Archives de catégorie : Young Adult

NOT DEAD ENOUGH de Tyffany Neiheiser

A thriller in the vein of Pretty Little Liars that deftly balances a heart-pounding mystery with an emotional, empowering story about confronting the complicated aftermath of an abusive relationship.

NOT DEAD ENOUGH
by Tyffany Neiheiser
Philomel, Spring 2024
(via JABberwocky)

Jerry always told Charlotte that he’d never let her go. Now, four months after his death, Charlotte worries this wasn’t just a threat that Jerry made when he was angry.
As she puts up the facade of the grieving girlfriend at school, Charlotte secretly struggles with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, fearful of being labeled as “crazy,” especially since no one knew that Jerry was abusive.
Just as Charlotte tentatively begins a new romance with a cute guy from class, she starts receiving mysterious text messages from someone claiming to be Jerry. Someone claiming that, like him, they will never let her go.
As the texts get more sinister, they are accompanied by increasingly violent attacks on Charlotte. Charlotte realizes that whether it’s a stalker from school or Jerry haunting her from beyond the grave, someone wants her dead.
And if she wants to stay alive, she will have to speak up about her abuse before it’s too late.

Tyffany Neiheiser writes speculative YA thrillers and short stories. She is passionate about mental health and self-acceptance, so those themes tend to find their way into her stories. She has a Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling, and she has worked as a counselor for people with both mental health and substance abuse challenges. She has also spent three years as a crisis counselor helping people struggling with suicidal or homicidal ideation. Her internship was with a hospice, providing grief counseling to people who were dying and people who experienced a loss. These experiences have shaped her stories. Her favorite things in life are her dogs, her cats, reading, writing, and hiking.

SECRET OF MCKINLEY MANSION de K.F. Breene

In the vein of Stephanie Perkins’ There’s Someone Inside Your House, a teenage girl with supernatural abilities must help her friends survive the night in a haunted mansion filled with malevolent spirits.

SECRET OF MCKINLEY MANSION
by K.F. Breene
Hazy Dawn Press, March 2018
(via JABberwocky)

It was a dark and stormy night… It’s no easy job being the town nutcase. Ella knows from experience. She’s grown up in a quaint little place with people that pretend the extraordinary isn’t happening around them. That ignore the bumps in the night, and won’t talk about doors closing by themselves or items moving mysteriously.
They also won’t talk about the old woman who haunts the streets, long in her grave but for the nights when a particularly bad storm blows through. Those who do are fibbers, begging for attention.
But Ella knows it is no lie – when the lightning cracks and the rain thrashes, someone goes missing. A child, lost to the night. There is no breaking and entering. No foul play. No clue as to where they’ve gone.
Urban legend says that if the old woman stops in front of your house, you’re next.
Well Ella has been next for years. She’s resisted the urge to run out into the darkness with everything she has. Resisted that old mansion up on the hill, beckoning her. Resisted giving into people saying she’s crazy.
Until a handsome new boy with a troubled past moves across the street. Suddenly Ella isn’t the only one haunted by the old woman. Except, it’s not clear if the new boy is here to help Ella…or help the woman drag Ella up to the mansion.
You’ll want to turn on your nightlight for this one.

K.F. Breene is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Amazon Most Sold Charts, and #1 Kindle Store bestselling author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and fantasy novels who has sold over three million books. When she’s not penning stories about magic and what goes bump in the night, she’s sipping wine and planning shenanigans. She currently resides with her husband, two children, and an out-of-work treadmill in northern California.

SOMEONE YOU LOVED de Robin Constantine

A deeply emotional and highly romantic tale of two teens who fall in love while grieving the one person who makes their love impossible, in the vein of You’ve Reached Sam and The Sky Is Everywhere.

SOMEONE YOU LOVED
by Robin Constantine
Balzer + Bray, June 2023
(via Context)

Sarah feels unmoored following her boyfriend’s sudden and tragic death. Their love story was cut short after just two sweet months together, and now all Sarah can think about are the moments she and Alex should be sharing. Sarah distracts herself by consoling Ash—her best friend and Alex’s sister—and by rehearsing for the school play and working at her aunt’s café. But none of this is as comforting as her nightly talks with Jake.
Jake is not ready to move on. Unable to sleep at night and “mopey”— according to his girlfriend, who doesn’t understand why he isn’t ready to jump back into partying—Jake is wracked with guilt as a witness to Alex’s death. His one source of joy is talking to Sarah. But between their growing closeness and taking over as captain of the basketball team, Jake worries he is co-opting Alex’s life.
Both can’t help but wonder if they’re betraying Alex—and Ash—by acting on the feelings they can no longer deny. Given all that stands in the way, is their relationship worth fighting for?

Robin Constantine is the author of The Promise of Amazing and The Secrets of Attraction. A born-and-raised Jersey girl who moved south so she could wear flip-flops year round, she spends her days dreaming up stories where love conquers all, eventually, but not without a lot of peril, angst, and the occasional kissing scene. 

THE SHADOW SISTER de Lily Meade

A gripping, speculative thriller from a dazzling new voice about a teen who disappears…and returns, changed in ways that trauma alone can’t explain.

THE SHADOW SISTER
by Lily Meade
Sourcebooks Fire, June 2023
(via Laura Dail Literary)

Sometimes people are lost from you, no matter how much you wish they weren’t and before you can even begin to know how big of a hole they’ll leave behind.
Sutton going missing is the worst thing to happen to Casey, to their family. She’s trying to help find her sister, but Casey is furious. She knows Sutton is manipulative, meanwhile everyone paints a picture of her perfection. People don’t look for missing Black girls—or half-Black girls—without believing there is an angel to be saved.
When Sutton reappears, Casey knows she should be relieved. Except Sutton isn’t the same. She remembers nothing about while she was gone―or anything from her old life, including how she made Casey miserable. There’s something unsettling about the way she wants to spend time with Casey and watch her goldfish swim for hours.
What happened to Sutton? The more Casey starts uncovering her sister’s secrets, the more questions she has. Did she really know her sister? Why is no one talking about the other girls who have gone missing in their area? And what will it take to uncover the truth?

Lily Meade is a biracial Black woman living outside of Seattle, Washington. Her work has been published in Bustle and Teen Vogue, and she has been featured in Romper, Buzzfeed, and Rolling Stone. This is her debut novel, which was a finalist for the Eleanor Taylor Bland award for emerging writers by Sisters in Crime.

A FEAST OF ASHES de Victoria Williamson

An action-packed young adult dystopian eco-thriller — the first in a breath-taking new trilogy — set in East Africa.

A FEAST OF ASHES (Book 1)
by Victoria Williamson
Seven Seas/Neem Tree Press, October 2023
(via Randle Editorial & Literary)

It’s the year 2123, and sixteen-year-old Adina has just killed nearly every person she knows. All fourteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-six of them. Brought up in the East African ecobubble of Eden Five, as far as she knows the whole world had been destroyed by ecological disasters brought about by human greed for profit. The Amonston Corporation built ecobubbles across Africa to keep the remaining plant and animal species safe, and their generosity saved thousands of people.
When Eden Five is incinerated by an explosion caused by a routine maintenance job Adina skipped, she and a small group of survivors have to brave the toxic wilds outside the ruined dome to get to the Sanctuary before their biofilters give out and their DNA starts to mutate in the toxic outside air.
With a strong environmental theme, and warnings on the dangers of corporate takeover, this action-packed novel takes a deep look at family, friendship, romance and sacrifice.
Feast of Ashes is the first in an explosive trilogy which includes Seeds of Hunger (2024) and Harvest of Flame (2025). Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games.

Victoria Williamson is an award-winning children’s author from Glasgow. She has taught maths and science in Cameroon, trained teachers in Malawi, taught English in China and worked with children with special needs in the UK.
Victoria is a qualified primary school teacher. Her books have been long-listed for the Branford Boase Prize, Waterstones Children’s Prize, and she has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award in 2020 and 2021.