YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
The Skylighter
by Becky Wallace
Hardcover plus Swag Giveaway
U.S. Only
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Released 3/22/2016
Johanna and Rafi are in a race against time to save their country before a power-mad Keeper destroys everything they hold dear in the “enthralling magical world” (Cinda Williams Chima, author of The Heir Chronicles) introduced in The Storyspinner.
As the last of the royal line, Johanna is the only person who can heal a magical breach in the wall that separates her kingdom of Santarem from the land of the Keepers, legendary men and women who wield elemental magic. The barrier protects Santarem from those Keepers who might try to take power over mere humans … Keepers who are determined to stop Johanna and seize the wall’s power for themselves.
And they’re not the only ones. As the duchys of Santarem descend into war over the throne, Johanna relies more than ever on the advice of her handsome companion, Lord Rafael DeSilva. But Rafi is a duke too, and his people come first. As their friendship progresses into the beginnings of a tender relationship, Johanna must wonder: is Rafi looking out for her happiness, or does he want the throne for himself?
With war on the horizon, Johanna and Rafi dodge treacherous dukes and Keeper assassins as they race to through the countryside, determined to strengthen the wall before it’s too late…even if it means sacrificing their happiness for the sake of their world.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Skylighter?
The SHIPS!! Not only do we get to see the growth of Jo and Rafi’s relationship, but I got to intro one entirely new ship, explain the backstory of another, and challenge a growing relationship. It was so much fun to write!
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The Hidden Twin
by Adi Rule
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 3/22/2016
For eighteen years a girl with no name, a Redwing, has been hidden away in a small attic room within a city of hissing pipes and curving temples perched on the side of the great volcano, Mol, while her sister, Jey–identical except for her eyes–has lived her life in public as an only child. Their father had hoped the hidden girl would one day grow up to be a normal human girl and not the wicked creature mythology has promised, so he secretly spared her life as an infant.
But when she switches places with her sister, striking up a flirtation with the son of the Empress while working in the royal gardens and gets attacked by two suspicious priests on her journey home, she is forced to call forth fire to protect herself, unleashing her previously dormant powers and letting her secret out. She soon catches the attention of a cult with a thousand year old grudge as well as a group of underground rebels, both seeking her for their own gain. But when her sister goes missing and the Redwing uncovers a great plot to awaken Mol and bring fiery destruction upon them all, she is forced to embrace her powers.
In Adi Rule’s stunning new novel, The Hidden Twin, the girl with no name, must finally choose a name and a path for herself, drawing a line between myth and history to prove herself more than a monster if she is to save both her sister and her home.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Hidden Twin?
The world, the empire of Caldaras. The mythology in particular was a blast to work out. (Creating gods! What’s not to love?) The gods themselves reflect what most societies tend to think about large-scale — life! death! disease! that big ball of fire in the sky! I tried to imagine how this belief system would have become embedded in all aspects of society, not just at their temples, but in their arts, aesthetics, and even speech (“What in wet hell–?”). Many of the natural features of Caldaras also have a traditional supernatural explanation as well, like Mol the volcano-god and Lake Azure Wave, which is said to boil with the bones of ancient mythical creatures called redwings.
And perhaps the most fun I had in creating this world was getting to populate it with animals and plants. Mammals, other than humans, are few and far between in the city itself, but there are plenty of birds. Sharp-eyed raptors slice through the fog overhead while merchants leading brightly festooned stritches of burden talk to aristocrats with fat little budges perched on their shoulders. The plants, though, are my favorites. Some are familiar (peonies, tomatoes), but there’s a host of new Caldaras plants, both friendly and deadly, that I hope readers will enjoy getting to meet.
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
A Drop of Night by Stefan Bachmann – Danielle D.
Zom-B Goddess by Darren Shan – Jesse R.
MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
I Woke Up Dead at the Mall
by Judy Sheehan
Hardcover
Delacorte Press
Released 3/22/2016
When Sarah wakes up dead at the Mall of America, she learns that not only was she murdered, her killer is still on the loose. I WOKE UP DEAD AT THE MALL is a terrifically fun & voicey YA novel that tackles some of life’s – and the afterlife’s – biggest questions.
When you’re sixteen, you have your whole life ahead of you. Unless you’re Sarah. Not to give anything away, but . . . she’s dead. Murdered, in fact. Sarah’s murder is shocking because she couldn’t be any more average. No enemies. No risky behavior. She’s just the girl on the sidelines.
It looks like her afterlife, on the other hand, will be pretty exciting. Sarah has woken up dead at the Mall of America—where the universe sends teens who are murdered—and with the help of her death coach, she must learn to move on or she could meet a fate totally worse than death: becoming a mall walker.
As she tries to finish her unfinished business alongside her fellow dead teens, Sarah falls hard for a cute boy named Nick. And she discovers an uncanny ability to haunt the living. While she has no idea who killed her, or why, someone she loves is in grave danger. Sarah can’t lose focus or she’ll be doomed to relive her final moments again and again forever. But can she live with herself if she doesn’t make her death matter?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about I Woke Up Dead at the Mall?
Sarah’s voice. It’s so personal and changeable. She’s the narrator, and she’s sarcastic, funny, sad, smart, angry, happy, and loving. It’s hard for Sarah to own all those feelings, so she tucks a lot of it away in parentheses. (But we get to hear it all.) Working with Sarah’s voice was so important to me, and I hope that I did right by her. By the end of the book, she felt so real and alive to me, I really cared about her.
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The Way I Used to Be
by Amber Smith
Hardcover
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Released 3/22/2016
In the tradition of Speak, this extraordinary debut novel shares the unforgettable story of a young woman as she struggles to find strength in the aftermath of an assault.
Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes.
What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once loved—who she once loved—she now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows she’s supposed to tell someone what happened but she can’t. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.
Told in four parts—freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year—this provocative debut reveals the deep cuts of trauma. But it also demonstrates one young woman’s strength as she navigates the disappointment and unbearable pains of adolescence, of first love and first heartbreak, of friendships broken and rebuilt, and while learning to embrace a power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her heart.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Way I Used to Be?
I’d have to say my favorite thing about THE WAY I USED TO BE—both in writing it, as well as in the finished book—is the extended time frame. The book follows the main character, Eden over the course of all four years of high school, as she struggles to find her voice (and herself) in the aftermath of rape. I wanted to use the element of time to show just how deep and lasting the wounds of violence can be. But I also wanted readers to be able to see the person Eden was both before and after she was assaulted to better understand how and why she evolves into the person she becomes by the end of the book. One of the things I hoped to reveal along the way is how difficult it can be to stand up to abuse—why speaking out is not always as simple or easy as some might imagine. With each year that passes we see Eden trying to gain power over her life, as she searches for the strength to become a survivor, in her own way and on her own terms. In reality, recovery from trauma and violation is a long and complicated journey, so it was important to me that Eden’s story should unfold over time.
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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
Broken Crowns
by Lauren DeStefano
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 3/22/2016
War rages everywhere and Morgan is caught in the middle in the haunting conclusion of The Internment Chronicles, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Chemical Garden trilogy.
The city is falling out of the sky…
Morgan always thought it was just a saying. A metaphor. The words of the dying. But as they look up at the floating island that was their home, Pen and Morgan make a horrible discovery—Internment is sinking.
And it’s all Morgan’s fault.
Corrupted from the inside by one terrible king and assailed from the outside for precious resources by another, Internment could be destroyed because Morgan couldn’t keep a secret. As two wars become one, Morgan must find a way to bring her two worlds together to stop the kings that wage them…
Or face the furthest fall yet.
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Harmony House
by Nic Sheff
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 3/22/2016
Jen Noonan’s father thinks a move to Harmony House is the key to salvation, but to everyone who has lived there before, it is a portal to pure horror.
After Jen’s alcoholic mother’s death, her father cracked. He dragged Jen to this dilapidated old manor on the shore of New Jersey to “start their new lives”—but Harmony House is more than just a creepy old estate. It’s got a chilling past—and the more Jen discovers its secrets, the more the house awakens. Strange visions follow Jen wherever she goes, and her father’s already-fragile sanity disintegrates before her eyes. As the forces in the house join together to terrorize Jen, she must find a way to escape the past she didn’t know was haunting her—and the mysterious and terrible power she didn’t realize she had.
A classic horror story finds a terrifying home in Harmony House, drawing on favorite tropes and edgy, modern characters to create a chilling tale of blame, guilt, and ghostly revenge.
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This Is Where the World Ends
by Amy Zhang
Hardcover
Greenwillow Books
Released 3/22/2016
The heart-wrenching new novel about best friends on a collision course with the real world, from the author of Falling into Place.
Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how it’s been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivian moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It’s the perfect friendship, as long as no one finds out about it.
But when Janie is date-raped by the most popular guy in school—a guy she’s had a crush on for years—she finds herself ostracized by all the people she thought were her friends. Now only Micah seems to believe she’s telling the truth. But when even Micah expresses doubt about whether or not she was “asking for it,” it leads to disastrous consequences, and Janie Vivian goes missing.
Using a nonlinear writing style and dual narrators, Amy Zhang’s astonishing second novel masterfully reveals the circumstances surrounding Janie’s disappearance.
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Trust Me
by Romily Bernard
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 3/22/2016
New York Times bestselling author Jay Asher called Find Me “a thriller that keeps picking up speed,” while New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan hailed Romily Bernard as “an exceptional new voice in YA.”
Trust Me is the thrilling conclusion to the Find Me trilogy, in which loose ends come together and chilling plot twists complicate Wick Tate’s life more than ever. Perfect for fans of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
With all of Wick Tate’s secrets—who can she really trust? Wick is used to relying on only herself, but when she has nowhere left to turn, she’s going to have to learn to trust someone if she’s going to finally escape her demons. . . .
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Wink Poppy Midnight
by April Genevieve Tucholke
Hardcover
Dial Books
Released 3/22/2016
The intrigue of The Virgin Suicides and the “supernatural or not” question of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer coalesce in this young adult mystery, where nothing is quite as it seems, no one is quite who you think, and everything can change on a dime.
Every story needs a hero.
Every story needs a villain.
Every story needs a secret.
Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.
What really happened?
Someone knows.
Someone is lying.
For fans of Holly Black, We Were Liars, and The Raven Boys, this mysterious tale full of intrigue, dread, beauty, and a whiff of something strange will leave you utterly entranced.
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