We hope you’re all keeping warm in this last week of February! Ten amazing books release this week, and we have giveaways for four of them — including one internationally. Take a peek at the offerings below, and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
Happy reading,
Lindsey, Martina, Jocelyn, Erin, Susan, Sam, Shelly, Sarah, Sandra, Kristin, and Anisaa
YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
Dreamfever
by Kit Alloway
Signed Hardcover plus Swag Giveaway
U.S. Only
St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 2/23/2016
Finding out that she is the True Dream Walker hasn’t gone at all the Joshlyn Weaver would have expected it to. The only special gift she seems to have is an ability to create archways, which really isn’t that special. In addition to her inability to connect with the Dream, she has also started having nightmares that are so terrible she can’t tell anyone about them. Not even Will.
Just when Josh thought her life couldn’t get any more complicated, the lost dream walker princess returns to claim her parents’ right to the throne, right as the Lodestone party threatens to take control of the government during the upcoming Accordance Conclave.
With the clock running down, Josh must rely on not only her friends, but also her enemies, to stop the radicals from taking power and controlling the Dream. But how can she expect to save everyone else when she’s struggling to pick up the pieces of her own shattered life?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Dreamfever?
I think my favorite thing about DREAMFEVER is the development of the relationships between the characters that were established in the first novel, DREAMFIRE. Everything becomes more complicated. Will and Josh face major obstacles to their romance—and to their partnership. Will’s friendships with both Deloise and Whim are tested. Newcomer Mirren wants to connect with Haley but doesn’t know how. I enjoyed letting the characters and their relationships evolve.
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The Bitter Side of Sweet
by Tara Sullivan
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Released 2/23/2016
For fans of Linda Sue Park and A Long Way Gone, two young boys must escape a life of slavery in modern-day Ivory Coast
Fifteen-year-old Amadou counts the things that matter. For two years what has mattered are the number of cacao pods he and his younger brother, Seydou, can chop down in a day. This number is very important. The higher the number the safer they are because the bosses won’t beat them. The higher the number the closer they are to paying off their debt and returning home to Baba and Auntie. Maybe. The problem is Amadou doesn’t know how much he and Seydou owe, and the bosses won’t tell him. The boys only wanted to make some money during the dry season to help their impoverished family. Instead they were tricked into forced labor on a plantation in the Ivory Coast; they spend day after day living on little food and harvesting beans in the hot sun—dangerous, backbreaking work. With no hope of escape, all they can do is try their best to stay alive—until Khadija comes into their lives.
She’s the first girl who’s ever come to camp, and she’s a wild thing. She fights bravely every day, attempting escape again and again, reminding Amadou what it means to be free. But finally, the bosses break her, and what happens next to the brother he has always tried to protect almost breaks Amadou. The old impulse to run is suddenly awakened. The three band together as family and try just once more to escape.
Tara Sullivan, the award-winning author of the astounding Golden Boy, delivers another powerful, riveting, and moving tale of children fighting to make a difference and be counted. Inspired by true-to-life events happening right now, The Bitter Side of Sweet is an exquisitely written tour de force not to be missed.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Bitter Side of Sweet?
My main character, Amadou, “counts the things that matter.” I love this, not only because it is an enormously key facet of him (it’s his way of working control into the impossible and powerless situation of slavery he and his little brother are in), but I love the resonance of the idea. One of the things that changes for Amadou over the course of the book is his definition of what “matters” and that is the core of what I hope my books can do. If a reader walks away from my books feeling like he or she has a new appreciation of what really matters and a willingness to act on that, then I feel my work has been a success.
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After the Woods
by Kim Savage
Hardcover Giveaway
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Released 2/23/2016
Would you risk your life to save your best friend?
Julia did. When a paroled predator attacked Liv in the woods, Julia fought back and got caught. Liv ran, leaving Julia in the woods for a terrifying 48 hours that she remembers only in flashbacks. One year later, Liv seems bent on self-destruction, starving herself, doing drugs, and hooking up with a violent new boyfriend. A dead girl turns up in those same woods, and Julia’s memories resurface alongside clues unearthed by an ambitious reporter that link the girl to Julia’s abductor. As the devastating truth becomes clear, Julia realizes that after the woods was just the beginning.
Kirkus calls After the Woods, “A riveting exploration of what it’s like when the enemy is much closer than you suspect.” (starred review, Nov. 1, 2015)
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about After the Woods?
I love that some early readers said it wasn’t what they were expecting, whether that was a mystery (it’s technically not), horror (it’s definitely not), or, I guess, predictable. I’m okay with being slightly disoriented inside a book, because those are the books I like to read.
I also love my minor characters deeply and, probably, excessively. Particularly Alice, for her unconditional love for Julia.
Sorry. That was three things.
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The Last Place on Earth
by Carol Snow
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Henry Holt and Co.
Released 2/23/2016
Daisy’s best friend is missing . . . and not for the reasons she thinks.
Henry Hawking is sixteen years old, brilliant, funny, and sly–and now he’s missing. But no one seems worried except his best friend, Daisy Cruz, who knows that Henry’s security-obsessed parents would never leave town without taking proper precautions. And Henry would never go away without saying good-bye.
Daisy considers all the obvious explanations for Henry’s disappearance (federal witness protection program, alien abduction) before breaking into Henry’s house. In his room, she finds a note that pleads, SAVE ME.
Desperate to find Henry, Daisy follows his trail deep into the California wilderness. What she finds there makes her wonder if she ever knew Henry at all . . . and if the world as she knows it will ever be the same.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Last Place on Earth?
That is a tough one! I love my protagonist, Daisy Cruz, because she is artistic and quirky, yet well-grounded and sensible. Also, while I was writing the book, she made me laugh. (No seriously: I’d be writing in the first person, imagining events unfold through her perspective, and her reactions would make me burst out laughing. This is one of many reasons I don’t do a lot of writing in public.) But I think my very favorite thing about THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH is that the plot, much like life, has a lot of unexpected twists and turns. I get so frustrated when, after reading a book flap or sometimes even just one chapter, I pretty much know what to expect from the next three hundred pages. As an author, I’d rather keep readers guessing.
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
Ascending the Boneyard by C.G. Watson – Danielle H.
Marked by Laura Williams McCaffrey – James R., Alicia G., Kelsey M.
Some of the Parts by Hannah Barnaby – Amanda M.
The Rule of Mirrors by Caragh M. O’Brien – Lara F.
MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
Dove Exiled
by Karen Bao
Hardcover
Viking Books for Young Readers
Released 2/23/2016
Phaet Theta fled the Moon and has been hiding on Earth with her friend Wes and his family. But Phaet’s past catches up with her when the Lunar Bases attack the community and reveal that Phaet is a fugitive. She’s torn between staying on Earth with Wes—whom she’s just discovered her feelings for—and stowing away on a Moon-bound ship to rescue her siblings from the wrath of the government who killed their mother. But when Phaet makes the agonizing decision to return to the Moon, she finds the rebel movement there has turned her into their “Girl Sage,” a symbol of their struggle. She’s the biggest celebrity on the Moon: half the people worship her, and the other half want her dead.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Dove Exiled?
I love that readers get to see what Planet Earth has become in ~200 years! Without giving away spoilers, Earth’s new geography arises from climate change, and its new political order results from events in the world going on today. The island-like floating cities each have unique architecture and culture, just as the Moon does in DOVE ARISING. I hope people have as much fun reading about this brave new world as I did creating it.
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The Smell of Other People’s Houses
by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Hardcover
Wendy Lamb Books
Released 2/23/2016
In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. This deeply moving and authentic debut is for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and Benjamin Alire Saenz. Intertwining stories of love, tragedy, wild luck, and salvation on the edge of America’s Last Frontier introduce a writer of rare talent.
Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.
Four very different lives are about to become entangled. This unforgettable book is about people who try to save each other—and how sometimes, when they least expect it, they succeed.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Smell of Other People’s Houses?
Basically this is a book that touches on aspects of growing up in my family and sort of draws from experiences of my mother and her siblings, me and my siblings and then my own children’s experiences. We have lived in Alaska for a very long time (my Grandmother is turning 96 this year and still lives in her own home in Fairbanks). So, like a lot of people I just mined my own family for gems. I also felt like there are very few books that talk about the normal person growing up in Alaska because it’s a place that is very romanticized. Although I know some fabulous Alaskan writers so I think we can expect to see a lot of great books from the 49th state in the next few years.
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Titans
by Victoria Scott
Hardcover
Scholastic Press
Released 2/23/2016
Ever since the Titans first appeared in her Detroit neighborhood, Astrid Sullivan’s world has revolved around the mechanical horses. She and her best friend have spent countless hours watching them and their jockeys practice on the track. It’s not just the thrill of the race. It’s the engineering of the horses and the way they’re programmed to seem so lifelike. The Titans are everything that fascinates Astrid, and nothing she’ll ever touch.
She hates them a little, too. Her dad lost everything betting on the Titans. And the races are a reminder of the gap between the rich jockeys who can afford the expensive machines to ride, and the working class friends and neighbors of Astrid’s who wager on them.
But when Astrid’s offered a chance to enter an early model Titan in this year’s derby, well, she decides to risk it all. Because for a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, it’s more than a chance at fame or money. Betting on herself is the only way she can see to hang on to everyone in the world she cares about.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Titans?
The mechanical horses. It was the first thing that sparked the idea, imagining those robotic horses with red glowing eyes thrashing inside the starting gate. My mind will always see them that way–frenzied, dangerous, magnetic.
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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
Behold the Bones
by Natalie C. Parker
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 2/23/2016
Candace “Candy” Pickens has been obsessed with the swamp lore of her tiny Louisiana town for . . . forever. Name any ghostly swamp figure and Candy will recite the entire tale in a way that will curl your toes and send chills up your spine.
That doesn’t mean Candy’s a believer, however. Even though she and her friends entered the swamp at the start of summer and left it changed, Candy’s the only one who can’t see or feel the magical swamp Shine. She’s also the only one who can’t see the ghosts that have been showing up and spooking everyone in town ever since. So Candy concentrates on other things—real things. Like fighting with her mother and plotting her escape from her crazy town.
But ghosts aren’t the only newcomers in Sticks, Louisiana. The King family arrives like a hurricane: in a blur and unwanted—at least by Candy. Mr. King is intent on filming the rumored ghostly activity for his hit TV show, Local Haunts. And while Candy can’t ignore how attracted she is to eighteen-year-old Gage King and how much his sister, Nova, wants to be friends, she’s still suspicious of the King family.
As Candy tries to figure out why the Kings are really in town and why the swamp that had previously cast her aside now seems to be invading every crack in her logical, cynical mind, she stumbles across the one piece of swamp lore she didn’t know. It’s a tale that’s more truth than myth, and may have all the answers . . . and its roots are in Candy’s own family tree.
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Kingdom of Ashes
by Rhiannon Thomas
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 2/23/2016
Asleep for a hundred years, awoken by a kiss, Aurora’s life was supposed to be a fairytale. But since discovering that loyalty to the crown and loyalty to her country are two very different things, Aurora knows she can only dream of happily ever after. Once the enchanted princess, savior of her people, she is now branded a traitor.
Aurora is determined to free her home from the king’s tyrannical rule, even if it means traveling across the sea to the kingdom of the handsome and devious Prince Finnegan—someone who seems to know far more about her magic than he should. However, Finnegan’s kingdom has perils of its own, and any help he gives Aurora will come at a price.
As Aurora and Finnegan work together to harness her power—something so fiery and dangerous that is as likely to destroy those close to Aurora as it is to save them—she begins to unravel the mysteries surrounding the curse that was placed on her over a century before…and uncover the truth about the destiny she was always meant to fulfill.
Brimming with captivating fantasy and life-threatening danger, the sequel to A Wicked Thing takes Sleeping Beauty on an adventure unlike any she’s ever had before.
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Thanks for the Trouble
by Tommy Wallach
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 2/23/2016
Tommy Wallach, the New York Times bestselling author of the “stunning debut” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) We All Looked Up, delivers a brilliant new novel about a young man who overcomes a crippling loss and finds the courage to live after meeting an enigmatic girl.
“Was this story written about me?”
I shrugged.
“Yes or no?”
I shrugged again, finally earning a little scowl, which somehow made the girl even more pretty.
“It’s very rude not to answer simple questions,” she said.
I gestured for my journal, but she still wouldn’t give it to me. So I took out my pen and wrote on my palm.
I can’t, I wrote. Then, in tiny letters below it: Now don’t you feel like a jerk?
Parker Santé hasn’t spoken a word in five years. While his classmates plan for bright futures, he skips school to hang out in hotels, killing time by watching the guests. But when he meets a silver-haired girl named Zelda Toth, a girl who claims to be quite a bit older than she looks, he’ll discover there just might be a few things left worth living for.
From the celebrated author of We All Looked Up comes a unique story of first and last loves.
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