Esther Ottens Books

"Beware of shaking hands with a Sterkarm!" goes the folk saying. Why the warning? The members of this wild 16th-century Scottish clan are left-handed, and while they smile and offer the right hand, the left wields a dagger. When a 21st-century mega-corporation opens a Time Tube to the 16th century, the stiff-backed CEO finds his plans for exploiting the mineral and tourism possibilities of the ancient English-Scottish border frustrated by the Sterkarms--raiding parties of men he regards as primitive animals. On the other side of the Time Tube, anthropologist Andrea Mitchell has been sent to live with the Sterkarms to be the corporation's informant and translator. There she is surprised to find herself admired for her generous curves and accepted warmly by the volatile and affectionate--but intermittently murderous--clansmen. When her lover, Per, is grievously wounded on a raid, she persuades Old Toorkild, the chief, to allow his handsome and adored son to be transported to the 21st century for healing. But when Per awakes in a world four centuries ahead of his own, his terror and suspicions of treachery bring down a wild collision between heartless technology and a ferocious people skilled in passionate defense of their life and lands. Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize in England, Susan Price's The Sterkarm Handshake--a richly textured love story, a vivid and sometimes humorous portrayal of confrontation between cultures, and a thumping good page-turner--should find enthusiastic fans among teen-fantasy and time-travel buffs. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

Focussed and determined - and bruised by a past relationship - he's not looking for distractions. But as pieces of the past start to fall into place, the restoration also brings together Jimmy and Verity, two local teenagers: one falling in love for the first time, the other an incurable romantic, determined to find her fairy-tale hero.

Are you playing the game - or is the game playing you? A highly addictive thriller about power, manipulation and revenge. 'Enter. Or turn back. This is Erebos.' Nick is given a sinister but brilliant computer game called Erebos. The game is highly addictive but asks its players to carry out actions in the real world in order to keep playing online, actions which become more and more terrifyingly manipulative. As Nick loses friends and all sense of right and wrong in the real world, he gains power and advances further towards his online goal - to become one of the Inner Circle of Erebos. But what is virtual and what is reality? How far will Nick go to achieve his goal? And what does Erebos really want? Enter Erebos at your own risk. Exciting, suspenseful and totally unputdownable.

After modern science turns every human into a genetic time bomb with men dying at age twenty-five and women dying at age twenty, girls are kidnapped and married off in order to repopulate the world.

Laurie Vale receives a call from an unknown aunt, revealing that her family's history is built on lies. Fifty years earlier, a forbidden love and a flood shattered the Vale family in Stepmouth, but now her aunt wants Laurie to uncover the truth.

De liefdesperikelen binnen de Wilde Kippen Club zijn niet van de lucht. Sprotje en Fred hebben twee jaar verkering, Melanie en Willem groeien uit elkaar en Roos wordt verliefd op Willem.

As the 1980's dawn in the sleepy English village of Rushton, Mickey and Fred are next-door neighbours and best friends, in and out of scrapes from the day they're born. They're convinced that nothing will ever keep them apart. But they're wrong. Fifteen years later, Mickey is beginning a new phase of her life, with a small flower shop in London. Meanwhile, Fred's life is also changing: he's set to marry his girlfriend in just a few short weeks. Then he bumps into Mickey for the first time since their worlds fell apart. As they pick up the threads of their friendship, Fred and Mickey relive their glory days growing up in Rushton. But can they ever really overcome the devastating events that once tore them apart? And is it true what they say about first loves being forever? Warm, funny and sad, The Boy Next Door is a story about growing up, falling in and out of love and learning you're never too old to be a kid.

Welkom aan de Upper East Side, New York, waar mijn vriendinnen en ik de royalty van onze privéscholen zijn. Onze diploma-uitreiking is natuurlijk maar een excuus om een vet feest te geven. Alsof we daar überhaupt een goede reden voor nodig hebben... We zijn bijna klaar met highschool - voorgoed. Maar voor we naar de topuniversiteit van onze keuze gaan, is er genoeg dat ons bezighoudt. B treft 5 kussend aan in de douche... met N. Over stoom gesproken! Maar zelfs B kan zien dat N en S het hotste koppel ooit zijn, toch? Neuh... B staat klaar om de catwalk van de wraak te betreden, en ik heb kaartjes voor de eerste rij. Nu maar rustig achterover zitten en de show bekijken vanachter mijn oversized Chanel-zonnebril. Stap in de wereld van Gossip Girl, een wereld waar jaloezie en verraad altijd in de mode zijn.

De gespannen verhoudingen binnen een Brits gezin krijgen tragische gevolgen wanneer hun dorp wordt getroffen door een overstroming.