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Lake Placid Loves These Young Adult Books by Samantha Roll

Here’s what Lake Placid residents are loving so far this year.

“Firstlife” by Gena Showalter is the first book in the Showalter’s “Everlife” trilogy. “Tenley ‘Ten’ Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live — after she dies. There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.” The series includes “Lifeblood” and concludes with “Everlife.” Showalter’s latest book, out just this week, is called “The Evil Queen” and centers around Everly Morrow, who is fated to become Snow White’s greatest enemy. Unless, of course, she can see past a myriad betrayals and resist the pull of her dark side.

“Throne of Glass” by Sarah J. Maas is the first installment in a series by the same name. “After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom.”

Cassandra Clare’s “City of Bones” centers on fifteen-year old Clary Fray who witnesses a murder at a nightclub in New York City, except, “the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died.” Parents may be familiar with Clare’s work for being on summer reading lists this year.

“Crazy House” by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet is the first installment in the series of the same name. “Seventeen-year-old Becca Greenfield was snatched from her home and thrown without reason into a hellish prison known as the Crazy House. To avoid execution, she’s told to shut her mouth and keep her head down. Becca was never really good at either. Her only hope for survival is for her sister, Cassie, to find her—that the “good twin” will stop following the rules and start breaking them, before it’s too late. Because the jailers at Crazy House soon discover they made a mistake that could get both sisters killed…”

“The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green explores themes of love, grief, and what it means to truly be alive. “Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at the Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.”

Other popular works include: “Bridge of Clay” by Markus Zusak, “A Land Remembered” by Patrick D. Smith, “Wonder” by R. J. Palacio, “Moon Chosen” by P. C. Cast, and “Nightshade” by Andrea Cremer.