deep within his soul if he is to overcome his handicap, but even victory may bring defeat as he will have to risk his father's kingdom and everything in it to ascend to his promised throne.

A dragon, a fae, and a pixie walk into a bookstore… Sounds like a joke, right? For me, it's just an ordinary day on the job. At least, it has been ever since my aunt disappeared and left me with her store, her cat, and a whole lot of unanswered questions. My whole life, I've been told to stay hidden. Pretend I'm human. Sell books, drink tea, and never betray the truth of what I am. But it turns out my aunt had secrets, and a lot of those secrets seem to involve me ending up dead. To survive, I'm going to have to reckon with my past, even if it means placing my trust in a total stranger.

Gun Meister Online is a recently released virtual-reality combat simulator. Players assume the role of a Meister; fighting in matches and ranking up into higher divisions. Within the game, weapons take on human shape. These NPC's use a new Dynamic Distributed Personality System recently implemented, and many are excited by how life-like the AI characters are becoming. Charlie has only just begun to play, and he struggles to grow as a Meister. At the same time, he starts to take charge of his real-life outside.

Can he make her fall in love with him…again? When Pagan Moore proved worthy of Death's devotion, he was given the gift of getting to keep her. But Dank was never promised that Pagan would keep him. When a soul is created, so is its mate. In every lifetime those souls find each other. They complete the other's destiny. It's time for Pagan's soul to choose if she truly wants an eternity at Death's side or if she wants the mate created just for her. Dank didn't think he had to worry about her choice. He knew where her heart belonged.