City of Masks

City of Masks by Mary Hoffman, 2002 Bloomsbury

     Lucien Mulholland is a young man living in Islington, North London in modern time. When he falls asleep clutching a marbled notebook from his father, he wakes in Renaissance Italy. Only it isn't our Italy. In Talia Lucien wakes in a Venice-like Bellezza and meets Rodolfo Rossi. Rodolfo is a Stravagante--a traveler between worlds.
     In Bellezza Lucien is simply a student, he learns the magic of Stravigation by apprenticing himself to the Duchessa's counselor Rodolfo. On his first stravigation he meets Arianna Gasparini, who saves him from execution on the Forbidden Day--a day non-citizens are forbidden from the city. The Duchessa, Sylvia, is battling the powerful di Chimci family to keep Bellezza independent from their Talian Republic. She is worried at the portents surrounding Arianna, Lucien and their adventures through the city.
     Lucien finds himself surrounded by intrigue and adventure in Talia while his life in London revolves around his treatment for cancer. The more time he spends in Talia the more of his body that follows his mind to the new world and with every trip he risks leaving London forever.
     Lucien's friendship with Arianna and his apprenticeship with Rodolfo lure him away from the pain and frustration of his life at home. The friendships he creates and the role he plays in Talia's politics are in bright contrast to the normal life Lucien leads in London, but are they worth leaving the only life he's ever known and his family? Readers as young as middle school will enjoy the action and adventure of Lucien's straviagtion to and from Talia.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 2008 Schoolastic Press

     Life in the Seam is not easy for anyone, but Katniss Everdeen had discovered a way to support her family and her community through illegal hunting. Along with her friend Gale she supplies meat to the black market and life is bearable. When the annual Hunger Games rolls around, the people of District 12 living along the Seam are hesitant to allow the Capitol to reap their children for the annual fight to the death.
     The champions of the Hunger Games lives in splendor and luxury for the remainder of their lives, but at the cost of their humanity. In order to win the contestant must defeat the remaining Tributes--two teens from each of the twelve districts of Panem--and win the Games. Success would mean Katniss's family's survival, but it could also mean her death--when her young sister is called the first year she is eligible Katniss knows she must volunteer to save her mother's sanity and younger sister's life.
     Along with the baker's son, Peeta Mellark, Katniss goes into the arena defiant and hoping to survive long enough to mean something, but expecting nothing. When her one alliance is destroyed Katniss Everdeen is intent on getting back at the Capitol any way she can. Through luck and the survival skills she and Gale developed beyond the borders of District 12, Katniss manages to make it to the last, bringing Peeta with her. In one last strike at the Capitol and its games Katniss and Peeta threaten mutual suicide and are allowed to live.
     The Hunger Games is not a love story, it is the beginning of a revolution against a government which reminds its populace of its superiority by destroying the humanity of the next generation. The Games are a power tool used to keep the defeated districts under control and Katniss is the spark that lights the fire. The book is not suited for younger readers with vivid violence and psychological manipulation, teens and more mature readers will understand the story's nuances and appreciate its complex commentary.

Clockwork Princess

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare, 2013 Walker Books

     Jem and Tessa are planning their wedding, Will is distraught at the idea of losing Tessa and the arrival of his younger sister Cecily, and Charlotte--along with the rest of the Institute--are reeling from the last battle with Mortmain, the Magister, when Gabriel Lightwood arrives with news of his father's demise. The inhabitants of the London Institute rush to help dispatch the Lightwood patriarch turned demon and protect the world from another monster.
     When the Lightwood brothers return to the Institute the Consul, intent on removing the independent Charlotte Branwell from her position, uses their father's state and Gabriel's guilt in being part of his demise to blackmail the boys. The young men use the opportunity to feed false information to the Consul attempting to thwart his plans.
     Mortmain maneuvers to monopolize the drug that keeps Jem alive in an effort to coerce the Shadowhunters into handing Tessa over, or have her surrender herself for her fiancee. Jem refuses to allow the sacrifice insisting he would rather die than give Mortmain the satisfaction of defeating the people who could protect the world from his plans.
     When an attack on the London Institute brings Tessa into the Mortmain's grasp and nearly kills Jem, the Consul refuses to acknowledge another attack is imminent. Rather than going after Mortmain and attacking he cautions waiting and preparing for the inevitable attack on London. His cautions are nearly the undoing of Shadowhunters when Mortmain's Infernal Devices attack the Council meeting.
     Tessa's origins are revealed and her new family of Shadowhunters surrounds her when the well-ordered plan of their lives falls apart. Friendships are tested, loyalties strengthened, and power struggles balanced in this final chapter of the Infernal Devices Trilogy. Young adult readers will enjoy the brightly woven characters and relish the twists and turns of Tessa's epilogue.

Cinder

Cinder by Marissa Meyer, 2012 Feiwel & Friends

     In the distant future, after World War IV, Linh Cinder is a young woman-cyborg working as a mechanic in New Beijing when Crown Prince Kai brings her an android which will not function. He hopes to retrieve information from the metal servant before the mysterious Blue Fever spreads across his country.
     Cinder is surprised at the urgency with which Kai makes his request, but works to complete the task. In the meantime she returns home to her guardian and the woman's two teen daughters. The younger, Linh Peony, is a friend to Cinder while the older, Linh Pansy, follows their mother's example and treats her with as much disdain as a human can show to a cyborg. Life is not pleasant living with her 'stepmother', yet Cinder has no where to go.
     When Peony contracts the Blue Fever and is taken to quarantine the blame is foisted upon Cinder and she is volunteered by her stepmother to participate in the government's vaccine trials. The doctor leading the project is fascinated by the young woman and her genetics. With his technology Cinder discovers something about her past, beyond the nebulous memories of her time with the Linh family, that turns not just her personal world, but the balance between Earth and the Lunar civilization on the Moon.
     Cinder is a completely new tale nurtured out of the story of the little Cinder Girl. With political intrigue, personal discovery, and a touch of romance the story is full-bodied and fascinating. Readers of all ages will enjoy it, though younger readers may require guidance through the text.

Steadfast

Steadfast by Claudia Gray, 2014 HarperTeen

     Nadia Caldani and her friends Verlaine and Mateo defeated the local Sorceress Halloween night and expected everything to go back to normal, but the shade that covers Captive's Cove still isolates it from the world. Now there is nothing to fight Nadia and Mateo are exploring their Steadfast bond and relationship.
     While her friends discover what the Steadfast bond means for both their friendship and Nadia's magic, Verlaine struggles to deal with her curse. When the biggest jerk in school is suddenly the only one to see through her curse Verlaine is caught in his attention--even knowing he is a demon sent to help the evil Sorceress Elizabeth.
     Trying to help her friends reminds Nadia how little she actually knows about her craft. When Elizabeth comes and offers to teach Nadia everything she knows, Nadia is tempted beyond measure despite her desire to remain on the side of good.
     Will the things that make Nadia strong--her friendships and compassion for the town which has taken her in--become the things that destroy her? Steadfast is aimed at young adults in the upper levels of high school, dark elements swirl beneath Captive Sound and threaten to destroy the world as Nadia, Mateo, and Verlaine know it.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, 2011 Greenwillow Books

     On her naming day Princess Lucero-Elisa was gifted with a gift granted only once each hundred years--the Godstone. The sapphire-like stone in her middle marks her destiny as a powerful force, yet Elisa is at the whim of first her family, then her husband and his court.
     On her sixteenth birthday Elisa leaves her home with her new husband and discovers their relationship is to remain a secret. Only her nurse respects the young woman's intelligence and when she is kidnapped by rebel forces the wall protecting her husband and his court from desert sandstorms no longer protects Elisa from the reality of the war they face.
     Among the rebels Elisa discovers her own ability and revels in the relationships she develops with these new and down-to-earth people. When a magical new power threatens their way of life, Princess Elisa is the only way for her rebel forces to survive--but she must first believe in the gift she has carried so long.
     Elisa begins her journey as the girl her country has watched to see what she'd do, but was never far from expressing its disapproval. In her own words she was fat and knew too much about war, but as she learns her own value she becomes more of who she wanted to be. Her background role created the humility to understand power comes at the expense of others. Girls and young women will enjoy Elisa's transformation from unwanted princess to confident and authoritative warrior.

Breaking Beautiful

Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf, 2010 Walker & Company

     In a small town in northern Washington a summer tragedy has the whole town reeling and one out-of-place high schooler shattered. Allie grew up all over the world with a military dad, but now that he's retired they live in her mother's hometown. Pacific Cliffs seems like a refuge and a place to call home, but when the hottest guy in school sets his sights on her, her summer friendship with Grandma's neighbor--her only real friendship--is torn away.
     Trip is the town's golden boy: his mom is the heir to the town's fortune, his dad brought the tourist industry in when the town's economy collapsed. He played football and was well-liked, at first his relationship with Allie was like a dream. But soon he either couldn't control his temper or didn't care and Allie became his plaything.
     What he called small gifts, like a cell phone and jewelry, became ways to isolate her from her friends and to keep her tied to him. Soon the gifts became attempts at apologies when he would bruise her and demean her. Allie didn't want to tell anyone--he made sure they didn't see the dark side--no one would believe her.
     But when Trip dies in an auto accident the night of Cotillion and Allie is found on the side of the road bleeding and bruised, Pacific Cliffs mourns its shining star. Everyone wants to know what happened that night: why they were on the cliff road? why Allie survived and Trip didn't? and most of all, why did Trip go over the edge? Allie tries and tries, but can remember nothing more than images of red swallowing her and trapping her.
     Allie struggles to escape the abusive patterns Trip beat her into--self-demeaning, refusal to bring attention to herself, refusal to create friendships and have him hurt the people she loves--and she struggles to remember what happened that night. What does her old friend have to do with it all? Why were they on that cliff road? And why won't the town let her move forward from the darkness?
     Breaking Beautiful is a story of intimate partner abuse, and one that isn't often told. Allie is only saved by the death of her abuser, but in turn trapped by the shell he created for her and the close-knit community he lived in. The story is not appropriate for younger readers, but older middle and high school students can easily relate to the story and will enjoy the mystery that keeps you guessing.