Wednesday, July 31, 2013

UKYA in August

I know that I say this absolutely every single month, but I feel like this month it is even more appropriate... where on earth has this year gone? It feels like this year is flying by at a very uncomfortable rate.  The only good thing that I can about this is that least another month is here which means more amazing UKYA hitting the shelves!

And man, is August an exciting month for UKYA?! I am incredibly fortunate that I will be taking part in three blog tours this month - Cruel Summer by James Dawson, Lockwood and Co by Jonathan Stroud and Night School: Fracture by CJ Daugherty, all of which I'm sure will be absolutely incredible.  I also have many of the other books from this list on my TBR shelves/Kindle eagerly awaiting ... including The Weight of Souls, Rolling Dice, Cross My Heart, Winter Damage and Ghost Hawk.  If any of you lucky souls already have a copy of The Sound, do look out for my quote! I'm very proud of that.

These are the UKYA books which I've come across which are being published this month. I'm sure I haven't managed to list them all. If you know of any that I have overlooked, please do let me know. After you've gone through them, please leave a comment telling me which books you're most looking forward to! :)



The Weight of Souls by Byrony Pearce (1st August, Strange Chemistry)

Sixteen year old Taylor Oh is cursed: if she is touched by the ghost of a murder victim then they pass a mark beneath her skin. She has three weeks to find their murderer and pass the mark to them – letting justice take place and sending them into the Darkness. And if she doesn’t make it in time? The Darkness will come for her…

She spends her life trying to avoid ghosts, make it through school where she’s bullied by popular Justin and his cronies, keep her one remaining friend, and persuade her father that this is real and that she’s not going crazy.

But then Justin is murdered and everything gets a whole lot worse. Justin doesn’t know who killed him, so there’s no obvious person for Taylor to go after. The clues she has lead her to the V Club, a vicious secret society at her school where no one is allowed to leave… and where Justin was dared to do the stunt which led to his death.

Can she find out who was responsible for his murder before the Darkness comes for her? Can she put aside her hatred for her former bully to truly help him?

And what happens if she starts to fall for him?



Cross My Heart by Carmen Reid (1st August, Random House)

Brussels, 1940. Fifteen-year-old Nicole watches as the Nazis invade Belgium. Determined not to stand by as her country is brought to its knees, Nicole vows to fight back and joins the Belgian Resistance. Under her new alias - Coco - Nicole embarks on a dangerous new life as a spy, where the only question is not if you'll be caught, but when...


Rolling Dice by Beth Reekles (29th August, Random House)

The second cool, sexy YA romance novel from seventeen-year-old Wattpad sensation and author of The Kissing Booth, Beth Reekles.

They say that the higher you climb, the harder you fall - and Madison Clarke will do anything to keep her new life from crumbling to pieces. Moving from a small town in Maine to Florida, Madison grasps the opportunity to reinvent herself, to forget about those days of being a lonely, loser outcast, and jumps at the chance when the popular kids decide to take her under their wing. A hot boyfriend, parties, friends... If only there wasn't the slight problem by the name of Dwight, a cute, funny and totally nerdy guy in Madison's physics class who she can't help but enjoy spending time with. Running from her past and stumbling through the present, who knows what lies ahead in this new life in Florida?



The Glass Republic by Tom Pollock (1st August, Jo Fletcher Books)

Pen’s life is all about secrets: the secret of the city’s spirits, deities and monsters her best friend Beth discovered, living just beyond the notice of modern Londoners; the secret of how she got the intricate scars that disfigure her so cruelly – and the most closely guarded secret of all: Parva, her mirror-sister, forged from her reflections in a school bathroom mirror. Pen’s reflected twin is the only girl who really understands her.

Then Parva is abducted and Pen makes a terrible bargain for the means to track her down. In London-Under-Glass looks are currency, and Pen’s scars make her a rare and valuable commodity. But some in the reflected city will do anything to keep Pen from the secret of what happened to the sister who shared her face



Control by Kim Curran (1st August, Strange Chemistry)

Scott Tyler is not like other teenagers. With a single thought he can alter reality around him. And he can stop anyone else from doing the same.

That's why he's so important to ARES, the secret government agency that regulates other kids like him: Shifters.

They've sent him on a mission. To track down the enigmatic Frank Anderson. An ex-Shifter who runs a project for unusual kids - as if the ability to change your every decision wasn't unusual enough. But Anderson and the kids have a dark secret. One that Scott is determined to discover.

As his obsession with discovering the truth takes him further away from anyone he cares about, his grip on reality starts to weaken. Scott realises if he can't control his choices, they'll control him.



Love in Revolution by BR Collins (1st August, Bloomsbury)

Esteya is fifteen. As war rumbles closer, Esteya's brother - an important figure in the Revolutionary Communist Party - is able to protect their family from the worst of the privations of war. Then Esteya meets an extraordinary girl, Skizi, an outcast, shunned by all. But Esteya and Skizi are drawn to each other. Slowly and wonderfully love blossoms ... And then Esteya's family are betrayed and forcibly taken away. Skizi disappears. Esteya is left deserted, heartbroken and in terrible danger. But she must find a way to escape - and to find Skizi.


Cruel Summer by James Dawson (1st August, Indigo)

A year after Janey’s suicide, her friends reunite at a remote Spanish villa, desperate to put the past behind them. However, an unwelcome guest arrives claiming to have evidence that Jane was murdered. When she is found floating in the pool, it becomes clear one of them is a killer. Only one thing is for certain, surviving this holiday is going to be murder…

A compelling and psychological thriller - with a dash of romance.



Earth Star by Janet Edwards (15th August, Harper Voyager)

Sequel to Earth Girl.

18-year-old Jarra has a lot to prove. After being awarded one of the military’s highest honours for her role in a daring rescue attempt, Jarra finds herself – and her Ape status – in the spotlight. Jarra is one of the unlucky few born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Derided as an ‘ape’ – a ‘throwback’ – by the rest of the universe, Jarra is on a mission to prove that Earth Girls are just as good as anyone else.

Except now the planet she loves is under threat by what could be humanity’s first ever alien contact. Jarra’s bravery – and specialist knowledge – will once again be at the centre of the maelstrom, but will the rest of the universe consider Earth worth fighting for?



Lockwood and Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud (29th August, Random House)

A Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, and spirits are appearing throughout the city, and they aren't exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see - and, hopefully, eradicate - the supernatural enemies. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.

In THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE, the plucky and talented Lucy teams up with Anthony, the leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their wise-cracking colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of one of the most haunted houses in England: Combe Carey Hall. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall's legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day? How did the Problem originate, and how can it be solved?



Winter Damage by Natasha Carthew (1st August, Bloomsbury)

On a frozen Cornish moor, a fifteen-year-old girl lives in a trailer with her dad and little brother. Ennor's mother left years ago, when things started to go wrong - and gradually their world has fallen apart. Now her father's gravely ill, school has closed, and Ennor knows they're going to take her brother away if things don't pick up soon. So three days before Christmas, when the wind is cold and her dad's health takes a turn for the worse, Ennor packs a blanket, a map, a saucepan and a gun into her rucksack, and sets off to find her mum and bring her home. Ennor thinks she knows where she's going. But this journey will change her life for ever - it becomes a battle for survival, a heartbreaking story of love and friendship, and a fable about not finding what you were looking for, but finding something more important instead . . .


Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper (29th August, Random House)

In the winter of his eleventh year, Little Hawk goes deep into the forest, where he must endure a three-month test of solitude and survival which will turn him into a man.


But outside the woods, the world is changing. English settlers are landing on the shores of the New World, and tensions between native tribes and the invaders are rising.


Little Hawk's fate becomes irreversibly entwined with that of John, a young English boy who dares to question intolerance. He is witness to a secret murder - will he now be witness to bloodshed between nations?


Night School: Fracture by CJ Daugherty (15th August, Atom)

Devastated by the loss of her friend and under constant threat from an unknown spy at Cimmeria Academy, Allie Sheridan is finding it hard to cope.

In Fracture, the third book in the Night School series, she’s not the only one losing it – everything is falling apart. And when Nathaniel begins to reveal his game plan, Isabelle starts to lose control.

As the school slides into a deadly morass of paranoia and suspicion, everyone is guilty until proved innocent. Anyone can be held without proof, and convicted without a trial. No one is safe.

This time Nathaniel doesn’t need to hurt them. This time they’re hurting themselves.



The Sound by Sarah Alderson (1st August, Simon and Schuster)

When aspiring music journalist Ren Kingston takes a job nannying for a wealthy family on the exclusive island of Nantucket, playground for Boston's elite, she's hoping for a low-key summer reading books and blogging about bands. Boys are firmly off the agenda.

What she doesn't count on is falling in with a bunch of party-loving private school kids who are hiding some dark secrets, falling (possibly) in love with the local bad boy, and falling out with a dangerous serial killer...

The gripping new stand-alone novel from the author of Hunting Lila.



Linked by Imogen Howson (1st August, Quercus)

The Bourne Identity meets Inception in this futuristic YA thriller.

For years, Elissa has suffered nightmarish visions and unexplained bruises. Finally, she's promised a cure, and an operation is scheduled. But on the eve of the procedure, Elissa discovers the truth: she's seeing the world through another girl's eyes. A world filled with wires, machines and pain. Elissa follows her visions, only to find a battered, broken girl. A girl who looks exactly like her. A twin she never knew existed. Elissa and her twin Lin go on the run, but even after changing their looks and clothes, they're barely a step ahead of the government agents who are ruthlessly tracking them down. For Lin and Elissa are too valuable to let go, and the dark truth at the heart of it all is too shocking to risk exposing...



Soul Storm by Kate Harrison (1st August, Indigo)

Someone is stalking Alice Forster. She's sure it's her sister's murderer, but her parents think she's cracking under the stress of Meggie's death. Only in the virtual world of Soul Beach - an online paradise for the young, the beautiful and the dead - can Alice feel truly free. But there's trouble in paradise . . .

Clouds are gathering.

A storm is brewing.

The killer is about to strike.


The final gripping thriller in this paranormal romance trilogy.



Which of these UKYA books are you most looking forward to reading in August?

10 comments:

  1. What a great bunch of books coming out! I'm about to start The Weight of Souls which I'm really looking forward to :)

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  2. I'm reading Cruel Summer at the moment! Also really excited for The Sound and Linked, but there are some other great titles here :-)

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    1. There ARE some great titles there. How're you liking Cruel Summer?

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  3. So many great books are coming out! The Weight of Souls sounds really interesting and I have the first two books before Soul Storm so I need to read those soon. I can't wait for The Elites! UKYA is great :D Thanks for sharing.

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    1. You're welcome, Zoe! I haven't started the Kate Harrison books either, I was thinking of taking them out from the library soon..

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  4. So many fab UKYA books this month! I have quite A few of them on my shelves it the ones I'm most excited about are probably The Sound, Cruel Summer & Lovkwood & Co :-)

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  5. I thoroughly enjoyed The Sound and I really want to get my hands on Cruel Summer.

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    1. I reeeeally want to see my quote on The Sound. I've looked a couple times now but haven't yet seen it in a shop.

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