Articles tagged "Kirkus Reviews"
THE GRACE YEAR and THE GIRL THE SEA GAVE BACK make the Fall 2019 Kids’ Indie Next List!
The Fall 2019 Kids’ Indie Next List was announced and includes THE GRACE YEAR by Kim Liggett (in the Top Ten!) and THE GIRL THE SEA GAVE BACK by Adrienne Young!
THE GRACE YEAR by Kim Liggett
Available October 8, 2019 from Wednesday Books
No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.
Girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.
“The bones of Liggett’s tale of female repression are familiar ones, but her immersive storytelling effortlessly weaves horror elements with a harrowing and surprising survival story. Profound moments lie in small details, and readers’ hearts will race and break right along with the brave, capable Tierney’s.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Day’s YA – HIS HIDEOUS HEART
Got the mid-summer reading doldrums? EXCELLENT. Allow me to introduce you to thirteen dark and creepy tales guaranteed to pull you out of that funk…
HIS HIDEOUS HEART ed. by Dahlia Adler
9781250302779
Available September 10, 2019 from Flatiron Books
Ages 12 to 18
HIS HIDEOUS HEART is a collection of Edgar Allen Poe’s eeriest tales, reimagined by your favorite Young Adult authors, including Tiffany D. Jackson, Caleb Roehrig, Rin Chupeco, Kendare Blake, and Tessa Gratton, among others.
My favorite stories are…
Tiffany D. Jackson’s “It’s Carnival!” (“The Cask of Amontillado”), in which Cindy seeks revenge on Darrell (after enduring years of harassment) during Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Carnival.
Lamar Giles’ “The Oval Filter” (“The Oval Portrait”) is the unsettling story of Tariq’s dead ex-girlfriend who is haunting his phone while also leading him to her killer.
amanda lovelace’s “The Raven (Remix)” is an enchanting blackout poetry version of Poe’s THE RAVEN, in which large portions of the original text are blacked out to reveal lovelace’s poem underneath.
Stephanie Kuehn’s “Happy Days, Sweetheart” (“The Tell-Tale Heart”), my favorite, is the brutal story of a girl who would do anything to be the best . . . but will her guilt be her downfall?
readmoreremoveTeen Talk (3/26/3019 Edition)
Hello, YA librarians!
Check out our latest & greatest YA titles from this month, then join us on Twitter today at 2:30pm EST for Early Word YA Galley Chat (#ewgcya) and tell us what you’ve been reading & loving!
TIN HEART by Shivaun Plozza
9781250312761
Ages 12 to 18
When Marlowe gets a heart transplant and a second chance at life, all she wants to do is to thank her donor’s family. Maybe then she can move on. Maybe then she’ll discover who she is if she’s no longer The Dying Girl. But Marlowe’s life is already pretty complicated. And her second chance is about to take an unexpected turn . . .
“Funny and direct, this book by Plozza is capable of balancing heartbreak, first love, mortality, and the absurd.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Readers will cheer for Marlowe’s bildungsroman—simultaneously unique and universal.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“With a witty yet awkward main character at the helm, this story will quickly hook readers and keep them laughing, crying, and rooting Marlowe on, even as she continually makes questionable decisions.” —Booklist
readmoreremoveDay’s YA – ECHO NORTH
Happy Friday, YA librarians!
Spring is around the corner (or so they say…), but the setting in this fairy tale retelling is as frigid as they come. Bundle up!
ECHO NORTH by Joanna Ruth Meyer
9781624147159
Ages 14 And Up
Available now from Page Street Kids
As a child, Echo Alkaev was brutally attacked by a wolf. Her scars from that day have made her an outcast, but Echo, ever the bookseller’s daughter, has always been able to find comfort in reading . . . until the day her father disappears and is presumed dead. Six months later, Echo finds him half-frozen in the woods, guarded by the very same wolf who scarred her years ago.
In exchange for her father’s freedom, Echo agrees to live with the wolf but to never look at him between midnight and dawn. During her year in captivity, Echo cares for the wolf’s magical castle, explores the enchanted library, and inevitably grows closer to the wolf. Those familiar with East of the Sun, West of the Moon will recognize the trope, but Meyer puts her own spin on it (#nospoilers).
readmoreremoveSpring 2019 YA Romance Roundup
Valentine’s Day might be over, but it’s always a good day for a little romance! Check out these sweet & steamy YA / NA romances coming from Wednesday Books and Flatiron Books this spring!
And keep an eye out for the green download button! If you’re not whitelisted (pre-approved) on Edelweiss for our e-galleys, you can follow these directions to get the process started!
TIN HEART by Shivaun Plozza
Available March 12, 2019 from Flatiron Books
Marlowe just wants her life to go back to normal after having a heart transplant, but her mother is a self-proclaimed vegan warrior and now Marlowe is falling for the hot butcher’s apprentice next door. Marlowe’s “normal” might be a little more complicated than she bargained for…
“Funny and direct, this book by Plozza is capable of balancing heartbreak, first love, mortality, and the absurd.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
YOU’D BE MINE by Erin Hahn
Available April 2, 2019 from Wednesday Books
Annie Mathers is America’s country music sweetheart. Clay Coolidge is a superstar and a troublemaker. The two find themselves playing a summer tour together where they must discover: Can the right song and the perfect summer on the road make two broken hearts whole?
“[The] romance is well-plotted and sweetly drawn: Readers (particularly those listening to the recent A Star is Born soundtrack on repeat) will delight in the story’s rhythm and musical backdrop . . . a good ol’ fashioned love story.”
—Kirkus Reviews
THIS IS NOT A LOVE SCENE by S.C. Megale
Available May 7, 2019 from Wednesday Books
A funny and irreverent #ownvoices YA romance about eighteen-year-old Maeve who has muscular dystrophy and who is also an average teen girl trying to figure out high school and first love with the hot guy starring in her senior film project.
Two stars for TIN HEART!
Shivaun Plozza’s charming and romantic second novel, TIN HEART, has received two starred reviews!
“Funny and direct, this book by Plozza is capable of balancing heartbreak, first love, mortality, and the absurd—or, as Marlowe puts it, “that moment when you’re standing in front of Bert’s Quality Butchers holding a speaker blasting ‘Meat Is Murder.’”” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Without didacticism, the text offers a glimpse into two sets of rare challenges: those faced by Marlowe, grappling with the fact that her life was restored by another’s death, and those faced by Carmen and her father, still grieving over 16-year-old Luis, whose organs were donated after a car accident. Readers will cheer for Marlowe’s bildungsroman—simultaneously unique and universal.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Kirkus Best Books of 2018 – Nonfiction
Kirkus Reviews includes 8 Macmillan titles on their Best Books for 2018 list!
Biography
MR. LEAR: A Life of Art and Nonsense by Jenny Uglow
Popular Science
DARWIN COMES TO TOWN: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution by Menno Schilthuizen
THE CONSCIOUSNESS INSTINCT: Unraveling the Mystery of How the Brain Makes the Mind by Michael S. Gazzaniga
Crime and (In)Justice
CITY OF DEVILS: The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai by Paul French
THE POISONED CITY: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy by Anna Clark
Nature, Travel, and Sports
THE WONDERFUL MR WILLUGHBY: The First True Ornithologist by Tim Birkhead
Arts and Entertainment
THANKS A LOT MR. KIBBLEWHITE: My Story by Roger Daltrey
FRYDERYK CHOPIN: A Life and Times by Alan Walker
Kirkus’ Best YA of 2018
Kirkus Reviews just released their Best YA of 2018 lists and three Macmillan titles made the cut!
THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert
Welcome to The Hazel Wood, Melissa Albert’s fierce, captivating contemporary fantasy about a seventeen-year-old girl who must venture into the world behind a pitch-dark, cult-classic collection of fairy tales to save her mother.
“Not everybody lives, and certainly not ‘happily ever after’—but within all the grisly darkness, Alice’s fierce integrity and hard-won self-knowledge shine unquenched.” —Kirkus Reviews
Best YA Mystery and Thriller of 2018:
HOME AND AWAY by Candice Montgomery
Friday Night Lights meets DEAR MARTIN in this thought-provoking coming-of-age story about family, identity, and forgiveness.
“A love letter to the intricacies of family and multitudinous black girlhood.”
—Kirkus Reviews
SADIE by Courtney Summers
A gripping novel about the depth of a sister’s love; poised to be the next book you won’t be able to stop talking about.
“A riveting tour de force.” —Kirkus Reviews
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THE GILDED WOLVES makes the Winter 2019 Kids’ Indie Next List!
The Winter 2019 Kid’s Indie Next List was announced yesterday and includes THE GILDED WOLVES by Roshani Chokshi in the Top Ten!
THE GILDED WOLVES by Roshani Chokshi
Available January 15, 2019 from Wednesday Books
FOUR STARRED REVIEWS!!
Paris, 1889: In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts. Together, they’ll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. readmoreremove
Ling Ma’s SEVERANCE Wins 2018 Kirkus Prize for Fiction
Congratulations to Ling Ma’s debut SEVERANCE for winning the 2018 Kirkus Prize for fiction!
“Smart, funny, humane, and superbly well-written.” —Kirkus, starred review
“Embracing the [apocalyptic fiction] genre but somehow transcending it, Ma creates a truly engrossing and believable anti-Utopian world… [An] extraordinary debut.”—Booklist, starred review
“A clever and dextrous debut.”—Publishers Weekly
“A smart, searing exposé on the perils of consumerism, Google overload, and millennial malaise.”—Library Journal
