Friday, May 14, 2010

Cool Reads for a Hot Summer!

I've finally finished my list of summer reads. It proved more difficult than expected.

More things I learned while digging through the pile:

-Many "new" releases have been released in another format (but I didn't include them)
-There's a heck of a lot of YA parnormal/fantasy
-A ridiculously large portion of those are vampire romances- I can only imagine how many more didn't make it
-Agents and editors are superheros- 3 days of swimming through that pile and I've had enough
-I totally fell in love with the Penguin Group's Speak Imprint. If a girl could marry an imprint... That would make one heck of an interesting letter to the editor!
-YA is really not a genre, it's an audience. All the other genre still exist within YA, but it's sometimes hard to tell if a book is fantasy or contemporary etc., based purely on the back cover blurb.

Okay, so the list. Now, I haven't read any of these books. Nor do I know many of the authors. They've been judged purely by their premises. I've enclosed a few notes in brackets, and if the book is part of a series, you'll find that info in square brackets. Happy reading.

June

The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt
- Elizabeth Cody Kimmel (Contemporary, a girl tries being different characters at a boarding school)

Rush- Jonathan Friesen (Contemporary, male 18 year old MC)

Sea- Heidi R Kling (debut, contemporary, romance, Indonesia)

So Many Boys [Naughty List]- Suzanne Young

Summer of Skinny Dipping- Amanda Howells (In the style of "I know what you did last summer")

Star Shack- Lila Castle (contemporary, horoscope, romance)

Girl, 16: Five-Star Fiasco- Sue Limb (romance, humour)

Battle of the Sun - Jeanette Winterson (Urban Fantcasy, London, Male MC)

Magical Mischief- Anna Dale (fantasy, humour, set in a bookstore)

Forgive My Fins- Tera Lynn Childs (fantasy, mermaid, romance)

Freak Magnet- Andrew Auseon (Contemporary, romance, humour)

Bruiser- Neal Shusterman (Contemporary, at least one male MC)

Only the Good Spy Young [Gallagher Girls]- Ally Carter (suspense, thriller)

Queen of Secrets - Jenny Meyerhoff (romance, cheerleader MC)

Things I know about love- Kate le Vann (romance, NYC, British)

Tweet heart-Elizabeth Rudnick (romance, humour, told in tweets, emails and blogs)

The Deathday Letter- (contemporary, last day alive)

Reality Check- Jen Calonita (reality tv, tagline: Friends don't let friends so reality shows)

Deception [Haunting Emma]- Lee Nichols (paranormal)

The Mosts- Melissa Senate (popularity)

My Ultimate Sister Diasaster- Jane Mendle (contemporary, sibling rivalry)

Nocturne- L.D. Harkrader (Romance, Paranormal, vampire, bookstore)

Poser- Sue Wyshynski (surfing, popularity)

Queen's Daughter- Susan Conventry (historical)

The Secret to Lying- Todd Mitchell (Male MC, adrenaline rush, dreams)

Sisters Red- Jackson Pearce (fantasy, family, love)

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner- Stephenie Meyer

Carter's Big Break- Brent Crawford (Hollywood)

June [Conspiracy 365]- Gabrielle Lord (Male MC, Boy finds out someone killed his father and he has a year to live- one of these books is released every month.)

July

Blindsided-Priscilla Cummings (MC is told she will lose her sight)

The Grimm Legacy- Polly Shulman (A library of fairy tale things from Brothers Grimm Legends, contents start to disappear)

Paisley Hanover Kisses and Tells [Paisley Hanover]- Cameron Tuttle (contemporary, popularity, reputation)

Watch Me- Lauren Barnholdt (reality tv, romance)

Come Fall- A.C.E. Bauer (based on A Midsummer's Night Dream)

My Life As A Book- Janet Tashijan (Male MC, slow learning)

August

Divided Souls [Darke Academy]- Gabriella Poole (suspense, murder, Istanbul)

Plus- Veronica Chambers (romance, weight, contemporary)

Thresholds- Nina Kiriki Hoffman (magic, paranormal)

You wish- Mandy Hubbard (A girl wishes for all her birthday wishes ever to come true, and it happens)

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June- Robin Benway (paranormal, magical sisters)

The Wonder of Charlie Anne- Kimberly Fusco (historical, Depression era)

The Madman of Venice- Sophie Masson (based on The Merchant of Venice, historical, mystery)

Mockingjay [Hunger Games]- Suzanne Collins

The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz- Laura Tofflier (told in emails and one act plays, contemporary, NYC)

No and me- Delphine de Vigan (translated, Paris, homelessness)

Juggler in the Wind [The Wand Bearer, Book 1]- Wim Coleman and Patt Perrin (Male MC, fantasy)

The Charlatan's Boy- Jonathon Rogers (hoax, paranormal)

Butterfly- Sonya Hartnett (coming of age)

I was also happy to see that they're releasing the Famous Five Series (I don't know how big they were in America, but I think they were a rite of passage for us British system babies) and some of the Ramona the Pest books, since a movie's coming up!

Happy Summer Reading!

6 comments:

Natalie Aguirre said...

Thanks for your awesome list. I love fantasy so see many I hope to read. I agree though that there's tons of paranormal fantasies & vampire stories these days.

That's great you found an imprint you love. Wouldn't it be awesome if they published your book?

Unknown said...

Claire,

Good list! I'm guessing these are only books that are releasing in the summer months?

This list seems geared toward the female reader (although I did see the one story with the male mc), so for the sake of balance I'd like to add a title. It has already been released (but just): The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan. Riordan is the author of the Percy Jackson/Lightning Thief series. I'm reading it now, and it's great (hope to have a review up on my blog soon).

I think we should start the boycott right here, right now: NO MORE VAMPIRES! If it sucks, we won't read it!

Marsha Sigman said...

Great list! And I loved Romona the Pest.hahah

Marsha Sigman said...

Yikes! I meant Ramona...

Claire Dawn said...

@ Natalie, it would be tops!

@EJ, It's not that the list is geared towards females. It's that YA is. I think I mentioned all the books with male MC's that I found-6, but tif you get the whole Conspiracy 365 seriess- 1 every month, you'll have 17.

@Marsha, me too!

Anonymous said...

Just added you from our YA group!!-- Bekah