Friday Freebies: September 28, 2012

Click on each title to go to the Amazon Kindle edition listing. Be sure to double-check the price before you download!



Arena One
by Morgan Rice

Available as: paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 390 (Kindle edition)
Publisher: Morgan Rice
Publication date: February 1, 2012
Suggested tags: young adult, dystopia, romance



First in The Survival Trilogy. From Amazon:

"New York. 2120. American has been decimated, wiped out from the second Civil War. In this post-apocalyptic world, survivors are far and few between. And most of those who do survive are members of the violent gangs, predators who live in the big cities. They patrol the countryside looking for slaves, for fresh victims to bring back into the city for their favorite death sport: Arena One. The death stadium where opponents are made to fight to the death, in the most barbaric of ways. There is only one rule to the arena: no one survives. Ever.

Deep in the wilderness, high up in the Catskill Mountains, 17 year old Brooke Moore manages to survive, hiding out with her younger sister, Bree. They are careful to avoid the gangs of slaverunners who patrol the countryside. But one day, Brooke is not as careful as she can be, and Bree is captured. The slaverunners take her away, heading to the city, and to what will be a certain death.

Brooke, a Marine’s daughter, was raised to be tough, to never back down from a fight. When her sister is taken, Brooke mobilizes, uses everything at her disposal to chase down the slaverunners and get her sister back. Along the way she runs into Ben, 17, another survivor like her, whose brother was taken. Together, they team up on their rescue mission.

What follows is a post-apocalyptic, action-packed thriller, as the two of them pursue the slaverunners on the most dangerous ride of their lives, following them deep into the heart of New York. Along the way, if they are to survive, they will have to make some of the hardest choices and sacrifices of their lives, encountering obstacles neither of them had expected—including their unexpected feelings for each other. Will they rescue their siblings? Will they make it back? And will they, themselves, have to fight in the arena?"

Gray Moon Rising
by S.M. Reine

Available as: paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 180 (Kindle edition)
Publisher: Red Iris Books
Publication date: September 25, 2012
Suggested tags: young adult, paranormal, romance



Fourth in the Seasons of the Moon series. From Amazon:

"It's been almost a year since Rylie Gresham was bitten by a werewolf on Gray Mountain. Now something is beckoning her back to the place she was attacked, along with every other werewolf in the world. But they aren't the only ones heeding the call. A group of hunters notices them gathering and sees it as their chance to wipe out the entire species.

Seth is about to graduate high school when he learns of the final hunt. He secretly plans to save Rylie and his werewolf brother even though he has to play along with the hunters to do it. But Rylie doesn't want to be saved. She's already decided to solve her problems with a silver bullet if answers aren't waiting on Gray Mountain.

One way or another, everything is about to end--whether it means Rylie's liberation or the end of her life..."

Scary Mary
by S.A. Hunter

Available as: paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 144 (Kindle edition)
Publisher: unknown
Publication date: August 18, 2010
Suggested tags: young adult, paranormal, ghosts



From Amazon:

"Mary just wants to be left alone, but the cheerleaders, jocks, and ghosts won't stop harrassing her. When new student Cyrus starts school, he tries to befriend her. That's a rare thing for the school freak, but her unusual abilities put a rift in their budding friendship when she has to tell him that his home is haunted and not by Casper, the friendly ghost. "

Sweet Venom
by Tera Lynn Childs

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 357 (Kindle edition)
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication date: September 6, 2011
Suggested tags: young adult, paranormal, mythology



First in the Medusa Girls series. From Amazon:

"Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they’re triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful Gorgon maligned in myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight."

Friday Finds #28

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading. Each Friday, you share the great books you heard about or discovered over the past week: "books you were told about, books you discovered while browsing blogs/bookstores online, or books that you actually purchased."




Lie to Me
by Suzanne Brahm

Available as: paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 265
Publisher: OddRocket
Publication date: September 12, 2012
Suggested tags: young adult, realistic fiction



From Goodreads:

"16 year old Cassie Safire is a very good girl who does some very bad things. Dumped by her boyfriend and betrayed by her best friend, Cassie discovers her mom has a very big secret, and suddenly no amount of niceness can make Cassie’s world right again.

To escape, Cassie takes on a summer job restoring a sailboat with RD, a mysterious college guy living at the marina. Rejected and grief-stricken, Cassie finds herself drawing closer to RD. When their relationship becomes romantic, RD tells Cassie they can only be together in secret.

But on an island this small, secrets rarely stay hidden."

Live Through This
by Mindi Scott

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 304
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: October 2, 2012
Suggested tags: young adult, realistic fiction, contemporary



From Goodreads:

"If Coley Sterling’s best friend would stop hating her, if her dance-team captains would lighten up, if her friends would stop asking her about Reece, the geeky sax player she’s crushing on—then her life would be perfect. Right? After all, Coley’s stepdad is a successful attorney who gives Coley and her siblings everything, and her mother will stop at nothing to keep them all happy and safe—including having escaped ten years ago from the abuse of Coley’s real father.

But Coley is keeping a lot of secrets. She won’t admit—not even to herself—that her almost-perfect life is her own carefully crafted faÇade. Now, Coley and Reece are getting closer, and a decade’s worth of Coley’s lies are on the verge of unraveling—along with the life she thought she knew."

The Patron Saint of Butterflies
by Cecilia Galante

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 304
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: April 1, 2008
Suggested tags: young adult, realistic fiction, contemporary



From Goodreads:

"Agnes and Honey have always been best friends, but they haven’t always been so different. Agnes loves being a Believer. She knows the rules at the Mount Blessing religious commune are there to make her a better person. Honey hates Mount Blessing and the control Emmanuel, their leader, has over her life. The only bright spot is the butterfly garden she’s helping to build, and the journal of butterflies that she keeps. When Agnes’s grandmother makes an unexpected visit to the commune, she discovers a violent secret that the Believers are desperate to keep quiet. And when Agnes’s little brother is seriously injured and Emmanuel refuses to send him to a hospital, Nana Pete takes the three children and escapes the commune. Their journey begins an exploration of faith, friendship, religion and family for the two girls, as Agnes clings to her familiar faith while Honey desperately wants a new future. "

What She Left Behind
by Tracy Bilen

Available as: paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 236
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication date: May 1, 2012
Suggested tags: young adult, mystery, contemporary



From Goodreads:

" “Don’t even think of leaving… I will find you,” he whispered. “Guaranteed.”

Sara and her mom have a plan to finally escape Sara’s abusive father. But when her mom doesn’t show up as expected, Sara’s terrified. Her father says that she’s on a business trip, but Sara knows he’s lying. Her mom is missing—and her dad had something to do with it.

With each day that passes, Sara’s more on edge. Her friends know that something’s wrong, but she won’t endanger anyone else with her secret. And with her dad growing increasingly violent, Sara must figure out what happened to her mom before it’s too late…for them both."

Review: Twice Shy by Patrick Freivald

Twice Shy
by Patrick Freivald

Available as: hardcover, paperback, ebook
Pages: 240
Publisher: JournalStone
Release date: October 26, 2012
Suggested tags: young adult, paranormal, zombies



From Goodreads:

"High School Sucks. It’s worse when you’re dead.

Ohneka Falls is a small, Western New York town where everyone knows everyone and nothing of note happens. Ani Romero is a sixteen-year-old girl who wants to play sports, hang out, and kiss Mike, her middle-school crush. A childhood carrier of the zombie virus, she died at fourteen but didn’t become a mindless, brain-eating monster. Her controlling mother forces her to join the emo crowd to hide her condition behind a wall of black clothes and makeup, and her friends abandon her.

When creeper Dylan learns her secret, he falls into obsession, with Ani and with death. She bites him in self-defense. Persecuted by the jocks and ignored by Mike, Ani struggles through the motions of life hoping her other’s research unveils a cure, or Dylan dooms them all to a hungry, walking death.

As her emo facade crumbles in the face of jealousy and obsession, Ani knows that the worst thing she can do is be true to herself."

{ I received an ebook ARC for free through Early Reviewers on LibraryThing. }


Twice Shy was darker and heavier than I expected, making for a pretty creepy and intense read. It explores some serious topics: bullying, stalking, overdosing, self-mutilation, and ethics in science and research, just to name a few. The main characters are real and well-developed, especially Ani.

Ani, dead at fourteen but still living, hides in plain sight among regular high schoolers with an emo disguise. She plays the part of dark and broody, but inside she dreams of wearing pink and writing songs and going roller skating. She resists what she has become as much as she can, going so far as to carry a razor blade with her to cut her own wrists as a distraction when she starts feeling a certain sort of hunger.

Dylan's obsession with Ani is truly disturbing. When he appeared in scenes, I got the same sense of dread I feel when I'm reading a horror novel. After Ani bites him, her fate pretty much rests in his hands: he could kill her, obviously, but if his infection is traced back to her, she'll be incinerated by the authorities. And of course Ani's mother wants to take matters into her own hands and solve the problem of Dylan herself.

Ani's relationships with her mother and her friends are fascinating and tragic. Her mother is overprotective, as any mother in her situation might be, but the true reasons for her actions are revealed piece by piece as the story unfolds. Fey alternates from being Ani's best friend to her worst enemy, changing back and forth suddenly and frequently. (SPOILER - highlight to read: I almost cried when she destroyed Ani's art portfolio. Completely unforgivable.) Mike, who used to be a close friend, now won't even look at her sometimes. He spends most of his time with his girlfriend Devin, who is a total mean girl and tortures Ani mercilessly. Ani is hopelessly in love with Mike, even after he proves himself unworthy time after time. I wanted to shake that crush out of Ani real bad.

The ending... well, I'm completely torn. (SPOILER - highlight to read: Part of me thought it was necessary. If Ani's emotions were strong enough, it was bound to happen, right? If she and Mike were really in love, she was bound to lose control and bite him, right? It was a dark, twisted ending, but then again it was a dark, twisted book. So that part of me was ok with it. ... But the other part of me was like, SERIOUSLY?? After all that, after all of Ani's struggles to overcome her hunger and find a cure and get better... SHE EATS HIM?!?)

I devour YA paranormal books, but I've actually never read any zombie books. I know, right? I don't know why - zombies just never topped my list of favorite paranormal types. But lately I've been making a conscious effort to broaden my horizons a little in all genres. Twice Shy was my first zombie book, but it won't be my last. I've been bitten by the zombie bug and I need more books like the walking dead need more brains. (Bad puns totally intended.)

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars

"Waiting On" Wednesdays: September 26, 2012

"Waiting On" Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Each Wednesday, you share upcoming releases that you're eagerly anticipating.




Witch World
by Christopher Pike

Release date: November 13, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 528
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Suggested tags: young adult, paranormal, witches



From Goodreads:

"Witches are real—and each of us may be one—in this all-new paranormal suspense novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christopher Pike.

Heading off for a weekend in Las Vegas with her friends, Jessie Ralle has only one worry—how to make it through the road trip in the same car with her Ex, Jimmy Kelter. The guy who broke her heart five months ago when he dumped her for no reason. The guy who’s finally ready to tell her why he did it, because he wants her back.

But what Jessie doesn’t realize is that Jimmy is the least of her problems.

In Las Vegas she meets Russ, a mesmerizing stranger who shows her how to gamble, and who never seems to lose. Curious, Jessie wants to know his secret, and in response, alone in his hotel room, he teaches her a game that opens a door to another reality.

To Witch World.

Suddenly Jessie discovers that she’s stumbled into a world where some people can do the impossible, and others may not even be human. For a time she fears she’s lost her mind. Are there really witches? Is she one of them?

#1 Bestselling author Christopher Pike offers up another classic edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that keeps you guessing right until the last page."

Tuesday Teasers: September 25, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Each Tuesday, you grab the book you're reading, open to a random page, and share 2 teaser sentences from anywhere on the page.
NO SPOILERS - make sure the sentences you pick don't give too much away!

Twice Shy by Patrick Freivald The more Ani deflected their questions, the more they pressed, until she shrieked at the top of her lungs. In the stunned silence she murmured, "I said I don't want to talk about it." {ARC ebook, 81%}

Twice Shy
by Patrick Freivald

Available as: hardcover, paperback, ebook
Pages: 240
Publisher: JournalStone
Release date: October 26, 2012
Suggested tags: young adult, paranormal, zombies


From Goodreads:

"High School Sucks. It’s worse when you’re dead.

Ohneka Falls is a small, Western New York town where everyone knows everyone and nothing of note happens. Ani Romero is a sixteen-year-old girl who wants to play sports, hang out, and kiss Mike, her middle-school crush. A childhood carrier of the zombie virus, she died at fourteen but didn’t become a mindless, brain-eating monster. Her controlling mother forces her to join the emo crowd to hide her condition behind a wall of black clothes and makeup, and her friends abandon her.

When creeper Dylan learns her secret, he falls into obsession, with Ani and with death. She bites him in self-defense. Persecuted by the jocks and ignored by Mike, Ani struggles through the motions of life hoping her other’s research unveils a cure, or Dylan dooms them all to a hungry, walking death.

As her emo facade crumbles in the face of jealousy and obsession, Ani knows that the worst thing she can do is be true to herself."

New Release Round-Up: September 24-30, 2012

Young Adult


Alice in Zombieland
by Gena Showalter

Release date: September 25, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 404
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Suggested tags: young adult, paranormal, zombies



First in the White Rabbit Chronicles. From Goodreads:

"She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies..."

The Other Normals
by Ned Vizzini

Release date: September 25, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 400
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Suggested tags: young adult, fantasy



From Goodreads:

"Given the chance, fifteen-year-old Peregrine “Perry” Eckert would dedicate every waking moment to Creatures & Caverns, an epic role-playing game rich with magical creatures, spell casting, and deadly weapons. The world of C&C is where he feels most comfortable in his own skin, so when his parents ship him off to summer camp Perry is sure he’s in for the worst summer of his life.

Everything changes, however, when Perry gets to camp and stumbles into the World of the Other Normals. Perry’s new otherworldly friends need his help to save their princess and prevent mass violence. As they embark on their quest together, Perry realizes that his nerdy childhood has uniquely prepared him to be a great warrior in this world, and maybe even a hero.

Bestselling author Ned Vizzini delivers a compulsively readable and wildly original story about the winding and often hilarious path to manhood."

Other YA new releases for this week:

Middle Grade


Professor Gargoyle
by Charles Gilman

Release date: September 25, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 160
Publisher: Quirk Books
Suggested tags: middle grade, paranormal



First in the Tales from Lovecraft Middle School series. From Goodreads:

"Strange things are happening at Lovecraft Middle School. Rats are leaping from lockers. Students are disappearing. The school library is a labyrinth of secret corridors. And the science teacher is acting very peculiar – in fact, he just might be a monster-in-disguise. Twelve-year-old Robert Arthur knew that seventh grade was going to be weird, but this is ridiculous!

Professor Gargoyle (Volume I in the Tales from Lovecraft Middle School series) is full of bizarre beasts, strange mysteries, and nonstop adventure. It's perfect for readers ages 10 and up. Best of all, the cover features a state-of-the-art “morphing” photo portrait – so you can personally witness the professor transforming into a monster. You won't believe your eyes!"

Sophia's War: A Tale of the Revolution
by Avi

Release date: September 25, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 320
Publisher: Beach Lane Books
Suggested tags: middle grade, historical fiction



From Goodreads:

"Lives hang in the balance in this gripping Revolutionary War adventure from a beloved Newbery medalist.

In 1776, young Sophia Calderwood witnesses the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City, which is newly occupied by the British army. Sophia is horrified by the event and resolves to do all she can to help the American cause. Recruited as a spy, she becomes a maid in the home of General Clinton, the supreme commander of the British forces in America. Through her work she becomes aware that someone in the American army might be switching sides, and she uncovers a plot that will grievously damage the Americans if it succeeds. But the identity of the would-be traitor is so shocking that no one believes her, and so Sophia decides to stop the treacherous plot herself, at great personal peril: She’s young, she’s a girl, and she’s running out of time. And if she fails, she’s facing an execution of her own.

Master storyteller Avi shows exactly how personal politics can be in this riveting novel that is rich in historical detail and rife with action."

Other Middle Grade new releases for this week: