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As November draws to a close it's hard to believe the final month of 2015 begins tomorrow! There are a lot of fantastic books releasing this month, including NOT IF I SEE YOU FIRST, ALL WE LEFT BEHIND, and VIRTUALLY IN LOVE, of which we are giving away a copy each.

Happy Reading!
Lindsey, Martina, Sam, Jocelyn, Erin, Lisa, Shelly, Susan, Elizabeth, Kristin, Sandra and Anisaa

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We have SO many amazing books to give away this week! There are sixteen amazing new releases to be picked up to soften the blow of winter temperatures arriving in the northern hemisphere.

Happy Reading!
Lindsey, Martina, Sam, Jocelyn, Erin, Lisa, Shelly, Susan, Elizabeth, Kristin, Sandra and Anisaa

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A few years ago, people speculated about the death of books. Books, many said, wouldn't survive the rising popularity of e-books. Teens, the wisdom said, would adopt e-books, and within a few years, no one would read on paper anymore.

But guess what?

A recent Neilsen survey says that teens prefer "real" books.

And there appear to be concrete advantages to reading printed books. A study suggests that digital readers remember significantly less about when events occur in a plot than people reading the same story on paper, while another study showed markedly better reading comprehension for people reading a paper book.

I admit. I made the switch. There are several reasons that e-books work well for me, but they all boil down to convenience.

Here's the thing though. I also made the switch when reading manuscripts.

I read digitally when I write:

• I type the story on my laptop. 
• I read the story on my laptop and edit as I go. 
• I make changes electronically, and my beta readers read digitally. 
• And finally, before I send the book off to my editor, I make it into an e-book, and I read it in the Kindle program on my iPad.

My editor, on the other hand, prints the book out and reads on paper.

For those of you unfamiliar with the editorial process, it works something like this:

• I submit the first(ish) draft to my editor.
• She reads and sends me a letter about what's working and what isn't working and makes specific notes in the manuscript. She sends me the printed file via UPS.
• I follow the document through digitally and come up with a chapter by chapter list of changes to address her concerns.
• We discuss those changes and make sure we're on the same page.
• I make the changes electronically and then send her the digital file.
• She prints it out and reads it again, marking pacing and other issues in the manuscript margins and making suggestions for specific lines that need to be reworked. 
• I go through the line edits and submit the file--digitally.
• I send the electronic file to my beta readers and go through their suggestions--digitally.
• I convert the book to an e-book and read it through, highlighting places I need to go back to.

And all this time, even though the book has been printed out, I don't *read* it on paper.

Then I get the copyedited manuscript. On paper. And I have to read and review it on paper.

Oy. 

There is a real difference in the way the words read and look on paper. I see things I didn't see when I was reading digitally, even when I read the book as an e-book. Even when I read passages aloud, which I also do frequently.

The moral of this story?

This is only the second book I've worked on with an editor. I'm going to get better--all of this is a learning process. I definitely have a takeaway on process for myself though. And for book three, I'm going to do things a little differently.

I'm going to print the book out for myself several times before the copyediting stage. Not sure how I'm going to work this in with the fast deadlines that we work with in publishing, but I'm going to make time, because it's worth it.

Takeaway writing tip of the day:

Read your manuscript in as many different ways as you can:

• As a Scrivener or word processing file.
• As a Scrivener or word processing file with the font changed. (You'd be surprised how just this small change brings things to light.)
• As a Scrivener or word processing file that you read aloud.
• As an electronic book.
• As printed pages -- bound, if possible.

What about you? Do you prefer to read digitally or on paper? Does it make a difference in how you read and what you understand and remember?

THIS WEEK'S GIVEAWAY

Rebel Belle
by Rachel Hawkins
Hardcover
Putnam Juvenile
Released 4/8/2014

Harper Price, peerless Southern belle, was born ready for a Homecoming tiara. But after a strange run-in at the dance imbues her with incredible abilities, Harper's destiny takes a turn for the seriously weird. She becomes a Paladin, one of an ancient line of guardians with agility, super strength and lethal fighting instincts.

Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him--and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.

With snappy banter, cotillion dresses, non-stop action and a touch of magic, this new young adult series from bestseller Rachel Hawkins is going to make y'all beg for more.

Purchase Rebel Belle at Amazon
Purchase Rebel Belle at IndieBound
View Rebel Belle on Goodreads

AND A SPECIAL DIGITAL DEAL! COMPULSION IS $1.99 at AMAZON

Compulsion
by Martina Boone
Hardcover
Simon Pulse
Released 10/28/2014

Beautiful Creatures meets The Body Finder in this spellbinding new trilogy.

Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson had been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lived with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead--a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family's twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

Purchase Compulsion at Amazon for $1.99
Purchase Compulsion at IndieBound
View Compulsion on Goodreads



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The basket of books nominations have come to a close. Sadly, I've had to choose among all the great nominees.

I couldn't choose just twenty, though. The nominees were too deserving. I'd send books to every one of them, if I could, and there was just no way that I could pick between all the schools and libraries where the students were extremely disadvantaged, or the libraries who have lost their funding, or the schools and libraries where teachers and librarians enter giveaways just to get recently published books into the hands of readers.

With choosing impossible, I narrowed the selection down to a hundred nominations, and then chose at random from there. That's a small drop in the bucket, but hopefully, it will help a little bit.

Honestly, I couldn't have more respect and honor for all the teachers and librarians and volunteers who spend their time getting books into the hands of readers by any means they can.

To continue to help, in addition to the many giveaways that we and the generous authors and publishers with new books out provide each week here on Adventures--which I hope librarians and teachers will continue to enter--I will donate a basket of books to a school or library each month to a school or library.

Without further ado, here's the list of donations I'll be sending out as soon as possible:

1. Neva Lomason Memorial Library, Carrollton, GA
2. Lee Williams High School, Kingman, AZ 
3. Central Virginia Regional Library, Farmville, VA
4. Spencer Penn Centre, Spencer, VA 
5. Mosheim Public Library, Mosheim, TN
6. The Wardlaw-Hartridge School, Edison, NJ
7. Alameda High School Library, Lakewood, CO
8. Mount Pleasant Regional Library, Mt Pleasant, SC
9. Bridgeport Library, Old Mill Green Branch, Bridgeport, CT
10. Franklin High School, Livonia, MI
11. Loveland Public Library, Loveland, CO
12. Safety Harbor Library, Safety Harbor, FL
13. Saratoga Springs Public Library, Saratoga Springs, UT
14. Moorpark High School, Moorpark, CA
15. Lewisville High School, Lewisville, TX
16. Columbus Metropolitan Library-Martin Luther King Branch, Columbus, Ohio
17. St. Stephens High School, Hickory, NC
18. Kanawha County Library, Charleston, WV 
19. White Station High School, Memphis, TN
20. Gramercy Arts High School, NY, NY

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We went to see Guardians of the Galaxy on opening night. I was skeptical, I admit it. A talking raccoon with a gun? Not usually my cup of Earl Gray, what can I tell you.

But.

It was actually irreverent, charming, engrossing, funny, and unexpectedly warm. In short, it was better than great.

Trying to explain the reason for that greatness to someone who hadn't seen the film left me a little bit perplexed though. Because if Marvel can make a film starring a talking, gun-toting raccoon, surely someone can make a decent film with a woman lead? (Cough, Wonder Woman, cough. I'm looking at you D.C.)

Which brings me to another point. As good as this movie was -- and it is going to be shown at my house frequently, trust me -- what I loved most about it was that the female character actually got to drive the bus. This isn't Gamora's movie, don't get me wrong. Zoe Saldana plays just one piece in an ensemble cast, but that piece is the one who proves the motivation and the heart for the team to do what it must (see how non-spoilerly I made that?) to overcome the bad guy. And frankly, without her, the team's involvement with the bad guy would basically have been summed up in a few words: get the thing bad-guy wants, then run like hell.

What else did I love about Gamora? She's sexy, sure, but despite a couple of almost-moments with Star-Lord (as played by Chris Pratt), she doesn't succumb to insta-love. The tension is building and you can see it coming, maybe, but Marvel didn't cheese up the script by including a gratuitous romantic sub-plot that was just too fast to work. Instead, they focused on pulling together a bunch of loners and making them into a team.

That's warm. That's human--even if only one of the characters involved was actually homo-sapiens. (Or half, anyway.)

And that brings me to my topic of the day. It seems to me that there are two schools of approach emerging vis a vis comic book adaptations.

Marvel has a repertoire of films that stars characters who seem to think all is more-or-less okay in their world, and then get dragged into something that's clearly not okay. How they deal with their changed situation forms the underpinnings of the story and creates the extra layer of warmth that connects us to them.

Recent Marvel Films include:

• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
• X-Men, Days of Future Past (2014)
• The Amazing Spider Man 2 (2014)
• Captain America - Winter Soldier (2014)
• Thor: The Dark World (2013)
• The Wolverine (2013)
• Iron Man 3 (2013)

DC on the other hand includes:

• Man of Steel (2013)
• The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
• The Green Lantern (2011)
• Jonah Hex (2010)

Patricia Lopez

She can pick three of the following: BZRK, The Walled City, Sinner, Ghost House, of Scars and Stardust, Lament, I'll Give You the Sun, Unmarked, Lux, White Hot Kiss, Falling into Place, Scintillate.

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On Sunday, one of the most talented and beloved teen authors, Sarah Dessen, tweeted a photo of her thirteen unpublished novels lined up in her driveway so that they could finally see the light of day.

I included the top tweet in this second group, the one Sarah retweeted, because that is part of the lesson to be learned here. But honestly, the main lesson for me is the one where she questions whether we need the misfires.

I think we do have to take risks, go over the top, push the limits and see where those limits are. We have to keep pushing, drilling deeper into the well of creativity. There's nothing creative about safety and security, nothing exhilarating about sameness. Maybe creativity requires a level of risk.

The brilliant Sarah Ockler shared a great post that every creative person ought to read.

Pixar Cofounder Ed Catmull on Failure and Why Fostering a Fearless Culture Is the Key to Groundbreaking Creative Work

One of my favorite parts of the article is this quote:

"To disentangle the good and the bad parts of failure, we have to recognize both the reality of the pain and the benefit of the resulting growth."

In other words, at some point, we have to embrace failure. Ugh.

In this business, there is so much temptation, even pressure, to compare ourselves to others, to find the unfairness or the lack of luck that results in rejection of our work and the reverse that gives success to someone else's. It's natural, but it's paralyzing. It's probably part of what makes so many writers prone to depression. It's hard to pour ourselves into an endeavor and have it rejected, only to pick ourselves up, get excited about a new project, and start the process all over again.

Creative geniuses have done it in many different ways. According to this article by Juliette Guilbert titled How to Fuel Your Creative Genius.

• "Beethoven went for awalk every day with notepad in hand to jot down the music that streamed through his mind."
• "Thomas Edison was famous for tackling his biggest challenges after a power snooze."

TODAY'S YA GIVEAWAY

The Eye of Minds
by James Dashner
Paperback
Random House
Released 7/22/2014

   From James Dashner, the author of the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series that's soon to be a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox, comes an all-new, edge-of-your seat adventure. The Eye of Minds is the first book in The Mortality Doctrine series set in a world of hyperadvanced technology, cyberterrorists, and gaming beyond your wildest dreams . . . and your worst nightmares.

   Michael is a gamer. And like most gamers, he almost spends more time on the VirtNet than in the actual world. The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and it’s addictive. Thanks to technology, anyone with enough money can experience fantasy worlds, risk their life without the chance of death, or just hang around with Virt-friends. And the more hacking skills you have, the more fun. Why bother following the rules when most of them are dumb, anyway?

   But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And recent reports claim that one gamer is going beyond what any gamer has done before: he’s holding players hostage inside the VirtNet. The effects are horrific—the hostages have all been declared brain-dead. Yet the gamer’s motives are a mystery.

   The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker. And they’ve been watching Michael. They want him on their team. But the risk is enormous. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid. There are back alleys and corners in the system human eyes have never seen and predators he can’t even fathom—and there’s the possibility that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever.

Praise for The Eye of Minds, Book One in the Mortality Doctrine series

“More realistic and addictive than any video game—The Eye of Minds sucked me in from the very first page. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets The Matrix in a vividly rendered world of gamers, hackers, and cyber-terrorists. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!”—Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Beautiful Creatures and author of Unbreakable

“In typical Dashner style, this is quick and involving, with the main frustration being the wait time until the next book.” —Booklist
“High on concept, this is an intriguing read for the digital generation.” — Kirkus Reviews

"Dashner once again creates a dystopian world in which nothing is what it seems." - VOYA
Purchase The Eye of Minds at Amazon
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The Fire Wish
by Amber Lough
Hardcover
Random House Books for Young Readers
Released 7/22/2014


A jinni. A princess. And the wish that changes everything. . . .

Najwa is a jinni, training to be a spy in the war against the humans. Zayele is a human on her way to marry a prince of Baghdad—which she’ll do anything to avoid. So she captures Najwa and makes a wish. With a rush of smoke and fire, they fall apart and re-form—as each other. A jinni and a human, trading lives. Both girls must play their parts among enemies who would kill them if the deception were ever discovered—enemies including the young men Najwa and Zayele are just discovering they might love.


Purchase The Fire Wish at Amazon
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PREVIOUS GIVEAWAY

I had a copy of Maggie Stiefvater's SINNER to giveaway two weeks ago, complete with her signature and the hand drawn book wrapper she did just for preorders and special events. Sadly, I picked a winner for it tonight, but don't worry. I've got a few more of these stashed away for you, so keep an eye out!





Sinner
by Maggie Stiefvater
released 7/1/14
Scholastic Press

WINNER: Joycedale Chapman

A standalone companion book to the internationally bestselling Shiver Trilogy.

Sinner follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the #1 New York Times bestselling Shiver Trilogy. Everybody thinks they know Cole's story. Stardom. Addiction. Downfall. Disappearance. But only a few people know Cole's darkest secret -- his ability to shift into a wolf. One of these people is Isabel. At one point, they may have even loved each other. But that feels like a lifetime ago. Now Cole is back. Back in the spotlight. Back in the danger zone. Back in Isabel's life. Can this sinner be saved?

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Hi, everyone, 

YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK

#Scandal
by Sarah Ockler
Hardcover Giveaway
Simon Pulse
Released 6/17/2014

Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.

There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love...

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Blazed
by Jason Myers
Hardcover Giveaway
Simon Pulse
Released 6/17/2014

Jamie uncovers life-changing secrets from his past when he’s sent to live with a father he’s never met in this gritty novel from the author of Exit Here. and Run the Game.

Jamie is invincible when he is high. His anger, his isolation, his mom’s manic mood swings—nothing can shatter his glass castle. But one brutal night upends everything, leaving his mom broken and Jamie betrayed.

Sent to live with a father he’s never met, Jamie is determined to hate the man he blames for his mother’s ruin. And he blocks out the pain with drugs, fierce music, and sweet, sweet Dominique. Except the more time Jamie spends at his dad’s, the more his mother’s scathing stories start to unravel. Who is he supposed to believe? And how much will he have to sacrifice to uncover the truth?

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Summer of Yesterday
by Gaby Triana
Hardcover Giveaway
Simon Pulse
Released 6/17/2014

Back to the Future meets Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Haley’s summer vacation takes a turn for the retro in this totally rad romantic fantasy.

Summer officially sucks. Thanks to a stupid seizure she had a few months earlier, Haley’s stuck going on vacation with her dad and his new family to Disney’s Fort Wilderness instead of enjoying the last session of summer camp back home with her friends. Fort Wilderness holds lots of childhood memories for her father, but surely nothing for Haley. But then a new seizure triggers something she’s never before experienced—time travel—and she ends up in River Country, the campground’s long-abandoned water park, during its heyday.

The year? 1982.

And there—with its amusing fashion, “oldies” music, and primitive technology—she runs into familiar faces: teenage Dad and Mom before they’d even met. Somehow, Haley must find her way back to the twenty-first century before her present-day parents anguish over her disappearance, a difficult feat now that she’s met Jason, one of the park’s summer residents and employees, who takes the strangely dressed stowaway under his wing.

Seizures aside, Haley’s used to controlling her life, and she has no idea how to deal with this dilemma. How can she be falling for a boy whose future she can’t share?

Purchase Summer of Yesterday at Amazon
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YA BOOK GIVEAWAYS LAST WEEK: WINNERS

On The Road To Find Out
by Rachel Toor
Hardcover
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Released 6/10/2014

WINNER: Rabiah Rowther

A funny, uplifting debut about running, romance—and dealing with college rejection and other hurdles

On New Year’s Day, Alice Davis goes for a run. Her first ever. It’s painful and embarrassing, but so was getting denied by the only college she cares about. Alice knows she has to stop sitting around and complaining to her best friend, Jenni, and her pet rat, Walter, about what a loser she is. But what doesn’t know is that by taking those first steps out the door, she is setting off down a road filled with new challenges—including vicious side stitches, chafing in unmentionable places, and race-paced first love—and strengthening herself to endure when the going suddenly gets tougher than she ever imagined.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about On The Road To Find Out?

My favorite thing about On the Road to Find Out might be that my editor and I refer to it as OTRTFO. If you say all those initials out loud and fast, it kind of sounds like a melody. But my other favorite thing is that one of my funniest, smartest, sweetest characters (IMHO) is the size of a hot dog bun. I thought I was going to write a novel about running for all the people who love to run and for the many more who hate it and think they can’t do it. (They’re wrong, wrong, wrong, do you hear me? Wrong!) I ended up writing about college admissions, first love, and—keep an open mind here, people—why rats make the world’s best pets. If you read this book and you don’t love Walter the rat as much as Alice and I do, well, I’ve failed as an author. But if you have loved a rat, please write and tell me that. Rat lovers unite!

Purchase On The Road To Find Out at Amazon
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View On The Road To Find Out on Goodreads



The Strange Maid
by Tessa Gratton
Hardcover
Random House Books for Young Readers
Released 6/10/2014

WINNER: Tammy George

Fans of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, and Maggie Stiefvater will embrace the richly drawn, Norse-influenced alternate world of the United States of Asgard, where cell phones, rock bands, and evangelical preachers coexist with dragon slaying, rune casting, and sword training in schools. Where the president runs the country alongside a council of Valkyries, gods walk the red carpet with Hollywood starlets, and the U.S. military has a special battalion dedicated to eradicating Rocky Mountain trolls.

Signy Valborn was seven years old when she climbed the New World Tree and met Odin Alfather, who declared that if she could solve a single riddle, he would make her one of his Valkyrie. For ten years Signy has trained in the arts of war, politics, and leadership, never dreaming that a Greater Mountain Troll might hold the answer to the riddle, but that’s exactly what Ned the Spiritless promises her. A mysterious troll hunter who talks in riddles and ancient poetry, Ned is a hard man to trust. Unfortunately, Signy is running out of time. Accompanied by an outcast berserker named Soren Bearstar, she and Ned take off across the ice sheets of Canadia to hunt the mother of trolls and claim Signy’s destiny.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about The Strange Maid?

THAT I FINISHED WRITING IT. Haha, just kidding. Sort of. My real favorite thing is that I was able to write a story about an angry, unlikable girl who turns herself into a passionate hero because of her anger and un-likeability. In a moment of grief and fury, Signy dedicates herself to Odin Alfather the god of war, madness, and poetry, and to truly follow him, she has to embrace all those things, and discover how they relate to each other and to her own heart. She has to learn to use herself as a weapon, and fight passionately for what she thinks is right. It was HARD to write, but taught me a lot about myself as a writer and also what I, too, want to be like to other people. I’ve never been so angry at a character, or loved one so much.


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MORE YOUNG ADULT FICTION IN STORES NEXT WEEK WITH AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Dark Metropolis
by Jaclyn Dolamore
Hardcover
Disney-Hyperion
Released 6/17/2014

Cabaret meets Cassandra Clare-a haunting magical thriller set in a riveting 1930s-esque world.

Sixteen-year-old Thea Holder's mother is cursed with a spell that's driving her mad, and whenever they touch, Thea is chilled by the magic, too. With no one else to contribute, Thea must make a living for both of them in a sinister city, where danger lurks and greed rules.
Thea spends her nights waitressing at the decadent Telephone Club attending to the glitzy clientele. But when her best friend, Nan, vanishes, Thea is compelled to find her. She meets Freddy, a young, magnetic patron at the club, and he agrees to help her uncover the city's secrets-even while he hides secrets of his own.

Together, they find a whole new side of the city. Unrest is brewing behind closed doors as whispers of a gruesome magic spread. And if they're not careful, the heartless masterminds behind the growing disappearances will be after them, too.

Perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, this is a chilling thriller with a touch of magic where the dead don't always seem to stay that way.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Dark Metropolis?

Probably the creepy parts! My previous three books were lighter in tone and it was really fun to write some scenes where I even unsettled myself. If they made a movie of this book, I'd be closing my eyes for some of it..

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I Am The Mission
by Allen Zadoff
Hardcover
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Released 6/17/2014

He was the perfect assassin. No name. No past. No remorse. Perfect, that is, until he began to ask questions and challenge his orders. Now The Program is worried that their valuable soldier has become a liability.

And so Boy Nobody is given a new mission. A test of sorts. A chance to prove his loyalty.

His objective: Take out Eugene Moore, the owner of an extremist military training camp for teenagers. It sounds like a simple task, but a previous operative couldn't do it. He lost the mission and is presumed dead. Now Boy Nobody is confident he can finish the job. Quickly.

But when things go awry, Boy Nobody finds himself lost in a mission where nothing is as it seems: not The Program, his allegiances, nor the truth.

The riveting second book in Allen Zadoff's Boy Nobody series delivers heart-pounding action and a shocking new twist that makes Boy Nobody question everything he has believed.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about I Am The Mission?

Reading thrillers has always been a secret pleasure for me, so the fact that I’m writing a thriller series is kind of a dream come true. And delivering the second book of The Unknown Assassin series is especially exciting because I’ve never written a series before. I AM THE MISSION is bigger and badder than the first book. It’s a combination of action, thrills, romance, and danger. We go deeper into the mind of the teen assassin who is the anti-hero of the series, and we learn more about his relationship to The Program, the ultra-secret organization that controls him.
The Unknown Assassin series is combination of a fast-paced action thriller and coming-of-age story. So it’s important to me that the hero is challenged in new ways—by his missions, the emotions he’s feeling, his relationships with women, and ultimately by his parents, who in this case happen to be his commanders in The Program. I AM THE MISSION explore the theme of loyalty versus self-determination. What happens when you begin to doubt your mission and lose faith in the people you’ve trusted to guide you in the world?
If you read the first book, I AM THE WEAPON (formerly Boy Nobody), then you know the assassin is searching for his real father, unsure whether he is alive or dead. That search continues in I AM THE MISSION, as the assassin gets tantalizingly close to uncovering the secret.

Purchase I Am The Mission at Amazon
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17 First Kisses
by Rachael Allen
Signed Paperback Giveaway
HarperTeen
Released 6/17/2014

No matter how many boys Claire kisses, she can’t seem to find a decent boyfriend. Someone who wouldn’t rather date her gorgeous best friend, Megan. Someone who won’t freak out when he learns about the tragedy her family still hasn’t recovered from. Someone whose kisses can carry her away from her backwoods town for one fleeting moment.

Until Claire meets Luke.

But Megan is falling for Luke, too, and if there’s one thing Claire knows for sure, it’s that Megan’s pretty much irresistible.

With true love and best friendship on the line, Claire suddenly has everything to lose. And what she learns—about her crush, her friends, and most of all herself—makes the choices even harder.

In her moving debut, Rachael Allen brilliantly captures the complexities of friendship, the struggles of self-discovery, and the difficulties of trying to find love in high school. Fans of Sarah Ockler, Susane Colasanti, and Stephanie Perkins will fall head over heels for this addictive, heartfelt, and often hilarious modern love story.

Author Question: What is your favorite thing about 17 First Kisses?

The female friendships. I love reading contemporary books with an emphasis on female relationships, whether it’s mother-daughter, sisters, or BFFs. My MC, Claire, and her best friend, Megan, are fiercely supportive and protective of each other even though there’s a competitiveness between them, particularly with guys. These girls are flawed characters, and neither of them is a model friend, but I love that about them.

Girls need to know that if a friendship has a strong core, you can get in a fight or make a mistake, and it doesn’t mean the friendship is over. You can change and grow together instead of apart. Claire and Megan have the kind of friendship that’s worth figuring things out about themselves and each other. Instead of hating each other, they work to fix things. And if part of that reconciliation takes the form of stealing your ex-boyfriend’s clothes while he’s skinny dipping, well, so be it :)

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MORE YOUNG ADULT NOVELS NEW IN STORES NEXT WEEK

Fan Art
by Sarah Tregay
Hardcover
Katherine Tegen Books
Released 6/17/2014

When the picture tells the story…

Senior year is almost over, and Jamie Peterson has a big problem. Not college—that’s all set. Not prom—he’ll find a date somehow. No, it’s the worst problem of all: he’s fallen for his best friend.

As much as Jamie tries to keep it under wraps, everyone seems to know where his affections lie, and the giggling girls in art class are determined to help Jamie get together with Mason. But Jamie isn’t sure if that’s what he wants—because as much as Jamie would like to come clean to Mason, what if the truth ruins everything? What if there are no more road trips, taco dinners, or movie nights? Does he dare risk a childhood friendship for romance?

This book is about what happens when a picture reveals what we can’t say, when art is truer than life, and how falling in love is easy, except when it’s not. Fan Art explores the joys and pains of friendship, of pressing boundaries, and how facing our worst fears can sometimes lead us to what we want most.

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