Category Archives: Debra Driza

25th April 2017 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Megan Abbott
You Will Know Me
Hachette Back Bay (US: 25th April 2017)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

How far will you go to achieve a dream? That’s the question a celebrated coach poses to Katie and Eric Knox after he sees their daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful, compete. For the Knoxes there are no limits – until a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community and everything they have worked so hard for is suddenly at risk. As rumours swirl among the other parents, Katie tries frantically to hold her family together while also finding herself irresistibly drawn to the crime itself. What she uncovers – about her daughter’s fears, her own marriage, and herself – forces Katie to consider whether there’s any price she isn’t willing to pay to achieve Devon’s dream.

Claire Cameron
The Last Neanderthal
Hachette Little, Brown (US: 25th April 2017)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

40,000 years in the past, the last family of Neanderthals roams the earth. After a crushingly hard winter, their numbers are low, but Girl, the oldest daughter, is just coming of age and her family is determined to travel to the annual meeting place and find her a mate. But the unforgiving landscape takes its toll, and Girl is left alone to care for Runt, a foundling of unknown origin. As Girl and Runt face the coming winter storms, Girl realizes she has one final chance to save her people, even if it means sacrificing part of her. In the modern day, archaeologist Rosamund Gale works well into her pregnancy, racing to excavate newly found Neanderthal artefacts before her baby comes. Linked across the ages by the shared experience of early motherhood, both stories examine the often taboo corners of women’s lives.

Debra Driza
Redemption (MILA 2.0, Book 3)
HarperCollins Katherine Tegen (US & CA: 25th April 2017)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Mila has been running for her life for so long. But that was before she betrayed Hunter, the boy she’ll always love, and before she discovered she was an incredible danger to anyone who dares to get close to her. Now she’s gone into hiding with friend and tech expert Lucas. But when Mila discovers that her enemy General Holland is an even bigger threat to humanity than she is, she must make a choice: either push aside her fears and fight him with everything she’s got…or turn her back on the world forever.

Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Illuminae (Illuminae Files, Book 1)
Penguin Random House Ember (US & CA: 25th April 2017)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the worst thing she’d ever been through. That was before her planet was invaded. Now, with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating craft, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But the warship could be the least of their problems. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their biggest threat; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady plunges into a web of data hacking to get to the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: Ezra.

Madeleine Roux
Escape from Asylum (Asylum, Book 4)
HarperCollins (US & CA: 25th April 2017)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Ricky Desmond has been through this all before. If he could just get through to his mother, he could convince her that he doesn’t belong at Brookline. From the man who thinks he can fly to the woman who killed her husband, the other patients are nothing like him; all he did was lose his temper just a little bit, just the once. But when Ricky is selected by the sinister Warden Crawford for a very special program – a program that the warden claims will not cure him but perfect him – Ricky realizes that he may not be able to wait for his mom a second longer. With the help of a sympathetic nurse and a fellow patient, Ricky needs to escape now.

Megan Shepherd
The Hunt (Cage, Book 2)
HarperCollins Balzer + Bray (US & CA: 25th April 2017)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

After their failed escape attempt, Cora, Lucky, and Mali have been demoted to the lowest level of human captives and placed in a safari-themed environment called the Hunt, along with wild animals and other human outcasts. They must serve new Kindred masters – Cora as a lounge singer, Lucky as an animal wrangler, and Mali as a safari guide – and follow new rules or face dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, Nok and Rolf have been moved into an enormous dollhouse, observed around the clock by Kindred scientists interested in Nok’s pregnancy. And Leon, the only one who successfully escaped, has teamed up with villainous Mosca black-market traders. The former inhabitants of the Cage are threatened on all fronts – and maybe worst of all, one of the Hunt’s Kindred safari guests begins to play a twisted game of cat and mouse with Cora. Separated and constantly under watch, she and the others must struggle to stay alive, never mind find a way back to each other. When Cassian secretly offers to train Cora to develop her psychic abilities – to prove the worthiness of humanity in a series of tests called the Gauntlet – she’ll have to decide fast if she dares to trust the Kindred who betrayed her, or if she can forge her own way to freedom.

Amanda Sun
Heir to the Sky
Harlequin (US: 25th April 2017)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

As heir to a kingdom of floating continents, Kali has spent her life bound by limits: by her duties as a member of the royal family, by a forced betrothal to the son of a nobleman, and by the edge of the only world she’s ever known – a small island hovering above a monster-ridden earth, long since uninhabited by humans. She is the Eternal Flame of Hope for what’s left of mankind, the wick and the wax burning in service for her people, and for their revered Phoenix, whose magic keeps them aloft. When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom and miraculously survives, she is shocked to discover there are still humans on the earth. Determined to get home, Kali entrusts a rugged monster-hunter named Griffin to guide her across a world overrun by chimera, storm dragons, basilisks and other terrifying creatures. But the more time she spends on earth, the more dark truths she begins to uncover about her home in the sky, and the more resolute she is to start burning for herself.

April 2017 Releases

Done with March 2017 Releases? Here are April 2017 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

Continue reading

Now Available for US Pre-Order

V. C. Andrews: Broken Glass: 28th February 2017: Buy (US)
Madeline Ashby: reV: 2nd May 2017: Buy (US)
Debra Driza: REDEMPTION (paperback): 25th April 2017: Buy (US)
Mira Grant: RISE (paperback): 31st January 2017: Buy (US)
Kim Harrison: THE TURN: 7th February 2017: Buy (US)
S. F. Henson: DEVILS WITHIN: 7th March 2017: Buy (US)
Marissa Meyer: STARS ABOVE (paperback): 2nd May 2017: Buy (US)
Stephenie Meyer: THE CHEMIST: 15th November 2016: Buy (US)
Madeleine Roux: ESCAPE FROM ASYLUM (paperback): 25th April 2017: Buy (US)
Diana Rowland: WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE UNCHAINED: 4th April 2017: Buy (US)
Megan Shepherd: THE HUNT (paperback): 25th April 2017: Buy (US)

26th April 2016 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Debra Driza
Renegade (MILA 2.0, Book 2)
HarperCollins Katherine Tegen (US & CA: 26th April 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Mila is back on the run – this time with potential boyfriend Hunter by her side. As they search for a man who might know more about her mysterious past, Mila must rely on her android abilities to protect them from the people who want her dead. But embracing her identity as a machine leads her to question the state of her humanity, as well as Hunter’s true intentions.

Debra Driza
Redemption (MILA 2.0, Book 3)
HarperCollins Katherine Tegen (US & CA: 26th April 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Mila has been running for her life for so long. But there might be nowhere left for her to go. Especially now that she’s an incredible danger to herself and anyone who dares get close to her. That’s why Mila has gone into hiding with friend and tech expert Lucas, someplace secluded where she’ll never be found. She can’t take the risk of hurting people worse than the way she hurt Hunter: the boy she’ll always love, the boy who might never forgive her for what she’s done. But then Mila discovers that General Holland – her ultimate enemy – is an even bigger threat to humanity than she is. His quest to reclaim Mila is only part of a larger mysterious endgame that will put people’s lives at stake. Mila must make a choice: either push aside her fears and fight him with everything she’s got…or turn her back on the world forever.

Kate Kessler
It Takes One (Audrey Harte, Book 1)
Hachette Redhook (US: 26th April 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Criminal psychologist Audrey Harte is returning home after seven years. She’ll have to face the whispers and the rumours that have haunted her family since she left. Because when Audrey was thirteen, she and her best friend Maggie killed Maggie’s abusive father. Her first night back in town ends in a fight with a drunken Maggie, with her old crush Jake to witness it all. Audrey can’t believe it can get worse. Then Maggie turns up dead.

Kate Karyus Quinn
Down with the Shine
HarperCollins Teen (US & CA: 26th April 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Lennie always thought her uncles’ “important family legacy” was good old-fashioned bootlegging. Then she takes some of her uncles’ moonshine to Michaela Gordon’s annual house party, and finds out just how wrong she was. At the party, Lennie has everyone make a wish before drinking the shine – it’s tradition. She toasts to wishes for bat wings, for balls of steel, for the party to go on forever. Lennie even makes a wish of her own: to bring back her best friend, Dylan, who was murdered six months ago. The next morning gives Lennie a whole new understanding of the phrase be careful what you wish for – or in her case, be careful what wishes you grant. Because all those wishes Lennie raised a jar of shine to last night? They came true. Most of them came out bad. And once granted a wish can’t be unmade…

Laura Ruby
Bone Gap
HarperCollins Balzer + Bray (US & CA: 26th April 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised. But Finn knows what really happened to Roza. He knows she was kidnapped by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember.

Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven King (Raven Cycle, Book 4)
Scholastic (US & CA: 26th April 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love’s death. She doesn’t believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Amanda Sun
Heir to the Sky
Harlequin Teen (US: 26th April 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

As heir to a kingdom of floating continents, Kali has spent her life bound by limits: by her duties as a member of the royal family, by a forced betrothal to the son of a nobleman, and by the edge of the only world she’s ever known – a small island hovering above a monster-ridden earth, long since uninhabited by humans. She is the Eternal Flame of Hope for what’s left of mankind, the wick and the wax burning in service for her people, and for their revered Phoenix, whose magic keeps them aloft. When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom and miraculously survives, she is shocked to discover there are still humans on the earth. Determined to get home, Kali entrusts a rugged monster-hunter named Griffin to guide her across a world overrun by chimera, storm dragons, basilisks and other terrifying creatures. But the more time she spends on earth, the more dark truths she begins to uncover about her home in the sky, and the more resolute she is to start burning for herself.

April 2016 Releases

Done with March 2016 Releases? Here are April 2016 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

Continue reading

Now Available for US Pre-Order

Jessica Alcott: EVEN WHEN YOU LIE TO ME (paperback): 7th June 2016: Buy (US)
V. C. Andrews: WHITEFERN: 26th July 2016: Buy (US)
Keri Arthur: FLAMEOUT: 5th July 2016: Buy (US)
Laura Bickle: MERCURY RETROGRADE (paperback): 8th December 2015: Buy (US)
Tom Cox: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FURRED KIND: 16th August 2016: Buy (US)
Debra Driza: RENEGADE (paperback): 26th April 2016: Buy (US)
Megan Hart: LITTLE SECRETS: 2nd February 2016: Buy (US)
Colleen Hoover: IT ENDS WITH US: 2nd August 2016: Buy (US)
J. Kenner: UNWRAP ME: 24th November 2015: Buy (US)
Katrina Leno: THE LOST & FOUND: 5th July 2016: Buy (US)
Richelle Mead: THE GLITTERING COURT: 12th April 2016: Buy (US)
Vicki Pettersson: SWERVE (paperback): 31st May 2016: Buy (US)
Tiffany Reisz: THE BOURBON THIEF: 28th June 2016: Buy (US)
Beth Revis: PAPER HEARTS, VOLUME 1: SOME WRITING ADVICE: 1st November 2015: Buy (US)
Beth Revis: A WORLD WITHOUT YOU: 19th July 2016: Buy (US)
Carrie Ryan: DAUGHTER OF DEEP SILENCE (paperback): 12th July 2016: Buy (US)
Holly Schindler: PLAY IT AGAIN: 18th October 2015: Buy (US)
Eve Silver: CRASH (paperback): 2nd August 2016: Buy (US)
Danielle Vega: THE MERCILESS II: THE EXORCISM OF SOFIA FLORES: 5th July 2016: Buy (US)
Rachel Vincent: THE STARS NEVER RISE (paperback): 19th July 2016: Buy (US)
Rachel Vincent: MENAGERIE (paperback): 28th June 2016: Buy (US)

Now Available for US Pre-Order

Mario Acevedo: RESCUE FROM PLANET PLEASURE: 3rd May 2015: Buy (US)
Cassie Alexander: BOXSET: THE HAUNTED, THE HUNTED, THE HATED: 28th April 2015: Buy (US)
Madeline Ashby: COMPANY TOWN: 16th February 2016: Buy (US)
Laura Bickle: MERCURY RETROGRADE: 27th October 2015: Buy (US)
Jessica Brody: UNCHANGED (paperback): 23rd February 2016: Buy (US)
Allie Brosh: SOLUTIONS AND OTHER PROBLEMS: 27th October 2015: Buy (US)
Megan Crewe: A SKY UNBROKEN: 13th October 2015: Buy (US)
Debra Driza: REDEMPTION: 23rd February 2016: Buy (US)
Jordana Frankel: THE WARD (paperback): 19th January 2016: Buy (US)
Jordana Frankel: THE ISLE: 19th January 2016: Buy (US)
Colleen Hoover: MAYBE NOT (paperback): 22nd December 2015: Buy (US)
Krissy Kneen: EATING MY GRANDMOTHER: 1st July 2015: Buy (US)
Caragh M. O’Brien: THE VAULT OF DREAMERS (paperback): 16th February 2016: Buy (US)
Caragh M. O’Brien: THE RULE OF MIRRORS: 16th February 2016: Buy (US)
Jennifer Rush: REBORN (paperback): 12th January 2016: Buy (US)
Kim Savage: AFTER THE WOODS: 23rd February 2016: Buy (US)
Megan Shepherd: A COLD LEGACY (paperback): 26th January 2016: Buy (US)
Maggie Stiefvater: THE RAVEN KING: 1st March 2016: Buy (US)

11 New Covers (Armstrong, Carr, Driza, Ewing, Fitzpatrick, Hart, Roux, Silver)

Continue reading

Now Available for US Pre-Order

Cassie Alexander: The HATED: 1st February 2015: Buy (US)
Kelley Armstrong: THE MASKED TRUTH: 13th October 2015: Buy (US)
Holly Black: BLACK HEART (mass market paperback): 24th November 2015: Buy (US)
Melinda Braun: STRANDED: 25th August 2015: Buy (US)
Jessica Brody, Marissa Meyer, Caragh M. O’Brien, et al: FIERCE READS: KISSES AND CURSES: 19th May 2015: Buy (US)
Viola Carr: TENFOLD MORE WICKED: 27th October 2015: Buy (US)
Cassandra Rose Clarke: OUR LADY OF THE ICE: 27th October 2015: Buy (US)
Debra Driza: REDEMPTION: 27th October 2015: Buy (US)
Becca Fitzpatrick: untitled novel: 10th November 2015: Buy (US)
Mira Grant: SYMBIONT (paperback): 13th October 2015: Buy (US)
Claudia Gray: TEN THOUSAND SKIES ABOVE YOU: 3rd November 2015: Buy (US)
R. C. Lewis: SPINNING STARLIGHT: 6th October 2015: Buy (US)
Marie Lu: PRODIGY: COLLECTOR’S EDITION: 6th February 2015: Buy (US)
Richelle Mead: THE RUBY CIRCLE (paperback): 13th October 2015: Buy (US)
Richelle Mead: SOUNDLESS: 17th November 2015: Buy (US)
Scott Westerfeld: AFTERWORLDS (paperback): 29th September 2015: Buy (US)

Free Books on Amazon: Why & What

NOTE: For the purpose of this article, I don’t count “Free if you’re with Prime/Audible/etc” as free, on account of they’re conditional. E.g. Free-to-air TV has extra channels, but you can’t access them because they’re only compatible with high-definition televisions and you only have standard-definition.

A tech-giant recently released a new gadget, and possibly an updated operating system, and thus their affiliated online bookseller is marketing this as a great time for readers to stock up on some free books. (I don’t know who decides which books to make free, but I hope the publisher chooses, so the bookseller isn’t going rogue.)

Because of price-matching and whatnot, other booksellers are hosting the same deal. This is great, because I tried to download the software for the gadget’s affiliated bookseller, but apparently it’s not compatible with devices that aren’t affiliated with that particular tech-giant. (Yet their music software IS compatible…)

So I turned to Amazon, and they indeed have some of the same books for free. During my searches, I learned that offering the first-in-a-series for free – permanently, instead of just temporarily – is a great way to snag a potential reader’s interest, and self-publishers in particular are really going for this. And as self-publishers, these authors can change their prices if or when they want. (For traditional publishers, I figure their authors don’t get much say, but hopefully their publisher consults them about making a book available for free.)

Also, even traditional publishers offer short stories or novellas for free, to get readers interested in trying the full-length novels. Whether temporary or permanent, it’s a great opportunity for consumers.

Of course, in the past some self-published authors have been dismayed to learn that offering the first for free may not automatically boost sales for the author’s not-free books. So patience is a must – please understand that consumers may not immediately read something they just purchased, but buy so they have the OPTION of reading at any time. As much as publishers and authors may wish readers to read and review ASAP, readers actually have independent thought and decide what’s best for them.

As with any eBooks, geographical restrictions may prevent certain readers from accessing these stories. If books have the same publisher globally (such as in the case of self-published authors), there may not be restrictions. But if a book hasn’t sold World Rights or whatnot, that eBook may not even be available to PURCHASE in some regions, and certainly not free. Welcome to the world of geo-restrictions, which is an unfortunate hurdle that gets in the way of some people (e.g. me) buying some of the books we want to read. And because we only acquire books legally, we go without these eBooks.

But I digress.

Going through my author checklist today, some of their works are currently free on Amazon. (If the links don’t work for you, they may be geo-restricted.) Some may be free permanently, and others temporarily, so please check the price before automatically clicking the Buy button when it appears:

Maree Anderson: Freaks of Greenfield High
Abigail Barnette: The Boss
Kylie Chan: White Tiger
Debra Driza: The Fire
Colleen Hoover: Finding Cinderella
Katie McGarry: Red at Night
Richelle Mead: Bloodlines
Robert Muchamore: Rock War: The Audition
Diana Peterfreund: The First Star to Fall
Jodi Picoult: Where There’s Smoke
Veronica Roth: Free Four
Carrie Ryan: Flotsam & Jetsam
Karin Slaughter: Blindsighted

But these are just the authors I’m interested in, so use your own author checklist to find some legally free goodness.