New Books For My B-Day [Which is June 20] Whoop Whoop!!

My boyfriend asks, what do you want for your birthday? What comes out of my mind...books duh lol...So these are the new books I'll be getting in my mailbox soon...

The Day I Killed James by Catherine Ryan Hyde [Young Adult]

Summary:
IT WASN’T SUPPOSED to end up like this. But it did.
When Theresa brings James to a party as her date, it’s just for the night . . . and he knows that. But when everything goes horribly wrong, James drives his motorcycle off a cliff—and Theresa knows she’s responsible for his death.
Theresa tries to run away from the pain, becoming a new young woman with a whole new life. She meets people, of course, but she never really makes connections—she’s too scared she’ll hurt them, too. But what Theresa discovers is that you can try to run away from the pain—but you can never really run away from yourself. The only way out is through.
This compelling tale of love and loss is about broken hearts—and how to begin to repair your own.

Buy it here: Amazon.com




Bad Girls: A Novel by Alex McAulay [Older Teens - Grade 11 Up]

Summary: After too many infractions of her conservative parents' rules, 16-year-old Anna is involuntarily shipped off to a wilderness survival camp, where her parents hope she will reform her "wild" behavior. Located on a remote Caribbean island, Camp Archstone is frightening and militaristic, and Anna's troubled bunk mates unsettle her. Then a shocking murder during a camp hike sends the girls into a terrifying flight through the jungle, where they confront drug smugglers, potential rapists, and even the violent impulses in each other. The publisher bills this first novel as a cross between Lord of the Flies and heathers, but readers may find more similarities to teen horror movies, particularly in the plot cliches, stilted dialogue, and gratuitous descriptions of scantily clad girls on the run. In fact, a companion film is in the works, and the interest its release will generate may be the biggest justification for purchasing the novel. Still, some readers (the majority of whom will probably be older teens) will enjoy the nail-biting suspense, the jungle survival challenges, and the mean-girls politics.
But it here: Amazon.com
The Blue is for Nightmares Collection by Laurie Faria Stolarz [Young Adult]

Summary: This best-selling series about a teen witch has cast a spell upon young adults across the world! In commemoration of this remarkable success, each volume—Blue is for Nightmares, White is for Magic, Silver is for Secrets, and Red is for Remembrance—has been updated with a new cover. Also sporting a fresh design is The Blue is for Nightmares Collection, a handsome boxed set of all four of these new editions—plus a unique book of spells and five bookmarks spotlighting Black is for Beginnings, the forthcoming fifth title in this series.The engaging heroine of this popular suspense series is Stacey Brown. A typical teenager, Stacey has the usual worries, but she is also a hereditary witch who is blessed—or cursed—with a gift for prophetic dreams. Breathtaking bouts with killers and heart-wrenching near misses with death will keep you on the edge of your seat!
Buy it here: Amazon.com

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak [Young Adult - Grade 9 Up]

Summary: Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.
But it here: Amazon.com

Love at First Click by Elizabeth Chandler [Young Adult]

Summary: I could no longer deny what the heat in my cheeks meant when I was around Flynn. I was falling for my sister's boyfriend.

There's just something about Flynn. Yes, he's a tall, unbelievably gorgeous, dark-haired football player, but . . . he's also sweet and nice and super easy to talk to. It's lucky I'm the photographer for the school paper, because my camera likes Flynn almost as much as I do. Unfortunately for me, so does my sister, and there's no way I can nab Flynn with her in the picture.But could this be the real thing?

But it here: Amazon.com








Getting the Girl by Markus Zusak [Young Adult - Grades 9 Up]

Summary: Cameron Wolfe, first introduced in Fighting Ruben Wolfe (Scholastic, 2001), wants a girlfriend. He wants sex. He wants to separate himself from his brothers' shadow. He wants to find himself and be something more than the underdog in the family. And he doesn't know how to go about getting what he wants. He is attracted to a girl who treats him horribly so he stands outside her house at night, hoping for glimpses of her. He likes his brother Ruben's girlfriend-and she treats him like a human being. When she and Ruben break up, Octavia shows an interest in Cameron and even though his brother already has another girlfriend, he beats up Cameron and Octavia walks away. Ruben has some bigger problems, though, and violence is once again his method of solving them. However, this is Cameron's story, and he discovers that he is much more than he ever thought he could be. His sister is the first to recognize her brother's strengths and helps give him the courage to face himself and his demons. The interaction of the characters is a real strength of this novel. It is a story of family dynamics and coming of age, interspersed with the protagonist's poignant poems and observations. The book, which was first published in Australia, should appeal to readers who want strong male characters such as those in Chris Crutcher's books.
But it here: Amazon.com

The Reformed Vampire Book by Catherine Jinks [Young Adult - Grade 8 Up]

Summary: It’s hard to get too involved in a cast of barely likable whiners and pathetic hand-wringers, but somehow that isn’t much of a problem in Jinks’ droll vampire send-up. These bloodsuckers are anything but sexy and mysterious, as here vampirism is a cross between a defining addiction and communicable disease; those infected spend most of their time being seriously ill and attending AA-style meetings with fellow sufferers. Nina, permanently arrested at 15 years old, can’t stand her fellow group members, but when one of them is found staked they all must work together to uncover the slayer before he can kill again. While readers might feel pushed rather than led through the plot, Jinks offers some wry vampire-centric twists on mystery conventions (having to repeatedly piece together what happened while literally dead to the world from sunup to sundown); and when the humor hits its mark, this can be laugh-out-loud funny. Most of the comedy, though, lies in the wide-angle skewering of support groups and fringe characters more suited to hemming and hawing than biting and sucking. Grades 8-12.
But it here: Amazon.com