Insurgent - Veronica Roth (2012) Katherine Tegen Books

War surges between the factions of the city.  Can Tris save the people she loves?  Can she save herself?

Divergent by Veronica Roth (2011) Katherine Tegen Books 

Beatrice Prior lives in a future dystopian Chicago and chooses to diverge from the faction that her family is a part of.  She chooses to be Dauntless, those who are brave and sworn to protect the factions.  But can she rise in the ranks of her faction, or will she be pushed out of the city?

The Bad Beginning: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (1999) Harper Trophy

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are orphans and are sent to live with Count Olaf, who wants to steal their inheritance.  He even goes so far as to stage a play with the real marriage vows and has Violet play the bride.  Will this be the act that will secure the Baudelaire fortune for Count Olaf?

Louisiana Hotshot by Julie Smith (2001) Forge Books 

Tabitha Wallis is a fledgling detective.  At night, she’s Baroness Pontalba, poet of the city’s smokey cafés. Her day job has her hunting a man who seduces black teen girls and then they disappear.  But she doesn’t expect the violence that comes with the job.

Harmony Black by Craig Schaefer (2016) 47North 

Harmony Black is an FBI special agent and a practicing witch.  She’s called in on a case to bring down an elusive occult figure who haunts her past.

The Martian by Andy Weir (2011) Crown 

All the ways Mars wants to kill you - Themes: fate (Mars is trying to kill him through no fault of it's own), hope (the indomitable human spirit) and humanity (people want him to live and go to extraordinary lengths to help him survive)

Any Weir may be this generation’s Ben Bova.  He’s a scientist at NASA where he has a rich trove of source material and insider knowledge of where science can lead us.

 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (2000) Yearling

Book three of His Dark Material wherein Will and Lyra fight Mrs. Coulter, Asriel and Metatron until they fall into an abyss and are destroyed.  They free the Authority from his crystal litter, but he is so old and powerless that the wind causes his form to dissolve back into dust.  But the two young lovers cannot exist in the same world.  They promise to go to the same bench in Oxford in each of their worlds.