Young Adult Books

IMPOSTERVariants #1Susanne WinnackerParanormal Young Adult274 pagesAvailable NowSource: Finished copy from Media Masters Publicity/RazorbillTHE STORY (from Goodreads)Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI. When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again.Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep. Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.MY THOUGHTSImposter is a deeply satisfying start to a new series, balancing romance and mystery perfectly so that we get just enough of each to keep our nerves on edge and our emotions in flux. Many times with murder mysteries there is a blatantly obvious suspect from the beginning, a glaring red herring that we know cannot possibly be the true culprit just from the sheer number of signs that point to them. Our focus then shifts to the person least suspicious, and the game of whodunit becomes less of a challenge. With Imposter, Ms. Winnacker gives us a decent sized pool of possible killers, but instead of any one of them standing out as a red herring or a sleeper suspect, everyone on Tessa’s list is a genuine possibility, and while the identity of the killer at the end is not a jaw-dropping surprise, our keen detective’s eye does spend majority of the story bouncing around from one potential threat to the next.Tessa possess a very unique and dangerous gift in the context of politics, terrorism and espionage, able to shift her appearance to take on that of anyone with whom she’s physically come in contact. She’s both strong and vulnerable, her training with the FEA preparing her in self-defense, crime scene investigation and various other related areas for a future agent, but her job impersonating Madison is her very first in the field, and we get a front row seat to see just how very different training is from a real mission. Her gift, as she finds out, is not as flawless and reliable as everyone thinks it is, and her time with Madison’s loving family is a stark and painful reminder of the absence of her own family, causing our hearts to hurt for her as the type of life she wants most is handed to her on a silver platter of deceit.The romance with Alec is a highlight, no insta-love or threat of a romantic third party in sight, just the relationship between two people who have been friends for years but who clearly want to be so much more. Their every interaction is ripe with tension, a delicious sense of anticipation thrumming between them whenever they come in contact, but Alec remains hesitant and repeatedly tries to deny any attraction, citing the difference in their ages as well as the fact that he has a girlfriend who works with both of them at the FEA. While at first the idea that Alec could play with Tessa’s heart when he’s with someone else puts us off, it’s made very clear to us that there is something more to his relationship with Kate than meets the eye, the suddenness of their couple status despite his obvious feelings for Tessa raising many a red flag we can’t wait to see explored in future books.Overall, Imposter is a book that gives us a complete story in this first installment, but the revelations surrounding Madison’s killer provide this series with legs to stand on, a much larger enemy sliding into place and a new group of FEA recruits that have the potential to wreak havoc on the suddenly fragile bond between Alec and Tessa entering the picture. Those who might

Hello everyone! I am very excited to share with you all the cover of Blood Entangled by Amber Belldene! About The Book: Author: Amber Belldene Title: Blood Entangled Expected publication: July 23rd 2013 by Omnific Publishing Series: Blood Vine #2 KOS MARAS’s orderly life is in shambles—he must distribute Blood Vine to a population of ailing vampires, but Hunters block him at every turn. To make matters worse, each night he watches over a temptingly beautiful woman sleeping in his bed. He is convinced love cannot last a vampire-long lifetime and an entanglement will only cause them grief, but he doesn’t have the heart to send her away.From a long line of blood servants, LENA ISAAKSON is destined to serve a vampire, but a string of humiliating rejections thwarts her pleasure. When Kos shows her kindness, she hopes he will claim her. Instead he proves himself a coward in the face of love and sends her to serve another.Will the dark seduction of a rakish new vampire finally bring Lena the pleasure she desires or deliver her into the hands of Hunters who want to destroy everything the Maras family has worked for? Find Blood Entangled Online: Goodreads | Amazon About The Author: Amber Belldene grew up on the Florida panhandle, swimming with alligators, climbing oak trees and diving for scallops…when she could pull herself away from a book. As a child, she hid her Nancy Drew novels inside the church bulletin and read mysteries during sermons—an irony that is not lost on her when she preaches these days.Amber is an Episcopal Priest and student of religion. She believes stories are the best way to explore human truths. Some people think it is strange for a minister to write romance, but it is perfectly natural to her, because the human desire for love is at the heart of every romance novel and God made people with that desire. She lives with her husband and two children in San Francisco. Find Amber Belldene on the Web: Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter Happy Reading!

Love is so short, forgetting is so long. Attribution Pablo Neruda

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, and specifically spotlights upcoming novels we can't wait to read. As always, there are some amazing upcoming books, but this week I'm particularly excited for... Title: Loud Awake and Lost Author: Adele Griffin (Twitter) Publisher: Knopf BYR Publish Date: November 12, 2013 Genre: YA, Thriller Pages: 304 LOUD. There was an accident. Ember knows at least that much. She was driving. The car was totaled. She suffered back injuries and brain trauma. But she is alive. That's the only thing left she can cling to. AWAKE. Eight months later, Ember feels broken. The pieces of her former self no longer fit together. She can't even remember the six weeks of her life leading up to the accident. Where was she going? Who was she with? And what happened during those six weeks that her friends and family won't talk about? LOST. One by one, Ember discovers the answers to these questions, like a twisted game of dominos. And little by little, the person she used to be slips further and further away. There's a little something wrong with me. Of this, I am certain. I'm terrified of horror films and books, but I always have to watch them. Psychological thrillers creep me out for weeks, but I can't help but always, always experience them. It's a dirty, twisted little habit. I digress. The point is, I absolutely love Adele's writing, and I think that Loud Awake and Lost sounds like one heck of a dark journey with a super-appealing premise. So, naturally I'm sold. Also, in related news, I'll probably never sleep again. What do you think, and what are you waiting on this week?

About The Author: Ruth Silver is the best-selling author of Aberrant. The Young Adult/New Adult Romantic Dystopian Adventure, Aberrant is the first in a trilogy, released April 17th, 2013. Silver first began writing poetry as a teenager and reading heaps of fan fiction in her free time. She attended Northern Illinois University in 2001 and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communication. While in college she spent much of her free time writing with friends she met online and penning her first novel, Deuces are Wild, which she self-published in 2004. Her favorite class was Creative Writing senior year where she often handed in assignments longer than the professor required because she loved to write and always wanted to finish her stories. Her love of writing, led her on an adventure in 2007 to Melbourne, Australia. Silver enjoys reading YA/NA novels and sharing her favorite books with other readers. She also enjoys photography, traveling and of most of all writing. Find Ruth Silver on the Web: Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter Interview: What was the hardest part of writing Aberrant? The hardest part was writing the characters suffering. I know that they will get through the pain - physical or emotional - and it will make them stronger, but it's still hard to torture your favorite character. Who was your favorite character to write in Aberrant? I had the most fun with writing Olivia. She's full of so many mixed emotions and traits that we're always learning something about who she is. She's not complacent. She has a mind of her own and likes to explore the world around her. She's curious by nature and it has the tendency to get her into trouble. She's complex, which makes her three-dimensional, but also incredibly caring and supportive of those she loves. Why did you decide on making Aberrant into a series? I felt like I had a huge story to tell. Something that would span across hundreds of thousands of words. That may not seem like a lot but when sending your novel to agents and publishers, there's a certain word count they're looking for in new authors and in young adult/new adult titles. The only way to properly tell the story, was to turn it into a trilogy. Do you have the second and third book planned already? Without getting into any specifics, yes! The next book, Moirai, will be available sometime in 2014. The first draft was finished last December but with the edits and some significant changes in Aberrant, I need to make the story flow a little smoother. Can you tell us about one of these changes in Aberrant? What was added to the story? Down to the final edits, I was adding details and shaping each character just a little bit more. I wanted the world that they're in and the cities to feel real. I wanted you to experience it, just as Olivia has for the first time. The very end of the Aberrant, I added a glimpse at what we can expect in the second novel. That was one of the final edits that was added, among many others. About The Book: Aberrant by Ruth SilverPublication date: April 28th 2013 (paperback)Genre: YA Dystopian In the future Dystopian society of Cabal, the government instills equality for all and offers its citizens the perfect system. There is food, shelter and jobs for everyone. The one requirement is to follow the rules without question, including the government's match in marriage and "The Day of the Chosen", a lottery that randomly selects families to conceive children as natural means hasn't existed in generations. Following her eighteenth birthday, Olivia Parker accepts her requirement to marry her childhood best friend, Joshua Warren, and is eager to start her work assignment and new life when it all comes abruptly to an end as she's arrested and thrown in prison. The only crime committed, her existence. Olivia

cover image courtesy www.jeanienefrost.comWhat Halfway To the Grave is about:Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father?the one responsible for ruining her mother's life. Then she's captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unlikely partnership. In exchange for help finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalkerI'm so glad that I finally started this series, because I was glued to my headphones and seriously did not want the story to end! I loved Cat and Bones, most especially their chemistry and instant attraction to each other. The miles flew by while I listened to this audio production on my workouts. In fact, I often walked an extra mile just because I wasn't ready to quit listening. The narrator knocked this one out of the park..loved her voices, male and female. Halfway to the Grave has it all.......awesome action, steamy sex, and vampires that are NOT campy or sparkly!!Big shout out to my girl, Sheree, who raved about this series and BONES way back in 2009. Sorry that it took me so long to finally join the club!! Do yourself a favor and click on the link to read Sheree's fantastic review of this book!!!Recommend? If you like vampires and the paranormal romance then yes, give this one a shot!Source: Audible.com Narrator: Tavia GilbertLength: 10 hours 30 minutesSix Sentence Bookish Thoughts #108© 2013, Staci of Life in the Thumb. All Rights Reserved. If you reading this on a site other than, Life in the Thumb or Staci's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Make a List By Kara Leigh Miller      I'm a habitual list maker. For as long as I can remember, I've always relied on a list to help me remember things or to help me make a difficult decision. My favorite types of lists are to-do lists, shopping lists, and pros & cons lists. It's this last one that I'm going to talk about today.      As a teenager, I went through the typical teenage

The Paradox of Vertical Flight Tue, 2013-06-18 Sat, 2013-06-29 - Thu, 2013-08-29 He Said/She Said: THE PARADOX OF VERTICAL FLIGHT by Emil Ostrovski http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BD2S83F Participate in Our He Said/She Said Feature for THE PARADOX OF VERTICAL FLIGHT! Vote whether you think it looks like a boy book, a girl book or based on its cover. Tune in next week to see the results! ShareThis Image Size Standard (157px wide) Don't display book covers Do not show publication date Our He Said, She Said feature aims to discuss whether a book appeals to boys, girls or both! The first part of this feature asks YOU whether you think TANDEM is a boy book, girl book or both based on the book's cover. read more

Book Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong Contributors John Hogan Reviewer (text) John Hogan Charles and Nate are high school best friends, even though they couldn’t be more different. Charles is a basketball star, and Nate is a science nerd who likes to build robots. But they’ve been friends for years, and nothing’s going to tear them apart…except possibly the head cheerleader, Holly, who wants to kill them both. Teaser Charles and Nate are high school best friends, even though they couldn’t be more different. Charles is a basketball star, and Nate is a science nerd who likes to build robots. But they’ve been friends for years, and nothing’s going to tear them apart…except possibly the head cheerleader, Holly, who wants to kill them both. Promo Charles and Nate are high school best friends, even though they couldn’t be more different. Charles is a basketball star, and Nate is a science nerd who likes to build robots. But they’ve been friends for years, and nothing’s going to tear them apart…except possibly the head cheerleader, Holly, who wants to kill them both. read more

Book Expo America was a bit of a whirlwind this year. Barely four days including travel, burning the candle at both ends as usual. Such is the life of a BEA-goer right? Prior to my leaving Alex London, author of Proxy, described BEA best: "You go there for one panel, 6 weeks & 473 tote bags later, you emerge and still haven't found a way to get a cup of coffee." Yep, that's pretty accurate. I retrieved one woefully under-caffeinated boy blogger AKA Wes after two hours of driving and a lot of traffic. We arrived in NYC around 1 p.m., parked the car with relative ease, and checked into the hotel before immediately heading out to Rockefeller Center to meet up with Emily at a lunch get together where I also got to see Katie from Katie's Book Blog, Bailey from IB Book Blogging and Lauren from 365 Days of Reading. Afterwards Katie, Emily, Wes and I hopped the subway to Penn Station and made the walk to the Javits Center to get our badges in preparation for the opening of exhibits the following morning. We found Yara at the hotel and spent some time catching up before getting ready for the Harper Collins Blogger Party. Me and Jessica. This was the point at which we learned the only pants Wes had packed were khaki shorts and suit pants. Waaaah waaaaah! So naturally Yara offered him her sparkly pants. Very New York. Sadly, Wes turned them down. Overwhelming doesn't even begin to cover the Harper shindig. It was packed to the brim and you could barely hear your own conversation at times, but we had a blast. I got to chat with number of authors, some I was already familiar with and others who I was meeting for the first time. Thursday morning we began a marathon day. Harlequin breakfast with Julie Kagawa, Amanda Sun, Katie McGarry, and Elizabeth Scott. While waiting for things to kick off I got to chat with Katie from Mundie Moms and D.J. from D.J.'s Life in Fiction. Jessica also arrived and we breezed past each other several times before actually getting to hang out in a signing line. Katie (Mundie Moms) and Emily (Emily's Reading Room) Exhibits consumed most of the day. Booths, autographing lines, non-stop back and forth across the massive Javits Center. There were plenty of highlights though, including getting Bob Shea's latest picture book Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great. Macmillan's Blogger Happy Hour came next, and along with great bookish conversation, the Macmillan team gave us an early manuscript of The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski. A short subway ride to the Lower East Side and we found ourselves in front of this building... You'd be right if you're thinking that's the gorgeous building where Simon & Schuster hosted its City of Bones party. We waited outside for a long time, baking on the street, which prompted a little bit of silliness. That led to this supremely embarrassing yet awesome photo of Emily and me. I do not think we could recreate these faces if we tried. Emily and me. The building was pretty fantastic from the outside, but inside was beyond amazing. Pretty swanky, eh? Gorgeous does not begin to describe it. To add to the atmosphere, there were tarot card readings and rune airbrushing. By the end of the night the place was packed with all manner of bookish people - bloggers, authors and publishing industry representatives. We also got to see a clip of the movie and, wow, is it going to be good. Friday we got up and did it all again, minus the parties. While waiting in line to see Jeff Hirsch and get his latest book The Darkest Path, I meet Cait from Escaping Through the Pages and we wound up in many lines together. I only wish we'd gotten a photo. I also wound up running into Vania, photographer to the stars, and Sabrina of YA Bliss while trolling the exhibit hall. Emily, Sabrina and I caught up in the signing line for Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave, which was super duper long. Sabrina, Emily, and me. Then Wes, Vania, and I f