Changing Jamie by Dakota Chase

Jamie’s pretty much your average gay teenager. He’s not out with his folks, he’s got a crush on a fellow high school athlete, and his life isn’t perfect. It’s a good thing he has his friend, Billy, to take his mind off things, and to show him that all things are possible.

Billy seems to be all Jamie isn’t. Billy’s openly gay, he has enough money to follow fashion trends, and he’s got dates all the time. Lots of them. With older men. When Billy starts acting weird and hiding things from him, Jamie’s whole life seems to tilt off its axis.

His stepfather, who has never been the greatest role model, escalates his behavior until Jamie dreads going home. His English teacher assigns him tutoring sessions with the object of his crush, the gorgeous track star Dylan. Jamie’s not even sure he can talk to Dylan, let alone tutor him, but it’s impossible to talk to Billy about it. Billy’s too wrapped up in a very dangerous game they call bug chasing: trying to catch HIV.

Learning about Billy’s risk-taking nearly shatters their friendship, and forces Jamie to look at the world in a whole new way. Can Jamie try to keep Billy safe and still stay on top of homework, a new boyfriend, and keeping his step-father in line?

Come over and pick up a copy today!

Introducing: Kari Jo Spear

Hi! I'm the author of Under the Willow and Silent One. 

I live in northern Vermont, which, especially this time of year, is about the most beautiful place in the world. We're famous for our fall foliage, and I live right in the heart of foliage country. My commute to town is other people's idea of a vacation destination. This is the view outside my window.

My novels are set in Vermont, with a dash of science fiction and fantasy thrown in. I've lived here all my life, and so have my ancestors for at least five generations. The state's beauty and strength have inspired me, and yet here, as everywhere, is trouble and sadness, and that has all seeped into my writing as well. I work with high school students every day, so, in a sense, I live in a YA world. I see the stress many kids are under. But my characters cling to brightness and hope the way Vermont farms cling to rugged hillsides, and the way tough cedar trees grow out of narrow cracks in rocky cliffs.

Publishing YA fiction has been one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. I've been invited to speak to high school classes, I've signed books at our local independent bookstore, and people from around the world have read my stories. I've corresponded with a gay teenager in Turkey who fears for his safety if his secret gets out. He told me that he rereads Under the Willow when things get tough.

In keeping with the tradition started by other authors who've posted on this blog, I've been thinking about books that are on my shelves. I grew up (and this is probably going to date me) reading Walter Farley's The Black Stallion novels, Alexander Key's Escape to Witch Mountain, Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, Chaim Potok's My Name is Asher Lev, Richard Adam's Watership Down, Mary Stewart's Merlin Series, Katherine Kurtz's The Chronicles of the Deryni, and of course C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. More recently, I've read and loved Harry Potter. I can feel the influence of all these authors in my work, too.

Here is a link to the book trailer I made for the release of my second novel, Silent One. To watch it, click HERE

  

Thanks for reading!

Kari Jo Spear

karijospear.blogspot.com

Banshee by Hayden Thorne

Nathaniel, or Natty as his family calls him, is a young man at a crossroads. His mother wants him to spend time with her family, far better off than his father, who is a poor vicar. His father would rather he do just about anything else, and his cousins have no interest in getting to know him. So what’s a young man with very few prospects to do?

When Natty meets Miles Lovell, a sophisticated friend of his cousin, he thinks he’s found something worth his while. During their long visit together, Natty discovers things about himself that he never expected, and manages to acquire a ghostly companion, as well.

Haunted by a faceless woman, who seems to appear when he’s at his weakest, Natty struggles with his own nature, and with his family’s increasing difficulties. His mother is distant, hiding things from him as she never has, and his father is growing old and tired before his eyes.

While Natty tries to find his place in the world, his childhood is crumbling around him, and he becomes more and more convinced that his persistent spirit is a harbinger of doom. Caught in a web of deceit and desperation, Natty must decide whether he will let his life be ruled by others, or if he can make his way on his own, or if the family banshee will bring about his ruin.

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Aisling Book One: Guardian by Carole Cummings

Constable Dallin Brayden knows who he is, what he's about, and he doesn't believe in Fate. 'Wilfred Calder' has no idea who he is, what he's about, and has been running from Fate for as long as he can remember. When Wil is brought in for questioning as a witness to a brutal murder, and subsequently flees, Dallin is dragged by duty into the chaos of ancient myth, fanatical religion, and the delicate politics of a shaky truce between two perpetually warring countries, all of which seem to hinge on the slender shoulders of the man he knows is not Wilfred Calder.

The eventual capture of Dallin’s quarry only makes matters worse. Wil is prickly and full of rage, rebellious and lethal, and tells an unbelievable tale of magic and betrayal that threatens to rock the carefully cultivated foundations of Dallin's world. Leery and only half-believing, Dallin finds himself questioning not only his own conscience and his half-forgotten past, but the morality and motives of everyone around him, including those who hold the power of his own country’s fate in their hands.

Come get yours today!

A Field Guide to Assassins of Muromachi Street by Tamara Sheehan

Hyabusa Jao has it bad. He's out of work, and his old boss is using him as a pincushion to train the new recruits. His boyfriend has some mysterious problem that everyone but Jao seems to know about, and now the Anu brothers, rival gangsters from Katawaza, are in Okatsu and walking all over the Good Men.

The Anu are looking to collect on an old debt, a debt Jao's best friend thought he'd left behind. They seem to think Akai's daughter should be working off what her father owes. Lucky for Fan, she's nowhere to be found. Trouble is, everyone seems to think Jao had something to do with her disappearance.

So all Jao has to do is get his boss off his case, save his boyfriend, and rescue the girl. It can't be that hard, can it? A Field Guide to the Assassins of Muromachi Street is a companion volume to The Mediocre Assassin's Handbook.

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Introducing: Missouri Dalton

Greetings! I'm Missouri Dalton, author of many an adult novel, and just recently moved into the YA field. To be fair, I started writing YA first and then adult and then published in adult first. Odd.

Anyhow, I rather liked Voss' bit about book shelves, so I thought I'd share some series from my YA shelf.

The Alex Rider novels
The Heroes of Olympus
Harry Potter
The Collegium Chronicles (Valdemar)
The Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner


Yeah, I read a lot of the action stuff. So it's funny to compare to my adult shelf where I've got the Parasol Protectorate, the Urban Shaman books and a lot of female oriented characters, while my YA/MG is all boys. Mostly boys. Ah well.

So of course, what did I just sign on for? A "boy" book, as it were. My first YA novel, Vampirism and You! 

Louis has a lot on his plate. He's just turned seventeen, he has to move to America from his home country of England, he could--maybe--be gay and he just joined the ranks of the undead. His foster-sire Duncan--who he has absolutely no feelings for whatsoever--forces him to go to high school to help him learn to be around humans without eating them. As if his life wasn't difficult enough, there's a strange vampire hanging around that Duncan really doesn't like and Louis accidentally turned the head cheerleader into his minion while playing Dracula in the school play.

And that's just the tip of the bloody iceberg, because as Louis is about to find out, being Dracula's grandson is not all it's cracked up to be. 


No release date yet, but I'll be keeping apprised on my new YA blog, Quill, Quips and Quirks. I love alliterations. So sue me.

I feel it's important to my character to note, that I wrote this blog post while listening to The Eagles, Witchy Woman.

Cheers!

Missouri

Fair Catch by Del Darcy

When Blake Thompson meets Alex Ayers, his rival on the football field, the attraction is instant. For one tumultuous high school season, their teams clash as they fall in love.

Playing for the Mustangs, Blake works to carve out a place for himself in the always-frustrating role of backup quarterback. He tries to put out of his mind how unlikely it is that someone like him -- a little too short, from a backwater town -- could make it in college football.

Alex is now with the rival Patriots, poised to add to his string of records in placekicking. His family has bounced from town to town across the Midwest, spending barely a year in any one place because of his dad's construction jobs. The college scouts are starting to notice Alex, and a bright future in football beckons.

Blake is able to put aside his feeling that he's just trailing in Alex's wake, overshadowed by Alex's star quality, until Alex gets a scholarship to a prestigious Texas school.

Will jealousy destroy Blake's regard for his boyfriend? Can Alex learn to settle down and trust someone, despite his vagabond life? If he leaves, what becomes of their love affair?

Come get your copy today!