New YA: January 3.

Hardbacks out today:

Under the Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi:

Although it's pure sci-fi—no magic at all, though some of the Outsiders have mutations that resemble magical gifts—I'll very definitely be talking it up to fans of Graceling and other action-packed fantasy-romance journey stories.

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer:

I really liked Cinder herself, and the romance is enjoyable, but the real standouts, I felt, were the side characters: Iko, Cinder's android; Torin, Kai's advisor; and Levana, the Moon Queen who is MADE OF PURE SLINKY EVIL.

Unraveling Isobel, by Eileen Cook:

Isobel is crabby, imperfect, and occasionally hilarious; she refuses to be pushed around, has believable trains of thought re: haunted vs. crazy, and is taken to saying things like, "When you're seventeen and the only friend you have in town is a stuffed animal that doesn't even belong to you, I think it's safe to say your life is officially in the shitter." 

Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse, by Lucas Klauss:

If you're looking for a male-narrated contemporary novel in the vein of John Green or Sara Zarr—read: thoughtful, searching, realistic, honest, and offering up no easy answers—then I'd suggest giving this one a spin.

Bittersweet, by Sarah Ockler:

There's a LOT going on in this book. It doesn't feel like too much, though. The four main threads—family/responsibility, friendship, future/dreams, and romance—are all balanced. Each major thread even has a minor thread that parallels it—if Hudson's voice had been less believable, I'd have had a hard time seeing all of those coincidences as anything other than a literary device. As it was, I was able to take them at face value: as stuff that just happens.

Black Boy White School, by Brian F. Walker:

Feels genuine and realistic—not entirely surprising, as the author grew up in East Cleveland and was sent to a prep school at age fourteen—and Ant's internal reactions to the less-obvious instances of racism (sometimes by completely well-meaning people) do a great job of showing exactly why Ant gets so frustrated, but without ever feeling preachy. 

Cracked, by K.M. Walton:

The two sets of adults in their lives are awful—so awful that 50 pages in, I was following Josh around the house, shaking the book at him and zombie moaning "I'm sooooooooooooooooo depresssssssssssed"—and Walton does a great job of showing that people can be absolutely hideous parents without ever laying a finger on their children.

Alchemy of Forever, by Avery Williams:

While the love story with Noah is nice enough, it's the other stuff—dealing with high school, being answerable to loving parents, seeing the consequences of her actions (rather than just moving on*), and finding that she has both more freedom (because of escaping Cyrus) and less freedom (she's underage) than she's used to—that's closer to the heart of her journey.

Alienation, by Jon Lewis.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Pretty Little Secrets, by Sara Shepard.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Bloodrose, by Andrea Cremer.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

The International Kissing Club, by Ivy Adams.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Paperbacks out today:

Blood Red Road, by Moira Young (EEEEEeeeeeee!!!):

Back in August, I promised (publicly) that I’d make more of an effort to talk up fantastic books that aren’t getting the sort of attention that they deserve. So here I am, making good on that promise to myself—and to you and to the book. I wrote about Blood Red Road just after finishing it, but as I was still in the Inarticulate Raptures State*, I didn’t do it justice. And I really, really, really don’t want it to get lost in the seemingly endless sea of post-apocalyptic YA novels.

Wolfsbane, by Andrea Cremer.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Winter's Kiss: The Ex Games/ The Twelve Dates of Christmas, by Jennifer Echols and Catherine Hapka.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Switched, by Amanda Hocking.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Memory Boy, by Will Weaver.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Haven, by Kristi Cook.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Dreaming Awake, by Gwen Hayes.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Crescendo, by Becca Fitzpatrick.
Amazon | Indiebound. 

Charmfall: Dark Elite, #3, by Chloe Neill.
Amazon | Indiebound.