Girl, Serpent, Thorn

Girl, Serpent, Thorn
Author: Melissa Bashardoust
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1250196159

Melissa Bashardoust's Girl, Serpent, Thorn is “an alluring feminist fairy tale” (Kirkus) about a girl cursed to be poisonous to the touch and who discovers what power might lie in such a curse. There was and there was not, as all stories begin, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch. But for Soraya, who has lived her life hidden away, apart from her family, safe only in her gardens, it’s not just a story. As the day of her twin brother’s wedding approaches, Soraya must decide if she’s willing to step outside of the shadows for the first time. Below in the dungeon is a demon who holds knowledge that she craves, the answer to her freedom. And above is a young man who isn’t afraid of her, whose eyes linger not with fear, but with an understanding of who she is beneath the poison. Soraya thought she knew her place in the world, but when her choices lead to consequences she never imagined, she begins to question who she is and who she is becoming...human or demon. Princess or monster.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass

Girls Made of Snow and Glass
Author: Melissa Bashardoust
Publisher:
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2017-09-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1250077737

Melissa Bashardoust’s acclaimed debut novel Girls Made of Snow and Glass is “Snow White as it’s never been told before...a feminist fantasy fairy tale not to be missed” (BookPage)! “Utterly superb.” —ALA Booklist, starred review “Dark, fantastical, hauntingly evocative.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review “An empowering and progressive original retelling.” —SLJ, starred review Sixteen-year-old Mina is motherless, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother. Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known...or else defeat her once and for all. Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.

On Doing Nothing

On Doing Nothing
Author: Roman Muradov
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2018-04-24
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1452164398

In an age of obsessive productivity and stress, this illustrated ode to idleness invites you to explore the pleasures and possibilities of slowing down. Beloved author and illustrator Roman Muradov weaves together the words and stories of artists, writers, philosophers, and eccentrics who have pursued inspiration by doing less. He reveals that doing nothing is both easily achievable and essential to leading an enjoyable and creative life. Cultivating idleness can be as simple as taking a long walk without a destination or embracing chance in the creative process. Peppered with playful illustrations, this handsome volume is a refreshing and thought-provoking read. “Whimsical, clever, and companionable . . . On Doing Nothing provides a much-needed correction to our distracted, anxiety-ridden, and increasingly disembodied culture. Muradov has written and illustrated a kind of Situationist, Oulipian Ways of Seeing—a manual for clarity and presence, a book which issues a call to attention; a call to pay attention. The smart yet approachable philosophical reflections unfold like a leisurely stroll through a beautiful and unfamiliar city, provoking thoughtfulness and eliciting in the reader a spirit of discovery.” —Peter Mendelsund, author of What We See When We Read

We Were Promised Spotlights

We Were Promised Spotlights
Author: Lindsay Sproul
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-03-24
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1524738530

The Miseducation of Cameron Post meets Everything Leads to You in this queer young adult novel. Hopuonk, Massachusetts, 1999 Taylor Garland's good looks have earned her the admiration of everyone in her small town. She's homecoming queen, the life of every party, and she's on every boy's most-wanted list. People think Taylor is living the dream, and assume she'll stay in town and have kids with the homecoming king--maybe even be a dental hygienist if she's super ambitious. But Taylor is actually desperate to leave home, and she hates the smell of dentists' offices. Also? She's completely in love with her best friend, Susan. Senior year is almost over, and everything seems perfect. Now Taylor just has to figure out how to throw it all away. Lindsay Sproul's debut is full of compelling introspection and painfully honest commentary on what it's like to be harnessed to a destiny you never wanted.

A Fierce and Subtle Poison

A Fierce and Subtle Poison
Author: Samantha Mabry
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2016-02-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1616206748

SPECIAL PREVIEW! In this stunning debut, legends collide with reality when a boy is swept into the magical, dangerous world of a girl filled with poison. Everyone knows the legends about the cursed girl--Isabel, the one the senoras whisper about. They say she has green skin and grass for hair, and she feeds on the poisonous plants that fill her family’s Caribbean island garden. Some say she can grant wishes; some say her touch can kill. Seventeen-year-old Lucas lives on the mainland most of the year but spends summers with his hotel-developer father in Puerto Rico. He’s grown up hearing stories about the cursed girl, and he wants to believe in Isabel and her magic. When letters from Isabel begin mysteriously appearing in his room the same day his new girlfriend disappears, Lucas turns to Isabel for answers--and finds himself lured into her strange and enchanted world. But time is running out for the girl filled with poison, and the more entangled Lucas becomes with Isabel, the less certain he is of escaping with his own life. A Fierce and Subtle Poison beautifully blends magical realism with a page-turning mystery and a dark, starcrossed romance--all delivered in lush, urgent prose. “A breathtaking story in which myths come to frightening life and buried wishes might actually come true. This is a hypnotic debut by a remarkable talent.” —Nova Ren Suma, author of The Walls Around Us and Imaginary Girls

Inspiration for the World

Inspiration for the World
Author: Ramesh Pokhriyal
Publisher: Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2020
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9352966813

Many cultures have been developed in the world and over the time they also have been perished. Indian culture is the most ancient culture of the world. It is focused on the spirit of spirituality and in fact, it is based merely on spirituality rather than cosmicism, materialism and occultism, whose primary goal is to make spiritual advancement of the whole world by establishing human values such as peace, tolerance, unity, truth, non-violence and morality. With the purpose of working for everyone's happiness in the interest of everyone, it is inherent in the sense of accepting the whole world as its own family This is the reason that Indian culture still remains intact in its original form for thousands of years on the basis of its cultural and life-values. Apart from arbitrariness and selfishness, it has the power to live an ideal life based on qualities like justice, generosity, devotion and sacrifice and it also has power to bind the world humanity into one formula. In true sense, Indian culture is the key to making life worthwhile. The beliefs and traditions of Indian culture are established on some scientific basis, which are seen even in today's computer era as rational on the basis of scientific perspectives and are confirmed on their scientific values. There are countless features of this kind. It is the ocean of such pearls which are not possible to collect all and put them in the book. Yet some very important aspects are very nicely compiled in this book.

A Phoenix First Must Burn

A Phoenix First Must Burn
Author: Patrice Caldwell
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2020-03-10
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1984835661

Sixteen tales by bestselling and award-winning authors that explore the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic. Evoking Beyoncé's Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler's heirs, have woven worlds to create a stunning narrative that centers Black women and gender nonconforming individuals. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters in which you cannot help but see yourself reflected. Witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels: the heroines of A Phoenix First Must Burn shine brightly. You will never forget them.

Every Variable of Us

Every Variable of Us
Author: Charles A. Bush
Publisher: North Star Editions, Inc.
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2022-03-01
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1635830753

After Philly teenager Alexis Duncan is injured in a gang shooting, her promising basketball career comes to a halt. At the urging of new Indian student (and crush?) Aamani, Alexis shifts her focus to the school’s STEM team in hopes of earning a college scholarship, but gains more than she could’ve imagined.

These Twisted Bonds

These Twisted Bonds
Author: Lexi Ryan
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 439
Release: 2022-07-19
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0358386888

#1 New York Times bestseller! In this thrilling conclusion to These Hollow Vows—the sexy, action-packed fantasy that started it all—Brie finds herself caught between two princes and two destinies while the future of the fae realm hangs in the balance. After Abriella's sister was sold to the fae, she thought life couldn't get any worse. But when she suddenly finds herself caught in a web of lies of her own making--loving two princes and trusting neither--things are not quite as clear as she once thought. As civil war wages in the Unseelie Court, Brie finds herself unable to choose a side. How can she know where she stands when she doesn't even know herself anymore? In this darkly romantic thrill ride, the more Faerie is torn apart from the inside, the clearer it becomes that prophecies don't lie and Brie has a role to play in the fate of this magical realm--whether she likes it or not.