Happy Monday! This week, we have a few books up for the giveaway including the sequel to BLACKHEARTS, BLACKSOULS. Don’t forget to check out all the other new releases too and enter to win below.
Happy Reading,
Shelly, Sam, Jocelyn, Martina, Erin, Susan, Kelly, Laura, Emily, Anisaa, and Lori Ann
YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
Cheesus Was Here
by J. C. Davis
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Sky Pony Press
Released 4/11/2017
Sixteen-year-old Delaney Delgado knows miracles aren’t real—if they were, her kid sister wouldn’t be dead. So when the image of baby Jesus appears on a Babybel cheese wheel, she’s not buying the idea that God’s got a dairy obsession. Soon, religious signs begin turning up all over Del’s hometown, tiny Clemency, Texas. Overnight, news vans fill the streets and religious pilgrims start searching for God in the discount aisle of the grocery store.
Hell-bent on proving the so-called miracles are fake, Del convinces her best friend, Gabe, to help her find the truth. While Gabe’s willing to play detective, as a preacher’s son he’s more interested in finding evidence that supports the miracles. But when the whole town becomes caught up in religious fervor and even the late-night talk show hosts have stopped laughing and started to believe, finding the truth might cause more trouble than Del can handle. This novel is neither pro nor anti-religion, and will appeal to fans of contemporary YA novels that explore deep themes with an element of humor. The voice and characters are funny, strong, and full of heart. This is a book for anyone who loved Saved!
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Cheesus Was Here?
I love the fact that I got to write a book about holy cheese and other ridiculous things! My co-workers like to remind me that I’m fluent in snark and that I apply it liberally to all our conversations. With CHEESUS I got to indulge my snarky, over-the-top humor side to an unhealthy degree. I typically write on the train and it really disturbs the other passengers when you begin cackling for no apparent reason. There was a lot of cackling while I wrote CHEESUS WAS HERE. At the same time, the main story isn’t really about holy cheese, it’s about grief, loss and moving on with our lives when the unthinkable happens. The crazy humor is tempered with a lot of sad and I hope I’ve been able to balance the two well.
I’m also in love with the book title. It’s hard to say with a straight face. I was raised on a steady diet of Monty Python skits so my sense of humor may be a touch off-kilter. CHEESUS WAS HERE wasn’t the book’s first title, though. It was originally called BETWEEN GOD AND GOUDA. Ugh! I wince every time I time I see the original title. I’m certainly happy I decided to change the name to something more fun and engaging. CHEESUS WAS HERE is a phrase painted on a shop window in the book so it fits the novel on a lot of levels.
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Given to the Sea
by Mindy McGinnis
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Y
Released 4/11/2017
Khosa is Given to the Sea, a girl born to be fed to the water, her flesh preventing a wave like the one that destroyed the Kingdom of Stille in days of old. But before she’s allowed to dance – an uncontrollable twitching of the limbs that will carry her to the shore in a frenzy – she must produce an heir. Yet the thought of human touch sends shudders down her spine that not even the sound of the tide can match.
Vincent is third in line to inherit his throne, royalty in a kingdom where the old linger and the young inherit only boredom. When Khosa arrives without an heir he knows his father will ensure she fulfills her duty, at whatever cost. Torn between protecting the throne he will someday fill, and the girl whose fate is tied to its very existence, Vincent’s loyalty is at odds with his heart.
Dara and Donil are the last of the Indiri, a native race whose dwindling magic grows weaker as the island country fades. Animals cease to bear young, creatures of the sea take to the land, and the Pietra – fierce fighters who destroyed the Indiri a generation before – are now marching from their stony shores for the twin’s adopted homeland, Stille.
Witt leads the Pietra, their army the only family he has ever known. The stone shores harbor a secret, a growing threat that will envelop the entire land – and he will conquer every speck of soil to ensure the survival of his people.
The tides are turning in Stille, where royals scheme, Pietrans march, and the rising sea calls for its Given.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Given to the Sea?
It was my first experience writing a fantasy, and I did not anticipate how difficult it would be to build a world from scratch. At the same time, it was also my favorite thing to have the freedom to build everything around me.
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The Freemason’s Daughter
by Shelley Sackier
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
HarperTeen
Released 4/11/2017
The Outlander series for the YA audience—a debut, full of romance and intrigue, set in early eighteenth-century Scotland.
Saying good-bye to Scotland is the hardest thing that Jenna MacDuff has had to do—until she meets Lord Pembroke. Jenna’s small clan has risked their lives traveling the countryside as masons, secretly drumming up support and arms for the exiled King James Stuart to retake the British throne. But their next job brings them into enemy territory: England.
Jenna’s father repeatedly warns her to trust no one, but when the Duke of Keswick hires the clan to build a garrison on his estate, it seems she cannot hide her capable mind from the duke’s inquisitive son, Lord Alex Pembroke—nor mask her growing attraction to him. But there’s a covert plan behind the building of the garrison, and soon Jenna must struggle not only to keep her newfound friendship with Alex from her father, but also to keep her father’s treason from Alex.
Will Jenna decide to keep her family’s mutinous secrets and assist her clan’s cause, or protect the life of the young noble she’s falling for?
In Shelley Sackier’s lush, vivid historical debut, someone will pay a deadly price no matter which choice Jenna makes.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Freemason’s Daughter?
I love the word favorite because it can be an adjective or a noun—or even in some wonky and generationally influenced situations, a verb. To answer this question, I’m going to make it synonymous with the word surprising.
I’ve always viewed myself as a humor writer. And, I suppose, not just in writing, in life—in absolutely everything. I’m a humorist. It’s rocking horse manure rare for me to be serious about anything. And that drives my family wholly mad. But humor is simply my method for parsing information. It is my therapeutic process to psychologically make sense of the world.
So when I started writing this book, after a few chapters inked themselves onto the page, I suddenly looked up and said, “Oh, my godfathers. This is not a funny book.”
And then the cast of thousands inside the story shouted up, OF COURSE IT ISN’T!
That was surprising. It was one of my favorite moments of my life because suddenly I felt I finally had proof to show my family that I could write something that wasn’t the set up for a punchline and a percussive sting to follow. It felt good. It felt normal.
But only for a second before I remembered that it’s not usually normal to hear a fictitious cast of thousands holler at you while you’re working.
Ah well, back to embracing my personal freak flag.
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Blacksouls
by Nicole Castroman
Hardcover Giveaway
U.S. Only
Simon Pulse
Released 4/11/2017
Nicole Castroman brings the dangerous pirate ports of the Caribbean to life in this vibrant sequel to Blackhearts—the reimagined origin story of history’s most infamous pirate, Blackbeard.
Edward “Teach” Drummond is setting sail to the Caribbean as first mate on the most celebrated merchant ship in the British fleet—until he rebels against his captain. Mutiny is a capital offense and Teach knows it could cost him his life, but he believes it worth the risk in order to save his crew from the attacking Spanish ships.
Sailing on the same blue waters, Anne barely avoids the Spanish attack, making it safely to Nassau. But lawless criminals, corrupt politics, and dangerous intentions fill the crowded streets of this Caribbean port. Soon, Anne discovers that the man entrusted to keep the peace is quite possibly the most treacherous of them all—and he just happens to hold Teach’s fate in his terrifying hands.
Life and death hang in the balance when Teach and Anne are given a dangerous mission. It’s a mission that will test their love, loyalty and devotion, forcing them down a path neither one could have ever imagined.
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer: Anne V.
Mars One by Jonathan Maberry: Nic W.
Shadow Wave by Robert Muchamore: Lysette L
Speak of Me As I Am by Sonia Belasco: Emily H
The Dead Inside by Cyndy Etler: Makaela T.
True North by L.E. Sterling: Nicole O.
MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
Alex and Eliza
by Melissa de la Cruz
Hardcover
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Released 4/11/2017
1777. Albany, New York.
As battle cries of the American Revolution echo in the distance, servants flutter about preparing for one of New York society’s biggest events: the Schuylers’ grand ball. Descended from two of the oldest and most distinguished bloodlines in New York, the Schuylers are proud to be one of their fledgling country’s founding families, and even prouder still of their three daughters—Angelica, with her razor-sharp wit; Peggy, with her dazzling looks; and Eliza, whose beauty and charm rival that of both her sisters, though she’d rather be aiding the colonists’ cause than dressing up for some silly ball.
Still, she can barely contain her excitement when she hears of the arrival of one Alexander Hamilton, a mysterious, rakish young colonel and General George Washington’s right-hand man. Though Alex has arrived as the bearer of bad news for the Schuylers, he can’t believe his luck—as an orphan, and a bastard one at that—to be in such esteemed company. And when Alex and Eliza meet that fateful night, so begins an epic love story that would forever change the course of American history.
In the pages of Alex and Eliza, #1 New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz brings to life the romance of young Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler.
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Dreaming the Bear
by Mimi Thebo
Hardcover
Wendy Lamb Books
Released 4/11/2017
Darcy’s dad, a naturalist, moves their family from England to the snowy wilderness of Yellowstone National Park. Mum, Dad, and older brother Jem are all thriving, but Darcy misses her friends, and civilization, including WiFi. She’s also sick, getting weaker with each day, and having strange dreams—or are they something else?
Then she finds an injured mother bear whose cubs were killed by hunters. The bear is enormous, and powerful, but she doesn’t threaten Darcy—she makes Darcy feel alive. The bear needs Darcy just as much as Darcy needs her. Darcy must help her, even though she might not be well enough to take care of the bear, let alone herself.
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Duels & Deception
by Cindy Anstey
Paperback
Swoon Reads
Released 4/11/2017
Miss Lydia Whitfield, heiress to the family fortune, has her future entirely planned out. She will run the family estate until she marries the man of her late father’s choosing, and then she will spend the rest of her days as a devoted wife. Confident in those arrangements, Lydia has tasked her young law clerk, Mr. Robert Newton, to begin drawing up the marriage contracts. Everything is going according to plan.
Until Lydia—and Robert along with her—is kidnapped. Someone is after her fortune and won’t hesitate to destroy her reputation to get it. With Robert’s help, Lydia strives to keep her family’s good name intact and expose whoever is behind the devious plot. But as their investigation delves deeper and their affections for each other grow, Lydia starts to wonder whether her carefully planned future is in fact what she truly wants…
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Fireworks
by Katie Cotugno
Hardcover
Balzer + Bray
Released 4/11/2017
From Katie Cotugno, bestselling author of 99 Days, comes Fireworks—about a girl who is competing with her best friend to become the new pop star of the moment—and all the drama and romance that comes with it—set in Orlando during the late-’90s boy-and-girl-band craze.
It was always meant to be Olivia. She was the talented one, the one who had been training to be a star her whole life. Her best friend, Dana, was the level-headed one, always on the sidelines, cheering her best friend along.
But everything changes when Dana tags along with Olivia to Orlando for the weekend, where superproducer Guy Monroe is holding auditions for a new singing group, and Dana is discovered too. Dana, who’s never sung more than Olivia’s backup. Dana, who wasn’t even looking for fame. Next thing she knows, she and Olivia are training to be pop stars, and Dana is falling for Alex, the earnest, endlessly talented boy who’s destined to be the next big thing.
It should be a dream come true, but as the days of grueling practice and constant competition take their toll, things between Olivia and Dana start to shift . . . and there’s only room at the top for one girl. For Olivia, it’s her chance at her dream. For Dana, it’s a chance to escape a future that seems to be closing in on her. And for these lifelong best friends, it’s the adventure of a lifetime—if they can make it through.
Set in evocative 1990s Orlando, New York Times bestselling author Katie Cotugno’s Fireworks brings to life the complexity of friendship, the excitement of first love, and the feeling of being on the verge of greatness.
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Literally
by Lucy Keating
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 4/11/2017
A girl realizes her life is being written for her in this unique, smart love story that is Stranger Than Fiction for fans of Stephanie Perkins.
Annabelle’s life has always been Perfect with a capital P. Then bestselling young adult author Lucy Keating announces that she’s writing a new novel—and Annabelle is the heroine.
It turns out, Annabelle is a character that Lucy Keating created. And Lucy has a plan for her.
But Annabelle doesn’t want to live a life where everything she does is already plotted out. Will she find a way to write her own story—or will Lucy Keating have the last word?
The real Lucy Keating’s delightful contemporary romance blurs the line between reality and fiction, and is the perfect follow-up for readers who loved her debut Dreamology, which SLJ called, “a sweet, quirky romance with appealing characters.”
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Run the Risk
by Allison van Diepen
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 4/11/2017
Set in the same world as On the Edge and Light of Day, Run the Risk is a romantic, gritty story about the dangers one girl faces to save the people she loves.
Grace has done her best to move on since her ex-boyfriend, Mateo, chose gang life over her. But even though years have passed, she hasn’t forgotten him—especially since she’s seen her younger brother, Alex, drawn to a life on the streets. She can’t bear to think of Alex making the same mistakes as Mateo, but she feels him slipping away.
So when Mateo suddenly resurfaces, insisting he’s left gang life behind him, Grace sees an opportunity. Maybe he could be the one to reach Alex and pull him away from the edge. She tells herself she’s only talking to Mateo again because of Alex, but her feelings quickly return. Can she ever trust Mateo again? And is saving her brother worth risking a broken heart? With everyone she loves in danger, Grace must decide how much to sacrifice before it’s too late.
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Spindle Fire
by Lexa Hillyer
Hardcover
HarperTeen
Released 4/11/2017
Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo, Spindle Fire is an enthralling, wholly original reimagining of a classic faerie story.
Half sisters Isabelle and Aurora are polar opposites: Isabelle is the king’s headstrong illegitimate daughter, whose sight was tithed by faeries; Aurora, beautiful and sheltered, was tithed her sense of touch and voice on the same day. Despite their differences, the sisters have always been extremely close.
And then everything changes, with a single drop of Aurora’s blood, a Faerie Queen who is preparing for war, a strange and enchanting dream realm—and a sleep so deep it cannot be broken.
Spindle Fire is a tour-de-force fantasy set in the dwindling, deliciously corrupt world of the fae and featuring two truly unforgettable heroines, from a writer destined to be a major voice in YA.
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The Takedown
by Corrie Wang
Hardcover
Freeform
Released 4/11/2017
Kyla Cheng doesn’t expect you to like her. For the record, she doesn’t need you to. On track to be valedictorian, she’s president of her community club, a debate team champ, plus the yummy Mackenzie Rodriguez has firmly attached himself to her hip. She and her three high-powered best friends don’t just own their senior year at their exclusive Park Slope, Brooklyn high school, they practically define the hated species Popular. Kyla’s even managed to make it through high school completely unscathed.
Until someone takes issue with this arrangement.
A week before college applications are due, a video of Kyla “doing it” with her crush-worthy English teacher is uploaded to her school’s website. It instantly goes viral, but here’s the thing: it’s not Kyla in the video. With time running out, Kyla delves into a world of hackers, haters and creepy stalkers in an attempt to do the impossible–take something off the internet–all while dealing with the fallout from her own karmic footprint.
Set in near-future Brooklyn, where privacy is a bygone luxury and every perfect profile masks damning secrets, The Takedown is a stylish, propulsive, and provocative whodunit, asking who would you rely on if your tech turned against you?
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The Upside of Unrequited
by Becky Albertalli
Hardcover
Balzer + Bray
Released 4/11/2017
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.
Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. If Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.
There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker, Reid. He’s a chubby Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him.
Right?
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Unearthly Things
by Michelle Gagnon
Hardcover
Soho Teen
Released 4/11/2017
After losing her parents in a tragic accident, surfer girl Janie Mason is forced to trade the sunny beaches of Hawaii for the cold fog of San Francisco. She’s never even met her new guardians, the Rochesters—an old money family who relish being pillars of high society. Janie feels hopelessly out of place in their world of Napa weekends, fancy prep schools, and cotillions. Nicholas is the only Rochester who treats her with anything resembling kindness—but he’s only six. When she strikes up a friendship with Daniel, a fellow surfer, it feels like things might finally be improving.
But something isn’t right in the Rochester mansion. There are noises—screams—coming from the attic nearly every night. Noises everyone else claims they can’t hear. Then John, the black sheep of the family, returns after getting kicked out of yet another boarding school. Soon Janie finds herself torn between this new “brother” and Daniel, who has secrets of his own. Just when she thinks her life can’t get any worse, she learns the truth about the Rochesters: what they’re hiding, what they want from Janie, and how far they’ll go to get it.
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