YA Buzz

New Book Summaries

Survive by Alex Morel
Releases: August 2, 2012 by Razorbill

Jane runs away from Life House, a facility for kids with mental health disorders and addictions. She boards a plane to Montclair, New Jersey, though her destination does not matter—she doesn’t plan to be alive when the plane lands. Jane has planned the perfect suicide: she’ll fall asleep on the plane and never wake up. As she’s reaching for her pills in the cabin’s bathroom, the plane hits turbulence. Another jolt, and the engine’s down. The plane crashes into the mountains of Montana, and Jane and a boy named Paul are the only two survivors.

What starts out as a death mission quickly becomes a fight for life.

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield
Releases: May 10, 2012 by Razorbill

On the night of Becca’s high school graduation, the discovery of an unidentified dead girl left to bleed out on the side of a dirt road sends the town—and Becca—into a tailspin. Becca has always longed to break free from her small home town, but as the violence of the outside world creeps into her backyard, she withdraws and retreats inward, paralyzed for the first time in her life.

Short chapters detailing the last days of Amelia Anne Richardson’s life are intercut with Becca’s own coming-of-age summer, unfolding into the parallel stories of two young women struggling with self-identity and tense romantic relationships as the summer’s tumultuous events twist Becca closer and closer to the truth about Amelia’s murder.

Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life by Tara Altebrando
Releases: July 5, 2012 by Penguin

Mary Gilhooley lost her spot at Georgetown to self-professed “it” guy, bully, and superjock, Pete Lembo, but she’s not about to lose again. With only a week until graduation—when she and her friends will go their separate ways—there’s one last thing Mary and her friends must do together: participate in the Oyster Point High Official Unofficial Senior Week Scavenger Hunt. And Mary is determined to win. Their all-night adventure is fraught with unforeseen complications, shifting alliances, flared tempers and crushing crushes.

The Vindico by Wesley King
Releases: June 14, 2012 by Putnam

Led by the sinister Baron, the Vindico are a group of super villains who have been fighting against the League of Heroes for as long as they can remember. The Vindico kidnap a group of teenagers and train them to be the next generation. Mysteriously arriving at the Baron’s mansion together, James, Lana, Hayden, Emily and Sam are forced to train with their mentors and given powers beyond their wildest dreams. While struggling to uncover the motives of this evil group, the teens learn to trust each other and even form friendships. They plan to rebel against their mentors as soon as they are deemed ready to fight against the League of Heroes, but then they learn things may not be as cut-and-dry as they seem: both in their new roles and in their outside lives.

The Waiting Sky by Lara Zielin
Releases: August 2, 2012 by Putnam

Seventeen-year-old Jane can’t quite face her mother’s alcoholism even though it sucks to spend all her time and energy keeping them afloat—making sure her mom gets to work, that the bills are paid when there’s money to pay them, and that no one knows her mom is so messed up. But when Jane’s mom drives drunk almost killing both them and Jane’s best friend, Jane can no longer deny her mom is spiraling out of control. Jane has only one place to turn: her older brother Ethan, who left years ago to go to college. A summer away with him and his tornado chasing buddies may just provide the time and space she needs to figure out whether her life still includes her mother.

Dear Blue Sky by Mary Sullivan
Releases: August 2, 2012 by Nancy Paulsen Books

Twelve-year-old Cassie feels like her life is falling apart. Her parents are fighting, her formerly perfect big sister is skipping class, her best friend Sonia won’t speak to her, and her little brother, who has Down syndrome, has stopped speaking altogether. Worst of all, Cassie can’t turn to the one person who usually holds everything together—her beloved big brother, Sef, who’s gone to fight in the Iraq war. In her loneliness Cassie turns to Blue Sky, an Iraqi girl she meets through reading her blog. Blue Sky’s stories about her war-ravaged life reveal a side of the war that Cassie didn’t know existed, and the two girls start a correspondence. While Cassie can’t help Blue Sky or keep Sef safe, she becomes determined to keep her family together.

Small Damages by Beth Kephart
Releases: July 19, 2012 by Philomel

It’s senior year, and while Kenzie should be looking forward to prom and starting college in the fall, she is mourning the loss of her father. She finds solace in the one person she trusts, her boyfriend, and she soon finds herself pregnant. Kenzie’s boyfriend and mother do not understand her determination to keep the baby. She is sent to southern Spain for the summer, where she will live out her pregnancy as a cook’s assistant on a bull ranch, and her baby will be adopted by a Spanish couple.

Alone and resentful in a foreign country, Kenzie is at first sullen and difficult. She begins to open her eyes and her heart to the beauty that is all around her and inside of her.

Beauty by Lisa Daily
Releases: May 10, 2012 by Penguin Young Readers

When we first meet Molly, she is plain, shy, and practically invisible to most of her fellow high school students. Hudson, the boy she cannot help but like, is handsome and popular. One day at a town carnival, Molly stumbles across an eccentric artist who offers to sketch her portrait. Thinking aloud, she wishes she was the most beautiful girl in the world. The following day, Molly gets her wish. All the guys at school are vying for her affection. Best of all, Hudson’s finally noticing her. As Molly’s relationship with Hudson heats up, violence threatens to erupt among the guys of their high school, and the newfound attention threatens to destroy the relationships she values.

Dangerous Boy by Mandy Hubbard
Releases: August 2012 by Razorbill

Harper could care less about being popular—she'd rather have fun. She's definitely not worried about falling in love, something Harper is skeptical even exists. Besides, she's too busy with lab experiments. But everything changes when Logan moves to town. He’s charming, rich, and gorgeous. The two tumble into an intense romance. Then Harper meets Logan’s twin brother Caleb, who is everything Logan is not. He’s creepy, rude and sometimes malicious.

This is a modern, high-school retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Playground by 50 Cent
Releases: January 1, 2012 by Razorbill

This poignant novel from international icon 50 Cent opens with thirteen-year-old Butterball in the office of a therapist named Liz. She is trying to get him to talk about why he assaulted his former best friend on the playground with a sock full of batteries. Butterball doesn’t have much going for him. He’s teased about his weight. He hates the Long Island suburb his mom moved them to, and he wishes he still lived with his dad in the city. Butterball’s dad is meaner to him than he likes to admit, and his mom is constantly working. Now Butterball is stuck in mandatory therapy sessions with Liz, who tries to uncover just what happened that day on the playground.

Zoe Letting Go by Nora Price
Releases: June 2012 by Razorbill

While at a clinic receiving treatment for anorexia, Zoe is instructed to write letters. Through letters, she tells her mother and brother about the clinic; the doctors, the food, her struggle to get better. But she tells her best friend Elise about the strange goings on around her, the shady relationships, the dark mysteries. When the lights go out, the place turns into someplace else.

While her mother and brother write back, their letters filled with cheerful encouragement—Zoe’s letters to Elise remain unanswered. As Zoe struggles to understand why her best friend would cut her off, she must unravel the secrets that surround her in the clinic.

The Girl With Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti
Releases: July 19, 2012 by Penguin

Every aspect of sixteen-year-old Frenenqer Paje’s life is controlled by her father and restricted by the desert, where each day is tediously the same. For as long as Frenenqer can remember, she’s dreamed of having wings to escape. Then a small act of rebellion explodes her world, and she meets Sangris. A boy, but not just a boy—a Free person, a winged person, a shape-shifter. He has everything Frenenqer doesn't—no family, no attachments, no troubles, no nothing. He's free. And he wants Frenenqer. When the delicate balance of their friendship threatens to rupture into something more, Frenenqer must confront her isolation, her father and her very sense of identity.

Cold Fury by T.M. Goeglein
Releases: July 24, 2012 by Putnam Juvenile

Sara Jane Rispoli is just a normal sixteen-year-old girl coping with school and a developing crush— until her parents and younger brother are kidnapped, and she discovers her family has been a key figure of Chicago’s Outfit (aka the mob) for decades. Her father, grandfather and great grandfather all used their special ability, cold fury, to settle disputes between the two mob factions—the muscle and the money. And unless Sara wants the mob to think her now missing family has turned state’s evidence, she will have to fill her father’s shoes as the mob’s peacemaker, using her own cold fury.

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl
Releases: June 2012 by Viking Children's Books

Seventeen-year-old Althea is the sole support of her widowed mother, young half-brother, and two stepsisters—and she must maintain Crawley Hall. Althea, in short, must marry well. But there are few wealthy suitors—or suitors of any kind—in their small Yorkshire town of Lesser Hoo. Then Lord Boring comes to stay with his aunt and uncle. Althea sets her cap to become Lady Boring. There’s only one problem; his friend and business manager Mr. Fredericks keeps getting in the way. And, as it turns out, Fredericks has set his own cap.

New Covers

Fated by Sarah Alderson

*Jan. 12, 2012 by Simon & Schuster*

Touched by Cyn Balog

*Aug. 14, 2012 by Delacorte Press*

Gilt by Katherine Longshore

*May 15, 2012 by Viking Juvenile*

Timepiece by Myra McEntire (Hourglass #2)

*June 12, 2012 by Egmont USA*

Until I Die by Amy Plum (Revenants #2)

*May 3, 2012*

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield

*May 10, 2012 by Penguin*

Shadow Bound by Rachel Vincent (Unbound #2)

*June 1, 2012 by Mira*

Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams

*May 1, 2012 by Simon & Schuster

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

* Jan. 10, 2012 by Dutton*

Never Enough by Denise Jaden

*July 10, 2012 by Simon Pulse*

The Lifeguard by Deborah Blumenthal

*March 1, 2012*

Dark Storm by Sarah Singleton

*March 2012 by Simon & Schuster*

The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes

*May 8, 2012 by Candlewick*

Don't You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire

*July 10, 2012 by Delacorte*

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

*2012 by Dial*

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

*April 24, 2012 by Harper Collins*

Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson

*Feb. 2, 2012 by Penguin*

My Family for the War by Anne G. Voorhoere

*Feb. 16, 2012 by Dial*

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Hardback Version

Paperback Version