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  YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK

Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
Hardcover Giveaway (3 Copies)
St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 9/10/2013

In Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? Open her heart to someone?

Or will she just go on living inside somebody else’s fiction?

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Homicidal Aliens and Other Disappointments
by Brian Yansky
Hardcover Giveaway
Candlewick
Released 9/10/2013

The reluctant hero from Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences is back in all his droll glory — and this time the fate of humankind is on the line.

Jesse has had the worst year of his life. First a race of homicidal (but very polite) aliens invaded Earth, killing pretty much everyone and enslaving the few people left behind, including Jesse; his best friend, Michael; his sort-of girlfriend, Lauren; and the girl of his dreams, Catlin. Now Jesse is revered as some sort of Chosen One all because he managed to kill one of the alien lords and escape — even though he’s not really sure how he did it. But it’s hard to argue with the multitude of new talents he is developing, including (somehow) killing aliens with his mind and grasping glimpses of alternate futures. With thousands of aliens already on Earth and thirty million more about to arrive, Jesse has to decide whether to embrace his maybe-destiny before the world is completely destroyed. No pressure.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Homicidal Aliens and Other Disappointments?

I finished it. Writers know what I mean. You write and write and rewrite and rewrite and when you finally write those two final words “the end” and mean them– there’s a great sense of accomplishment and relief. You did it. Of course there’s a little sadness, too. You lose your intense connection to your story, fictional world, characters.

The thing that I’m most satisfied with is that I wrote the novel I really wanted to write. I love to read all kinds of writing but my favorite is writing that walks the tightrope of comedy and drama. Dramedy. Black comedy. Homicidal Aliens has this. It also has fantasy and sci-fi elements. My favorite thing is that I risked combining all these elements.

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Monsters
by Ilsa J Bick
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
EgmontUSA
Released 9/10/2013

The Changed are on the move. The Spared are out of time. The End…is now.

When her parents died, Alex thought things couldn’t get much worse-until the doctors found the monster in her head.

She headed into the wilderness as a good-bye, to leave everything behind. But then the end of the world happened, and Alex took the first step down a treacherous road of betrayal and terror and death.

Now, with no hope of rescue-on the brink of starvation in a winter that just won’t quit-she discovers a new and horrifying truth.

The Change isn’t over.
The Changed are still evolving.
And…they’ve had help.

With this final volume of The Ashes Trilogy, Ilsa J. Bick delivers a riveting, blockbuster finish, returning readers to a brutal, post-apocalyptic world where no one is safe and hope is in short supply.

A world where, from these ashes, the monsters may rise.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Monsters?

Well, I guess the thing that I love most about MONSTERS is also what makes me saddest: that is, I’ve really come to know and love these guys. This is the culmination of a massive story. So while it’s cool that I got the time and space to explore my characters lives and this world, and live all their struggles with and in them . . . it’s also really, really hard to say good-bye. These characters and this story have been part of my life for nearly four years, and I watched them and it grow in ways that took me completely by surprise–and I outlined the bloody books! I know that I used up so much Kleenex on this last book that I should’ve taken out stock in Proctor and Gamble.

I’m just thrilled to have told their story–and bummed beyond belief to have to, truly, close the book. I still toy with ideas for a fourth book; I even know what it would be about. But sometimes you have to let go. So . . . I’m letting go.

Excuse me while I go blow my nose.

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Living with Jackie Chan
by Jo Knowles
Hardcover Giveaway
Candlewick
Released 9/10/2013

After fathering a baby, a teenager moves in with his karate-loving uncle and tries to come to terms with his guilt — and find a way to forgive.

This isn’t how Josh expected to spend senior year. He thought he’d be hanging out with his best friends, Dave and Caleb, driving around, partying, just like always. But here he is, miles from home — new school, new life, living with his Jackie-Chan-obsessed uncle, Larry, and trying to forget. But Josh can’t forget. So many things bring back memories of last year and the night that changed everything. Every day the pain, the shame, and the just not knowing are never far from his thoughts. Why is he such a loser? How could he have done what he did? He finds some moments of peace when he practices karate with Stella, the girl upstairs and his one real friend. As they move together through the katas, Josh feels connected in a way he has never felt before. He wonders if they could be more than friends, but Stella’s jealous boyfriend will make sure that doesn’t happen. And maybe it doesn’t matter. If Stella knew the truth, would she still think he was a True Karate Man? Readers first met Josh in Jumping Off Swings which told the story of four high school students and how one pregnancy changed all of their lives. In this companion book, they follow Josh as he tries to come to terms with what happened, and find a way to forgive.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Living with Jackie Chan?

What I loved most when I was writing the book was developing the relationship between Josh and his uncle, Larry. Whenever I wrote a scene with the two of them talking, the banter came really naturally and it was just so much fun to write. In Jumping Off Swings, Josh is the one character I think readers are left really wondering and worrying about at the end of the book. I wrote this companion because so many readers asked me if he was going to be OK. To be honest, when I started writing Living With Jackie Chan, I still wasn’t sure what would become of him. But as soon as Larry came bounding out of the apartment to greet him, I knew Josh was going to be OK, however hard the journey getting there might be. Larry is the first really goofy character I’ve written about and the more developed and whole he became, the more I wished I knew him in real life. I think we could all use an Uncle Larry!

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Cherry Money Baby
by John M Cusick
Hardcover Giveaway
Candlewick
Released 9/10/2013

Hollywood glitz collides with workingclass aspirations in this satirical tale of an impulsive starlet and a sharp-witted small-town teen.

Cherry Kerrigan loves her simple life, her family’s  –tiny trailer, even working at Burrito Barn. Forget college she’s marrying her sweetheart from next door. But here comes Ardelia Deen, a glamorous starlet who sweeps Cherry into a world of fast cars and penthouse parties. Now Cherry’s small-town life just seems so . . . small. When Ardelia drops a bomb of an offer — one involving a baby — Cherry knows her life will change forever, no matter what she decides. John M. Cusick focuses his signature wit on Hollywood royalty and the wide-eyed dreams of Small Town, U.S.A. in a novel about discovering who you are . . . and changing your mind.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Cherry Money Baby?

My favorite thing about CHERRY MONEY BABY has to be Cherry herself. When I started writing the first draft, I had only the story in mind, with this sort of vague girl character in the middle. As I revised, Cherry emerged loud and proud– and I’m proud of her. She doesn’t take any you-know-what (Prisoners? Yeah, sure.), is fiercely loyal, and self-directed. She knows what she wants, but is open to change, and struggles to be better. I love that.

I don’t usually ascribe to the whole “my characters are in charge” idea. Nabokov called his own “galley slaves,” and I tend to feel the same way. But Cherry was different. Occasionally a scene would call for her to take something on the chin, or behave herself, or turn the other cheek. But then, no, she’d come walloping in and tear the place down. I love discovering a character with that kind of soul. Cherry took over. She really did drive her own story.

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Friday Never Leaving
by Vikki Wakefield
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
Simon & Schuster
Released 9/10/2013

In this wrenching, exquisite coming-of-age novel, Friday discovers what makes a family–and a home.Friday Brown has never had a home. She and her mother live on the road, running away from the past instead of putting down roots. So when her mom succumbs to cancer, the only thing Friday can do is keep moving. Her journey takes her to an abandoned house where a bunch of street kids are squatting, and an intimidating girl named Arden holds court.

Friday gets initiated into the group, but her relationship with Arden is precarious, which puts Friday–and anyone who befriends her–at risk. With the threat of a dangerous confrontation looming, Friday has to decide between returning to her isolated, transient life, or trying to help the people she’s come to care about–if she can still make it out alive.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Friday Never Leaving?

Because I’m shallow, my favourite thing about Friday Never Leaving is that the US edition is a HARDCOVER. But seriously, this was a difficult book to write in comparison with my debut. I wrote in reverse because I started with an ending, piecing together scenes and bridging gaps in the story as I went. This book will always remind me that what came before cannot help me to write the next book–it’s a shifting process with unique challenges. I’ve also written my favourite character ever in Friday Never Leaving: Silence, a homeless boy who can’t speak. It’s only through gestures that he expresses himself on the page; Silence was perhaps my biggest challenge but he’s also my greatest reward.

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Relativity
by Cristin Bishara
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
Walker Childrens
Released 9/10/2013

If Ruby Wright could have her way, her dad would never have met and married her stepmother Willow, her best friend George would be more than a friend, and her mom would still be alive. Ruby knows wishes can’t come true; some things just can’t be undone. Then she discovers a tree in the middle of an Ohio cornfield with a wormhole to nine alternative realities.

Suddenly, Ruby can access completely different realities, each containing variations of her life–if things had gone differently at key moments. The windshield wiper missing her mother’s throat, her big brother surviving his ill-fated birth, her father never having met Willow. Her ideal world–one with everything and everyone she wants most–could be within reach. But is there such a thing as a perfect world? What is Ruby willing to give up to find out?

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Thornhill
by Kathleen Peacock
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
Katherine Tegen Books
Released 9/10/2013

Mac can’t lose another friend. Even if he doesn’t want to be found.

The ripple effect caused by Mac’s best friend Amy’s murder has driven Mac’s new love, Kyle, to leave Hemlock and disappear from her life forever. But Mac knows that Kyle plans to enroll in a rehabilitation camp, where he can live with other werewolves. She refuses to accept his decision, especially since the camps are rumored to be tortuous. So she sets out in search of Kyle with a barely sober Jason and Amy’s all-seeing ghost in tow.

Clues lead Mac to find Kyle in a werewolf den in Colorado, but their reunion is cut short by a Tracker raid. Now Mac and Kyle are trapped inside the electric fences of Thornhill, a camp for young werewolves. As she devises an escape plan, Mac uncovers dangerous secrets buried within the walls of Thornhill–and realizes that the risk to the people she loves is greater than ever before.

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The Chaos of Stars
by Kiersten White
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
HarperTeen
Released 9/10/2013

Isadora’s family is seriously screwed up.

Of course, as the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that pretty much comes with the territory. She’s also stuck with parents who barely notice her, and a house full of relatives who can’t be bothered to remember her name. After all, they are going to be around forever–and she’s a mere mortal.

Isadora’s sick of living a life where she’s only worthy of a passing glance, and when she has the chance to move to San Diego with her brother, she jumps on it. But Isadora’s quickly finding that a “normal” life comes with plenty of its own epic complications–and that there’s no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family. Much as she wants to leave her past behind, she can’t shake the ominous dreams that foretell destruction for her entire family. When it turns out there may be truth in her nightmares, Isadora has to decide whether she can abandon her divine heritage after all.

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Time After Time
by Tamara Ireland Stone
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
Hyperion Book CH
Released 9/13/2013

Calling Anna and Bennett’s romance long distance is an understatement: she’s from 1995 Chicago and he’s a time traveler from 2012 San Francisco. The two of them never should have met, but they did. They fell in love, even though they knew they shouldn’t. And they found a way to stay together, against all odds.

It’s not a perfect arrangement, though, with Bennett unable to stay in the past for more than brief visits, skipping out on big chunks of his present in order to be with Anna in hers. They each are confident that they’ll find a way to make things work…until Bennett witnesses a single event he never should have seen (and certainly never expected to). Will the decisions he makes from that point on cement a future he doesn’t want?

Told from Bennett’s point of view, Time After Time will satisfy readers looking for a fresh, exciting, and beautifully-written love story, both those who are eager to find out what’s next for Time Between Us’s Anna and Bennett and those discovering their story for the first time.

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The Morning Star
by Robin Bridges
Signed Hardcover Plus Swag Giveaway
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 8/27/2013

St. Petersburg, Russia, 1890

Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, wants to be known as a doctor, not a necromancer. But Tsar Alexander III forbids women to attend medical school; his interest in Katerina extends only to her ability to raise the dead. Twice now, Katerina has helped him by using her power to thwart the forces of darkness–vampires bent on resurrecting the lich tsar Konstantin Pavlovich so that he can take what he sees as his rightful place on the throne. Katerina thought she had bound Konstantin to the Greylands, the realm of the dead, but he has found a way out. Now he is searching for the Morning Star, a sword that will allow him to command a legion of supernatural warriors.

Katerina must find the sword before Konstantin does–and she must travel to Egypt to do so. Along the way, she puts up with unwanted attention from her former fiance, the nefarious Prince Danilo, and struggles with her feelings for her true love, George Alexandrovich. But with the looming threat from Konstantin, Katerina’s focus remains on the sword. Russia’s fate will be determined by whoever wields the Morning Star–and delivers the final blow.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Morning Star?

Besides getting to write my favorite scene of the whole trilogy, (can you guess what scene it is?) my favorite part about THE MORNING STAR was the research. I loved reading a biography about Mathilde Kschessinska, the ballerina who stole Nicholas’ heart, and I loved reading about George and Nicholas’ trip to Egypt and India. The tsar and tsarina sent their sons off on a well-chaperoned adventure to the Orient in the fall of 1890, mostly to make Nicholas forget his beautiful ballerina!

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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS

The Outside
by Laura Bickle
Hardcover Giveaway
Harcourt Children”s Books
Released 9/3/2013

Winner: rhapsodyinbooks

After a plague of vampires was unleashed in the world, Katie was kicked out of the safe haven of her Amish community for her refusal to adhere to the new rules of survival. She enters an outside world of unspeakable violence with only her two friends and a horse by her side. And yet through this darkness come the shining ones: luminescent men and women with the power to deflect vampires and survive the night. But can they be trusted, and are they even people at all? In this sequel to The Hallowed Ones, it’s up to one Amish girl to save her family, her community, and the boy she loves . . . but what will she be asked to sacrifice in return?

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Outside?

I loved throwing my protagonist, Katie, into the Outside world. Katie is a young Amish woman who has longed to see the world beyond her own settlement for many years. Now, she gets her wish in a terrifying way. She’s kicked out of her home and forced to face a plague of vampires on foreign turf. Katie is forced to draw upon her own strength and faith to protect herself and her friends in a newly-devastated landscape.

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Dead is Just a Dream
by Marlene Perez
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
Harcourt Children”s Books
Released 9/3/2013

Winner: Discord

The people of Nightshade, California, are dying in their sleep, and fifteen-year-old warrior Jessica Walsh is determined to find the killer . . . or killers. Justice isn’t the only thing on Jessica’s mind, however. In fact, some days she’s not sure which is worse–having a creepy clown lurking outside her window or having her rock star boyfriend’s hot ex-girlfriend back in town. Nightshade is crawling with paranormal people like Jessica . . . and it’s possible that the anti-paranormal group the Scourge is back to get rid of them. Or are the disturbing works of a strange painter somehow at the heart of the mystery? Jessica is losing sleep, but she’s got to figure it out before the night terrors strike again.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Dead is Just a Dream?

I have so many favorite parts, but I love the cover. I also love that the idea for this book came from a question I received during a panel I was on for the Houston Teen Book Con. The panel consisted of Holly Black, DJ McHale, Gina Dimaco, and me. Someone in the audience asked us what we were afraid of and I mentioned clowns. Later on, it inspired the beginning of Dead Is Just a Dream. What if the thing we feared haunted our dreams?

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Sweet Legacy
by Tera Lynn Childs
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
Katherine Tegen Books
Released 9/3/2013

Winner: Olivia H.

The stunning conclusion of Tera Lynn Childs’s Greek mythology–based Sweet Venom trilogy is perfect for teen fans of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series.

The girls cannot hesitate as they seek the location of the lost door between the realms, even as monsters and the gods of Olympus descend on San Francisco in battle-ready droves.

Greer must use her second sight to step up and prevent anything from stopping her sisters’ mission, even though a god is playing with her mind. Grace wants to trust her adopted brother, Thane; but will his secret put the girls in even more danger? And Gretchen has trained her sisters to stop the monsters, but her role as a huntress comes with more responsibility than she ever imagined.What will the girls’ immortal legacy be?

Three teenage descendants of Medusa must unite to restore balance to the world in this action-packed series with plenty of romance.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Sweet Legacy?

That I get to kill a main character! No, just kidding. (Mostly. (Not really.)) My favorite thing about SWEET LEGACY is that when I started the first scene of SWEET VENOM I knew exactly how I wanted the trilogy to end. I knew the exact scene in the exact location and the exact exchange that would happen. As most writers will tell you, sometimes books and series can go off the rails from the original plan, and I pretty much expected/feared that would happen with my Medusa girl. But it didn’t! The final scene of the book is exactly the scene I expected it to be from the very beginning. And that’s my favorite thing ever!

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Eternity
by Elizabeth Miles
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
Simon Pulse
Released 9/3/2013

Winner: Victoria Zumbrum

Secrets and revenge make for desperate measures and fateful choices in this gripping conclusion to the Fury trilogy.The weather is mild in Ascension, but beneath the surface, everything is burning up.

The nightmare Emily Winters has been living through for months shows no sign of ending, as the Furies stay on the peripheral, slowly driving her crazy. Em feels…different. She’s angry, and never cold, and too strong. It’s only a matter of time before she turns into the thing she hates the most. Em needs to take her fate into her own hands, but without Drea’s help, or anyone to turn to, Em is quickly running out of options.

Crow’s involvement with Em has grown more complicated. His visions are taking shape–and it doesn’t look good for Em. But Crow has a plan, and he will do anything to save her. Anything.

JD misses the Em he used to know…and love. She doesn’t seem like herself; it’s like she’s hiding something. When JD begins to learn the truth, he is as scared as he is determined to help her. And Em’s survival may be dependent on his actions.

The Furies love to play games, but this time they’re deadly serious–and they hate to lose.

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Dead Ends
by Erin Jade Lange
Advance Reader Copy Giveaway
Bloomsbury USA Childrens; 1 edition
Released 9/3/2013

Winner: Katie Bucklein

Dane Washington is one suspension away from expulsion. In a high school full of “haves,” being a “have not” makes Dane feel like life is hurtling toward one big dead end. Billy D. spends his high school days in Special Ed and he’s not exactly a “have” himself. The biggest thing Billy’s missing? His dad. Billy is sure the riddles his father left in an atlas are really clues to finding him again and through a bizarre turn of events, he talks Dane into joining him on the search.
A bully and a boy with Down syndrome makes for an unlikely friendship, but together, they work through the clues, leading to unmarked towns and secrets of the past. But they’re all dead ends. Until the final clue . . . and a secret Billy shouldn’t have been keeping.

As a journalist, Erin Jade Lange is inspired by hot button issues like bullying, but it is her honest characters and breakneck plotting that make Dead Ends a must-read.

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Eternal
by Kristi Cook
Hardcover Giveaway
Simon Pulse
Released 9/3/2013

Winner: Tia Dalley

True love and destiny collide in the conclusion to the Haven trilogy, which Booklist called “a blend of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, the Twilight saga, and Lois Duncan’s thrillers.”

Forced to endure the violent punishment of the Tribunal for murders he has no recollection of committing, Aidan is slowly rotting away in a Paris dungeon. Violet is all but an unreachable dream to him now.

But unlike Aidan, Violet has not given up hope as she works tirelessly with Matthew, her guardian and protector, to prove Aidan’s innocence and unravel the haunting vision that plagues her thoughts–the death of someone closest to her.

Determined to set Aidan free, Violet discovers that a dangerous vampire war is brewing–and that Aidan may be at the center of it all. It’s only when the war reaches the doors of Winterhaven and tragedy strikes the school that Violet has to finally accept her fate. But that could mean losing Aidan–forever.

With no other option, Violet must choose between true love and fulfilling her destiny–unless she can find a way to have them both.

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MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Rogue
by Gina Damico
Paperback
Graphia
Released 9/10/2013

Lex is a teenage Grim Reaper with the power to Damn souls, and it’s getting out of control. She’s a fugitive, on the run from the maniacal new mayor of Croak and the townspeople who want to see her pay the price for her misdeeds. Uncle Mort rounds up the Junior Grims to flee Croak once again, but this time they’re joined by Grotton, the most powerful Grim of all time. Their new mission is clear: Fix his mistakes, or the Afterlife will cease to exist, along with all the souls in it.

The gang heads for Necropolis, the labyrinth-like capital city of the Grimsphere. There, they discover that the Grimsphere needs a reboot. To do that, the portals to the Afterlife must be destroyed–but even that may not be enough to fix the damage. Things go from bad to worse, and when at last the fate of the Afterlife and all the souls of the Damned hang in the balance, it falls to Lex and her friends to make one final, impossible choice.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Rogue?

Since Rogue is the last book in the Croak trilogy, a lot of my favorite things about it are too spoilery for me to talk about. But I definitely am a fan of the city of Necropolis, the capital of the Grimsphere, where Lex and the gang escape to once they’re forced to flee from Croak. It’s a massive tower in the middle of nowhere, made of a single pain of green-tinted glass, and is so huge, labyrinthine, and hostile that all the Croakers might not make it out alive…

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Thin Space
by Jody Casella
Hardcover
Simon Pulse
Released 9/10/2013

Ever since the car accident that killed his twin brother, Marshall Windsor has been consumed with guilt and crippled by secrets of that fateful night. He has only one chance to make amends, to right his wrongs and set things right. He must find a Thin Space–a mythical point where the barrier between this world and the next is thin enough for a person to step through to the other side.

But, when a new girl moves into the house next door, the same house Marsh is sure holds a thin space, she may be the key–or the unraveling of all his secrets.

As they get closer to finding a thin space–and closer to each other–Marsh must decide once and for all how far he’s willing to go to right the wrongs of the living–and the dead.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Thin Space?

I love my main character Marsh Windsor. He’s so tortured and dark and somehow funny too. When I was writing Thin Space, he was this constant presence in my life. I had dreams about him shuffling around barefoot in the snow and breaking into his neighbor’s house. During the day when I was grocery shopping or carpooling my kids around, Marsh would whisper snippets of his thoughts, and I’d be compelled to stop what I was doing and write his words down.

Every once in a while I still find crumpled grocery receipts and stray envelopes stuffed in a jacket pocket or hidden in the pages of a book, and there they are, the scribbled words of Marsh Windsor, a made up character who, weirdly, seems more real to me than most real people I know.

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Little Red Lies
by Julie Johnston
Hardcover
Tundra Books
Released 9/10/2013

The war is over, but for thirteen-year-old Rachel, the battle has just begun. Putting childhood behind her, she knows what she wants – to prove she has acting talent worthy of the school drama club, and what she doesn’t want – to romantically fall for someone completely inappropriate. Worries about her veteran brother’s failing health and repugnance at her mother’s unexpected and unwanted pregnancy drive her to seek solace from a seemingly sympathetic, but self-serving teacher. The lies she tells herself hoping to reach solutions to the problems complicating her life merely function to make matters worse. Ultimately, she finds a way to come to terms with life as it reaches an end and life as it begins.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Little Red Lies?

My favourite thing about Little Red Lies was the challenge of writing it. There are two stories happening in the book, Rachel’s and her older brother Jamie’s. Because Rachel is telling the story in her own words, it is, of course, all in the first person. Not only that, the book is mostly about her. Still, I wanted Jamie to show what he was all about.
If you write in the first person, your protagonist either has to ask the other characters a lot of personal questions or else spend all her spare time spying on and listening in on other people’s private conversations. This was not the kind of girl I wanted Rachel to be. Actually, she does this a little bit out of sheer necessity. Jamie, however, writes letters that are diary-like in style, and this is where his personality comes out. Interspersing his interior monologues with Rachel’s story and making everything fit meaningfully was the biggest challenge of all.

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Antigoddess
by Kendare Blake
Hardcover
Tor Teen
Released 9/10/2013

Old Gods never die.

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra–an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods–in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Antigoddess?

My favorite thing about ANTIGODDESS is…I was trying to think of something cool to say. Some big action scene or a teaser twist. But honestly, the thing I enjoy most about Antigoddess is the adversarial friendships in it. I’ve become interested in characters who just can’t get along, but should. Like the Lannisters, on Game of Thrones. You’re family, dammit! Just hug it out! Or Crixus and Spartacus, the gladiators on Spartacus: Blood and Sand. You’re both ripped men, dammit! Just hug it out!

I think the adversarial friendships come more into play in the next two Goddess War books, so maybe this is cheating. But to summarize, when in doubt, hug it out.

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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK

Death of a King
by Andrew H. Vanderwal
Hardcover
Tundra Books
Released 9/10/2013

One of history’s most turbulent times comes dramatically to life in this big, broad adventure novel. Twelve-year-old Alex, determined to get to the bottom of his parents’ disappearance, sets out on a quest to find them. An ambitious time-travel novel set in Scotland at the time of William Wallace, Death of a King explores the turbulence of the bloody late thirteenth century after King Alexander dies on his way to Kinghorn without leaving an heir to the throne. The country is thrown into chaos, and Alex must overcome many obstacles along his path. Full of humor, intrigue, bloodshed, battles, and suspense, Death of a King is a rollicking read told by a major voice in historical fiction.

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Rose Under Fire
by Elizabeth Wein
Hardcover
Disney-Hyperion
Released 9/10/2013

While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbruck, the notorious women’s concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?

Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.

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Boston Jacky: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Taking Care of Business
by L.A. Meyer
Hardcover
Harcourt Children”s Books
Released 9/10/2013

Jacky Faber makes waves, even when docked in her adopted city of Boston to attend to the business of Faber Shipping Worldwide. With big dreams and perhaps too much exuberance for the Puritan populace, she quickly finds herself at odds with the Women’s Temperance Union and a town roiling over the arrival of hundreds of Irish laborers, brought in on Jacky’s Lorelei Lee. Thwarted at every turn by her enemies, Jacky is forced to acknowledge her shortcomings–and possibly lose her beloved Jaimy Fletcher. In this new installment in the ever-popular Bloody Jack Adventures, will the impulsive Jacky Faber finally get her comeuppance?

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Shadow
by Paula Weston
Hardcover
Tundra Books
Released 9/10/2013

It’s almost a year since Gaby Winters watched her twin brother die. In the sunshine of a new town her body has healed, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she fights and kills hell-beasts. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams, he tells her things about her brother and her life that cannot be true, things that are dangerous. Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And who is Gaby? The truth lies in the shadows of her nightmares.

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The Final Descent
by Rick Yancey
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster
Released 9/10/2013

Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop have encountered many horrors together–but can Will endure a monstrumological terror without his mentor?

Will Henry has been through more that seems possible for a boy of fourteen. He’s been on the brink of death on more than one occasion, he has gazed into hell–and hell has stared back at him, and known his face. But through it all, Dr. Warthrop has been at his side.

When Dr. Warthrop fears that Will’s loyalties may be shifting, he turns on Will with a fury, determined to reclaim his young apprentice’s devotion. And so Will must face one of the most horrific creatures of his monstrumology career–and he must face it alone.

Over the course of one day, Will’s life–and Pellinor Warthrop’s destiny–will lie in balance. In the terrifying depths of the Monstrumarium, they will face a monster more terrible than any they could have imagined–and their fates will be decided.

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The Walking Dark
by Robin Wasserman
Hardcover
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Released 9/10/2013

They called it the killing day. Twelve people dead, all in the space of a few hours. Five murderers: neighbors, relatives, friends. All of them so normal. All of them seemingly harmless. All of them now dead by their own hand . . . except one. And that one has no answers to offer the shattered town. She doesn’t even know why she killed–or whether she’ll do it again.

Something is waking in the sleepy town of Oleander’s, Kansas–something dark and hungry that lives in the flat earth and the open sky, in the vengeful hearts of upstanding citizens. As the town begins its descent into blood and madness, five survivors of the killing day are the only ones who can stop Oleander from destroying itself. Jule, the outsider at war with the world; West, the golden boy at war with himself; Daniel, desperate for a different life; Cass, who’s not sure she deserves a life at all; and Ellie, who believes in sacrifice, fate, and in evil. Ellie, who always goes too far. They have nothing in common. They have nothing left to lose. And they have no way out. Which means they have no choice but to stand and fight, to face the darkness in their town–and in themselves.

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