In case you didn't already know, today --- June 21st --- marks the first official day of summer! So as our nights shorten and our days lengthen, our time to spend reading at the beach, the porch, the couch and anywhere in between increases, and the new releases keep coming at full force to help you fill in those extra hours. In WAYFARER, you’ll capture a glimpse into the life of the faeries of the Oak as you fight alongside them to prevent their extinction; in NOMANSLAND, you’ll gain a new perspective in a world dominated solely by women; in SOVAY, you’ll be transported to 18th-century England to unravel a web of deceit and duplicity; and in GLIPSE, you'll meet a 12-year-old girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
New releases for June 22nd
Hardcover
FLASH by Michael Cadmun (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers)
When two teenage brothers bungle a bank robbery, their attempt to hide the evidence is witnessed --- aurally --- by Terrence, a legally blind neighbor. Terrence tells his girlfriend, Nina, and her brother, who then disappears with a handgun. Nina is afraid of what he might do to the brothers. But she also has every reason to fear what the brothers will do to Terrence.
FLASH ingeniously interweaves the stories of two who are hell-bent on a destructive path, two who stand in their way, and one whose actions may be the spark to set the whole thing off.
GLIMPSE by Carol Lynch Williams (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books)
In one moment it is over. In one moment it is gone. The morning grows thin, grey and our lives --- how they were --- have vanished. Our lives have changed when I walk in on Lizzie, my sister, holding a shotgun.
Twelve-year-old girl Hope's life is turned upside down when her older sister Lizzie becomes an elective mute and is institutionalized after trying to kill herself. Ever since their dad died, Hope and Lizzie have relied on each other from a young age. Their mother is a reluctant and unreliable parent at best, who turns tricks to support the family. Throughout the course of this lyrical and heartbreaking narrative readers and Hope discover that the mother is prostituting Lizzie and it's up to Hope to bring the truth to light to save her sister.
GOOD BEHAVIOR: A Memoir by Nathan L. Henry (Bloomsbury USA Children's Books)
Jailed at age sixteen for armed robbery, Nathan Henry was the kind of teenager most parents and teachers have nightmares about. His crime was the culmination of a life lived on the edge: guns and drugs, sex and violence, all set against the ordinary backdrop of a one-stop light town in rural Indiana. Nate's personal history is both disturbing and fascinating. A rough childhood becomes an adolescence full of half-realized violent fantasies that slowly build to the breaking point. But these scenes alternate with chapters about Nate's time in jail, where through reading and reflection he comes to see that his life can be different from all he's known up to this point.
DARK FLAME: The Immortals, Book 4 by Alyson Noel (St. Martin's Griffin)
Ever is trying to help Haven transition into life as an immortal. But with Haven drunk on her new powers and acting recklessly, she poses the ultimate threat --- exposing their secret world to the outside. As Ever struggles to keep the Immortals hidden, it only propels Haven closer to the enemy --- Roman and his evil companions.
At the same time, Ever delves deeper into dark magic to free Damen from Roman’s power. But when her spell backfires it binds her to the one guy who’s hell-bent on her destruction. Now there’s a strange, foreign pulse coursing through her and no matter what she does, she can’t stop thinking about Roman --- and longing for his touch. As she struggles to resist the fiery attraction threatening to consume her, Roman is more than willing to take advantage of her weakened state…and Ever edges closer and closer to surrender.
Frantic to break the spell before its too late, Ever turns to Jude for help, risking everything she knows and loves to save herself --- and her future with Damen…
NOMANSLAND by Lesley Hauge (Henry Holt and Co.)
Sometime in the future, after devastating wars and fires, a lonely, windswept island in the north is populated solely by women. Among these women is a group of teenaged Trackers --- expert equestrians and archers --- whose job is to protect their shores from the enemy. The enemy, they’ve been told, is men.
When these girls come upon a partially buried home from the distant past, they are fascinated by the strange objects --- high-heeled shoes, teen magazines, make-up --- found there. What are they to make of these mysterious things, which introduce a world they have never known? And what does it mean for their strict society where friendship is forbidden and rules must be obeyed --- at all costs?
Reminiscent of THE GIVER but with a feminist twist, Nomansland is a powerful and shocking story that will challenge young readers’ perspectives and provoke much discussion over the timely and controversial issues presented.
QUEEN OF SECRETS by Jenny Meyerhoff (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
This year, Essie Green’s life is going to be different. She’s made the cheerleading squad and caught the eye of the captain of the football team. However, she didn't expect her estranged cousin to join the football team. Micah is instantly branded a freak for praying during games, and Essie doesn’t want anything to do with him. As the football team’s teasing of Micah shifts into hazing, Essie is forced to make a choice between the boy she might love and the cousin she barely knows.
TELL ME A SECRET by Holly Cupala (HarperTeen)
It's tough living in the shadow of a dead girl…
In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda's death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams --- a best friend to unlock her sister's world, a ticket to art school and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all --- Miranda has a secret all her own.
When two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears, Miranda is stripped of her former life. She must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister's demons and her own.
WAYFARER by R.J. Anderson (HarperTeen)
In a time of deadly crisis, Linden alone has the power to save her people.
The faeries of the Oak are in danger of extinction, and their only hope for survival rests in 15-year-old Linden. Armed with the last of her people's magic, she travels bravely into the modern human world. Along the way she makes a reluctant ally --- a human boy named Timothy.
Soon Linden and Timothy discover a danger much worse than the Oakenfolk's loss of magic: a potent evil that threatens to enslave faeries and humans alike. In a fevered, desperate chase across the country, Tim and Linden must risk their lives to seek an ancient power before it's too late to save everyone they love.
Paperback
SOVAY by Celia Rees (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
In 1794 England, the beautiful Sovay dons a man's cloak and holds up stagecoaches in broad daylight. Posing as a highway robber began as a lark to test a suitor's devotion. But when she lifts the wallet of one of England's most dangerous men, Sovay begins to unravel a web of deceit and duplicity.
