Books

Hey there! Looking to find an amazing book to read? Well, look no further! Our presenters are some of the best. Click on the book jackets below to be routed to an online retailer where you can order these fabulous picture book, middle grade, and young adult titles.

From Your WriteOnCon Organizers:

POSSESSION by Elana Johnson: Vi knows the Rule: Girls don’t walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn…and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi’s future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they’re set on convincing Vi to become one of them….starting by brainwashed Zenn. Vi can’t leave Zenn in the Thinkers’ hands, but she’s wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous: everything Zenn’s not. Vi can’t quite trust Jag and can’t quite resist him, but she also can’t give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

SURRENDER by Elana Johnson: Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father’s rules: He’s the Director. It’s because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent—a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi.

All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn.

Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque….

THE LIAR SOCIETY by Lisa & Laura Roecker: Since when do the dead send emails?

Kate Lowry’s best friend Grace died a year ago. So when she gets an email from her, Kate’s more than a little confused.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)
Kate,
I’m here… sort of.
Find Cameron. He knows.
I shouldn’t be writing.
Don’t tell. They’ll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. She teams up with a couple of knights-in-(not-so)-shining armor-the dangerously hot bad boy, Liam, and her lovestruck neighbor, Seth. But at their elite private school, there are secrets so big people will do anything to protect them-even if it means getting rid of anyone trying to solve a murder…

LIES THAT BIND by Lisa & Laura Roecker: Just when Kate Lowry thought she had life at elite private school Pemberly Brown figured out, she cracks open a fortune cookie to find a message from her best friend Grace—who’s supposed to be dead.

Another Sister Gone

A classmate has gone missing, and Kate soon realizes that the disappearance is tied to the secret societies that rule her private school. Her best friend died for their secrets, and there’s no way she’ll let them get away with it twice. It’s up to quirky outsider Kate to get some answers, but in a school where every answer leads to more questions and nothing’s as it seems, who can she trust?

Coming November 1, 2012.

KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES by Shannon Messenger: Twelve-year-old Sophie has never quite fit into her life. She’s skipped multiple grades and doesn’t really connect with the older kids at school, but she’s not comfortable with her family, either. And Sophie has a secret—she’s a Telepath, someone who can read minds. But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she’s not alone. He’s a Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is that, well…she isn’t. Fitz opens Sophie’s eyes to a shocking truth, and almost instantly she is forced to leave behind her family for a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known.

But Sophie still has secrets, and they’re buried deep in her memory for good reason: The answers are dangerous and in high-demand. What is her true identity, and why was she hidden among humans? The truth could mean life or death—and time is running out.

Coming October 2, 2012.

LET THE SKY FALL by Shannon Messenger: Vane Weston should have died in the category five tornado that killed his parents. Instead, he woke up in a pile of rubble with no memories of his past—except one: a beautiful, dark-haired girl standing in the winds. She’s swept through his dreams ever since, and he clings to the hope that she’s real.

Audra is real, but she isn’t human. She’s a sylph, an air elemental who can walk on the wind, translate its alluring songs, even twist it into a weapon. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect him at all costs.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra has just days to help Vane unlock his memories. And as the storm winds gather, they start to realize the greatest danger might not be the warriors coming to destroy them, but the forbidden romance growing between them.

Coming March 5, 2013.

PICTURE BOOKS:

HOP! PLOP! by Corey Rosen Schwartz: Hop! Plop! Boom! Bop! This day’s fun will never stop!

Mouse and Elephant know that the perfect remedy to a boring day is a trip to the playground. But it’s a little tough to decide which playground ride is their favorite. With Elephant so Big, and Mouse so Small, each ride can be a bit of a challenge for the pair. The seesaw sends Mouse soaring. The swings are a total flop for Elephant. And the whirly-bird is just a bit too whirly for Mouse. It takes a little bit of trial and a whole lot of error before Mouse and Elephant discover what their favorite really is — each other.

THE VERY FAIRY PRINCESS by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton: While her friends and family may not believe in fairies, Geraldine knows, deep down, that she is a VERY fairy princess. From morning to night, Gerry does everything that fairy princesses do: she dresses in her royal attire, practices her flying skills, and she is always on the lookout for problems to solve. But it isn’t all twirls and tiaras – as every fairy princess knows, dirty fingernails and scabby knees are just the price you pay for a perfect day!

 

THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN by Tiffany Strelitz Haber: Everyone knows that the M in “monster” stands for MEAN. But what happens when a monster can’t be mean any more? Is he still a monster at all?

One young monster’s attempts to live up to his name go hilariously awry as he discovers—with a little help from new friends—that it’s not what you’re called but who you are that counts.

THREE NINJA PIGS by Corey Rosen Schwartz: When the big bad wolf threatens their village, three pigs sign up for different martial arts lessons to prepare to take him down. Pig One and Pig Two don’t stick with their training, though, and are no match for their foe. But after practice and dedication, Pig Three becomes great at karate (including perfecting the perfect pork chop!) and saves the day.

 

MIDDLE GRADE:

THE GUARDIANS OF THE HIDDEN SCEPTER by Frank Cole: Amber never dreamed her archaeology class would turn into a top secret mission that would take her across the globe, but when her teacher goes missing, Amber realizes it’s up to her to protect the Hidden Scepter or risk unleashing an ancient power too terrifying to imagine.

THE HEALING SPELL by Kimberley Griffiths-Little: Twelve-year-old Livie is living with a secret and it’s crushing her. She knows she is responsible for her mother’s coma, but she can’t tell anyone. It’s up to her to find a way to wake her mamma up.

Stuck in the middle of three sisters, hiding a forbidden pet alligator, and afraid to disappoint her daddy, whom she loves more than anyone else, Livie struggles to find her place within her own family as she learns about the powers of faith and redemption. Livie’s powerful, emotional, and sometimes humorous story will stay with readers long after the last line is read.

THE GUARDIANS OF ELIJAH’S FIRE by Frank Cole: Just when she thought she was safe, Amber learns she’s become a target and it seems even her closest allies can’t be trusted. Now Amber, Trendon, and the whole gang are facing their most terrifying enemy yet. This thrilling tale ups the action and doubles the danger Bestselling author, Frank L. Cole delivers an engrossing tale for adventurers of all ages.

CIRCLE OF SECRETS by Kimberley Griffiths-Little: After her mother walked out on Shelby Jayne and her dad, Shelby thought she’d never speak to her mamma again. But with her dad leaving the country for work, it turns out she doesn’t have a choice: Shelby has to move back into her mamma’s house, deep in the heart of the Louisiana bayou.

Her new classmates tease and torment her, so Shelby’s relieved to finally find a friend in Gwen, a mysterious girl who lives alone on the bayou. But Shelby can’t help wondering if Gwen has something to do with the puzzling messages she finds hidden in the blue bottle tree behind her house. The only person who might be able to explain is her mamma — but Shelby’s not ready to ask. Not yet. It may take a brush with something from the beyond to help Shelby see that the power to put her own ghosts to rest is within her reach.

THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer A. Nielsen: In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

THE CAVENDISH HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS by Claire Legrand: Victoria hates nonsense. There is no need for it when your life is perfect. The only smudge on her pristine life is her best friend Lawrence. He is a disaster—lazy and dreamy, shirt always untucked, obsessed with his silly piano. Victoria often wonders why she ever bothered being his friend. (Lawrence does too.)

But then Lawrence goes missing. And he’s not the only one. Victoria soon discovers that The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls is not what it appears to be. Kids go in but come out…different. Or they don’t’ come out at all.

If anyone can sort this out, it’s Victoria—even if it means getting a little messy.

Coming August 28, 2012.

THE SEVEN TALES OF TRINKET by Shelley Moore Thomas: Guided by a tattered map, accompanied by Thomas the Pig Boy, and inspired by the storyteller’s blood that thrums through her veins, eleven-year-old Trinket searches for the seven stories she needs to become a bard like her father, who disappeared years before. She befriends a fortune-telling gypsy girl; returns a child stolen by the selkies to his true mother; confronts a banshee and receives a message from a ghost; helps a village girl outwit—and out-dance—the Faerie Queen; travels beyond the grave to battle a dastardly undead Highwayman; and meets a hound so loyal he fights a wolf to the death to protect the baby prince left in his charge. All fine material for six tales, but it is the seventh tale, in which Trinket learns her father’s true fate, that changes her life forever.

 

 

YOUNG ADULT:

CREWEL by Gennifer Albin: For generations, Spinsters have been called by Arras’s Manipulation Services to work the looms and determine what people eat, where they live, how many children they have, and even when they die. Gifted with the rare ability to weave time with matter, Adelice is exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But once you become a Spinster, there is no turning back. Now caught in a web of lies and intrigue, Adelice must decide who to trust: her kind mentor, Enora; the handsome and mysterious valet Jost; or the charismatic Guild ambassador Cormac Patton. They each have secrets, but Adelice is about to unravel the deadliest one of all, a sinister truth that could destroy reality as she knows it.

Coming October 16, 2012.

LEVEL 2 by Lenore Appelhans: Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow prisoners, Felicia passes the endless hours downloading memories and mourning what she’s lost—family, friends, and the boy she loved, Neil.

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber disappears, and nobody but Felicia seems to recall she existed in the first place. Something is obviously very wrong. When Julian—a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life—comes to offer Felicia a way out, she learns the truth: a rebellion is brewing to overthrow the Morati, the guardians of Level 2.

Felicia is reluctant to trust Julian, but then he promises what she wants the most—to be with Neil again—if only she’ll join the rebels. Suspended between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself in the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come back to haunt her, and as the Morati hunt her down, Felicia will discover it’s not just her own redemption at stake… but the salvation of all mankind.

Coming January 15, 2013.

THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR by Mindee Arnett: 16-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare. Literally. Dusty is a magical being who feeds on human dreams.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder. The setting is Arkwell.

And then it comes true.

Now the Dusty has to follow the clues–both within Eli’s dreams and out of them–to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

Coming March 5, 2013.

SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo: Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

NEVER ENOUGH by Denise Jaden: Loann’s always wanted to be popular and pretty like her sister, Claire. So when Claire’s ex-boyfriend starts flirting with her, Loann is willing to do whatever it takes to feel special…even if that means betraying her sister.

But as Loann slips inside Claire’s world, she discovers that everything is not as it seems. Claire’s quest for perfection is all-consuming, and comes at a dangerous price. And Loann is frightened she could lose the sister she’s always idolized.

As Claire increasingly withdraws from friends and family, Loann struggles to understand her and make amends. Can she heal their relationship—and her sister—before it’s too late?

VIRTUOSITY by Jessica Martinez: Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant, and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen’s whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn’t just hot…what if Jeremy is better?

Carmen knows that kissing Jeremy can’t end well, but she just can’t stay away. Nobody else understands her–and riles her up–like he does. Still, she can’t trust him with her biggest secret: She is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to perform, and what started as an easy fix has become a hungry addiction. Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she’s told, doing what’s expected.

Sometimes, being on top just means you have a long way to fall….

CINDER by Marissa Meyer: Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

FRACTURE by Megan Miranda: Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine-despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she’s reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy’s motives aren’t quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

STARGLASS by Phoebe North: My darling daughter,

Know that I never would have left the Earth if it hadn’t already been doomed. . .

The generation ship Asherah coasts through space, bound for a planet its passengers have never even seen. On the eve of their arrival, sixteen-year-old botanist Terra discovers that her orderly society has fractured. Walking home one night through the long-abandoned engine rooms, she witnesses the murder of an innocent man. Now, called on by the Children of Abel, a group of rebels intent on destroying the High Council, Terra must prove her mettle–assassinate the ship’s rising captain. In order to carry out her task, Terra must betray her father, deceive her teacher, and challenge everything the Council has ever taught her was true.

The rebels think that Terra has nothing left to lose. But when she falls for Silvan Rafferty, the boy that she’s meant to kill, Terra learns that “doing your duty” isn’t always as easy as it seems.

DREAMING ANASTASIA by Joy Preble: What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?

Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn’t. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.

In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn’t know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college–until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams…

STARTERS by Lissa Price: In the future, teens rent their bodies to seniors who want to be young again. One girl discovers her renter plans to do more than party–her body will commit murder, if her mind can’t stop it. Sixteen-year-old Callie lost her parents when the genocide spore wiped out everyone except those who were vaccinated first–the very young and very old. With no grandparents to claim Callie and her little brother, they go on the run, living as squatters, and fighting off unclaimed renegades who would kill for a cookie. Hope comes via Prime Destinations, run by a mysterious figure known only as The Old Man. He hires teens to rent their bodies to seniors, known as enders, who get to be young again. Callie’s neurochip malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her rich renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, even dating Blake, the grandson of a senator. It’s a fairy-tale new life . . . until she uncovers the Body Bank’s horrible plan. . . .

GILT by Katy Longshore: When Kitty Tylney’s best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII’s heart and brings Kitty to court, she’s thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat’s shadow, Kitty’s now caught between two men–the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat’s meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

SKINNY by Donna Cooner: Hopeless. Freak. Elephant. Pitiful. These are the words of Skinny, the vicious voice that lives inside fifteen-year-old Ever Davies’s head. Skinny tells Ever all the dark thoughts her classmates have about her. Ever knows she weighs over three hundred pounds, knows she’ll probably never be loved, and Skinny makes sure she never forgets it.

But there is another voice: Ever’s singing voice, which is beautiful but has been silenced by Skinny. Partly in the hopes of trying out for the school musical—and partly to try and save her own life—Ever decides to undergo a risky surgery that may help her lose weight and start over.

With the support of her best friend, Ever begins the uphill battle toward change. But demons, she finds, are not so easy to shake, not even as she sheds pounds. Because Skinny is still around. And Ever will have to confront that voice before she can truly find her own.

Coming October 1, 2012.

UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi: Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

SILVER by Talia Vance: In eighth grade, Brianna did something so dreadful she was suspended and homeschooled. No one could explain what happened that night . . . except Brianna’s Irish grandmother, who gave her a silver charm bracelet and told her to wear it until she turned seventeen. Ever since she slipped it on, Brianna has felt like she’s invisible. People stare right past her as if she doesn’t exist. And that includes Blake Williams, the one boy she can’t resist.

But everything changes in one frozen, silver moment when Blake sees her–and recognizes what she’s been hiding. Brianna is descended from Danu, the legendary Bandia of Celtic myth. Yet before she can fully understand who or what she is, Brianna accidentally binds her soul to Blake–whose tribe has spent the last thousand years hunting Danu’s descendants to protect humanity.

Coming September 8, 2012.

Coming in 2013, from the Lucky 13s:

PIVOT POINT by Kasie West, HarperTeen, February 12, 2013: Reminiscent of the movie Sliding Doors, Pivot Point is about a girl who has the power to Search alternate futures. When faced with a life changing decision, she lives out six weeks of two different lives (in alternating chapters), both holding the potential for love and loss, and must ultimately choose which path she is willing to live through.

DUALED by Elsie Chapman, Random House, February 26, 2013: The city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high. Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job, marriage—life.

Fifteen-year-old West Grayer has trained as a fighter, preparing for the day when her assignment arrives and she will have one month to hunt down and kill her Alt. But then a tragic misstep shakes West’s confidence. Stricken with grief and guilt, she’s no longer certain that she’s the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future. If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running not only from her Alt, but also from love . . . though both have the power to destroy her.

THE CADET OF TILDOR by Alex Lidell, Penguin (Dial), Jan 10, 2013: Having already survived six years at the Tildor’s top military academy, Sixteen-year-old Renee De Winter is determined to graduate, training day and night to compete with her male classmates. When the boys overpower her parries, she works harder. When a bully sabotages her gear, she fights without it. But when an underground crime group captures her mentor for its illegal gladiatorial games, she must choose between her career and her conscience. Determined to penetrate the group’s inner circles, Renee will leap from academia to the crime filled streets, pick up a sword, and weigh law against loyalty.

THE ART OF WISHING by Lindsay Ribar, Dial Books For Young Readers, March 21, 2013: Margo McKenna has a plan of attack for everything, from landing the lead in her high school musical to dealing with her increasingly absent parents. But when she finds herself in possession of a genie’s ring and the opportunity to make three wishes, she doesn’t know what to do. Especially since Oliver–not blue-skinned, not bottle-dwelling, but a genie nonetheless–can see more than what she’s willing to show him. With one peek into her mind, he can see the wishes that even Margo herself doesn’t know she wants.

But Oliver comes with more than just mind-reading abilities, a flair for magic, and the prettiest eyes Margo’s ever seen. Someone from his past is hunting him–someone bent on killing him, along with all the other genies in the world, for the sake of honor. And as Margo soon discovers, it will take more than three wishes to save him.

A whole lot more.

CITY OF A THOUSAND DOLLS by Miriam Forster, HarperTeen, February 5, 2013: Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she makes her way as Matron’s assistant on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Only when Nisha she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die….

NOBODY BUT US by Kristin Halbrook, HarperTeen, January 29, 2013: They’re young. They’re in love. They’re on the run.

Zoe wants to save Will as much as Will wants to save Zoe. When Will turns eighteen, they decide to run away together. But they never expected their escape to be so fraught with danger….

When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can’t run fast enough.

THE CULLING by Steven dos Santos, Flux Books, March 8, 2013: Lucian “Lucky” Spark has been recruited for training by the totalitarian government known as The Establishment. According to Establishment rules, if a recruit fails any level of the violent training competitions, a family member is brutally killed . . . and the recruit has to choose which one.

As the five recruits form uneasy alliances in the hellish wasteland that is the training ground, an undeniable attraction develops between Lucky and the rebellious Digory Tycho. But the rules of the training ensure that only one will survive—the strongest recruits receive accolades, wealth, and power while the weakest receive death.

With Cole—Lucky’s four-year-old brother—being held as “incentive,” Lucky must marshal all his skills and use his wits to keep himself alive, no matter what the cost.

TAKEN by Erin Bowman, HarperTeen, April 16, 2013: There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends . . . and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate—until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot—a structure that no one can cross and survive. Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken—or risk everything on the hope of the other side?

INSOMNIA by J.R. Johansson, Flux Books, June 2013: Sixteen-year-old Parker spends every night trapped in the dreams of the last person he made eye contact with, and it’s killing him. He misses soccer practice, falls asleep at the wheel, and his mom thinks he has a drug problem. His exhaustion from never reaching the deeper levels of sleep is getting worse every day, and he knows his time is running out. Until he meets Mia.

Mia’s dreams are the first Parker’s encountered where he can finally get real sleep. A good night of rest after so long is addictive. He has to have it. But getting it means he must follow Mia and find a way to make eye contact every day. Mia is increasingly freaked out, even turning Parker’s best friends against him. To make matters worse, Mia starts to receive threatening e-mails, and her wonderful dreams become scenes of a horror movie–with Parker cast as the villain. He must discover who is truly tormenting her, and clear his name, before she turns him in for a crime he hasn’t committed–or worse, the true stalker makes good on his threats to end her dreams forever.

THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING by Ashley Elston, Disney-Hyperion, May 14, 2013: THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING, about a girl who, desperate to escape the Witness Protection program and discover what really happened the day that ruined her family’s lives, breaks her minders’ ultimate rule by falling for a boy and embarking with him on a perilous journey to outwit both cops and criminals.

AFTER YOU by Jessica Corra, Dial/BFYR, Winter 2014: Seventeen-year-old Camilla Jay has the power of second chances. She can rewind time and she remembers everything. A tragedy like the death of her twin sister Madelyn shouldn’t be possible. Camilla rewinds to the day, but Madelyn dies each time – by her own hand. Madelyn doesn’t want saving. As Camilla searches for answers, she grows closer to her handsome classmate Wall. Together, they uncover Madelyn’s secret: she was convinced her death was the only way to prevent Camilla’s. If Madelyn is right, then in saving her, Camilla could lose everything. Is she willing to gamble her future for her sister’s?

NOT A DROP TO DRINK by Mindy McGinnis, Katherine Tegen / Harper Collins, Fall 2013: NOT A DROP TO DRINK, the story of a teenage girl surviving in a rural America where an ounce of fresh water is worth more than gold and death wanders the countryside as thirst, cholera, and the guns of strangers; when her mother dies in an accident, the girl must decide between defending her pond alone or banding together with a crippled neighbor, a pregnant woman, a filthy orphan, and a teenage boy who awakens feelings she doesn’t understand.

CANARY by Rachele Alpine, Medallion Press, August 2013: Kate Franklin’s life changes for the better when her dad lands a job at Beacon Prep, an elite private school with one of the best basketball teams in the state. She begins to date a player on the team and quickly gets caught up in a world of idolatry and entitlement, learning that there are perks to being an athlete.

But those perks also come with a price. Another player takes his power too far and Kate is assaulted at a party. She knows she should speak out, but her dad tries to silence her in order to protect the team. The world that Kate was once welcomed into is now her worst enemy, and she must decide whether to stay silent or expose the corruption, destroying her father’s career and bringing down a town’s heroes.

IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS by Cat Winters, Amulet Books/Abrams, Spring 2013: A teen girl mourns the loss of her first love in 1918 California, where a flu has turned deadlier than a world war, and spirit communication has become a dark and dangerous obsession. Illustrated with early-twentieth-century photographs.

THROUGH THE BOMB’S BREATH by Peggy Eddleman, Random House, Fall 2013: Twelve-year-old Hope Toriella lives in a town of inventors struggling to recover from the green bombs of WWIII that wiped out nearly all the earth’s population. Inventing has made life possible in White Rock, and it’s how the town views a person’s worth. But Hope would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath— the deadly band of compressed air that covers their valley— than fail at yet another invention.

When bandits find a way into their protected valley, they invade. With a two day deadline to hand over their medicine that cures the deadly Shadel’s Sickness that has run rampant since the bombs, the town is left to choose whether to die from Shadel’s over the next year, or die fighting the bandits now. Inventing won’t save them, but the daring and recklessness that usually gets Hope into trouble just might.

RED by Alison Cherry, Delacorte, Fall 2013: Felicity St. John has it all—loyal best friends, a hot boyfriend, and artistic talent. And she’s right on track to win the Miss Scarlet pageant. Her perfect life is possible because of just one thing: her long, wavy, coppery red hair. Having red hair is all that matters in Scarletville—redheads hold all the power, and everybody knows it. That’s why Felicity is scared down to her roots when she receives an anonymous note: I know your secret. Because Felicity is a big fake—her hair color comes straight out of a bottle at Scarletville’s underground hair salon. And if anyone discovered the truth, she’d be a social outcast faster than she could say “strawberry blond.” Felicity isn’t about to let someone blackmail her life away… but just how far is she willing to go to protect her red cred?

CONTROL by Lydia Kang, Dial/Penguin, Summer 2013: After the accidental death of her father, 17 year-old Zelia loses her younger sister, Dylia, during an abduction at their foster agency. It turns out her Dyl isn’t just pretty and sweet—she’s illegal.

In the year 2150, DNA must be pure by law, and anyone with enhanced genes face death. Zelia’s only allies are the freak-show inhabitants of her new, underground foster home. Along with the unexpected love of a very strange boy, she will need her flaws and their illicit traits to save the only family she has left.

45 Pounds by K.A. Barson, Viking, July 2013: Sixteen-year-old Ann doesn’t fit–not in her blended family and certainly not in Snapz! clothes–and she’s convinced that if she could just lose 45 pounds before her aunt’s wedding, her life would be perfectly normal. She soon finds, though, that there is nothing perfect about normal.

ALIENATED by Melissa Landers, Disney/Hyperion, Winter 2014: Broke-as-a-joke valedictorian, Cara Sweeny, gets more than she bargains for when she agrees to host the nation’s first interplanetary exchange student.

BRIANNA ON THE BRINK by Nicole McInnes, Holiday House, Inc., Spring 2013: Sixteen-year-old Brianna Taylor finds herself lost, alone and pregnant after a one-night-stand. Just when she’s got nowhere left to turn, help arrives from the one person who is closest to her big mistake, but accepting that help will leave Brianna forced to choose between clinging to the ledge of fear and abandonment – or jumping into the unknown where a second chance at hope might just be waiting.

EDEN by Helen Douglas, Bloomsbury, April 2013: 2012: A star-gazing teenager discovers the planet Eden, only visible from Earth every 700 years.

2053 – The first colonists inhabit this second world.

2085 – Life on Earth is decimated by an alien parasite brought from Eden.

2012. Cornwall. Eden Anfield loves puzzles, so when mysterious new boy Ryan Westland shows up at her school, she’s hooked. On the face of it, he’s a typical American teenager. So why doesn’t he recognize pizza? And how come he hasn’t heard of Hitler? What puzzles Eden the most, however, is the interest he’s taking in her.

As Eden grows close to Ryan, she begins to uncover his secrets. Her breakthrough comes one rainy afternoon when she stumbles across a book in Ryan’s library – a biography of Connor Penrose, her oldest friend, written over 50 years in the future. Confronting Ryan, she discovers that he is a boy from the future whose mission is to prevent Connor from discovering a planet he names Eden, in honour of the girl he loves. A planet with a deadly virus that is destined to destroy the earth in a hundred years time.

Is it really possible to change the future?

INK by Amanda Sun, Harlequin TEEN, July 2013: After her mother’s death, 16-year-old Katie is uprooted to Japan to live with her English-teaching aunt. She crosses paths with her new school’s arrogant kendo star, whose drawings come to life in dangerous ways, pulling them both into the world of the Yakuza and Japan’s paranormal underworld.

BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA by April Tucholke, Dial/Penguin, Summer 2013: Violet’s grandmother had warned her about the Devil, had talked about him often, as though he were a best friend, or an old lover. But she never told Violet that the Devil could be real. She never told Violet that the Devil could be a dark-haired boy in vintage clothes who takes naps in the sun and likes old movies and vigilante justice.

River West is the seventeen-year old stranger renting the guesthouse behind the rotting mansion on the sea, where Violet lives. And as eerie things start happening in Violet’s town, she begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling, coffee-loving liar with rascally eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something else? Something…evil?

Violet’s already so knee-deep in love she can’t see straight.

And that’s just how River likes it.

A POINT SO DELICATE by Brandy Colbert, Putnam/Penguin, Fall 2013: A ballet prodigy’s life begins to unravel when she is forced to admit to the role she played in her childhood friend’s abduction.

THESE BROKEN STARS by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, Disney-Hyperion, 2013: Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen never should have met. She’s the socialite daughter of the richest man in the galaxy, and he’s a decorated soldier fighting back rebellions on newly terraformed planets. But when the vast luxury spaceliner they’re both traveling on crashes, they find themselves thrown together as the two sole survivors on an alien planet.

As they survive harsh conditions and dwindling supplies—not to mention each other—the two begin to uncover a mystery surrounding the abandoned planet that neither of them could have guessed.

The first in a trilogy, THESE BROKEN STARS sets into motion a series of timeless, standalone love stories that span galaxies—and are linked by their shared worlds and one mysterious enemy.

THE WIG IN THE WINDOW by Kristen Kittscher, Harper Children’s, June 18, 2013: Sophie Young and Grace Yang: best friends, seventh graders, spies. Equipped with walkie-talkies, binoculars, and candy, the girls sneak out for one of their midnight spy missions expecting a simple stakeout. But what starts as a game turns very real when they peek in on Luna Vista’s notoriously bizarre middle school counselor, Dr. Charlotte Agford (a.k.a. Dr. Awkward).

Is there more to Dr. Agford than her tacky clothes and sugary falsetto? Sophie and Grace are convinced something sinister lurks below the surface…and they just might be right. Soon, they’re racing to outsmart the suspicious counselor — all while cracking secret codes, dodging a mysterious blue car, and keeping tabs on strangers with unibrows and Texas twangs.

But the investigation puts a strain on the girls’ friendship. Grace masterminds increasingly dangerous missions but shoulders none of the risk. She’s homeschooled, leaving Sophie to face off with Agford at school each day. Grace, meanwhile, grows frustrated sitting on the sidelines. Even if Sophie and Grace uncover the truth about Agford in time, will their friendship survive?

ACID by Emma Pass, Random House Children’s Books, Early 2013: This action-packed novel introduces us to Jenna Strong, a truly kick-ass heroine who is serving time in an all-male prison for the murder of her parents. With the story set one hundred years in the future in a Big Brother style society, Britain is now under the control of ACID – a terrifying all-seeing police force.

VENGEANCE BOUND by Justina Ireland, Simon & Schuster, April 2, 2013: Revenge is not always sweet.

Amelie Ainsworth had no choice. She prayed for help. The Furies were the ones to answer her call.

She owes Them her life.

But They are too powerful. Amelie can no longer justify giving in to Their dark urges.

Can she ever be normal with Them in her head?

Starting fresh at yet another school, Amelie meets new people. Good people like Niko, who could offer her something more than vengeance.

But They are not finished with Amelie, and They do not handle rejection well…

SALVAGE by Alexandra Duncan, Greenwillow/HarperCollins, Fall 2013: SALVAGE follows 16-year old Ava, who must learn to survive on an inhospitable future Earth after falling in love with the wrong boy and being cast out of her family’s spaceship.

RIPTIDE by Lindsey Scheibe, Flux Books, Spring/Summer 2013: 17-year-old Grace is fully aware her best friend Ford has a crush on her, but she refuses to acknowledge it. Surfing with him is the only time she forgets about her abusive father, stifling mother, and the pressure to be impossibly perfect. She’s not willing to risk their lifelong friendship to find out if it could be something more.

No matter how tempting it may be.

All Grace wants is to graduate, get out of her house, and make the UC San Diego surf team. The problem? She’s never had the guts to sign up for a competition, the only way she’ll ever get noticed by the UC scouts. Until, that is, Ford does it for her.

Now she has one summer to train. One summer to prove she’s good enough—to the scouts, to her parents and most of all, to herself. As the training gets more intense, the violence at home escalates, and the romance reaches a point of no return.

Grace is about gain everything she’s ever wanted, or lose the only things that have ever mattered.

GONE FISHING by Tamera Will Wissinger, Houghton Mifflin Children’s Books, March 5, 2013: Using a wide variety of poetic forms – quatrains, ballads, iambic meter, rhyming lists, concrete poetry, tercets and free verse –this debut author tells the story of a nine-year-old boy’s day of fishing. Sibling rivalry, the bond between father and son, the excitement – and difficulty — of fishing all add up to a day of adventure any child would want to experience.

LUMINANCE HOUR by Ryan Graudin, HarperTeen, 2013: In which a partying prince falls in love with a Kate Middletonesque fae, who has been protecting the British royal family for centuries, and who must make an impossible choice amidst a backdrop of a palace murder and paparazzi mayhem.

DEAD BLUE by Elle Cosimano, Dial/Penguin, Fall 2013: DEAD BLUE, in which a math-genius from a DC trailer park is the only student able to solve complex clues left by a serial killer targeting classmates, thus making herself the main suspect

THE SILO by Amy Christine Parker, Random House, Fall 2013: THE SILO, is scheduled for fall 2013 and follows a teenage girl named Lyla who has been living in a religious cult after the disappearance of her sister. While her parents are hopelessly under the sway of the group’s leader, Pioneer, Lyla is drawn into a dangerous situation when she begins to question Pioneer’s prophecy about the impending apocalypse.

THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER by Megan Shepherd, Balzer+Bray, January 29, 2013: Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid and trying to forget the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he’s alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she’s determined to find out if the accusations were true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward, Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the secret of her father’s new life: he experiments on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H.G. Wells’s classic The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Madman’s Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we’ll do anything to know and the truths we’ll go to any lengths to protect.

RUMP: THE TRUE STORY OF RUMPELSTILTSKIN by Liesl Shurtliff, Knopf Books for Young Readers, April 9, 2013: In a magical kingdom where your name is your destiny, 12-year-old Rump is the butt of everyone’s joke.
Rump has never known his full name—his mother died before she could tell him. So all his life he’s been teased for his half-a-name. But when he finds an old spinning wheel, his luck seems to change. For Rump discovers he can spin straw into gold. Magical gold.

His best friend Red warns him that magic is dangerous—and she’s right! That gold is worth its weight in trouble. And with each thread he spins, Rump weaves himself deeper into a curse.

There’s only one way to break the spell: Rump must go on a quest to find his true name, along the way defending himself against pixies, trolls, poison apples, and one beautiful but vile-mannered queen. The odds aren’t great for a small boy in a land full of fairytale bullies, but with courage and friendship—and a cheeky sense of humor—Rump just might triumph in the end.

PRETTY GIRL-13 by Liz Coley, Katherine Tegen Books, March 19, 2013: When thirteen-year-old Angela Gracie Chapman looks in the mirror, someone else looks back–a thin, pale stranger, a sixteen-year-old with haunted eyes. Angie has no memory of the past three years, years in which she was lost to the authorities, lost to her family and friends, lost even to herself. Where has she been, who has been living her life, and what is hiding behind the terrible blankness? There are secrets you can’t even tell yourself.

EVERY DAY AFTER by Laura Golden, Delacorte Press/RHCB, Spring 2013: Trouble has rained down on Lizzie Hawkins. Her daddy has deserted the family, her mama is silent with sadness, and the bank is after their house.

Daddy always said Lizzie was born to succeed, but right now she can’t even hold on to her top grades or her best friend, Ben. Bratty newcomer Erin Sawyer has weaseled both away from Lizzie, but Erin won’t be satisfied until Lizzie is out of her hair for good, packed off straight to the nearest orphanage.

Still, Lizzie refuses to lose what’s left of her family. With the bank deadline fast approaching, Erin causing strife at every turn, and Mama and Ben slipping away from her, Lizzie finds comfort writing in her journal and looking at Daddy’s face in the heirloom locket he left her. She’s keeping her head high and holding onto hope that Daddy returns on her twelfth birthday. Still, she can’t help wondering: Whay did Daddy have to leave? And can I save us if he doesn’t come home.

Times may be tough in Bittersweet, Alabama, but the unsinkable Lizzie Hawkins will inspire readers with her resilience and determination.

THE FLAME IN THE MIST by Kit Grindstaff, Delacorte Press, April 9 2013: The sun never shines in Anglavia. Its people live in a constant mist created by the evil Agromond family, who rule without mercy. But the youngest of them is not like the rest, and things are about to change….

One the eve of her thirteenth birthday, fiery-headed Jemma finds out the dreadful truth behind her life at Agromond Castle, and the terrible fate that awaits her. The choice is clear: flee, or die.

Ghosts and outcasts, a pair of crystals, a mysterious book, and an ancient prophecy gradually reveal the truth about Jemma’s past—and a destiny far greater and more dangerous than any she could imagine. With her trusted friend, Digby, and her telepathic golden rats, Noodle and Pie, Jemma faces enemies both human and supernatural. But in the end, only she and her untapped powers can end the evil plaguing Anglavia and bring back the sun to its shrouded skies.

THE KEY AND THE FLAME by Claire M. Caterer, Margaret K. McElderry Books, April 2013: When Holly Shepard leaves her humdrum American life for a family trip to England, she receives an unusual gift: an iron key that unlocks a passage to the dangerous, magical kingdom of Anglielle. When her friend Everett and brother Ben are captured by Anglielle’s ruthless king, Holly must rescue them. But that means finding—and using—the magic within herself and learning which magical allies she can trust.

PROPHECY by Ellen Oh, HarperTeen, Winter 2013: The greatest warrior in all of the Seven Kingdoms… is a girl with yellow eyes.

Kira’s the only female in the king’s army, and the prince’s bodyguard. She’s a demon slayer and an outcast, hated by nearly everyone in her home city of Hansong. And, she’s their only hope…

Murdered kings and discovered traitors point to a demon invasion, sending Kira on the run with the young prince. He may be the savior predicted in the Dragon King Prophecy, but the missing treasure of myth may be the true key. With only the guidance of the cryptic prophecy, Kira must battle demon soldiers, evil shaman, and the Demon Lord himself to find what was once lost and raise a prince into a king.

CHARM & STRANGE by Stephanie Kuehn, St. Martins Press, Summer 2013: A sixteen-year-old boy stuck at a remote Vermont boarding school must face the secrets from his past that have transformed him, right down to his most elemental parts.

MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza, Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins, March 12, 2013: Mila was living with her mother in a small Minnesota town when she discovered she was also living a lie. She was never meant to learn the truth about her identity–that she was built in a computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do. Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated, and a mysterious group who wants to capture her alive.