The crisp flip of new book pages, the papery smell of a bookstore or library, the
glossy covers and embossed titles…there are so many small details that make
shopping, buying, and reading books one of my greatest pleasures. I can spend hours
in a book store and library, running my fingers over the spines of books, reading
the back covers, lingering over the beautiful illustrations. Sometimes, I don’t
have
hours to spare, so I need to go in prepared with a list of the books I want. In
theory this should work; in reality I still linger but maybe, just maybe, I don’t
spend as much or take as long.
And so over the last week, I’ve spent hours lingering on the internet, searching
for
new YA titles in 2015. My wish list has grown by the dozens, and I can hardly wait
to get a copy of these titles!
About: Maddie Fynn is a shy high
school junior, cursed with an eerie intuitive ability: she sees a series of unique
digits hovering above the foreheads of each person she encounters. Her earliest
memories are marked by these numbers, but it takes her father's premature death for
Maddie and her family to realize that these mysterious digits are actually death
dates, and just like birthdays, everyone has one.
Forced by her alcoholic mother to use her ability to make extra money, Maddie
identifies the quickly approaching death date of one client's young son, but
because
her ability only allows her to see the when and not the how, she's unable to offer
any more insight. When the boy goes missing on that exact date, law enforcement
turns to Maddie.
Soon, Maddie is entangled in a homicide investigation, and more young people
disappear and are later found murdered. A suspect for the investigation, a target
for the murderer, and attracting the attentions of a mysterious young admirer who
may be connected to it all, Maddie's whole existence is about to be turned upside
down. Can she right things before it's too late?
About: Seventeen-year-old Twylla
lives in the castle. But although she's engaged to the prince, Twylla isn't exactly
a member of the court.
She's the executioner.
As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each month,
she's taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason.
No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal
blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla's fatal touch, avoids her company.
But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly
swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he's able to look past Twylla's executioner
robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet Twylla's been promised to the prince,
and knows what happens to people who cross the queen.
However, a treasonous secret is the least of Twylla's problems. The queen has a
plan
to destroy her enemies, a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable
sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon
her duty in favor of a doomed love?
"BONE GAP marks Laura Ruby as one of fiction's most
original voices. She is capable of moving you to tears, terrifying you on deep and
dreamlike levels, and making your heart shout with happiness. This book is magic
realism at its most magical."
—E. Lockhart, author of WE WERE LIARS
About: BONE GAP is the story of Roza, a beautiful girl who is
taken
from a quiet midwestern town and imprisoned by a mysterious man, and Finn, the only
witness, who cannot forgive himself for being unable to identify her kidnapper. As
we follow them through their melancholy pasts, their terrifying presents, their
uncertain futures, acclaimed author Laura Ruby weaves a heartbreaking tale of love
and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness—a story about how the face the
world sees is never the sum of who we are.