Contemporary YA discussion

This thread is for Contemporary YA book news.

Debut author, Chelsea Sedoti, has penned the contemp YA book It's currently schedule to be released on January 3rd, 2017 by Sourcebooks.

Here's the blurb:

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett, is a darkly comedic mystery featuring a teenage girl and the disappearance of a classmate

A teenage misfit named Hawthorn Creely inserts herself in the investigation of missing person Lizzie Lovett, who disappeared mysteriously while camping with her boyfriend. Hawthorn doesn't mean to interfere, but she has a pretty crazy theory about what happened to Lizzie. In order to prove it, she decides to immerse herself in Lizzie's life. That includes taking her job... and her boyfriend. It's a huge risk — but it's just what Hawthorn needs to find her own place in the world.

What do you think? Will you add it to your TBR shelf?

Abby Wambach, the 2015 Women’s World Cup champion and highest international goal scorer of all time, will release her memoir "Forward" on Sept. 13, 2016.

Here's the blurb from Goodreads:
"Abby Wambach has always pushed the limits of what is possible. Named by Time magazine as one of the most influential people of 2015, the iconic soccer player captured the nation’s heart when she led her team to its recent World Cup Championship. Admired for her fearlessness and passion, Abby is a vocal advocate for women’s rights and equal opportunity, pushing to translate the success of her team to the real world. She has become a heavily requested speaker to a wide a range of audiences, from college students to executives at Fortune 500 companies.

In this edition of Forward that’s been adapted for young readers, Abby recounts her own decisions, wins, losses, and the pivotal moments that helped her become the world class athlete and leader she is today. Wambach’s book goes beyond the soccer field to reveal a soulful person grappling with universal questions about how we can live our best lives and become our truest selves. Written with honesty and heart, Forward is an inspiring blueprint for individual growth and a rousing call to action."

Author Emily Barr penned the contemp/mystery & thriller YA novel The One Memory of Flora Banks. It's scheduled to be released in Jan. 2017.

Here's the blurb from GR: "The new YA sensation you won't be able to forget.

THE ONE MEMORY OF FLORA BANKS is an incredible page-turner of a novel, full of twists and turns, against the backdrop of obsessive first love. It will appeal to fans of WE WERE LIARS and readers of all ages who enjoy gripping commercial thrillers like BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP."

What do you think? Will you add it to your TBR shelf?

The Hate U Give by debut author A.C. Thomas is scheduled to be released June 2017 by Balzer + Bray/Harper Collins (after a bidding war between 13 publishing houses.) The novel inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement has a motion picture in development. It's rumored that 'Hunger Games' actress Amandla Stenberg will star in the film.

Here's the blurb from GR: "Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter navigates between the poverty-stricken neighborhood she has grown up in and the upper-crust suburban prep school she attends. Her life is up-ended when she is the sole witness to a police officer shooting her best friend, Khalil, who turns out to have been unarmed during the confrontation – but may or may not have been a drug dealer. As Starr finds herself even more torn between the two vastly different worlds she inhabits, she also has to contend with speaking her truth and, in the process, trying to stay alive herself. "

What do you think? Will you add it to your TBR shelf?

The first book's concept seems a little...idk, weird, for me. I don't think I'll be reading. And the third one. I don't think I can handle another We Were Liars. That was a fantastic book, but I spent the entire book feeling overwhelmed, so, passing that one up. The last one actually caught my attention, so let's see!

Natália wrote: "The first book's concept seems a little...idk, weird, for me. I don't think I'll be reading. And the third one. I don't think I can handle another We Were Liars. That was a fantastic book, but I sp..."

The Hate U Give has a really interesting story behind it. The author wrote it as a short story in college. She won the We Need Diverse Books award and she was afraid to submit the full length novel to a publisher so she reached out to an agent (I think it was an agent) on Twitter. In the end there was a huge bidding war between publishers, including the big 5. Everyone expects the book to be a huge success. We have to wait almost a year....I hope they change the release date.

I'm adding The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett and The Hate U Give to my list.

HMH Books for Young Readers (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) will publish Whitney Taylor’s debut novel Definitions of Indefinable Things for release in spring 2017. It's currently set for April 4 on Goodreads.

Andrea wrote: "Debut author, Chelsea Sedoti, has penned the contemp YA book It's currently schedule to be released on January 3rd, 2017 by Sourcebooks.

Her..."

I was lucky enough to have received an advanced copy of The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett at Book Expo America, and I absolutely adored it. It was my favorite read this year. I can't recommend it enough! I pasted my review below (which is also on Goodreads):

Oh my goodness. I am so in love with this book. I'm so sad for you guys that it won't come out until January of next year. I read the first paragraph 4 times because it was so perfect, once of which was out loud to my husband, who also loved it. The first chapter was one of the best first chapters I've read in a long time.

Hawthorn is this unique, borderline-sociopathic girl who is just so fascinating and somehow likable despite all her flaws. Maybe it's because she says what no one else is brave enough to say, or thinks things that are so absurd they're amazing. The voice in this was absolutely brilliant, maybe one of my favorites of all time. That plus the high-tension stakes of a missing classmate, and this book was pure gold (like the cover!)

I just couldn't get enough of Hawthorn. The way she views the world is so crazy that even though I felt like I knew her, everything she said still made me laugh and caught me off-guard. And everything just works. Her theory about what happened to Lizzie is straight up nuts, but somehow it just makes sense that Hawthorn believes it and totally gets into it. I feel honored to have been allowed a window into Hawthorn's thoughts because there's no one else around like her.

One of my favorite things Hawthorn did was her moderately-hateful wishes she would use to "curse" others when they were mean to her. Her mother told her not to wish for anything she actually didn't want to be come true, so Hawthorn would cleverly concoct small inconveniences, like every time they drink lemonade, it would be just a little too sour. Chelsea came up with so many creative, fun examples of these, and I always looked forward to them.

The ending packs a lot of punch and is very emotional. I did have some questions leftover (more specifically, how certain characters reacted to certain events and why certain characters took certain actions), but it makes sense that the reader doesn't find out. I think the fact that I want to know more shows how invested I became in this book and its characters.

Chelsea was so sweet in person when we met and I totally geeked out when she followed me back on Twitter. She's a superstar. I think this book is going to be huge. This should be at the top of your TBR lists!

Long story short: This book was a fast-paced, enjoyable read (I finished it in 2 days), and I didn't see any of the events coming. I highly recommend it!

Gloria wrote: "Andrea wrote: "Debut author, Chelsea Sedoti, has penned the contemp YA book It's currently schedule to be released on January 3rd, 2017 by Sou..."

Sounds like you had a fabulous experience meeting the author and reading the book. Thank you so much for sharing! I'm sold. I hope it will be available in audio.

And We're Off by Dana Schwartz


No cover yet for this book. Pitched as Adi Alsaid's Let's Get Lost meets Gilmore Girls, the story centers on a teenage girl whose travel plans are upended when her mother decides to join her on her summer trip across Europe. Publication is scheduled for May 2017.


We all know that books blurbs comparisons are often wrong. If the relationship is like the Gilmore Girls I will love it.

This is the blurb from YA Books Central (which is much better than GR's):

Quinn Cutler is sixteen and the daughter of a high-profile Brooklyn politician. She’s also pregnant, a crisis made infinitely more shocking by the fact that she has no memory of ever having sex. Before Quinn can solve this deeply troubling mystery, her story becomes public. Rumors spread, jeopardizing her reputation, her relationship with a boyfriend she adores, and her father’s campaign for Congress. Religious fanatics gather at the Cutlers’ home, believing Quinn is a virgin, pregnant with the next messiah. Quinn’s desperate search for answers uncovers lies and family secrets—strange, possibly supernatural ones. Might she, in fact, be a virgin?

Expected publication: April 4, 2017

I want it now. Sounds goooood. It's on my TBR list. Are you adding it to yours?

Sophia has seven days left in Tokyo before she moves back to the States. Seven days to say good-bye to the electric city, her wild best friend, and the boy she’s harbored a semi-secret crush on for years. Seven perfect days…until Jamie Foster-Collins moves back to Japan and ruins everything.

Jamie and Sophia have a history of heartbreak, and the last thing Sophia wants is for him to steal her leaving thunder with his stupid arriving thunder. Yet as the week counts down, the relationships she thought were stable begin to explode around her. And Jamie is the one who helps her pick up the pieces. Sophia is forced to admit she may have misjudged Jamie, but can their seven short days of Tokyo adventures end in anything but good-bye?

Expected publication: March 7th 2017 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Will you read it?

Thankfully, this doesn't happen that often, author Kirsten Hubbard had a two book deal with a publisher for Cloudforest and Red Rocks. They were to be released in 2016 and 2017. Unfortunately, the publisher closed it doors and the books are looking for a new home.

Cloudforest, is a speculative thriller in which a teen overcoming a traumatic incident joins her mother at a healing center in a Latin American forest, only to discover a dangerous ability that will transform her life whether she wants it to or not.

She has a new deal for another book: Kirsten Hubbard & Michelle Schusterman (writing as Kir Fox and M. Shelley Coats) have a two book deal for a middle grade book with Disney Hyperion. The book is currently scheduled to be released fall of 2017.

There's lot's of news about author Paula Stokes.
Her book Girl Against the Universe was released in May and Vicarious was released in August.

Her Contemp YA novel, previous scheduled to be released, Jack of Hearts, has been put on hold until 2019.

She has two books scheduled to be published in 2017. This one is NA The Key to Everything

This one is YA This is How it Happened.

I have one of her books on my TBR list, but I will be adding more.

Which books by Paula Stokes have you Read? Which ones are you looking forward to?

Looking for a good lesser known contemporary YA book?


Alchemy's Daughter won this year's Eric Hoffer Book Award (YA Category.)

"Eric Hoffer Award honors the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer by highlighting salient writing, as well as the independent spirit of small publishers. Since its inception, the Hoffer has become one of the largest international book awards for small, academic, and independent presses."


Diego's Crossing was the 1st runner up.

Honorable Mentions:

* Epic of Ahiram by Michael Joseph Murano
* Jacqueline by Jackie Minniti
* Magic Teacher's Son by David Harten Watson
* The Essence by Vel Grande
* The Sower Comes by Melissa Eskue Ousley
* When the Music Stops - Dance On by Paddy Eger

Jennifer L. Armentrout has another contemporary YA book coming out next year. There's no cover and no description yet, but here is what she has said about the book.

"The Possibility of Tomorrow (coming out in 2017) is actually about someone losing their eyesight, which does come from personal experience as the character has the same eye disease as me," Jennifer L. Armentrout

I'm super excited about this one so I'm crossing my fingers that it will be available in audio and that it will live up to my expectations. It's part contemporary, historical fiction and mystery/thriller.



Some bodies won’t stay buried.
Some stories need to be told.

When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past... and the present.

Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what's right the night Tulsa burns.

Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham’s lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important question about the complex state of US race relations – both yesterday and today.

Expected publication: February 21st 2017 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Are you adding it to you TBR list?

Author Anna Jarzab, best known for her Many Worlds series , has a two book deal with Harlequin Teen. The first book Red Dirt is about "A proud country girl from small-town Oklahoma trying to hold her life together while trying to find her ex-con father, who has gone missing."

It's currently set to release in Sept. 2017.

I think it sounds intriguing and original. What do you think?

Wow they all sound good! The Paula Stokes post has a typo. It says a book will come out in 2071- lol. Easy to make that typo.

I'm going to look into several of these. It was so much harder finding good books before I joined Goodreads now it's so easy.

Andrea wrote: "I'm super excited about this one so I'm crossing my fingers that it will be available in audio and that it will live up to my expectations. It's part contemporary, historical fiction and mystery/th..."

This one is definitely a must read! I'm intrigued and can't wait for the release!

Molly wrote: "Wow they all sound good! The Paula Stokes post has a typo. It says a book will come out in 2071- lol. Easy to make that typo.

I'm going to look into several of these. It was so much harder finding..."

Thanks.

Fat Girl on a Plane Expected publication: January 2nd 2018 by Harlequin Teen

Big dreams come in all sizes, and Cookie Vonn isn't about to give up hers.

High school senior Cookie Vonn's postgraduation dreams include getting out of Phoenix, attending Parsons School of Design and becoming the next great fashion designer. But in the world of fashion, being fat is a cardinal sin—and Cookie weighs in at over three hundred pounds. It doesn't help that she's constantly compared to her supermodel mother—and named after a dessert.

Thanks to her work for a Scottsdale fashion blog, Cookie scores a trip to New York to meet her design idols—where she hopes to personally pitch her plus-size portfolio and appeal for a scholarship to Parsons. Her plans are put on standby when she's declared too fat too fly. Forced to turn to her BFF, Tommy, for cash, Cookie buys a second seat on the plane only to arrive in the city to find the blog is under new ownership. Cookie has been replaced by the boss's daughter, a girl who's everything she's not—ultrathin and superrich. Hurt and humiliated, she vows to lose weight, get out of the friend zone with Tommy and put her life on track.

Fast-forward two years. Cookie has dropped the weight—and won the attention of designer of the moment Gareth Miller. He offers her what she's always wanted—an opportunity to live and study in New York. Cookie expected nothing but sunshine and rainbows. But not only is she stuck with the same old problems, she has a big choice to make: achieve her old dreams…or dream new ones.