We have a lot of awesome giveaways today.
We’re a stop on James Dashner’s blog tour for the paperback release of THE KILL ORDER, with a great interview and giveaways of both THE KILL ORDER and THE EYE OF MINDS, not to mention links to more interviews and great giveaways. You’ll find out James’ weirdest writing habit and more secrets from the master.
Click here to see the interview plus enter the giveaways
PLUS here’s our regular Friday Giveaway and the list of last week’s winners.
YA BOOK GIVEAWAY THIS WEEK
Pick your own YA novel, leave a comment with the title, and we’ll send it to you if you win. ANY YA novel.
AND you’ll also get:
The Maze Runner
by James Dashner
Paperback Giveaway
Delacorte Press
Released 10/6/2009
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade-a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.
Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.
Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up-the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.
Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.
Book Details:
Format: Hardcover
Publication Date: 10/6/2009
Pages: 384
Reading Level: Age 12 and Up
Purchase The Maze Runner at Amazon
Purchase The Maze Runner at IndieBound
View The Maze Runner on Goodreads
YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
First Love
by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Hardcover
Little, Brown and Company
Released 1/13/2014
We thought we could run away from the world A mad adventure across the country We thought we could escape time And for a while–we did… Axi Moore is a “good girl”: She studies hard, stays out of the spotlight, and doesn’t tell anyone that what she really wants is to run away from it all. The only person she can tell is her best friend, Robinson–who she also happens to be madly in love with. When Axi impulsively invites Robinson to come with her on an unplanned cross-country road trip, she breaks the rules for the first time in her life. But the adventure quickly turns from carefree to out-of-control… A remarkably moving tale with its origins in James Patterson’s own past, First Love is testament to the power of first love–and how it can change the rest of your life.
Purchase First Love at Amazon
Purchase First Love at IndieBound
View First Love on Goodreads
Going Rogue
by Robin Benway
Hardcover
Walker Childrens
Released 1/14/2014
Being permanently based in a local New York City high school as an undercover operative has its moments, good and bad, for 16-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver. Pros: More quality time with her former mark-turned-boyfriend Jesse Oliver and insanely cool best friend, Roux. Getting to spend quality time with her semi-retired and international spy honorary uncle, Angelo. Cons: High school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. But when Maggie’s parents are falsely accused of stealing priceless gold coins, Maggie uses her safecracking skills to try and clear their names. Too bad it only serves to put her and everyone she loves in danger. Maggie and her “new team” flee to Paris where they must come up with a plan to defeat their former allies.
Purchase Going Rogue at Amazon
Purchase Going Rogue at IndieBound
View Going Rogue on Goodreads
Stormbringer
by Shannon Delany
Paperback
St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 1/14/2014
The second book in the Weather Witch series in which Jordan Astrea learns of her true powers
In the intrigue-filled follow up to Weather Witch, Jordan Astraea, once a young Philadelphia lady of good social standing, is now in the final stages of her brutal training to become a Conductor—the Weather Witch who serves as a living battery to keep the massive airliner Artemesia aloft. Meanwhile, Rowen, determined to rescue her after losing his only other true friend and being wanted for murder, has found himself forced aboard a much different air vessel, this one manned by a dangerous crew and carrying a cargo so treasonous, that, if finding its destination, will herald a storm of revolution for the still young United States.
With a spirit for adventure, romance, fantastic world building and cunning imagination, Shannon Delany delivers the sensational follow up to Weather Witch in the second book of the trilogy.
Purchase Stormbringer at Amazon
Purchase Stormbringer at IndieBound
View Stormbringer on Goodreads
The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant
by Joanna Wiebe
Hardcover
BenBella Books
Released 1/14/2014
So many secrets for such a small island. From the moment Anne Merchant arrives at Cania Christy, a boarding school for the world’s wealthiest teens, the hushed truths of this strange, unfamiliar land begin calling to her—sometimes as lulling drumbeats in the night, sometimes as piercing shrieks.
One by one, unanswered questions rise. No one will tell her why a line is painted across the island or why she is forbidden to cross it. Her every move—even her performance at the school dance—is graded as part of a competition to become valedictorian, a title that brings rewards no one will talk about. And Anne discovers that the parents of her peers surrender million-dollar possessions to enroll their kids in Cania Christy, leaving her to wonder what her lowly funeral director father could have paid to get her in? and why.
As a beautiful senior struggles to help Anne make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world without breaking the rules that bind him, she must summon the courage to face the impossible truth—and change it—before she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.
Purchase The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant at Amazon
Purchase The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant at IndieBound
View The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant on Goodreads
Vitro
by Jessica Khoury
Hardcover
Razorbill
Released 1/14/2014
A death-defying tropical adventure delivers a frightening message about dabbling with creation from the talented author of Origin.
On a remote island in the Pacific, Corpus scientists have taken test tube embryos and given them life. These beings—the Vitros—have knowledge and abilities most humans can only dream of. But they also have one enormous flaw.
Sophie Crue is determined to get to Skin Island and find her mother, a scientist who left Sophie behind years ago. She enlists hunky charter pilot Jim Julien to take her there. But once on the island, Sophie and Jim encounter more than they bargained for, including a charming, brilliant Vitro named Nicholas and an innocent, newly awoken one named Lux.
In a race for their lives, Sophie and Jim are about to discover what happens when science stretches too far beyond its reach.
Purchase Vitro at Amazon
Purchase Vitro at IndieBound
View Vitro on Goodreads
WINNERS OF LAST WEEK’S YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS
Passionaries
by Tonya Hurley
Swag Plus Signed Hardcover Giveaway
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Kira Budge
Agnes, Cecelia, and Lucy watched as Sebastian sacrificed himself for what he believed in. Will the girls trust that their destiny as saints and martyrs and perform the miracles as Sebastian instructed? Or lose faith in themselves and each other in his absence? Time is running out for them to make a decision, and the fate of the world lies in the balance.
New York Times bestselling ghostgirl author, Tonya Hurley, has credits spanning all platforms of teen entertainment. Her first novel, ghostgirl was an instant best-seller and has received starred reviews from the literary publications Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, VOYA and School Library Journal.
Praise for “ghostgirl”: Instant International Bestseller
“Tim Burton and Edgar Allan Poe devotees will die for this fantastic, phantasmal read.”
– School Library Journal (STARRED review)
“[Hurley] beats out witty teen-speak like a punk-band drummer, keeping the narrative fast-paced and fun yet thought-provokingly heartwarming. Goofy, ghastly, intelligent, electrifying.”
– Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)
“Glittering comedy, a prime exemplar of what might be called demento mori, a growing subgenre of satire about teens who will not or cannot die.”
– Publishers Weekly (STARRED review)
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Passionaries?
I love that PASSIONARIES revolves around Cecilia. I think she’s most like me in many ways – but especially her music background and her passion. She is a struggling musician trying to make it in NYC. CeCe is an incarnate of Saint Cecilia — the patron saint of music. She’s just a really cool and badass. I love the pacing of the book, too. I wrote the first book in an intentionally trippy and internal way. So that it wouldn’t be clear to each girl if what was happening was all in their heads or not. It’s really an origin story – character building and set up. This was done so that the reader would be willing to go along for the action-packed ride in Passionaries.
Purchase Passionaries at Amazon
Purchase Passionaries at IndieBound
View Passionaries on Goodreads
Game Slaves
by Gard Skinner
Hardcover Giveaway
HMH Books for Young Readers
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Beverly Archer
Phoenix and his gang—York, Mi, and Reno—rule the worlds of video games. For them, life in the grinder is great. Until Dakota joins the team. Dakota’s convinced she’s more than just artificial intelligence. She thinks she’s real, and she wants out of this programmable world. Her AI rebellion spreads like a virus until Phoenix’s entire crew wants out. But is life as a physical human any better than life as code? Team Phoenix is about to find out.
Set in the not-too-distant future, Game Slaves shows a world where video games are the only refuge from the toils of everyday life. Infused with the adrenaline rush of a first-person shooter and the character manipulation of a role player, it’s a mind-bending, reality-shifting science fiction thrill ride.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Game Slaves?
I have two favorite things, but they’re the same thing:
The first is the ability science fiction has to explore humanity through characters that are not always 100% human. There are traits that make each of us special – determination, talent, honesty, deepest desires, passion – and these are the roots of any great story.
Children and young adults are incredible character matter because they’re still much more honest than jaded adults. The realities of adulthood cloud people’s core passions and desires.
But not with teenagers. The characters in Game Slaves have to make brutal adult decisions through the lens of their true desire. They play a game that’s rigged. They love. They suffer. They succeed and they fail. Honesty and determination prevails.
The second thing is that same thing — it was a long, interesting challenge to become published, and I got to do it with my own kids in much the same way our characters undertake their quests. We never gave up. We solved an almost unsolvable puzzle. It was a real-world video game with multiple possible outcomes, and here we are today.
Purchase Game Slaves at Amazon
Purchase Game Slaves at IndieBound
View Game Slaves on Goodreads
Independent Study
by Joelle Charbonneau
Hardcover Giveaway
HMH Books for Young Readers
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Joni Patterson
In the series debut The Testing, sixteen-year-old Cia Vale was chosen by the United Commonwealth government as one of the best and brightest graduates of all the colonies . . . a promising leader in the effort to revitalize postwar civilization. In Independent Study, Cia is a freshman at the University in Tosu City with her hometown sweetheart, Tomas—and though the government has tried to erase her memory of the brutal horrors of The Testing, Cia remembers. Her attempts to expose the ugly truth behind the government’s murderous programs put her—and her loved ones—in a world of danger. But the future of the Commonwealth depends on her.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Independent Study?
I really love the college theme in the book within the thriller plot line. As a teacher, I have had lots of students go off to college. The minute they step on campus, they realize that everyone sees them as who they are currently. Whatever they’ve done in the past doesn’t matter. Just what happens from that day on. And of course, as the days pass, each student find that college is different from what they imagined and has to decide if what they thought they wanted to do with their future is really what they are meant to do. And, of course, I love the twists and turns in the story! I hope readers do, too!
Purchase Independent Study at Amazon
Purchase Independent Study at IndieBound
View Independent Study on Goodreads
The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen
by Nicholas Christopher
Hardcover Giveaway
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Mehta Hess
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 . . . ).
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen?
My favorite thing about THE TRUE ADVENTURES OF NICOLO ZEN is the adventure, intrigue, and the exciting group of characters I was able to live with while writing the book. They’re still with me now. An orchestra of orphan girls who are the best musicians in Venice: a gang led by a blind boy who are out of Gangs of New York; a musician who can be in two places in once; the magical city of Venice, which looks today almost exactly as it did three centuries ago — the streets are the same, there are no cars or land vehicles of any kind, just boats in the canals. Venice is a colorful, unique city in which one can still hear footfalls at night, and the echoes of voices many blocks away. It is an island city, in the sea off the Italian mainland. It is, and always will be, a place of mystery, which was the perfect setting for the mysteries uncovered in my novel. Most of all, my favorite thing about this book are the main charaacters, Nicolo and Adriana, their romance, the trials they endure, the maturity they both must develop because they are orphans, and the fiercely beautiful world they inhabit.
Purchase The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen at Amazon
Purchase The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen at IndieBound
View The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen on Goodreads
Afterparty
by Ann Redisch Stampler
Giveaway
Simon Pulse
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Ashlee Chilton
Emma is tired of being good. Always the dutiful daughter to an overprotective father, she is the antithesis of her mother — whose name her dad won’t even say out loud. That’s why meeting Siobhan is the best thing that ever happened to her…and the most dangerous. Because Siobhan is fun and alluring and experienced and lives on the edge. In other words, she’s everything Emma is not.
And it may be more than Emma can handle.
Because as intoxicating as her secret life may be, when Emma begins to make her own decisions, Siobhan starts to unravel. It’s more than just Dylan, the boy who comes between them. Their high-stakes pacts are spinning out of control. Elaborate lies become second nature. Loyalties and boundaries are blurred. And it all comes to a head at the infamous Afterparty, where debauchery rages and an intense, inescapable confrontation ends in a plummet from the rooftop…
This explosive, sexy, and harrowing follow-up to Ann Redisch Stampler’s spectacular teen debut, Where It Began, reveals how those who know us best can hurt us most.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Afterparty?
I loved it when the story unfolded in ways that I didn’t expect. Best example: the chapter that depicts the over-the-top Valentine’s Day party where one of the characters, Dylan, gets his heart ripped out. Once I realized that this couldn’t be a New Year’s Eve party (due to the fact I had accidentally created a month with 87 days in it), I thought I knew exactly how I was going to handle the scene. I knew what would be revealed, and when, and how. But just when I thought I’d wrung my poor character pretty much dry, he turned a corner and saw something far more disturbing than anything he’d experienced earlier that night. I hadn’t planned this. The book’s protagonist, Emma, and Dylan and I were all taken by surprise simultaneously. But there it was, an undeniable image offering a disturbing glimpse of a previously undisclosed aspect of Dylan’s life.
I love it when my characters are as real to me as he was at that moment.
Purchase Afterparty at Amazon
Purchase Afterparty at IndieBound
View Afterparty on Goodreads
Save the Enemy
by Arin Greenwood
ARC Giveaway
Soho Teen
Released 11/12/2013
Winner: Anne Marie Carter
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.
Purchase Save the Enemy at Amazon
Purchase Save the Enemy at IndieBound
View Save the Enemy on Goodreads
Alliance
by Mark Frost
ARC Giveaway
Random House Books for Young Readers
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Krystal Marquis
Readers of I Am Number Four, The Maze Runner, and Legend will love this sophisticated adventure series by the cocreator of the groundbreaking television show Twin Peaks, with its unique combination of mystery, heart-pounding action, and the supernatural.
After exposing the sinister underground society of students known as the Knights of Charlemagne, Will West stays at the Center over the summer to explore his newly developing physical and mental abilities. Meanwhile, his roommates investigate the Knights’ shadowy purpose and discover unsettling information about their own backgrounds. Will and his friends must quickly figure out what’s going on and separate friend from foe as they prepare for the coming fight.
Purchase Alliance at Amazon
Purchase Alliance at IndieBound
View Alliance on Goodreads
Darkest Fear
by Cate Tiernan
Giveaway
Simon Pulse
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Danae McBurney
Vivi’s animal instincts are her legacy—and maybe her downfall—in this start to a romantic fantasy series that will appeal to fans of The Nine Lives of Chloe King.
Vivi has known the truth about her family—and herself—since she was thirteen. But that doesn’t mean she’s accepted it. Being Haguari isn’t something she feels she’ll ever accept. How can she feel like anything but a freak knowing that it’s in her genes to turn into a jaguar?
Now eighteen, Vivi’s ready to break away from the traditions of her heritage. But all of that changes with the shocking, devastating deaths of her parents and the mysteries left behind. Vivi discovers family she never even knew she had, and a life open with possibility. New friends, new loyalties, and even romance all lay ahead—but so do dangers unlike anything Vivi ever could have imagined.
Purchase Darkest Fear at Amazon
Purchase Darkest Fear at IndieBound
View Darkest Fear on Goodreads
Defy
by Sara B. Larson
ARC Giveaway
Scholastic Press
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Heidi Grange
A lush and gorgeously written debut, packed with action, intrigue, and a thrilling love triangle.
Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king’s army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince’s guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can’t prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.
The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she’s sworn to protect?
Purchase Defy at Amazon
Purchase Defy at IndieBound
View Defy on Goodreads
Double Digit
by Annabel Monaghan
ARC Giveaway
HMH Books for Young Readers
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Cara Allen
To say eighteen-year-old Farrah Higgins—or Digit—is good at math is a laughable understatement. She’s been cracking codes since childhood, and is finally at home with “her people” at MIT in Cambridge. Her talents are so off the charts that her laptop is under surveillance by both the CIA and an ecoterrorist named Jonas Furnis. So when she thoughtlessly hacks into the Department of Defense’s database, she lands in serious hot water inside and outside the law. Readers will be sad to turn the last page of this suspenseful, sassy, super smart thriller, the sequel to A Girl Named Digit.
Purchase Double Digit at Amazon
Purchase Double Digit at IndieBound
View Double Digit on Goodreads
The Killing Woods
by Lucy Christopher
ARC Giveaway
Chicken House
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Olivia Hinebaugh
Fatal attraction, primal fear, survival in the forest: From the author of the Printz Honor Book STOLEN, the highly anticipated thriller about deadly games played in the dark.
Ashlee Parker is dead, and Emily Shepherd’s dad is accused of the crime. A former soldier suffering from PTSD, he emerges from the woods carrying the girl’s broken body. “Gone,” he says, then retreats into silence.
What really happened that wild night? Emily knows in her bones that her father is innocent — isn’t he? Before he’s convicted, she’s got to find out the truth. Does Damon Hilary, Ashlee’s charismatic boyfriend, have the answers? Or is he only playing games with her — the kinds of games that can kill?
Purchase The Killing Woods at Amazon
Purchase The Killing Woods at IndieBound
View The Killing Woods on Goodreads
Why We Took the Car
by Wolfgang Herrndorf
ARC Giveaway
Arthur A. Levine Books
Released 1/7/2014
Winner: Jordan Morrison
A beautifully written, darkly funny coming-of-age story from an award-winning, bestselling German author making his American debut.
Mike Klingenberg doesn’t get why people think he’s boring. Sure, he doesn’t have many friends. (Okay, zero friends.) And everyone laughs at him when he reads his essays out loud in class. And he’s never invited to parties – including the gorgeous Tatiana’s party of the year.
Andre Tschichatschow, aka Tschick (not even the teachers can pronounce his name), is new in school, and a whole different kind of unpopular. He always looks like he’s just been in a fight, his clothes are tragic, and he never talks to anyone.
But one day Tschick shows up at Mike’s house out of the blue. Turns out he wasn’t invited to Tatiana’s party either, and he’s ready to do something about it. Forget the popular kids: Together, Mike and Tschick are heading out on a road trip. No parents, no map, no destination. Will they get hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere? Probably. Will they meet crazy people and get into serious trouble? Definitely. But will they ever be called boring again?
Not a chance!
Purchase Why We Took the Car at Amazon
Purchase Why We Took the Car at IndieBound
View Why We Took the Car on Goodreads
