Late March 2016

Hello Teenreaders!

I've officially been on the job for one month as of yesterday. Let me tell you, it's been one packed month! Not long after our last newsletter, I attended the NYC premiere of Allegiant with 20SomethingReads' Nicole Sherman. You can read her blog about it here. All of the stars were in attendance, which made it very special (my first red carpet), and we both thoroughly enjoyed the movie --- though the best part might have been sitting behind Damn Daniel of Vine fame. That does not happen at your local theater! See my photo with the special screening ticket above left.

I also had the total pleasure of checking out the YELLOW BRICK WAR launch party, with authors Danielle Paige and Heather Demetrios in attendance. The Dorothy Must Die series is near and dear to my heart as it was one of the first books I learned about when I started interning at Teenreads. It was really special to see how the series has progressed and hear about its creation directly from Danielle. You can see some of the adorable treats from the party above and read more about the event here.

Since it's officially spring now, we're celebrating by tossing our heavy coats, attempting to read outside (days are hit and miss for that) and hosting our annual Spring Fling Contest! From now through Monday, May 2nd at noon ET, you have the chance to win one of our five Spring Fling prize packages, which includes one copy of each of our featured books and a signature Teenreads.com tote bag. I have one of these bags myself and can confirm it’s great for lugging one-too-many books around --- bibliophile problems, am I right? If your TBR is looking a little slim, this is a great way to round it out just in time for reading in the upcoming months. Click here to enter.

If you read our early March newsletter, you know that I've been running to all sorts of previews to get ready for summer and fall, and let me say, we have a lot to be excited about. Just last Friday, I went to Hachette's offices for their Little, Brown preview and heard about lots of exciting books for fall and even early 2017! I am especially excited about AND THE TREES CREPT IN, a spooky thriller about two sisters trapped in a house in the middle of a super creepy forest. You can look forward to this book in early fall.

In this spirit of looking ahead, you’ll also notice a new feature at the bottom of this newsletter that will give you an idea of some of the great titles you can expect to see next month. I personally cannot stop talking about GIRL IN THE BLUE COAT and A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON, both of which I devoured in single days --- like I said, it’s been a busy month!

It's been a pleasure hearing from some of you on Instagram, and I would love to hear more from you! It's great for me to learn about your interests and tastes.

Happy reading!

--- Rebecca Munro (rebecca@bookreporter.com)

 

• THE APPLE TART OF HOPE by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald
• CHARACTER, DRIVEN by David Lubar
• DIG TOO DEEP by Amy Allgeyer
• NIGHTSTRUCK by Jenna Black
• THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater
• SOUTH OF SUNSHINE by Dana Elmendorf
• WHERE YOU'LL FIND ME by Natasha Friend

LADY MIDNIGHT (The Dark Artifices) by Cassandra Clare (Science Fiction)
It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Fire Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses. Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles. Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark --- who was captured by the faeries five years ago --- has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind --- and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. Reviewed by Isabel C., Teen Board Member.

- Click here to read more about the book.
 

WINK POPPY MIDNIGHT by April Genevieve Tucholke (Supernatural Mystery)
Every story needs a hero. Every story needs a villain. Every story needs a secret. Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous. What really happened? Someone knows. Someone is lying. Reviewed by Maggie D., Teen Board Member.

- Click here to read more about the book.
 

THE WAY I USED TO BE by Amber Smith (Fiction)
Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes. What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once loved --- who she once loved --- she now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows she’s supposed to tell someone what happened but she can’t. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be. Reviewed by Grace P., Teen Board Member.

- Click here to read more about the book.
 

THE GREAT AMERICAN WHATEVER by Tim Federle (Fiction)
Quinn Roberts is a 16-year-old smart aleck and Hollywood hopeful whose only worry used to be writing convincing dialogue for the movies he made with his sister Annabeth. Of course, that was all before --- before Quinn stopped going to school, before his mom started sleeping on the sofa…and before Annabeth was killed in a car accident. Enter Geoff, Quinn’s best friend who insists it’s time that Quinn came out --- at least from hibernation. Geoff drags Quinn to his first college party, where instead of nursing his pain, he meets a guy --- a hot one --- and falls hard. Reviewed by Laura T., Teen Board Member.

- Click here to read more about the book.
 

SAME BUT DIFFERENT: Teen Life on the Autism Express by Holly Robinson Peete, Ryan Elizabeth Peete and RJ Peete (Nonfiction)
When you have autism --- or when your brother or sister is struggling with the condition --- life can be challenging. It's one thing when you're a kid in grade school, and a play date goes south due to autism in a family. Or when you're a little kid, and a vacation or holiday turns less-than-happy because of an autistic family member. But being a teen with autism can get pretty hairy --- especially when you're up against dating, parties, sports, body changes, school, and other kids who just don't "get" you. In this powerful book, teenagers Ryan Elizabeth Peete and her twin brother, Rodney, who has autism, share their experiences of what it means to be a teen living with autism. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.

- Click here to read more about the book.
 

After The End - Guest Post by Beck Nicholas --- The author of LIFER and TEMPER explains why she decided to write a series rather than a standalone novel.

Circumventing the Hills and Valleys of Cultural Differences - Guest Post by Jennifer M. Eaton --- The author of the Fire in the Woods series addresses science fiction's ability to transcend cultural differences.

The Big “What If” - Guest Post by Vicki L. Weavil --- The author of FACSIMILE discusses science fiction and the freedom the genre allows her to write her own stories.

Heroines and the Hero’s Journey - Guest Post by Jen McConnel --- The author of the Red Magic series explains how she applied the monomyth of the "hero's journey" to the heroine of her books.

Dorothy Must...Party! The YELLOW BRICK WAR Launch Party --- In this post, Teenreads' own Rebecca Munro relays all the insider details about author Danielle Paige's YELLOW BRICK WAR launch party.
 

Teen Board Question: With spring just around the corner and a new Editorial Coordinator on staff, we've been thinking a lot about new beginnings. First impressions are very important, especially when you're making the time to pick up a new book amidst school, family and friends. Keeping that in mind, we asked our Teen Board Members about some of the most memorable and instantly gripping first lines of their favorite books. Author Rick Riordan clearly knows how to make an entrance, as he scored big with members Cat S., Hafsak K., Isabel C., Harleen K. and Chris C., who all raved about the opening lines of his various books. Check out the rest of the great books mentioned here.

Reviews: Our Teen Board members reviewed a bunch of terrific YA books this month from various genres. Janine C. loved BEATRICE BUNSON'S GUIDE TO ROMEO AND JULIET. She said that Shakespeare lovers would surely find it to be an "engaging and a fairly fast read." Lauren H. raved about THE LAST EXECUTION, calling it "the most perfect, disturbing and unsettling book" she has ever read! Maggie L. praised A DROP OF NIGHT as "a captivating horror, adventure and mystery novel with an intricately spun story and interesting, unique characters."

OF BETTER BLOOD by Susan Moger (Historical Fiction)
It's 1922, and eugenics --- the movement dedicated to racial purity and good breeding --- has taken hold in America. After years of being confined to hospitals, Rowan is recruited at 16 to play a born cripple in a county fair eugenics exhibit. But gutsy, outspoken Dorchy befriends Rowan and helps her realize her own inner strength and bravery. The two escape to a summer camp on an island where they discover something is happening to the children. Rowan must find a way to stop the horrors on the island…if she can escape them herself. Reviewed by Alison S., Teen Board Member.

MAROONED IN THE ARCTIC by Peggy Caravantes (History)
In 1921, four men ventured into the Arctic for a top-secret expedition: an attempt to claim uninhabited Wrangel Island in northern Siberia for Great Britain. With the men was a young Inuit woman named Ada Blackjack, a cook and seamstress, trying to earn money to care for her sick son. Conditions soon turned dire for the team when they were unable to kill enough game to survive. Three of the men tried to cross the frozen Chukchi Sea for help but were never seen again, leaving Ada with one remaining team member who soon died. Determined to be reunited with her son, Ada learned to survive alone in the icy world by trapping foxes, catching seals and avoiding polar bears. Reviewed by Alison S., Teen Board Member.

A DROP OF NIGHT by Stefan Bachmann (Horror)
Seventeen-year-old Anouk has been selected out of hundreds of other candidates to fly to France and help with the excavation of a vast, underground palace buried a hundred feet below the suburbs of Paris. Built in the 1780's to hide an aristocratic family and a mad duke during the French Revolution, the palace has lain hidden and forgotten ever since. Anouk, along with several other gifted teenagers, will be the first to set foot in it in over two centuries --- or so she thought. But nothing is as it seems, and the teens soon find themselves trapped in a game far more sinister, and dangerous, than they could possibly have imagined. Reviewed by Maggie L., Teen Board Member.

BEATRICE BUNSON'S GUIDE TO ROMEO AND JULIET by Paula Marantz Cohen (Fiction)
High school begins, and it seems to Beatrice Bunson that nothing is the same, not even her best friend, Nan. The "new" Nan doesn't hang out with Bea after school; instead she's running for Student Council and going to parties and avoiding Bea at lunchtime. On the bright side, there's English class with Mr. Martin, where Beatrice discovers that Shakespeare has something to say about almost everything --- and that nothing in life is as dramatic as Romeo and Juliet. But when Nan gets in over her head in her new social life, it's up to Beatrice to restore her reputation --- and she may need to make a few new friends to pull it off. One of them, the slightly brainy guy that Beatrice meets at her grandmother's retirement home, is definitely kind of cute, and probably dateable. Reviewed by Janine C., Teen Board Member.

THIS IS WHERE THE WORLD ENDS by Amy Zhang (Fiction)
Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how it’s been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivien moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It’s the perfect friendship --- as long as no one finds out about it. But then Janie goes missing and everything Micah thought he knew about his best friend is colored with doubt. Reviewed by Alyssa L., Teen Board Member.

I WOKE UP DEAD AT THE MALL by Judy Sheehan (Fiction)
When you’re 16, you have your whole life ahead of you. Unless you’re Sarah. Not to give anything away, but...she’s dead. Murdered, in fact. Sarah’s murder is shocking because she couldn’t be any more average. No enemies. No risky behavior. She’s just the girl on the sidelines. It looks like her afterlife, on the other hand, will be pretty exciting. Sarah has woken up dead at the Mall of America --- where the universe sends teens who are murdered --- and with the help of her death coach, she must learn to move on or she could meet a fate totally worse than death: becoming a mall walker. Reviewed by Dally M., Teen Board Member.

THE LAST EXECUTION by Jesper Wung-Sung (Historical Fiction)
Based on the chilling true story of the last execution in Denmark’s history, this award-winning, mesmerizing novel asks a question that plagues a small Danish town: does a 15-year-old boy deserve to be put to death? Niels Nielson, a young peasant, was sentenced to death by beheading on the dubious charges of arson and murder. Does he have the right to live despite what he is accused of? That is the question the townsfolk ask as the countdown begins. Reviewed by Lauren H., Teen Board Member.

HOT PTERODACTYL BOYFRIEND by Alan Cumyn (Fiction)
Shiels is very pleased with her perfectly controlled life (controlling others while she’s at it). She’s smart, powerful, the Student Body Chair, and she even has a loving boyfriend. What more could a girl ask for? But everything changes when the first-ever interspecies transfer student, a pterodactyl named Pyke, enrolls at her school. Hilarious and relatable (despite the dinosaur), HOT PTERODACTLY BOYFRIEND is about a teen who must come to terms with not being in control of all things at all times, break free of her mundane life, discover who her true self is, and, oh, finding out that going primal isn’t always a bad thing. Reviewed by Pranshu A., Teen Board Member.

 

THE APPLE TART OF HOPE by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald (Fiction)
Fourteen-year-old Oscar Dunleavy is missing, presumed dead. His bike was found at sea, out past the end of the pier, and everyone in town seems to have accepted this as a teenage tragedy. But Oscar's best friend Meg knows he isn t dead. Oscar is an optimistic and kind boy who bakes the world s best apple tarts; he would never kill himself, and Meg is going to prove it. Meg must confront the painful truth of Oscar s past six months, along with the possibility that he might really be gone.

DESERT DARK by Sonja Stone (Thriller)
Sixteen-year-old Nadia Riley is delighted to earn a spot at an elite, government-funded boarding school. Nothing sounds better than leaving behind her fraught relationship with her ex-boyfriend and moving to faraway Arizona for a spot at Desert Mountain Academy. But the Academy is more than Nadia bargained for: it's a covert CIA program training high-achieving students for the Black-Ops. Nadia struggles to keep up in her new classes while gaining the trust of her assigned teammates. Things get worse when news leaks that there is a double agent on campus, and someone is framing Nadia.

THE HATERS by Jesse Andrews (Fiction)
For Wes and his best friend, Corey, jazz camp turns out to be lame. It’s pretty much all dudes talking in Jazz Voice. But then they jam with Ash, a charismatic girl with an unusual sound, and the three just click. It’s three and a half hours of pure musical magic, and Ash makes a decision: They need to hit the road. Because the road, not summer camp, is where bands get good. Before Wes and Corey know it, they’re in Ash’s SUV heading south, and The Haters Summer of Hate Tour has begun.

GIRL IN THE BLUE COAT by Monica Hesse (Historical Fiction)
Meticulously researched, intricately plotted and beautifully written, GIRL IN THE BLUE COAT is an extraordinary, gripping novel from a bright new voice in historical fiction.

THE REQUIEM RED by Brynn Chapman (Historical Fiction)
Life for Patient 29 is full of medicated day dreams of a life outside the walls of Soothing Hills Asylum. A monster roams the halls of the sanitarium and three girls have been found dead. The dead girls share one common thread . . . each was 29's cell mate.

DREAMERS OFTEN LIE by Jacqueline West (Fiction)
Jaye wakes up in the hospital, disoriented, and beset by a slippery morphing of reality into something else. She repeatedly sees a boy who she feels like she knows --- but that's impossible. Determined to get back to school and back to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," in which she's starring, she lies to her sister, her mom, and her doctors --- she’s fine, she says. But then on her first day back, she takes a seat in class...next to the mysterious boy.

TELL ME THREE THINGS by Julie Buxbaum (Contemporary Fiction)
It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School.

YOU GOT THIS! by Maya S. Penn (Nonfiction)
Maya Penn is a remarkable teen entrepreneur who has given three TED Talks, created her own eco-friendly fashion line, developed animated films, and appeared on "The View" with Whoopi Goldberg. She has even been name-checked by bestselling authors Gabrielle Bernstein, Steve Harvey and Eve Ensler. All while still in middle school! In YOU GOT THIS! Maya shares her incredible journey to becoming an artist, designer, philanthropist, and business owner. She provides a creative blueprint for teens and young adults, along with the tools she used to build an authentic, exciting and connected life, and offers creative prompts for cultivating success.

A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON by Samantha Mabry (Thriller and Suspense)
Everyone knows the legends about the cursed girl --- Isabel, the one the senoras whisper about. They say she has green skin and grass for hair, and she feeds on the poisonous plants that fill her family’s Caribbean island garden. Seventeen-year-old Lucas lives on the mainland most of the year but spends summers with his hotel-developer father in Puerto Rico. He’s grown up hearing stories about the cursed girl, and he wants to believe in Isabel and her magic. When letters from Isabel begin mysteriously appearing in his room the same day his new girlfriend disappears, Lucas turns to Isabel for answers.

GOLDEN BOYS by Sonya Hartnett (Fiction)
Colt Jenson and his younger brother, Bastian, have moved to a new, working-class suburb. The Jensons are different. Their father, Rex, showers them with gifts --- toys, bikes, all that glitters most --- and makes them the envy of the neighborhood. To the local kids, the Jensons are a family out of a movie, and Rex a hero --- successful, attentive, attractive, always there to lend a hand. But to Colt he's an impossible figure: unbearable, suffocating. Has Colt got Rex wrong, or has he seen something in his father that will destroy their fragile new lives?

DREAMOLOGY by Lucy Keating (Paranormal)
For as long as Alice can remember, she has dreamed of Max. Together, they have traveled the world and fallen deliriously, hopelessly in love. Max is the boy of her dreams --- because he doesn’t actually exist. But when Alice walks into class on her first day at a new school, there he is. Real Max is nothing like Dream Max. He’s stubborn and complicated. And he has a whole life Alice isn’t a part of. Getting to know each other in reality isn’t as perfect as Alice always hoped.

THE DARKEST CORNERS by Kara Thomas (Mystery)
Tessa left Fayette, Pennsylvania when she was nine and has been trying not to think about what happened there that last summer ever since. Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls. Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted and Tessa moved, and they lost touch. But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. And now she has to go back to Fayette --- to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.

THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN by Roshani Chokshi (Fantasy)
Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected/

A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT (An Ember in the Ashes, Book 2) by Sabaa Tahir (Fantasy)
A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT takes readers into the heart of the Empire as Laia and Elias fight their way north to liberate Laia’s brother from the horrors of Kauf Prison. Hunted by Empire soldiers, manipulated by the Commandant, and haunted by their pasts, Laia and Elias must outfox their enemies and confront the treacherousness of their own hearts.

THE RAVEN KING (The Raven Cycle, Book 4) by Maggie Stiefvater (Fantasy)
All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

 

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