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TRC New Releases for Week of August 27

The long awaited release of MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins, the final installment of The Hunger Games Trilogy, is finally here! For those of you who haven’t pre-ordered it yet, MOCKINGJAY comes out Monday, August 24th! This week is also a great week to discover new reads like KISSES FROM HELL, a compilation book of all your favorite vampire stories from the likes of Vampire Academy, The Tempted and more. And there’s also the extremely intriguing and elusive BUTTERFLY by Sonya Hartnett that’s bound to pique your curiosity. We’ve got a whole lot of new releases this week so happy reading!

August 23rd

Paperback

DEAD IS JUST A RUMOR by Marlene Perez (Graphia)

As the creepy little town of Nightshade prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary --- on Halloween, of course --- many of its paranormal residents are receiving mysterious blackmail letters. Psychic teen Daisy Giordano and her sisters set out to find out who is behind the threats. But launching an investigation isn’t easy for Daisy with her overprotective father watching her every move. Though she’s happy to have him back after the years he spent being held captive by an anti-paranormal group called the Scourge, Dad is having difficult time adjusting to home life --- and the fact that his little girl is now a senior in high school. He even disapproves of Daisy’s boyfriend, Ryan. Can their relationship take the strain? 

And Daisy’s got even more on her plate: A talented amateur chef, she has won cooking lessons with celebrity chef Circe Silvertongue. After nosing around (with a little help from Circe’s pet pig), Daisy begins to suspect the temperamental chef’s secrets aren’t only in her ingredients…

August 24th

Hardcover

BUTTERFLY by Sonya Hartnett (Candlewick)

Plum Coyle is on the edge of adolescence. Her 14th birthday is approaching, when her old life and her old body will fall away, and she will become graceful, powerful, and at ease. The strength of the objects she stores in a briefcase under her bed --- a crystal lamb, a yoyo, an antique watch, a coin --- will make sure of it. Over the next couple of weeks, Plum’s life will change. Her beautiful neighbor Maureen will begin to show Plum how she might fly. The older brothers she adores will court catastrophe in worlds that she barely knows exist. And her friends, her worst enemies, will tease and test, smelling weakness. They will try to lead her on and take her down.

BLACK HOLE SUN by David Macinnis Gill (Greenwillow Books)

Durango is playing the cards he was dealt. And it’s not a good hand. He’s lost his family. He’s lost his crew. And he’s got the scars to prove it. You don’t want to mess with Durango.

DANGEROUS NEIGHBORS by Beth Kephart (EgmontUSA)

It is 1876, the year of the Centennial in Philadelphia. Katherine has lost her twin sister Anna in a tragic skating accident.  One wickedly hot September day, Katherine sets out for the exhibition grounds to cut short the haunted life she no longer wants to live. 

HOTHOUSE: A Novel by Chris Lynch (HarperTeen)

If you do it right, it can be a life --- the hothouse, the guys and the glory. But just like that, it can all go up in smoke.

In the beginning it was strange because of all that we had lost. But there was something about it that felt so good and so right, too: "I'm so proud of you, Russ." "We'll always be here for you, man." "Heroes don't pay for nothin' in this town." It was nonstop. The mayor shook my hand. Ladies sent food. I've never eaten so much baked ham in my life.

And now? Now the phone won't stop ringing from the crazies ready to blame me. My mom has to cry herself to sleep. They take a firefighter, a man, and they pump him up so big…but once they start taking it away from you, they don't stop until they leave nothing on the bones.

First they needed heroes, then they needed blood.

KISSES FROM HELL by Kristin Cast, et al. (HarperTeen)

This irresistible collection features stories of love amid vampires by five of today's hottest authors—Kristin Cast (Tempted), Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy), Alyson Noël (Evermore), Kelley Armstrong (The Summoning) and Francesca Lia Block (Pretty Dead).

From a fugitive vampire forced to trust a boy who might work for the group bent on destroying her to the legendary romance of two immortals whose love compels them to risk everything, this heart-pounding collection brings new meaning to the words "love you forever." Whether you're into romances that are dark and moody or light and fun, these stories will quench that insatiable thirst for enchanting tales of the beautiful undead.

MY WORST BEST FRIEND by Dyan Sheldon (Candlewick Press)

Gracie and Savannah are best friends --- and utterly unalike. Savannah is beautiful, outrageous and irresistible to the opposite sex. Gracie is shy, smart and would rather be studying lizards than meeting boys. Still, they’ve made a surprisingly great team, and (until now) it seemed as if nothing could come between them. But lately, Savannah’s talent for lying and manipulating is becoming harder to ignore. She’s fallen head over heels for an elusive college boy and Gracie can’t help wondering: is her friend as confident as she seems? When Savannah gets between Gracie and her crush, the line separating best friend from worst friend is crossed.

THREE BLACK SWANS by Caroline B. Cooney (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)

Missy and her cousin Claire are best friends who finish each other’s sentences and practically read each other’s minds. It’s an eerie connection --- so eerie that Missy has questions she wants to put to her parents. But she’s afraid to ask. So when Missy hears an expert discussing newborn babies on the radio, it makes her wonder about her family.

Missy just can’t let go of those nagging questions, and decides to use a school project about scientific hoaxes to try to uncover the answers. She enlists Claire to help. As part of the project the girls perform a dramatic scene that is captured on video at school. After the video is posted on YouTube, Missy and Claire realize that they’ve opened Pandora’s box and much more than they ever imagined has come out. Not only are their identities called into question, but so is the future of everyone involved.

YOU by Charles Benoit (HarperTeen)

This wasn't the way it was supposed to go.

You're just a typical 15-year-old sophomore, an average guy named Kyle Chase. This can't be happening to you. But then, how do you explain all the blood? How do you explain how you got here in the first place?

There had to have been signs, had to have been some clues it was coming. Did you miss them, or ignore them? Maybe if you can figure out where it all went wrong, you can still make it right. Or is it already too late? Think fast, Kyle. Time's running out. How did this happen?

You is the riveting story of fifteen-year-old Kyle and the small choices he does and doesn't make that lead to his own destruction.

THE CANDIDATES by Inara Scott Delcroix Academy (Hyperion Book CH)

Dancia Lewis is far from popular. And that's not just because of her average grades or her less-than-glamorous wardrobe. In fact, Dancia's mediocrity is a welcome cover for her secret: whenever she sees a person threatening someone she cares about, things just...happen. Cars skid. Structures collapse. Usually someone gets hurt.  So Dancia does everything possible to avoid getting close to anyone, believing this way she can suppress her powers and keep them hidden.

But when recruiters from the prestigious Delcroix Academy show up in her living room to offer her a full scholarship, Dancia's days of living under the radar may be over. Only, Delcroix is a school for diplomats' kids and child geniuses --- not B students with uncontrollable telekinetic tendencies.  So why are they treating Dancia like she's special? Even the hottest guy on campus seems to be going out of his way to make Dancia feel welcome.

And then there's her mysterious new friend Jack, who can't stay out of trouble. He suspects something dangerous is going on at the Academy and wants Dancia to help him figure out what.  But Dancia isn't convinced. She hopes that maybe the recruiters know more about her "gift" than they're letting on. Maybe they can help her understand how to use it...but not even Dancia could have imagined what awaits her behind the gates of Delcroix Academy.

MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games (Scholastic Press)

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12.

 THE WHITE HORSE TRICK by Kate Thompson Sequel to THE NEW POLICEMAN and THE LAST OF THE HIGH KINGS (Greenwillow Books)

The world is drowning.

Freak storms and devastating hurricanes sweep across the countryside. No one has enough food or firewood --- electricity is an option only for the tyrannical Commander --- and then the Commander begins stealing young children away. Pup's little brother is one of the missing.

Determined to save his brother, Pup confronts the Commander and finds himself “volunteered” for a special force --- one that will slip through the barriers of time into a land where the sun never sets…just as another boy from Kinvara did long ago. With the future of both realms at stake, the fairies and humans must take drastic measures to stop the destruction. But not everyone wants the human race to survive…

Paperback

THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner (Delacorte Press)

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.

Click here to read our review of THE MAZE RUNNER.

Chloe Gamble, HOT MESSbyEd Decter (Simon Pulse)

HOT MESS is the final book in the rags-to-riches-to-rags trilogy that reads like an “E! True Hollywood Story”.

August 26th

Hardcover

THE JULIAN GAME by Adele Griffin (Putnam Juvenile)

All new girl Raye Archer wants is a way into the in crowd, so when ice-queen Ella Parker picks her to get back at her ex, the gorgeous Julian Kilgarry, Raye is more than game. Even if it means creating a fake Facebook identity so she can learn enough about Julian to sabotage him. It’s a fun and dangerous thrill at first, but Raye hadn’t counted on falling for Julian herself and igniting Ella’s rage.

As Raye works to reconcile the temptress Elizabeth with her real-life self, Ella serves up her own revenge, creating an online smear campaign of nasty rumors and trashy photographs. Suddenly notorious, Raye has to find a way out of the web of deceit that she’s helped to build, and back to the relationships that matter.