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So much to read, so little time! This week's roundup new releases offers 16 titles to top off your ever-growing TBR pile, from compelling historical fiction novels and coming-of-age tales to sci-fi/fantasy thrillers and school dramas. Also featured this week are Justine Larbalestier's buzzworthy LIAR, Ann Rinaldi's moving period piece LEIGH ANN'S CIVIL WAR and highly anticipated new installments of your favorite series, including The Demonata, Gossip Girl: The Carlyles, Skeleton Creek, and The Bloody Jack Adventures.


New Releases for September 28th

Hardcover

LEIGH ANN’S CIVIL WAR by Ann Rinaldi (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Leigh Ann Conners is spunky and determined. Although she often finds herself in trouble, she loves her two older brothers dearly and would do anything to make them proud.

When the Yankees arrive in Roswell, Georgia, Leigh Ann places a French flag upon the family’s mill. She hopes the Yankees will then spare the mill from destruction, but her actions have disastrous results. Sent north with the women and children who worked in the mill --- all branded traitors for making fabric for Confederate uniforms --- Leigh Ann embarks on a journey that requires her to find her own inner strength. Only then will she be able to rise above the war raging around her.


PANAMA by Shelby Hiatt (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
At fifteen, a girl moves from a small town in Ohio to Panama while her father takes part in building the Panama Canal. This trip comes just at the right time for her. She yearns to see more of the world than her small mid-western town has to offer. She wants to meet new people. Visit exciting places. Panama with its lush rainforests and myriad of people is the perfect place for her desires to be fulfilled. Then she meets Frederico, a Spanish aristocrat who is working as a digger, one of the masses who toils daily in the heat and the dust and the danger of the canal. He embodies everything she's looking for: he's exotic, exciting, intelligent and pushes her beyond the limits her sequestered life has set for her. They begin a romance and he awakens her body as well as her soul.

RAPTURE OF THE DEEP: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy, by L. A. Meyer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
On the very day that Jacky Faber is to wed her true love, she is kidnapped by British Naval Intelligence and forced to embark on yet another daring mission --- this time to search for sunken Spanish gold. But when Jacky is involved, things don't always go as planned.

Jacky has survived battles on the high seas, the stifling propriety of a Boston finishing school, and even confinement in a dank French prison. But no adventure has quite matched her opportunistic street-urchin desires --- until now.


New Releases for September 29th

Hardcover

DUPLIKATE by Cherry Cheva (HarperTeen)

To Do List:

* Ace SATs
* Ace finals
* Ace AP physics project
* Avoid murdering lab partner
* Submit Yale application
* Resolve possibly evil twin situation

Due date: December 15th
Countdown: 11 days

By the time Kate Larson accidentally fell asleep at three a.m., she'd already done more work in one night than the average high school senior does in a week. Getting into Yale has been her dream for years --- and being generally overworked and totally under-rested is the price of admission. But when she opens her eyes the next day, she comes face-to-face with, well, her face --- which is attached to her body, which is standing across the room. Wait, what?

Meet Kate's computer-generated twin. Kate doesn't know why she's here or how to put her back where she belongs, but she's real. And she's the last thing Kate has time to deal with right now. Unless . . .

Could having a double be the answer to Kate's prayers? After all, two Kates can do more work than one. Or will keeping her twin a secret turn her dream future into a living nightmare?


LIAR by Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
Micah will freely admit that she’s a compulsive liar, but that may be the one honest thing she’ll ever tell you. Over the years she’s duped her classmates, her teachers, and even her parents, and she’s always managed to stay one step ahead of her lies. That is, until her boyfriend dies under brutal circumstances and her dishonesty begins to catch up with her. But is it possible to tell the truth when lying comes as naturally as breathing? Taking readers deep into the psyche of a young woman who will say just about anything to convince them --- and herself --- that she’s finally come clean, LIAR is a bone-chilling thriller that will have readers see-sawing between truths and lies right up to the end. Honestly.

MY INVENTED LIFE by Lauren Bjorkman (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
With Roz and Eva everything becomes a contest --- who can snag the best role in the school play, have the cutest boyfriend, pull off the craziest prank. Still, they’re as close as sisters can be. Until Eva deletes Roz from her life like so much junk e-mail for no reason that Roz understands. Now Eva hangs out with the annoyingly petite cheerleaders, and Roz fantasizes about slipping bovine growth hormone into their Gatorade.

Roz has a suspicion about Eva. In turn, Eva taunts Roz with a dare, which leads to an act of total insanity. Drama geeks clamor for attention, Shakespearean insults fly, and Roz steals the show in Lauren Bjorkman’s hilarious debut novel.

PASTWORLD by Ian Beck (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
What if all of London were really an amusement park --- a whole city returned to Victorian times to entertain visitors from the twenty-first century? That's the wildly original premise of Ian Beck's PASTWORLD, a high-stakes mystery set in a simulated past.

Eve is a lifelong resident of Pastworld who doesn’t know she’s living in a theme park until a mysterious threat forces her to leave home. Caleb is a visiting tourist who finds the lawlessness of the past thrilling --- until he suddenly becomes a fugitive from an antiquated justice system. And in the midst of it all, in the thick London fog a dark and deadly figure prowls, claiming victim after victim. He’s the Fantom, a creature both of the past and of the present, in whose dark purpose Caleb and Eve will find their destinies combined.

Page-turning, complex, and haunting, PASTWORLD masterfully exposes the human experience of the past, of violence, of technology, and of entertainment.

SECRET SOCIETY by Tom Dolby (Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins)
Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone. . . .

An eccentric new girl. A brooding socialite. The scion of one of New York's wealthiest families. A promising filmmaker. As students at the exclusive Chadwick School, Phoebe, Lauren, Nick, and Patch already live in a world most teenagers only dream about.

They didn't ask to be Society members. But when three of them receive a mysterious text message promising success and fame beyond belief, they say yes to everything --- even to the harrowing initiation ceremony in a gritty warehouse downtown and to the ankh-shaped tattoo they're forced to get on the nape of their necks. Once they're part of the Society, things begin falling into place for them. Week after week, their ambitions are fulfilled. It's all perfect—until a body is found in Central Park with no distinguishing marks except for an ankh-shaped tattoo.

Tom Dolby makes his teen fiction debut with this riveting novel about a dangerous society so secret that once you get in, you can never get out.


Paperback

HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY by Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
Everyone in New Avalon has a fairy. Though invisible, a personal fairy is vital to success. It might determine whether you pass a math class or find the perfect outfit. But all fourteen-year-old Charlie can do is find parking spaces --- and she doesn’t even drive. At first, teaming up with Fiorenza (who has an all-the-boys-like-you fairy) seems like a great idea. But when Charlie unexpectedly gets her heart’s desire, she’ll have to resort to extraordinary measures to ditch her fairy.


New Releases for October 1st

Hardcover

THE DOOM MACHINE by Mark Teague (The Blue Sky Press/Scholastic)
When a spaceship lands in Vern Hollow, Jack's hometown, he and his no-account inventor-uncle Bud are busy trying to fix a car driven by Dr. Shumway and her daughter, Isadora. Although Uncle Bud secretly knows the aliens are after one of his inventions, everyone is surprised when the space aliens capture seven of Vern Hollow's residents and take them into outer space on a wild adventure. . . .

After a series of twists and turns, all of them are taken to Skreepia, the aliens' planet, where they have to defeat the Skreep queen before she can use Uncle Bud's invention to take over planet Earth. Filled with wonderful detail, humor, inventive dialog, and irresistible black-and-white spot art, THE DOOM MACHINE is a tour de force by one of America's most beloved storytellers.

ONCE WAS LOST by Sara Zarr (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. She used to believe in a lot of things. As a pastor's kid, it's hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reason to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, the local tragedy overlaps with Sam's personal one, and the already-worn thread of faith holding her together begins to unravel.

In her third novel, acclaimed author Sara Zarr examines the coexistence of affliction and hope, and what happens when everything you thought you believed --- about God, about your family, about yourself --- is transformed.

DARK CALLING: The Demonata, Book 9 by Darren Shan (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
I know it's ridiculous. Lights can't whisper. But I swear I heard a voice calling to me. It sounded like static to begin with, but then it came into focus, a single word repeated over and over. Softly, slyly, seductively, insistently.

"Come..."

The Disciples are being manipulated by beings older than time. Only Kernel Fleck knows that something is wrong. But he is in the grip of a creature who cares nothing for the fate of humanity. Voices are calling to him from the darkness and he's powerless to resist.

Kernel has already been to hell and back. Now he's about to go further...

The horrifying adventures continue with the ninth book in the gory and chilling Demonata series.

GOSSIP GIRL: THE CARLYLES #4: LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH created by Cecily von Ziegesar (Poppy/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
It's Thanksgiving, and the Carlyle triplets are thankful to be escaping the New York City cold-they're jetting to the tropics and bringing all their friends along for the ride. The sun isn't the only thing that's sizzling on this vacation getaway --- I'm forecasting sultry poolside encounters, too. So, don't forget to pack the sunscreen...you don't want to get burned.

SKELETON CREEK #2: GHOST IN THE MACHINE by Patrick Carman (Scholastic Press)
Strange things are happening in Skeleton Creek...and Ryan and Sarah are trying to find out why. Ryan writes down everything in his journal, and Sarah records everything on her videocam. The two move deeper into the mystery they've uncovered, determined to discover the secrets buried in Skeleton Creek, in the conclusion to Patrick Carman's thrilling series.

In this groundbreaking format, the story is broken into two parts --- Ryan's text in the book, and Sarah's videos on a special website, with links and passwords given throughout the book.


Paperback

LET IT SNOW: THREE HOLIDAY ROMANCES by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (Speak)
The weather outside is frightful, but these stories are delightful! When a huge blizzard (that doesn’t show signs of stopping) hits, Gracetown is completely snowed in. But even though it’s cold outside, things are heating up inside, proving that the holiday season is magical when it comes to love. In three wonderfully (and hilariously!) interconnected tales, YA stars John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson create a must-have collection that captures all the spirit of the holiday season.
- Click here to read our review of LET IT SNOW.

THE GOOD NEIGHBORS: BOOK ONE: KIN by Holy Black (GRAPHIX)
The human realm and the faerie realm have always been good neighbors. But all that is about to change…

Rue Silver’s life isn’t at all what it appears to be; her mother has disappeared --- and her father is being blamed for her murder. Is he guilty, or is there another truth behind it all? Rue digs deeper into her family’s past and makes a startling discovery: her mother is a faerie, and she’s vanished back into the faerie realm because of a broken promise. In order to save her, Rue must defeat a dark faerie --- who threatens our very mortal world.
- Click here to read our review of KIN.