This week, we have fifteen new titles to recommend for your ever-growing TBR pile, which especially comes in handy if those pesky April showers are keeping you indoors. Some of these noteworthy novels include Adrienne Maria Vrettos's THE EXILE OF GIGI LANE, which chronicles the rise-and-fall of the most popular girl in school; WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON, the side-splitting collaboration between John Green and David Levithan; and MOVERS AND FAKERS, a new Alphas novel from Lisi Harrison. Also not to be missed are the paperback releases of Gayle Foreman's moving IF I STAY and Jenny Han's sweet warm-weather romance, THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY.New Releases for April 6th Hardcover
THE EXILE OF GIGI LANE by Adrienne Maria Vrettos (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster)
Heathers meets Bring It On in THE EXILE OF GIGI LANE, where a high school queen bee's rise to glory is nothing compared to her fall from it.
FOR KEEPS by Natasha Friend (Viking Juvenile)
Josie’s never met her dad, and that’s fine with her. To Josie, Paul Tucci is just a guy who got her mom pregnant and then moved away. It all happened sixteen years ago, when Josie’s mom was still a teenager herself. But now Paul Tucci is back in town, and Josie has to deal with not one but two men in her life --- her father and her first boyfriend, who Josie fears will hurt her just like Paul hurt her mother.
A GOLDEN WEB by Barbara Quick (HarperTeen)
Alessandra is desperate to escape.
Desperate to escape her stepmother, who's locked her away for a year; to escape the cloister that awaits her and the marriage plans that have been made for her; to escape the expectations that limit her and every other girl in fourteenth-century Italy. There's no tolerance in her quiet village for Alessandra and her keen intelligence and unconventional ideas.
In defiant pursuit of her dreams, Alessandra undertakes an audacious quest, her bravery equaled only by the dangers she faces. Disguised and alone in a city of spies and scholars, Alessandra will find a love she could not foresee --- and an enduring fame.
In this exquisite imagining of the centuries-old story of Alessandra Giliani, the world's first female anatomist, acclaimed novelist Barbara Quick gives readers the drama, romance, and rich historical detail for which she is known as she shines a light on an unforgotten --- and unforgettable --- heroine.
WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green and David Levithan (Dutton Juvenile)
One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens --- both named Will Grayson --- are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.
Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them legions of faithful fans.
Paperback
MOVERS AND FAKERS: An Alphas Novel, by Lisi Harrison (Poppy/ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
At OCD the losers are tormented.
At Alpha Academy, they're sent home.
Skye Hamilton has scored an invitation to the ultra-exclusive Alphas-only boarding school where beta is spelled LBR . What happens when the country's best, brightest, and hawtest begin clawing and scratching their way to the top?
PRETTY ON THE OUTSIDE by Kate Kingsley (Simon Pulse)
Alice and Tally have ruled St. Cecilia's, their private boarding school just outside of London, for years. As everyone comes back for their junior year, the girls can't wait to start partying in London and jetting off to Paris and Rome. As Alice begins to realize that she has more than friendly feelings for Tristan, her long time best friend, she thinks the excitement of a new crush will make this year the best yet. But when Dylan, the American girl Tristan summered with in the Hamptons transfers to St. Cecilia's, the girls' perfect lives spiral into broken hearts, jealousies, and revenge plots that will change everything.
IF I STAY by Gayle Forman (Speak)
A critically acclaimed novel that will change the way you look at life, love, and family.
In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen¬year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces --- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.
- Click here to read our review of IF I STAY.
HUNGER: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant (Katherine Tegen Books)
It's been three months since all the adults disappeared. Gone.
Food ran out weeks ago and starvation is imminent. Meanwhile, the normal teens have grown resentful of the kids with powers. And when an unthinkable tragedy occurs, chaos descends upon the town. There is no longer right and wrong. Each kid is out for himself and even the good ones turn murderous.
But a larger problem looms. The Darkness, a sinister creature that has lived buried deep in the hills, begins calling to some of the teens in the FAYZ. Calling to them, guiding them, manipulating them.
The Darkness has awakened. And it is hungry.
- Click here to read our review of HUNGER.
ME, THE MISSING, AND THE DEAD by Jenny Valentine (HarperTeen)
Me: Lucas Swain --- I'm nearly sixteen years old and live in London. I was fairly normal until the night I found Violet. Then everything changed.
The missing: Dad. He disappeared five years ago. Nobody knows what happened to him, and nobody cares except me. It's enough to drive you crazy.
The dead: That's Violet . . . in the urn. Speaking of crazy --- I know she's trying to tell me something, and I think it's about my father. . . .
I may have met Violet after she died. But it didn't stop me from getting to know her. . . .
PURES by Terra Elan McVoy (Simon Pulse)
Tabitha and her four best friends all wear purity rings, symbols of the virginity-until-marriage pledge they made years ago. Now Tab is fifteen, and her ring has come to mean so much more. It's a symbol of who she is and what she believes --- a reminder of her promises to herself, and her bond to her friends.
But when Tab meets a boy whose kisses make her knees go weak, everything suddenly seems a lot more complicated. Tab's best friend, Morgan, is far from supportive, and for the first time, Tabitha is forced to keep secrets from the one person with whom she's always shared everything. When one of those secrets breaks to the surface, Tab finds herself at the center of an unthinkable betrayal that splits her friends apart. As Tab's entire world comes crashing down around her, she's forced to re-examine her friendships, her faith, and what exactly it means to be pure.
THE ROCK AND THE RIVER by Kekla Magoon (Aladdin)
THE ROCK AND THE RIVER is Kekla Magoon's poignant debut novel about an African-American boy's search for identity and brotherhood set in 1968 Chicago.
WINGS by Aprilynne Pike (HarperTeen)
Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful --- too beautiful for words.
Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.
In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.
THE PRINCESS AND THE BEAR by Mette Ivie Harrison (HarperTeen)
A love against all odds . . .
A battle against ancient forces . . .
He was once a king, turned into a bear as punishment for his cruel and selfish deeds.
She was a once a princess, now living in the form of a hound.
Wary companions, they are sent --- in human form --- back to a time when magic went terribly astray. Together they must right the wrongs caused by this devastating power --- if only they can find a way to trust each other. But even as their attraction grows, an old evil resurfaces, and they risk losing each other and destroying magic forever.
THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY by Jenny Han (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer --- they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.
- Click here to read our review of THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY.
ROYAL BLOOD: Vampire Kisses, Book 6 by Ellen Schreiber (Katherine Tegen Books)
Alexander's spooky mansion feels like home to Raven . . . but could his residence in Dullsville be coming to an end?
Summer break is over, and Raven's sleep-filled days and romantic nights with her immortal boyfriend, Alexander, must end. The shock of daily attendance at Dullsville High isn't the only change in store. An unexpected letter turns up at Alexander's mansion --- announcing his parents will be coming to town! Once they arrive, it seems just about everyone has had a sighting of the macabre couple except Raven. Is Alexander hiding something about his parents' homecoming? Will Raven ever meet them, and can she face the biggest threat yet to her love with Alexander?
- Click here to read our review of ROYAL BLOOD.
