YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
Save the Enemy
by Arin Greenwood
Hardcover Giveaway
Soho Teen
Released 11/12/2013
Everything has been downhill since Zoey Trask’s mother was murdered in a random mugging. Her younger brother, Ben, is on the autistic spectrum and needs constant supervision. It’s senior year, and she’s the new girl at a weird private school in Old Town Alexandria, VA, full of kids who seem too nice to be true–including a very cute boy named Pete. Aside from half-forgotten martial arts and survivalist skills that her widowed father insisted on teaching her (because that is excellent for her social life), Zoey has nothing to offer Pete or anyone else.
Then Dad is kidnapped. Zoey suddenly finds herself sole caretaker of a younger brother she barely understands. Worse, Ben seems to hold the key to their father’s disappearance in his Dream Diary, a bizarre journal of names and places Ben claims that their mother shares from beyond the grave. And as if Zoey doesn’t have enough on her plate, there’s Pete, who stubbornly refuses to leave her side.
Relying on the skills she never wanted to learn–Dad might have had his reasons after all. Zoey is plunged into a lethal battle to rescue her father, protect her brother, and determine the identity of her family’s true enemy.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Save the Enemy?
I’m going to cheat and tell you about my two favorite things in Save The Enemy.
It was really a lot of fun trying to figure out what would make some pretty typical suburban parents become assassins, beyond money. What would happen in a person’s life that this, of all things, would seem like the right path? And what would it be like for that person’s kids once they started catching on to their parent being an assassin? I realize it sounds sort of dark (okay, really really dark), but I enjoyed trying to figure out how all of this would actually work.
My second favorite thing is that at some point in the book–I don’t want to spoil things and tell you when, but you won’t see it coming!–a meteor unexpectedly falls from the sky.
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The Living
by Matt de la Pena
Hardcover Giveaway
Delacorte Press
Released 11/12/2013
Shy took the summer job to make some money. In a few months on a luxury cruise liner, he’ll rake in the tips and be able to help his mom and sister out with the bills. And how bad can it be? Bikinis, free food, maybe even a girl or two–every cruise has different passengers, after all.
But everything changes when the Big One hits. Shy’s only weeks out at sea when an earthquake more massive than ever before recorded hits California, and his life is forever changed.
The earthquake is only the first disaster. Suddenly it’s a fight to survive for those left living.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Living?
My favorite thing about THE LIVING is the main character, Shy. I actually rescued Shy out of a failed novel I wrote several years ago. I had been reading a bunch of Russian novels and I thought, Hey, I know what I’ll do. I’ll write a novel with sixteen main characters. Needless to say, the book didn’t work. I got up to page 500 and the story still hadn’t quite started. But one of the characters, Shy, really intrigued me. He was a working class kid from a poor neighborhood who was sort of girl crazy. So I stole him out of that novel and put him on a cruise ship, which is the setting for THE LIVING. And the girl he likes is a little older, and she’s engaged. So even before a massive earthquake hits California, things are already tough on Shy. I also loved writing a book with more action. It was a challenge for me. And I’m excited about how it turned out.
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Son of Fortune
by Victoria McKernan
Hardcover Giveaway
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Released 11/12/2013
Aiden Lynch is a survivor–only 16 years old, he’s seen himself through near-starvation on the Kansas prairie, a brutal journey on the Oregon trail, and backbreaking work in a lumber camp. Now he’s reached the glittering city of San Francisco, and though his future is uncertain, promise lies ahead. Luck seems to favor him as he manages to stay one step ahead of trouble, even in the city’s notoriously dangerous Barbary Coast. And it is pure fortune that leads him to a wealthy family, and then the high-stakes poker game in which he wins a ship–fully outfitted and ready for trade. The trade he has inherited: importing guano, a highly potent fertilizer, from island mines in Peru.
But what he finds in Peru is a savage business–conditions at the mines are unthinkable, the workers forced into servitude. When Aiden becomes involved with a miner who claims to be a kidnapped Chinese nobleman, all his loyalties are called into question, and he’s plunged into a dangerous game.
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Splendor
by Elana K. Arnold
Hardcover Giveaway
Delacorte Press
Released 11/12/2013
The passionate romance that began in Sacred concludes in Splendor.
Scarlett loves the touch of her boyfriend, Will. But when he leaves Catalina Island to start college on the East Coast, she wonders whether their passion can survive a long-distance relationship–and whether she can face the home front on her own. Scarlett’s senior year should be a breeze, but her parents have recently separated, and her already-wild best friend, Lily, is becoming involved with a dangerous boy named Gunner . . . a boy Scarlett is also attracted to. A boy she doesn’t want to be–and shouldn’t be–attracted to.
To take her mind off her troubles, Scarlett focuses on caring for her newly pregnant mare and delving deeper into the Kabbalah. Her religious exploration offers a way to stay connected to Will, who is a Kabbalah mystic, and a key to understanding her disturbing dreams about him. But as she gets wrapped up in her mare, her Kabbalah studies, and her conflicting feelings for Will and Gunner, Scarlett misses the warning signs that lead to a heartbreaking loss.
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
Swagger
by Carl Deuker
Hardcover Giveaway
HMH Books for Young Readers
Released 11/5/2013
Winner – Rabiah Rowther
Levi was simple, like a child. It was the best thing about him, and it was the worst, too.
When high school senior Jonas moves to Seattle, he is glad to meet Levi, a nice, soft-spoken guy and fellow basketball player. Suspense builds like a slow drumbeat as readers start to smell a rat in Ryan Hartwell, a charismatic basketball coach and sexual predator. When Levi reluctantly tells Jonas that Hartwell abused him, Jonas has to decide whether he should risk his future career to report the coach. Pitch-perfect basketball plays, well-developed characters, and fine storytelling make this heartbreaking psychological sports novel a slam dunk.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Swagger?
What I like most about Swagger? I like that the book takes on a tough topic (sexual abuse) but doesn’t pander in any way. Readers of different ages will bring to the story their own awareness, so a 12 year-old will “get it” in a different way than and 18 year-old, and they will both understand the book in their own way. I’m getting a little tired of “edgy” being the preeminent quality in YA fiction. Sometimes edgy is another word for sensationalism. Swagger takes on a hot topic, but there’s no sensationalism in the story.
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Broken
by C. J. Lyons
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Sourcebooks Fire
Released 11/5/2013
Winner – Melinda Gray
New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons makes her YA debut with a fast-paced thriller sure to keep readers guessing to the very last page
The only thing fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has ever wanted is a chance at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, she has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. So when her parents offer her three days to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now… or never. Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But this high school is far from normal. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Broken?
My favorite thing is the awesome cover! I often create visual images to inspire me while I write and while working on BROKEN I created this broken heart image made from a shattered mercury glass ornament. Now, I’m strictly an amateur photoshopper, so I didn’t show anyone this image.
Fast forward a few months and I get a call from my agent saying that Sourcebooks had just forwarded a preliminary copy of the cover for BROKEN and she was so excited that she wanted to blow it up and frame it as a poster! Then she sent it to me and I literally jumped for joy–I love, love, love it! It’s not only beautiful but also so very perfect for the story of a girl literally dying of a broken heart.
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The Trap
by Andrew Fukuda
Hardcover Giveaway
St. Martin”s Griffin
Released 11/5/2013
Winner – Stacie McAdams
From author Andrew Fukuda comes The Trap, the explosive finale to The Hunt trilogy–perfect for fans of The Hunger Games!
After barely escaping the Mission alive, Gene and Sissy face an impossible task: staying alive long enough to stop an entire world bent on their destruction. Bound on a train heading into the unknown with the surviving Mission girls, Gene, Sissy, David, and Epap must stick together and use everything they have to protect each other and their only hope: the cure that will turn the blood-thirsty creatures around them into humans again. Now that they know how to reverse the virus, Gene and Sissy have one final chance to save those they love and create a better life for themselves. But as they struggle to get there, Gene’s mission sets him on a crash course with Ashley June, his first love . . . and his deadliest enemy.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Trap?
My favorite part about The Trap is the ending. I think it’s the perfect ending to the trilogy — it ties up all the loose ends, explains some of the key mysteries, and leaves one final kicker of a reveal that I’m guessing is going to stun quite a few readers.
I actually knew how the trilogy was going to end soon after I began writing The Hunt. For two years, I carried these scenes in my head, and before I’d even written a word, I had a fairly good idea of their shape and structure. When I finally got to pen them, my heart was thumping in my chest from the sheer excitement of finally bringing to paper the words and sentences and images and dialogue that until then had only existed in my head. It was such an intense feeling — and when I was finally done, I felt this thud of rightness in my gut. I’d nailed it. Everything I wanted in that ending was in there, in the right way.
I still remember that moment when I finished typing out the final sentence, the final word, the final period. I put my head down on the desk . . . and just exhaled. I felt such an immense relief. I’d completed something that I’d had, to be honest, my share of doubts. But I did it — I’d penned a whole trilogy and delivered a final book that I knew would please and even enthrall THE HUNT fans. I don’t want to be patting myself on my back too much, but I’m really happy to say that this series finale kicks.
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Twinmaker
by Sean Williams
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
Balzer + Bray
Released 11/5/2013
Winner – Kelly Tackett
High-stakes action combines with issues of friendship and body image in this timely and thought-provoking exploration of the intersection of technology and identity.
You can be Improved….
In a near-future world in which technology can transport you anywhere instantly, can a coded note enable you to change your body-to become taller, stronger, more beautiful? Clair is pretty sure the offer is too good to be true. But her best friend, Libby, is determined to give it a try, longing for a new, improved version of herself.
What starts as Libby’s dream turns into Clair’s nightmare when Libby falls foul of a deadly trap. With the help of Jesse, the school freak, and a mysterious-but powerful-stranger called Q, Clair’s attempt to protect Libby leads her to an unimagined world of conspiracies and cover-ups. Soon her own life is at risk, and Clair is chased across the world in a desperate race against time.
Action and danger fuel Sean Williams’s tale of technology, identity, and the lengths to which one girl will go to save her best friend.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Twinmaker?
My favourite thing about Twinmaker–and is this extraordinarily difficult to pick, because I haven’t had time to get sick of any of it yet–is a moment in the middle when the three main protagonists are alone together for the first time. I like it because they’re completely isolated from their futuristic world, physically, emotionally and socially, and forced to show their true colours. As a result of this small moment, two of them start to see each other in quite a different light (speaking vaguely in order to avoid a spoiler, but it’s not a huge one and I’m sure a lot of readers will see it coming). It’s the still heart at the centre of the book, and every time I read it I’m reminded of what it’s really about.
Twinmaker contains a lot of stuff that I think is really cool, from the observatory in the opening chapter–a real place!–to d-mat and fabbers and all that high-tech stuff, but at the end of the day it comes down to the characters. I find them admirable and fascinating, young people I’d be very proud to know, flaws and all.
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Palace of Spies
by Sarah Zettel
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
HMH Books for Young Readers
Released 11/5/2013
Winner – Michael Gettel-Gilmartin
A warning to all young ladies of delicate breeding who wish to embark upon lives of adventure: Don’t.
Sixteen-year-old Peggy is a well-bred orphan who is coerced into posing as a lady in waiting at the palace of King George I. Life is grand, until Peggy starts to suspect that the girl she’s impersonating might have been murdered. Unless Peggy can discover the truth, she might be doomed to the same terrible fate. But in a court of shadows and intrigue, anyone could be a spy–perhaps even the handsome young artist with whom Peggy is falling in love . . . History and mystery spark in this effervescent series debut.
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Cold Spell
by Jackson Pearce
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Released 11/5/2013
Winner – Rachel Spring
Kai and Ginny grew up together–best friends since they could toddle around their building’s rooftop rose garden. Now they’re seventeen, and their relationship has developed into something sweeter, complete with stolen kisses and plans to someday run away together.
But one night, Kai disappears with a mysterious stranger named Mora–a beautiful girl with a dark past and a heart of ice. Refusing to be cast aside, Ginny goes after them and is thrust into a world she never imagined, one filled with monsters and thieves and the idea that love is not enough.
If Ginny and Kai survive the journey, will she still be the girl he loved–and moreover, will she still be the girl who loved him?
Jackson Pearce, author of the acclaimed SISTERS RED and FATHOMLESS, has returned with a unique vision of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” one about power and redemption, failure and hope, and the true meaning of strength.
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MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
Uncrashable Dakota
by Andy Marino
Hardcover
Henry Holt and Co.
Released 11/12/2013
In 1862, Union army infantryman Samuel Dakota changed history when he spilled a bottle of pilfered moonshine in the Virginia dirt and stumbled upon the biochemical secret of flight. Not only did the Civil War come to a much quicker close, but Dakota Aeronautics was born.
Now, in Andy Marino’s Uncrashable Dakota, it is 1912, and the titanic Dakota flagship embarks on its maiden flight. But shortly after the journey begins, the airship is hijacked. Fighting to save the ship, the young heir of the Dakota empire, Hollis, along with his brilliant friend Delia and his stepbrother, Rob, are plunged into the midst of a long-simmering family feud. Maybe Samuel’s final secret wasn’t just the tinkering of a madman after all. . . .
What sinister betrayals and strange discoveries await Hollis and his friends in the gilded corridors and opulent staterooms? Who can be trusted to keep the most magnificent airship the world has ever known from falling out of the sky?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Uncrashable Dakota?
The alien shiver!
Okay, but UNCRASHABLE DAKOTA isn’t a story about aliens. It’s a story about a hijacking aboard a Titanic-sized airship in an alternate year 1912. So here’s what I mean: when I’m reading a novel, I love it when an off-kilter, otherworldly feeling takes over. Even if the setting is based on some version of reality, I want my mind to feel a bit bent out of shape. The sense that the rules of everyday life no longer apply, that everything has been shifted just slightly out of view–it’s pretty indescribable, so I just call it the “alien shiver.”
UNCRASHABLE DAKOTA weaves an imaginary Civil War history with events inspired by the final hours of the Titanic, and I’m most proud of the way these elements combine to provoke that weird, unearthly sensation. I’d be delighted if readers found their own version of the alien shiver in my book.
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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
Afterglow
by Karsten Knight
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 11/12/2013
The action thrills and the passion burns in this red-hot conclusion to the Wildefire trilogy.
Teenage volcano goddess Ashline Wilde discovers that her former love, Colt Halliday, has an evil plan to kill the Cloak, the benevolent beings that oversee the gods. And that’s not all—he also wants to merge Ash and her two sisters back into a single, too-powerful goddess, Pele. Ash must stop her trickster-god ex-boyfriend once and for all…and to do it, she’s going to have to feed a few flames.
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Fault Line
by C. Desir
Hardcover
Simon Pulse
Released 11/12/2013
Ben could date anyone he wants, but he only has eyes for the new girl — sarcastic free-spirit, Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him too. She’s everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want.
But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone.
Now Ani isn’t the girl she used to be, and Ben can’t sort out the truth from the lies. What really happened, and who is to blame?
Ben wants to help her, but she refuses to be helped. The more she pushes Ben away, the more he wonders if there’s anything he can do to save the girl he loves.
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Firebrand
by John Antony
Hardcover
Dial
Released 11/12/2013
In this sequel to the dystopian fantasy-adventure ELEMENTAL, which James Dashner called “fantastic,” the stakes are life-or-death and nothing is as it appears to be.
Thomas and his friends have rescued the Guardians and commandeered the pirates’ ship, but the pirates still hold fast to Roanoke Island. Using his newly discovered element, Thomas hears a radio message calling for refugees to head to Fort Sumter. They sail south, but quickly discover that their elements wane as they leave Roanoke behind. There is something sinister going on in the refugee colony too. From the perilous food-gathering squads, to the constant threat of rat infestation, to dangerous secrets, Thomas and his colonists begin to realize that this promising new world may be even more terrifying than the one they left behind.
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Foul Trouble
by John Feinstein
Hardcover
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Released 11/12/2013
Bestselling sports writer John Feinstein exposes the big money and back room deals that go into college recruiting in this high-octane YA novel.
Terrell Jamerson is the #1 high school basketball player in the country. His team is poised to win the states. He’s got top colleges lined up to offer him scholarships. Press coverage at every game. Everyone says he could play in the NBA tomorrow. He’s living the dream, right?
Danny Wilcox would tell you a different story. Danny is Terrell’s best friend and teammate, and a top prospect himself. But he sees that not all of the people buzzing around Terrell have his best interests at heart. The sneaker guys, the money managers, the college boosters—they’re all so eager to help. And to get rich themselves in the process.
It’s a dirty game, but Terrell will have to learn to play if he wants his chance at a slam dunk. . . .
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Full Ride
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 11/12/2013
Becca has plenty to hide and everything to lose—but with her future on the line, she’s willing to risk it all. A gripping novel from New York Times bestselling author Maragaret Peterson Haddix.
Becca’s claim to fame is one she’s been hiding from for the past three years: Her father is a notorious embezzler, and when he was caught, his excuse was, “How else is a guy like me supposed to put his kid through college?”
Three years after the trial and imprisonment that destroyed Becca’s life, she and her mother have started over again and are living in a town where no one knows their secret. But as college—and its cost—looms large, Becca begins to wonder how they’ll afford it. And how she can apply for financial aid without divulging her secret? A local scholarship opportunity seems like a dream come true, but as the application process commences, Becca uncovers a chain of secrets that could destroy everything she’s worked so hard to build. But the truth could also lead her toward the future she’s always dreamed of…
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Ketchup Clouds
by Annabel Pitcher
Hardcover
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Released 11/12/2013
Dear Mr. S. Harris,
Ignore the blob of red in the top left corner. It’s jam, not blood, though I don’t think I need to tell you the difference. It wasn’t your wife’s jam the police found on your shoe. . . .
Zoe has an unconventional pen pal-Mr. Stuart Harris, a Texas Death Row inmate and convicted murderer. But then again, Zoe has an unconventional story to tell. A story about how she fell for two boys, betrayed one of them, and killed the other.
Hidden away in her backyard shed in the middle of the night with a jam sandwich in one hand and a pen in the other, Zoe gives a voice to her heart and her fears after months of silence. Mr. Harris may never respond to Zoe’s letters, but at least somebody will know her story-somebody who knows what it’s like to kill a person you love. Only through her unusual confession can Zoe hope to atone for her mistakes that have torn lives apart, and work to put her own life back together again.
Rising literary star Annabel Pitcher pens a captivating second novel, rich with her distinctive balance between humor and heart. Annabel explores the themes of first love, guilt, and grief, introducing a character with a witty voice and true emotional resonance.
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The F- It List
by Julie Halpern
Hardcover
Feiwel & Friends
Released 11/12/2013
With her signature heart and humor, Julie Halpern explores a strained friendship strengthened by one girl’s battle with cancer.
Alex’s father recently died in a car accident. And on the night of his funeral, her best friend Becca slept with Alex’s boyfriend. So things aren’t great. Alex steps away from her friendship with Becca and focuses on her family.
But when Alex finally decides to forgive Becca, she finds out something that will change her world again–Becca has cancer.
So what do you do when your best friend has cancer? You help her shave her head. And then you take her bucket list and try to fulfill it on her behalf. Because if that’s all you can do to help your ailing friend–you do it.
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The Wicked Games
by Michelle Zink
Hardcover
Dial
Released 11/14/2013
Claire Kincaid’s family has been in business for over fifty years.
The voodoo business.
Part of the International Guild of High Priests and Priestesses, a secret society that have practiced voodoo for generations, the Kincaid’s run an underground supply house for authentic voodoo supplies. Claire plays along, filling orders for powders, oils and other bizarre ingredients in the family store, but she has a secret.
She doesn’t believe.
Struggling to reconcile her modern sensibilities with a completely unscientific craft based on suspicion, Claire can’t wait to escape New Orleans — and voodoo — when she goes to college, a desire that creates almost constant conflict in her secret affair with Xander Toussaint, son of the Guild’s powerful founding family.
But when a mysterious customer places an order for a deadly ingredient, Claire begins to realize that there’s more to voodoo — and the families that make up the Guild — than meets the eye.
Including her own.
As she bands together with the other firstborns of the Guild, she comes face to face with a deadly enemy — and the disbelief that may very well kill her.
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