Here's a round up of the latest book news, deals and some cover reveals that I've discovered over the past while. It's also basically a digest of all the exciting news stories that come my way and which I've mostly already posted on my twitter and Facebook feeds, so if you want up-to-the-minute book news and you don't want to have to wait around for me to type this up, you can follow me on those sites!
Like
DaisyChainBookReviews on Facebook || Follow @
daisychainbooks on Twitter and then you'll never miss a thing!
The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord || Release date: March 2015
Following her pitch-perfect debut Open Road Summer, Emery Lord pens another gorgeous story of best friends, new love, & second chances.
It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for a year, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?
Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.
**********
I Was Here by Gayle Forman || Release date: January 2015
Cody and Meg were inseparable.
Two peas in a pod.
Until . . . they weren’t anymore.
When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.
I Was Here is Gayle Forman at her finest, a taut, emotional, and ultimately redemptive story about redefining the meaning of family and finding a way to move forward even in the face of unspeakable loss.
Book Deals, Book Deals, Book Deals....
The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich
Alvina Ling at Little, Brown bought U.S. rights to Dawn Kurtagich's debut YA novel, The Dead House, in a two-book deal; it was simultaneously acquired in the U.K. by Jenny Glencross at Indigo. The psychological thriller, which is set for fall 2015, is about the discovery of a diary in the ruins of a high school that burned down 25 years earlier. The diary was written by the twin sister of a student who disappeared in the fire. Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary Agency negotiated the U.S. sale, while Polly Nolan handled the U.K. one.
The Odds of Lightning by Jocelyn Davies
Sara Sargent at Simon Pulse has acquired, at auction, a YA novel called The Odds of Lightning by Jocelyn Davies (A Beautiful Dark). In the story, the lives of four teens intersect by chance during a freak thunderstorm in New York City. When they are struck by lightning, they embark on an epic all-nighter to follow their dreams, fall in love, reconcile the past, and ultimately realize they were brought together to help each other break free of everyone else's expectations – including their own. Publication is scheduled for summer 2016; Jessica Regel at Foundry Literary + Media did the deal for North American rights.
Holding Smoke by Elle Cosimano
Emily Meehan at Hyperion has acquired a YA novel called Holding Smoke by Elle Cosimano, author of Nearly Gone. Pitched as The Shawshank Redemption meets If I Stay, the story tells of a boy serving time for a murder he didn't commit and who, after a near-death experience, finds himself able to separate his soul from his body and travel in a quest to find the real killer and clear his name. Publication is scheduled for spring 2016; Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary Agency did the two-book deal for world English rights.
Second Life by S.J. Watson
Transworld is to publish S J Watson’s new book next year, and has signed a further two novels from the author.
Second Life will be published by Doubleday in hardback in February 2015, with the other two books in the deal scheduled for publication in 2017 and 2019.
Larry Finlay, m.d. of Transworld Publishers, said: “Steve has delivered a roller-coaster of a read.
“Second Life is a multi-layered, psychological thriller where no one is quite what they seem.
“I tore through the pages as he ramps up the tension again and again, taking the reader into dark and unexpected places. It’s a tremendous accomplishment – exciting, dramatic and unyielding.”
Watson’s debut Before I Go To Sleep, which has sold over a million copies in paperback and e-book in the UK according to Transworld, has been adapted for a film starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong, which will be released on 5th September.
Watson’s literary agent Clare Conville said: "It's very exciting to know that the film of Before I Go To Sleep will be in cinemas this autumn, that Steve's fantastically gripping new novel Second Life is to be published next year and to have a new two book deal in place.
“Steve goes from strength to strength and all with the incredible publishing support of Transworld."
*********
More Book Covers of Awesome...
The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand
Release date: February 2015
There's death all around us.
We just don't pay attention.
Until we do.
The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment.
Now she's just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be.
As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night Tyler died. But there's a secret she hasn't told anyone-a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything.
Lex's brother is gone. But Lex is about to discover that a ghost doesn't have to be real to keep you from moving on.
From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand, The Last Time We Say Goodbye is a gorgeous and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, and letting go.
*********
First, There Was Forever by Juliana Romano
Release date: February 2015
Perfect for fans of Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty and Huntley Fitzpatrick’s My Life Next Door, Juliana Romano's expressive debut is an absorbing and bittersweet story about first love, first loss,and the friends that carry us through it all.
Lima and Hailey have always been best friends: Lima shy and sensitive, Hailey funny and free-spirited. But Hailey abandons Lima to party with the popular kids and pursue Nate, her disinterested crush. As their friendship falters, Lima and Nate begin spending more time together. And before Lima knows what she’s feeling, she and Nate do something irreversible. Something that would hurt Hailey....if she knew it happened.
Lima thinks she’s saving her friendship by lying, but she’s only buying time. As the secrets stack up, Lima is forced to make a choice: between her best friend forever, and the boy who wasn’t meant to be hers.
**********
Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver || Release date: March 2015
New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver delivers a gripping story about two sisters inexorably altered by a terrible accident.
Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.
In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.
*********
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard || Release date: March 2015
Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood—those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend is conscripted into the army, she gambles everything to win his freedom. A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a superhuman ability she didn’t know she had.
Except . . . her blood is Red.
To hide this impossibility, the king forces her into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks her new position to aid the Scarlet Guard—the leaders of a budding Red rebellion. Her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince and Mare against her own heart.
*********
Charmed (Hexed #2) by Michelle Krys
Release date: May 2015
(synopsis not included in case of spoilers. You can read it here.)
**********
And...that's it for the round up! Let me know your thoughts in comments!
I can't wait to get my hands on the new books by Emery Lord and Gayle Forman in particular, and I have to say The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich sounds right up my street.
I'll also be adding First, There Was Forever to next summer's reading list.
Please note that book covers may not be final and may be subject to change. Additional sources: PW Children's Bookshelf, The Bookseller & Goodreads.
