Guile
by Constance Cooper
Published: March 1st 2016
Format: Hardcover (384 pages)
Yonie Watereye lives in the bayou. The water there is full of guile, a power that changes people and objects. Yonie, 16, makes a living investigating objects affected by guile, but in fact it’s her talking cat, LaRue, who has the power to see guile. Yonie becomes aware that someone is sending harmful guile-changed objects to certain people, including herself. Her investigation becomes entwined with her hunt for the secrets of her mother’s past and leads her to discover dangers hidden within her own family. In the suspenseful adventure that follows, Yonie and her furry sidekick face challenges that could end their adventuring forever.
Why I’m Excited to Read it:
Someone is sending cursed magical objects to people and this girl and her pet cat are going to find out who. It’s Draco Malfoy! Kidding :) But it sounds like the kind of mystery I would love to read.
Into the Dim
by Janet B. Taylor
Series: Into the Dim #1
Published: March 1st 2016
Format: Hardcover (432 pages)
When fragile, sixteen-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. Trapped in the twelfth century in the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hope has seventy-two hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time. Along the way, her path collides with that of a mysterious boy who could be vital to her mission . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing.
Why I’m Excited to Read it:
This is supposed to be the teen version of Outlander. I’ve never read Outlander, but the idea of time travel to medieval Scotland sounds like too much fun to pass up.
Dark Energy
by Robison Wells
Published: March 29th 2016
Format: Hardcover (288 pages)
We are not alone. They are here. And there’s no going back. Perfect for fans of The Fifth Wave and the I Am Number Four series, Dark Energy is a thrilling stand-alone science fiction adventure from Robison Wells, critically acclaimed author of Variant and Blackout.
Five days ago, a massive UFO crashed in the Midwest. Since then, nothing—or no one—has come out.
If it were up to Alice, she’d be watching the fallout on the news. But her dad is director of special projects at NASA, so she’s been forced to enroll in a boarding school not far from the crash site. Alice is right in the middle of the action, but even she isn’t sure what to expect when the aliens finally emerge. Only one thing is clear: everything has changed.
Why I’m Excited to Read it:
The cover really caught my eye. It reminded me so much of Interstellar. The story is about a UFO that crashes on earth and this girl’s dad is part of the NASA team investigating it. The premise doesn’t sound super original, but Robison Wells in an awesome writer and I think he could do great things with that idea.
A Study in Charlotte
by Brittany Cavallaro
Series: Charlotte Holmes #1
Published: March 1st 2016
Format: Hardcover (336 pages)
The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar.
From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.
A Study in Charlotte is the first in a trilogy.
Why I’m Excited to Read it:
This is a modern version of Sherlock Holmes about his great-great-great-granddaughter Charlotte. I don’t even need to know anything else about this book. Gimme!!
Stone Field
by Christy Lenzi
Published: March 29th 2016
Format: Hardcover (320 pages)
In a small town on the brink of the Civil War, Catrina finds a man making strange patterns in her family’s sorghum crop. He’s mad with fever, naked, and strikingly beautiful. He has no memory of who he is or what he’s done before Catrina found him in Stone Field. But that doesn’t bother Catrina because she doesn’t like thinking about the things she’s done before either.
Catrina and Stonefield fall passionately, dangerously, in love. All they want is to live with each other, in harmony with the land and away from Cat’s protective brother, the new fanatical preacher, and the neighbors who are scandalized by their relationship. But Stonefield can’t escape the truth about who he is, and the conflict tearing apart the country demands that everyone take a side before the bloodbath reaches their doorstep.
Inspired by Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.
Why I’m Excited to Read it:
I love retellings. And this is a story inspired by Wuthering Heights. If that’s not enough, it also has an historical Civil War setting.
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
I really want to read A Study in Charlotte soon. I’m not very familiar with the rest of the titles, but they sound interesting. Great list!
Okay, I want to read all five of them. Publishers, just take my money. Guile looks especially interesting to me. I have liked every book about the bayou I’ve ever read. Hopefully Guile will be another to add to that list!
Dark energy intrigues me simply because it is such an old tried-and-true premise. This book wouldn’t have gotten published with a simple storyline like that if it wasn’t wonderfully well-written. There’s a ton of YA books with concepts and stories that impress me, but I think it is even more fun when the writing style can impress.
These all look good. I’m especially intrigued by GUILE, though. I hadn’t heard of it before reading your post. Talking animals are usually a big turn-off for me, but in this case, it sounds intriguing. I’ll have to check out the book. Thanks for the heads-up!