This week is packed with new releases. So if you didn’t get what you wanted for the holidays, these books will give you plenty of reasons to gift yourself! Thanks to YALit.com, we’ve tracked down the latest and greatest YA reads. Read on for book descriptions and a fabulous giveaway all the way down at bottom!
- From Goodreads: Vampires have powers beyond human comprehension: strength that defies logic, speed that cannot be captured on film, the ability to shapeshift and more. But in matters of the heart, no one, not even the strikingly beautiful and outrageously wealthy Blue Bloods, has total control. In Bloody Valentine, bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz offers readers a new story about the love lives of their favorite vamps – the passion and heartache, the hope and devastation, the lust and longing.
Deadly Little Games: A Touch Novel by Laurie Faria Stolarz
- From Goodreads: Camelia and Ben have discovered a powerful bond: They both possess the power of psychometry, the ability to sense things through touch. For Ben, the gift is a frightening liability. When he senses a strong threat or betrayal, he risks losing control and hurting people. Camelia’s gift is more mysterious. When she works with clay, her hands sculpt messages her mind doesn’t yet comprehend. Before either teen has a chance to fully grasp these abilities, an unresolved family tragedy resurfaces in Camelia’s life, irrevocably changing everything she cares about…
Vampire Crush by A.M. Robinson
- From Goodreads: First, six mysteriously pale new students show up at Sophie McGee’s high school. Then, Sophie’s childhood nemesis James reappears, still displaying a knack for making Sophie’s blood boil. When Sophie finds out that James has a connection to the new students, she decides to investigate…never expecting her life will quickly begin to resemble a campy horror movie, complete with budding crushes and bloodthirsty villains.
Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart
- From Goodreads: Ruby Oliver is in love. Or it would be love, if Noel, her real live boyfriend, would call her back. But Noel seems to have turned into a pod-robot lobotomy patient, and Ruby can’t figure out why. Not only is her romantic life a shambles:
Her dad is eating nothing but Cheetos,
Her mother’s got a piglet head in the refrigerator,
Hutch has gone to Paris to play baguette air guitar,
Gideon shows up shirtless,
And the pygmy goat Robespierre is no help whatsoever.
Will Ruby ever control her panic attacks?
Will she ever understand boys?
Will she ever stop making lists?
(No to that last one.)Roo has lost most of her friends. She’s lost her true love, more than once. She’s lost her grandmother, her job, her reputation, and possibly her mind. But she’s never lost her sense of humor. The Ruby Oliver books are the record of her survival.
Once in a Full Moon by Ellen Schreiber
- From Goodreads: Celeste Parker is used to hearing scary stories about werewolves—Legend’s Run is famous for them. She’s used to everything in the small town until Brandon Maddox moves to Legend’s Run and Celeste finds herself immediately drawn to the handsome new student. But when, after an unnerving visit with a psychic, she encounters a pack of wolves and gorgeous, enigmatic Brandon, she must discover whether his transformation is more than legend or just a trick of the shadows in the moonlight. Her best friends may never forgive her if she gives up her perfect boyfriend, Nash, for Brandon, who’s from the wrong side of town. But she can’t deny her attraction or the strong pull he has on her. Brandon may be Celeste’s hero, or he may be the most dangerous creature she could encounter in the woods of Legend’s Run.
Something Like Hope by Shawn Goodman
- From Goodreads: Shavonne is a fierce and desperate seventeen year-old who finds herself in a large juvenile lockup hundreds of miles from home. She wants to turn her life around before she turns eighteen, but her problems seem too big, and time is running out. Amidst corrupt guards, out-of-control girls, and shadows from her past, Shanvonne must find the courage to fight for a redemption she’s not sure she deserves.
See What I See by Gloria Whelan
- From Goodreads: Kate Tapert sees her life in paintings. Yet one place she never sees her life is in the work of the famous and reclusive artist Dalton Quinn—her father, whom she hasn’t seen or heard from in nearly ten years. Now Kate has an art dream of her own, and a scholarship to art school to help make it a reality. The last piece to the puzzle is staying with her father, which means it’s time for Kate to work her way into Dalton’s life, into his mind, and into his heart, whether he likes it or not.
- From Goodreads: Incarceron, the living prison, has lost one of its inmates to the outside world: Finn’s escaped, only to find that Outside is not at all what he expected. Used to the technologically advanced, if violently harsh, conditions of the prison, Finn is now forced to obey the rules of Protocol, which require all people to live without technology. To Finn, Outside is just a prison of another kind, especially when Claudia, the daughter of the prison’s warden, declares Finn the lost heir to the throne. When another claimant emerges, both Finn’s and Claudia’s very lives hang on Finn convincing the Court of something that even he doesn’t fully believe. Meanwhile, Finn’s oathbrother Keiro and his friend Attia are still trapped inside Incarceron. They are searching for a magical glove, which legend says Sapphique used to escape. To find it, they must battle the prison itself, because Incarceron wants the glove too.
Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell
- From Goodreads: When Ellie Faneuil first sees Michael Chase she feels an instantaneous connection. But she does not realize how much they have in common, including the ability fly and to see what others are thinking – not to mention a taste for blood. Reveling in their new powers and their growing feelings for each other, Ellie and Michael are determined to uncover what they are, and how they got this way … together. But the truth has repercussions neither could have imagined. Soon they find themselves center stage in an ancient conflict between fallen angels that threatens to destroy everything they love. And it is no longer clear whether Ellie and Michael will choose the same side.
- From Goodreads: High school freshman Martine (Teenie for short) is a good student, with a bright future ahead of her. She’s desperate to be accepted into a prestigious study abroad program in Spain so that she can see what life is like beyond the streets of Brooklyn. She wouldn’t mind escaping from her strict (though lovable) parents for awhile either. But when the captain of the basketball team starts to pay attention to her after she’s pined away for him for months and Cherise, her best friend, meets a guy online, Teenie’s mind is on anything but her schoolwork. Teenie’s longtime crush isn’t what he seemed to be, nor is her best friend’s online love. Can Teenie get her act together in time to save her friendship with Cherise, save her grade point average so that she can study in Spain, and save herself from a potentially dangerous relationship?Christopher Grant makes a stunning literary debut with this warmly told story about friends, family, and finding oneself.
All The Wrong Moves (Fab Life) by Nikki Carter
- From Goodreads: Sunday Tolliver is gifted, smart, and ready to take the music industry by storm now that she’s signed a record deal. All she has to do is survive touring with her diva cousin, Dreya, and she’ll finally get a shot at her own R&B dreams. But the tour’s mega-bad-boy star, Truth, refuses to believe that Sunday isn’t feeling him–and a jealous Dreya is doing everything to make Sunday pay. When filming for a behind-the-tour reality show starts, Sunday’s live-and-on-camera humiliation is threatening to derail her chances–and help Dreya cover up stealing her songs. Now Sunday has one last chance to prove herself. And with the spotlight heating up, all bets are off–and this battle is on…
Giveaways
Here we go! Melissa de la Cruz’ amazing new book BLOODY VALENTINE is up for grabs for one lucky winner. To enter, you must leave a comment on this post and fill out the form below. The contest is open to US residents that follow our blog and will run through January 29th at midnight EST! Good luck!
Happy reading,
Martina & Marissa