Read Burn for Burn online at Pulseit (1 wk only)

Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian's Burn for Burn is this week's online read at Pulseit. You have to register and the book can be read in full until 6 October.

[My review of Burn for Burn is here and I thankfully have the sequel to hand.]

Blurb:
Payback is paradise in this start to a trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian.

Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes—and three girls secretly plotting revenge.

KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend.

LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she’s going to put a stop to it.

MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him.

None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible.

With an alliance in place, there will be no more “I wish I’d said…” or “If I could go back and do things differently...” These girls will show Jar Island that revenge is a dish best enjoyed together.

Read Chantress online at Pulseit (1 wk only)

Amy Butler Greenfield's Chantress is this week's online read at Pulseit. You have to register and the book can be read in full until 29 September.

Blurb:
Lucy’s Chantress magic will make her the most powerful—and most hunted—girl in England.

“Sing, and the darkness will find you.” This warning has haunted fifteen-year-old Lucy ever since she was eight and shipwrecked on a lonely island. Lucy’s guardian, Norrie, has lots of rules, but the most important is that Lucy must never sing. Not ever. Now it is 1667, Lucy is fifteen, and on All Hallows’ Eve, Lucy hears a tantalizing melody on the wind. She can’t help but sing—and she is swept into darkness.

When she awakes in England, Lucy hears powerful men discussing Chantresses—women who can sing magic into the world. They are hunting her, but she escapes and finds sanctuary with the Invisible College, an organization plotting to overthrow the nefarious Lord Protector. The only person powerful enough to bring about his downfall is a Chantress. And Lucy is the last one in England.

Lucy struggles to master the song-spells and harness her power, but the Lord Protector is moving quickly. And her feelings for Nat, an Invisible College apprentice and scientist who deeply distrusts her magic, only add to her confusion…

Time is running out, and the fate of England hangs in the balance in this entrancing novel that is atmospheric and lyrical, dangerous and romantic.

Read Just Like Fate online at Pulseit (1 wk only)

Cat Patrick & Suzanne Young's Just Like Fate is this week's online read at Pulseit. You have to register and the book can be read in full until 22 September.

Blurb:
One decision changes everything in this compelling novel that explores split realities of romance and family loyalties.

Caroline is at a crossroads.

Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her family, Caroline’s been at Gram’s bedside since the stroke. With the pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape—both her family and the reality of Gram’s failing health. So when Caroline’s best friend offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must choose: Stay by Gram’s side for what might be her final hours, or go to the party and live her life.

The consequences of this one decision will split Caroline’s fate into two separate paths—and she is about to live them both. And though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending…

Review: Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones

Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones (July 2013, Orchard Books, ISBN: 1408327546)

Dead Jealous is the first book in the Poppy Sinclair thriller series and is set in the Lake District. Poppy is sixteen and has come with her mum and step-dad Jonathan to an alternative/new-age festival on the shores of Scariswater where her mum and Jonathan are to have a handfasting ceremony. They are regular attendees to the annual festival but of late Poppy doesn't believe in the pagan ways.

Poppy is in love with her best-friend Michael but he has a girlfriend and to protect herself, Poppy has been turning away from him. At the festival she meets the gorgeous, slightly older, Tariq – can he take her mind off Michael?

On the first night Poppy seeking seclusion climbs a hill and meets Beth. Beth is looking for a girl she's in love with – Maya – who hasn't been seen since last year's event. Though Poppy and Beth only meet briefly, they connect and so when Poppy discovers Beth's dead body in the lake she knows it was murder. The police think it's an accident and despite Poppy's assertion that it wasn't, do very little. So it's up to Poppy, with occasional help from Michael, to get to the bottom of things.

One of my favourite adult crime series is Martin Edwards's Lake District mysteries so I was very much looking forward to Dead Jealous and I wasn't disappointed. Good use is made of the setting – both the countryside with its erratic mobile phone signal reception, and the new age festival including tarot reading and sweat tents. Poppy is haunted by Beth and Maya – possibly in more than just a manner of speaking as it's left to the reader to choose whether there's something supernatural going on or whether it's just that Poppy is under a lot of strain. As Poppy works through the mysteries she also resolves some personal issues. I'm very much looking forward to the sequel, Dead Silent, which is set in another of my favourite places (Cambridge) and is out in February 2014.

NB. As Poppy is sixteen, there are some references to sex, some F-words and there are some drug mentions as well (plus a few dead bodies!).

Publishing Deal - Maggie Stiefvater

Good news for Shiver fans as Scholastic announce Sinner a companion novel from Maggie Stiefvater. Read the whole press release at Booktrade:

Scholastic has bought world rights in a companion book to the Shiver trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater, set to feature Shiver character Cole St Clair.

Sinner will be published simultaneously in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on July 1st 2014. The deal was negotiated by Scholastic publisher David Levithan with Laura Rennert from Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Levithan said: "Legions of fans—myself included—have wanted Maggie to return to the world of Shiver,and now she's found an ingenious, sexy, utterly compelling way to do it."

Scholastic UK group m.d. Catherine Bell said: "Maggie's loyal fans will devour Sinner and new generations of readers have the pleasure of succumbing to the addictive world of The Wolves of Mercy Falls afresh."

Stiefvater said: "For me, finishing the Shiver trilogy was a bittersweet moment—I knew that I wouldn't be returning to Mercy Falls once Sam and Grace's story was over. But Cole and Isabel still lurked in the back of my mind. Both of them were only half-fixed at the end of the trilogy, and I wanted to know if they could be fixed the rest of the way."

Sinner will be published as a £14.99 hardback and simultaneous e-book.

Read Fury online at Pulseit (1 wk only)

Elizabeth Miles's Fury is this week's online read at Pulseit. You have to register and the book can be read in full until 15 September.

Blurb:
In this chilling start to a trilogy rife with revenge, two teens learn the hard way: Sometimes sorry isn’t enough. Start reading book two: Envy!

It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems . . .

Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better—the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.

On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel . . . something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.

In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay. Em and Chase have been chosen.

Read The House of the Scorpion online at Pulseit (1 wk only)

Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion is this week's online read at Pulseit. You have to register and the book can be read in full until 8 September.

Blurb:
This modern classic takes on an iron-fisted drug lord, clones bred for their organs, and what it means to be human. Winner of the National Book Award as well as Newbery and Printz Honors.

Matteo Alacrán was not born; he was harvested. His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium—a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt’s first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster—except for El Patrón. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself.

As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, including El Patrón’s power-hungry family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards. Escape is the only chance Matt has to survive. But escape from the Alacrán Estate is no guarantee of freedom, because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he doesn’t even suspect.