Happy Monday! This week is another week of great new releases including ILLUSION, the conclusion to Martina Boone’s Watson Island trilogy! For those of you that don’t know, Martina is the lovely founder of this awesome site and creates a lot of the amazing content for us and we’re all super thrilled to be able to celebrate her trilogy. Don’t forget to check out all the other new releases and enter to win below!
Happy Reading,
Shelly, Sam, Jocelyn, Martina, Erin, Susan, Michelle, Laura, Anisaa, and Kristin
YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
The Stranger Game
by Cylin Busby
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
International
Balzer + Bray
Released 10/25/2016
The Stranger Game is a dark, suspenseful, and twisty young adult novel—perfect for fans of Lauren Oliver and E. Lockhart—about fifteen-year-old Nico Walker, whose sister returns home after a four-year disappearance.
When Nico Walker’s older sister mysteriously disappears, her parents, family, and friends are devastated. But Nico can never admit what she herself feels: relief at finally being free of Sarah’s daily cruelties.
Then the best and worst thing happens: four years later, after dozens of false leads, Sarah is found.
But this girl is much changed from the one Nico knew. She’s thin and drawn, where Sarah had been golden and athletic; timid and unsure, instead of brash and competitive; and strangest of all, sweet and kind, when she had once been mean and abusive. Sarah’s retrograde amnesia has caused her to forget almost everything about her life, from small things like the plots of her favorite books and her tennis game to the more critical—where she’s been the last four years and what happened at the park on the fateful day she vanished. Despite the happy ending, the dark details of that day continue to haunt Nico, and it becomes clear that more than one person knows the true story of what happened to Sarah. . . .
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Stranger Game?
I love the cover image that the design team at HarperCollins chose for this book—the girl, floating in the water, with that dark sepia tone. It’s absolutely perfect for the story!
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Bionic
by Suzanne Weyn
Hardcover Giveaway (5 Copies)
U.S. Only
Scholastic Press
Released 10/25/2016
Mira has always almost had it all… until it all crashes and burns. She’s hurt in a horrible car accident, and the only way the doctors can help is to try experimental prosthetics and chips that are implanted directly into her brain. It’s a huge risk, but after months of testing and therapy, Mira is back, and better than ever.
But soon her friends turn against her as their parents call her on unfair advantages and get her cut from lacrosse and the scholarships she was depending on for college. And with her enhanced hearing, she knows how many people in her school and her town are calling her a robot, a cyborg.
Is that true? Is Mira human, or is she somehow something other? How can she overcome the ways people see her and just be herself… especially if she’s not really sure who that is anymore?
Suzanne Weyn is always at the cutting edge when it comes to new tech and the questions it raises about the world we live in.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Bionic?
One of my favorite things about BIONIC is that it isn’t theoretical. I focused on one girl, Mira, and tell her individual story. Another character might have reacted to her challenges in a very different way. When I wrote THE BAR CODE TATTOO, I learned that the only way I can handle big, world-changing topics is to explore what broad societal and scientific changes might feel like to the individual on a very personal level. I wanted to contrast Mira’s increasingly bionic existent with what it means to Mira to remain human.
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If I Fix You
by Abigail Johnson
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Harlequin Teen
Released 10/25/2016
When sixteen-year-old Jill Whitaker’s mom walks out—with a sticky note as a goodbye—only Jill knows the real reason she’s gone. But how can she tell her father? Jill can hardly believe the truth herself.
Suddenly, the girl who likes to fix things—cars, relationships, romances, people—is all broken up. Used to be, her best friend, tall, blond and hot flirt Sean Addison, could make her smile in seconds. But not anymore. They don’t even talk.
With nothing making sense, Jill tries to pick up the pieces of her life. But when a new guy moves in next door, intense, seriously cute, but with scars—on the inside and out—that he thinks don’t show, Jill finds herself trying to make things better for Daniel. But over one long, hot Arizona summer, she realizes she can’t fix anyone’s life until she fixes her own. And she knows just where to start . . .
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about If I Fix You?
I loved getting to explore Jill’s relationship with her dad. We don’t see a ton of close father daughter relationships in YA, but I’ve always been a fan of them. When I was little, it was Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pa, then I fell in love with Veronica and Keith Mars, and now I get to add Jill and her dad to that list (in my mind, anyway). There are a lot of complex relationships in IF I FIX YOU, and most of them are messy, but Jill’s relationship with her dad gets to be this constant source of good, comfort, and love, even when everything else is falling apart.
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Illusion
by Martina Boone
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Simon Pulse
Released 10/25/2016
Barrie must rescue her beloved and her family from evil spirits in the masterful conclusion to the Heirs of Watson Island trilogy.
Caged by secrets all around her and haunted by mistakes that have estranged her from Eight Beaufort, Barrie Watson is desperate to break the curse that puts her family in danger—without breaking the beautiful magic that protects Watson’s Landing. To do that, she must heal the rifts that have split the families of the island apart for three hundred years, unravel the mystery of the Fire Carrier and the spirits he guards, and take control of forces so deadly and awe-inspiring they threaten to overwhelm her.
With the spirits that cursed Watson Island centuries ago awake and more dangerous than ever, she finds an unlikely ally in the haunting and enigmatic Obadiah, whose motivations and power she still can’t read—or trust. His help comes at a price, however, plunging Barrie into a deadly maze of magic and wonder, mystery and intrigue that leads through history to places she never imagined she could go.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Illusion?
All the relationships coming together and the secrets unraveling to help Barrie uncover the true magic and meaning of Watson Island. The fantasy elements are front and center in ILLUSION, and I love that, but more than any of the other books in the Heirs of Watson Island trilogy, ILLUSION is a love story, not just about the romance between Barrie and Eight, but also about the love between Barrie and her Aunt Pru, about Barrie’s love of Watson Island and the responsibility she feels to take care of the small spirits that inhabit it. It’s about finding herself and loving herself, about releasing her guilt and sorrow and selfishness enough to finally trust the people who are trying so hard to care for her. About finding her voice and strength.
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It’s Not Me, It’s You
by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Point
Released 10/25/2016
One high school girl’s comedic examination of her dating past as told by the friends, family, and boys who were involved!
Avery Dennis is a high school senior and one of the most popular girls in her class. But a majorly public breakup with the guy she’s been dating causes some disastrous waves. It is right before prom and Avery no longer has the perfect date. She runs the prom committee, how could she not show up with somebody?
Post-breakup, Avery gets to thinking about all of the guys that she has ever dated. How come none of those relationships ever worked out? Could it be her fault? Avery decides to investigate. In history class she’s learning about this method of record-keeping called “oral history” and she has a report due. So Avery decides to go directly to the source. Avery tracks down all of the guys she’s ever dated, and uses that information, along with thoughts from her friends, family, and teachers, to compile a total account of her dating history.
Avery discovers some surprises about herself and the guys she’s spent time with — just in time for prom night!
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about It’s Not Me, It’s You?
My favorite thing about IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU is that it’s about prom! I love prom and I’d always wanted to write a book about it. It was so much fun!
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Midnight Hour
by C.C. Hunter
Paperback Giveaway
U.S. Only
St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 10/25/2016
Being a dyslexic witch is a curse in itself, but Miranda Kane’s time at Shadow Falls has helped her harness her magical powers. Now, just as she’s finally mastered them and is preparing to graduate with her friends, a near-death experience threatens to ruin it all.
Miranda awakens in the hospital with a mysterious tattoo that no one can explain. As she struggles to make sense of it – and questions her feelings for a certain irresistible shape-shifter and a hot new guy – the strange markings begin to spread all over her body, leaving her desperate to find answers. But before she can solve that problem, a new one arises: her sister is missing.
Has her sister been kidnapped? Miranda will risk her life to find out. Will she live to share the day she’s worked so hard for with her friends? When the clock strikes midnight, will Miranda make it to her graduation at Shadow Falls?
C.C. Hunter brings The Shadow Falls saga to a spectacular conclusion in this thrilling finale: Midnight Hour!
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Midnight Hour?
My favorite thing? There was so much about MIDNIGHT HOUR I loved. Because this is the very last Shadow Falls book, I put a lot heart and soul in there. But I guess one thing I really liked was how MIDNIGHT HOUR wasn’t just Miranda Kane’s journey, my dyslexic witch, who is finally learning to believe in herself. It delves into the life of Perry Gomez, the funny and sexy shapeshifter who is vying for Miranda’s heart, and who is searching for truths from his parents who abandoned him as a child. It also shows Shawn Hanson, the young and oh-so-hot warlock, who carries his own torch for Miranda and is trying to figure out his own way into adulthood. While I wouldn’t even call what’s going on a love triangle, it is about investigating one’s heart and distinguishing different kinds of emotional attachments we carry for those who have touched our lives.
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Empire Decayed
by Daniel Kraus
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 10/25/2016
A murdered teen is resurrected to walk the earth for more than a century in the second and final book in the sweeping epic that Entertainment Weekly called “utterly riveting.”
Zebulon Finch has faced more violence, lust, and heartbreak than any other seventeen-year-old in history. But nothing can prepare him for what is coming next.
Half a century has passed since Zebulon Finch was gunned down and then inexplicably resurrected to experience a second life. Picking up his tale where he left off, Zebulon heads to Nazi Germany on a top-secret mission. From there he escapes to the shiny new world of the suburbs—a tidy neighborhood hiding dark secrets. He will exchange the pains of this world for what he believes will be peace among the stars. He will march for social change all the way to Woodstock, go raving mad in the desert, and finally exit from humanity the only way he knows how. We first met Zebulon sealed in a tomb beneath the World Trade Center—might he yet crawl from the rubble to discover a different America?
Enthralling and gut-wrenching, The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume Two: Empire Decayed is the conclusion to the epic saga of one young man’s journey down the long road to redemption.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Empire Decayed?
My favorite thing, quite frankly, is that it’s finished. For at least four years, I did nothing but work on the two-volume Zebulon Finch project. It took over my life like an illness — an illness that provided me with periods of intense euphoria. I’m only beginning to understand how underwater I was for that period. I was deep, deep into it, buried under the roughly 200 research books, trapped in the 1,500 manuscript pages, sifting through my 15-foot timeline and 200-part outline. I feel like I survived something.
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Boy Robot
by Simon Curtis
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Simon Pulse
Released 10/25/2016
Seventeen-year-old Isaak discovers the truth about his origin and the underground forces that must come together to fight against a secret government organization formed to eradicate those like him in this high-octane science fiction debut.
There once was a boy who was made, not created.
In a single night, Isaak’s life changed forever.
His adoptive parents were killed, a mysterious girl saved him from a team of soldiers, and he learned of his own dark and destructive origin.
An origin he doesn’t want to believe, but one he cannot deny.
Isaak is a Robot: a government-made synthetic human, produced as a weapon and now hunted, marked for termination.
He and the Robots can only find asylum with the Underground—a secret network of Robots and humans working together to ensure a coexistent future.
To be protected by the Underground, Isaak will have to make it there first. But with a deadly military force tasked to find him at any cost, his odds are less than favorable.
Now Isaak must decide whether to hold on to his humanity and face possible death…or to embrace his true nature in order to survive, at the risk of becoming the weapon he was made to be.
In his debut, recording artist Simon Curtis has written a fast-paced, high-stakes novel that explores humanity, the ultimate power of empathy, and the greatest battle of all: love vs. fear.
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
I’m Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl by Gretchen McNeil: Lily M
Messenger by Carol Lynch Williams: Laura I
Scarlet Moon by S. D. Grimm: Rosi H
Shutter by Laurie Faria Stolarz: Natasha D
Tattoo Atlas by Tim Floreen: Elizabeth H
MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
A Darkly Beating Heart
by Lindsay Smith
Hardcover
Roaring Brook Press
Released 10/25/2016
A time-travel story that alternates between modern day and 19th century Japan as one girl confronts the darkness lurking in her soul.
No one knows what to do with Reiko. She is full of hatred. All she can think about is how to best hurt herself and the people closest to her. After a failed suicide attempt, Reiko’s parents send her from their Seattle home to spend the summer with family in Japan to learn to control her emotions. But while visiting Kuramagi, a historic village preserved to reflect the nineteenth-century Edo period, Reiko finds herself slipping back in time into the life of Miyu, a young woman even more bent on revenge than Reiko herself. Reiko loves being Miyu, until she discovers the secret of Kuramagi village, and must face down Miyu’s demons as well as her own.
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Blood Red Snow White
by Marcus Sedgwick
Hardcover
Roaring Brook Press
Released 10/25/2016
Russia wakes from a long sleep and marches to St Petersburg to claim her birthright. Her awakening will mark the end for the Romanovs, and the dawn of a new era that changed the world. Arthur Ransome, a journalist and writer, was part of it all. He left his family in England and fell in love with Russia and a Russian woman. This is his story.
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Glitter
by Aprilynne Pike
Hardcover
Random House Books for Young Readers
Released 10/25/2016
Outside the palace of Versailles, it’s modern day. Inside, the people dress, eat, and act like it’s the eighteenth century—with the added bonus of technology to make court life lavish, privileged, and frivolous. The palace has every indulgence, but for one pretty young thing, it’s about to become a very beautiful prison.
When Danica witnesses an act of murder by the young king, her mother makes a cruel power play . . . blackmailing the king into making Dani his queen. When she turns eighteen, Dani will marry the most ruthless and dangerous man of the court. She has six months to escape her terrifying destiny. Six months to raise enough money to disappear into the real world beyond the palace gates.
Her ticket out? Glitter. A drug so powerful that a tiny pinch mixed into a pot of rouge or lip gloss can make the wearer hopelessly addicted. Addicted to a drug Dani can sell for more money than she ever dreamed.
But in Versailles, secrets are impossible to keep. And the most dangerous secret—falling for a drug dealer outside the palace walls—is one risk she has to take.
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How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You
by Tara Eglington
Hardcover
A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 10/25/2016
Sweet sixteen and never been kissed—and that’s the way Aurora Skye wants it to be. She’s too busy finding guys for her two best friends, counseling her sensitive New Age dad (the NAD), and dealing with the unexpected return of her long-absent mom.
But always in the background there’s Hayden Paris, the boy next door, the bane of Aurora’s existence. Smart, funny, and always around to see her at her worst, he ‘gets’ her like no-one else… and that’s what makes him so infuriating.
When Aurora and Hayden are coerced into the lead roles in the school production of Much Ado About Nothing, things can only get worse. How is Aurora going to save her first kiss for the secret admirer who wooed her with poetry and a spectacular bunch of flowers on Valentine’s Day if she doesn’t know who he is and she’s obligated to lock lips with Hayden in the play’s final dramatic clinch?
From talented debut YA author Tara Eglington, How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You is a page-turning, funny and delicious romp of a book.
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Pushing Perfect
by Michelle Falkoff
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 10/25/2016
A girl’s quest for perfection results in dangerous consequences in this layered, suspenseful YA novel by the author of Playlist for the Dead.
How far would you go to be perfect?
Kara has the perfect life. She gets perfect grades. She never messes up. Until now. Because perfection is an illusion, and Kara has been struggling to maintain it for as long as she can remember. With so much pressure to succeed, it’s hard not to do whatever it takes.
But when Kara takes a new underground drug to help her ace the SATs, she doesn’t expect to get a text from a blocked sender, telling her to follow a set of mysterious instructions—or risk her dark secret getting out. Soon she finds herself part of a group of teens with secrets of their own, who are all under the thumb of the same anonymous texter. And if they don’t find a way to stop the blackmailer, their perfect futures will go up in flames.
This dark, emotionally resonant contemporary YA novel is perfect for fans of We Were Liars and The Secret History.
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The Secret Diary of Lydia Bennet
by Natasha Farrant
Hardcover
Chicken House
Released 10/25/2016
A fresh, funny, and spirited reimagining of Jane Austen’s beloved Pride and Prejudice, The Secret Diary of Lydia Bennet brings the voice of the wildest Bennet sister to life.
Lydia is the youngest of the five Bennet girls. She’s stubborn, never listens, and can’t seem to keep her mouth shut — not that she would want to anyway. She wishes her older sisters would pay her attention, or that something would happen in her boring country life.
Luckily, that something is right around the corner, and it’s the handsome Wickham, who arrives at Longbourn to sweep her off her feet. Lydia’s not going to let him know THAT, of course, especially since he only seems to be interested in friendship. But when they both decide to summer in the fashionable seaside town of Brighton, their paths inevitably become entangled again.
At the seaside, Lydia also finds exciting new ways of life and a pair of friends who offer her a future she would have never dreamed possible. Lydia finally understands what she really wants. But can she get it?
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