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Wellesley Books’ Holiday Recommendations
Whether you are heading away for the holidays or just cozying up at home, Wellesley Books’ Holiday Recommendations will have you reading cover-to-cover and purchasing copies for everyone on your list. The recommended adult books are also appropriate for teenagers.
Adult Books:
The plane is jam-packed. Every seat is taken. So of course the flight is delayed! Flight attendant Allegra Patel likes her job—she’s generally happy with her life. She can think of plenty of things she’d rather be doing than placating a bunch of grumpy passengers. Suddenly a woman none of them know stands up. She makes predictions about how and when everyone on board will die. How would you live your life if you thought you knew how it would end?
A masterful retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim (James) the slave who accompanies Huck. While the story is familiar it takes on a new life as we discover James and his fellow slaves various coping mechanisms for surviving their day to day lives. As narrator, James provides a first hand look at the duality of his intelligence; reading, writing, logic and survival skills while offering none of this knowledge or understanding to the slave owners and other white people he encounters, including Huck. In fact James must be coyly manipulative in his use of language to ensure Huck and others understand his direction. A true masterpiece in storytelling and enlightenment for anyone familiar with this story and the time setting.
In the fifth book in the sensational, cozy Before the Coffee Gets Cold series translated from Japanese, the mysterious caf where customers arrive hoping to travel back in time welcomes four new guests. They must follow the caf ‘s strict rules, however, and come back to the present before their coffee goes cold. Another moving and heartwarming tale from Toshikazu Kawaguchi, in Before we forget kindness our new visitors wish to go back into their past to move on their present, finding closure and comfort so they can embark on a beautiful future.
In this one-of-a-kind mystery with heart and humor, a hilariously grumpy pony must save the only human he’s ever loved after discovering she stands accused of a murder he knows she didn’t commit. Pony has been passed from owner to owner for longer than he can remember. Fed up, he busts out and goes on a cross-country mission to reunite with Penny, the little girl whom he was separated from and hasn’t seen in years. Penny, now an adult, is living an ordinary life when she gets a knock on her door and finds herself in handcuffs, accused of murder and whisked back to the place she grew up. Hearing of Penny’s fate, Pony knows that Penny is no murderer. So, as smart and devious as he is cute, the pony must use his hard-won knowledge of human weakness and cruelty to try to clear Penny’s name and find the real killer.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles #2)
By TJ Klune
A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything. Arthur Parnassus lives a good life, built on the ashes of a bad one. He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six magical and so-called dangerous children who live there. Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve. Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.
In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to improve the family’s social position. What begins as simple amusement for the nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor. Luzia will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santángel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.
By Robin Sloan
Robin Sloan expands the Penumbraverse to new reaches of time and space in a rollicking far-future adventure. It is eleven thousand years from now. A lot has happened, and yet a lot is still very familiar. Ariel is a boy in a remote village under a wizard’s rule. Like many adventurers before him, Ariel is called to explore a world full of eye-popping discoveries and challenges: unknown enemies, a mission to rescue the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel encounters an entity from an earlier civilization, a sentient, sensitive artificial intelligence with a special perspective on all of human history—who becomes both Ariel’s greatest ally . . . and our narrator.
Young Adult:
Children of Anguish and Anarchy (Legacy of Orisha #3)
By Tomi Adeyemi
Tomi Adeyemi’s #1 New York Times-bestselling Legacy of Orïsha series comes to an earth-shaking conclusion. When Zélie seized the royal palace that fateful night, she thought her battles had come to an end. The monarchy had finally fallen. The maji had risen again. Zélie never expected to find herself locked in a cage and trapped on a foreign ship. Now warriors with iron skulls traffic her and her people across the seas, far from their homeland. Everything changes when Zélie meets King Baldyr, her true captor, the ruler of the Skulls, and the man who has ravaged entire civilizations to find her. Baldyr’s quest to harness Zélie’s strength sends Zélie, Amari, and Tzain searching for allies in unknown lands. But as Baldyr closes in, catastrophe charges Orïsha’s shores. It will take everything Zélie has to face her final enemy and save her people before the Skulls annihilate them for good.
Games Untold (The Inheritance Games #5)
There is nothing frivolous about the way a Hawthorne man loves. An amnesiac playboy and the woman with every reason to hate him. A daredevil, his favorite heiress, and three nights in Prague. An unlikely pairing between a cowboy and a goth. Four brothers with an inescapable bond, strengthened by the family they chose, in a house of wonders that promises to always deliver one more secret. Discover their stories of love and loss, power, puzzles, and life-and-death secrets in this mind-blowingly romantic collection that proves that when you love the way Hawthornes love, there is no going back.
The Hunger Games: Illustrated Edition
By Suzanne Collins, Nico Delort (Illustrator)
A remarkable illustrated edition. Even at the age of sixteen, Katniss Everdeen knows it takes hard work, keen observation, and inner fortitude to survive in the world. Her home, District 12, is under the merciless rule of the Capitol, continually forced to pay after losing a long-ago civil war in the nation of Panem. One of the ways the Capitol keeps control is its annual Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death featuring two young tributes from each of Panem’s twelve districts. When Katniss finds herself within the Hunger Games arena, she knows the odds aren’t in her favor. Any wrong move will end her life — and even the right moves come with a cost. But if she can survive, there is a chance the districts may survive as well… The Hunger Games now appears for the first time in a deluxe illustrated edition, with spellbinding art from internationally acclaimed artist Nico Delort.
The author of the American Royals series invites you to visit 19th-century Europe amid the glamour and intrigue of the Victorian era. In this historical romance inspired by true events, three princesses struggle to find love—and end up vying for the hearts of two future kings. In the last glittering decade of European empires, courts, and kings, three young women are on a collision course with history—and with each other. After spending her entire life on the fringes of the royal world, May of Teck is determined to marry a prince—and not just any prince, but the future king. In a story that sweeps from the glittering ballrooms of Saint Petersburg to the wilds of Scotland, A Queen’s Game recounts a pivotal moment in real history as only Katharine McGee can tell it: through the eyes of the young women whose lives, and loves, changed it forever.
17-year-old Hannah Lynn has just one goal: get out of Evans Beach, Maine. It’s where she lost her mother to cancer. Where her estranged sister, Pauline, fell apart before moving out. Where her father, Larry, holds court as a local legend who once played for the Red Sox. Hannah has never fit in, but that doesn’t matter now that she is finally on the cusp of escaping to her dream college. Pauline’s two sons are taken by the state, leaving Hannah and Larry the only people standing between the boys and the child welfare system. Her father wants to provide them with kinship care and promises that it will only be for a little while, just until Pauline gets back on her feet. But Hannah knows nothing is that simple when it comes to her troubled older sister. Hannah must make a decision: is she willing to give up her dream and raise her nephews on her own or can she let them be placed in the foster care system?
Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies)
By Lynn Painter
In this highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling Better Than the Movies, Wes and Liz struggle to balance their feelings for each other with the growing pains of being a college student. For a few beautiful months, Wes had his dream girl: strong-willed girl-next-door Liz. But right as the two were about to set off to UCLA to start their freshman year together, tragedy struck. Wes was left dealing with the fallout, which ultimately meant losing Liz in the process. Flash forward months and months later and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him. Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with the rom-com worthy big gestures she loves. Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her.
The INSTANT New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestselling novel from award-winning author Andrew Joseph White! A queer Appalachian thriller that pulls no punches—following a trans autistic teen who’s drawn into the generational struggle between the rural poor and those who exploit them. On the night Miles Abernathy—sixteen-year-old socialist and proud West Virginian—comes out as trans to his parents, he sneaks off to a party, carrying evidence that may finally turn the tide of the blood feud plaguing Twist Creek. A visceral, unabashedly political page-turner that won’t let you go until you’ve reached the end, Compound Fracture is not for the faint of heart, but it is for every reader who’s ready to fight for a better world. Hand this story to teens pushing for radical change.
Educational Advocates is here to help you with your college admissions journey. Let us know how we can help you, as we have helped many other students achieve their college goals. Happy Holidays!
