Archives

Freshly Published January 2013

 

Oh to live in a world where one gets paid to sit around all day and read and write. 

This is not my life, but perhaps, one day. 

For the time being, these books are on my radar and are hot off the publishing presses this month! I really hope my local library will have a few of these titles in stock soon! Please note, all blurbs are from Goodreads. 

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

Teeth Cover

Hannah Moskowitz’s (author of BREAK and INVINCIBLE SUMMER) TEETH features a sixteen-year-old boy whose family, in an effort to cure his ailing brother, relocates to a remote island where legendary magic fish are said to have healing powers, and he discovers the island has terrible secrets, including a half-teenager, half-fish.

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

The Archived cover

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous-it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans

Level 2 Cover

‘I pause to look around the hive – all the podlike chambers are lit up as the drones shoot up on memories … I’ve wanted to get out of here before, but now the tight quarters start to choke me. There has to be more to death than this.’

Felicia Ward is dead. Trapped in a stark white afterlife limbo, she spends endless days replaying memories, of her family, friends, boyfriend … and of the guy who broke her heart. The guy who has just broken into Level 2 to find her.

Felicia learns that a rebellion is brewing, and it seems she is the key. Suspended between heaven and earth, she must make a choice. Between two worlds, two lives and two loves.

Eek! Splintered, one of the books on my 2012 Wish list is finally published! Hurray!

Splintered by A. G. Howard

Splintered Cover

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

Finally, the wait is over! I was lucky enough to get a early copy of this fantastic book. Check out my review here, but go out and get yourself a copy too! The cover is simply gorgeous! 

Broken by A. E. Rough

Broken Cover

Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

What new books have you bought this month? Leave me a comment, I am curious to know! 

 

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A New Year Means New YA

It’s 2013! The world didn’t end! Happy days are mine as I begin my reading challenge this year (just click the ‘challenges’ link above or to the right hand side to follow along). What’s one of the best things about a new year? Why a ranges of new books being published! Here are a few titles I can’t wait to get my hands once they’re fresh of the press! Click the link below to buy your copy in advance. Happy reading everyone!

Breath Cover

Breath by Jackie Morse Kessler

USA / UK

Please note this is book 4 – Find book 1 HERE

Cinder Cover

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

USA / UK

Please note this is Book 2 – Find Book 1 HERE

The Impossibility of Tomorrow

The Impossibility of Tomorrow by Avery Williams

USA / UK

Please note this is Book 2 – Find Book 1 HERE

Paper Valentine Cover

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

USA / UK

Gates of Paradise Cover

Gates of Paradise by Melissa De La Cruz

USA / UK

Please note this is Book 7 – Find Book 1 HERE

Splintered Cover

Splintered by A. G. Howard

USA / UK

The Program Cover

The Program by Suzanne Young

USA / UK

Requiem cover

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

USA / UK

Please note this is Book 3 – Find Book 1 HERE

What books are you excited to read this year??

Forever by Judy Blume

I’m doing something new for ashleyisee. Every month I’ll cover a ‘vintage’ Young Adult novel in my eyes. I challenge you to think about some of the choices I make and encourage comments for discussion. YA is a relatively new genre but I want to show that it truly has always been around, it’s just been marketed in a different way.

This month’s vintage YA is none other than the ground breaking Forever by Judy Blume.

Forever

Published in 1975, Blume’s simply story of a girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy and girl decides to have sex with boy, was one of the most controversial books of it’s time. I also like to see it as the ‘birth’ of YA. Young Adult fiction was originally categorised as a story revolving around teenage or young adult characters that experience tales of growing up.

Nowadays however, the genre is bombarded with unrealistic romance and every kind of fantasy or science fiction aspect that can be thought of. There isn’t anything wrong with these books, they still are YA, but it’s rare to find a contemporary type of young adult book such as Forever. Is it just as powerful as it was in 1975? I think so. Is it as tantalising and scandalous? Unfortunately not. However, there is one thing that makes this story timeless and that is how her main character Katherine falls in love. At times it isn’t logical, nor is she considering things that truly matter in a relationship, but guess what, she’s a teenager and that’s what they do.

Thank you Judy Blume for opening the door to teenage fiction. To paving the way for young love to find a voice.

 

Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress *Giveaway*

Yesterday I posted my review of Sarwat Chadda’s Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress. Today is the first day to enter the giveaway of my copy! The contest will run until December 5th and I’m opening it up to US and UK entry’s only. The winner will be announced December 5th and I’ll send the book shortly after.

Want to enter?

    • Follow me on twitter, and leave a comment with your twitter handle.
    • Give a shout out to this giveaway on twitter or facebook, and leave a comment saying so.
    • Following my blog (add your email address on the right hand side) and leave a comment with your blog name!

The winner will be chosen by random.org. Good luck!