Ryan Smithson joined the Army Reserve when he was just out of high school. At age nineteen he was deployed to Iraq. His year in combat changed his life. This is his story. It will change the way you feel about what it means to be an American. From School Library JournalStarred Review. Grade 9 Up—Smithson experienced the events of 9/11 while in high school and responded by enlisting in the Army Reserve after graduation. He married his high school sweetheart before being deployed to Iraq. Once there, he worked as an equipment operator in an equipment platoon, and while mortar fire was a regular occurrence, the missions he describes were all about bulldozing berms, filling craters created by IEDs, and convoying lumber. One gruesome section describes salvaging parts from Humvees in which soldiers died. A few missions, though, were more in the line of favors to the local population than anything that helps combatants. Some of the author's most poignant passages are his descriptions of interactions with Iraqi children. Where he was expecting rock-throwing, he encountered barefoot, dirty children grateful for the water the soldiers gave them. It is these children and the villagers he met that help explain for him the purpose of the war. The book ends with Smithson's return home, his almost magical escape from night terrors, and his work with children in his own hometown. Writing proves to be his therapy for PTSD. There are mixed metaphors aplenty, crude and morbid humor, and other evidence of a young author, but it all works together to create a tough but powerful look at one man's experience.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ReviewA tough but powerful look at one man’s experience. (School Library Journal (starred review) )Unflinchingly honest. (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) )He lucidly recounts the intensity of battle and the pain of losing comrades. For Smithson, the war is a source of personal enlightenment, and this memoir is a remarkable, deeply penetrating read that will compel teens to reflect on their own thoughts about duty, patriotism and sacrifice. (Memoir. YA) (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) )Smithson avoids writing either prowar propaganda or an antimilitary polemic, providing instead a fascinating, often humorous-and occasionally devastating-account of the motivations and life of a contemporary soldier. (Publishers Weekly ) Views: 14
Assuming the identity of a coldblooded Cosa Nostra killer, Nick Carter finds himself on his way to Palermo to infiltrate the Mafia. Using false papers, real bullets, and the aid of an AXE-trained blonde named Tanya, his mission is to stop the flow of heroin to Saigon — a Chicom plot to demoralise American troops in Vietnam as well as to control organised crime in the U.S. But playing the part of a Mafia Don has big drawbacks, like being found out. And when that happens to Nick, he is marked for inescapable death by the macabre Mafia code of vengeance. Views: 14
People pity me, but mostly they feel envy. I have all the luxury and freedom a girl my age could want. Something is happening to Charlotte Emerson. Like the fires that are ravaging the hills of Los Angeles, it consumes her from the inside out. But whether it is her eternal loneliness, the memory of her brother, the return of her first love, or the brooding, magnetic Jared—she cannot say. What if it's something more . . . Something to do with the sudden tear in her perfect nails. The heat she feels when she's with Jared. The blood rushing once again to her cheeks and throughout her veins. For Charlotte is a vampire, witness to almost a century's worth of death and destruction. But not since she was a human girl has mortality touched her. In what way will you be transformed? Until now. From School Library JournalGrade 9 Up—Charlotte Emerson is tall and beautiful, and lives by herself in a gorgeous mansion. She's also a vampire. Before she turned, she was a bright young woman with an idyllic life. Then her beloved twin died, and his death so devastated her that she had to find a way to dull the pain. Thus, she became a vampire, a decision that has haunted her for nearly 100 years. Now she is faced with another tragic loss: that of her best friend, Emily, to an apparent suicide. Lost and lonelier than before, she seeks comfort and solace in Emily's boyfriend, Jared. At first, he is bitter and angry with her, but she opens up to him, telling him about her past, and they eventually fall in love. But there is one secret that she keeps from him: she suspects that she may, somehow, be turning into a human again. When Charlotte's maker, William, returns to taunt her, Charlotte is forced to face a horrific mistake from her past that may cost her everything. In Pretty Dead, Block takes what has up to now been the norm among vampire novels for teens and attempts to turn it on its head. This is a startlingly original work that drives a stake deep into the heart of typical vampire stories, revealing the deep loneliness and utter lack of romance in eternal life.—Necia Blundy, Marlborough Public Library, MA END Review“A startlingly original work that drives a stake deep into the heart of typical vampire stories.” (School Library Journal )“Sizzles and satisfies.” (Publishers Weekly )“With her characteristic flair and seductive prose, Block makes this tangled story of betrayal and love a standout. Sensuous and heartbreaking, sure to both satisfy and challenge fans of the supernatural romance.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books )“I love the lush, melancholy world of this novel, and its heroine, with her century of secrets.” (Claudia Gray, New York Times bestselling author of EVERNIGHT )“A true original…[Block] has created something psychologically complex, erotically charged, and unusually poignant.” (Booklist (starred review) )“Will be gobbled like candy by teen readers.” (The Horn Book ) Views: 14
Part two of The Tamar Black SagaMore magical mayhem with Tamar Black, the formerly Djinnx'd (jinxed by a genie) but now back in reality. But she's finding that reality is not all it's cracked up to be...The world is overrun with vampires and finding out where they came from is secondary only to finding out what they want. And who exactly sent them.Who is the mysterious “Master”? And what is happening to Denny, is it possible that he has gone over to the dark side?With both gods and vampires, not to mention a dizzy witch and an extremely suspicious policeman to deal with, can Tamar discover the truth before the whole world goes to hell and she loses everything she ever cared about? Views: 14
Deputy Benjamin Patil is the one to find the infant girl—hours old, abandoned in a field. When the mother ecan't be located, Ben and his wife, Abbi, seem like the perfect couple to serve as foster parents. But the baby's arrival opens old wounds for Abbi and shines a harsh light on how much Ben has changed since a devastating tour in Afghanistan. Their marriage teeters on the brink and now they must choose to either reclaim what they once had or lose each other forever. Views: 14
The landscape of American literature was fundamentally changed when Flannery O'Connor stepped onto the scene with her first published book, Wise Blood, in 1952. Her fierce, sometimes comic novels and stories reflected the darkly funny, vibrant, and theologically sophisticated woman who wrote them. Brad Gooch brings to life O'Connor's significant friendships-with Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Hardwick, Walker Percy, and James Dickey among others-and her deeply felt convictions, as expressed in her communications with Thomas Merton, Elizabeth Bishop, and Betty Hester. Hester was famously known as "A" in O'Connor's collected letters, The Habit of Being, and a large cache of correspondence to her from O'Connor was made available to scholars, including Brad Gooch, in 2006. O'Connor's capacity to live fully-despite the chronic disease that eventually confined her to her mother's farm in Georgia-is illuminated in this engaging and authoritative biography. Views: 14
The series Refuge Cross takes place in a land where the controlling of ones emotions has a powerful influence on the physical environment. In a turbulent world going through the upheavals of the time of early renaissance, join Trex and Sara as they contend with their new emotional strengths and weaknesses brought on by their journey through young adulthood. Belief, morals and identity will be tested and shaped as they each try to come to terms with their very different cultures and positions in life. Wanted or not, both will help steer themselves and their families safely through a time which is filled with ever increasing danger and intrigue. Views: 14
"Yes, Cara Black fans, Aimée Leduc is back. This is the ninth of Black's novels about the chic, indomitable Parisian detective, and it has all the elements Black's readers have come to cherish: an engaging protagonist with a likable sidekick (her diminutive partner, René Friant), cops who hinder more than they help, villains with murky motives, grisly crimes and, above all, the unique Parisian atmosphere."-San Francisco Chronicle "No contemporary writer of noir mysteries evokes the spirit of Paris more than Cara Black in her atmospheric series starring P.I. Aimée Leduc...The fearless, risk-taking Aimée is constantly running, hiding, fighting and risking her life-all while dressed in vintage Chanel and Dior and Louboutin heels."-USA Today "The ninth mystery in Cara Black's irresistible series set in Paris...might well be the book we've been waiting for.... Views: 14
Some accidents, just like some relationships, are just waiting to happen. And some need a little arranging. After a devastating accident one night, Hale Simmons's entire future isn't the only one to take a wild turn. In order to keep the mysterious accident a secret, Hale agrees to an arranged marriage to Oscar Maree, the wealthy playboy son who already has a girlfriend. Views: 14
