Buzz Books 2015: Young Adult Spring

I read through this last night. Three works were very intriguing, and I can't wait to tell our school librarian about them. I believe they will interest our high school readers.
The selections were 99 Days by Katie Catugno, Painless by SA Harazin, and Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan.

This book as always is brilliant. Gives a great snapshot into upcoming trends and YA titles, have ordered several for my library from this book because of it.

I love the ability to see what's coming up in the next season and finding books that wouldn't have been on my radar. The best part of the book buzz edition is the fact that you discover new authors and get to read an excerpt of their work before committing to reading the entire book.

Cannot wait for these titles to be released! I would definitely make this Buzz Books catalog available to the mass public so they can get a taste of what is to come. I would definitely feature it at my blog!

A really awesome sampler of all the upcoming YA books for 2015! Highly recommended for all book bloggers.

Buzz Books is an excellent window into which books we should be keeping an eye out for, with 26 exclusive pre-publication excerpts both young adult and middle-grade novels.

Who can resist such a thing? Actually getting to try-before-you-buy in such ease and comfort - and exciting when you discover that it has excerpts from books I had already listed in my 'need to read' pile for 2015!

It's also handy with additional information and I can't rate it highly enough for other book reviewers out there. As for book readers, I'll get on to the meaty part which is the 26 excerpts!

In this, well, it's almost an anthology - we had the following:

WrathDawnTHE WRATH AND THE DAWN by Renée Ahdieh (Putnam Juvenile)

This was such a happy discover as I started reading, as it caught my eye in other lists and is easily one of the main books I'm looking forward to this year. When I was a child I had Arabian Nights as one of the few books at grandmas house that I could read - other than the Secret Garden, the rest were all boring westerns or gardening books - so I've known the tale of Shahryar and Scheherazade since I was young - how she tells him a story each night but never ends it, so he keeps her alive in order to find out what happens next.

This short preview shows you Shahrzad (a shortened version of Scheherazade) getting ready in order to see Khalid Ibn al-Rashid, Caliph of Khorasan, someone she hates on sight. And then it ends there! So very cruel. I can't wait for this to come out, May is certainly way too far away.

A SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS by Kathleen Baldwin (Tor Teen)

This one is a little harder to grasp from such a short preview. It's of a school, but all we see are Georgiana's parents acting rather... well, the preview is short and all, but I don't see how they would act this way in public at that time. They seem to be there for plot alone, rather than as realistic characters or individuals - snapping and carrying on about what their daughter has done as if they're children themselves. Because of this, it doesn't really come across as a good sample for the book itself, which would - I assume - barely mention the parents again and be entirely about the school.

Still, it seems interesting. If I saw the book while out I'd look at it a bit more, but I really think the preview should have been of Georgiana being shown around the school, or a first lesson or something.

UNDERTOW by Michael Buckley (HMH Books for Young Readers)

Shallow, one-dimensional and poor characterisation - other than the mother, who seems interesting.

SERIOUSLY WICKED by Tina Connolly (Tor Teen)

Quite cute, launching off into the list of chores a girl has who lives with a witch - things like, clean of the dragon's den and feed and walk the werewolf. I found the writing style a little hard to keep going with, but it shows promise and I like how spells aren't easy - this goes into the math behind them and how witches try to hide their secrets.

99 DAYS by Katie Cotugno (Balzer + Bray)

Another love triangle book. Daughter of an author fucks up between two brothers, and leaves the town they grew up in as the plot of her mothers latest book hits the tabloids, exploiting a secret she shared about how she cheated on one guy with his brother. The girl then returns, having to spend 99 days back in this town. Why did she even leave in the first place? Quite melodramatic. The introduction of Gabe was a bit odd - he didn't seem to care much about anything when she returns to the town. It seems on one hand no one gives a shit, and on the other hand they're all over-reacting quite a bit. While I don't see why anyone feels the need to cheat or 'just lets it happen', I also don't think it's that much of a deal - or anyones business.

SAINT ANYTHING by Sarah Dessen (Viking)

This one was a little odd. The Synopsis makes it seem as though the main character has a reckless brother and then she discovers a new friend and how excellent her family is (the family of the friend, that is). Instead this preview sends out mega creep vibes, seeming as though a friend of the family is grooming the MC ad would have tried to assault her if she didn't get her friend around with pizza that night.

It seems odd to offer a preview so at odds with the synopsis when this is the only little bit you get of the novel. It kinda works if you're already a massive fan of Dessen, but from a standalone marketing point of view it's... odd.

FERALS by Jacob Grey (HarperCollins)

Have to admit, I didn't read this one all the way through. Just not my thing.

PAINLESS by S. A. Harazin (Albert Whitman Teen)

Kind of a bland preview, which is a shame as I've always found this kind of thing incredibly interesting - where your nerve endings are shot, so you can't tell/feel if you've accidentally cut yourself, or if you've scratched yourself in the night so much you've bled, etc. You can't feel heat from a fire so you could melt your skin off and not know. It's all so fascinating, but unfortunately, the preview doesn't do itself any favours and I probably won't get this book.

MAGONIA by Maria Dahvana Headley (HarperCollins)

MagnoliaThis is another I've been really looking forward to - I have to admit, it's basically the cover that caught my eye, but it's the plot I'm staying for. Aza has a rare disease - so rare, it's now been named after her. She struggles to breathe our air, needing less oxygen than we do, and often finds herself drowning in it, having seizures, etc.

What I loved about this preview is how you see the range of people and their attitudes towards a very ill person. Sometimes it's portrayed that no one understands, or that everyone treats you as though you're made of glass, but in this you get a bit of everything. I loved the teacher who didn't care at all and still thought Aza could get things done like anyone else.

I'll certainly be getting this one as soon as it comes out. I can't wait!

SEED by Lisa Heathfield (Running Press Teens)

This is another interesting one. Seemingly an isolated community a bit like that odd 2004 'The Village' movie, we see a girl become a SeedLisawoman and what happens to girls when the first start to bleed. This girl is in hopes she'll become the newest 'companion' to their leader, who is known as Papa S... so from fairly early-on we get a pretty firm idea that this is a cult, and that there's certainly allowance if not encouragement for underaged girls to be used freely by much older men.

I'll keep an eye out for this one - it certainly seems to grab you in, if only to see the baffling ideals this cult has. I'm not sure how I'll find the romance that I'm expecting will occur as the synopsis says some other guy moves into the community with his very ill mother, and he no doubt questions everything the community stands for, and hence opens the girl's eyes up a bit.

NIGHTBIRD by Alice Hoffman (Wendy Lamb Books)

Another I couldn't really get into, unfortunately.

ANOTHER DAY by David Levithan (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)

I haven't read much Levithan yet - only The Lover's Dictionary which I quite enjoyed. This one is quite good, but uncomfortable if you've ever been in the kind of relationship where you're that girl - emotionally twisted into being pathetic and needy and unable to see that it's not just because you're being a bit silly; it's also because they're the ones making you feel awkward and unwelcome and your defence results in making it worse.

I probably won't get this book. I think it'll be well written and excellent and everyone will be fans, but I also think it'll be sad and awkward and hit a little too close to home for me.

AFTER THE RED RAIN by Barry Lyga with Peter Facinelli and Robert DeFranco (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

This one will be interesting, with three authors doing the one book. From reading the synopsis you can't really tell, it's a well-fleshed dystopian that reminds me quite a bit of the world in Pure by Julianna Baggott - that level of complete ruin where materials are so scarce.

The characters seem to be intelligent, and this seems like an interesting book - I'd pick it up again if I came across the full book once its out and have a bit more of a look at it. Peter Facinelli - I was wondering where I'd heard that name before - he was the vampire 'dad' in the Twilight movies. Interesting!

NOWHERE BUT HERE by Katie McGarry (Harlequin Teen)

Didn't read, not my kind of thing, it seems. It's probably fine, but motorcycle gangs are a bit of a problem where I live, and while I know there's some good clubs out there, I just wouldn't be able to get into that headspace here.

THE HAUNTING OF SUNSHINE GIRL by Paige McKenzie (Weinstein Books)

HauntingSunshineThis has quite a good set up - someone watching a girl celebrate her 16th birthday, apparently her real mum as the girl celebrates with a friend and her foster mum. The girl apparently has powers - something to do with feeling when someone dies, which manifests on the second she turns 16.

Then you see the girl and the foster mum move across America for a job opportunity, and see them settle into the new creepy home. The girl is reading Pride & Prejudice and mentions how no one uses the words flutter or enquires anymore - which I find odd, I mean, enquiries is pretty dang common, isn't it? Butterflies flutter? Anyway, I'll probably try find this book when it comes out in March. In looking up things about this book, they say it's 'based on the wildly popular YouTube channel, The Haunting of Sunshine Girl has been described as 'Gilmore Girls meets Paranormal Activity for the new media age.'' - I haven't watched Gilmore Girls, shocking, I know. But I do love Paranormal Activity.

KISSING IN AMERICA by Margo Rabb (HarperCollins)

Just couldn't get into this one.

TAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR by Geoff Rodkey (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

While I enjoy some books for younger readers, this one failed to grab me - though I'd love to have read it while judging CBCA as it seems it would be fun.

WHEN YOU LEAVE by Monica Ropal (Running Press Teens)

Cass is at a fancy new school on scholarship where she keeps getting in trouble. We see the hottest guy in school pretend she's his girlfriend in order to avoid getting in trouble for snooping through the teacher's desk, and also see Cass try to recover from the make-out session. She's a skater girl with a best friend who's unable to talk after a brush with cancer.

Nothing horribly wrong or bad about this book at all, but it didn't really grab me either which seems to be the general consensus on goodreads.

DAUGHTER OF DEEP SILENCE by Carrie Ryan (Dutton Juvenile)

DaughterofDeepSilenceI read The Forest of Hands and Teeth but didn't really love it. I liked elements of it, but overall it spiralled down into one whole big 'nope' from me.

Luckily, this seems quite interesting. A cruise ship is taken by pirates or terrorists, either way, people with guns who kill indiscriminately. A girl is found a week later, barely alive and with a recently deceased friend who only needed to hold on for an hour longer - it seems so cruel after they survived so long. The girl then sees on TV that two others from the ship have survived also - but they say it was a freak wave and make no mention of the men with guns.

The girl has lost her parents and best friend, and now she's not sure what's happened or why they're lying.

Pretty good set up! I might just look for this one after all.

FUZZY MUD by Louis Sachar (Delacorte Press)

Also just not my thing, unfortunately.

THE KEEPERS by Ted Sanders (HarperCollins)

This is about a young boy who finds he can change worlds, and his friend Chloe who can walk through walls. This is written in a charming manner, showing us the boy as he discovers a store with his name on it, as she's practically chased there by an unsettlingly tall man he later discovers is a hunter. What this all means though, we'd have to buy the book to find out.

This is one I'd recommend to Sam for sure!

KISSING TED CALLAHAN (AND OTHER GUYS) by Amy Spalding (Poppy)

I skim-read this one, but it didn't really catch my attention.

GOODBYE STRANGER by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books)

This seems like quite a sweet book, showing a girl who survived a horrific car crash but it's left her wondering why she's alive. We see her on a date perhaps, and their interaction is quite lovely. Though from this short extract we don't really see how this is aimed at middle grade, I'd certainly say a bit older than that simple from how the characters interact with each other.

BIGGIE by Derek E. Sullivan (Albert Whitman Teen)

'Biggie', real name Henry, weighs in at 136kg (more than double what I weight, my goodness!). He's the son of a famous baseballer and has no interest in following in his footsteps. He says at his weight, people leave him alone. When you're slightly overweight people stare or call you names but once you get obese they stop looking at you and give you A-'s for just turning up in class and keeping quiet.

Weight surely seems like the biggest craze at the moment with nearly everyone at least watching what they eat if not on a diet, and you can always nearly find some weight/food focus on the tv at any moment of the day. It's an interesting thought.

AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir (Razorbill)

Set in a Rome-like world, Laia waits up late one night for her brother as she has done for too long now. She suspects he's a traitor, but the truth is much worse than that. When he's arrested for treason she goes undercover as a slave in hopes she'll be able to free him before he's executed.

This seems like an exciting and decently written tale, and is out in April.

ASK THE DARK by Henry Turner (Clarion Books)

Unfortunately I had to end on an 'eh' note, Ask the Dark just didn't grab me.

~

Overall this collection was a lot of fun to read through, and added a few more books to my lists to keep an eye out for!

Well worth the read. Some really good ideas for future purchases.

OMG. These book teasers are the worst! And by the worst I mean the best. Waiting to read the rest is the worst. Titles I'm especially excited for are:
Undertow by Michael Buckley Painless by S.A. Harazin Magonia by Maria Headley Nightbird by Alice Hoffman (!)
Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar The Keepers: The Box and the Dragonfly by Ted Sanders Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead (!)
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Title: Buzz Books 2015: Young Adult Spring Publisher: Publishers Lunch Buzz Books Rating: 3/5

This book contains the first few chapters of various books coming out in Spring 2015. It was my first time requesting a Buzz Books publication and I found myself falling for a few titles, which I’ll most likely request from Netgalley. I appreciated the format of the book!

I especially am excited to request:

Daughter of Deep Silence, by Carrie Ryan When You Leave, by Monica Ropal The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, by Paige McKenzie Another Day, by David Levithan A School for Unusal Girls, by Kathleen Baldwin

I’d like to thank Publishers Lunch, as well as Netgalley, for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great List.

YA titles are so great at the moment!!

I love these shor previews of books to come. Reading a few pages from the books that are soon to be released gives me a great taste of what is coming soon, and let's me know what I will be interested in purchasing in the coming months.

I read all of the previews provided so that I kno the basic tone of the book. These previews are very helpful in choosing future reads.

AWESOME! This is so great, I definitely discovered a couple new books I want to read!

As a librarian I look forward to books like this to lure my teen readers. Keep up the good work and keep the volumes coming.

Features some brilliant looking books

Another awesome preview of YA books from Book Buzz. There is a real mix of genre, reading ability and authors featured all with useful publishing info and links.

I really liked the format of this sampler with a brief summary and a short excerpt. I knew Sarah Dessen has a book coming out (which I CANNOT wait for), and recognized several of the other authors, but I also found new authors and their books which I am excited about. Since learning about it from this preview, I read Monica Ropal's When You Leave, which I enjoyed. Other titles I will probably purchase for my library: Renee Ahdieh's The Wrath and The Dawn, Kathleen Baldwin's A School for Unusual Girls, Margo Rabb's Kissing in America, and Amy Spaulding's Kissing Ted Callahan. I will suggest Rebecca Stead's Goodbye Stranger and Geoff Rodkey's Tapper Twins Go to War to our middle grades book purchaser. I will definitely read more of these Buzz Book samplers. (The below questions aren't applicable.).

The Buzz Books are a great way to sample new authors that you might not have discovered otherwise! I really love these samplers and am so glad that they decided to keep the Young Adult version, which is one of my favorite genres!

While I read every sample, these are the stories that caught my eye and made me want more: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdiem Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley Nightbird by Alice Hoffman Another Day by David Levithan The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie

Some of these surprised me, as they're not my usual type of read. But that's the joy of samplers, as I probably wouldn't have picked them up on my own but the writing drew me in!

Have you had a chance to read this sampler yet? What new YA titles are you most looking forward to reading?

Buzz Books are perfect for librarians (like myself) who provide readers' advisory. It's one thing to read a brief publisher's description of a title, but having an excerpt allows me to really get a feel for the author's style and make more informed decisions when recommending it.

Great jumping off point. Every collection from Buzz Books has got me curious to read a number of new books. Love the idea.

I love these! I have read a few, they’re just great, neat simple way to learn about new books. I have found some from last year’s that I just loved; so when I see this years I had to read it and I’m so glad I did! This book may not be good in the way it grows my ‘To Be Read’ list but that is what I love about it! I enjoy finding new reads that I get to share with the readers of my blog. Undertow by Michael Buckley Sounds amazing and just downloaded it from netgalley and can’t wait to read it. Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly is one that I hope I get the chance to read! Sarah Dessen is one of my all-time favorite authors and having the change to see a sneak peek into her next book just pushed me over the edge of happiness!
Magonia is one that I’m dying to read! First, sounds amazing, and second the cover is breathtaking! There are so many amazing books, this book has sneak peeks, author info and more! I love this book and can’t wait till next years!

I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from netgalley.

I love the Buzz Books preview, and I'm always ready to get excited about new spring releases! In this sampling, I was particularly impressed by the always-wonderful Sarah Dessen, who looks to be delivering another heartfelt and lovely book. I hope that teens will be reading her material long into the future, and I was getting a little worried because it's been a few years since she's released anything, but it looks like Saint Anything will be worth the wait. The other notable title in here is Rebecca Stead's new book. When You Reach Me is a masterpiece in middle grade fiction, one of the books that I consistently recommend to anyone of any age, and her new one looks just as promising. Overall, I'm very excited for many of these titles and I look forward to reading them.

Nice preview of upcoming books that helped me with purchasing for my library.

Love these sneak peaks into what's coming out in the next few months. Keep them coming! I checked yes below because I have already purchased several of these titles!

Excellent place to see up and coming YA titles I may have missed. Thank you.

This collection of excerpts whets the appetite for the forthcoming titles and provides the best book hooks.

I love this compilation of Young Adults books to watch for in 2015. Recommended for anyone who wants to follow new work and favorite authors.

I'm really excited to continue reading a lot of the books that were in this preview.

Buzz Books 2015: Young Adult Spring is very helpful because it lets us read samples of books that will be published in the near future, which in turn helps bloggers see which books they will like to read and review before they even hit the stores. This is very helpful when it comes to discovering new authors. This is a great tool for the avid reader and professional book reviewer.

This is kind of a no brainer to me as an avid YA reader. This is a free sampler that contains a variety of excerpts from a very diverse group of books spanning all of the genres within YA. Every YA fan can definitely find books within this sampler that will strike their fancy. I know I ended up adding several of them to my "to-read" list so that I will remember to be on the lookout for them.

There are several books from authors that are already established, but there are several more from unknown authors. I always love discovering new authors, so that's the main reason I requested this sampler. But I also haven't read anything by a few of the more established, familiar names which made it nice to see excerpts of their voice and their storytelling.

If you are a YA fan, there is really no reason not to check out this sampler.

I loved reading through this! I usually don't mess with the samplers but I liked how there's different genres in this one! I saw a few that sounds really interesting! I added a few to my TBR list!

A few that stood out were: 99 days by Katie Cotugno, Saint Anything by Sarah Dressen, Ferals by Jacob Grey, Painless by S.A. Harazin, and a few more1

Fantastic peek at spring/summer books, I appreciated the tantalizing look at so many great titles!

I have a real love/hate relationship with these samplers in general (and Buzz Books in particular): while I love finding new goodies to read, my to-read and wishlists are already ridiculous enough without growing them even more. I have AN EMBER IN THE ASHES on preorder; am dying to get my hands on THE WRATH AND THE DAWN (and who isn't?); and DAUGHTER OF DEEP SILENCE, THE HAUNTING OF SUNSHINE GIRL, and MAGONIA were already on my radar. Add to that A SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS, PAINLESS, SEED, NIGHTBIRD, and - well, you get the idea.

Just shut up and take my money, please!

Again, thanks for making the Buzz Books so user-friendly!

Great to read these fab extracts and have added lots of books to my wishlist as a result!

I think I pretty have all 26 titles on my wishlist of books to get. They all sound so good and its nice to see a mix of return authors and books as well as debut authors. This is a great resource for me.

I really enjoy these excerpts - great way to look at frontlist titles without investing a ton of time into books that may be far outside your wheelhouse.

It's amazing how reading this made me excited for all these books to come out. I had heard of quite a lot of them already, but I still found it really interesting and well-thought.

I just love these samplers of excerpts. It helps me add to my to-read list and gets me so hyped about what's coming out! Thank you so so much for releasing this!

Some of these are SO good!! Unbelievably excited now.

Truly enjoyable! Can't wait for all of them to come out!

These Buzz Books anthologies help me stay current with the latest trends in YA publishing, so I can recommend new, hot titles to teens. Thanks!

I would recommend this book for anyone who would like to get a feel for what the novels will be like. This was an excellent resource for me as a school librarian.

If you want a quick sampling of this spring's new young adult books then give this a go! It made me want to grab these books when they become available in order to find out what happens next because they were just too short for me, especially Sabaa Tahir's "An Ember in the Ashes!"

Gave a great opportunity to choose a wide variety of titles for my highschool readers. I do think the book would assist English teachers in encouraging students to read outside the required list of books.