The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff

Underneath the town of Gentry lies something evil. Something spoken of in whispers, if spoken of at all. It calls itself Mayhem, and it's citizens are a nightmarish collection of beings, some of whom can pass as human if you don't look too closely.

Mackie Doyle lives in Gentry with a loving family - but Mackie is not what he appears to be. He is from Mayhem, traded as an infant into a human family so Mayhem could take the human baby as a sacrifice. Now at 16, Mayhem wants Mackie back. He is getting sick (Mayhem says dying) because the human environment is slowly poisoning him. Then another baby is taken, and the baby's sister, Tate, turns to Mackie for answers. Relations between Gentry and Mayhem are strained and tense as Mackie finds himself drawn against his will into the eerie world of Mayhem to find answers both he and Tate need.

The book is dark, the imagery straight out of nightmares, but Mackie is such a compelling, strange, and sweet hero that I stayed up half the night reading because I couldn't put this down. This is imaginative and creepy at the same time - not for every reader.

Ingo, by Helen Dunmore

Ingo is a mysterious undersea world only found in old legends - until Sapphire and her brother Connor are called into that world from their ocean side home in Cornwall, England. But the mer folk that inhabit Ingo are not human, and their world is filled with danger for two human teens. Sapphire and Connor find themselves caught between two worlds in the opening book of this series.
The lure of the sea is as real as the tide, and the writing is hypnotic in this romantic adventure series.

Outlaw : the legend of Robin Hood, by Tony Lee

This is the backstory of Robin Hood, beginning with his childhood when he meets a friend of his father who is a famous outlaw. When that friend is arrested, his father is helpless to save him, and in front of a horrified young Robin his father does the best he can do - shooting his friend to death and thereby saving him from torture and humiliation. The child witness to this drama, young Robin, vows to grow up a master with a bow and sword - to never be as helpless as his father. And so he does grow up, setting the stage for his future as the rebel leader of a band of outlaws who defy the false King John and live by their own law.

The graphic novel illustrations add an emotional depth to the telling of this legendary tale of integrity versus law. For a more in depth telling, take a look at the Raven King Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead - also new to CHS library this year.