New YA: August 24-31.
New hardbacks:
Amity, by Micol Ostow:
Micol Ostow’s Amity gave me goosebumps, and I read it on a hot summer day in broad daylight. Which is an EXCELLENT quality in a horror novel, and very much in keeping with the reaction my 12-year-old self had while reading Amity’s most obvious inspiration, Jay Anson’s The Amityville Horror. But while many of the details come from the Anson book—the flies, the Red Room in the basement, the layout of the house and grounds*, the specifics of the paranormal phenomena—as a whole, the book echoes and celebrates a much more legendary source: Stephen King’s The Shining.
Chasing Before (The Memory Chronicles), by Lenore Appelhans
Contaminated 2: Mercy Mode, by Em Garner
Astray (Gated Sequel), by Amy Christine Parker
One Death, Nine Stories, by Marc Aronson and Charles R. Smith Jr.
Play Me Backwards, by Adam Selzer
Taken, by David Massey
Faces of the Dead, by Suzanne Weyn
The Aftermath (An Aftermath Novel), by Jen Alexander
How to Fall: A Novel (Jess Tennant Mysteries), by Jane Casey
If You're Reading This, by Trent Reedy
Don't Let Go (Don't Turn Around), by Michelle Gagnon
Can't Look Away, by Donna Cooner
Six Feet Over It, by Jennifer Longo
Bombay Blues, by Tanuja Desai Hidier
Into the Grey, by Celine Kiernan
Maid of Deception (Maids of Honor), by Jennifer McGowan
The Island of Excess Love (Christy Ottaviano Books), by Francesca Lia Block
The Revenge of Seven (Lorien Legacies), by Pittacus Lore
The Rule of Thoughts (Mortality Doctrine, Book Two) (The Mortality Doctrine), by James Dashner
Rumble, by Ellen Hopkins
Sanctum: An Asylum Novel, by Madeleine Roux
Deliverance (Defiance Trilogy), by C. J. Redwine
Circle of Stones, by Catherine Fisher
Messenger of Fear, by Michael Grant
This is the UK cover, which is approximately one billion times more rad than the US cover.
New paperbacks (that I've read):
The Bitter Kingdom (Girl of Fire and Thorns), by Rae Carson:
If you're a fan of epic fantasy a la Robin McKinley's Damar books and Kristin Cashore's Seven Kingdoms books—stories that have fabulous world-building complete with fully-realized cultures, religious traditions, and political systems; strong heroines who see more than their fair share of combat, are forced to brave the elements and travel long distances over deadly terrain, who have to learn to look past their own insecurities and see themselves as others do: as leaders—then you absolutely should not miss Rae Carson's books.
Untold (The Lynburn Legacy Book 2), by Sarah Rees Brennan:
Kami Glass, the star of Sarah Rees Brennan’s The Lynburn Legacy series, inspires lots of longing looks, but in her case, it’s completely understandable. All of the major male characters love her—some more overtly than others—but the only thing I find surprising about that is that she doesn’t have MORE devotees. She is THAT awesome. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s curious, she’s determined, she’s a girl detective with an insanely steady moral compass, she’s empathetic and stubborn and brave and resourceful and she is the personification of Never Say Die.
All Our Yesterdays, by Cristin Terrill:
On the one hand, Terrill does a great job of writing two versions of the same characters: Future Em and Past Marina, Finn's selves and, to a lesser degree, James' past and future selves are all clearly the same people with the same personalities, but they are vastly different in terms of maturity and perspective. Which is extremely cool.
The Caged Graves, by Dianne K. Salerni:
I love Verity, who is, like many other historical heroines, somewhat modern-minded. She is socially conscious; somewhat combative and argumentative; she’s very sure of herself and her own abilities; doesn’t worry overly much about what others think of her; and declares on more than one occasion, “I never faint!” At the same time, though, she’s very much a product of her time: She wears a corset and is horrified by the idea of human corpses used for medical instruction, and more uncomfortably—for herself as well as the reader—despite all of her silent fuming about the casual, everyday bigotry of the residents of Catawissa, a moment of terror reveals that she has an ingrained streak of racism, too.
Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer, by Katie Alender:
Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer is a hugely entertaining mash-up of genres: chick-lit and ghost story, mean girl drama and romance, travelogue and coming-of-age. It’s light and frothy and fun, it’s full of straight-out-of-a-teen-slasher-movie scenes, but it avoids being forgettable or vapid.
Previously: