Books with author Catherine Stenhjem

What if only your very worst enemy could help you save the world? Fireseed One, a futuristic YA thriller, is set on a near-future earth with soaring heat, toxic waters, tricked-out amphibious vehicles, ice-themed dance clubs and fish that grow up on vines. Varik Teitur inherits a vast sea farm after the mysterious drowning of his marine biologist father. When Marisa Baron, a beautiful and shrewd terrorist, who knows way too much about Varik's father's work, tries to steal seed disks from the world's food bank, Varik is forced to put his dreams of becoming a doctor on hold and venture with her, into a hot zone teeming with treacherous nomads and a Fireseed cult who worships his dead father, in order to search for Fireseed, a seemingly magical hybrid plant that may not even exist. Fans of Divergent will likely enjoy this as well as those who like romance with their page-turners. ***Indie Reader notable, YA finalist in sci-fi & YA in USA News International Book Awards and Amazon bestseller.Includes discussion questions for book club or classroom.Readers say: 5-stars from: Parafantasy: “Amazing world-building and romance, extremely clever plot!” Magick Pen: “Sweet romance in this action adventure.” Electrifying Reviews: “Emotional thrill ride!” Indie Ereader: “Three-dimensional, vivid, fresh.” “So full of startling ideas I couldn't stop reading. Recommended for fans of sci-fi, thrillers or anyone looking for a story full of big surprises.” - Amy Kathleen Ryan, author of The Sky Chasers series “Extraordinary thriller with a fascinating setting and rich, engaging characters.” - Katia Lief, international bestselling author of You Are Next and Soul Catcher “Stine's uncanny world building is both horrifying and hilarious.” - reader review

If everything about you changes, what remains?Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the Fireseed desert cult, escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn. Arriving at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running. Or can she? The Greening is not what it seems. Students are rampaging out of control and as she cares for the secret Fireseed crop, she experiences frightening physical changes. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk. She’s long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. And how is she to stop her dependence on Oblivion to find a real beauty within, using her talent as a maker of salves, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it?When George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea offers a huge cash prize for the winner of a student contest, Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult. But when Stiles comes to reclaim her, and Thorn sickens after creating the most astonishing contest project of all, the world Ruby knows is changed forever. This romantic fantasy set in 2099 on earth has a crafty heroine in Ruby, and a swoonworthy cast, which will surely appeal to both YA and a general audience.Ruby’s Fire, a YA finalist in the Next Generation Indie awards and an Amazon bestseller, is the companion book to Fireseed One, but can be read as a standalone.Reviewers say:5 stars from Teen Blurb: “A world full of magic, and unexpected romance!”5 stars from The (Mis) Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year-Old Girl: “You know when you get a book, and it's much better than you thought it was going to be? Ruby's Fire was definitely one of those books! I absolutely loved it… One of my favorite reads of 2013. What an amazing plot! Also, there is a fantastic twist that I didn't see coming.”5 stars from Books for YA: “Stine continued to amaze me in Ruby’s Fire with her futuristic world. She made me believe that it was real, and that hybrid-species were possible. I really enjoyed her characters especially Thorn. He's such an intelligent little kid whose heart is huge. Also, if I could have my own friendly Red, I would be the happiest person ever.”"With an astounding creativity and unique world-building, Catherine Stine created a futuristic adventure that will surely keep you turning the pages until you beg for more." -Books for YA!“A thrilling adventure led by an exciting cast of characters, and the romance is really well handled.” -YA’s The WordAuthors say:“Gripping and addictive, Ruby has imagination packed into every page and scene! Unexpected and original.” -M. Pax, author of The Backworlds series“A heart-pounding tale of deception and danger set in a futuristic world teetering perilously between metamorphosis and destruction.” -Ciara Knight, author of Amazon bestsellers Weighted and Escapement “What’s revealed is even creepier than expected in a world already steeped in exotic technology and bioengineered strangeness. Great science fiction imaginatively told, Ruby’s Fire is a wonderfully crafted story that will make you think.” -Susan Kaye Quinn, author of The Mindjack trilogy

Each heartbeat leads Joss closer to a shocking truth that will change everything.Joss Olstad wins the fight to switch from her private school to a public high to “find her pieces” she lost when the Indian artist father she never knew died. There, Joss struggles with a slutty friend, who flirts with her new love; Indian Culture Club girls who press her on her past, as well as her stoner mother’s lies back at home. Armed only with her handmade heart boxes that hold private messages, Joss’s search for identity leads her to a scary industrial section of Queens, and a shocking family secret that changes everything.

September 11, 2001Two teenagers on opposite sides of the globe flee everything they know. In a world turned upside down by tragedy, they are refugees.Sixteen-year-old Dawn runs away from her unhappy foster home in California and travels to New York City. Johar, an Afghani teenager, sees his world crumble before him. He flees his war-ravaged village and the Taliban, and makes a dangerous trek to a refugee camp in Pakistan. Thanks to his knowledge of English, Johar finds a job at the camp assisting Louise, the Red Cross doctor—and Dawn’s foster mother. Through e-mails and phone calls, Dawn and Johar begin to share and protect each other’s secrets, fears, and dreams, and a remarkable bond forms that gives each of them hope and the courage to find a path home.

An abandoned baby is found by fairies and named Journey. After she is cursed by an evil witch, Journey sets out sixteen years later to find a way to remove the curse. Along the way, she meets fanciful animals and various people who influence and change Journey's voyage of discovery. This heart-warming book also includes breathtaking illustrations that are sure to delight and fascinate your child.

September 11, 2001Two teenagers on opposite sides of the globe flee everything they know. In a world turned upside down by tragedy, they are refugees.Sixteen-year-old Dawn runs away from her unhappy foster home in California and travels to New York City. Johar, an Afghani teenager, sees his world crumble before him. He flees his war-ravaged village and the Taliban, and makes a dangerous trek to a refugee camp in Pakistan. Thanks to his knowledge of English, Johar finds a job at the camp assisting Louise, the Red Cross doctor—and Dawn’s foster mother. Through e-mails and phone calls, Dawn and Johar begin to share and protect each other’s secrets, fears, and dreams, and a remarkable bond forms that gives each of them hope and the courage to find a path home.

September 11, 2001Two teenagers on opposite sides of the globe flee everything they know. In a world turned upside down by tragedy, they are refugees.Sixteen-year-old Dawn runs away from her unhappy foster home in California and travels to New York City. Johar, an Afghani teenager, sees his world crumble before him. He flees his war-ravaged village and the Taliban, and makes a dangerous trek to a refugee camp in Pakistan. Thanks to his knowledge of English, Johar finds a job at the camp assisting Louise, the Red Cross doctor—and Dawn’s foster mother. Through e-mails and phone calls, Dawn and Johar begin to share and protect each other’s secrets, fears, and dreams, and a remarkable bond forms that gives each of them hope and the courage to find a path home.From the Hardcover edition.

September 11, 2001Two teenagers on opposite sides of the globe flee everything they know. In a world turned upside down by tragedy, they are refugees.Sixteen-year-old Dawn runs away from her unhappy foster home in California and travels to New York City. Johar, an Afghani teenager, sees his world crumble before him. He flees his war-ravaged village and the Taliban, and makes a dangerous trek to a refugee camp in Pakistan. Thanks to his knowledge of English, Johar finds a job at the camp assisting Louise, the Red Cross doctor—and Dawn’s foster mother. Through e-mails and phone calls, Dawn and Johar begin to share and protect each other’s secrets, fears, and dreams, and a remarkable bond forms that gives each of them hope and the courage to find a path home.From the Hardcover edition.

A mysterious drowning, a beautiful terrorist and a desperate search for a magical hybrid. What if only your worst enemy could help you save the world? The year is 2089 on earth with soaring heat, toxic waters, tricked-out amphibious vehicles, ice-themed dance clubs and fish that grow up on vines. Varik Teitur inherits a vast sea farm after the suspicious death of his marine biologist father. When Marisa Baron, a beautiful and shrewd terrorist, who knows way too much about Varik's father's work, tries to steal seed disks from the world's food bank, Varik is forced to put his dreams of becoming a doctor on hold and venture with her, into a hot zone teeming with treacherous nomads and a Fireseed cult who worships his dead father, in order to search for Fireseed, a seemingly magical hybrid plant that may not even exist. Fans of Divergent and Under the Never Sky will likely enjoy this YA dystopian romance.People are saying:“Emotional thrill ride!” - Electrifying Reviews“Extremely clever plot!” - Parafantasy

Fireseed One is a futuristic thriller that can be enjoyed by both teens and adults. The year is 2089. Temperate climate has replaced Arctic ice, and much of what is now the United States is a lethal Hotzone, cut off by an insurmountable border from its northern, luckier neighbors, Ocean and Land Dominion. It is rumored that roving Hotzone nomads will kill for a water pellet or a slice of insect loaf, and that the ZWC, a dangerous Hotzone activist group, has infiltrated the border to the northern Dominions. Up in Ocean Dominion, all eighteen year-old Varik Teitur wants is to party on SnowAngel Island with his friend Audun and flirt with college girls he dreams of joining next year in his quest to become a doctor. Instead, he inherits a vast sea farm, following the death of his father, famous marine biologist Professor Teitur. Five weeks later, ZWC member Marisa Baron breaks into the farm’s secret seed vault and a fellow activist poisons the farm’s agar crops, the world’s food source. In order to save the last agar seedlings Varik is forced to journey to the Hotzone in search of Fireseed, a plant his father supposedly developed with magical hybridization properties. Varik takes Marisa along. Aside from being a terrorist, she’s the daughter of Melvyn Baron, the biggest real estate mogul in Land Dominion, and the professor’s old rival. Oddly, she knows lots about Fireseed, and what Hotzone land Professor Teitur bought to test the crop, before becoming embittered and trashing the project. No one except Varik knows whether Fireseed once existed off the drawing board. Might the refugees in Vegas-by-the-Sea have answers, or the bizarre Fireseed cult in the Chihuahua desert? Varik, the reluctant hero, must risk burning in the Hotzone, as his mother did, to save the ailing agar, and the world. Praise for Fireseed One: “Extraordinary thriller with a fascinating setting and rich, engaging characters who feel recognizable and human.” –Katia Lief, international bestselling author of You Are Next and Soul Catcher "Fully imagined, fast-paced, and thoroughly captivating, Catherine Stine's Fireseed One sucks you into its fascinating world on page one and doesn't let go until the very end." –Dale Peck, award-winning author of Sprout and The Drift House series “FIRESEED is so full of startling ideas that I couldn't stop reading! Recommended for fans of science fiction, thrillers, or for anyone looking for a story full of big surprises.” -- Amy Kathleen Ryan, author of Glow, the first novel in The Sky Chasers series “Action, adventure, love, and loss plus superb world building all adds up to an incredibly imaginative story – one that should not be missed.” -Carolyn MacCullough, author of Once a Witch and Always a Witch *Illustrated by the Author

If everything about you changes, what remains? Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the Fireseed desert cult, escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn. Arriving at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running. Or can she? The Greening is not what it seems. Students are rampaging out of control and as she cares for the secret Fireseed crop, she experiences frightening physical changes. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk. She’s long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. And how is she to stop her dependence on Oblivion to find a real beauty within, using her talent as a maker of salves, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it? When George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea offers a huge cash prize for the winner of a student contest, Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult. But when Stiles comes to reclaim her, and Thorn sickens after creating the most astonishing contest project of all, the world Ruby knows is changed forever. This YA dystopian romance set in 2099 is the sequel to Fireseed One. A finalist in the Next Generation Indie awards and an indie notable book.

Each heartbeat leads Joss closer to a shocking truth that will change everything. Joss Olstad wins the fight to switch from her private school to a public high to “find her pieces” she lost when the Indian artist father she never knew died. There, Joss struggles with a slutty friend, who flirts with her new love; Indian Culture Club girls who press her on her past, as well as her stoner mother’s lies back at home. Armed only with her handmade heart boxes that hold private messages, Joss’s search for identity leads her to a scary industrial section of Queens, and a shocking family secret that changes everything.