YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
The Strange Maid
by Tessa Gratton
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
Random House Books for Young Readers
Released 6/10/2014
Fans of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, and Maggie Stiefvater will embrace the richly drawn, Norse-influenced alternate world of the United States of Asgard, where cell phones, rock bands, and evangelical preachers coexist with dragon slaying, rune casting, and sword training in schools. Where the president runs the country alongside a council of Valkyries, gods walk the red carpet with Hollywood starlets, and the U.S. military has a special battalion dedicated to eradicating Rocky Mountain trolls.
Signy Valborn was seven years old when she climbed the New World Tree and met Odin Alfather, who declared that if she could solve a single riddle, he would make her one of his Valkyrie. For ten years Signy has trained in the arts of war, politics, and leadership, never dreaming that a Greater Mountain Troll might hold the answer to the riddle, but that’s exactly what Ned the Spiritless promises her. A mysterious troll hunter who talks in riddles and ancient poetry, Ned is a hard man to trust. Unfortunately, Signy is running out of time. Accompanied by an outcast berserker named Soren Bearstar, she and Ned take off across the ice sheets of Canadia to hunt the mother of trolls and claim Signy’s destiny.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Strange Maid?
THAT I FINISHED WRITING IT. Haha, just kidding. Sort of. My real favorite thing is that I was able to write a story about an angry, unlikable girl who turns herself into a passionate hero because of her anger and un-likeability. In a moment of grief and fury, Signy dedicates herself to Odin Alfather the god of war, madness, and poetry, and to truly follow him, she has to embrace all those things, and discover how they relate to each other and to her own heart. She has to learn to use herself as a weapon, and fight passionately for what she thinks is right. It was HARD to write, but taught me a lot about myself as a writer and also what I, too, want to be like to other people. I’ve never been so angry at a character, or loved one so much.
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On The Road To Find Out
by Rachel Toor
Hardcover Giveaway
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Released 6/10/2014
A funny, uplifting debut about running, romance—and dealing with college rejection and other hurdles
On New Year’s Day, Alice Davis goes for a run. Her first ever. It’s painful and embarrassing, but so was getting denied by the only college she cares about. Alice knows she has to stop sitting around and complaining to her best friend, Jenni, and her pet rat, Walter, about what a loser she is. But what doesn’t know is that by taking those first steps out the door, she is setting off down a road filled with new challenges—including vicious side stitches, chafing in unmentionable places, and race-paced first love—and strengthening herself to endure when the going suddenly gets tougher than she ever imagined.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about On The Road To Find Out?
My favorite thing about On the Road to Find Out might be that my editor and I refer to it as OTRTFO. If you say all those initials out loud and fast, it kind of sounds like a melody. But my other favorite thing is that one of my funniest, smartest, sweetest characters (IMHO) is the size of a hot dog bun. I thought I was going to write a novel about running for all the people who love to run and for the many more who hate it and think they can’t do it. (They’re wrong, wrong, wrong, do you hear me? Wrong!) I ended up writing about college admissions, first love, and—keep an open mind here, people—why rats make the world’s best pets. If you read this book and you don’t love Walter the rat as much as Alice and I do, well, I’ve failed as an author. But if you have loved a rat, please write and tell me that. Rat lovers unite!
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
Paranoia
by J.R Johansson
Paperback
Flux
Released 6/8/2014
Winner – Taffy Lovell
In the aftermath of the events that nearly killed him, Parker Chipp is trying to learn to cope better with life as a Watcher. And it seems to be working…until he wakes up in jail with a hangover and 12 hours of missing time. Darkness has somehow taken control and Parker doesn’t have a clue how to stop him. He finds an unlikely ally in Jack, the mysterious guy in the motorcycle jacket who offers to help Parker master his abilities as a Watcher. But even as they practice, the darkness inside Parker is getting more and more powerful, taking over Parker’s body and doing everything he can to destroy Parker’s life.
When Jack reveals that there is another kind of Night Walker, known as a Taker, Parker starts to wonder if the strange things happening in Oakville are more than just a coincidence. After all, people are more than just sleepwalking. They’re emptying their savings accounts with no memory of doing so, wandering into strange parts of town and disappearing, they’re even killing other people–all in their sleep. If Parker wants to find out what’s happening or have any hope of seeing his father again, he’ll have to defy Jack and put his own life in danger…because the more he learns about these other Night Walkers, the more certain he becomes that his life isn’t the only one that could be lost.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Paranoia?
My favorite thing about PARANOIA was the ability it gave me to delve even farther into Parker’s world. There is so much more that we get the opportunity to learn about him, his friends, even new characters that we didn’t know before. I loved being able to bring more of that world onto the page and out to readers and I can’t wait to do it again in Book #3. 🙂
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The Strange Maid
by Tessa Gratton
Hardcover Giveaway
Random House Books for Young Readers
Released 6/10/2014
Winner – Arlinda Smith
Fans of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, and Maggie Stiefvater will embrace the richly drawn, Norse-influenced alternate world of the United States of Asgard, where cell phones, rock bands, and evangelical preachers coexist with dragon slaying, rune casting, and sword training in schools. Where the president runs the country alongside a council of Valkyries, gods walk the red carpet with Hollywood starlets, and the U.S. military has a special battalion dedicated to eradicating Rocky Mountain trolls.
Signy Valborn was seven years old when she climbed the New World Tree and met Odin Alfather, who declared that if she could solve a single riddle, he would make her one of his Valkyrie. For ten years Signy has trained in the arts of war, politics, and leadership, never dreaming that a Greater Mountain Troll might hold the answer to the riddle, but that’s exactly what Ned the Spiritless promises her. A mysterious troll hunter who talks in riddles and ancient poetry, Ned is a hard man to trust. Unfortunately, Signy is running out of time. Accompanied by an outcast berserker named Soren Bearstar, she and Ned take off across the ice sheets of Canadia to hunt the mother of trolls and claim Signy’s destiny.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Strange Maid?
THAT I FINISHED WRITING IT. Haha, just kidding. Sort of. My real favorite thing is that I was able to write a story about an angry, unlikable girl who turns herself into a passionate hero because of her anger and un-likeability. In a moment of grief and fury, Signy dedicates herself to Odin Alfather the god of war, madness, and poetry, and to truly follow him, she has to embrace all those things, and discover how they relate to each other and to her own heart. She has to learn to use herself as a weapon, and fight passionately for what she thinks is right. It was HARD to write, but taught me a lot about myself as a writer and also what I, too, want to be like to other people. I’ve never been so angry at a character, or loved one so much.
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MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
Brazen
by Katherine Longshore
Hardcover
Viking Juvenile
Released 6/12/2014
Mary Howard has always lived in the shadow of her powerful family. But when she’s married off to Henry Fitzroy, King Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, she rockets into the Tudor court’s inner circle. Mary and “Fitz” join a tight clique of rebels who test the boundaries of court’s strict rules with their games, dares, and flirtations. The more Mary gets to know Fitz, the harder she falls for him, but is forbidden from seeing him alone. The rules of court were made to be pushed…but pushing them too far means certain death. Is true love worth dying for?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Brazen?
I wouldn’t have said this at the time, but I love that it was so difficult to write. I couldn’t find the voice, I couldn’t figure out how or where to start the story, I had trouble building the characters, and when I finally got a draft, it wasn’t really a draft at all and I had to break all the pieces down and put them back together. I learned more about my writing process with this book than I had in the three I’d written before. I also learned how to trust myself and my characters to get me to the end. My editor says it’s my best book yet, and now that I’ve had some time and distance from it, I can see she has a point. The famous quote goes: “Writing is easy. You just open a vein and bleed.” This book certainly wasn’t easy, but I bled on every page.
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Push
by Eve Silver
Hardcover
Katherine Tegen Books
Released 6/10/2014
It’s either break the rules or die.
Miki Jones lives her life by her own strict set of rules, to keep control, to keep the gray fog of grief at bay. Then she’s pulled into the Game, where she—and her team—will die unless she follows a new set of rules: those set by the mysterious Committee.
But rules don’t mean answers, and without answers, it’s hard to trust. People are dying. The rules are unraveling. And Miki knows she’s being watched, uncertain if it’s the Drau or someone—something—else. Forced to make impossible choices and battling to save those she loves, Miki begins to see the Committee in a glaring new light.
And then the Game crosses a new boundary, pushes harder into Miki’s and her friends’ lives, and there’s nothing in the rules that can save them now.
Push is the sequel Rush fans will be screaming for.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Push?
The deepening relationships between the characters and the ways those relationships contribute to Miki’s growth and strength.
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Wings
by Elizabeth Richards
Hardcover
Putnam Juvenile
Released 6/12/2014
Following the cliffhanger ending of Phoenix, Natalie finds herself separated from Ash and unexpectedly reunited with her parents, including the father she thought was dead. But she can only think of Ash. She hasn’t heard a word of him since she and Elijah were brought to the underground headquarters of the Sentry Rebellion. But she vows to find him.
Ash, meanwhile is back in Black City; it’s the perfect place to hide from the Sentry government. But not for long. He won’t give up on Natalie or bringing an end to the terrible reign of Purian Rose.
A pulse-racing end to an exciting series.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Wings?
Oooh, well in WINGS I’ve introduced a third narrator, Edmund, who was a lot of fun to write! So I’d have to say that was my favorite thing.
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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
Don’t You- Forget About Me
by Kate Karyus Quinn
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 6/10/2014
Welcome to Gardnerville.
A place where no one gets sick. And no one ever dies.
Except…
There’s a price to pay for paradise. Every fourth year, the strange power that fuels the town exacts its payment by infecting teens with deadly urges. In a normal year in Gardnerville, teens might stop talking to their best friends. In a fourth year, they’d kill them.
Four years ago, Skylar’s sister, Piper, was locked away after leading sixteen of her classmates to a watery grave. Since then, Skylar has lived in a numb haze, struggling to forget her past and dull the pain of losing her sister. But the secrets and memories Piper left behind keep taunting Skylar—whispering that the only way to get her sister back is to stop Gardnerville’s murderous cycle once and for all.
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I Become Shadow
by Joelle Shine
Hardcover
Soho Teen
Released 6/10/2014
Ren Sharpe was abducted at fourteen and chosen by the mysterious F.A.T.E. Center to become a Shadow: the fearless and unstoppable guardian of a future leader. Everything she held dear—her family, her home, her former life—is gone forever.
Ren survives four years of training, torture, and misery, in large part thanks to Junie, a fellow F.A.T.E. abductee who started out as lost and confused as she did. She wouldn’t admit it was possible to find love in a prison beyond imagining, but what she feels for Junie may just be the closest thing to it.
At eighteen they part ways when Ren receives her assignment: find and protect college science student Gareth Young, or die trying. Life following a college nerd is uneventful, until an attack on Gareth forces Ren to track down the only person she can trust. When she and Junie discover that the F.A.T.E. itself might be behind the attacks, even certain knowledge of the future may not be enough to save their kidnappers from the killing machines they created.
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Lies My Girlfriend Told Me
by Julie Anne Peters
Hardcover
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Released 6/10/2014
When Alix’s charismatic girlfriend, Swanee, dies from sudden cardiac arrest, Alix is overcome with despair. As she searches Swanee’s room for mementos of their relationship, she finds Swanee’s cell phone, pinging with dozens of texts sent from a mysterious contact, L.T. The most recent text reads: “Please tell me what I did. Please, Swan. Te amo. I love you.”
Shocked and betrayed, Alix learns that Swanee has been leading a double life–secretly dating a girl named Liana the entire time she’s been with Alix. Alix texts Liana from Swanee’s phone, pretending to be Swanee in order to gather information before finally meeting face-to-face to break the news.
Brought together by Swanee’s lies, Alix and Liana become closer than they’d thought possible. But Alix is still hiding the truth from Liana. Alix knows what it feels like to be lied to–but will coming clean to Liana mean losing her, too?
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Starbird Murphy and The World Outside
by Karen Finneyfrock
Hardcover
Viking Juvenile
Released 6/12/2014
In her sixteen years of life, Starbird has never touched a dollar bill. She’s never been in a car. She’s never used a cell phone. That’s because Starbird has always lived on the Free Family Farm, a commune in the woods of Washington State. But all that is about to change. When Starbird gets her “Calling” to be a waitress at the Free Family’s restaurant in Seattle, she decides to leave behind the only home she’s ever known.
Nothing could have prepared Starbird for the World Outside, or for what it would teach her about the Family—and herself.
From the author of The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door comes this hilarious and poignant story about finding your true calling in life.
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The Fallen
by Charlie Higson
Hardcover
Disney-Hyperion
Released 6/10/2014
The Enemy is among us . . . First the sickness rotted the adults’ minds. Then their bodies. Now they stalk the streets of London, hunting human flesh.
The Holloway crew are survivors. They’ve fought their way across the city and made it to the Natural History Museum alive–just barely. But their fight will never end while the Enemy lives, unless there’s another way. . . .
The kids at the museum are looking for a cure. All they need are medical supplies.To get them they must venture down unfamiliar streets, where it isn’t only crazed, hungry sickos who lurk in the shadows.
In this fifth terrifying entry in Charlie Higson’s Enemy series, suddenly it’s not so clear who–or what–the enemy is.
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Trouble
by Non Pratt
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 6/10/2014
In this dazzling debut novel, a pregnant teen learns the meaning of friendship—from the boy who pretends to be her baby’s father.
When the entire high school finds out that Hannah Shepard is pregnant via her ex-best friend, she has a full-on meltdown in her backyard. The one witness (besides the rest of the world): Aaron Tyler, a transfer student and the only boy who doesn’t seem to want to get into Hannah’s pants. Confused and scared, Hannah needs someone to be on her side. Wishing to make up for his own past mistakes, Aaron does the unthinkable and offers to pretend to be the father of Hannah’s unborn baby. Even more unbelievable, Hannah hears herself saying “yes.”
Told in alternating perspectives between Hannah and Aaron, Trouble is the story of two teenagers helping each other to move forward in the wake of tragedy and devastating choices. As you read about their year of loss, regret, and hope, you’ll remember your first, real best friend—and how they were like a first love.
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When Mr. Dog Bites
by Brian Conaghan
Hardcover
Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Released 6/10/2014
Dylan Mint has Tourette’s. For Dylan, life is a constant battle to keep the bad stuff in – the swearing, the tics, the howling dog that escapes whenever he gets stressed. And, as a sixteen-year-old virgin and pupil at Drumhill Special School, getting stressed is something of an occupational hazard.
But then a routine visit to the hospital changes everything. Overhearing a hushed conversation between the doctor and his mother, Dylan discovers that he’s going to die next March.
So he grants himself three parting wishes: three ‘Cool Things To Do Before I Cack It’.
It isn’t a long list, but it is ambitious, and he doesn’t have much time. But as Dylan sets out to make his wishes come true, he discovers that nothing – and no-one – is quite as he had previously supposed.
A story about life, death, love, sex and swearing, When Mr Dog Bites will take you on one *#@! of a journey . . .
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Wicked Games
by Sean Olin
Hardcover
Katherine Tegen Books
Released 6/10/2014
Wicked Games is the first book in a sexy thriller series where passion, lies, and revenge collide-perfect for fans of Simone Elkeles and Sara Shepard.
To all the locals in the small beach town of Dream Point, Carter and Lilah seem like the perfect It Couple-but their relationship is about to brutally unravel before everyone’s eyes.
Carter has always been a good guy, and while Lilah has a troubled past, she’s been a loyal girlfriend for the last four years. When smart, sexy Jules enters the picture at a senior-year bash, Carter succumbs to temptation. And when Lilah catches wind of his betrayal, she decides that Jules needs to pay.
By the end of the summer, the line between right and wrong will be blurred beyond recognition. Blood will be shed. Nothing in Dream Point will ever be the same.
This juicy summer read will keep readers turning pages until the shocking, nail-biting finale.
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