Five Up and Coming YA Books I Can’t Wait to Read! (And look – three are debuts!)

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer (June 5, 2010 – Tomorrow!)… Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits. In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

Okay, I’m definitely not the world’s biggest Twihard, but I’ve read the series and seen the movies and think the whole phenomenon is pretty cool. I find this book, a snap shot of one of Eclipse’s minor characters, especially intriguing. I’m interested to see what Stephenie will do without the romance aspect to fall back on.

 Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (July 20, 2010)… In Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love — the light and the dark, the warm and the cold — in a way you will never forget.

When I read Shiver last fall, I was totally and completely sucked in. Sure, I’ve read a million variants on Sam and Grace in YA romance, but there was something about their connection that I was totally able to buy into. Plus, the werewolf mythology is unique and actually sort of believable. I can’t wait to see where Maggie takes her series.

The DUFF: (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) by Kody Keplinger (September 7, 2010)… Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “Duffy,” she throws her Coke in his face. But things aren’t so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

I have to admit, the second I saw this cover—before I even knew what a DUFF was—I totally wanted to read this book. The bubble gum, the green eyeshadow, and the super bold title—jthey all caught my eye in a way that said READ ME. Now that I’ve learned the basic plot and read about Kody Keplinger’s enviable published-teen back story, I’m more than sold.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (September 21, 2010)… Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours. But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. So much for normal.

I like this new spin on paranormal. Plus, the cover is beautiful and Kiersten writes a kick-ass blog that I follow faithfully. She’s so likeable (not to mention honest and thoughtful and helpful), I can’t help but be convinced that Evie will be equally awesome.  

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney (November 2, 2010)… Some schools have honor codes. Others have handbooks. Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds. Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way–the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds–a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers. In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl’s struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone–especially yourself–you fight for it.

I love books set in boarding schools (Prep, Harry Potter (duh!) and Looking for Alaska are some of my favorites), so The Mockingbirds immediately earned points there. This book sounds dark and serious and hard to put down. I love Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (from which this book seems to draw some inspiration). If The Mockingbirds is half as good, I’ll be a very satisfied reader.  

**All book blurbs were taken from Amazon.com.