Do let me know which books you're most looking forward to reading. I've been incredibly lucky to have already read or to have been sent many of these books for review so I'll be reading them very soon.
Andersen
I hadn't heard of this book before I sat down to compile this post together, but I think it sounds very interesting! Combination of historical and thriller.
Girl On A Plane by Miriam Moss (3rd September)
Jordan, 1970.
After a summer spent with her family, fifteen-year-old Anna is travelling back to her English boarding school alone. But her plane never makes it home.
Anna’s flight is hijacked by Palestinian guerillas. They land the plane in the Jordanian desert, switch off the engines and issue their demands. If these are not met within three days, they will blow up the plane, killing all the hostages.
The heat on board becomes unbearable; food and water supplies dwindle. Anna begins to face the possibility she may never see her family again.
Time is running out . . .
Based on true events, this is a story about ordinary people facing agonizing horror, of courage and resilience.
Atom
This book probably stretched the 'UKYA' category a bit as CJ Daugherty counts as UKYA but Carina Rozenfeld is French BUT I'm excited for this book, so we're counting it. Really intrigued to see how this partnership works out.
The Secret Fire by CJ Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld (10th September)
French teen Sacha Winters can't die. He can throw himself off a roof, be stabbed, even shot, and he will always survive. Until the day when history and ancient enmities dictate that he must die. Worse still, his death will trigger something awful. Something deadly. And that day is closing in.
Taylor Montclair is a normal English girl, hanging out with her friends and studying for exams, until she starts shorting out the lights with her brain. She’s also the only person on earth who can save Sacha.
There’s only one problem: the two of them have never met. They live hundreds of miles apart and powerful forces will stop at nothing to keep them apart.
They have eight weeks to find each other.
Will they survive long enough to save the world?
Chicken House
I've already read both of these books coming from Chicken House this month and really enjoyed both. I love that both books have two time lines to their stories, one in the past and one in the present and that both have a great element of romance and very specific settings!
Longbow Girl by Linda Davies (3rd September)
A stunningly exciting and dramatic story set in the wilds of the Welsh mountains, where the brave and beautiful Merry Owen, the Longbowgirl, travels back in time to the autocratic kingdom of King Henry V111 to save her ancestors.
Steeped in history, ancient lore and crackling with tension between the central characters Merry and James, Longbowgirl explores the themes of who we are and who we can become when fighting for those we love and for our very lives. Are we prisoners of our history or can we break free? Can we become all that we need to be to meet the ultimate challenge of life and death in the King’s Tournament and in the dungeons of the Black Castle?
Crow Mountain by Lucy Inglis (3rd September)
While on holiday in Montana, Hope meets local boy Cal Crow, a ranch hand. Caught in a freak accident, the two of them take shelter in a mountain cabin where Hope makes a strange discovery. More than a hundred years earlier, another English girl met a similar fate. Her rescuer: a horse-trader called Nate.
In this wild place, both girls learn what it means to survive and to fall in love, neither knowing that their fates are intimately entwined.
David Fickling Books
Oh, this book. I'm a big fan of Jenny Downham's and I'm sure this book will be amazing (I've read rave reviews of it already!) but I just can't bring myself to read it (or any book with a dementia story line!) because of how personal it feels to my own situation at the moment!
Unbecoming by Jenny Downham (3rd September)
Three women - three secrets - one heart-stopping story. Katie, seventeen, in love with someone whose identity she can't reveal.Her mother Caroline, uptight, worn out and about to find the past catching up with her.Katie's grandmother, Mary, back with the family after years of mysterious absence and 'capable of anything', despite suffering from Alzheimers.As Katie cares for an elderly woman who brings daily chaos to her life, she finds herself drawn to her. Rules get broken as allegiances shift. Is Mary contagious? Is 'badness' genetic?In confronting the past, Katie is forced to seize the present. As Mary slowly unravels and family secrets are revealed, Katie learns to live and finally dares to love.Funny, sad, honest and wise, Unbecoming is a celebration of life, and learning to honour your own stories.
Faber
Oh I do so love the Bluebell Gadsby series. And just the Gadsby family in general. I love this series so far, I love the new covers and I cannot wait to read All About Pumpkin!
All About Pumpkin by Natasha Farrant (3rd September)
It's the summer holidays and Flora has gone off with Dad to the exotic set of his new film and Mum is at home having a much-needed rest with baby Pumpkin. Bluebell, Twig and Jas have been sent to stay with Grandma at Horsehill in the countryside.
With Grandma keen that the children get as much fresh air as possible, they are sent off on bikes to go wild swimming and befriend the boys next door. With so much freedom, they can't help but get into trouble, and Grandma doesn't seem to be as capable as looking after them as she should be...
Firefly Press
Super excited for this one! I've followed Rhian Ivory on Twitter for absolutely ages and she's so lovely that it makes me excited to read something she's written. There were samples of this given out at YALC but I'm holding off for the finished copy...
The Boy Who Drew the Future by Rhian Ivory (17th September)
Noah and Blaze live in the same village over 100 years apart. But the two teenage boys are linked by a river and a strange gift: they both compulsively draw images they don’t understand, that later come true. They can draw the future.
1860s – Blaze is alone after his mother’s death, dependent on the kindness of the villagers, who all distrust his gift as witchcraft but still want him to predict the future for them. When they don’t like what he draws, life gets very dangerous for him.
Now – Noah comes to the village for a new start. His parents are desperate for him to be ‘normal’ after all the trouble they've had in the past. He makes a friend, Beth, but as with Blaze the strangeness of his drawings start to turn people against him and things get very threatening. Will he be driven away from this new home – and from Beth?
Will both boys be destroyed by their strange gift, or can a new future be drawn?
Hot Key Books
I was lucky enough to buy a copy of Counting Stars at YALC and absolutely loved it and I have a copy of All of the Above that (I hope) I'll have read already by the time this post is published. Hadn't heard of When I Was Me before I sat down to write this post but I'm definitely intrigued.
All of the Above by James Dawson (3rd September)
This is a funny and moving love story about friends, first loves and self-discovery by Queen of Teen 2014. When sixteen-year-old Toria Bland arrives at her new school she needs to work out who her friends are in a crazy whirl of worry, exam pressure and anxiety over fitting in. Things start looking up when Toria meets the funny and foul-mouthed Polly, who's the coolest girl that Toria has ever seen. Polly and the rest of the 'alternative' kids take Toria under their wing. And that's when she meets the irresistible Nico Mancini, lead singer of a local band - and it's instalove at first sight! Toria likes Nico, Nico likes Toria, but then there's Polly...love and friendship have a funny way of going round in circles.
When I Was Me by Hilary Freeman (3rd September)
One girl, two lives. Which is real?
When Ella wakes up one Monday morning, she discovers that she is not herself and that her life is not her own. She looks different, her friends are no longer her friends and her existence has been erased from the internet. Even worse, years of her history appear to have been rewritten overnight. And yet, nobody else thinks that anything weird has happened.
A tense and dark psychological thriller full of unexpected twists and turns about the random events and decisions that make us who we are. If you can't trust your own memories, then who can you trust?
Sophie Someone by Hayley Long (3rd September)
A remarkable tale of confusion and betrayal - and a very special girl called Sophie.
'Some stories are hard to tell.
Even to your very best friend.
And some words are hard to get out of your mouth. Because they spell out secrets that are too huge to be spoken out loud.
But if you bottle them up, you might burst.
So here's my story. Told the only way I dare tell it.'
Sophie Nieuwenleven is sort of English and sort of Belgian. Sophie and her family came to live in Belgium when she was only four or five years old, but she's fourteen now and has never been quite sure why they left England in the first place. Then, one day, Sophie makes a startling discovery. Finally Sophie can unlock the mystery of who she really is. This is a story about identity and confusion - and feeling so utterly freaked out that you just can't put it into words. But it's also about hope. And the belief that, somehow, everything will work out OK.
SOPHIE SOMEONE is a tale of well-intentioned but stupid parenting, shock, acceptance and, ultimately, forgiveness, written in a brave, memorable and unique language all of its own.
Counting Stars by Keris Stainton (3rd September)
A new life in a new city - what could possibly go wrong . . . ?
When eighteen-year-old Anna leaves school and moves to Liverpool, she feels like her life is finally beginning. She's landed her dream job at a theatre, and she's moving into an exciting (if not slightly run-down) flat on a buzzing street lined with shops, bars, and buskers. Best of all, her new flatmates are kind, welcoming and a lot of fun - what more could she ask for?
But although her new life is fun, it's also a little overwhelming. Anna's job quickly falls through, and then she realises that although her new friends are great, they're also a little mixed-up... and it's not long before Anna starts using her blog to talk about her experiences, from the hilarious to the ridiculous to the little-bit-scary. But when Anna spills a bigger secret than she can handle, suddenly the consequences are all too real. She'll have to prove she has the mettle to make it in the big city, or risk losing everything she thinks she wants.
Counting Stars, set in a shared house in Liverpool, promises to be FRIENDS meets FRESH MEAT for young adult readers and showcases Keris's story telling charm, vibrant characters and wonderful observances of the exhilarations and setbacks of young adult life.
Mira Ink
Boarding school story! And CJ Skuse. That's me sold, how about you?!
Monster by CJ Skuse (24th September)
At sixteen Nash thought that the fight to become Head Girl of prestigious boarding school Bathory would be the biggest battle she’d face. Until her brother’s disappearance leads to Nash being trapped at the school over Christmas with Bathory’s assorted misfits. As a blizzard rages outside, strange things are afoot in the school’s hallways, and legends of the mysterious Beast of Bathory – a big cat rumoured to room the moors outside the school – run wild. Yet when the girls’ Matron goes missing it’s clear that something altogether darker is to blame – and that they’ll have to stick together if they hope to survive.
‘It’s so good, I’d recommend it to people I don’t like’ – Kevin Brooks on Pretty Bad Thing
Sky Pony Press
Definitely looking forward this book as well. Love a good circus setting. Throw in shape-shifters and action and romance and I think you have the recipe for a very exciting sounding book!
The Wanderers by Kate Ormand (1st September)
A Unique Twist on Shape-Shifters with Fast-Paced Action, Thrilling Adventure, Mystery, and a Bit of Romance
Flo lives an eccentric life—she travels with a popular circus in which the main acts star orphaned children with secret shape-shifting abilities. Once Flo turns sixteen, she must perform, but she’s not ready. While practicing jumping a flaming hurdle in a clearing beside the circus, she spots a dark figure in the trees and fears he saw her shift. The news sends the circus into a panic.
In Flo’s world, shifters are unknown to humans with the exception of a secret organization—the EOS, referred to as “hunters.” Hunters capture and kill. They send some shifters to labs for observation and testing—testing they don’t often survive—and deem others useless, a danger to society, and eliminate them. To avoid discovery, shifters travel in packs, constantly moving and keeping themselves hidden. Up until now, the circus was the perfect disguise.
Believing she has brought attention to the group, Flo feels dread and anxiety, causing her to make a mistake during her performance in front of the audience—a mistake that triggers a violent attack from the hunters.
Flo manages to flee the torched circus grounds with Jett, the bear shifter who loves her; the annoying elephant triplets; and a bratty tiger named Pru. Together they begin a new journey, alone in a world they don’t understand and don’t know how to navigate. On the run, they unravel secrets and lies that surround the circus and their lives—secrets and lies that all point to the unthinkable: Have they been betrayed by the people they trusted most?
Walker
I think one of the books I'm most excited for more people to read is The Next Together by Lauren James. It's just so adorable! Love the two main characters in all of the different time lines. What a fantastic story. And I haven't read anything by Dyan Sheldon yet but I hear good things!
The Next Together by Lauren James (3rd September)
How many times can you lose the person you love?
Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again, century after century. Each time, their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.
Spanning the Crimean War, the Siege of Carlisle and the near-future of 2019 and 2039 they find themselves sacrificing their lives to save the world. But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace?
Maybe the next together will be different...
A powerful and epic debut novel for teenagers about time-travel, fate and the timelessness of first love. The Next Together is told through a mixture of regular prose, diary entries, letters, "original" historical documents, news reports and internet articles.
Just Friends by Dyan Sheldon (3rd September)
From the writer of Confessions of A Teenage Drama Queen and My Worst Best Friend comes this hugely entertaining teen read about falling for the wrong person. The first time Josh sets eyes on Jena he's hooked. He can't stop thinking about her; looking for her wherever he is; hoping to turn a corner and find her there. The problem is she's completely out of his league as his friends never tire of telling him, so Josh decides he will settle on simply being Jena's friend. But the more time he spends with her the more infatuated he becomes, despite the fact Jena only turns to him when she's had a fight with her on-again off-again boyfriend. Finally realizing he can't go on pretending he only wants to be her friend, Josh vows to tell Jena how he feels on Valentine's Day.
Which book(s) are you most looking forward to reading in September?!
Im so excited to ready The Secret Circle by C.J. Daugherty!!
ReplyDeleteI loved her Night School books and seen a snippet of this book, cant wait!!
Jodie x
Great choice, Jodie! I'm reading it at the moment and loving it :)
DeleteGirl on a Plane just went straight onto my TBR list! Along with a few others. Thanks for the round up :)
ReplyDeleteHurrah! I'm glad it's help spread the word about some of these amazing sounding books :)
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