Don’t forget that the Free March First Five Pages workshop starts tomorrow at noon. Our mentor this month is the fabulous Elana Johnson. Check out the rules here, and take a peek also at our new list of permanent mentors who will be supporting participants with additional critiques through the initial entry and two revisions we will do together.
Also, we are moving our Roundup of New Releases to Mondays, so the list of new releases for next week–along with the giveaways for next week–will be posted on Monday, March 3rd. Today’s post is what I like to call an Emptying the Shelves Giveaway. We’re giving away the lingering ARCs and hard copies that we have. Check out the great books we’re giving away and enter to win at the bottom of the post!
YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
Willow
by Tonya Cherie Hegamin
Advance Review Copy Giveaway
Candlewick
Released 2/11/2014
Winner – Kateri Ransom
In 1848, an educated slave girl faces an inconceivable choice — between bondage and freedom, family and love.
On one side of the Mason-Dixon Line lives fifteen-year-old Willow, her master’s favorite servant. She’s been taught to read and has learned to write. She believes her master is good to her and fears the rebel slave runaways. On the other side of the line is seventeen-year-old Cato, a black man, free born. It’s his personal mission to sneak as many fugitive slaves to freedom as he can. Willow’s and Cato’s lives are about to intersect, with life-changing consequences for both of them. Tonya Cherie Hegamin’s moving coming-of-age story is a poignant meditation on the many ways a person can be enslaved, and the force of will needed to be truly emancipated.
Purchase Willow at Amazon
Purchase Willow at IndieBound
View Willow on Goodreads
Feral Curse
by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Hardcover Giveaway
Candlewick
Released 2/28/2014
Winner – Anne Marie Carter
The second installment of New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith’s thrilling Feral series delivers danger, romance, and suspense in an all new action-packed adventure.
The adopted daughter of two respectable human parents, Kayla is a werecat in the closet. All she knows is the human world. When she comes out to her boyfriend, tragedy ensues, and her determination to know and embrace her heritage grows. Help appears in the lithe form of sexy male werecat Yoshi, backed up by Aimee and Clyde, as the four set out to solve the mystery of a possessed antique carousel while fielding miscast magic, obsessive strangers, and mounting species intolerance. Paranormal fans will go wild for this rousing second Feral adventure.
Purchase Feral Curse at Amazon
Purchase Feral Curse at IndieBound
View Feral Curse on Goodreads
Pieces of Me
by Amber Kizer
Hardcover Giveaway
Delacorte Press
Released 2/28/2014
Winner – Marie Hemphill
When high school oddball and introvert Jessica Chai is killed in a car accident, her parents decide that Jessica would have wanted her organs donated to those who so desperately need these gifts of life. But Jessica is angry about dying and being dismembered. Taking the idea of cell memory to the next level, not only do the recipients get pieces of Jessica, but gets pieces of their memories and lives moving forward—she knows what they know and keeps tabs on their growth, recovery, and development. This begins her journey to learn her purpose as she begins to grasp that her ties to these teenagers goes beyond random weirdness. It’s through their lives that Jessica learns about herself, as she watches the lives she literally touched continue to interlock.
Purchase Pieces of Me at Amazon
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The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen
by Nicholas Christopher
Hardcover Giveaway
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Released 2/28/2014
Winner – Erin Gunderson
This richly-detailed historical novel from master storyteller Nicholas Christopher features an unforgettable hero: Nicolo Zen is all alone in 1700s Venice, save for his clarinet, which a mysterious magician had enchanted, allowing its first player to perform expertly. Soon Nicolo is a famous virtuoso, wealthy beyond his dreams, but he can’t stop wondering if he earned the success himself — or what might happen if the spell were removed. And throughout it all, he continues to think about the girl he met in Venice, what she might be doing and if she’s safe from harm.
With a guest appearance by composer Vivaldi, and brimming with fascinating period details, this is a compelling coming-of-age story full of universal themes and a love story that will conjure memories of Romeo and Juliet, perfect for teens who love stories set in other times, but without a paranormal storyline (as long as you don’t count a magician who dresses all in white and can be in two places on once . . . ).
Purchase The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen at Amazon
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View The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen on Goodreads
The Kill Order
by James Dashner
Paperback Giveaway
Delacorte Press; Reprint edition
Released 2/28/2014
Winner – Vero Jimenez
The prequel to the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series—The Kill Order is a modern classic for fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent. It can be read alone or as a companion to the action-packed series.
Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth and mankind fell to disease.
Mark and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving the sun flares was easy compared to what came next.
Now a disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there’s something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it’s mutating, and all evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.
Mark and Trina are convinced there’s a way to save those left living from descending into madness. And they’re determined to find it—if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some, you’re worth more dead than alive.
Purchase The Kill Order at Amazon
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View The Kill Order on Goodreads
Uninvited
by Sophie Jordan
ARC Giveaway
HarperTeen
Released 2/28/2014
Winner – Rachelle Hayes
The Scarlet Letter meets Minority Report in bestselling author Sophie Jordan’s chilling new novel about a teenage girl who is ostracized when her genetic test proves she’s destined to become a murderer.
When Davy Hamilton’s tests come back positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS)-aka the kill gene-she loses everything. Her boyfriend ditches her, her parents are scared of her, and she can forget about her bright future at Juilliard. Davy doesn’t feel any different, but genes don’t lie. One day she will kill someone.
Only Sean, a fellow HTS carrier, can relate to her new life. Davy wants to trust him; maybe he’s not as dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.
The first in a two-book series, Uninvited tackles intriguing questions about free will, identity, and human nature. Steeped in New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan’s trademark mix of gripping action and breathless romance, this suspenseful tale is perfect for fans of James Patterson, Michelle Hodkin, and Lisa McMann.
Purchase Uninvited at Amazon
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Angel Fever
by L A Weatherly
Hardcover Giveaway
Candlewick
Released 11/26/2013
Winner – Rosi Hollinbeck
As half-angel Willow strives to save the world from her parasitic otherworldly kin, romance and tension heat up to a climactic finale.
In the devastated remains of the world, millions of people live in “refugee” camps provided by the angels who have all but enslaved humanity. As this angelic stranglehold tightens, Willow and Alex are recruiting and training new Angel Killers while struggling to hold ground on the celestial battlefield. But Willow continues to have feelings for Seb, and her love and resolve are tested as a shattering revelation sends Alex on a separate journey. Now that the final battle versus the angels is about to begin-and the fate of the world hangs in the balance-each of them must face the consequences of their own choices. Will love endure? Will the human race survive?
Purchase Angel Fever at Amazon
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Boy on the Edge
by Fridrik Erlings
Hardcover Giveaway
Candlewick
Released 2/25/2014
Winner – elisquared
Can a boy on the edge find his way back? From award-winning Icelandic author Fridrik Erlings comes a novel as cruel as it is tender.
Henry has a clubfoot and he is the target of relentless bullying. One day, in a violent fit of anger, Henry lashes out at the only family he has — his mother. Sent to live with other troubled boys at the Home of Lesser Brethren, an isolated farm perched in the craggy lava fields along the unforgiving Icelandic coast, Henry finds a precarious contentment among the cows. But it is the people, including the manic preacher who runs the home, who fuel Henry’s frustration and sometimes rage as he yearns for a life and a home. Author Fridrik Erlings offers a young adult novel that explores cruelty and desperation, tenderness and remorse, but most importantly, kindness and friendship.
Purchase Boy on the Edge at Amazon
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Dead Set
by Richard Kadrey
Hardcover Giveaway
Harper Voyager; First Edition edition
Released 10/29/2013
Winner – Alice Atorly
After her father’s funeral, Zoe and her mother moved to the Big City to start over. But life’s not so easy, the money is tight, and a new school brings trials. Fortunately, she has an escape: her dreams. A world of freedom and solace removed from the loneliness and anxieties of real life, Zoe’s dreamscape offers another, more precious, gift: It is the only place where she can spend time with her closest companion — her lost brother Valentine.
Yet something is very wrong. An unfamiliar — and uninvited — presence has entered her private realm to threaten Zoe and Valentine, a disturbing turn of events that is compounded by an impossible discovery. A chance encounter at a used record store where the grooves of the vinyl discs hold not music, but lost souls, has opened up a portal to the world of the restless dead. Now, the shop’s strange proprietor is offering Zoe the chance to commune with the father whose passing took a piece of her heart. The price? A lock of hair. Then a tooth. Then…
How far into this eerie world will Zoe go to discover what she truly needs? And once she does, will there be enough left of her to come back?
Purchase Dead Set at Amazon
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More than This
by Patrick Ness
Advance Review Copy Giveaway
Candlewick; First Edition edition
Released 9/10/2013
Winner – Rachel Spring
From two-time Carnegie Medal winner Patrick Ness comes an enthralling and provocative new novel chronicling the life — or perhaps afterlife — of a teen trapped in a crumbling, abandoned world.
A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighborhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust, and completely abandoned. What’s going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this. . . .
Purchase More than This at Amazon
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One or Two Things I Learned About Love
by Dyan Sheldon
Hardcover Giveaway
Candlewick
Released 12/10/2013
Winner – Michelle Lee
If this first love is true love, why can’t Hildy hang out with her friends without feeling guilty? Dyan Sheldon takes on the possessive side of summer romance with humor and insight.
Hildy has only had two-and-a-half dates in her whole life, and she isn’t counting the half. It’s starting to look as if she’s never going to have a third date, or be kissed, or know a boy who is more than just a friend. Then, on an ordinary day, she meets Connor of the melt-that-ice-cap smile — and a summer that was going to be ordinary as toast turns into Hildy’s summer of love. But love for Hildy is a little more complicated than the songs and movies have led her to believe. It’s not so much girl-meets-boy-and loses-her-heart as boy-meets-girl-and-loses-his-mind. Part cautionary tale and part romantic comedy, Dyan Sheldon’s wry, diary-style novel weighs in on all ends of the relationship scale in a story of first love.
Purchase One or Two Things I Learned About Love at Amazon
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Smoke
by Ellen Hopkins
Advance Review Copy Giveaway
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Released 9/10/2013
Winner – Katherine Ivan
Pattyn Von Stratten’s father is dead, and Pattyn is on the run. After far too many years of abuse at the hands of her father, and after the tragic loss of her beloved Ethan and their unborn child, Pattyn is desperate for peace. Only her sister Jackie knows what happened that night, but she is stuck at home with their mother, who clings to normalcy by allowing the truth to be covered up by their domineering community leaders. Her father might be finally gone, but without Pattyn, Jackie is desperately isolated. Alone and in disguise, Pattyn starts a new life, but is it even possible to rebuild a life when everything you’ve known has burned to ash and lies seem far safer than the truth?
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