Happy Monday! We have another week of giveaways and new releases! Don’t forget to check out all new releases and enter to win below.
Happy Reading,
Shelly, Sam, Jocelyn, Martina, Erin, Susan, Michelle, Laura, Anisaa, and Kristin
YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
Girl Mans Up
by M-E Girard
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
U.S. Only
HarperTeen
Released 9/6/2016
All Pen wants is to be the kind of girl she’s always been. So why does everyone have a problem with it? They think the way she looks and acts means she’s trying to be a boy—that she should quit trying to be something she’s not. If she dresses like a girl, and does what her folks want, it will show respect. If she takes orders and does what her friend Colby wants, it will show her loyalty.
But respect and loyalty, Pen discovers, are empty words. Old-world parents, disintegrating friendships, and strong feelings for other girls drive Pen to see the truth—that in order to be who she truly wants to be, she’ll have to man up.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Girl Mans Up?
My favorite thing about GMU The Book is its sleek cover. Not only am I so proud to have a beautiful representation of a character who looks queer, but the whole design just fits the story so well.
My favorite thing about GMU The Story is that from first draft to finished book, I was able to retain the harsh, sometimes unlikable qualities of some of the characters and situations. It was important to me that these complicated, flawed people and relationships remain intact through the revised drafts. I didn’t want to pretty or sweeten the people and interactions to make them more palatable because as far as I’m concerned, this is reality: sometimes friendships and family relationships that are strong and important are also problematic and toxic, and that doesn’t always get better.
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The Replacement Crush
by Lisa Brown Roberts
Paperback Giveaway
U.S. Only
Entangled: Teen
Released 9/6/2016
True love can’t be strategized.
After book blogger Vivian Galdi’s longtime crush pretends their secret summer kissing sessions never happened, Vivian creates a list of safe crushes, determined to protect her heart.
But nerd-hot Dallas, the sweet new guy in town, sends the mission and Vivian’s zing meter into chaos. While designing software for the bookstore where Vivian works, Dallas wages a counter-mission.
Operation Replacement Crush is in full effect. And Dallas is determined to take her heart off the shelf.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Replacement Crush?
This book is my love letter to the amazing community of romance authors, readers, reviewers, and bloggers who celebrate this often underappreciated genre. In this book I was able to use my heroine Vivian, romance book lover and blogger, as the voice for those who love romance novels. Vivian also runs a romance book club with participants ranging in age from seventeen to seventy, and I had a lot of fun with that, too, especially their passionate discussions about what types of books they like to read, and what heroes trip their triggers.
Of course there’s a romance playing out within this story about romance books, for Vivian and her swoon-worthy hero. It takes them awhile to get to their happy ending, but it’s worth it in the end.
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Sometimes We Tell the Truth
by Kim Zarins
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Simon Pulse
Released 9/6/2016
In this contemporary retelling of The Canterbury Tales, a group of teens on a bus ride to Washington, DC, each tell a story—some fantastical, some realistic, some downright scandalous—in pursuit of the ultimate prize: a perfect score.
Jeff boards the bus for the Civics class trip to Washington, DC, with a few things on his mind:
-Six hours trapped with his classmates sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
-He somehow ended up sitting next to his ex-best friend, who he hasn’t spoken to in years.
-He still feels guilty for the major part he played in pranking his teacher, and the trip’s chaperone, Mr. Bailey.
-And his best friend Cannon, never one to be trusted and banned from the trip, has something “big” planned for DC.
But Mr. Bailey has an idea to keep everyone in line: each person on the bus is going to have the chance to tell a story. It can be fact or fiction, realistic or fantastical, dark or funny or sad. It doesn’t matter. Each person gets a story, and whoever tells the best one will get an automatic A in the class.
But in the middle of all the storytelling, with secrets and confessions coming out, Jeff only has one thing on his mind—can he live up to the super successful story published in the school newspaper weeks ago that convinced everyone that he was someone smart, someone special, and someone with something to say.
In her debut novel, Kim Zarins breathes new life into Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in a fresh and contemporary retelling that explores the dark realities of high school, and the subtle moments that bring us all together.
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The Memory of Things
by Gae Polisner
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 9/6/2016
The powerful story of two teenagers finding friendship, comfort, and first love in the days following 9/11 as their fractured city tries to put itself back together.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, sixteen-year-old Kyle Donohue watches the first twin tower come down from the window of Stuyvesant High School. Moments later, terrified and fleeing home to safety across the Brooklyn Bridge, he stumbles across a girl perched in the shadows. She is covered in ash and wearing a pair of costume wings. With his mother and sister in California and unable to reach his father, a New York City detective likely on his way to the disaster, Kyle makes the split-second decision to bring the girl home. What follows is their story, told in alternating points of view, as Kyle tries to unravel the mystery of the girl so he can return her to her family. But what if the girl has forgotten everything, even her own name? And what if the more Kyle gets to know her, the less he wants her to go home? The Memory of Things tells a stunning story of friendship and first love and of carrying on with our day-to-day living in the midst of world-changing tragedy and unforgettable pain—it tells a story of hope.
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
Don’t You Trust Me? by Patrice Kindl: Taffy L.
Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow: Sarah P.
Possession by M. Verano: Penny O.
The Form of Things Unknown by Robin Bridges: Leah H.
MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
Lucy and Linh
by Alice Pung
Hardcover
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Released 9/6/2016
Lucy is a bit of a pushover, but she’s ambitious and smart, and she has just received the opportunity of a lifetime: a scholarship to a prestigious school, and a ticket out of her broken-down suburb. Though she’s worried she will stick out like badly cut bangs among the razor-straight students, she is soon welcomed into the Cabinet, the supremely popular trio who wield influence over classmates and teachers alike.
Linh is blunt, strong-willed, and fearless—everything Lucy once loved about herself. She is also Lucy’s last solid link to her life before private school, but she is growing tired of being eclipsed by the glamour of the Cabinet.
As Lucy floats further away from the world she once knew, her connection to Linh—and to her old life—threatens to snap. Sharp and honest, Alice Pung’s novel examines what it means to grow into the person you want to be without leaving yourself behind.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Lucy and Linh?
I went to five different high schools in Australia, and through the whole spectrum of educational experiences a teenager could have: a private school, a public school, an all-girls school, a co-educational school, a Catholic school. Each place was a microcosm of its own politics, culture and hierarchies. The reality is that we never get to pick who we are in high school, only as adults do we choose who we can be. I wanted to understand how young adults could end up so resilient and focused, when they are up against the enormous power of elite institutions. I was also inspired by Robert Cormier’s THE CHOCOLATE WAR, a book that moved me greatly in high school.
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Ninth City Burning
by J. Patrick Black
Hardcover
Ace
Released 9/6/2016
Centuries of war with aliens threaten the future of human civilization on earth in this gripping, epic science fiction debut…
We never saw them coming.
Entire cities disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing but dust and rubble. When an alien race came to make Earth theirs, they brought with them a weapon we had no way to fight, a universe-altering force known as thelemity. It seemed nothing could stop it—until we discovered we could wield the power too.
Five hundred years later, the Earth is locked in a grinding war of attrition. The talented few capable of bending thelemity to their will are trained in elite military academies, destined for the front lines. Those who refused to support the war have been exiled to the wilds of a ruined Earth.
But the enemy’s tactics are changing, and Earth’s defenders are about to discover this centuries-old war has only just begun. As a terrible new onslaught looms, heroes will rise from unlikely quarters, and fight back.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Ninth City Burning?
My favorite thing about Ninth City Burning would have to be its diversity of voices. Without getting into too much detail, the plot revolves around a centuries-long war that began when Earth was invaded by a parallel reality. The reader gets to experience the story through the eyes of seven different characters, each with his or her own unique perspective and narrative style. They’re drawn from every stratum of the war effort, from a hapless factory worker drafted as cannon fodder to a commander rising through the military ranks, but their lives weave together (not always peacefully) as the story goes on. It was a lot of fun imagining so many different ways of seeing, and I think readers will really enjoy getting to know these different people and watching their stories intersect, but most of all I think encountering these characters through each other’s eyes will really deepen the reader’s connection with them–that’s my hope, anyway.
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The Cat King of Havana
by Tom Crosshill
Hardcover
Katherine Tegen Books
Released 9/6/2016
Rick Gutierrez is . . . the Cat King of Havana! A cat-video tycoon turned salsa-dancer extraordinaire, he’ll take Cuba by storm, romance the girl of his dreams, and ignite a lolcat revolution!
At least that’s the plan.
It all starts when his girlfriend dumps Rick on his sixteenth birthday for uploading cat videos from his bedroom when he should be out experiencing the real world. Known as “That Cat Guy” at school, Rick isn’t cool and he knows it. He realizes it’s time for a change.
Rick decides joining a salsa class is the answer . . . because of a girl, of course. Ana Cabrera is smart, friendly, and smooth on the dance floor. Rick might be half-Cuban, but he dances like a drunk hippo. Desperate to impress Ana, he invites her to spend the summer in Havana. The official reason: learning to dance. The hidden agenda: romance under the palm trees.
Except Cuba isn’t all sun, salsa, and music. There’s a darker side to the island. As Rick and Ana meet his family and investigate the reason why his mother left Cuba decades ago, they learn that politics isn’t just something that happens to other people. And when they find romance, it’s got sharp edges.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Cat King of Havana?
Kittens with jet-packs!
Seriously, though — what I love the most about THE CAT KING of HAVANA is that it’s a portal to one of my favorite places in the world.
Between various trips I’ve spent close to a year in Havana, riding packed buses, standing in long lines for mundane errands, and enjoying leisurely strolls along the Malecón. Cuba is an island that seems a utopia one day, a dystopia the next, and somewhere in the middle on your average Tuesday. I often leave it tired, and yet within a few weeks or months I’m itching to return.
This was actually one of the key reasons I wrote the book — I couldn’t go back to Cuba and yet I wanted to, so I wrote about the island instead.
With CAT KING, I can go back without hopping aboard a plane. I can crack open the book and be dancing at the Milocho club on the waterfront or climbing the cobbled streets of Trinidad. Of course, within a few pages, I also recall the crumbling buildings and the poverty, and the general air of exhaustion.
Cuba is a complex place. With THE CAT KING OF HAVANA, I sought to let my readers experience it — at a remove to be sure, and from an outsider’s perspective, but as accurately and evocatively as I could manage.
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The Hawkweed Prophecy
by Irena Brignull
Hardcover
Weinstein Books
Released 9/6/2016
Poppy Hooper and Ember Hawkweed couldn’t lead more different lives. Poppy is a troubled teen: moving from school to school, causing chaos wherever she goes, never making friends or lasting connections. Ember is a young witch, struggling to find a place within her coven and prove her worth. Both are outsiders: feeling like they don’t belong and seeking escape.
Poppy and Ember soon become friends, and secretly share knowledge of their two worlds. Little do they know that destiny has brought them together: an ancient prophecy, and a life-changing betrayal. Growing closer, they begin to understand why they’ve never belonged and the reason they are now forever connected to each other.
Switched at birth by the scheming witch Raven Hawkweed, Poppy and Ember must come to terms with their true identities and fight for their own place in the world. Enter Leo, a homeless boy with a painful past who – befriending them both – tests their love and loyalty. Can Poppy and Ember’s friendship survive? And can it withstand the dark forces that are gathering?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Hawkweed Prophecy?
I think it’s the friendship between Poppy and Ember. Neither girl has had a friend before. One is cynical and wary, the other dreamy and naive but they feel an instant connection. They’re both outsiders and a real bond develops between them that even a boy or the prophecy of the story can’t break.
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The Possibility of Somewhere
by Julia Day
Hardcover
St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 9/6/2016
Ash Gupta is having an amazing senior year, hanging out with his tight circle of friends and cranking out the grades his wealthy, immigrant Asian-Indian parents expect. A model student in every way, Ash is on track to earn every school honor there is… except one. It looks as if valedictorian will go to the anti-social, foul-mouthed girl who has been a thorn in his side throughout high school, and that’s just not a part of Ash’s—or his parents’—plan.
Eden Moore’s biggest goal is to escape the poverty that haunts her family. When she’s not babysitting a special needs boy, managing the high school website, or attending classes, she’s studying her ass off. Her perfect GPA should be enough to win her the class valedictorian title, and with it, an endorsement for the full-ride Peyton Scholarship. Eden’s sure this is her chance to get out of her dead-end town and her trailer-park life for good, until she discovers that the arrogant, rich Ash also wants the title and the scholarship that will come along with it—for the prestige.
To both of their surprise, when Eden and Ash are forced to work together on a school project, sparks fly. As they spend more time together, antagonism changes to romance. They start a secret relationship, even though they’re on opposite sides of nearly every social hierarchy their friends and families can imagine—race, class, social status.
Can they put all that behind them and start something real?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Possibility of Somewhere?
My favorite thing is how completely unapologetic my heroine is about her life. Eden knows what she wants from the future—and she’s not going to let her family’s poverty stop her. If others judge her for living in a trailer or wearing cheap clothes or swearing, she doesn’t let that get in the way of her plans.
But her classmates’ opinions still affect her, forcing Eden to spend each school day in near-isolation. She has to hide how much that hurts her. I love that she ultimately finds the courage to let two people in and then fiercely commits to those relationships.
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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
And the Trees Crept In
by Dawn Kurtagich
Hardcover
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Released 9/6/2016
When Silla and Nori arrive at their aunt’s home, it’s immediately clear that the “blood manor” is cursed. The creaking of the house and the stillness of the woods surrounding them would be enough of a sign, but there are secrets too–the questions that Silla can’t ignore: Who is the beautiful boy that’s appeared from the woods? Who is the man that her little sister sees, but no one else? And why does it seem that, ever since they arrived, the trees have been creeping closer?
Filled with just as many twists and turns as The Dead House, and with achingly beautiful, chilling language that delivers haunting scenes, AND THE TREES CREPT IN is the perfect follow-up novel for master horror writer Dawn Kurtagich.
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As I Descended
by Robin Talley
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 9/6/2016
Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—even if no one knows it but them.
Only one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey.
Golden child Delilah is a legend at the exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. She runs the school, and if she chose, she could blow up Maria and Lily’s whole world with a pointed look, or a carefully placed word.
But what Delilah doesn’t know is that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything—absolutely anything—to make their dreams come true. And the first step is unseating Delilah for the Kingsley Prize. The full scholarship, awarded to Maria, will lock in her attendance at Stanford―and four more years in a shared dorm room with Lily.
Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to ensure their victory—including harnessing the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school.
But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what’s real and what is imagined, the girls must decide where they draw the line.
From acclaimed author Robin Talley comes a Shakespeare-inspired story of revenge and redemption, where fair is foul, and foul is fair.
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As Old as Time
by Liz Braswell
Hardcover
Disney Press
Released 9/6/2016
What if Belle’s mother cursed the Beast? As Old as Time is the third book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. When Belle touches the Beast’s enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle’s mind-memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.
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Chasing Truth
by Julie Cross
Paperback
Entangled: Teen
Released 9/6/2016
At Holden Prep, the rich and powerful rule the school—and they’ll do just about anything to keep their dirty little secrets hidden.
When former con artist Eleanor Ames’s homecoming date commits suicide, she’s positive there’s something more going on. The more questions she asks, though, the more she crosses paths with Miles Beckett. He’s sexy, mysterious, arrogant…and he’s asking all the same questions.
Eleanor might not trust him—she doesn’t even like him—but they can’t keep their hands off of each other. Fighting the infuriating attraction is almost as hard as ignoring the fact that Miles isn’t telling her the truth…and that there’s a good chance he thinks she’s the killer.
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Diplomatic Immunity
by Brodi Ashton
Hardcover
Balzer + Bray
Released 9/6/2016
Aspiring reporter Piper Baird decides to write a scathing exposé on the overprivileged students at an elite Washington, DC, school, only for her life to change when she begins to fall for the story’s main subject, in this new realistic contemporary romance from Brodi Ashton, the author of the Everneath trilogy.
Raucous parties, privileged attitudes, underage drinking, and diplomatic immunity…it’s all part of student life on Embassy Row.
Piper Baird has always dreamed of becoming a journalist. So when she scores a scholarship to exclusive Chiswick Academy in Washington, DC, she knows it’s her big opportunity. Chiswick offers the country’s most competitive prize for teen journalists—the Bennington scholarship—and winning will ensure her acceptance to one of the best schools in the country.
Piper isn’t at Chiswick for two days before she witnesses the intense competition in the journalism program—and the extreme privilege of the young and wealthy elite who attend her school. And Piper knows access to these untouchable students just might give her the edge she’ll need to blow the lid off life at the school in a scathing and unforgettable exposé worthy of the Bennington.
The key to the whole story lies with Rafael Amador, the son of the Spanish ambassador—and the boy at the center of the most explosive secrets and scandals on Embassy Row. Rafael is big trouble—and when he drops into her bedroom window one night, asking for help, it’s Piper’s chance to get the full scoop. But as they spend time together, Piper discovers that despite his dark streak, Rafael is smart, kind, funny, and gorgeous—and she might have real feelings for him. How can she break the story of a lifetime if it could destroy the boy she just might love?
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Elite
by Mercedes Lackey
Hardcover
Disney-Hyperion
Released 9/6/2016
Joy wants nothing more than to live and Hunt in Apex City without a target on her back. But a dangerous new mission assigned by her uncle, the city’s Prefect, may make that impossible.
In addition to her new duties as one of the Elite, Joy is covertly running patrols in the abandoned tunnels and storm sewers under Apex Central. With her large pack of magical hounds, she can fight the monsters breaking through the barriers with the strength of three hunters. Her new assignment takes a dark turn when she finds a body in the sewers: a Psimon with no apparent injury or cause of death.
Reporting the incident makes Joy the uncomfortable object of PsiCorp’s scrutiny—the organization appears more interested in keeping her quiet than investigating. With her old enemy Ace still active in Hunts and the appearance of a Folk Mage who seems to have a particular interest in her, Joy realizes that the Apex conspiracy she uncovered before her Elite trials is anything but gone.
As the body count rises, she has no choice but to seek answers. Joy dives into the mysterious bowels of the city, uncovering secrets with far-reaching consequences for PsiCorp… and all of Apex City.
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Empire of Storms
by Sarah J Maas
Hardcover
Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Released 9/6/2016
The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those don’t.
As the kingdoms of Erilea fracture around her, enemies must become allies if Aelin is to keep those she loves from falling to the dark forces poised to claim her world. With war looming on all horizons, the only chance for salvation lies in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.
Aelin’s journey from assassin to queen has entranced millions across the globe, and this fifth installment will leave fans breathless. Will Aelin succeed in keeping her world from splintering, or will it all come crashing down?
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Olivia Decoded
by Vivi Barnes
Paperback
Entangled: Teen
Released 9/6/2016
Olivia: This isn’t my Jack, who once looked at me like I was his world. The guy who’s occupied the better part of my mind for eight months.
This is Z, criminal hacker with a twisted agenda and an arsenal full of anger.
Olivia’s spent the past year trying to get her life on track. New school. New friends. New attitude. But old flames die hard, and one look at Jack—the hacker who enlisted her into his life and his hacking ring, stole her heart, and then left her—and every memory, every moment, every feeling comes rushing back. But Jack’s not the only one resurfacing in Liv’s life.
Jack: If there was any part of her that still wanted me, even a little, I’d never be able to let her go. But I couldn’t do that to her. She deserves better than a criminal like me.
When a stalker hell-bent on scaring Liv and framing Jack enters Liv’s life, Jack and Liv will have to work together to find out who it is before someone gets hurt, or worse. But can Liv learn to trust Jack again, when he can’t—or won’t—give up his life of hacking for good?
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Wirewalker
by Mary Hall
Hardcover
Viking Books for Young Readers
Released 9/6/2016
Sometimes heroes can be found in the most unlikely places.
Fourteen-year-old Clarence Feather knows no world beyond desolate Mayfair Heights. Three years ago, his mother was killed before his eyes by a stray bullet. When his father becomes unable to keep the family afloat, Clarence is manipulated into running drugs. But he longs to be a good person, in spite of the seemingly impossible odds.
Wandering through his neighborhood, Clarence meets Mona, a huge albino Great Dane. The two develop a deep bond. When he is forced to attend a dog fight as a rite of passage, Clarence realizes that Mona isn’t safe, and neither is he. Can he find a way to protect Mona? Can he survive life in Mayfair Heights and still become the person his mother wanted him to be?
A novel about self-reliance, difficult choices, and imagination in the face of danger and isolation, Wirewalker is a masterfully written debut that blends gritty realism with moments of fantastical escape.
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