Twelve-year-old Carmen has a secret: she can talk to her cat Grim. But the powerful Brotherhood has banned pets, and the penalty is death. Ward is the most wanted boy in the world. The only thing standing between him and the hangman's noose is master criminal Saint Nick. In exchange for Nick's protection, Ward must find the long-lost horn called the Oliphant, said to have the power to wake legendary beings known as the Sleepers, whom Nick believes can aid him in his guerilla war against the Brotherhood. This leads Ward to Carmen, whose family has a long and mysterious association with the Oliphant. Ward and Carmen are soon hot on the trail of the horn, but the Brotherhood are closing in on Carmen's family. Ward and Carmen realise that waking the Sleepers may be the only thing that can save Carmen's parents from certain death. If only they knew how. FOR READERS WHO LIKED Scarlett & Browne - Jonathan Stroud Fly By Night - Frances Hardinge His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

With her high school graduation behind her, the next step in Charlotte Porter's plan is to attend Columbia University. She has been waiting her whole life to leave her small hometown of Anchorage, Maine and with her goal at the tip of her fingertips; she feels everything is falling into place. Everything was, until her family is tragically killed in a car accident. When she finally wakes up from her coma with strange dreams, Charlotte begins to question the nature of the accident. Was is really just an accident or is there something more? Trying to figure out the truth behind the dreams that have been plaguing her mind ever since the accident, she enlists the help of a strange boy who moves to town. He shows her that there is a darkness in the world that will stop at nothing until she is dead. Charlotte's new life goal is to simply survive and in order to do that she must learn the secrets of her past, all of them. The more answers she uncovers, the harder it is to understand the truth. She's starting to understand that what lurks in the shadows is far more dangerous than she ever could have imagined and the only way to survive is to fight. Copyright © 2015 Lauren Helen. All Rights Reserved

"This powerful historical novel vividly evokes London in 1842 and the terrifying plight of 13-year-old Maggie Power and her younger brother Tom. Fine characterization...and skilled pacing make this a real page-turner." Publishers Weekly on this 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semi Finalist. After the death of her mother and imprisonment of her revolutionary father, thirteen-year-old Maggie Power is plunged into a world of poverty and violence. Promising to protect her younger brother - come what may - she scavenges upon the mudflats of the Thames, haunted by the constant shadows of hunger and disease. That is, until a chance encounter with a charitable countess, who rescues her from the brutal streets of 19th century London. But Maggie's troubles are just beginning. For the rich life presented to her by the mysterious countess comes at a dreadful price. A suspenseful, historical mystery, Dark Remains takes the reader on a journey through the dark heart of early Victorian London.