dead loved ones, but the emergence of a
powerful Shade—one of the undead
turned feral and bloodthirsty—changes
that. As more Shades manifest, necromancers are blamed, and it’s up to Odessa to
determine who is responsible. However,
she is incapacitated by grief over the
recent death of Evander, her love and
fellow necromancer, as well as an addiction to a calming tonic that those close to
her don’t fully address until a virtual
stranger intervenes. Between Odessa’s
rapid attraction to a female childhood
friend who resurfaces and the murky reasons for change being outlawed, the pieces
of Marsh’s story don’t entirely come
together. But with a sexually fluid society,
an intriguing land in which the living and
the dead coexist, and an underworld reminiscent of Greek myths, Marsh’s world is
one readers will enjoy exploring. Ages
12–up. Agent: Christa Heschke, McIntosh &
Otis. (Jan.)
Everless
Sara Holland. Harper Teen, $17.99 (368p)
ISBN 978-0-06-265365-9
Set in a world in which blood, iron,
time, and currency are inextricably
entwined, Holland’s complex debut novel
blends myth, palace intrigue, and magic
into a tale of self-discovery. To avoid eviction, 17-year-old Jules Ember takes a
position at Everless, the estate of the powerful Gerlings. Jules still has feelings for
her childhood friend Roan Gerling, but
she’s terrified of his cruel brother, Liam,
who is the reason she and her blacksmith
father had to flee Everless in disgrace years
ago. Roan is to be married to the sweet-natured Ina Gold, the adopted daughter
of the queen of Sempera. Jules’s father has
warned her about the queen, but Jules
makes a shocking discovery and must get
close to her at any cost. Holland’s lush,
intricately drawn world hides an undercurrent of darkness underneath a veneer of
beauty and finery, and the twists are genuinely surprising. Jules’s first-person narration reveals a smart, resilient young
woman determined to reconcile her
past with an uncertain future. Readers
will eagerly await her next journey. A
Glasstown Entertainment property. Ages
13–up. Agent: Stephen Barbara, Inkwell
Management. (Jan.)
Love and Other Train Wrecks
Leah Konen. HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99
(368p) ISBN 978-0-06-240250-9
Seventeen-year-old Ammy West meets
Noah Adler, a freshman at Hunter
College, on an Amtrak train headed to
Hudson, N. Y. Both need to get to the
town by a certain time, so when the train
grinds to a halt during a snowstorm, they
decide to try
their luck with
a bus. Things
don’t go as
planned, natu-
rally, leaving
the two of them
to figure out yet
another way to
reach their des-
tinations.
Along the way,
Ammy and Noah share their stories: he is
trying to win back his ex-girlfriend with
an elaborate plan that includes dinner at
an expensive restaurant, and Ammy eventually reveals that she is on her way to her
father’s commitment ceremony to the
woman who broke up her family. Konen
(The Romantics) spins a charming tale of
two people who are meant to be, despite
terrible first impressions. Alternating
between Ammy and Noah’s perspectives,
Konen provides rich backstories for both
characters while laying groundwork for a
realistic love story that, like life, isn’t
always easy or perfect. Ages 13–up. Agent:
Danielle Chiotti, Upstart Crow Literary.
(Jan.)
Zenith
Sasha Alsberg and Linsday Cummings.
Harlequin Teen, $19.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-
373-21259-0
Androma “Andi” Racella was a rising
star in the Arcadian military until she
accidentally crashed General Cortas’s per-
sonal transport vessel, killing his
daughter, Kalee. Andi fled Arcadius to
avoid execution, becoming one of the most
notorious criminals in the Unified Systems
of Mirabel. Now dubbed the “Bloody
Baroness,” Andi and her all-female crew of
space pirates are planning their next heist
when bounty hunter Dex Arez, Andi’s trai-
torous ex, captures the women and delivers
them to Cortas. The general offers to
pardon Andi if she rescues his son, Valen,
from an impenetrable Xen Pterran prison.
But Dex must accompany her, and if they
are caught, the Xen Pterrans will likely
kill them and declare war on the Unified
Systems. First in a trilogy, this sprawling
space opera from Alsberg and Cummings
(the Balance Keepers trilogy) features
plentiful action, complex politics, and a
rich mythology. Regrettably, these assets
can’t overcome the drag created by clichéd
characters, manufactured drama, and an
overstuffed and largely predictable plot.
Ages 14–up. Agent: (for Alsberg) Joanna
Volpe, New Leaf Literary; (for Cummings)
Pete Knapp, New Leaf Literary. (Jan.)
Nonfiction
Write to Me: Letters from
Japanese American Children to
the Librarian They Left Behind
Cynthia Grady, illus. by Amiko Hirao.
Charlesbridge, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-
58089-688-7
Grady (I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of
American Slavery) recounts, in partial epistolary format, the true story of San Diego
children’s librarian Clara Breed, who corresponded with her young Japanese-American patrons while they were
interned during WWII. Excerpts from the
children’s letters appear as small signed
postcards that overlay many of Hirao’s
muted colored-pencil illustrations.
“Books make the day shorter and happier
for us,” one postcard declares; others offer
upsetting glimpses into camp life (“We
live in a horse stable”). Miss Breed also
brought books and small gifts to the children at their Arizona internment camp
and advocated in other ways (“She wrote
magazine articles. She wrote letters asking
for a library and school for the imprisoned
children”). Endpapers featuring captioned
b&w photographs from that era—one
shows Japanese-American children
awaiting deportation—cement the story’s
context for young readers. This affecting
introduction to a distressing chapter in
U.S. history and a brave librarian who
inspired hope concludes with extensive
back matter, including an author’s note,
a timeline of Breed’s life, and a selected
history of Japanese-Americans in the U.S.
Ages 4–8. (Jan.) ■
