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Young Adult Musings | Part 2: Most Anticipated 2016 Reads

January 8, 2016

The year has barely started, and I already can feel my wallet crying as I look at all the incredible books releasing this year. I read across most genres (fantasy, contemporary, horror, etc.), and it seems like this year will be stellar for all of them.

I’m always on the fence about preordering and buying on or near release day. I know preorders can be wonderful for the author and for sales numbers, but I also love walking in to an independent bookstore and finding the new releases fresh on the shelf. After looking at the second part of my most anticipated reads of the year, I may find myself trying out a new-to-me compromise where I preorder from the bookstore to make sure I get them the day of release, but also pick them up at the store, so I get the satisfaction of another visit. Regardless, this is one incredible year for new books!

About REBEL OF THE SANDS

Rebel of the Sands

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mythical beasts still roam the wild and remote areas, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinn still perform their magic. For humans, it’s an unforgiving place, especially if you’re poor, orphaned, or female.

Amani Al’Hiza is all three. She’s a gifted gunslinger with perfect aim, but she can’t shoot her way out of Dustwalk, the back-country town where she’s destined to wind up wed or dead.

Then she meets Jin, a rakish foreigner, in a shooting contest, and sees him as the perfect escape route. But though she’s spent years dreaming of leaving Dustwalk, she never imagined she’d gallop away on mythical horse—or that it would take a foreign fugitive to show her the heart of the desert she thought she knew.

REBEL OF THE SANDS reveals what happens when a dream deferred explodes—in the fires of rebellion, of romantic passion, and the all-consuming inferno of a girl finally, at long last, embracing her power.

Buy REBEL OF THE SANDS: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com
| iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books
| Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

About THE WORD FOR YES

The Word For Yes

At once honest and touching, Claire Needell’s debut novel is a moving look at date rape and its aftermath, at the love and conflicts among sisters and friends, and how these relationships can hold us together—and tear us apart.

The gap between the Russell sisters—Jan, Erika, and Melanie—widens as each day passes. Then, at a party full of blurred lines and blurred memories, everything changes. Starting that night, where there should be words, there is only angry, scared silence.

And in the aftermath, Jan, Erika, and Melanie will have to work hard to reconnect and help one another heal.

The Word for Yes will inspire necessary conversation about a topical and important issue facing our society. The book includes a thoughtful author’s note that provides resources for readers.

Buy THE WORD FOR YES: Amazon.com | Kindle| BN.com
| iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books
| Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

About BURNING MIDNIGHT

Burning Midnight

For fans of The Maze Runner and The Fifth Wave, this debut YA novel from Hugo Award winner Will McIntosh pits four underprivileged teens against an evil billionaire in the race of a lifetime.

Sully is a sphere dealer at a flea market. It doesn’t pay much—Alex Holliday’s stores have muscled out most of the independent sellers—but it helps him and his mom make the rent. No one knows where the brilliant-colored spheres came from. One day they were just there, hidden all over the earth like huge gemstones. Burn a pair and they make you a little better: an inch taller, skilled at math, better-looking. The rarer the sphere, the greater the improvement—and the more expensive the sphere.

When Sully meets Hunter, a girl with a natural talent for finding spheres, the two start searching together. One day they find a Gold—a color no one has ever seen. And when Alex Holliday learns what they have, he will go to any lengths, will use all of his wealth and power, to take it from them. There’s no question the Gold is priceless, but what does it actually do? None of them is aware of it yet, but the fate of the world rests on this little golden orb. Because all the world fights over the spheres, but no one knows where they come from, what their powers are, or why they’re here.

Buy BURNING MIDNIGHT: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

About FIRSTS

Firsts

Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time-the kind Mercedes never had herself.

Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy – so far. Her mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn – or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.

When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her own reputation -and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn’s Firsts is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.

Buy FIRSTS: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com
| iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books
| Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

About HEIR TO THE SKY

Heir to the Sky

As heir to a kingdom of floating continents, Kali has spent her life bound by limits: by her duties as a member of the royal family, by a forced betrothal to the son of a nobleman, and by the edge of the only world she’s ever known—a small island hovering above a monster-ridden earth, long since uninhabited by humans. She is the Eternal Flame of Hope for what’s left of mankind, the wick and the wax burning in service for her people, and for their revered Phoenix, whose magic keeps them aloft.

When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom and miraculously survives, she is shocked to discover there are still humans on the earth. Determined to get home, Kali entrusts a rugged monster-hunter named Griffin to guide her across a world overrun by chimera, storm dragons, basilisks and other terrifying creatures. But the more time she spends on earth, the more dark truths she begins to uncover about her home in the sky, and the more resolute she is to start burning for herself.

Buy HEIR TO THE SKY: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com
| iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books
| Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

What books are on YOUR List?

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