Today is Memorial Day, and now that summer has unofficially begun, it's time to prep your personal summer reading lists for the gloriously long and lazy days ahead --- after all, there's hardly a better way to spend your vacation than with a cool drink in one hand and a juicy beach read in the other. With new releases this week ranging from ghost stories and modern-day fairy tales to historical romances and contemporary teen dramas, we're sure you'll find some fantastic reads below to keep your TBR pile stacked high all season long.
New Releases for June 1st
Hardcover
CARTER’S BING BREAK by Brent Crawford (Hyperion Books for Children)
After surviving freshman year (just barely), Carter is craving his summer break. Unfortunately, when he and his girlfriend, Abby, part ways, it looks as though summer just might break him. Things start to look up when he’s unexpectedly cast in an independent film opposite the world’s biggest tween sensation, Hilary Idaho. With Hollywood knocking on his door, Carter gets a taste of the good life. But as the film spirals out of control, he begins to fear that he’s not the “somebody” he thinks he is and more the “nobody” he’s sure he always has been. Find out if Carter goes Hollywood... or Hollywood goes Carter.
EVERLASTING by Angie Frazier (Scholastic Press)
Sailing aboard her father's ship is all seventeen-year-old Camille Rowen has ever wanted. But as a lady in 1855 San Francisco, her future is set: marry a man she doesn't love in order to preseve her social standing. On her last voyage before the wedding, Camille learns the mother she has always believed dead is in fact alive and in Australia. When their Sydney-bound ship goes down in a gale, and her father dies, Camille sets out to find her mother and a map in her possession - a map believed to lead to a stone that once belonged to the legendary civilization of the immortals. The stone can do exactly what Camille wants most: bring someone back from the dead. Unfortunately, her father's adversary is also on the hunt for the stone, and she must race him to it. The only person Camille can depend on is Oscar --- a handsome young sailor and her father's first mate --- who is in love with Camille and whom she is inexplicably drawn to despite his low social standing and her pending wedding vows.
With an Australian card shark acting as their guide, Camille eludes murderous bushrangers, traverses dangerous highlands, evades a curse placed on the stone, and unravels the mystery behind her mother's disappearance sixteen years earlier. But when another death shakes her conviction to resurrect her father, Camille must choose what --- and who --- matters most.
FORGIVE MY FINS by Tera Lynn Childs (Katherine Tegen Books)
Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it's not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you're a normal teenage girl, but when you're half human, half mermaid, like Lily, there's no such thing as a simple crush.
Lily's mermaid identity is a secret that can't get out, since she's not just any mermaid --- she's a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn't feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she's been living on land and going to Seaview High School ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems --- like her obnoxious biker-boy neighbor, Quince Fletcher --- but it has that one major perk: Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren't really the casual dating type --- the instant they "bond," it's for life.
When Lily's attempt to win Brody's love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily ever after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.
THE GHOSTS OF ASHBURY HIGH by Jaclyn Moriarty (Arthur A. Levine Books)
This is the story of Amelia and Riley, bad kids from bad Brookfield High who have transferred to Ashbury High for their final year. They've been in love since they were fourteen, they go out dancing every night, and sleep through school all day. And Ashbury can't get enough of them.
Everyone's trying to get their attention; even teachers are dressing differently, trying to make their classes more interesting. Everyone wants to be cooler, tougher, funnier, hoping to be invited into their cool, self-contained world.
But they don't know that all Amelia can think about is her past --- an idyllic time before she ran away from home. Riley thinks he's losing her to the past, maybe even to a place further back in time. He turns to the students of Ashbury for help, and things get much, much worse.
In the tradition of the gothic novel, this is a story about ghosts, secrets, madness, passion, locked doors, femmes fatales, and that terrifying moment in the final year of high school when you realise that the future's come to get you.
HOW TO MAKE A BIRD by Martine Murray (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
It's dawn, on an empty road in the countryside. Empty, except for the girl in the long, red evening gown, standing next to a bicycle, and looking back at the home she's about to leave. Mannie's ready to start a new life and forget the terrible things that have happened here, but there are questions that need to be answered before she can let go. Questions about her elegant but unstable mother, her brother who's always overshadowed her, and his friend Harry Jacob, who just might be Mannie's boyfriend . . .
And her only clue is an unfamiliar address in Melbourne, written on a scrap of paper found in her brother's room. As she makes her journey to the city, the mystery of this vulnerable, quirky girl is revealed piece by piece in her search for a way to become whole again.
With rare sensitivity and a poetic voice that is unmistakably her own, Martine Murray tells a story about growing up and listening to your heart.
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU SOMEONE ELSE by Erin McCahan (Arthur A. Levine Books)
Here Comes the Bride --- If She Can Pass Chemistry.
Eighteen-year-old Bronwen Oliver has a secret: She's really Phoebe, the lost daughter of the loving Lilywhite family. That's the only way to explain her image-obsessed mother; a kind but distant stepfather; and a brother with a small personality complex. Bronwen knows she must have been switched at birth, and she can't wait to get away from her "family" for good.
Then she meets Jared Sondervan. He's sweet, funny, everything she wants --- and he has the family Bronwen has always wanted too. She falls head over heels in love, and when he proposes marriage, she joyfully accepts. But is Jared truly what she needs? And if he's not, she has to ask: What would Phoebe Lilywhite do?
THE POISON DIARIES by Maryrose Wood (Balzer + Bray)
In the right dose, everything is a poison. Even love . . .
Jessamine Luxton has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle, with little company apart from the plants in her garden. Her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary, has taught her much about the incredible powers of plants: that even the most innocent-looking weed can cure --- or kill.
When Jessamine begins to fall in love with a mysterious boy who claims to communicate with plants, she is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined . . .
PASSING STRANGE: Generation Dead by Daniel Waters (Hyperion Books for Children)
Karen DeSonne always passed as a normal teenager; with her friends, with her family, and at school. Passing cost her the love of her life. And now that Karen’s dead, she’s still passing --- this time, as alive.
Meanwhile, Karen’s dead friends have been fingered in a high-profile murder, causing a new round of antizombie regulations that have forced them into hiding. Karen soon learns that the “murder” was a hoax, staged by Pete Martinsburg and his bioist zealots. Obtaining enough evidence to expose the fraud and prove her friends’ innocence means doing the unthinkable: becoming Pete’s girlfriend. Karen’s only hope is that the enemy never realizes who she really is --- because the consequences would be worse than death.
Paperback
AND THEN EVERYTHING UNRAVELED by Jennifer Sturman (Point / Scholastic)
Delia Truesdale has no idea her life's about to change forever. She's too busy enjoying the California summer. Her internet tycoon mother, T.K. Truesdale, is out of town, and that means Delia can spend all her time at the beach, surfing. That is, until everything unravels.
Her mother suddenly goes missing, and everyone thinks she's dead --- excpet Delia, who knows T.K.'s way too organized to simply disappear. But Delia's still sent to New York to live with her two aunts --- a downtown bohemian and an uptown ice queen.
And in case that's not bad enough, she also has to deal with a snooty new school and trying not to fall for the wrong guy. Oh, and finding her mother.
As she delves deeper into the tangle of conspiracies and lies surrounding T.K.'s disappearance, Delia begins to suspect that the wrong guy may be the right guy...and that some secrets --- especially the dangerous ones --- were never meant to be unraveled.
CLASSIC: An It Girl Novel by Cecily von Ziegesar (Poppy / Little, Brown)
It's almost Valentine's Day at Waverly Academy, and love is in the air...and in everyone's inboxes. Each year, The Waverly Computer Society runs Perfect Match, an online personality survey that pairs up Waverly Owls with their supposed soul mates. Now the campus is overrun with peculiar pairings, odd couples, and mischief makers hoping to play Cupid for a day.
Jenny Humphrey is convinced she'll be paired with her adorable new boyfriend, Isaac Dresden. But when he starts acting skittish, she begins to wonder if he's her Perfect Match after all. Brett Messerschmidt and Tinsley Carmichael definitely aren't feeling the love this Valentine's Day: when Isla Dresden, Isaac's sister, steals Tinsley's thunder --- and Brett's boyfriend --- the two girls vow to plot their revenge. Callie Vernon is starting to wonder if a girl can have two soulmates. She's in love with both Easy Walsh and Brandon Buchanan, but on February 14th, she can only give one of them her heart.
In this final dramatic It Girl novel, the Waverly Owls ponder an age-old question: is all really fair in love and war?
KIMANI TRU: STEP UP by Monica McKayhan (Kimani)
Indigo Summer and her boyfriend, Marcus Carter, have stayed solid through plenty of drama. Now Marcus is a senior, and he's already received his acceptance letter from Harvard. Indigo knows how hard he's worked for this chance. But with his future looking so bright, Indigo suddenly has doubts about where she fits into his life --- especially when Marcus meets a beautiful, brainy premed student during a campus visit. Indigo and Marcus have survived separation and temptation before. But this time, everything feels different, and Marcus needs to figure out where his heart lies.
But once he's made up his mind, will Indigo still be waiting for him?
SEA CHANGE by Aimee Friedman (Point / Scholastic)
Sixteen-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science. . .and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she's happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate.
There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship. . .and reality.
Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined?
THE SEASON by Sarah MacLean (Orchard Books)
Seventeen-year-old Lady Alexandra is strong-willed and sharp-tongued --- in a house full of older brothers and their friends, she had to learn to hold her own. Not the best makings for an aristocratic lady in Regency London. Yet her mother still dreams of marrying Alex off to someone safe, respectable, and wealthy. But between ball gown fittings, dances, and dinner parties, Alex, along with her two best friends, Ella and Vivi, manages to get herself into what may be her biggest scrape yet.
When the Earl of Blackmoor is mysteriously killed, Alex decides to help his son, the brooding and devilishly handsome Gavin, uncover the truth. But will Alex's heart be stolen in the process? In an adventure brimming with espionage, murder, and other clandestine affairs, who could possibly have time to worry about finding a husband? Romance abounds as this year's season begins!
SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Paperbacks)
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf --- her wolf --- is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human --- or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.
TWELVE LONG MONTHS by Brian Malloy (Scholastic Paperbacks)
Molly Swain is hopelessly in love. Mark is broody, mysterious, funny, attractive, artistic…basically, the only interesting thing in her small Minnesota town. She wonders to herself if they'll ever be more than lab partners, until the fateful day that she discovers they'll both be moving to New York City after they graduate. They're clearly meant to be together. Right?
Wrong. In Minnesota, Mark has a secret. And in New York, Molly discovers it. Not only is she not his type, she's not even the right gender. But does she immediately fall out of love with him? If only it were that easy….
With charm and truth, Brian Malloy gives us a smart, funny, heartfelt novel about falling in love with someone who will never feel the same way --- and how to recover with your pride, heart, and friendship intact.
