New Release Round-Up: June 11-17

Young Adult


For Darkness Shows the Stars
by Diana Peterfreund

Release date: June 12, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 398
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Suggested tags: young adult, dystopia, romance



From Goodreads:

"Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot’s estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret—one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she’s lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it."

Lies Beneath
by Anne Greenwood Brown

Release date: June 12, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook, audiobook
Pages: 303
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Suggested tags: young adult, paranormal, mermaids



First in the Lies Beneath series. From Goodreads:

"Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistable good looks and charm on ususpecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him."

Other YA new releases for this week:

Middle Grade


Laugh with the Moon
by Shana Burg

Release date: June 12, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 208
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Suggested tags: middle grade, realistic fiction, contemporary



From Goodreads:

"After the sudden death of her mother, Clare Silver remains in denial until her father, a doctor, whisks her away to a remote African village—the one place he believes can heal both of their hearts.

A budding fashion designer, Clare feels stuck in the jungle, living under primitive conditions without cell phone reception or any contact with the outside world and expected to attend school with the locals and learn their language.

When a teacher quits, Clare reluctantly agrees to teach the youngest students. Clare can't help being impressed with the kids who are so eager to learn, despite having to work in small, crowded spaces and share their schoolbooks. As Clare develops a friendship with an orphan named Memory, this girl who has lost so much dares Clare to open her heart again, remember her mother, and laugh with the moon."

Summer at Forsaken Lake
by Michael D. Beil

Release date: June 12, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook, audiobook
Pages: 336
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Suggested tags: middle grade, mystery



From Goodreads:

"With their father en route to Africa for Doctors Without Borders, city-kids Nicholas and younger twin sisters Haley and Hetty are off to spend the summer with their Great-Uncle Nick at his house on Forsaken Lake. Despite some initial doubts, Nicholas is right at home in the country: he learns to sail, learns about his father as a boy, and makes fast friends with a local-girl, the tomboy Charlie.

The summer takes a turn toward the mysterious, though, when Nicholas discovers an old movie that his father made as a boy: it tells the story of the local legend, The Seaweed Strangler, but was never finished. Before long Nicholas wants answers both about the legend, and about the movie. Together, he and Charlie work to uncover the truth and discover some long-buried family secrets along the way.

In this lovely middle-grade novel, Michael D. Beil has invoked one of his own favorites, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea, as well as other great summer books of years-past."

Other Middle Grade new releases for this week: