Happy reading,
Lindsey, Martina, Sam, Jocelyn, Erin, Lisa, Shelly, Susan, Elizabeth, Kristin, Sandra and Anisaa
YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
Arrows
by Melissa Gorzelanczyk
Swag Only Giveaway
U.S. Only
Delacorte Press
Released 1/26/2016
A modern cupid story set in present-day Wisconsin combining the fantastical elements of Greek mythology with the contemporary drama of MTV’s Teen Mom.
People don’t understand love. If they did, they’d get why dance prodigy Karma Clark just can’t say goodbye to her boyfriend, Danny. No matter what he says or does or how he hurts her, she can’t stay angry with him . . . and can’t stop loving him. But there’s a reason why Karma is helpless to break things off: she’s been shot with a love arrow.
Aaryn, son of Cupid, was supposed to shoot both Karma and Danny but found out too late that the other arrow in his pack was useless. And with that, Karma’s life changed forever. One pregnancy confirmed. One ballet scholarship lost. And dream after dream tossed to the wind.
A clueless Karma doesn’t know that her toxic relationship is Aaryn’s fault . . . but he’s going to get a chance to make things right. He’s here to convince Danny to man up and be there for Karma. But what if this god from Mount Olympus finds himself falling in love with a beautiful dancer from Wisconsin who can never love him in return?
This fast-paced debut novel explores the internal & external conflicts of a girl who finds herself inexplicably drawn to a boy who seemingly doesn’t reciprocate her feelings, touching on the issues of love, sex, and responsibility, with a heroine struggling to control her destiny–perfect for fans of Katie McGarry’s novels and MTV’s 16 and Pregnant
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Arrows?
Well my favorite thing about ARROWS right now is that it’s going to be a real book in the world—like I’m not even kidding, it’s going to be a hardcover with paper and words and a pretty heart cover. It’s not just a file on my computer anymore. It’s the best thing. My favorite thing.
But if you’re asking me about the story of ARROWS, I’d have to say my favorite thing was the chance to explore all the different kinds and complications of love. Love fascinates me. The idea that an emotion can change your entire future is both exhilarating and terrifying. Love will change us. It has to. But what if it turns out wrong? What if you love someone who doesn’t love you back? Is that even love?
What if one day you find yourself wondering if someone could love you better?
And where, in all of that, can we find happiness?
As someone who believes love is everything, I’m excited to share my thoughts through Aaryn and Karma’s story.
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Rise of the Wolf
by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Scholastic Press
Released 1/26/2016
Nic may have escaped enslavement in the mines outside of Rome, but his troubles are far from over. The Praetor War–the battle to destroy Rome from within–is in full force, and Nic is caught in the crossfire. The secretive Praetors are determined to unlock a powerful amulet–one sure to bring the empire to its knees. Worse, the Praetors believe Nic holds the key to finding this amulet, and they will stop at nothing to steal it, even if that means harming the people Nic holds most dear.
When the Praetors capture Nic’s mother, Nic knows he must do anything to save her. He challenges the Praetors to a chariot race. If he wins, they will release his mother. But if he loses, he must hand over a magic that will certainly destroy Rome and end his own life. Can Nic once again harness his magic and gather the strength to defeat his enemies? Or will he lose his mother and bear witness to Rome’s destruction?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Rise of the Wolf?
I love the action in this book, the way the danger is constantly growing around Nic and how everything he tries to get himself out of it only makes things worse. This was such a fun book to write, and I hope it’ll be equally fun for readers to dive into!
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The Mystery of Hollow Places
by Rebecca Podos
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Balzer + Bray
Released 1/26/2016
All Imogene Scott knows of her mother is the bedtime story her father told her as a child. It’s the story of how her parents met: He, a forensic pathologist, she, a mysterious woman who came to identify a body. A woman who left Imogene and her father when she was a baby, a woman who was always possessed by a powerful loneliness, a woman who many referred to as troubled waters.
When Imogene is seventeen, her father, now a famous author of medical mysteries, strikes out in the middle of the night and doesn’t come back. Neither Imogene’s stepmother nor the police know where he could’ve gone, but Imogene is convinced he’s looking for her mother. She decides to put to use the skills she’s gleaned from a lifetime of her father’s books to track down a woman she’s never known, in order to find him and, perhaps, the answer to the question she’s carried with her for her entire life.
Rebecca Podos’ debut is a powerful, affecting story of the pieces of ourselves that remain mysteries even to us – the desperate search through empty spaces for something to hold on to.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Mystery of Hollow Places?
My favorite thing about the book might be the friendship between Imogene and Jessa. It’s complicated, seemingly superficial and unlikely despite its long history. Let’s be straight, Immy isn’t a great friend to Jessa at the start of the book. She’s accustomed to playing Watson to her father’s Sherlock, and when called upon to solve her own mystery and Sherlock-up, she automatically casts Jessa in that supporting role.
But the thing about Watson is he was never just a sidekick; through practical smarts and compassion and sheer force of will, he oftentimes kept Sherlock together. He was invaluable. And I think Imogene soon starts to see the value of—and to see herself as capable of—a deeper kind of friendship, the kind that both girls deserve.
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
Sanctuary Bay by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz – Priscilla S.
Up to This Pointe by Jennifer Longo – Clarisa R,
We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson – Carl S.
MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
Shallow Graves
by Kali Wallace
Hardcover
Katherine Tegen Books
Released 1/26/2016
For fans of Holly Black and Nova Ren Suma, a gripping, hauntingly atmospheric novel about murder, revenge, and a world where monsters—human and otherwise—lurk at the fringes.
When seventeen-year-old Breezy Lin wakes up in a shallow grave one year after her death, she doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past. In life, Breezy was always drawn to the elegance of the universe and the mystery of the stars. Now she must set out to find answers and discover what is to become of her in the gritty, dangerous world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she finds is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.
Tense, complex, and wholly engaging, Shallow Graves is a stunning first novel from Kali Wallace.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Shallow Graves?
This is probably true for most writers, but my answer to this question has changed more or less constantly over the course of the novel’s creation and publication. From the initial “this is the greatest idea ever!!!” phase of jubilation (which lasts about three days, those precious days) to the “this is indeed a complete manuscript and it sure has a lot of words” relief that comes at the end of the first draft (this lasts a lot longer, but is far more bittersweet) with all the bursts of love for all the different parts in between.
But now that it’s all done, and the novel is finished, complete, out of my hands, done, I’ve slowly come to realize that my absolutely favorite thing about it is that I’ve written a book that keeps people up all right reading. Not everyone, obviously, but there are certainly a few, and nothing makes me happier than hearing that I’ve made a reader lose sleep. Getting so lost in a book because it’s engaging and creepy and engrossing that you don’t notice time passing until you look up blearily and it’s 2 a.m. and you know you’re not going to give up now, not a mere 50 pages from the end, what are you, an amateur?–for me, that’s one of the purest joys of reading, and it delights me every time I hear that my book has done that for somebody else.
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The Possibility of Now
by Kim Culbertson
Hardcover
Point
Released 1/26/2016
Kim Culbertson is back with another fantastic new novel about what happens when you’ve been planning for the future, but everything falls apart now.
Mara James has always been a perfectionist with a plan. But despite years of overachieving at her elite school, Mara didn’t plan on having a total meltdown during her calculus exam. Like a rip-up-the-test-and-walk-out kind of meltdown. And she didn’t plan on a video of it going viral. And she definitely didn’t plan on never wanting to show her face again.
Mara knows she should go back, but suddenly she doesn’t know why she’s been overachieving all these years. Impulsively, she tells her mom she wants to go live with her estranged dad in Tahoe. Maybe in a place like Tahoe, where people go to get away from everyday life, and with a dad like Trick McHale, a ski bum avoiding the real world, Mara can figure things out.
Only Tahoe is nothing like she thought. There are awesome new friends and hot boys and a chance to finally get to know Trick, but there are also still massive amounts of schoolwork. Can Mara stopping planning long enough to see the life that’s happening right now?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Possibility of Now ?
In THE POSSIBILITY OF NOW, my main character Mara is a list maker. So I thought I’d make a list of my favorite things from the novel.
* Location, location, location: the book is primarily set in Tahoe which is one of my favorite places in the world for its natural beauty, its alternative mountain vibe, and its interesting people.
* Mara’s journey: this is a girl who truly wants to figure out the difference between what others want for her and what she wants for herself. My favorite sort of journey is a coming of age one. 🙂
* Love stories: for me, every story is a love story, whether it’s romantic love, parent/child love, or friendships. I enjoyed exploring these different kinds of love in this novel with these characters.
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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
Front Lines
by Michael Grant
Hardcover
Katherine Tegen Books
Released 1/26/2016
Perfect for fans of The Book Thief and Code Name Verity, New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant unleashes an epic, genre-bending, and transformative new series that reimagines World War II with girl soldiers fighting on the front lines.
World War II, 1942. A court decision makes women subject to the draft and eligible for service. The unproven American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled, the armed forces of Nazi Germany.
Three girls sign up to fight. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman are average girls, girls with dreams and aspirations, at the start of their lives, at the start of their loves. Each has her own reasons for volunteering: Rio fights to honor her sister, Frangie needs money for her family, Rainy wants to kill Germans. For the first time they leave behind their homes and families—to go to war.
These three daring young women will play their parts in the war to defeat evil and save the human race. As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, they will discover the roles that define them on the front lines. They will fight the greatest war the world has ever known.
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Geek Girl: Picture Perfect
by Holly Smale
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 1/26/2016
Harriet Manners is coming to America! The internationally bestselling Geek Girl series takes on the Big Apple in this third hilarious, high-fashion adventure.
When Harriet’s dad gets a job in New York City, Harriet is beyond excited to move to the land of skyscrapers, museums, and taxicabs—especially since she’ll get to see her dreamy supermodel boyfriend, Nick. Except . . . when her parents said New York, they meant a tiny, boring town two hours from the city by train. Diving back into modeling should be just the right distraction. But can a geek girl stand out in the fashion capital of America?
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I See Reality: Twelve Short Stories About Real Life
by Grace Kendall, Kristin Elizabeth Clark, Heather Demetrios, et al.
Hardcover
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Released 1/26/2016
Twelve original stories by top MCPG authors explore real issues for real teens.
Through prose and comics alike, these heart-pounding short stories ask hard questions about a range of topics from sexuality and addiction to violence and immigration. Here is the perfect tool for starting tough discussions or simply as an introduction to realistic literary fiction. In turns funny, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking, I See Reality will resonate with today’s teens long after the last page has been turned.
Contributing authors include Jay Clark, Kristin Clark, Heather Demetrios, Stephen Emond, Patrick Flores-Scott, Faith Hicks, Trisha Leaver, Kekla Magoon, Marcella Pixley, James Preller, Jason Schmidt, and Jordan Sonnenblick.
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I’m from Nowhere
by Suzanne Myers
Hardcover
Soho Teen
Released 1/26/2016
A few weeks into her sophomore year at Ventura High School in California, everything is about to change for Wren Verlaine. It’s always been just Wren and her mother, Hannah, but when Hannah receives a reporting assignment that sends her to Greenland for six months, Wren is shipped off to Hardwick Hall, an old, prestigious boarding school back East.
For every ice queen like her suitemate Honor, who looks right through Wren like she doesn’t exist, there’s also a rower with adorably crinkly eyes (that would be Nick) or a friendly and funny fellow musician (like Chazzy). But just as Wren finally starts to settle in at Hardwick, clues begin appearing about the one secret her mother has ever kept from her—the identity of her father—and what Wren ultimately discovers threatens to turn her and her new world upside down.
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It’s All Your Fault
by Paul Rudnick
Hardcover
Scholastic Press
Released 1/26/2016
One last chance. One wild weekend. Flat out the funniest book of the year.
My name is Caitlin and up until forty-eight hours ago I had never: Tasted alcohol, kissed a boy, sang in public at the top of my lungs, kidnapped anyone or–WHAT? STOLEN A CONVERTIBLE?
Now I’m in jail and I have no idea what I’m going to tell: the police, my parents, the mayor, all of those camera crews, and everyone on Twitter.
I have just noticed that: My nose is pierced and I have-WAIT? IS THAT A TATTOO?
I blame one person for this entire insane weekend: My famous cousin.
Who is also my former best friend.
Who I have HATED for the past four years.
Who I miss like crazy. NO I DON’T!!!!
IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, HELLER HARRIGAN!!!!
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The Dark Days Club
by Alison Goodman
Hardcover
Viking Books for Young Readers
Released 1/26/2016
New York Times bestseller Alison Goodman’s eagerly awaited new novel — a Regency adventure starring a stylish and intrepid demon-hunter!
Helen must make a choice: Save her reputation, or save the world.
London, 1812. Eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall is on the eve of her debut presentation at the royal court of George III. Her life should revolve around gowns, dancing, and securing a suitable marriage. Instead, when one of her family’s maids disappears, she is drawn into the shadows of Regency London.
There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few able to stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons that has infiltrated all levels of society. Carlston is not a man she should be anywhere near, especially with the taint of scandal that surrounds him. Yet he offers her help and the possibility of finally discovering the truth about the mysterious deaths of her parents.
Soon the two of them are investigating a terrifying conspiracy that threatens to plunge the newly Enlightened world back into darkness. But can Helen trust a man whose own life is built on lies? And does she have the strength to face the dangers of this hidden world and her family’s legacy?
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The Love That Split the World
by Emily Henry
Hardcover
Razorbill
Released 1/26/2016
Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves.
Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start…until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.
That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.
Emily Henry’s stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler’s Wife, and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we’ve left untaken.
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The Possibility of Now
by Kim Culbertson
Hardcover
Point
Released 1/26/2016
Kim Culbertson is back with another fantastic new novel about what happens when you’ve been planning for the future, but everything falls apart now.
Mara James has always been a perfectionist with a plan. But despite years of overachieving at her elite school, Mara didn’t plan on having a total meltdown during her calculus exam. Like a rip-up-the-test-and-walk-out kind of meltdown. And she didn’t plan on a video of it going viral. And she definitely didn’t plan on never wanting to show her face again.
Mara knows she should go back, but suddenly she doesn’t know why she’s been overachieving all these years. Impulsively, she tells her mom she wants to go live with her estranged dad in Tahoe. Maybe in a place like Tahoe, where people go to get away from everyday life, and with a dad like Trick McHale, a ski bum avoiding the real world, Mara can figure things out.
Only Tahoe is nothing like she thought. There are awesome new friends and hot boys and a chance to finally get to know Trick, but there are also still massive amounts of schoolwork. Can Mara stopping planning long enough to see the life that’s happening right now?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Possibility of Now ?
In THE POSSIBILITY OF NOW, my main character Mara is a list maker. So I thought I’d make a list of my favorite things from the novel.
* Location, location, location: the book is primarily set in Tahoe which is one of my favorite places in the world for its natural beauty, its alternative mountain vibe, and its interesting people.
* Mara’s journey: this is a girl who truly wants to figure out the difference between what others want for her and what she wants for herself. My favorite sort of journey is a coming of age one. 🙂
* Love stories: for me, every story is a love story, whether it’s romantic love, parent/child love, or friendships. I enjoyed exploring these different kinds of love in this novel with these characters.
Purchase The Possibility of Now at Amazon
Purchase The Possibility of Now at IndieBound
View The Possibility of Now on Goodreads
The Siren
by Kiera Cass
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 1/26/2016
From Kiera Cass, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Selection series, comes a sweeping stand-alone fantasy romance.
A girl with a secret.
The boy of her dreams.
An Ocean between them.
Years ago, Kahlen was rescued from drowning by the Ocean. To repay her debt, she has served as a Siren ever since, using her voice to lure countless strangers to their deaths. Though a single word from Kahlen can kill, she can’t resist spending her days on land, watching ordinary people and longing for the day when she will be able to speak and laugh and live freely among them again.
Kahlen is resigned to finishing her sentence in solitude…until she meets Akinli. Handsome, caring, and kind, Akinli is everything Kahlen ever dreamed of.
Falling in love with a human breaks the Ocean’s rules. But for the first time in a lifetime of following the rules, Kahlen is determined to follow her heart.
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