Four Releases Yesterday

We’ve got quite the mix of genres for you this week! If you haven’t heard of these books already, you should check them out. I know my to-read list just got longer.

secretsideThe Secret Side of Empty by Maria Andreu

Acting like a potential valedictorian who tutors other students while still finding time to ride shotgun in her best friend’s car as they flirt with boys is fairly easy for Monserrat Thalia–it is exactly who she is. And combined with her blondish hair and pale skin, M.T. is as apple-pie American as a high school senior can get. Almost.

The one simple, very complicating exception: M.T. was born in Argentina and brought to America as a baby without any official papers. She is undocumented and illegal in the eyes of the law. And as questions of college, work, and the future arise, M.T. will have to decide what exactly she wants for herself, knowing someone she loves will unavoidably pay the price for it.

Author Maria E. Andreu draws from her personal experience of formerly being an undocumented immigrant to explore an issue that is relevant to thousands of teenagers and countless families, schools, and communities.

promisePromise of Shadows by Justina Ireland

A teen who is half-god, half-human must own her power whether she likes it or not in this snappy, snarky novel with a serving of smoldering romance.

Zephyr Mourning has never been very good at being a Harpy. She’d rather watch reality TV than learn forty-seven ways to kill a man, and she pretty much sucks at wielding magic. Zephyr was ready for a future pretending to be a normal human instead of a half-god assassin. But all that changed when her sister was murdered–and Zephyr used a forbidden dark power to save herself from the same fate.

On the run from a punishment worse than death, an unexpected reunion with a childhood friend upends Zephyr’s world–and not only because her old friend has grown surprisingly, extremely hot. It seems that Zephyr might just be the Nyx, a dark goddess that is prophesied to shift the power balance: for hundreds of years the half-gods have lived in fear, and Zephyr is supposed to change that.

But how is she supposed to save everyone else when she can barely take care of herself?

Violet HourThe Violet Hour by Whitney A. Miller

Some call VisionCrest the pinnacle of religious enlightenment.

Others call it a powerful cult.

For seventeen years, Harlow Wintergreen has called it her life.

As the adopted daughter of VisionCrest’s patriarch, Harlow is expected to be perfect at all times. To other Ministry teens, she must be seen as a paragon of integrity. To the world, she must be seen as a future leader.

Despite the constant scrutiny Harlow has managed to keep a dark and dangerous secret, even from her best friend and the boy she loves. She hears a voice in her head that seems to have a mind of its own, plaguing her with violent and bloody visions. It commands her to kill. And the urge to obey is getting harder and harder to control . . .

RuinsRuins by Dan Wells

Kira, Samm, and Marcus fight to prevent a final war between Partials and humans in the gripping final installment in the Partials Sequence, a series that combines the thrilling action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Blade Runner and The Stand.

There is no avoiding it—the war to decide the fate of both humans and Partials is at hand. Both sides hold in their possession a weapon that could destroy the other, and Kira Walker has precious little time to prevent that from happening. She has one chance to save both species and the world with them, but it will only come at great personal cost.