YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
Killer Instinct
by S. E. Green
Hardcover Giveaway
Simon Pulse
Released 5/6/2014
She’s not evil, but she has certain… urges.
Lane is a typical teenager. Loving family. Good grades. Afterschool job at the local animal hospital. Martial arts enthusiast. But her secret obsession is studying serial killers. She understands them, knows what makes them tick.
Why?
Because she might be one herself.
Lane channels her dark impulses by hunting criminals—delivering justice when the law fails. The vigilantism stops shy of murder. But with each visceral rush the line of self-control blurs.
And then a young preschool teacher goes missing. Only to return… in parts.
When Lane excitedly gets involved in the hunt for “the Decapitator,” the vicious serial murderer that has come to her hometown, she gets dangerously caught up in a web of lies about her birth dad and her own dark past. And once the Decapitator contacts Lane directly, Lane knows she is no longer invisible or safe. Now she needs to use her unique talents to find the true killer’s identity before she—or someone she loves—becomes the next victim…
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Killer Instinct?
When I wrote Killer Instinct, I wrote with a freedom I’ve never experienced. I wrote with a total lack of restriction. I went into the project knowing I wanted to create, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, and I wanted to take a chance. It was a liberating process.
Before Killer Instinct I never imagined I would write a torture scene or a castration scene (albeit both justified, I never imagined!).
So what is my favorite thing about Killer Instinct? The writing progression itself. Definitely. It opened this valve in me and now I don’t want to close it. I’m ready to take more chances!
Purchase Killer Instinct at Amazon
Purchase Killer Instinct at IndieBound
View Killer Instinct on Goodreads
Only Everything
by Kieran Scott
Signed Paperback Giveaway
Simon & Schuster Books for You
Released 5/6/2014
High school romance is tough—even for a bona fide love goddess. Can Cupid succeed as a mortal matchmaker?
When Eros (aka Cupid) is expelled from Olympus for defying Zeus after falling in love with Orion, she is banished to what she believes to be hell. We call it New Jersey. If she ever wants to go back to the comforts of her old life, she will have to find love for three couples—without using her powers.
Eros, now calling herself True, immediately identifies her first project in Charlie and believes finding him love will be a piece of cake. Charlie is new at school and eager to break out of his old image of band geek, so it’s lucky for him when he falls in with the right crowd on his first day. But music is still his passion. That is, until he meets Katrina…
Katrina is floundering after the death of her father and takes refuge with a boy who, while not entirely supportive, will be there when she needs him, unlike her mother. Too bad True thinks any girl Charlie talks to is perfect for him. Can she get out of her own way and help Charlie and Katrina connect, or will she be stuck in New Jersey forever?
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Only Everything?
My favorite thing about Only Everything is the protagonist, True Olympia, who is one of the coolest, quirkiest, funniest and most headstrong characters I’ve ever written. She’s actually, Eros, the Goddess of Love, but has been banished to Earth as punishment for ignoring her duties and falling in love with a human, Orion. In order to get back to Mount Olympus and to save Orion’s life, she must match three couples without her powers. At first, she thinks it’s going to be no problem—she’s been doing this since the dawn of time—but it turns out that being mortal is trickier than she imagined. I had so much fun coming up with the aspects of mortal life that might trip up a Goddess, like the concept of ownership. Usually she can conjure whatever she wants, so she goes around school taking people’s food off their plates and their sunglasses from their lockers, thinking it’s no big deal. She also doesn’t know how to dress or groom herself (Oh my Gods! Is that a zit?), and alcohol and food have negative affects on her body for the first time ever. Girl is a train-wreck, basically, when she’s used to being a flawless, all-mighty Goddess. Plus matching couples without being able to read their hearts and minds proves to be a big challenge. Hopefully readers will enjoy watching the formerly powerful True falter and trip up and learn a few things about life.
Purchase Only Everything at Amazon
Purchase Only Everything at IndieBound
View Only Everything on Goodreads
Chantress Alchemy
by Amy Butler Greenfield
Hardcover Giveaway
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Released 5/6/2014
Since defeating Lord Scargrave with her music, Lucy, the last Chantress, has lived by the sea, mastering the intricacies of Wild Magic. But now her quiet life is about to end: the wheat crop has failed, the people are rebelling, and Lucy is called urgently back to King Henry IX’s court. There she finds the Inner Council planning to save England by making gold through alchemy. But the golden crucible — the critical element in the alchemical process — has been stolen, its guards murdered. Lucy is charged with finding the traitor behind the attack.
Meanwhile, enemies old and new are gathering. Scargrave’s brutal Chantress-hunter has become King Henry’s closest advisor. Lucy’s beloved Nat has fallen out of favor and is shunned by his colleagues; their romance means trouble for both of them. Worst of all, something goes wrong with Lucy’s magic. The palace is a labyrinth, and there’s a monster at its heart — a monster who may have the power to defeat Lucy once and for all.
Amy Butler Greenfield returns to the beguiling world of Chantress for a suspenseful tale of courtly intrigue, music, and magic in Chantress Alchemy.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Chantress Alchemy?
I knew it would be fun to write about characters I’d loved from the first book, especially Lucy and Nat. But I was completely taken by surprise by how wonderful it was to write about brand new characters! Three in particular stand out for me. The first is Lord Gabriel, a striking young courtier with an elegant air, a gift for alchemy, and a fine line in heart-tugging flirtation. The second is Sybil, an amiable young beauty who claims to be Lucy’s long-lost friend; she was raised by a half-mad mother with Chantress connections. Finally, there’s Margery, a servant girl with a chilly air who’s hiding a few secrets of her own.
Sometimes it takes a while to make a character come alive, but I’d have sworn these were real people right from the start. Often I felt I was taking dictation from them, rather than writing – and as any writer will tell you, that is truly a gift!
Purchase Chantress Alchemy at Amazon
Purchase Chantress Alchemy at IndieBound
View Chantress Alchemy on Goodreads
YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
Acid
by Emma Pass
Hardcover
Delacorte Press
Released 3/11/2014
Winner – Jackie Lea
The year is 2113. In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID—the most brutal controlling police force in history—rule supreme. No throwaway comment or whispered dissent goes unnoticed—or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a horrendous crime she struggles to remember. But Jenna’s violent prison time has taught her how to survive by any means necessary.
When a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed, and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID, and try to uncover the truth about what really happened on that terrible night two years ago. They have taken her life, her freedom, and her true memories away from her. How can she reclaim anything when she doesn’t know who to trust?
Strong, gritty writing, irresistible psychological suspense, and action consume the novel as Jenna struggles to survive against the all-controlling ACID. Seriously sinister stuff.
Purchase Acid at Amazon
Purchase Acid at IndieBound
View Acid on Goodreads
What We Hide
by Marthe Jocelyn
Hardcover
Wendy Lamb Books
Released 4/8/2014
Winner – Arlinda Smith
Americans Jenny and her brother, Tom, are off to England: Tom to university, to dodge the Vietnam draft, Jenny to be the new girl at a boarding school, Illington Hall. This is Jenny’s chance to finally stand out, so accidentally, on purpose, she tells a lie. But in the small world of Ill Hall, everyone has something to hide. Jenny pretends she has a boyfriend. Robbie and Luke both pretend they don’t. Brenda won’t tell what happened with the school doctor. Nico wants to hide his mother’s memoir. Percy keeps his famous dad a secret. Oona lies to everyone. Penelope lies only to herself.
Deftly told from multiple points of view in various narrative styles, including letters and movie screenplays, What We Hide is provocative, honest, often funny, and always intriguing.
Purchase What We Hide at Amazon
Purchase What We Hide at IndieBound
View What We Hide on Goodreads
MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
A Girl Called Fearless
by Catherine Linka
Hardcover
St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 5/6/2014
Avie Reveare has the normal life of a privileged teen growing up in L.A., at least as normal as any girl’s life is these days. After a synthetic hormone in beef killed fifty million American women ten years ago, only young girls, old women, men, and boys are left to pick up the pieces. The death threat is past, but fathers still fear for their daughters’ safety, and the Paternalist Movement, begun to “protect” young women, is taking over the choices they make.Like all her friends, Avie still mourns the loss of her mother, but she’s also dreaming about college and love and what she’ll make of her life. When her dad “contracts” her to marry a rich, older man to raise money to save his struggling company, her life suddenly narrows to two choices: Be trapped in a marriage with a controlling politician, or run. Her lifelong friend, student revolutionary Yates, urges her to run to freedom across the border to Canada. As their friendship turns to passion, the decision to leave becomes harder and harder. Running away is incredibly dangerous, and it’s possible Avie will never see Yates again. But staying could mean death.From Catherine Linka comes this romantic, thought-provoking, and frighteningly real story, A Girl Called Fearless, about fighting for the most important things in life—freedom and love.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about A Girl Called Fearless?
What I love most about my book is that even though it’s a romantic spec fiction thriller, it makes readers think about larger issues. I was inspired to write the book by asking what would it be like if teenage girls in the US today had to live the way girls do in many developing nations where they are taken out of school and sold into marriage with no choice in the matter. I’m really pleased that people get angry about what happens to Avie and her friends and they want to talk about the story. And I’m thrilled that A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS was nominated for the Amelia Bloomer Project by the ALA for feminist books for teens.
Purchase A Girl Called Fearless at Amazon
Purchase A Girl Called Fearless at IndieBound
View A Girl Called Fearless on Goodreads
Buzz Kill
by Beth Fantaskey
Hardcover
HMH Books for Young Readers
Released 5/6/2014
In this fresh and funny teen mystery, seventeen-year-old Millie joins forces with her classmate, gorgeous but mysterious Chase Albright, to try to find out who murdered Coach Killdare.
Putting the dead in deadline
To Bee or not to Bee? When the widely disliked Honeywell Stingers football coach is found murdered, 17-year-old Millie is determined to investigate. She is chasing a lead for the school newspaper – and looking to clear her father, the assistant coach, and prime suspect.
Millie’s partner is gorgeous, smart-and keeping secrets
Millie joins forces with her mysterious classmate Chase who seems to want to help her even while covering up secrets of his own.
She’s starting to get a reputation…without any of the benefits.
Drama-and bodies-pile up around Millie and she chases clues, snuggles Baxter the so-ugly-he’s-adorable bassett hound, and storms out of the world’s most awkward school dance/memorial mash-up. At least she gets to eat a lot of pie.
Best-selling author Beth Fantaskey’s funny, fast-paced blend of Clueless and Nancy Drew is a suspenseful page-turner that is the best time a reader can have with buried weapons, chicken clocks, and a boy who only watches gloomy movies…but somehow makes Millie smile. Bee-lieve it.
Pair with Fantaskey’s best-selling Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Buzz Kill?
My favorite thing about Buzz Kill is the main character, Millie Ostermeyer’s, independent spirit. She knows that she doesn’t dress or act like most other girls, and that wearing old Doc Martens and reading philosophy books might not make her attractive to the gorgeous guy she’s crushing on. But she’s not about to change for him. If he’s going to fall for her, it’s going to be for the REAL her. I like girls with confidence like that.
Purchase Buzz Kill at Amazon
Purchase Buzz Kill at IndieBound
View Buzz Kill on Goodreads
Secrets and Lies
by Jacqueline Green
Hardcover
Poppy
Released 5/6/2014
Can you keep a secret?
Tenley Reed and Sydney Morgan have never seen eye to eye — until now. United by a common goal, they are determined to find out who was behind their friend’s murder. Joined by Emerson Cunningham, a gorgeous but troubled teen model, the girls start their own investigation. But in the isolated beach town of Echo Bay, it’s hard to know who’s a friend and who’s an enemy.
Secrets and Lies is the second book in the Truth or Dare series — and will keep readers in suspense from beginning to end.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Secrets and Lies?
My favorite thing about SECRETS AND LIES is how high the stakes have become for the girls of Echo Bay. Friends have died because of the darer, and if they don’t find this stalker soon, they’ll be next. It makes this book darker and scarier than the first, which was a lot of fun to write–and I hope just as much fun to read!
Purchase Secrets and Lies at Amazon
Purchase Secrets and Lies at IndieBound
View Secrets and Lies on Goodreads
The Warrior
by Victoria Scott
Paperback
Entangled Teen
Released 5/6/2014
War between heaven and hell is coming, but Dante Walker makes it look damn good.
Dante’s girlfriend, Charlie, is fated to save the world. And Aspen, the girl who feels like a sister, is an ordained soldier. In order to help both fulfill their destiny and win the war, Dante must complete liberator training at the Hive, rescue Aspen from hell, and uncover a message hidden on an ancient scroll.
Dante is built for battle, but even he can’t handle the nightmares where spiders crawl from Aspen’s eyes, or the look on Charlie’s face that foretells of devastation. To make matters worse, the enemy seizes every opportunity to break inside the Hive and cripple the liberators. But the day of reckoning is fast approaching, and to stand victorious, Dante will have to embrace something inside himself he never has before—faith.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Warrior?
My favorite thing is the short epilogue at the end. I wasn’t certain if I wanted to write one, but as a reader, I always love seeing how every character ends up, and am given an idea as to where they’re each headed. It’s difficult saying goodbye to characters after three books, but I’m happy that the ending gave me that closure. I hope it instills a similar sense of closure for my readers.
Purchase The Warrior at Amazon
Purchase The Warrior at IndieBound
View The Warrior on Goodreads
Torn Away
by Jennifer Brown
Hardcover
Little, Brown Books for Young
Released 5/6/2014
Born and raised in the Midwest, Jersey Cameron knows all about tornadoes. Or so she thinks. When her town is devastated by a twister, Jersey survives — but loses her mother, her young sister, and her home. As she struggles to overcome her grief, she’s sent to live with her only surviving relatives: first her biological father, then her estranged grandparents.
In an unfamiliar place, Jersey faces a reality she’s never considered before — one in which her mother wasn’t perfect, and neither were her grandparents, but they all loved her just the same. Together, they create a new definition of family. And that’s something no tornado can touch.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Torn Away?
What I love most about TORN AWAY is Jersey’s resilience. All of my characters must have resilience, but Jersey has more than any other. She is truly on her own, and has to face an uncertain (and at times terrifying and seemingly impossible) future all by herself. But rather than shut down or succumb to anger or give up, she remains hopeful and keeps fighting for herself. She allows the tiniest bit of her heart to remain open. She is strong and brave. The tornado in TORN AWAY, in that sense, can represent any destructive and devastating force in our lives, be it physical destruction or emotional. Can we ever lose “everything” if we still have that glimmer of hope in our hearts?
Purchase Torn Away at Amazon
Purchase Torn Away at IndieBound
View Torn Away on Goodreads
MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
A Creature of Moonlight
by Rebecca Hahn
Hardcover
HMH Books for Young Readers
Released 5/6/2014
A stunning debut novel about a girl who is half dragon, half human, and wholly herself.
As the only heir to the throne, Marni should have been surrounded by wealth and privilege, not living in exile-but now the time has come when she must choose between claiming her birthright as princess of a realm whose king wants her dead, and life with the father she has never known: a wild dragon who is sending his magical woods to capture her.
Fans of Bitterblue and Seraphina will be captured by A Creature of Moonlight, with its richly layered storytelling and the powerful choices its strong heroine must make.
Purchase A Creature of Moonlight at Amazon
Purchase A Creature of Moonlight at IndieBound
View A Creature of Moonlight on Goodreads
After the End
by Amy Plum
Hardcover
Harper Teen
Released 5/6/2014
“I have no idea what is truth and what is fiction. I’m all I’ve got now. I can’t trust anyone.”
World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They’ve survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.
At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.
When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie.
Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she’s trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.
Purchase After the End at Amazon
Purchase After the End at IndieBound
View After the End on Goodreads
Call Me By My Name
by John Ed Bradley
Paperback
Antheum Books For Young Reader
Released 5/6/2014
From former football star and bestselling author John Ed Bradley comes a searing look at love, life, and football in the face of racial adversity. “Heartbreaking,” says Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak.
Growing up in Louisiana in the late 1960s, Tater Henry has experienced a lot of prejudice. His town is slow to desegregate and slower still to leave behind deep-seated prejudice.
Despite the town’s sensibilities, Rodney Boulett and his twin sister Angie befriend Tater, and as their friendship grows stronger, Tater and Rodney become an unstoppable force on the football field. That is, until Rodney sees Tater and Angie growing closer, too, and Rodney’s world is turned upside down. Teammates, best friends—Rodney’s world is threatened by a hate he did not know was inside of him.
As the town learns to accept notions like a black quarterback, some changes may be too difficult to accept.
Purchase Call Me By My Name at Amazon
Purchase Call Me By My Name at IndieBound
View Call Me By My Name on Goodreads
How to Meet Boys
by Catherine Clark
Paperback
Harper Teen
Released 5/6/2014
Lucy can’t wait to spend the summer at the lake with her best friend, Mikayla. But when Jackson, the boy she’s been avoiding ever since he rejected her, reappears in her life, Lucy wonders if this summer to remember is one she’d rather forget.
Mikayla’s never had much luck talking to boys, but when she (literally) runs into the cutest guy she’s ever seen, and sparks fly, she thinks things might be looking up…until she realizes the adorable stranger is the same boy who broke her best friend’s heart.
As things begin to heat up between Mikayla and the one guy she should avoid, will Lucy be able to keep her cool or will the girls’ perfect summer turn into one hot mess?
Catherine Clark, the author of beach-read favorites Maine Squeeze and Love and Other Things I’m Bad At, has once again crafted a hilarious and spot-on portrayal of what it’s really like to be a teenager. Readers will love this irreverent coming-of-age story…and will be breathlessly turning the pages to find out what happens next.
Purchase How to Meet Boys at Amazon
Purchase How to Meet Boys at IndieBound
View How to Meet Boys on Goodreads
Royally Lost
by Angie Stanton
Paperback
Harper Teen
Released 5/6/2014
Dragged on a family trip to Europe’s ancient cities, Becca wants nothing more than to go home. Trapped with her emotionally distant father, over-eager stepmother, and a brother who only wants to hook up with European hotties, Becca is miserable. That is until she meets Nikolai, a guy as mysterious as he is handsome. And she unknowingly finds herself with a runaway prince.
Nikolai has everything a guy could ask for-he’s crown prince, heir to the throne, and girls adore him. But the one thing he doesn’t have…is freedom. Staging a coup, he flees his kingdom and goes undercover on his own European tour.
When Nikolai and Becca meet, it’s their differences that draw them together. Sparks fly as they share a whirlwind of adventures, all the while dodging his royal guard. But Becca’s family vacation ends in a matter of days. Will Nikolai and Becca be forced to say goodbye forever, will his destiny catch up to him, or will they change history forever?
Purchase Royally Lost at Amazon
Purchase Royally Lost at IndieBound
View Royally Lost on Goodreads
Savage Drift
by Emmy Laybourne
Hardcover
Feiwel & Friends
Released 5/6/2014
The stunningly fierce conclusion to Emmy Laybourne’s Monument 14 trilogy.
The survivors of the Monument 14 have finally made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Dean and Alex are cautiously starting to hope that a happy ending might be possible.
But for Josie, separated from the group and trapped in a brutal prison camp for exposed Type Os, things have gone from bad to worse. Traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue or safety.
Meanwhile, scared by the government’s unusual interest in her pregnancy, Astrid (with her two protectors, Dean and Jake in tow) joins Niko on his desperate quest to be reunited with his lost love Josie.
Author Emmy Laybourne reaches new heights of tension and romance in this action-packed conclusion to the Monument 14 trilogy.
Purchase Savage Drift at Amazon
Purchase Savage Drift at IndieBound
View Savage Drift on Goodreads
Since You’ve Been Gone
by Morgan Matson
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 5/6/2014
The Pre-Sloane Emily didn’t go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn’t do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just… disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try… unless they could lead back to her best friend. Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough.Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a Stranger? Wait… what?
Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?
Go Skinny Dipping? Um…
Purchase Since You’ve Been Gone at Amazon
Purchase Since You’ve Been Gone at IndieBound
View Since You’ve Been Gone on Goodreads
The Chapel Wars
by Lindsey Leavitt
Hardcover
Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Released 5/6/2014
Acclaimed author Lindsey Leavitt brings her trademark heart, humor, and romance to her hometown–Vegas
Sixteen-year-old Holly wants to remember her Grandpa forever, but she’d rather forget what he left her in his will: his wedding chapel on the Las Vegas strip. Whatever happened to gold watches, savings bonds, or some normal inheritance?
And then there’s Grandpa’s letter. Not only is she running the business with her recently divorced parents, but she needs to make some serious money–fast. Grandpa also insists Holly reach out to Dax, the grandson of her family’s mortal enemy and owner of the cheesy chapel next door. No matter how cute Dax is, Holly needs to stay focused: on her group of guy friends, her disjointed family, work, school and… Dax. No wait, not Dax.
Holly’s chapel represents everything she’s ever loved in her past. Dax might be everything she could ever love in the future. But as for right now, there’s a wedding chapel to save.
Purchase The Chapel Wars at Amazon
Purchase The Chapel Wars at IndieBound
View The Chapel Wars on Goodreads
The One
by Kiera Cass
Hardcover
Harper Teen
Released 5/6/2014
The time has come for one winner to be crowned.
When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown–or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the end of the competition approaches, and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose–and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.
Purchase The One at Amazon
Purchase The One at IndieBound
View The One on Goodreads
Will The Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up?
by Sarah Hantz
Paperback
Entangled Teen
Released 5/6/2014
Abi Saunders might be a kickboxing champion, but when it comes to being the center of attention, she’d rather take a roundhouse kick to the solar plexus any day. So when her trainer convinces her to audition to be the stunt double for hot teen starlet Tilly Watson, Abi is shocked—and a little freaked out—when she gets the job.
Being a stunt double is overwhelming, but once the wig and makeup are on, Abi feels like a different person. Tilly Watson, to be exact. And when Tilly’s gorgeous boyfriend, Jon, mistakes Abi for the real star, Abi’s completely smitten. In fact, she’s so in love with her new life, it isn’t long before she doesn’t have time for her old one.
But when the cameras are turned off, will she discover running with the Hollywood A-list isn’t quite the glamorous existence she thought it was?
Purchase Will The Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up? at Amazon
Purchase Will The Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up? at IndieBound
View Will The Real Abi Saunders Please Stand Up? on Goodreads
