Engaged to Bran, the heir to Fair Haven and Gardiners Island, Freya, a bartender and witch who has a potion to cure every kind of heartache, finds her life spiraling out of control when she is drawn to Bran’s brother and a young girl goes missing after taking one of her irresistible cocktails.
Melissa de la Cruz’s latest book, Witches of East End – reserve your copy today.
Crossed by Allyson Condie, the sequel to Matched. Seventeen-year-old Cassia sacrifices everything and heads to the Outer Provinces in search of Ky, where she is confronted with shocking revelations about Society and the promise of rebellion.
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, latest book in Inheritance Cycle. Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chances.
Legend by Marie Lu. In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.
Destined by PC Cast, latest in the House of Night series. Zoey, safe at home with her guardian warrior Stark, confronts new forces at work in the House of Night, including Aurox, a devastatingly handsome teenage boy, created by Neferet as her greatest weapon.
Gossip Girl: Psycho Killer by Cecily Von Ziegesar. The beautiful Serena van der Woodsen returns to her privileged private school in New York to make amends with her best friend, Blair Waldorf, and decides the only way to set things straight is to kill Nate, the guy who came between them, while Blair has her own ideas about who should be murdered.
Steampunk, Cyberbpunk, Genepunk–what are all these punks doing in teen lit? Here’s a quick guide to these genres, and some books and movies to get you started!
Steampunk: Imagine the past, with the future’s technology. Want to fly? Take a hot air balloon, or maybe a steam-powered airship. Top hats and crinolines rule, but look out for mechanical umbrellas and the occasional jet pack. Get started with a few of these:
Cyberpunk: Computers are a part of everything–every waking moment is monitored or enhanced or connected, somehow, to technology. Sounds pretty close to reality, huh? Cyberpunk gets into the gritty underground of a techno-society, with hackers and revolutionaries working to survive.
Genepunk: Also called biopunk, this is what happens when genetic engineering takes over. From giant whales that serve as airships to human beings grown in pods, this genre often features mad scientists.
So what kind of punk are you?
These books are coming soon to a shelf near you. Reserve your copy now!
After Obsession – When Alan, a half-Navajo in touch with the spiritual mysticism of his ancestors, meets Aimee, a gifted psychic in his new high school, they realize they’ve had precognitive dreams of each other and that they must confront an evil spirit that has been responsible for mysterious deaths in the river in their small Maine town for hundreds of years and which is now haunting Alan’s cousin Courtney.
Beautiful Dark – On the night of Skye’s seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye’s life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.
Beautiful Days – For the bright young things of 1929, the beautiful days seem endless, filled with romance and heartbreak, adventure and intrigue, friendship and rivalry.
After a month in New York, Cordelia Grey and Letty Larkspur are small-town girls no longer. They spend their afternoons with Astrid Donal at the Greys’ lush Long Island estate and their nights in Manhattan’s bustling metropolis. But Letty’s not content to be a mere socialite. She is ready at last to chase her Broadway dreams—no matter the cost.
Cordelia is still reeling from the death of her father at the hands of Thom Hale, the man she thought she loved. Now she is set to honor Darius Grey’s legacy . . . and take her revenge.
Blood
- “I do not remember being bitten. I wish I did, for then I would know the creature who did this to me and I would have a purpose, to track him down and repay him for the poisoned gift he gave me.” Back in the 13th Century, Will was destined to be Earl of Mercia. He never lived to inherit his title, struck down by a strange illness and buried beneath the city walls. But Will was not dead, and only now, seven lonely centuries later, does he begin to understand that there was a reason for all of this, that he has a destiny. To find it though, he will need help, and as ever, he will need blood.
Here’s the list of Teens’ Top Twenty Nominees. Read the books and then vote for your favorites next month (I’ll post the link once the polls are open).
Drought by Pam Bachorz
I Am J by Chris Beam
You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin
Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Love, Inc. by Yvonne Collins
Matched by Ally Condie
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
Lies by Michael Grant
Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Red Moon Rising by Peter Moore
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal
Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Blessed by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
Paranormalcy
by Kiersten White
Description: When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.
Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.
Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.
When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.
Read an excerpt of Bumped
Have you read The Hunger Games yet? Maybe you’re still on that mile-long waiting list. Either way, here are a few similar series-starters to hold you over until the first movie comes out in March 2012.
I’ve always loved parodies: Weird Al Yankovic, Little Women and Werewolves, Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer, anything Terry Pratchett… and I love this Reading Awareness music video by the students of Dowell Middle School, McKinney, TX. What else should I check out? Comments, please!
The latest title in Alyson Noel’s Immortals series is due out soon. Check out a book trailer for Everlasting. The sixth and final installment of the epic love story that has enchanted readers across the world. Ever and Damen have spent centuries facing down bitter rivals, jealous friends and their own worst fears—all in the hope of being together forever. Now in Everlasting, their destiny is finally within reach.
Will they be united—or torn apart forever? Readers will finally discover the truth in this anxiously awaited conclusion!
Reserve your copy today.
The next installment in the Forest of Hands and Teeth books – Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan.
There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister’s face before Annah left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the Horde as they swarmed the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters. Now it’s all up to Annah: can she continue to live in a world covered in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return’s destruction?