YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK

Contaminated
by Em Garner
Hardcover Giveaway (3 Copies)
EgmontUSA
Released 7/23/2013

After the Contamination – an epidemic caused by the super-trendy diet drink SlimPro that turned ordinary citizens into shambling creatures unable to control their violent impulses – the government rounded up the “Connies” to protect the remaining population. But now, two years later, the government’s started sending the rehabilitated back home, complete with shock collars that will either stop the Connies from committing violent acts or kill them before they do any further harm.

Since her parents were taken in the roundup, Velvet Ellis has struggled to care for her ten-year-old sister and maintain a sense of normalcy, despite brutal government rations and curfews. She goes to the “Kennels” every day searching for her parents, and when she finds her mother, she’s eager to bring her home. Maybe, eventually, they’ll be able to get back to the way things were before. But even though it seems that her mother is getting better (something that the government says is impossible), there will be no happy transition. Anti-Connie sentiment is high, and rumor has it that an even worse wave of the Contamination is imminent. And then the government declares that the Connies will be rounded up and neutralized, once and for all.

Sacrificing everything – her boyfriend, her home, and her job – Velvet will do anything to protect her mother. Velvet has to get the collar off her mother before the military comes to take her away. Even if it means risking all of their lives.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Contaminated?

My favorite thing about Contaminated is thinking up all the ways the world might change when faced with an outbreak of this sort — everything from something simple like not being able to find pizza rolls in the supermarket to the movie and television industry being ruined because so many actors and actresses were lost to the Contamination. I love imagining the worst (and best!) outcomes to different scenarios, and Contaminated let my brain have free reign to scare myself!

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A Darkness Strange and Lovely
by Susan Dennard
Hardcover Giveaway
HarperTeen
Released 7/23/2013

Perfect for readers Libba Bray’s The Diviners and Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Angel series, this spellbinding sequel to Something Strange and Deadly delivers a mix of intrigue, supernatural forces, intense romance, and revenge, all set against the enchanting backdrop of nineteenth-century Paris.

With her brother dead and her mother insane, Eleanor Fitt is alone. Even the Spirit-Hunters—Joseph, Jie, and the handsome Daniel—have fled to Paris. So when Eleanor hears the vicious barking of hounds and see haunting yellow eyes, she fears that the Dead, and the necromancer Marcus, are after her.

To escape, Eleanor boards a steamer bound for France. There she meets Oliver, a young man who claims to have known her brother. But Oliver harbors a dangerous secret involving necromancy and black magic that entices Eleanor beyond words. If she can resist him, she’ll be fine. But when she arrives in Paris, she finds that the Dead have taken over, and there’s a whole new evil lurking. And she is forced to make a deadly decision that will go against everything the Spirit-Hunters stand for.

In Paris, there’s a price for this darkness strange and lovely, and it may have Eleanor paying with her life.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about A Darkness Strange and Lovely?

My favorite thing about A DARKNESS STRANGE AND LOVELY is how the characters interact and evolve. I just ADORE the newest character–Oliver (he’s my favorite in the whole series)–and I love how much Eleanor has to grow during this book. Her relationships evolve right along with her character.

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Shadows of Glass
by Kassy Tayler
Paperback Giveaway (2 Copies)
St. Martin”s Griffin; First Edition edition
Released 7/23/2013

Wren’s world has changed. The thing that she fought for, escaping the dome has come to fruition, but it’s not the paradise she thought it would be. Most of the shiners have died, and according to James, she is to blame for many of the deaths, a burden which sits heavy on her shoulders. Still some have survived and Wren is determined to keep them safe as they fight to establish a home outside while hiding from the rovers who have weapons that can kill– from far away. But as long as she has Pace she knows everything will be fine. Still Wren wonders, as she sees the smoke that continually pours forth from the dome, how did her friends inside fare? Will they ever find out if Lucy, David, Jill and Harry, along with Pace’s mother survive the explosions?

Meanwhile, someone else has also seen the smoke. A band of explorers–from across the sea arrive in an airship, curious about the dome, and offering help to those who survive. When Wren meets the handsome Levi Addison, she suddenly questions her love for Pace as Levi offers to show her the world from his airship. Does she really love Pace? Or was it just the circumstances that made her think she did? Meanwhile, word arrives from inside via Pip, and Wren is forced to go back inside the dome, a thing that terrifies her more than anything else, to save her friends. Once she’s back inside will she be able to escape again?

A whirlwind of adventure, romance, conspiracy and the struggle to stay alive in a dystopian world where nothing is as it seems.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Shadows of Glass?

My favorite thing, besides the cover which I think is freaking awesome, is Levi Addison. Levi is an explorer from America and he became such an interesting character as I wrote him. His grandmother is a Sioux Indian and he spent some time with the tribe. He lost his parents at an early age and now travels with his
Uncle Lyon in an airship, the Quest, as they explore the world after the comet’s devastation. Levi put an interesting twist on Wren’s relationship with Pace and opened up the opportunity for Wren to question their feelings. Levi also supplies the opportunity for Wren, Pace and the rest of the survivors to find out about the world.

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Undercurrent
by Paul Blackwell
Hardcover Giveaway
HarperTeen
Released 7/23/2013

In Undercurrent, Paul Blackwell’s fast-paced YA thriller, sixteen-year-old Callum Harris survives a plummet over a waterfall, but wakes to find himself in a life that’s totally different from the one he knew.

His parents were separated. Now they’re together. His brother Cole was a sports star. Now he’s paralyzed. And Callum, who used to be quiet and sort of unpopular, is suddenly a jock with two hot girls after him.

But there’s one difference that matters more than all the others combined: His former best friend wants Callum dead. And he isn’t the only one.

Tense and original, Undercurrent is a psychological thrill-ride with sci-fi elements that will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman and Neal Shusterman.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Undercurrent?

My favorite thing about UNDERCURRENT has to be its protagonist, Callum Harris. Writing the novel, I really wanted to capture the essence of an authentic teenage boy, with all the brooding, egotism, and uncertainty that comes from determining where the hell you fit in life. I then wanted to present him with truly mind-bending circumstances to see how he would fare.

Callum is a complex and contentious character. Outside of the fantastical elements of the story, at the center is a kid trying to cope with tragedy. I hope readers will appreciate Callum’s genuineness and recognize his motives despite the darker aspects of his nature that I’d like to explore further in a future installment.

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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS

Replica
by Jenna Black
Paperback Giveaway
Tor Teen; 1 edition
Released 7/16/2013

Winner: Marie Hemphill

Breathtaking new YA SF from the author of the Faeriewalker series

Sixteen-year-old Nadia Lake comes from a high-class Executive family in the Corporate States. Her marriage has been arranged with the most powerful family in her state, which means she lives a life of privilege but also of public scrutiny, followed everywhere by photographers, every detail of her private life tabloid fodder. But her future is assured, as long as she can maintain her flawless public image — no easy feat when your betrothed is a notorious playboy.

Nathan Hayes is the heir of Paxco — controller of the former state of New York, and creator of human replication technology, science that every state and every country in the world would kill to have. Though Nadia and Nate aren’t in love, they’ve grown up close, and they (and the world) are happy enough with their match.

Until Nate turns up dead, and as far as everyone knows, Nadia was the last person to see him alive.

When the new Nate wakes up in the replication tanks, he knows he must have died, but with a memory that only reaches to his last memory backup, he doesn’t know what killed him. Together, Nadia and Nate must discover what really happened without revealing the secrets that those who run their world would kill to protect.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Replica?

There are a lot of things I love about this world and this concept, but the thing I like best is the contrast between my two protagonists, Nadia and Nate. Nadia begins the book being painfully proper and hyper-responsible–all for good reason, considering her high-profile and precarious position and how much her family’s future is riding on her shoulders. Nate is lovable and good-natured, but irresponsible and oblivious to other people’s feelings. He’s so used to being at the top of the food chain that he can’t quite comprehend why other people can’t get away with the kind of behavior he can, and why Nadia has to be so cautious with everything she says and does. He frequently gets frustrated by her caution, and she frequently gets frustrated by his lack of it.

What’s fun about it is that each of them has to become a little more like the other to get through the events of this story. Nadia has to abandon some of her caution and stick her neck out to do the right thing–even if that means risk to herself and her family. Nate has to learn to control himself and think about the consequences before he blunders forward. It’s a very hard lesson for both of them to learn. They’ve been best friends for practically all their lives and it turns out neither of them understands the other as well as they thought. It’s also a lot of fun when Nadia loses some of her caution and finally tells Nate what she really thinks about his behavior.

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Imperfect Spiral
by Debbie Levy
Hardcover Giveaway
Walker Childrens; 1 edition
Released 7/16/2013

Winner: Renee Hall

Danielle Snyder’s summer job as a babysitter takes a tragic turn when Humphrey, the five-year-old boy she’s watching, runs in front of oncoming traffic to chase down his football. Immediately Danielle is caught up in the machinery of tragedy: police investigations, neighborhood squabbling, and, when the driver of the car that struck Humphrey turns out to be an undocumented alien, outsiders use the accident to further a politically charged immigration debate. Wanting only to mourn Humphrey, the sweet kid she had a surprisingly strong friendship with, Danielle tries to avoid the world around her. Through a new relationship with Justin, a boy she meets at the park, she begins to work through her grief, but as details of the accident emerge, much is not as it seems. It’s time for Danielle to face reality, but when the truth brings so much pain, can she find a way to do right by Humphrey’s memory and forgive herself for his death?

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Imperfect Spiral?

You mean other than Humphrey’s name, right?

My favorite thing is the unlikely relationship between teenage Danielle and five-year-old Humphrey. Danielle feels, as teenagers (and adults!) often do, that she is a major oddball, when in fact she is just a little bit of an oddball, as so many of us are. Humphrey thinks Danielle is just the greatest. The reader sees how Danielle grows to love the little guy during the summer that she spends working as Humphrey’s babysitter, and grows to love his own funny little oddities. His greatest gift to her is, eventually, the ability to see herself through his accepting and admiring eyes. So, when Humphrey encourages Danielle to join him in doing a do-not-rain dance in the park, and when she does he exclaims, “You look like a beautiful daddy longlegs!”–she can feel just fine about that.

Ask me again tomorrow and I’ll have a different favorite thing.

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Vigilante Nights
by Erin Richards
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
Merit Press
Released 7/18/2013

Winner: Samantha Randolph

A “good boy” will do anything for vengeance when a gang rite kills his twin sister. Will Lucas win, or follow his sister Silver into the darkness?

After a hideous car wreck, Lucas wakes from a coma to find that his world is gutted. Not only is his beloved twin sister, Silver, gone forever, but Lucas is broken in body and spirit. He will never be a college athlete, and is robbed of what he now realizes was the most important bond of his life. Although they weren’t identical twins, Lucas and Silver shared a bond so fierce it defied reason, and was nearly supernatural.

After her death, that bond seems to endure when Lucas sees Silver everywhere he turns. Either he’s crazy, or Silver is trying to tell him something about the California gang initiation they stumbled into that cost Silver her life. Lucas is bent on revenge, turning on Raymond, Silver’s former boyfriend; the one Lucas never wanted her to date. He forms a posse of vigilantes to take out the gangsters responsible for Silver’s death, but he risks not only his own life, but the love of the new girl on his block, who knows more about Lucas and Silver than can be accounted for by mere chance.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Vigilante Nights?

What I liked best about Vigilante Nights is the emergence into adulthood through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old boy as a result of tragedy. There are many coming-of-age stories featuring great female main characters, and I wanted to write something different. The events of Vigilante Nights were far outside the adulthood he’d planned! Lucas is haunted by his sister and faces tragedy, grief, and a burning need for vengeance. I wanted to pile a lot on top of him and see how his actions and reactions snowballed–for good or bad. I also wanted Lucas to deal with his new upside down world as he fell in love for the first time–and finally realize he’d risked more than he expected.

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Conjured
by Sarah Beth Durst
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
Walker Childrens; 1 edition
Released 9/3/2013

Winner: Rain Jeys

Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name-but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she’s in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access–and there is nothing they won’t say–or do–to her to get her to remember.

At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things–things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed–and she’s lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her–but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

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MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

OCD Love Story
by Corey Ann Haydu
Hardcover
Simon Pulse
Released 7/23/2013

When Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he’s her kind of crazy. Sweet, strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in love again.
But despite her feelings for Beck, Bea can’t stop thinking about someone else: a guy who is gorgeous and magnetic… and has no idea Bea even exists. But Bea knows a ton about him. She spends a lot of time watching him. She has a journal full of notes. Some might even say she’s obsessed.
Bea tells herself she’s got it all under control, but this isn’t a choice, it’s a compulsion. The truth is, she’s breaking down… and she might end up breaking her own heart.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about OCD Love Story?

My favorite thing about OCD LOVE STORY is the relationship Bea, my main character, has with her therapist. I liked trying to capture the complicated dynamics Bea has with the one person who is most able to help her. I love a layered relationship, and the one between Bea and her therapist has a lot of movement, never staying in one place for too long. For Bea, trusting a person who is forcing her to do things and think about things that make her uncomfortable is an enormous challenge, and it was exciting to write those scenes and to map out their journey together. I like that Bea struggles to be honest even in a supposedly “safe” space, and that Dr. Pat has moments of imperfection as well. Most of all, I like that Dr. Pat and Bea are a great example of how difficult change actually is. Change is hard and awkward and most of all is not a straight line. Capturing the unpredictable shape of a shifting relationship was incredibly exciting, and I’m proud of how it turned out.

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Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge
by David Lubar
Hardcover
Tor Teen; 1 edition
Released 7/23/2013

Master of the macabre David Lubar turns his attention to dark and twisted tales for teens with Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge

A group of high school girls takes revenge on their sadistic gym teacher in the most fitting way possible. Two stowaways find themselves on a ship for the dead. An ancient predator stalks the wrong victim. Here are thirteen tales of death, murder, and revenge from the fertile and febrile imagination of master storyteller David Lubar–his first story collection for the teen audience.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge?

My favorite thing is that the book actually exists. For years, I couldn’t get anyone interested in a dark YA story collection. Short stories are a tough market. Way back at the beginning of this century (yikes!), an editor from a major house told me he’d publish it, but he strung me along for two years without a contract, until I figured out he really didn’t want to do it. I sold it to a smaller house in 2011, but that publisher was purchased by a large online bookseller. I bought it back, because I wanted to stick with a traditional publisher. Then, at long last, the book found the home where it truly belonged, with Tor. I do have to mention one other favorite part, for which I can take absolutely no credit. The illustrations are astonishing.

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Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend
by Louise Rozett
Paperback
Harlequin Teen
Released 7/25/2013

Rose Zarelli has big plans for sophomore year–everything is going to be different. This year, she’s going to be the talented singer with the killer voice, the fabulous girl with the fashionista best friend, the brainiac who refuses to let Jamie Forta jerk her around…

…but if she’s not careful, she’s also going to be the sister who misses the signals, the daughter who can only think about her own pain, the “good girl” who finds herself in mid-scandal again (because no good deed goes unpunished) and possibly worst of all…the almost-girlfriend.

When all else fails, stop looking for love and go find yourself.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend?

My favorite thing about Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend is Rose’s discovery that she may, in fact, be an artist. In the midst of all the drama in her life–coping with the loss of her father, trying to repair her fragile relationship with her mother, managing the ever elusive Jamie Forta who’s got some pretty major issues of his own to contend with–she finds her passion, and she pursues it even in the face of what she perceives as failure. Ultimately, this gives her strength, and helps her see herself as an independent person, separate from the friends she loves and the guy she thinks she wants to be with.

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Starglass
by Phoebe North
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 7/23/2013

In this futuristic, outer space thriller, Terra has to decide between supporting the rebellion she believes in–and saving the life of the boy she loves.For generations, those aboard the Asherah have lived within strict rules meant to help them survive the journey from a doomed Earth to their promised land, the planet Zehava–which may or may not be habitable, a question whose imperative grows now, in the dwindling months before touchdown.

Sixteen-year-old Terra’s situation is tough. A dead mom. A grieving dad. A bitchy boss, and a betrothed who won’t kiss her no matter how bad she wants it. She’s doing her best to stay afloat, even when she gets assigned a vocation she has no interest in: botany.

But after Terra witnesses the Captain’s guard murder an innocent man, she’s drawn into a secret rebellion bent on restoring power to the people. The stakes are higher than anything she could have imagined. When the rebellion gives Terra an all-important mission, she has to decide where her loyalties lie for once and for all. Because she has started to fall for the boy she’s been sent to assassinate.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Starglass?

When I set out to write STARGLASS, I had many lofty ideals: to write a diverse dystopian that drew from my own Jewish background and my history as a kid who lost a parent. And I’m glad that I was able to explore these issues in the final book. But what truly makes me love the book is Terra herself.

Terra’s a character with a very strong voice, someone who is always herself even if I, as the author, sometimes wanted her to be someone else for plot purposes! She’s not always a strong *person* but over the course of the novel, she learns that even flawed people can take control of their own lives and be heroic. After two books in her head, we’ve become quite close, and I can’t wait to share her with the world.

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Of Beast and Beauty
by Stacey Jay
Hardcover
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 7/23/2013

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret…

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Of Beast and Beauty?

I had an amazing time writing this book so it’s hard to pick one thing, but I suppose the thing I’m most proud of is that OF BEAST AND BEAUTY isn’t simply a re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast or a love story–though it is both of those things, of course. It’s also about falling in love with the world and your community, about finding a place where you belong and circumstances that make you feel empowered to change the world for the better. It’s a “falling in love with life” story, and that makes me very happy. I hope my readers will enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it, and that they’ll fall in love with the “Beauty and the Beast” story all over again in this twisted version of the tale.

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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK

The Fury
by Alexander Gordon Smith
Hardcover
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Released 7/23/2013

From the creator of the Escape from Furnace series, a ferocious epic of supernatural terror, perfect for Stephen King fans

Imagine if one day, without warning, the entire human race turns against you, if every person you know, every person you meet becomes a bloodthirsty, mindless savage . . . That’s the horrifying reality for Cal, Brick, and Daisy. Friends, family, even moms and dads, are out to get them. Their world has the Fury. It will not rest until they are dead.

In Alexander Gordon Smith’s adrenaline-fueled saga, Cal and the others must uncover the truth about what is happening before it destroys them all. But survival comes at a cost. In their search for answers, what they discover will launch them into battle with an enemy of unimaginable power.

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Arclight
by Josin L McQuein
Hardcover
Greenwillow Books
Released 7/23/2013

No one crosses the wall of light . . . except for one girl who doesn’t remember who she is, where she came from, or how she survived. A harrowing, powerful debut thriller about finding yourself and protecting your future–no matter how short and uncertain it may be.

The Arclight is the last defense. The Fade can’t get in. Outside the Arclight’s border of high-powered beams is the Dark. And between the Light and the Dark is the Grey, a narrow, barren no-man’s-land. That’s where the rescue team finds Marina, a lone teenage girl with no memory of the horrors she faced or the family she lost. Marina is the only person who has ever survived an encounter with the Fade. She’s the first hope humanity has had in generations, but she could also be the catalyst for their final destruction. Because the Fade will stop at nothing to get her back. Marina knows it. Tobin, who’s determined to take his revenge on the Fade, knows it. Anne-Marie, who just wishes it were all over, knows it.

When one of the Fade infiltrates the Arclight and Marina recognizes it, she will begin to unlock secrets she didn’t even know she had. Who will Marina become? Who can she never be again?

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The Counterfeit Family Tree of Vee Crawford-Wong
by L. Tam Holland
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 7/23/2013

A hysterically funny debut novel about discovering where you come from–even if you have to lie to get there.
When Vee Crawford-Wong’s history teacher assigns an essay on his family history, Vee knows he’s in trouble. His parents–Chinese-born dad and Texas-bred Mom–are mysteriously and stubbornly close-lipped about his ancestors. So, he makes it all up and turns in the assignment. And then everything falls apart.

After a fistfight, getting cut from the basketball team, offending his best friend, and watching his grades plummet, one thing becomes abundantly clear to Vee: No one understands him! If only he knew where he came from– So Vee does what anyone in his situation would do: He forges a letter from his grandparents in China, asking his father to bring their grandson to visit. Astonishingly, Vee’s father agrees. But in the land of his ancestors, Vee learns that the answers he seeks are closer to home then he could have ever imagined.

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A Really Awesome Mess
by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin
Hardcover
EgmontUSA
Released 7/23/2013

A hint of Recovery Road, a sample of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and a cut of Juno. A Really Awesome Mess is a laugh-out-loud, gut-wrenching/heart-warming story of two teenagers struggling to find love and themselves.

Two teenagers. Two very bumpy roads taken that lead to Heartland Academy.
Justin was just having fun, but when his dad walked in on him with a girl in a very compromising position, Justin’s summer took a quick turn for the worse. His parents’ divorce put Justin on rocky mental ground, and after a handful of Tylenol lands him in the hospital, he has really hit rock bottom.

Emmy never felt like part of her family. She was adopted from China. Her parents and sister tower over her and look like they came out of a Ralph Lauren catalog– and Emmy definitely doesn’t. After a scandalous photo of Emmy leads to vicious rumors around school, she threatens the boy who started it all on Facebook.

Justin and Emmy arrive at Heartland Academy, a reform school that will force them to deal with their issues, damaged souls with little patience for authority. But along the way they will find a ragtag group of teens who are just as broken, stubborn, and full of sarcasm as themselves. In the end, they might even call each other friends.
A funny, sad, and remarkable story, A Really Awesome Mess is a journey of friendship and self-discovery that teen readers will surely sign up for.

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