Little Heaven


Book Description

A trio of mismatched mercenaries is hired by a young woman to evaluate the safety of a boy who may have been taken against his will to a New Mexico backwoods settlement, where the mercenaries encounter paranoia, mistrust, and insanity in the shadow of a monolithic idol.




Nick


Book Description

A critically acclaimed novelist pulls Nick Carraway out of the shadows and into the spotlight in this "masterful" look into his life before Gatsby (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls and Chances Are). Before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg and into Gatsby's periphery, he was at the center of a very different story-one taking place along the trenches and deep within the tunnels of World War I. Floundering in the wake of the destruction he witnessed firsthand, Nick delays his return home, hoping to escape the questions he cannot answer about the horrors of war. Instead, he embarks on a transcontinental redemptive journey that takes him from a whirlwind Paris romance-doomed from the very beginning-to the dizzying frenzy of New Orleans, rife with its own flavor of debauchery and violence. An epic portrait of a truly singular era and a sweeping, romantic story of self-discovery, this rich and imaginative novel breathes new life into a character that many know but few have pondered deeply. Charged with enough alcohol, heartbreak, and profound yearning to paralyze even the heartiest of golden age scribes, Nick reveals the man behind the narrator who has captivated readers for decades.




Anyone But Nick


Book Description

The third novel in USA Today bestselling author Penelope Bloom's Anyone But... series sizzles with a sexy and hilarious story about letting go of the past to chase the love of a lifetime. Seven years ago, I swore I'd never date Nick King. Ever. Now I'm supposed to work under him--and no, despite the way he glares like he wants to strip me bare, I mean he'll be my boss. But what better way to prove I'm really over him, right? I was a nerdy overachiever in high school, and Nick was my hopeless crush. I even laminated a note he passed to me; granted, I had a thing for laminators, but that's beside the point. Now, my only shot at getting my life back on track is to crawl to him on my knees and pray I nail the interview. Maybe I should pray that's the only thing that gets nailed in his office--especially since he looks like he wants to devour me. Nick broke my heart once. But hey, I'm still pretty handy with a laminator. Maybe I could run my heart through one before I take this job.




Whisper to Me


Book Description

"Raw and lovely, dark and light, heartbreaking and human." - Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places Printz winner Nick Lake delivers an emotionally gut-wrenching love story told in reverse--starting with the post-break up apology letter--in this riveting, choices-of-the-heart summer romance. Cassie is writing a letter to the boy whose heart she broke. She's trying to explain why. Why she pushed him away. Why her father got so angry when he saw them together. Why she disappears some nights. Why she won't let herself remember what happened that long-ago night on the boardwalk. Why she fell apart so completely. Desperate for his forgiveness, she's telling the whole story of the summer she nearly lost herself. She's hoping that love-love for your family, love for that person who makes your heart beat faster, and love for yourself-can save both of them after all. Awards for There Will Be Lies A Boston Globe Best YA Book of 2015 A Texas TAYSHAS Pick




Satellite


Book Description

A teenage boy born in space makes his first trip to Earth in this engrossing sci-fi adventure for fans of The Martian from award-winning author Nick Lake. He’s going to a place he’s never been before: home. Moon 2 is a space station that orbits approximately 250 miles above Earth. It travels 17,500 miles an hour, making one full orbit every ninety minutes. It’s also the only home that fifteen-year-old Leo and two other teens have ever known. Born and raised on Moon 2, Leo and the twins, Orion and Libra, are finally old enough and strong enough to endure the dangerous trip to Earth. They’ve been “parented” by teams of astronauts since birth and have run countless drills to ready themselves for every conceivable difficulty they might face on the flight. But has anything really prepared them for life on terra firma? Because while the planet may be home to billions of people, living there is more treacherous than Leo and his friends could ever have imagined, and their very survival will mean defying impossible odds.




The Gone-Away World


Book Description

A hilarious, action-packed look at the apocalypse that combines a touching tale of friendship, a thrilling war story, and an all out kung-fu infused mission to save the world. “A flat-out ferociously good novel.... Reads like a surrealist smashup of Pynchon and Pratchett, Vonnegut and Heller.” —Austin Chronicle Gonzo Lubitch and his best friend have been inseparable since birth. They grew up together, they studied kung-fu together, they rebelled in college together, and they fought in the Go Away War together. Now, with the world in shambles and dark, nightmarish clouds billowing over the wastelands, they have been tapped for an incredibly perilous mission. But they quickly realize that this assignment is more complex than it seems, and before it is over they will have encountered everything from mimes, ninjas, and pirates to one ultra-sinister mastermind, whose only goal is world domination.




There Will Be Lies


Book Description

Shelby Jane Cooper is seventeen, pretty and quiet. It's just Shelby and her mom, Shaylene, a court stenographer who wears pyjama jeans, stitches tapestry, eats ice-cream for dinner and likes to keep Shelby safe. So safe she barely goes out. So safe she doesn't go to school. Because anything could happen, to a girl like Shelby. Anything. When Shelby gets knocked down by a car, it's not just her leg that's broken: Shelby's world is shattered. Her mom turns up to collect her and drives off into the night, like it's the beginning of a road trip, like two criminals on the run, like Thelma and Louise or Bonnie and Clyde. And somehow, everywhere she looks, there's a coyote watching her, talking to her, telling her not to believe. Who is Shelby Jane Cooper? If the person who keeps you safe also tells you lies, who can you trust?




The Parakeeting of London


Book Description




Nick and Lilac


Book Description

20-year-old Lilac York doesn't like to talk. She doesn't like to exist outside her books, and she certainly does not like to be involved with the most notorious playboy in uni. But when the gorgeous and arrogant billionaire Nick Christakos asks her to be his friend, she finds herself saying yes, no matter what "friend" could mean to a serial bed-hopper like Nick. There's just something about him that draws her, something that makes her think he wouldn't mind if he learned just how broken she was inside. Nick Christakos is not used to denying himself. But for the sometimes-aloof, sometimes-naive Lilac he strives to make an exception, doing his best to keep his hands off her even though just one blink of her doll-like eyes has him on fire. With Lilac, he's not afraid to show the ugliness in him. When she looks at him, Nick almost believes there's still hope for him to be the man that he used to be. When another man threatens to take Lilac away, Nick is desperate and selfish enough to pretend he's fallen in love with Lilac...even though his heart still belongs to the girl who tore him apart.




Nick Reads and Reviews


Book Description

Since 2004, highly acclaimed horror fiction author Nicholas Grabowsky has reviewed books given to him from authors and their agents and publishers large and small, paying particular attention to what the smaller presses have to offer. Never reviewing for payment or profit, he used these reviews as a dscipline towards maintaining a reading schedule and as writing excercises, to critique and advise and express honest opinion, and to get lots of free books. These reviews comprise the first three years as originally published at www.downwarden.com, complete with new essays exclusive to this book.