New YA: January 11-17.
New hardbacks:
When, by Victoria Laurie:
If you’re willing to overlook a few problematic aspects—which, never fear, I’ll get to in a moment—it’s an entertaining page-turner, suspenseful and morally complex. Maddie’s habit of giving out the deathdate of each character she introduces drives home the unsettling nature of her ability:
From the seat in front of me, Eric Anderson (7-25-2017) said, “Yo, Murdering Maddie, what’d you do?”
I felt my mouth go dry. What had I done?
“Mr. Anderson. Another word from you, and you’ll join us,” warned Harris.
Eric turned away and snickered along with his best friend, Mario Rossi (7-25-2017).
The Conspiracy of Us, by Maggie Hall
Looking For Alaska Special 10th Anniversary Edition, by John Green:
It's a fantastic book—the characters are complex and can be confusing, but it just makes them seem more real. There's a little bit of everything in it—drinking, smoking, sex, comedy, tragedy. Miles is the one telling the story, so we're only getting his understanding of the events as they unfold. There's quite a bit of room for interpretation.
The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black
Killing Time in Crystal City, by Chris Lynch
Perfect Couple (The Superlatives), by Jennifer Echols
Passenger on the Pearl: The True Story of Emily Edmonson's Flight from Slavery, by Winifred Conkling
Unmade, by Amy Rose Capetta
Blackout (Annum Guard), by Meredith McCardle
New paperbacks:
Inexcusable: 10th Anniversary Edition, by Chris Lynch:
He's unreliable at best--closer to deluded, really--but I thought the scariest thing about him was that he would have occasional moments of clarity. For split-seconds, he would drop the illusions and the rationalizations and the technicalities of responsibility that he so totally depended on to keep his ideal vision of himself intact, and he would know. For a brief moment, he would see his actions for what they were. Under his layers and layers and layers of protestations, he knew.
Going Rogue: An Also Known As novel, by Robin Benway
Going Rogue has exactly the same weakness as Also Known As—actually, the storyline is even more inane this time around—but fans of the first one won’t be coming back for the plotting. They’ll be coming back because of the many strengths of the first book: the banter, the humor, the heart. Maggie, unlike so many other teen spies/detectives/vampire hunters/world-savers, has a GREAT relationship with her parents—the interactions between the three of them are easily the funniest in the book—and not only do they know about her activities, they condone them…because they’re spies, too.
Previously: