Ms.
De Kelb-Rittenhouse is the author of Immortal
Longings: A Vampire Novel (Tiny Satchel, $14.95 pb, for ages 13 up).
Lauren and Kayla are the perfect high school couple-except
they aren't actually a couple. The cute, smart, sarcastic Lauren is secretly in
love with her best friend, Kayla, the gorgeous bi-racial lead actress in the drama
club. But Kayla, one of the most popular girls at school, changes partners
(male and female) like other girls change shoes.
After seeing a play in Manhattan one autumn afternoon, the two 17-year-olds
wander into a vintage clothing store, Deja Nous. Their impromptu shopping spree
leads to a chance meeting with the mysterious and beautiful owner, Elizabeth
Valiant. Despite strange, subtle warnings from Matt, another clerk at the
store, both girls agree to take after-school jobs at the enticing shop. On the
ride home to Queens, Kayla talks non-stop about the wonderful clothes, the
fabulous Elizabeth and how much fun the girls will have working together.
Deja Nous-and the intriguing and sensual Elizabeth-soon becomes an obsession
for Lauren and Kayla. Then, after being accosted at the subway by a strange man
and overhearing a surprising conversation, Lauren accidentally discovers the
secret behind the shop and the Valiant family. As she delves deeper into the
mystery, she realizes that her life and that of her beloved Kayla are in
danger-life-threatening danger-from a centuries-old curse.
J. D. Shaw is
the author of Leave No Footprints (Tiny Satchel, $14.95 pb, for ages 13 up).
It's the middle of the night when Beth Watson sneaks out
of the house, steals a car, and drives, desperate to run from what she's seen,
what happened to Jack. She drives across several states until she ends up in a
sleepy little Michigan resort town as the summer season draws to a close.
All Beth wants to do is escape, to stay unnoticed, to fly under the radar. But
tiny Beaumont is a town with big secrets, some very like the ones she's fled
from, and she arrives in town at the same time a murderer strikes.
Beth, who has never gone to school, never held a job, and isn't even sure if 16
is her real age, enlists the help of a protector, Dee, the town's cafe owner,
who sees a little of herself in Beth. Beth has to jump into a world she's never
known--a world of other teens, of cell phones and computers, cliques and
bullying, girlfriends and boyfriends. And killing. So much killing. When the
murderer strikes again, and again, Beth is certain her plans to start a new
life are over and the worst is yet to come.
"J.D. Shaw takes on child abuse, bullying, the deep need teens have to be
loved and accepted, and the risks they'll take to gain that love. Despite the
horrors she's faced, Beth is a character all teens can identify with. Leave No Footprints is a deftly drawn
portrait of a young woman whose past is a mystery even to herself, but who,
like most kids, just wants to be normal--if only she can escape her past."
--Joanne Dahme, author of Tombstone Tea
and Contagion
