Synopses & Reviews
Lena has lived her whole life near the beach - walking for miles up and down the shore and breathing the salty air, swimming in the cold water, and watching the surfers rule the waves - the problem is, shes spent her whole life just watching.
As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Lena vows she will no longer watch from the sand: she will learn to surf.
But her father - a former surfer himself - refuses to allow her to take lessons. After a near drowning in his past, he cant bear to let Lena take up the risky sport.
Yet something lures Lena to the water … an ancient, powerful magic. One morning Lena catches sight of this magic: a beautiful woman - with a silvery tail.
Nothing will keep Lena from seeking the mermaid, not even the dangerous waves at Magic Crescent Cove.
And soon … what she sees in the mermaids mirror will change her life …
Review
"With highly imagistic descriptions and savvy dialogue, Madigan offers a rewarding and credible story that uses fantasy elements to bare truths about family ties."--
Booklist, starred review
"Mixing supernatural elements with the types of family problems and growing pains she explored in Flash Burnout, Madigan introduces Lena, a girl obsessed with the sea and learning to surf . . . emotions at play feel very real, and Madigan does a good job of evoking the fog of uncertainty that envelops Lena as she uncovers long-buried secrets--she truly is like a fish out of water."--Publishers Weekly
"Be rewarded with a heartthrob of a merman, enthusiastic surfing scenes, and a well-integrated blend of magic and realism both on land and underwater."--Bulletin
Praise for FLASH BURNOUT Fall 2010: New England Childrens Booksellers Advisory Councils Fall Top Ten List Winner of the 2010 William C. Morris Award "With just enough humor to diffuse the tension and the art and science of photography as a backdrop, this rich romance explores the complexities of friendship and love, and the all-too-human limitations of both. Its a sobering, compelling, and satisfying read for teens and a promising debut for a new young-adult author."—Booklist, starred review "Flash Burnout gets high marks from me in all categories. Voice? Check. Plot that matters? Check. Writing style? Flawless. I would say that this book could be described as Laurie Halse Anderson meets John Green, with a whole new set of humor and imagery that is all its own."—Holly, Annie Bloom's Bookstore, Portland OR #4 on Indiebound's Top Ten List
Review
"With just enough humor to diffuse the tension and the art and science of photography as a backdrop, this rich romance explores the complexities of friendship and love, and the all-too-human limitations of both. Its a sobering, compelling, and satisfying read for teens and a promising debut for a new young-adult author."--
Booklist, starred review "An exceptional novel,
Flash Burnout is thought-provoking on many levels.
"--School Library Journal, starred review Review
PRAISE FOR THE TWICE LOST "Sara Porter creates a world where the happy-go-lucky mermaid stories mean nothing. . . . [Her] eye-opening take on undersea folklore is enough in itself to make this trilogy the piece of art that it is. Throw in nail-biting suspense, magically-written characters and plot twists that no one sees coming, and you are left with a series that pulls you under its spell and breaks your heart. . . and youll devour every minute of it."—teenreads.com "
The Twice Lost offers a moving, action-packed and deeply satisfying ending to Sarah Porter's brilliant Lost Voices trilogy. What a beautiful, intense world of ferocious lost girls who find themselves at last
. I loved it."—Carolyn Turgeon, author of
Mermaid and
The Fairest of Them All PRAISE FOR LOST VOICES "[A] haunting debut. . . . Porters writing is expressive and graceful. . . . a captivatingly different story."—
Booklist"A beautifully written and heartbreaking story about a lost soul struggling to forgive the people she loved who wronged her, and ultimately to forgive herself."—Jennifer Echols, author of Going Too Far PRAISE FOR WAKING STORMS "Sarah Porters mermaid world is dazzlingly imagined and richly, hauntingly told. Waking Storms is as enchanting—and dark, and lush, and tragic, and gorgeous—as the mermaids' song."—Carolyn Turgeon, author of Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale "Porter has crafted another winner. . . . Like any good middle novel in a trilogy, Waking Storms leaves plenty of strings untied to keep you hungry for the final installment. But unlike many weaker series, this book also stands up completely on its own two feet (fins?) and is as deep, dark and magical as Lost Voices. A reader could pick it up not having read the previous title and be fine, while fans of the first novel surely will not be disappointed."—teenreads.com
Synopsis
As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Lena has just one wish: To learn to surf. She's been drawn so strongly to the waves off the coast of California her entire life, but her father, a former surfer himself, will not allow her to take lessons. When Lena begins sleepwalking to the beach--seemingly drawn by an unrecognizable force--she is compelled to learn to surf even if it means putting herself in grave danger and going against her father's wishes.
That force is the presence of a woman. A woman who finally reveals herself--and her silvery tail--to Lena. She has a message. She has a key. The key opens a brown leather sea chest Lena's father has kept hidden for many years, and when Lena discovers what's inside her life, and what she thought she knew about it, will never be the same.
Synopsis
A message. A key. A mirror. A secret world unlocked. Lena has lived her whole life near the beach, walking the shore, breathing the salty air,swimming in the cold water, and watching the surfers rule the waves. As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Lena vows to learn to surf. Her father forbids it. But something Lena cant identify at first—an ancient, powerful magic—keeps drawing her to the water. One day, she finally catches sight of it: a beautiful woman, with a silvery tail. Now nothing can stop Lena from seeking the mermaid, not even the dangerouswaves at Magic Crescent Cove.
And what Lena sees in the mermaids mirror will change her life forever.
Synopsis
Winner of the 2010 William C. Morris Award!
Fifteen-year-old Blake has a girlfriend and a friend who’s a girl. One of them loves him; the other one needs him.
When he snapped a picture of a street person for his photography homework, Blake never dreamed that the woman in the photo was his friend Marissa’s long-lost meth addicted mom. Blake’s participation in the ensuing drama opens up a world of trouble, both for him and for Marissa. He spends the next few months trying to reconcile the conflicting roles of Boyfriend and Friend. His experiences range from the comic (surviving his dad’s birth control talk) to the tragic (a harrowing after-hours visit to the morgue).
In a tangle of life and death, love and loyalty, Blake will emerge with a more sharply defined snapshot of himself.
Synopsis
In the exciting final installment of the Lost Voices trilogy, the mermaid Luce swims to the San Francisco Bay, where she finds a group of renegade mermaids who unite become an army under her leadership when war breaks out between humans and mermaids.
Synopsis
"Nail-biting suspense, magically-written characters and plot twists that no one sees coming . . . you'll devour every minute of it."—Teenreads.com
Mermaids have been sinking ships and drowning humans for centuries, and now the government wants to exterminate them. Luce, a mermaid with exceptionally threatening abilities, becomes their number-one target. She takes refuge in San Francisco, where she finds hundreds of mermaids living in exile under the docks of the bay. These are the Twice Lost: once-human girls lost first when a trauma turned them into mermaids, and lost a second time when they broke mermaid law and were rejected by their tribes. Luce is stunned when they elect her as their leader. But she won't be their queen. She'll be their general. And they will become the Twice Lost Army—because this is war.
About the Author
L. K. Madigan lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, son, two big black dogs, hundreds of books, and a couple of vintage cars.