YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK
Avalon
by Mindee Arnett
Signed Hardcover Giveaway
Balzer + Bray
Released 1/21/2014
A ragtag group of teenage mercenaries who crew the spaceship Avalon stumble upon a conspiracy that could threaten the entire galaxy in this fascinating and fast-paced sci-fi adventure from author Mindee Arnett.
Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.
Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they’re damn good at it. Jeth doesn’t care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents’ ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he’ll go to get the freedom he’s wanted for so long.
Avalon is the perfect fit for teens new to sci-fi as well as seasoned sci-fi readers looking for more books in the YA space-and a great match for fans of Joss Whedon’s cult hit show Firefly.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Avalon?
My favorite part of Avalon is definitely the characters. Jeth, the main character, is the head of a snarky, mischievous group of teenage spaceship thieves. They’re all orphans in one way or another, but together they become a family. They’re a fun ensemble, constantly joking and having a good time. They don’t always get along, but when things go sideways—as they do a lot in the story—they are completely loyal to each other.
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The Witch Is Back
by Brittany Geragotelis
Hardcover Giveaway
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Released 1/21/2014
When two gorgeous, popular witches clash over a man, it’s magical mayhem in this conclusion to the Life’s a Witch trilogy!
It’s been a trying year for teen witch Hadley Bishop—she led her coven into battle against the Parrishables and lost her mother in a surprise attack. Now that the Parrishables and their leader, Samuel Parris, have been defeated, Hadley is looking forward to a relaxing, love-filled summer with boyfriend Asher Astley.
Hadley’s summer plans take an unexpected turn though when she and her coven head off to a witchy summer intensive. Once there, Hadley immediately finds herself in a power struggle with Brooklyn Sparks. Like Hadley, Brooklyn is gorgeous and popular, but she’s also…Asher’s ex-girlfriend?!
As if this news isn’t enough to rattle Hadley, there are rumors of a rogue witch in the woods, and someone is playing dangerous pranks around camp. Hadley suspects that Brooklyn is behind the pranks, but is she willing to risk losing her friends and Asher to prove it? In this electrifying conclusion to the Life’s a Witch series, Hadley will discover that love is more powerful than any spell—but it comes with a price.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Witch Is Back?
in the series. The whole thing takes place at a sort of witch camp, which I
think is just so much fun! I had such great memories of my own summer camps, so
it was fun to put a wicked spin on a time-honored tradition.
the twitches have to compete in AND there’s the legend of the Witch in the
Woods which is super creepy. To me, this book has everything, and is just one
action-packed scene of witchcraft after another. Along with the super-sassy wit
and awesome fashion we’ve come to love and expect from Hadley and her Cleri
members, of course!
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS
Pick your own YA novel.
PLUS
The Maze Runner
by James Dashner
Paperback Giveaway
Delacorte Press
Released 10/6/2009
Winner: Jessica Noreault
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade-a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.
Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.
Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up-the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.
Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.
Book Details:
Format: Hardcover
Publication Date: 10/6/2009
Pages: 384
Reading Level: Age 12 and Up
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THE KILL ORDER
James Dashner
Paperback Giveaway
The prequel to the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series.
Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth and mankind fell to disease.
Mark and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving the sun flares was easy compared to what came next. Now a disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there’s something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it’s mutating, and all evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.
Mark and Trina are convinced there’s a way to save those left living from descending into madness. And they’re determined to find it—if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some, you’re worth more dead than alive.
THE EYE OF MINDS
James Dashner
Hardcover Giveaway
An all-new, edge-of-your seat adventure from James Dashner, the author of the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series, The Eye of Minds is the first book in The Mortality Doctrine, a series set in a world of hyperadvanced technology, cyberterrorists, and gaming beyond your wildest dreams . . . and your worst nightmares.
Michael is a gamer. And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it’s addictive. Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends. And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?
But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he’s holding players hostage inside the VirtNet. The effects are horrific—the hostages have all been declared brain-dead. Yet the gamer’s motives are a mystery.
The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker.
And they’ve been watching Michael. They want him on their team.
But the risk is enormous. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid. There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can’t even fathom—and there’s the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.
MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
The Rule of Three
by Eric Walters
Hardcover
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Released 1/21/2014
One shocking afternoon, computers around the globe shut down in a viral catastrophe. At sixteen-year-old Adam Daley’s high school, the problem first seems to be a typical electrical outage, until students discover that cell phones are down, municipal utilities are failing, and a few computer-free cars like Adam’s are the only vehicles that function. Driving home, Adam encounters a storm tide of anger and fear as the region becomes paralyzed. Soon—as resources dwindle, crises mount, and chaos descends—he will see his suburban neighborhood band together for protection. And Adam will understand that having a police captain for a mother and a retired government spy living next door are not just the facts of his life but the keys to his survival.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Rule of Three?
The Rule of Three is actually set in my neighborhood – the boundaries, the
street names, the parks, bridges and shopping strip. When I was writing the
story I often wandered around the neighborhood the way my character did.
Sometimes this was a little bit eerie as I walked through the deserted
streets in the middle of the night. There was a bizarre blur between my
story and real life. I’d be walking by the creek after a rain and think
things like ‘at least we have water for the crops’. I started thinking
about things like – should I get a gun, do we have enough food, water and
chlorine stockpiled?
Interestingly while researching the book I found that I’d been ‘captured’ by
the Google car on street level on Google Maps . . . see if you can find me
and my two dogs walking along Powderhorn Crescent in Mississauga. I’m
dressed in a red shirt, black baseball cap and two dogs, one little and one
big. See you on Google!
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The Scar Boys
by Len Vlahos
Hardcover
EgmontUSA
Released 1/21/2014
If RJ Palacio’s Wonder was a young adult novel, it’d be something like The Scar Boys.
A severely burned teenager. A guitar. Punk rock. The chords of a rock ’n’ roll road trip in a coming-of-age novel that is a must-read story about finding your place in the world…even if you carry scars inside and out.
If RJ Palacio’s Wonder was a young adult novel, it’d be something like The Scar Boys.
In attempting to describe himself in his college application essay-help us to become acquainted with you beyond your courses, grades, and test scores-Harbinger (Harry) Jones goes way beyond the 250-word limit and gives a full account of his life.
The first defining moment: the day the neighborhood goons tied him to a tree during a lightning storm when he was 8 years old, and the tree was struck and caught fire. Harry was badly burned and has had to live with the physical and emotional scars, reactions from strangers, bullying, and loneliness that instantly became his everyday reality.
The second defining moment: the day in 8th grade when the handsome, charismatic Johnny rescued him from the bullies and then made the startling suggestion that they start a band together. Harry discovered that playing music transported him out of his nightmare of a world, and he finally had something that compelled people to look beyond his physical appearance. Harry’s description of his life in his essay is both humorous and heart-wrenching. He had a steeper road to climb than the average kid, but he ends up learning something about personal power, friendship, first love, and how to fit in the world. While he’s looking back at the moments that have shaped his life, most of this story takes place while Harry is in high school and the summer after he graduates.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Scar Boys?
That’s a big question. It’s a complicated question. It’s an almost-impossible-to-answer question. I’m proud of a lot—Harry’s voice, Johnny’s complexity, the role music plays—but my favorite thing about The Scar Boys is that I finished it. I’ve written my whole life—short stories, essays, even screenplays—but a novel had eluded me. Finishing The Scar Boys, and not only finishing it but being proud of the result, is one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. That it’s being published is gravy. Corny? Maybe. True? Yes.
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Fake ID
by Lamar Giles
Hardcover
Amistad
Released 1/21/2014
Nick Pearson is hiding in plain sight…
My name isn’t really Nick Pearson.
I shouldn’t tell you where I’m from or why my family moved to Stepton, Virginia.
I shouldn’t tell you who I really am, or my hair, eye, and skin color.
And I definitely shouldn’t tell you about my friend Eli Cruz and the major conspiracy he was about to uncover when he died—right after I moved to town. About how I had to choose between solving his murder with his hot sister, Reya, and “staying low-key” like the Program has taught me. About how moving to Stepon changed my life forever.
But I’m going to.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about FAKE ID?
So, I’m super excited to present characters who don’t fit the mold. If somewhere there’s a kid who picks up my book, and breathes easy because he or she gets to read a story about people who seem a little more familiar than what they’re used to in other books, then my dreams have come true. And further, should I have children one day, and they get to read books that are more diverse and inclusive than what has been the norm, I can proudly say I (with some help from Nick and Reya) did my part to change the status quo, so they wouldn’t know the pain of exclusivity I felt growing up.
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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK
A Mad, Wicked Folly
by Sharon Biggs Waller
Hardcover
Viking Juvenile
Released 1/23/2014
Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes seventeen-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist—a nearly impossible dream for a girl.
After Vicky poses nude for her illicit art class, she is expelled from her French finishing school. Shamed and scandalized, her parents try to marry her off to the wealthy Edmund Carrick-Humphrey. But Vicky has other things on her mind: her clandestine application to the Royal College of Art; her participation in the suffragette movement; and her growing attraction to a working-class boy who may be her muse—or may be the love of her life. As the world of debutante balls, corsets, and high society obligations closes in around her, Vicky must figure out: just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dreams?
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Evertrue
by Brodi Ashton
Hardcover
Balzer + Bray
Released 1/21/2014
Now that Nikki has rescued Jack, all she wants is to be with him and graduate high school. But Cole tricked Nikki into feeding off him, and she’s begun the process of turning into an Everliving herself… which means she must feed on a Forfeit soon — or die.
Terrified for her survival, Nikki and Jack begin a desperate attempt to reverse the process using any means possible. Even Cole, who they expected to fight them at every turn, has become an unlikely ally — but how long can it last? Nikki needs to feed on Cole to survive, Cole needs Nikki to gain the throne in the Everneath, Jack needs Nikki because she is everything to him — and together, they must travel back to the Underworld to undo Nikki’s fate and make her mortal once more. But Cole isn’t the only one with plans for Nikki: the Queen has not forgotten Nikki’s treachery, and she wants her destroyed for good. Will Nikki be forced to spend eternity in the Underworld, or does she have what it takes to bring down the Everneath once and for all?
In this stunning conclusion to the Everneath trilogy, Brodi Ashton evokes the resiliency of the human spirit and the indomitable power of true love.
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Fragile Spirits
by Mary Lindsey
Hardcover
Philomel
Released 1/23/2014
Paul has always known he was a Protector, fated to serve a Speaker who could hear the voices of spirits lingering after death and help those souls find peace.
Vivienne ignores the voices of the dead.
Paul has always followed the Protector’s rule book, preparing diligently for the day when he’d be matched with his Speaker and fulfill his destiny.
Vivienne never does what she’s told.
So when Paul is matched with Vivienne, they both find the pairing less than satisfactory. But a kidnapping, a malevolent spirit and power stronger than both of them may just prove that they are two halves of the same whole.
In a stunning story about the beauty of fate and the power of secrets, Mary Lindsey returns to the world of Shattered Souls with a breathtaking thrill-ride of a novel.
**Note from author: This book begins one month after Shattered Souls leaves off. Lenzi and Alden are featured in this book, but reading Shattered Souls is not a prerequisite.
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The Gospel of Winter
by Brendan Kiely
Hardcover
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Released 1/21/2014
A fearless debut novel about the restorative power of truth and love after the trauma of abuse.
As sixteen-year-old Aidan Donovan’s fractured family disintegrates around him, he searches for solace in a few bumps of Adderall, his father’s wet bar, and the attentions of his local priest, Father Greg—the only adult who actually listens to him.
When Christmas hits, Aidan’s world collapses in a crisis of trust when he recognizes the darkness of Father Greg’s affections. He turns to a crew of new friends to help make sense of his life: Josie, the girl he just might love; Sophie, who’s a little wild; and Mark, the charismatic swim team captain whose own secret agonies converge with Aidan’s.
The Gospel of Winter maps the ways love can be used as a weapon against the innocent—but can also, in the right hands, restore hope and even faith. Brendan Kiely’s unflinching and courageous debut novel exposes the damage from the secrets we keep and proves that in truth, there is power. And real love.
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