Wow! We have some fabulous giveaways this week! One person will win the full Darkness Rising trilogy, signed by Kelley Armstrong. We have hardcovers of Rotten by Michael Northrop, Rise by Anna Carey, and Dark Triumph by R.L. LaFevers, plus 2 paperbacks of Pretty Ugly by Karyn Langhorne Folan and Paul Langan. We have an ARC of Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris and 5 ARCs of White Lines by Jennifer Banash. Thanks so much to all the generous authors and publicists who have provided us with giveaway copies!
THIS WEEK’S GIVEAWAY
The Rising (Darkness Rising)
by Kelley Armstrong
Hardcover
HarperCollins
Released 4/2/2013
Signed Trilogy Giveaway
Full Set of Darkness Rising
(International)
The heart-stopping final book in the Darkness Rising trilogy, from New York Times-bestselling author Kelley Armstrong!
Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by two powerful Cabals, they’re quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, they can’t simply go to the authorities for help. All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they’re so valuable to the Cabals, and why their supernatural powers are getting more out of control. Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her, but she’ll have to face them if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because she can’t keep running forever.
With all the twists, thrills, and romance that have made Kelley Armstrong an international bestseller–plus the surprising return of some favourite characters–The Rising will keep you under its spell long after the last page is turned.
What is your favorite thing about THE RISING?
My favourite thing about The Rising was that I finally got to wrap up a story line that’s been going for six books. This is the culmination of the Darkness Rising trilogy, but it’s also the culmination of the Darkest Powers trilogy. At the end of the Darkest Powers, I’d left those characters in a relatively safe place. Their journey wasn’t over, though, as readers realized. They needed firmer ground to stand on and a better solution to their problem. When I left those characters behind, I switched to a new set, clear across North America, facing a similar problem rising from the same source. Separately, these two groups couldn’t solve their problem. Together, though? That was different. They both brought some skills and some knowledge, and when I put the two together, I finally had a winning team. The thrill of writing The Rising wasn’t just about resolving a problem, though. It was bringing those past characters back again, which is always exciting. Having them interact with my current characters–for better or worse–really made this book a lot of fun.
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White Lines
by Jennifer Banash
Hardcover
Putnam Juvenile
Released 4/4/2013
5 ARC giveaways
Seventeen-year-old Cat is living every teenager’s dream: she has her own apartment on the Lower East Side and at night she’s club kid royalty, guarding the velvet rope at some of the hottest clubs in the city. The night with its crazy, frenetic, high-inducing energy—the pulsing beat of the music, the radiant, joyful people and those seductive white lines that can ease all pain—is when Cat truly lives. But her daytime, when real life occurs, is more nightmare than dream. Having spent years suffering her mother’s emotional and physical abuse, and abandoned by her father, Cat is terrified and alone—unable to connect to anyone or anything. But when someone comes along who makes her want to truly live, she’ll need to summon the courage to confront her demons and take control of a life already spinning dangerously out of control.
Both poignant and raw, White Lines is a gripping tale and the reader won’t want to look away.
What is your favorite thing about WHITE LINES?
When telling a story, the old adage is usually “write what you know,” and with WHITE LINES, I’ve done just that. My favorite thing about the book is the ay it deals with real issues: divorce, physical and emotional abuse, neglect, drug use and addiction–some of which I’ve experienced first-hand, some not. What could I tell you about growing up on my own at 17, in the heart of the Lower East Side? Should I tell you about the smell of roasting nuts hovering over the sidewalks in the dead of winter? The way the punks and goths roamed the streets surrounding St. Marks Place like predatory cats, the jangling metal chains on their leather jackets transmitting the most beautiful and melodious music? How the pavement of my stoop burned my thighs at the apex of summer as I sat out there for hours, graffiti streaking the buildings all around me with no parents to beckon me inside as
darkness fell, watching the blue sky downshift into dusk? Or how I found myself one late night outside a club in the meatpacking district, an invite clutched in one sweaty hand, my pulse thudding its own discordant melody of desire and fear in those brief moments before I was chosen from the thrumming crowd, chosen and raised up into the light . . .
Although I’ve certainly drawn inspiration from my own life, WHITE LINES is a work of fiction, and Cat’s story is entirely her own. Well—almost. In those long, hard hours spent bent over our computers,every writer dreams in their secret heart of making an impact, of touching the lives and hearts of her readers—and I’m no exception. Cat’s story is absolutely her own, but I hope, in some small, flickering way, it will be yours too, that she can come to live in your heart the way she’s occupied mine for almost three years now. That you might offer her a safe haven where the music never stops, and where the rush of love is not merely chemical, but real. Genuine.
I think she’d like that.
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Rotten
by Michael Northrop
Hardcover
Scholastic Press
Released 4/1/2013
Signed hardcover giveaway
Jimmer “JD” Dobbs is back in town after spending the summer “upstate.” No one believes his story about visiting his aunt, and it’s pretty clear that he has something to hide. It’s also pretty clear that his mom made a new friend while he was away—a rescued Rottweiler that JD immediately renames Johnny Rotten (yes, after that guy in the Sex Pistols). Both tough but damaged, JD and Johnny slowly learn to trust each other, but their newfound bond is threatened by a treacherous friend and one snap of Johnny’s powerful jaws. As the secrets JD has tried so hard to keep under wraps start to unravel, he suddenly has something much bigger to worry about: saving his dog.
What is your favorite thing about ROTTEN?
My favorite thing about Rotten is that one of the main characters is a dog: a rescued Rottweiler named Johnny Rotten (JR for short). Dogs have individual personalities, just like people, but very different priorities. Normally when one of my characters encounters something I ask myself, How would he/she respond to it? The answer might be something like: He/she would say something or make a mental note of it or whatever. I asked myself the same question with JR, but the answer was often more like: He’d sniff, bark at, or possibly pee on it. So much more proactive!
I also like the way the two main characters parallel each other. JD is a 16-year-old boy who’s been in some trouble, and JR is a dog that’s been abused. They both have tough exteriors and have to learn to let down their defenses and trust each other.
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Rise: An Eve Novel
by Anna Carey
Hardcover
HarperCollins
Released 4/2/2013
Hardcover Giveaway
How far will you go when you have nothing left to lose?
When she lost her soul mate, Caleb, Eve felt like her world had ended. Trapped in the palace, forced to play the part of the happy, patriotic princess of The New America and the blushing bride of her father’s top adviser Eve’s whole life is a lie. The only thing that keeps her going is Caleb’s memory, and the revolution he started.
Now, Eve is taking over where Caleb left off. With the help of Moss, an undercover subversive in the King’s court, she plots to take down The New America, beginning with the capital, the City of Sand. Will Eve be able to bring about a new, free world when she’s called upon to perform the ultimate act of rebellion – killing her father?
In Rise, Eve must choose who to leave behind, who to save, and who to fight as Anna Carey’s epic tale of romance and sacrifice in the chilling dystopia of The New America comes to a stunning conclusion.
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Unbreakable
by Elizabeth Norris
Hardcover
Balzer + Bray
Released 4/3/2013
ARC giveaway
Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths, and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.
And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about – someone from her own world – has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head, and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?
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Pretty Ugly (Bluford)
by Karyn Langhorne Folan and Paul Langan
Paperback
Scholastic Paperbacks
Released 4/1/2013
2 paperback giveaways
Jamee Wills never expected Vanessa Pierce and her friends to go this far. The trouble begins at cheerleading practice when Vanessa starts teasing Angel McAllister, a shy new girl at Bluford High. When the insults turn nasty, Jamee tries to stop them. She wins Angel’s friendship but makes many enemies. Now Jamee is a target, and someone is texting lies and pictures of her all over school. Unwilling to tell her family or snitch on her fellow cheerleaders, Jamee is cornered. Will her next move solve her problems–or make them worse?
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Dark Triumph
by Robin LaFevers
Hardcover
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Released 4/2/2013
Hardcover giveaway
Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge, but at a price. Naturally skilled in both the arts of death and seduction, the convent views Sybella as one of their most dangerous weapons.
But those assassin’s skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. Her father’s rage and brutality are terrifying, and her brother’s love is equally monstrous. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?
This heart-pounding sequel to Grave Mercy serves betrayal, treachery, and danger in equal measure, bringing readers back to fifteenth century Brittany and will keep them on the edge of their seats.
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LAST WEEK’S GIVEAWAY WINNERS
Impostor
by Jill Hathaway
Hardcover
Balzer + Bray
Released 3/26/2013
Winner: Natalie Aguirre
What if a killer took control of you?
Vee Bell’s gift (or curse) of sliding – slipping into the mind of another person and experiencing life, briefly, through his or her eyes – has been somewhat under control since she unwillingly witnessed the horrific deaths of her classmates six months ago.
But just as things are getting back to normal, Vee has a very bizarre experience: she loses consciousness and finds herself in a deserted area, at the edge of a cliff, with the broken body of the boy who took advantage of her on the rocks below.
As Vee finds herself in stranger and stranger situations with no memory of getting there, she begins to suspect that someone she knows has the ability to slide, and that this slider is using Vee to exact revenge on his or her enemies.
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Promises to Keep
by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Hardcover
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 3/12/2013
Winner: Ben Lee
The compendium of creations (SingleEarth, the Bruja guilds, the Midnight empire) intertwine in an exciting, unsettling plot featuring happenings both accidental and deliberate that will forever change the alternate landscape inhabited by vampires, Tristes, shapeshifters et al. It all begins with a wrong turn and a crashed party, and from there it’s an epic clash of elements and the promise of more chaos still to come. At the center of the storm is Jay, a young vampire hunter that no one would ever have predicted might be earth’s best bet to thwart the rise of a vampire-controlled slave empire called Midnight. Teens will find themselves drawn to Jay, who struggles to prove his worth even while he has his own fears that those who have written him off may be right to do so.
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Scowler
by Daniel Kraus
Hardcover
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 3/12/2013
Winner: Jemi Fraser
Imagine your father is a monster. Would that mean there are monsters inside you, too? Nineteen-year-old Ry Burke, his mother, and little sister scrape by for a living on their dying family farm. Ry wishes for anything to distract him from the grim memories of his father’s physical and emotional abuse. Then a meteorite falls from the sky, bringing with it not only a fragment from another world but also the arrival of a ruthless man intent on destroying the entire family. Soon Ry is forced to defend himself by resurrecting a trio of imaginary childhood protectors: kindly Mr. Furrington, wise Jesus, and the bloodthirsty Scowler.
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Starstruck
by Rachel Shukert
Hardcover
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 3/12/2013
Winner: Victoria Zumbrum
“Wit, pluck, darkness, pitch perfect period details, juicy twists, and big heart. This book is one to savor.”–Anna Godbersen, New York Times bestselling author of the Luxe and Bright Young Things series
A golden age of glam . . .
Every week they arrive in Los Angeles–beautiful and talented young hopefuls who dream of becoming stars. It’s all Margaret Frobisher has ever wanted—and when she’s discovered by a powerful agent, she can barely believe her luck. She’s more than ready to escape her snobby private school and conservative Pasadena family for a chance to light up the silver screen.
The competition is fierce at Olympus Studios and Margaret—now Margo—is chasing her Hollywood dreams alongside girls like Gabby Preston, who at 16 is already a grizzled show-biz veteran caught between the studio and the ravenous ambition of her ruthless mother, and sultry Amanda Farraday, who seems to have it all–ambition, glamour . . . and dirty secrets. Missing from the pack is Diana Chesterfield, the beautiful actress who mysteriously disappeared, and there are whispers that Diana’s boyfriend—Margo’s new co-star—may have had something to do with it. Margo quickly learns that fame comes with a price, and that nothing is what it seems.
Set in Old Hollywood, Starstruck follows the lives of three teen girls as they live, love, and claw their way to the top in a world where being a star is all that matters.
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Strands of Bronze and Gold
by Jane Nickerson
Hardcover
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Released 3/12/2013
Winner: Lysette Lam
The Bluebeard fairy tale retold. . . .
When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram’s beloved father dies, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation—on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting—from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble childhood home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi.
Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it’s as if, thread by thread, a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives—all with hair as red as her own—in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she’s trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac’s intoxicating world.
Glowing strands of romance, mystery, and suspense are woven into this breathtaking debut—a thrilling retelling of the “Bluebeard” fairy tale.
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Heart of Glass
by Sasha Gould
Hardcover
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 3/12/2013
Winner: Vivien Probst
In a society of liars, who do you trust?
It is 1585 in Venice, and three months have passed since Laura della Scala solved her sister’s murder after joining the Segreta, a powerful society of women who trade protection for secrets. Now Laura is engaged to her true love, Roberto, and she has never been happier. But the night Laura is sent on her first important mission for the Segreta, Roberto is found with the body of a dead woman in his room. Halim, an irresistibly handsome Turkish prince on a diplomatic visit to the city, identifies the woman as his sister and insists that Roberto be executed for her murder, or the Ottoman Empire will attack Venice. Laura is desperate to save both her city and her fiancé. But as the evidence against Roberto builds and Laura finds herself increasingly drawn to Halim, she begins to wonder whether everything Roberto told her was a lie. What Laura discovers is a conspiracy that involves nearly everyone she knows.
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Deep Betrayal
by Anne Greenwood Brown
Hardcover
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 3/12/2013
Winner: Valia Lind
Once you dive into Deep Betrayal, the sequel to Lies Beneath, you won’t come up for air!
It’s been thirty days, two hours, and seventeen minutes since Calder left Lily standing on the shores of Lake Superior. Not that she’s counting. And when Calder does return, it’s not quite the reunion Lily hoped for. Especially after she lets her father in on a huge secret: he, like Calder, is a merman. Obsessed with his new identity, Lily’s dad monopolizes Calder’s time as the two of them spend every day in the water, leaving Lily behind.
Then dead bodies start washing ashore. Calder blames his mermaid sisters, but Lily fears her father has embraced the merman’s natural need to kill. As the body count grows, everyone is pointing fingers. Lily doesn’t know what to believe—only that whoever’s responsible is sure to strike again. . . .
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IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
This Is What Happy Looks Like
by Jennifer Smith
Hardcover
Poppy
Released 4/2/2013
If fate sent you an email, would you answer?
When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O’Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.
Then Graham finds out that Ellie’s Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media’s spotlight at all costs?
What is your favorite thing about THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE?
My favorite thing about This Is What Happy Looks Like might seem a little bit odd, because it’s not a huge part of the book. There was a lot I really enjoyed about writing this story – a lot that made me happy, as the title would suggest. I loved exploring the movie set and the fictional town of Henley; Ellie’s relationship with her mother, and Graham’s drawings; I loved the feel of summer, from the lobsters to the boats to the ocean, and Bagel the beagle, who is based on my own dog. And I loved listing the things that made each character happy.
But strangely enough, my favorite thing about the book is probably Wilbur, Graham’s pet pig, who never even makes an “on screen” appearance. Even so, he’s the catalyst for Ellie and Graham’s entire relationship, and it was so much fun to picture his life in L.A. with Graham, the two of them spending their days by the pool, the very best of friends.
The funny thing about Wilbur is that he was originally supposed to be a dog. When I first got the idea for this book – two strangers connecting over a misdirected email – and was trying to come up with a reason for the first message to go astray, I decided that Graham would be emailing his dog walker and miss a letter in the address, so it would accidentally go to Ellie instead. But I chose to make it a pig at the very last second, completely on the fly (so to speak) – it was one of those things where you sort of decide it without really deciding, and it just kind of happened as I was typing the words. It seemed like an interesting detail about Graham, and just the kind of pet a teen movie star left to his own devices might have…especially a teen movie star who happens to be a fan of Charlotte’s Web.
So even though Wilbur never really makes a cameo, his presence in the novel is one of my favorite things. Maybe he’ll make an appearance in another book one day, but until then, you can probably still find him poolside at Graham’s house, living the good life.
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In the Shadow of Blackbirds
by Cat Winters
Hardcover
Amulet Books
Released 4/2/2013
In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to seances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love, a boy who died in battle, returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?
Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.
What is your favorite thing about IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS?
As much as I enjoyed creating my dark 1918 world and plotting out the mystery at the heart of In the Shadow of Blackbirds, it’s the characters themselves who made me passionate about writing this novel. The more drafts I wrote, the further I dove into the lives of my two young leads, Mary Shelley Black and Stephen Embers, from their childhood school days up to their teenage years. I also loved watching the more minor characters come to life, especially the young men in two scenes involving a convalescent home for WWI soldiers. Even though they’re all fictional creations, the history they’re enduring really occurred. I wanted to give a voice to everyone who struggled through the war and the flu that gripped the world that tragic year.
I didn’t go easy on ANY of my characters. No one comes out of this book without emotional and physical scars. Yet I hope readers will view these characters’ stories as examples of how hope, love, courage, and human connection can help even the most damaged souls overcome the world’s darkest moments.
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Fearless
by Cornelia Funke
Hardcover
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Released 4/2/2013
Jacob Reckless returns once again to the Mirrorworld–filled with profound characters, extraordinary creatures, and epic life-or-death treasure hunts that could only come from the mind of the master storyteller of our generation, Cornelia Funke.
Jacob Reckless has only a few months left to live. He’s tried everything to shake the Fairy curse that traded his life for his brother’s–legends such as the All-Healing Apple, the Well of Eternal Youth, the blood of a northern Djinn. And yet hope after hope is extinguished. After months of fruitless searching, Jacob journeys through his father’s mirror one final time to deliver the bad news to Fox.
But there they hear of one last possibility–an item so legendary that not even Mirrorworlders believe it exists: a crossbow that can kill thousands, or heal one, when shot through the heart. But a Goyl treasure hunter is also searching for the prized crossbow. Jacob must find it first–and somehow convince Fox to do whatever it takes to save him.
What is your favorite thing about FEARLESS?
My favourite thing about FEARLESS…..hmmm. There are so many themes and motives that made me love to work on this book. The most exciting thing was probably that only Book 2 made me realize how huge a world I had found in Book 1! In Reckless I had stepped through the Mirror and had dared to travel a few hundred miles. I had found the Hungry Forest, the valley of the Fairies, Vena, the Royal Fortress of the Goyl, but there was so much more! Fearless made me discover Albion, Flanders, the treasures of Lotheraine, the Dead City in Helvetia’s mountains. I met a treasure hunter with Onyx skin, a King wearing a bewitched corset, who hires watermen as his bodyguards, a spoiled Prince, a childeating witch and a Bluebeard. And I realized that Jacob was for sure not the only one who had come through the Mirror to New York. When Fearless opened its treasure chests for me I understood that I had only just begun my journeys behind the Mirror and there’ll be at least another three books before this story is told. heavens, Cornelia, I thought. You always thought this would never happened to you but here it is: the one world you will get lost in. The one world you never want to leave again.
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Money Run
by Jack Heath
Hardcover
Scholastic Inc.
Released 4/1/2013
Ashley “Ash” Arthur is a teen thief. Motivated by the thrills as much as the money, she’s pulled off some amazing heists with the help of her childhood friend Benjamin, who acts as tech support. Now she’s got the world’s richest man in her sights, convinced that Hammond Buckland has 2 million dollars hidden away in his corporate HQ.
Ash isn’t the only one with an interest in Buckland. The Australian government gets his fortune if he dies on their soil, so they’ve sent their #2 assassin, Peachey, to kill him. With Ash and Peachey both sneaking around the office building and working at cross purposes, it’s only a matter of time before their paths cross and Peachey decides Ash has seen too much to live.
Once it’s a matter of life and death, can Ash keep her eye on the prize?
Set over the course of a single night within a single building, this is a page-turning thriller with gadgets, guts, and summer-blockbuster action.
What is your favorite thing about MONEY RUN?
My favourite thing about Money Run is its complexity. While many great books – The Old Man and the Sea, Black Water – are simple, there’s something hypnotic about watching a machine with hundreds of moving parts wind toward an unknowable goal.
This comes at a cost – Money Run is difficult to coherently recommend, and it would be impossible to film, even with a sizable budget. But I write to entertain, and the “include everything” approach seems to work.
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Vengeance Bound
by Justina Ireland
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Released 4/2/2013
The Goddess Test meets Dexter in an edgy, compelling debut about one teen’s quest for revenge – no matter how far it takes her.
Cory Graff is not alone in her head. Bound to a deal of desperation made when she was a child, Cory’s mind houses the Furies, the hawk and the serpent, lingering always, waiting for her to satisfy their bloodlust. After escaping the asylum where she was trapped for years, Cory knows how to keep the Furies quiet. By day, she lives a normal life, but by night, she tracks down targets the Furies send her way. And she brings down Justice upon them.
Cory’s perfected her system of survival, but when she meets a mysterious boy named Niko at her new school, she can’t figure out how she feels about him. For the first time, the Furies are quiet in her head around a guy. But does this mean that Cory’s finally found someone who she can trust, or are there greater factors at work? As Cory’s mind becomes a battlefield, with the Furies fighting for control, Cory will have to put everything on the line to hold on to what she’s worked so hard to build.
What is your favorite thing about VENGEANCE BOUND?
I love that Cory is such a conflicted/messed up character. She’s been through a a lot of trauma and upheaval, not to mention the fact that she’s possessed by a couple of mythological creatures! She was a lot of fun to write, precisely because her reliance on violence has made her so bad at making real, meaningful decisions.
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The Collector
by Victoria Scott
Paperback
Entangled Teen
Released 4/2/2013
He makes good girls…bad.
Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best, a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.
Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn’t want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:
Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.
Dante doesn’t know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector and uncover emotions deeply buried.
What is your favorite thing about THE COLLECTOR?
My favorite thing is Dante’s voice. It was so fun to write from a cocky, arrogant dude’s perspective. I think in teen literature, authors are encouraged to write selfless, likable main characters, so it was fun to stray from the norm for this book and write a character that in the beginning is far from likable. I was a little nervous about trying this, but I’m happy with the results, and hope readers will be too!
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MORE RELEASES IN STORES NEXT WEEK
Stung
by Bethany Wiggins
Hardcover
Walker Childrens
Released 4/2/2013
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That Time I Joined the Circus
by J.J. Howard
Hardcover
Point
Released 4/1/2013
A music-obsessed, slightly snarky New York City girl, Lexi is on her own. After making a huge mistake–and facing a terrible tragedy–Lexi has no choice but to track down her long-absent mother. Rumor has it that Lexi’s mom is somewhere in Florida with a traveling circus.
When Lexi arrives at her new, three-ring reality, her mom isn’t there . . . but her destiny might be. Surrounded by tigers, elephants, and trapeze artists, Lexi finds some surprising friends and an even more surprising chance at true love. She even lucks into a spot as the circus’s fortune teller, reading tarot cards and making predictions.
But then Lexi’s ex-best friend from home shows up, and suddenly it’s Lexi’s own future that’s thrown into question.
With humor, wisdom, and a dazzlingly fresh voice, this debut reminds us of the magic of circus tents, city lights, first kisses, and the importance of an excellent playlist.
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A Corner of White (Colors of Madeleine)
by Jaclyn Moriarty
Hardcover
Arthur A. Levine Books
Released 4/1/2013
This is a tale of missing persons. Madeleine and her mother have run away from their former life, under mysterious circumstances, and settled in a rainy corner of Cambridge (in our world).
Elliot, on the other hand, is in search of his father, who disappeared on the night his uncle was found dead. The talk in the town of Bonfire (in the Kingdom of Cello) is that Elliot’s dad may have killed his brother and run away with the Physics teacher. But Elliot refuses to believe it. And he is determined to find both his dad and the truth.
As Madeleine and Elliot move closer to unraveling their mysteries, they begin to exchange messages across worlds — through an accidental gap that hasn’t appeared in centuries. But even greater mysteries are unfolding on both sides of the gap: dangerous weather phenomena called “color storms;” a strange fascination with Isaac Newton; the myth of the “Butterfly Child,” whose appearance could end the droughts of Cello; and some unexpected kisses…
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Nameless (Tales of Beauty and Madness)
by Lili St. Crow
Hardcover
Razorbill
Released 4/4/2013
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Sacrifices (Shadow Grail)
by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
Hardcover
Tor Teen
Released 4/2/2013
The students of Oakhurst Academy believe they have triumphed over the Shadow Knights. But Spirit, Burke, Muirin, Loch, and Addie know better. Under the guise of a company called Breakthrough Adventure Systems, the Shadow Knights have actually taken over the campus. The new regime is brutal, designed to turn the students into soldiers wielding both weapons and magic. Anyone who protests disappears.
Desperate, the group decides that Muirin should go undercover to spy on Breakthrough. But Muirin’s act is a little too good, and Spirit begins to fear that her friend’s loyalties might have truly changed. Surrounded by enemies and friends who suddenly seem like strangers, Spirit has decide who can – and cannot – be trusted.
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Light: A Gone Novel
by Michael Grant
Hardcover
Katherine Tegen Books
Released 4/2/2013
It’s been over a year since all the adults disappeared. Gone.
In the time since everyperson over the age of fourteen disap-peared from the town of Perdido Beach, California, countless battles have been fought: battles against hunger and lies and plague, and epic battles of good against evil. And now, the gaiaphage has been reborn as Diana’s malicious mutant daughter, Gaia. Gaia is endlessly hungry for destruction. She yearns to conquer her Nemesis, Little Pete, and then bend the entire world to her warped will. As long-standing enemies become allies, secrets are revealed and unexpected sacrifices are made. Will their attempts to save themselves and one another matter in the end, or will the kids of Perdido Beach perish in this final power struggle?
Light, the sixth and final book in the New York Times bestselling Gone series by Michael Grant, creates a masterful, arresting conclusion to life in the FAYZ.
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