CALCULATED
Set in Shanghai and Seattle, Calculated is a gritty, modern day blend of the Count of Monte Cristo + Mission Impossible.
She has many names – Octavia, Double 8, Phoenix, Josephine. She’s a math prodigy, a calculating genius and everyone wants her.
In seventeen-year-old Jo River’s complicated world of numbers, there’s no such thing as coincidence. When she is betrayed by someone she loves, kidnapped by the world’s most wanted smuggler, and forced to use her talent to shore up a criminal empire, Jo deems her gift a curse—until she meets Red.
Fellow captive and unlikely sage, Red teaches Jo to harness her true potential, so she can do more than just escape. Before he dies, Red reveals a secret about her enemies and makes her vow to right his wrongs. But Jo has a vow of her own.
With help from Chan, a bitter billionaire, and Kai, his off-limits son, Jo rises into a new role, ready to take down those who ruined her life. Until a mathematical error comes back to haunt her with a threat much more dangerous than the criminals on the loose.
To beat the odds, Jo must decide who she really is and if risking everything is worth it.
After all, history is not made—it’s calculated.
With themes of revenge and forgiveness, loss and identity, brainpower versus brutality, and the triumph of right over might, it will resonate with readers everywhere.
”A high-stakes YA tale of betrayal, revenge, and numbers.” —Kirkus Reviews for Calculated
SIMULATED
From Young-Adult author Nova McBee comes the second book in the gritty, action-filled Calculated series.
Jo Rivers, safely back in Seattle, asks the same question daily—how does a math genius go from taking down international criminals and saving the world economy to living a normal teenage life? The only answer she can come up with is—she doesn’t.
With an overprotective father on her back and Kai on the other side of the world, Jo accepts an offer from Prodigy Stealth Solutions (PSS), who may have found a way to get her gift back. Using a newly developed technology, PSS tries a simulation process on Jo to restore her abilities, but during the attempt, PSS is hacked and a blacklist file containing some of PSS’s most sensitive secrets is stolen. Meanwhile, a mysterious caller who seems to know more than he should delivers a warning to Jo about Kai, who then goes missing.
Despite her father’s concerns, Jo sets off on a risky trip to Tunisia with a PSS team of teen prodigies to find an urgently needed solution for PSS and locate Kai. All the while, Jo has to trust the mysterious informant who, frighteningly, is like no one she has ever met before.
”Simulated has all the Mission Impossible action you could hope for, paired with a love triangle that rivals the intensity of Twilight’s. Be Prepared to choose sides and hold on tight. You’re in for one wild ride.—Chelsea Bobulski, author of The Wood and Remember Me
ACTIVATED
From Young-Adult author Nova McBee comes the third book in the gritty, action-filled Calculated series.
After her exploits in Tunisia, Jo Rivers knows she’ll never lead a normal life. She also can’t move on until she grasps the unexpected evolution of her mathematical gift and confronts her unresolved feelings after meeting Noble. With Kai undercover, Noble is the only one who has the answers Jo needs. There’s just one small problem: Noble has vanished, leaving only a coded message in the stars.
When Rafael, a friend from Jo’s days in China, goes missing, it coincides with a new PSS assignment involving a potentially catastrophic satellite breakdown. Jo suspects something more sinister is at play and has no choice but to track down Noble, who may be her only hope to find Rafael and prevent global chaos.
Traveling to the perilous Arctic of Finland, Jo and her band of prodigies team up with unlikely allies from her past to find out what or who is interfering with the satellites— before it’s too late. Trusting her gift, Jo follows a path of numbers that light the way…which leads to answers she didn't predict.
“Jo Rivers returns for another thrilling ride. Activated is full of edge-of-your-seat action, heart-stirring romance, and an intricately plotted story that will keep you glued to the pages. This series just keeps getting better.”— Becky Dean, author of Love & Other Great Expectations
praise for the CALCULATED series
"Nova McBee's Calculated and its heroine, [Jo] catapult readers through the highs and lows of the pits of despair and pinnacles of power without sacrificing warmth and authenticity. The book's cinematic imagery entices and immerses the reader in deceit and corruption so suffocatingly thick that only a tenacious fight for justice and freedom can satisfy. What a ride! Don't miss out."
— Wayne Lo, illustrator of the Star Wars Clone Wars graphic novel series.
"Brilliantly crafted, this technological thriller delivers punch after punch of heart-pounding action. The fearless heroine and two equally intriguing love interests had me flying through the pages. I'm in love with this series!"
— Lorie Langdon, author of the Disney Villains Happily Never After Series
Calculated is a fast-paced and thrilling story that will keep you reading long into the night. Its twists and turns will take you from Shanghai's glittering high rises to underground prisons and the plights faced by the characters who feel achingly real. An action-packed adventure with big heart.”
— Judy Lin, author of the forthcoming A MAGIC STEEPED IN POISON
"Calculated was so incredible that I didn't think it was possible for the sequel to one-up it, and yet here we are. Simulated has all the mission impossible action you could hope for, paired with a love triangle that rivals the intensity of Twilight's. Be prepared to choose sides and hold on tight. You're in for one wild ride."
— Chelsea Bobulski, author of The Wood and Remember Me.
"CALCULATED is an intelligent thrill ride! In Jo Rivers, author Nova McBee has given readers a heroine who is mathematically gifted beyond what most can imagine, and somehow immensely relatable, even as her greatest skills are exploited by international criminals. Sleek and sophisticated, with dark secrets at every turn, CALCULATED is impossible to put down."
— Shannon Dittemore, author of WINTER, WHITE AND WICKED
"A high-stakes YA tale of betrayal, revenge, and numbers… Debut author McBee effectively shows how (Jo) goes from being an unwilling pawn to an empowered queen...An enjoyable thriller with an intriguing, relatable protagonist."
— Kirkus Review
"Full of global intrigue and the thrilling adventure of an action movie, Simulated transported me to the lush setting of North Africa as I cheered for an utterly unique heroine fighting for good and finding her place in the world. Action-packed and captivating - I couldn't put it down."
— Becky Dean, forthcoming author of Love and Other Great Expectations, 2022
“With thrilling adventure and cunning suspense, Simulated is the most riveting sequel I’ve ever read—a masterpiece destined for the stars!”
— Ellen McGinty, Author of The Water Child
