Described as “a Black Mirror style twist on Sleeping Beauty”, this slick thriller is by an author whose debut novel was the first YA novel to win the Edinburgh Book Festival First Book Award (in 2016).
It Ends With You by S. K. Wright
Everyone loves Eva. Beautiful, bright, fun, generous – she’s perfect. So when her body is found in a ditch in the local woods the only thing anyone wants to know is: Who could have done this?
It has to be Luke, her boyfriend. He has the motive, the means, the opportunity and he’s no stranger to the police. Even though the picture is incomplete, the pieces fit. But as time passes, stories change.
It Ends With You is clever and compulsive. It challenges preconceptions, makes you second-guess yourself with each chapter, and it holds an uncomfortable mirror up to the way societies and systems treat outsiders.
“The social commentary, though on point, never overwhelms the engaging, page-turning plot.” Irish Times
Fragments Of The Lost by Megan Miranda
A suspenseful psychological YA mystery about one girl’s search to uncover the truth behind her ex-boyfriend’s death.
The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson
“Variously described as folklore, fantasy and mystery, The Wren Hunt wears its labels lightly, shedding one genre for another with a sort of slippery grace that initially confuses. But the story takes flight once Wren is ensconced in the judges’ territory, and the book settles into a deft equilibrium between thriller and myth. Watson’s writing has the sort of poise rarely found in a debut, moving the plot at a steady pace, shot through with moments of true beauty.” Kiran Millwood Hargrave, GUARDIAN Review
Waterstones
We See Everything by William Sutcliffe
A gripping and powerfully relevant thriller set in a reimagined London where drone surveillance is the norm.
Deals: Bloomsbury Acquire A Debut YA Thriller
Bloomsbury Children’s Books has bought world rights to a debut YA novel by Mary Watson and one other title ahead of Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
The Wren Hunt tells the story of two ancient powers fighting for survival and one girl, born of both, who will decide their fate.
The deal was brokered by editorial director Ellen Holgate and Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge & White.
Holgate said she was “reluctant” to pigeon-hole the genre because it was “so different from anything else out there”.
“The setting is contemporary, but with a deep, ancient magic thinly veiled from view – it sizzles with romance, betrayal, deceit, lies and magic,” she said. “The tension at the heart of The Wren Hunt makes it read like a thriller, but the high concept is backed up by exceptional writing.”
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/bloomsbury-childrens-snaps-wren-hun-ahead-bologna-514761
All My Secrets by Sophie McKenzie – ACHUKAreview
“There is a freshness at the start of the book that becomes unrecognisable by the end. It is as if all the characters have become mangled by the mechanics of the story structure.”
full review: http://www.achuka.co.uk/reviews/?p=587
Hodder acquires YA urban thriller
from The Bookseller:
Hodder Children’s Books has acquired Last Man Standing, a coming-of-age urban thriller, by debut author Patrice Lawrence.
In the story, 16-year-old Marlon has promised his widowed mum that he’ll be good, and nothing like his gang-leader brother, Andre. However, everything changes when his first date with Sonya ends in tragedy and Marlon enters Andre’s world of guns, knives and drug runs.
Emma Goldhawk, senior editor at Hodder, acquired the world rights, excluding the US and Canada, in a two-book deal from Caroline Sheldon at the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency.
Hodder will publish Last Man Standing in spring 2016. A second standalone title will follow in 2017.
David Fickling Books Acquires Paperback Rights To Costa Shortlisted Running Girl by Simon Mason
David Fickling Books (DFB) is set to publish the paperback edition of Simon Mason’s highly acclaimed Running Girl. Shortlisted for the 2014 Costa Children’s Book Award, Mason’s debut foray into YA crime writing was described by the judges as ‘unputdownable’.A former imprint of Random House Children’s Books, newly independent DFB – of which Mason is MD – have acquired the rights to the paperback edition of Running Girl from Penguin Random House, with publication scheduled for June 2015.DFB Publisher David Fickling said: “Our focus at DFB is on all of our authors – past, present and future – and, having had the privilege of working with Simon as his editor over many years, it seemed only natural that we might take on the paperback edition of Running Girl.”There is a huge gap in the market for excellent teen crime fiction, making Running Girl, and its sassy teen detective Garvie Smith, a particularly exciting proposition for us. We’ve been thrilled to see the success the book has – quite rightly – already enjoyed, and can’t wait to bring it home to the DFB stable. We’re also eager to find out what’s in store for our teen sleuth as Simon develops the series.”
How About: Cruel Summer + Say Her Name by James Dawson
James Dawson has had a very strong year.
In early summer Hot Key Books released his horror novel, Say Her Name, and the paperback edition of the 2013 murder mystery Cruel Summer was released by Indigo in August.
That was not all….
In September Hot Key Books released his well-received non-fiction title This Book Is Gay.
Not only that, but earlier in the year he was crowned Queen of Teen.
He acknowledges the support of his readers and fans, as well as picking his five favourite books of the year, in this YouTube video (in which he is accompanied by his ‘little friend Prince’):
Next year seems set to be just as strong, with (according to the video) two new books in the pipeline – a new novel from Hot Key scheduled for March and presumably one also from Orion/Indigo.
***UPDATE*** Just been advised by Hot Key Books that BOTH new titles are with them
His author website only gives details of books already published. It’s not yet responsive, but IS WordPress designed, so Dawson will find it easy to change to a new WP theme that will reshape the design for different screen sizes.
