I recently discovered some 2013 YA releases that really caught my attention, thanks to this lovely Pinterest.
by Priya Kanaparti
Release Date: February 14, 2013
Ren and Axel are caught between two powerful magical races: one destined to end the bloodshed, the other out for vengeance.
Seventeen-year-old Ren Pernell is prophesied to end the war between the Dracians and the Telalians. So when a Dracian, Axel Knight, is sent to find and bring back the prophesied one before she turns eighteen and Telalians discover of her existence, unexpected sparks start to fly between the two. Once Ren finds the truth behind Axel’s arrival, she wants everything to do with him and nothing to do with his mission.
Things prove to become difficult as Ren’s life is constantly threatened by the Goarders, humans who sold their souls, a Proxy Succubi, and the leader of the Telalians, who has been searching for her as well.
With the clock ticking and Ren’s life in jeopardy, it is no longer just a mission for Axel. It becomes a personal endeavor to save the only one he’s ever loved. In a heart racing ending, they must find a way to evade the preordained war that won’t also end Ren’s life.
The Elementals (The Vespertine #3)
by Saundra Mitchell
Release Date: June 4, 2013
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Kate Witherspoon has lived a bohemian life with her artist parents. In 1917, the new art form of the motion picture is changing entertainment—and Kate is determined to become a director.
Meanwhile, midwestern farm boy Julian Birch has inherited the wanderlust that fueled his parents’ adventures. A childhood bout with polio has left him crippled, but he refuses to let his disability define him.
Strangers driven by a shared vision, Kate and Julian set out separately for Los Angeles, the city of dreams. There, they each struggle to find their independence. When they finally meet, the teenage runaways realize their true magical legacy: the ability to triumph over death, and over time. But as their powerful parents before them learned, all magic comes with a price.
Maid of Secrets (Maid of Honor #1)
by Jennifer McGowan
Release Date: May 7, 2013
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In this breathtaking start to a series, a secret society of young women make up Elizabeth I’s most trusted royal guard. God Save the Queen—or the Maids will.
Orphan Meg Fellowes makes her living picking pockets—until she steals from the wrong nobleman. Instead of rotting in prison like she expected, she’s whisked away to the court of Queen Elizabeth and pressed into royal service, where she joins four other remarkable girls in the Maids of Honor, the Queen’s secret society of protectors.
Meg’s natural abilities as a spy prove useful in this time of unrest. The Spanish Court is visiting, and with them come devious plots and hidden political motives. As threats to the kingdom begin to mount, Meg can’t deny her growing attraction to one of the dashing Spanish courtiers. But it’s hard to trust her heart in a place where royal formalities and masked balls hide the truth: Not everyone is who they appear to be. With danger lurking around every corner, can she stay alive—and protect the crown?
In The Shadow of Blackbirds
by Cat Winters
Release Date: April 2, 2013
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In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?
Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.
Impostor
by Susanne Winnacker
Release Date: May 23, 2013
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CAN TESSA POSE AS MADISON . . . AND STOP A KILLER BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE?
Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI.
When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again.
Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep.
Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.
(X-men meets The Silence of the Lambs)
The End Games
by T. Michael Martin
Release Date: May 7, 2013
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It happened on Halloween.
The world ended.
And a dangerous Game brought it back to life.
Seventeen-year-old Michael and his five-year-old brother, Patrick, have been battling monsters in The Game for weeks.
In the rural mountains of West Virginia, armed with only their rifle and their love for each other, the brothers follow Instructions from the mysterious Game Master. They spend their days searching for survivors, their nights fighting endless hordes of “Bellows”—creatures that roam the dark, roaring for flesh. And at this Game, Michael and Patrick are very good.
But The Game is changing.
The Bellows are evolving.
The Game Master is leading Michael and Patrick to other survivors—survivors who don’t play by the rules.
And the brothers will never be the same.
Gated
by Amy Christine Parker
Release Date: August 27, 2013
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Do the gates keep the unchosen out or the chosen in?
Welcome to Mandrodage Meadow, a typical middle-class, close-knit community. The families here are drawn together by shared values and a commitment to living a peaceful life in a beautiful, somewhat insular suburban development. But there's a problem: you're actually not welcome—at all.
The last thing anyone inside the compound wants is attention from the outside world. For over ten years, the members have lived happily under the direction of Pioneer, the charismatic leader who took them away from their sad, damaged lives. So when Pioneer pinpoints the end of the world and plots a very specific and drastic course for his cult (they must arm themselves and prepare to move into an underground silo to save their community) everyone falls in line; even seventeen-year-old Lyla. At least she's trying to. Lyla wants to paint instead of take target practice. And she'd rather think about the possibilities and people outside the compound (like Cody, the cute son of the local sheriff) than imagine married life in the silo with her intended, Will. As the end of days draws closer, Lyla will have to do more than daydream—it's time to pick up a gun, take a side, and let her family know exactly where she stands.
ACID
by Emma Pass
Release Date: April 25, 2013
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ACID - the most brutal police force in history.
They rule with an iron fist.
They see everything. They know everything.
They locked me away for life.
My crime?
They say I murdered my parents.
I was fifteen years old.
My name is Jenna Strong.