Book Reviews, Reviews by Ariel

Buzz Books 2016: Young Adult Spring/Summer: Exclusive Excerpts from 20 Top New Titles | Review

I received this book for free from the mentioned source in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.



Buzz Books 2016: Young Adult Spring/Summer: Exclusive Excerpts from 20 Top New Titles | ReviewBuzz Books 2016: Young Adult Spring/Summer: Exclusive Excerpts from 20 Top New Titles by Publishers Lunch
Published by: Publishers Lunch on January 14th 2016
Genres: YA
Pages: 249
Source: NetGalley

View on: Goodreads
Grab it: Amazon
About the Book:

This fourth edition of Buzz Books: Young Adult provides substantial pre-publication excerpts from 20 forthcoming young adult books. Now everyone can share the same access to the newest YA voices the publishing industry is broadcasting for the spring/summer season.

You will find a full range of YA titles previewed here—romance, fantasy, humor, literary and the first installment of five new series. Excerpts include new work from established giants of the field: David Levithan, Richelle Mead, Matthew Quick, and Maggie Stiefvater.

From John Corey Whaley and Kimberly McCreight to Kiersten White and Alyson Noel, this latest edition of Buzz Books: Young Adult has must-read selections from eight New York Times bestselling authors. As always, many Buzz Books are sure to make bestseller and “best of” lists.

Start reading some of the best future books right now, and then share the fun by telling your friends and family to download this free edition of Buzz Books for themselves at any major ebookstore or at www.buzz.publishersmarketplace.com.

For even more great reads, be sure to download Buzz Books 2016: Spring/Summer, also available now, for the best in adult fiction and nonfiction.

 

 

 

 

 

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Hello, everyone!  Today’s review will be a little different as I’m reviewing a Buzz Books book, a collection of excerpts from up and coming novels, in this case, YA novels that are set to release this spring and summer.  I’ll be reviewing a few of the excerpts here, but not all because 20 is far too many.  But if you’re a fan of the YA genre and want to know what’s coming out soon, definitely pick this one up.  There’s a pretty good variety of subgenres and plots, and it’s a good way to see if a book is going to catch your fancy before you commit to actually buying it.

 

ivory and bone book coverOne of the first excerpts is from Ivory and Bone, a debut novel by Julie Eshbaugh.  The book is a YA fantasy novel centering around seventeen-year-old Kol, whose clan is beginning to struggle as food is becoming scarce.  When another clan arrives, it could either be a great alliance or a terrible disaster.  And when a third clan shows up, who knows what will happen?  The excerpt was pretty intriguing, it’s a bit outside of what I usually read, so it was nice to get a glance of something a little different.  Kol seems like an intriguing character.  Technically he’s the leader of the hunting party, but once he realized the mammoths they hunt are more intelligent than they thought, Kol is a lot more reluctant to hunt them down.  We don’t get a lot from any of the newcomers yet, but I’m pretty interested in what’s going to happen next.

 

Girl in the blue coat book coverGirl in the Blue Coat is one that I’m really excited about.  A new YA historical fiction novel from author Monica Hesse, the story follows Hanneke, a young girl growing up in Amsterdam in 1943.  Hanneke delivers black market goods to people who pay her good money to do so.  Things like sausage, good bread, books, and other things that are more difficult to get a hold of now that Germany is occupying the city.  However, when she’s making a delivery to a regular customer, Mrs. Janssen, the older woman asks Hanneke for help finding a person, something that Hanneke does not usually do.  Now Hanneke must try to find the young Jewish teen before the Nazis do.  I am so excited about this one.  I usually try to avoid historical fiction about this time period because let’s face it, chances are it’s going to be horribly depressing.  But I’m really finding myself drawn to this one.  I really enjoyed the writing style, and Hanneke is a really smart girl who is dealing with a lot of difficult things, so I’m definitely intrigued.

 

The Outliers is a new YA mystery from New York Times bestselling author Kimberly McCreight.  Our protagonist is Wylie, a teenage girl still The Outliers (The Outliers #1) book coverdealing with the loss of her mother when she gets a cryptic text from her best friend asking Wylie to help her.  Wylie hasn’t spoken to her friend Cassie since their last fight, but she decided to help her out, because what are best friends for?  However, Cassie won’t tell Wylie where she is, just cryptic clues. The premise of this sounds really good to me, but I feel like it might be a little slow to start.  In the excerpt we don’t even get to the text message from Cassie, we just get Cassie’s mom showing up at Wylie’s house.  It is the first in a series, so that could explain why it seems a little slow in the beginning.  It definitely seems interesting, though.

 

Every Exquisite Thing book coverMatthew Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook is coming out with a new contemporary YA novel, Every Exquisite Thing.  Quick tells the story of Nanette, a teenage girl who has basically been the star student/daughter for as long as she can remember.  Then, one of her favorite teachers gives her a cult classic novel, The Bubblegum Reaper.  The book sparks Nanette’s rebellious side and she spends the novel discovering her true self.  I always love a good coming of age novel, and this one seems promising.  I enjoyed the excerpt a lot, and it made me wish I could read The Bubblegum Reaper since reading it seems to be such a life changing experience.  We get a basic summary of the book as Nanette reads it, and I’m interested to see just how the book affects her life.

 

Another debut novel, The Crown’s Game from Evelyn Skye is the first in a new YA fantasy series.  There are only two enchanters left in Russia, Vika Andreyev and The Crown's Game (The Crown's Game #1) book coverNikolai Karimov.  With the Ottoman Empire threatening to take over at any given moment, the tsar must have the most powerful enchanter as his advisor.  This is why he creates the Crown’s Game, a duel between enchanters.  The only catch is that if you lose the Crown’s Game, you lose your life.  The summary of this book seems really promising, including action, adventure, and a love triangle.  Normally I think love triangles are overdone, but this one sounds really interesting and I feel like the romance isn’t going to be the main focus at all, which will help.  The excerpt really caught my attention, I just wish we could have seen a little bit of Nikolai, as the excerpt just focuses on Vika.  But she seems like a really fun character, and I’m definitely excited for this one.

 

Beware That Girl book coverBeware that Girl is a new YA thriller from author Teresa Toten.  Kate O’Brien is a teenager who has recently received a scholarship to Waverly School in NYC.  Her plan is to climb to the top of the social ladder and make sure she gets into her dream college – Yale.  She quickly targets Olivia Sumner as the “it” girl that’s going to bring her to the top of the social food chain at Waverly and befriends her.  And when Mark Redkin joins the staff at Waverly, everyone is instantly charmed by him.  However, he poses more of a threat than you would think at first glance.  Kate seems like a character that you’re not necessarily supposed to like… and yet I do.  You can tell just by the excerpt that she doesn’t care about befriending Olivia as much as she cares about how Olivia can help her get what she wants.  She seems really manipulative, and yet I love it.  There’s also a lot of mystery surrounding Olivia.  She’s definitely damaged, and I was left wanting to know what exactly happened.

 

Last, but not least, And I Darken by Kiersten White.  The children of Vlad the Impaler are not what one would expect.  Lada, his daughter, is strong willed and not the meek little princess that Vlad expected.  And Radu, Lada’s younger brother, is much more emotional, and far less prone to getting in fights.  The story is set in 15th century Romania, during the Ottoman Empire.  This is the first in a new trilogy, and I cannot wait to sink my teeth into it!

And I Darken (The Conquerors Saga #1) book cover

 

If any of these sound good to you, or if you want to know more about what’s on the way in the next few months, please pick up Buzz Books 2016:  Young Adult, Spring/Summer.  I’m giving the book itself 4 out of 5 controllers.  It has a really good variety of YA books, so there’s something for everyone!

 

 

 

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