Here's a round up of the latest book news, deals and some cover reveals
that I've discovered over the past few weeks! It's also basically a
digest of all the exciting news stories that come my way and which I've
mostly already posted on my twitter and Facebook feeds, so if you want
up-to-the-minute book news and you don't want to have to wait around for
me to type this up, you can follow me on those sites!
Last week saw the US and UK cover reveals for Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth. I can't wait to see how this series ends and I'm also really excited for the movie! What do you think of the covers? And what cover look is your fave - US or UK?
Karen Chaplin at HarperCollins has acquired North American
rights to Please Don't Tell, a YA debut by 20-year-old Laura Tims.
The novel, a contemporary thriller, follows a girl who seeks revenge on the boy
who ruined her sister's life, but who finds herself falling for the one guy
who's off limits, and is blackmailed by a stalker who knows her secret.
Publication is scheduled for fall 2015; Sarah Davies of the Greenhouse Literary
Agency did the two-book deal.
Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little
In a major acquisition, Alison Hennessey, Senior
Crime Editor at Harvill Secker, has acquired UK & Commonwealth rights to
two books by Elizabeth Little – an exciting new American voice in crime
fiction. Pre-empted by foreign publishers across the world, Alison Hennessey
secured a two-book deal for Harvill Secker with Hal Fessenden at Penguin US.
The first book, Dear Daughter, will
be one of Harvill Secker's major titles in early 2015 and will be published
simultaneously with Viking in the US.
What the publishers are saying:
'Dear Daughter is everything I've been looking
for since I started at Harvill Secker – sharp, spiky, clever and enormously
fun, with the kind of acerbic narrator that editors (and readers) dream of
discovering. Dear Daughter is like a glorious combination of Gone Girl meets Mean Girls with a twist of Alice la Plante's award-winning Turn of Mind, but it has a freshness and
vitality that's all its own. Elizabeth
Little is a fiction star in the making, and I couldn't be more pleased that
we'll be publishing her at Harvill Secker.' - Alison Hennessey - Senior Crime Editor, Harvill Secker.
About Dear Daughter:
After a trial that transfixed America, teenager Janie Jenkins –
rich, pretty and far too clever for her own good – was convicted of the murder
of her mother, a reclusive philanthropist. Ten years later, Janie has been
released on appeal but most of the country remains convinced she's guilty – and
even Janie's not entirely sure what she did that fateful night. All she has to
go on are the last words her mother spoke before she was killed, which send
Janie on a mission to an odd little town in the very back of beyond but, with
the whole of America's media on her tail, she has to do everything she can to
find out the truth about her mother's death without revealing her true
identity.
COVER ALERTS
Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts || Release date: September 2013
A novel about the end of days full of surprising beginnings
The world is living in the shadow of oncoming disaster. An
asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week’s time;
catastrophe is unavoidable. The question isn’t how to save the world—the
question is, what to do with the time that's left? Against this stark
backdrop, three island teens wrestle with intertwining stories of love,
friendship and family—all with the ultimate stakes at hand.
Alexandra Coutts's TUMBLE & FALL is a powerful story of courage, love, and hope at the end of the world.
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The Weight of Souls by Bryony Pearce || Release date: August 2013
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?
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Soulmates by Holly Bourne || Release date: September 2013
Every so often, two
people are born who are the perfect matches for each other. Soulmates.
But while the odds of this happening are about as likely as being struck
by lightning, when these people do meet and fall in love…thunderstorms,
lightning strikes and lashings of rain are only the beginning of their
problems.
Enter Poppy, the 17-year-old cynic with a serious
addiction to banana milk, and Noah, the heart-throb guitarist; residents
of mediocre Middletown, sometime students, and…soulmates.
After
a chance meeting at a local band night, Poppy and Noah find themselves
swept up in a whirlwind romance unlike anything they’ve ever experienced
before. But with a secret international agency preparing to separate
them, a trail of destruction rumbling in their wake, (and a looming
psychology coursework deadline), they are left with an impossible choice
between the end of the world, or a life without love…
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The Elites by Natasha Ngan || Release date: September 2013
'There is a rumour that the Elites don't bleed.'
Hundreds
of years into the future, wars, riots, resource crises and rising
sea-levels have destroyed the old civilisations. Only one city has
survived: Neo-Babel, a city full of cultures - and racial tension.
Fifteen-year-old Silver is an Elite, a citizen of Neo-Babel chosen to
guard the city due to her superior DNA. She'd never dream of leaving -
but then she fails to prevent the assassination of Neo Babel's
president, setting off a chain of events more shocking and devastating
than she could ever have imagined. Forced to flee the city with her best
friend Butterfly (a boy with genetically-enhanced wings), Silver will
have to fight to find her family, uncover the truth about Neo-Babel and
come to terms with her complicated feelings for Butterfly.
Packed
full of adventure, romance, exoticism and the power of friendship, THE
ELITES is a highly compelling and beautifully written novel from a
supremely talented debut author.
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Antigoddess by Kendare Blake || Release date: September 2013
Old Gods never die…
Or
so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her
skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up
with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity
in perpetual health.
Desperately seeking the cause of their slow,
miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies
and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to
Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess,
protected and loved by a god.
These days, Cassandra doesn’t
involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know
they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just
beginning.
Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned
herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals
in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have
become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures
of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get,
because immortals don’t just flicker out.
Every one of them dies
in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All
of them rage against their last breath.
The Goddess War is about to begin.
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Uninvited by Sophie Jordan || Release date: March 2014
You can’t change your DNA…even when it says you’re a murderer.
When
Davy tests positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome, aka “the kill
gene,” she loses everything. Once the perfect high school senior, she is
uninvited from her prep school and abandoned by her friends and
boyfriend. Even her parents are now afraid of her—although she’s never
hurt a fly. Davy doesn’t feel any differently, but genes don’t lie. One
day she will kill someone.
Without any say in the matter, Davy is
thrown into a special class for HTS carriers. She has no doubt the
predictions are right about them, especially Sean, who already bears the
“H” tattoo as proof of his violence. Yet when the world turns on the
carriers, Sean is the only one she can trust. Maybe he’s not as
dangerous as he seems. Or maybe Davy is just as deadly.
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MORE DEALS
The Lonesome Young by Lucy Connors
Laura Arnold at
Razorbill has bought The Lonesome Young, a novel by Alyssa Day
writing as Lucy Connors, pitched as Romeo and Juliet meets Justified.
In the book, a Kentucky
bad boy and a blue-blooded good girl fall for each other, reigniting the
long-standing feud between their families now fueled by drug-running and
financial backstabbing. It's the first in a series, and is scheduled for winter
2014. Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich did the two book-deal for world
rights.
Turnabout by Carrie Ryan
Julie Strauss-Gabel
at Dutton has bought two books from The Forest of Hands and Teeth author
Carrie Ryan. The first title, a YA romantic thriller, is called Turnabout,
and follows a young woman who is thrust into a web of intrigue in a campaign to
avenge her parents' murders. Publication is scheduled for early 2015. The
Forest of Hands and Teeth, first in a YA zombie trilogy published by
Delacorte Press, has been translated into more than 18 languages and is
currently in feature film development. Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House did
the new deal for world English rights.
The Taking by Kimberly Derting
Sarah Landis at
HarperTeen has bought a YA trilogy by Kimberly Derting, author of two
previous trilogies (The Body Finder and The Pledge). The new series,
tentatively called The Taking, is also the title of the first book; it tells
the story of a 16-year-old who wakes up after one lost night to find that five
years have passed and everything about the life she remembers has changed.
Publication of book #1 is planned for summer 2014; Laura Rennert of Andrea
Brown Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Jenny Han has inked a deal
for her “semi-autobiographical” young adult novel. Simon & Schuster Books
for Young Readers will publish
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in
April 2014.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is
the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her
crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and
hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her
secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to
confront her about the letters…
New Series from Kiera Cass
Erica Sussman at HarperTeen has acquired a new series by Kiera
Cass, author of The Selection. In the as-yet-untitled YA romance,
which was pitched as Matched meets Never Let Me Go, children trained in academies to be perfect friends can be
purchased by the wealthy as companions, and a forbidden romance ensues. Elana
Roth of Red Tree Literary negotiated the two-book deal for world English
rights.
New Series from Ally Condie
Julie
Strauss-Gabel at Dutton Children's Books has acquired two
novels by Ally Condie, author of the Matched trilogy. The first book,
set for fall 2014, will follow a girl named Rio
living in an underwater city and waiting her chance to find out what lies
beyond the sea; the second book is not yet scheduled. Jodi Reamer at Writers
House brokered the deal for North American rights.
COVER ALERTS PART DEUX
Fracture (Night School #3) by C.J. Daugherty || Release date: August 2013
** Not posting synopsis due to possible spoilers - you can find it on Goodreads!**
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Fire With Fire (Burn For Burn #2) by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian || Release date: Sept. 2013
** Not posting synopsis due to possible spoilers - you can find it on Goodreads!**
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| UK Cover |
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein || Release date: June 2013 (UK)
Companion to Code Name Verity
** Not posting synopsis due to possible spoilers - you can find it on Goodreads!**
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| US Cover |
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| UK Cover |
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Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas || Release date: July 2013 (UK)
Paradise
quickly gets gruesome in this thrilling page-turner with a plot that’s
ripped from the headlines and a twist that defies the imagination.
It’s
Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend
Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to
Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives.
But when Elise
is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not
her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations. As Anna
sets out to find her friend’s killer, she discovers harsh revelations
about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of
young love.
Awaiting the judge’s decree, it becomes clear to Anna
that everyone around her thinks she is not only guilty, but also
dangerous. And when the whole story comes out, reality is more shocking
than anyone ever imagined...
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| US Cover |
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PHEW! That's what I call a bumper edition of book deals and cover reveals -- looks like there was a lot of exciting stuff going on during my six-week blog break! Lots of books I'm looking forward to here --A new series from Kimberly Derting (Yay!) and the new Jenny Han sounds fab! I'm also really looking forward to reading Dear Daughter, and also Dangerous Girls - I'm on the blog tour for that one!
Let me know what books you are most looking forward to from this round up. I'd love to hear your thoughts on all these shiny new covers too!
Please note that book covers may not be final and may be subject to change.
Additional sources: PW Children's Bookshelf, Book Trade.Info, Goodreads and Galley Cat.
