"What's New" October YA Releases & Giveaway

If your September went anything like mine, basically we all blinked and it was GONE.  But now it's October! Weeee! :D  My favorite month of the year!! Fall is here, and for us here in Cali, it's finally starting to feel like it! Time to bust out all the spooky reads!  Halloween is a big deal in this house---it's time to set up the graveyard in my front yard again!  Plus, this will be the first year we make it to Disneyland during Halloween Time! :D  I'm so freaking excited!! :D

So if you're new to Stories & Sweeties, here's a little run-down of this feature: at the start of each month, I do a little thing called the "What's New List & Giveaway" where you'll find a full list of the new releases in YA for the month, and entry to the giveaway. At the end of each month, one lucky winner will get to choose any new release as their prize!

First things first! The winner of September's giveaway was: JenniferG W!  Congratulations! :D

October 2013 Releases:
Just like previous months, I've put a little l♥ve by those books that I am really anticipating!

{1}
Allure by Lea Nolan
The Beautiful and the Damned by Jessica Verday ♥
Blackout by Robison Wells
Eat Brains Love by Jeff Hart
The Enchanter Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
Endless by Jessica Shirvington
Endless Knight by Kresley Cole
Entangled by Amy Rose Capetta ♥
Evanescent by Andria Buchanan
The Ghost Prison by Joseph Delaney
The Girl who Soared over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Cathrynne M. Valente♥
Goodbye, Rebel Blue by Shelley Coriell♥
Hereafter by Kate Brian
Hero by Alethea Kontis♥
Hideous Love by Stephanie Hemphill
How to Love by Katie Cotugno
Made of Stars by Kelley York
Merlin's Shadow by Robert Treskillard
My Basmati Bat Mitzvah by Paula J. Freedman
Perfect Ruin by Lauren Destefano♥
Pretenders by Lisi Harrison
Rebel Heart by Moira Young
The Rule of Thirds by Chantel Guertin
Shadowlark by Meagan Spooner
Sick by Tom Leveen
Six Months Later by Natalie Richards
Skulk by Rosie Best
Stained by Cheryl Rainfield
Unbreakable by Kami Garcia♥
Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles
Zom-B Baby by Darren Shan
  
{3}
Everything Breaks by Vicki Grove
Man Made Boy by Jon Skovron♥
Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff

{7}
Confessions: The Private School Murders by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
  
{8}
Backwards Glass by David Lomax♥
Backwards by Todd Mitchell
Bang by Lisa McMann♥
Beauty's Daughter by Carolyn Meyer
Blood Bound by Keshia Swaim
Blythewood by Carol Goodman♥
The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney♥
BZRK Reloaded by Michael Grant
Cutting Room Floor by Dawn Klehr
Dare Me by Eric Devine
Death and the Girl He Loves by Darynda Jones
Desert Tales by Melissa Marr
Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier
The Extra by Kathryn Lasky
The Eye of Minds by James Dashner
Juvie by Steve Watkins
The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee♥
Muckers by Sandra Neil Wallace
No Angel by Helen Keeble♥
Phantom Eyes by Scott Tracey
Premeditated by Josin L. Mcquein♥
Pull Down the Night by Nathan Kotecki
Red by Alison Cherry
Resist by Sarah Crossan
Season of the Witch by Mariah Fredericks
Starry-Eyed: 16 Stories that Steal the Spotlight (anthology)
Tandem by Anna Jarzab♥
Time After Time by Tamara Ireland Stone♥

{10}
Just One Year by Gayle Forman

{15}
Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund♥
Anywhere but Here by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken♥
The Deepest Blue by Kim Williams Justesen
Fault Line by C. Desir
Lone Wolves by John Smelcer 
Meet Me at the River by Nina de Gramont
Now I'll Tell You Everything by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
The Osiris Curse by Paul Crilley
Reclaimed by Sarah Guillory
Revealed by Kristin Cast & PC Cast
Slayers: Friends and Traitors by C.J. Hill
Unsouled by Neal Shusterman
The Vow by Jessica Martinez

{22}
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Freak Boy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark
In the Band by Jean Haus
Indigo by Gina Linko
Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales (Anthology)
Reality Boy by A.S. King
Teardrop by Lauren Kate♥

{29}    
Altered by Gennifer Albin♥
Fractured by Sarah Fine
In the Age of Love and Chocolate by Gabrielle Zevin♥
The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa
Notable by Marni Bates
Obsidian Pebble by Rhys A. Jones
Relic by Heather Terrell and Ricardo Cortes
Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow
Waterfell by Amalie Howard♥



(All links go to Goodreads)
Please feel free to email me if you notice any YA titles missing! :)

Giveaway Details:
One winner will win a YA October release of their choice! *see note below
• Contest ends October 31st, 2013 at 11:59 PM
• Must be 13 or older.
• Open internationally. *International winners will be required to choose a book that is available through BookDepository.com.   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Story

New covers to make us drool!

Flame 
by Amy Kathleen Ryan
St. Martin's Griffin, January 7th, 2014

Lady Thief

by AC Gaughen

Walker Children's, February 11, 2014

Maybe One Day

by Melissa Kantor

Harper Teen, February 18, 2014

Shadowplay

by Laura Lim

Strange Chemistry, January 4th, 2014

The One 
by Kiera Cass
Harper Teen, May 6th, 2014

The Strange Maid

by Tessa Gratton

Random house, June 10th, 2014

The Young World 
by Chris Weitz
Little Brown, 2014

Under Nameless Stars

by Christian Schoon

Strange Chemistry, April 1st, 2014

So excited to see The One cover! Beautiful! Love the colors in Flame,  Shadowplay, and Maybe One Day and the boldness of The Young World.  Under Nameless Stars definitely tempts me to start that series!


Any new favorites here?  Any titles that you're desperately waiting to see cover reveals for?? Two for me would be The Hollow by Ransom Riggs and The Seers by Julianna Scott.  I check almost daily for them!!

New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {63}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)

I got quite a few lovely additions to my bookshelf this week!  Some of these are duplicates so I'll be doing a giveaway soon!

For review:

Gris Grimly's Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears by Kersten Hamilton

Dark Star by Bethany Frenette

Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow

Task Force by Brian Falkner

Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi

3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard

Untold by Sara Rees Brennan (!!!)

The Weekly Nutshell:

{Monday} Book Trailers

{Tuesday} Becky's View: Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

{Wednesday} Waiting on Wednesday: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

{Friday} Becky's View: The Weight of Souls by Bryony Pearce

 

 Have a great week, everyone!

Becky's View: The Weight of Souls by Bryony Pearce

The Weight of Souls by Bryony Pearce
♦publisher: Strange Chemistry
♦release date: August 6th, 2013
♦hardcover, 288 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series (possibly)
♦source: from publisher for honest review

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.

And 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?

Review:  Jumping right into the action, The Weight of Souls starts off by showing you exactly what Taylor's curse is.  She is touched by ghosts, given a mark that she must pass on to the ghost's killer.  She has a few weeks to do this---the Darkness will come for whoever bears the Mark, whether it's the killer or Taylor herself.  It's a dangerous life for a teenage girl, going after these murderer's, but her mother trained her well.  

While it took a while to really connect with Taylor, I felt for her harsh life.  Not only does she have to live with this curse, but her father doesn't believe in it and insists it's a disease he can find the cure to.  Her best friend is fed up because Taylor always has to cancel on her to chase after killers---she doesn't know about the curse and Taylor is too afraid to tell her.  She is also constantly bullied at school---cruelly, physically, and racially bullied by a seemingly unstoppable group of popular kids. It was hard to watch her weather so much alone.

Everything changes when the head of the popular kids winds up dead and he unintentionally marks Taylor.  She can't begin to find his killer until she can convince him first that he is dead, and second that he was actually murdered.  As they are forced into being together, I loved that they didn't immediately connect, that she didn't forgive him right away for the horrible way he treated her.  Their closeness grows slowly and their relationship evolves as he works to gain her trust and a few secrets and vulnerabilities are revealed. 

The story is interwoven with Egyptian mythology and the history of how the curse was formed, and it circles around to the climax of Taylor's story.  As much as this information was necessary, I did feel the journal-entry way it was presented made the pacing of the story a bit choppy in parts.  Still, there were some really heart-pounding scenes, a few good romantic moments, and great emotion flowing through the whole story.

 As far as I can tell, there's nothing in the works yet, but The Weight of Souls ends with some definite series potential.  Nothing cliffhanger-y, but the twist at the end and the very last chapter gives the reader an inkling that Taylor and Justin's story might not be finished just yet.  I did love the way it ended with Taylor finally finding a bit of well-deserved peace and happiness, but the story could continue with something even more mythologically epic!

Find Bryony Pearce online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase The Weight of Souls: Amazon  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
by Leslye Walton

hitting shelves March 25th, 2014 from Candelwick Press

description:
Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga.

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird. In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration. That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo. First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human.

My thoughts: Sounds hauting and strangely peculiar in the best way. :)

Becky's View: Unbreakable by Kami Garcia + Giveaway

Unbreakable by Kami Garcia
♦publisher: Little Brown BYR
♦release date: October 1st, 2013
♦hardcover, 320 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Legion, book 1
♦source: from trade

I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.

Review: From start to finish, Unbreakable is a shot of adrenaline.  I tore through this one, literally in one dinner break at work and a few hours the next day. While is may not be ground-breakingly original or incredibly deep, I found it so entertaining and just a fun, exciting read.

Kennedy is ripped away from her good and fairly stable life when her mother dies suddenly.  She is about to be uprooted and put into boarding school, when twin brothers Jared and Lukas burst, quite literally, into her life in the middle of the night, heroically saving her from the same fate as her mother and cluing her in that she is a descendant of the Legion, a secret demon-fighting society.  Her mother was the only member of the society who didn't train their child to follow in her footsteps, which leaves Kennedy completely in the dark.  She finds herself a suspected runaway, having to put her trust in four strangers---the other children of the Legion, all of whom also lost their family on the same night as Kennedy. Now they are bound together, using each of their special skills to track down a mysterious demon-killing weapon and fight off the angry spirits that guard each piece.

The action was the star of this story---lots of exciting fights and some really spine-tingling horror moments.  The ghostly encounters were all incredibly creepy and the settings were the perfect backdrop: an old abandoned house, the bottom of a murky well, an orphanage with a sinister history, and a grisly old prison.   

I felt for Kennedy, she and her mother were close so she is battling many emotions; grief, a feeling of being completely alone, and an extreme doubt that the Legion has the right person as she feels so out of place.   I was a little torn on her relationship with the twins---I generally don't mind a love triangle, but hate when they involve two brothers.  However, the twins' relationship proved to be more complicated than that and their conflict about more than who gets the girl, thank goodness.  I did love Priest---I pictured him as a cool little guy with tons of attitude and a steampunk-ish look to him with his goggles and gadgets.  I actually can't remember if that was how he was described, but that was how he took shape in my head.  I also loved the kind of underlying maternal relationship between him and the outwardly bad-ass Alara.  

The ending was...well, the ending made me kind of mad. Made me feel like their whole quest was for nothing. BUT once I reminded myself that this was a series and there will be more to this story, I was okay with it.  It definitely made me wish I had the next book right now. 

Just a fun, fast read and definitely a perfect choice for a Halloween creep-fest!

Find Kami Garcia online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

 Purchase Unbreakable:  Amazon  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

 

Thanks to Little Brown, I have a copy of Unbreakable to give away! 
•US only, no PO Boxes (publisher's rules)
•Must be 13 or older 
•Ends 10/8/13

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Trailers: Vicious, More Than This, Clockwork Scarab, Teardrop

A few recent book trailers:

Vicious by Victoria Schwab


More Than This by Patrick Ness


Teardrop by Lauren Kate


The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason


Super excited for all four of these books!  What do you think? Do these trailers make you more excited to read these?