As the summer continued to heat up so did this season’s new releases! We can’t wait for you to read July’s roundup of new books, including a searing high-stakes thriller, a sweet grumpy sunshine romance, and a bone-chilling dark fantasy! How many of these are living on your TBR?
In the spirit of Paolo Bacigalupi and Laini Taylor, this futuristic star-crossed love story follows two teens in a starkly unequal world struggling to find their place.
A Black teen desperate to regain her Ivy League acceptance enters an elite competition only to discover the stakes aren’t just high, they’re deadly, in this searing thriller that’s Ace of Spades meets Squid Game with a sprinkling of The Bachelor.
HBO Max’s Hacks gets a romantic twist in the vein of Jenn Bennett in this swoon-worthy novel about a standoffish teen girl whose loner status gets challenged by a dynamic elderly woman and a perpetually cheerful boy.
Gideon the Ninth meets the Game of Thrones White Walkers in this dark young adult fantasy about a disgraced ghost-fighting warrior who must journey into a haunted wasteland to rescue a kidnapped prince.
This lyrical coming-of-age novel for fans of Darius the Great Is Not Okay and On the Come Up, set in southern California in 1996, follows a teen who wants to honor her deceased friend’s legacy by entering a rap contest.
The Taking of Jake Livingston meets Cemetery Boys in this YA ghost story about a Puerto Rican teen’s battle with a malevolent spirit targeting his apartment building and the all-too-real horrors of gentrification.
Simon Teen hosts at least one (and sometimes as many as four!) new sweepstakes every month, so if there isn’t a sweepstakes running right now, the next one is likely only a few weeks away!
What can I win?
Books, books… and more books! You can enter for a chance to win finished copies of our titles, advance reader’s copies (ARCs), bookish swag, and more. We also occasionally partner with other brands to bring you even more fun prizes.
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You can enter for a chance to win our sweepstakes by keeping an eye on our Instagram, Twitter, and SimonTeen.com for when a new sweepstakes pops up! When we have one running we’ll share all of the information you need, including the entry form and rules.
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When entering a Simon Teen sweepstakes, you will provide a way to contact you (usually your email address) and we will contact you there if you are a sweepstakes winner.
Have more questions? Check out the rules for each sweepstakes for any questions about specifics.
What, you ask, is Simon Teen Reveals Week? It’s that special time of year when we show you all the shiny new covers for books coming out in just a few seasons. From June 12 – 16, we’re showing you all the new covers for our Spring 2024 young adult books. So get your Goodreads shelf ready because you’re going to want to add all of these books to your TBR!
After her private school is rocked by a gruesome murder, a teen tries to find the real killer and clear her brother’s name in this psychological thriller perfect for fans of The Taking of Jake Livingston and Ace of Spades.
Sunny Behre has four siblings, but only one is a murderer.
With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.”
The problem is, her youngest brother, Dom, has always been a near-stranger to Sunny…and seemingly a dangerous one, if found guilty of his second-degree murder charge. Still, Sunny is determined to fulfill her mother’s dying wish. But when a classmate is gruesomely murdered, and Sunny finds her brother with blood on his hands, her mother’s simple request becomes a lot more complicated. Dom swears he’s innocent, and although Sunny isn’t sure she believes him, she takes it upon herself to look into the murder—made all the more urgent by the discovery of another body. And another.
As Sunny and Dom work together to track down the culprit, Sunny realizes her other siblings have their own dark secrets. Soon she may have to choose: preserve the family she’s always loved or protect the brother she barely knows—and risk losing everything her mother worked so hard to build.
A skeptic and a supernatural being make a crossroads deal to achieve their own ends only to get more than they bargained for in this lively young adult romantic adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of Spell Bound and So This Is Ever After.
Seventeen-year-old Ellery is a non-believer in a region where people swear the supernatural is real. Sure, they’ve been stuck in a five-year winter, but there’s got to be a scientific explanation. If goddesses were real, they wouldn’t abandon their charges like this, leaving farmers like Ellery’s family to scrape by.
Knox is a familiar from the Other World, a magical assistant sent to help humans who have made crossroads bargains. But it’s been years since he heard from his queen, and Knox is getting nervous about what he might find once he returns home. When the crossroads demons come to collect Knox, he panics and runs. A chance encounter down an alley finds Ellery coming to Knox’s rescue, successfully fending off his would-be abductors.
Ellery can’t quite believe what they’ve seen. And they definitely don’t believe the nonsense this unnervingly attractive guy spews about his paranormal origins. But Knox needs to make a deal with a human who can tether him to this realm, and Ellery needs to figure out how to stop this winter to help their family. Once their bargain is struck, there’s no backing out, and the growing connection between the two might just change everything.
In this sequel to the New York Times bestselling, “pulse-pounding” (Publishers Weekly) A Door in the Dark, Ren’s intellect and cunning are stretched to the limit in her quest to take down the system that stole her father’s life.
Ren Monroe is a wolf among lions. After infiltrating one of the greatest Houses in Kathor through her successful bond with Theo Brood, she finds Theo’s father is two steps ahead. He exiles Theo and isolates Ren, strategically working to break her unwelcome grasp on his son—and foiling Ren’s first step to enacting the revenge she’s been planning her whole life.
Ren might have more resources than she’d ever imagined growing up, but she’ll still get nowhere without allies. Enter House Tin’Vori. Years ago, House Brood led an unprecedented raid to destroy a fellow House of Kathor. But a few siblings survived, and they haven’t forgotten the horrors waged against their family. Quietly, they’ve plotted their own revenge, waiting for the right moment to strike. And Ren Monroe might be their best chance.
Like fire, the Tin’Vori siblings are as dangerous as they are useful, both gifted in rare magics. Ren must decide how to unleash them against House Brood without hurting Theo in the process. Her feelings for Theo are growing past the boundaries of their bond, and Ren finds herself balanced on a knife’s edge, a breath away from immense power or utter ruin.
A girl with dangerous magic makes a risky bargain with a demon to be free of her monstrous power in this young adult fantasy perfect for fans of AnEnchantment of Ravens and House of Salt and Sorrows.
Liska knows that magic is monstrous, and its practitioners are monsters. She has done everything possible to suppress her own magic, to disastrous consequences. Desperate to be free of it, Liska flees her small village and delves into the dangerous, demon-inhabited spirit-wood to steal a mythical fern flower. If she plucks it, she can use its one wish to banish her powers. Everyone who has sought the fern flower has fallen prey to unknown horrors, so when Liska is caught by the demon warden of the wood—called The Leszy—a bargain seems better than death: one year of servitude in exchange for the fern flower and its wish.
Whisked away to The Leszy’s crumbling manor, Liska soon makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain, and all her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her taciturn host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts—figurative and literal—of his past. Because something wakes in the woods, something deadly and without mercy. It frightens even The Leszy…and cannot be defeated unless Liska embraces the monster she’s always feared becoming.
Penny Dreadful meets The Gilded Wolves in this breathtaking finale to young adult historical fantasy Bones of Ruin trilogy!
For years, the elite secret society called the Enlightenment Committee has waited for the apocalyptic force known as Hiva to destroy the world as it has so many times before. What the Committee didn’t know, however, was that Hiva wasn’t an event—it was a person.
Iris Marlow. An African tightrope dancer with no memories of her past. A girl who cannot die.
At least, she couldn’t die. Until her own friends discovered her one weakness and murdered her once and for all. The world-ending threat she posed should be gone too, but there’s one more Hiva out there, and unlike Iris, this one has no love for humanity. In her absence, this Hiva has taken it upon himself to judge if humanity deserves to live.
But when it comes to Hivas, the judgment is always the same. The ending is always total destruction. And while Iris is dead, she’s not gone—and after the betrayal that ended her life as Iris, she is now out for revenge.
The world’s days are numbered. The Cataclysm has begun.
For fans of Talia Hibbert and Lynn Painter comes a funny and unflinchingly honest story about a teen who must come to terms with her disability and what it means for her identity, her love life, and her future.
Brynn Kwan is desperate for her high school persona to be real. That Brynn is head of the yearbook committee, the favorite for prom queen, and definitely not crumbling from a secret disability that’s rapidly wearing her down. If no one knows the truth about her condition, Brynn doesn’t have to worry about the pitying looks or accusations of being a faker that already destroyed her childhood friendships. She’s even willing to let go of her four-year relationship with her first love, Oliver, rather than reveal that a necessary surgery was the reason she ignored his existence for the entire summer.
But after Brynn tries to break up a fight at a pep rally and winds up barred from all her clubs and senior prom, she has nothing left to prop up her illusion of being just like everyone else. During a week-long suspension from school, she realizes that she doesn’t quite recognize the face in the mirror—and it’s not because of her black eye from the fight. With a healthy sister who simply doesn’t understand and a confused ex-boyfriend who won’t just take a hint and go away like a normal human being, Brynn begins to wonder if it’s possible to reinvent her world by being the person she thought no one wanted: herself.
A painfully average teen’s life is upended by a magical apocalypse in this darkly atmospheric and sweepingly romantic novel perfect for fans of The Raven Boys, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Rest of Us Just Live Here.
High school is hard enough to survive without an apocalypse to navigate.
Sid Spencer has always been the most normal girl in her abnormal hometown, a tourist trap built over one of the fault lines that seal magic away from the world. Meanwhile, all Sid has to deal with is hair-ruining humidity, painful awkwardness, being one of four Asians in town, and her friends dumping her when they start dating each other—just days after one of the most humiliating romantic rejections faced by anyone, ever, in all of history.
Then someone kills one of the Guardians who protect the seal. The earth rips open and unleashes the magic trapped inside. Monsters crawl from the ground, no one can enter or leave, and the man behind it all is roaming the streets with a gang of violent vigilantes. Suddenly, Sid’s life becomes a lot less ordinary. When she finds out her missing brother is involved, she joins the remaining Guardians, desperate to find him and close the fault line for good.
Fighting through hordes of living corpses and uncontrollable growths of forest, Sid and a ragtag crew of would-be heroes are the only thing standing between their town and the end of the world as they know it. Between magic, murderers, and burgeoning crushes, Sid must survive being a perfectly normal girl caught in a perfectly abnormal apocalypse.
Only—how can someone so ordinary make it in such an extraordinary world?
Neve faces her vengeful cousin, the leader of the legions of hell, forcing her to decide where her loyalties truly lie in this thrilling sequel to Ravensong that’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Celtic mythology.
Neve and her sisters failed in protecting the mortal world against the legions of hell when the Veil they had spent their lives guarding split and the vengeful cousin they forgot ever existed, Aodh, managed to slip through. Dangerous and bitter, Aodh is on a mission to free the rest of their family still trapped behind the veil and set them loose on the mortal world.
Still injured from her last battle, Neve is not only working to track Aodh, but also trying to navigate painful memories that keep rising to the surface. Memories of her past lifetimes protecting the Gate…and of her first life, before she and her sisters scrubbed it from their minds. More questions arise when a new family member reveals themself, someone Neve and her sisters have been missing. Someone who might just be able to save them all.
Neve must face the sins of her past while navigating the dangers of the present. The more she remembers, the more it seems like everything she was raised to believe was a lie, and the fallout might decimate everything she has worked so hard to build in the present, including her relationship with Alexandria.
Caught between humanity and divinity, the past and the present, Neve must try to strike a balance between the warring forces both within and without, because if she doesn’t, it might not just be her relationship at stake, but the whole world.
A teen girl searches for closure after her brother dies by suicide in this breathtaking novel from the author of Learning to Breathe and Facing the Sun.
Karmen is about to start her last year of high school, but it’s only been six weeks since her brother, Julian, died by suicide. How is she supposed to focus on school when huge questions loom: Why is Julian gone? How could she have missed seeing his pain? Could she have helped him?
When a blowup at school gets Karmen sent home for a few weeks, life gets more complicated: things between her parents are tenser than ever, her best friend’s acting like a stranger, and her search to understand why Julian died keeps coming up empty.
New friend Pru both baffles and comforts Karmen, and there might finally be something happening with her crush, Isaiah, but does she have time for either, or are they just more distractions? Will she ever understand Julian’s struggle and tragedy? If not, can she love—and live—again?
All of Us Villains meets Kingdom of the Wicked in this action-packed fantasy following a teen determined to win the competition held by warring vampire and witch kingdoms, only to develop complicated feelings for the vampire she’s supposed to hand over.
Blood is survival for seventeen-year-old Bly, who lives in the poverty-stricken human villages caught between enemy vampire and witch kingdoms. Most of the time, vampires and witches live in uneasy truce, buying human blood for their food and spells. But for two weeks a year, the ceasefire dissolves, and they hold the Revenant Games.
Any human can play in the games for either the witches or the vampires. Alongside life-changing riches, the witches will raise one person from the dead for whoever captures the highest-ranking vampire. In turn, the vampires offer immortality to whoever captures the most powerful witch. For most humans, the games are a ticket out of poverty. For Bly, it’s a chance to get back her dead sister, Elise, and save the life of her dying best friend, Emerson.
Together, she and Emerson forge a dangerous plan to play both sides and win both prizes: resurrection for Elise and immortality for Emerson. But when the vampire they capture stirs a passion in Bly that she hasn’t felt in a long time, she’ll have to make a choice: her sister or the boy who’s shown her there’s more to life than just survival.
A teen’s fight for suffrage turns into one of survival when her crew’s Antarctic expedition ship gets stuck in the ice in this historical novel told in journal entries perfect for fans of Gary Paulsen and The Downstairs Girl.
November 1914.
Clara Ketterling-Dunbar is one of twenty-eight crew members of The Resolute—a ship meant for an Antarctic expedition now marooned on ice one hundred miles from the shore of the continent. An eighteen-year-old American, Clara has told the crew she’s a twenty-one-year-old Canadian. Since the war broke out, sentiment toward Americans has not been the most favorable, and Clara will be underestimated enough simply for being a woman without also giving away just how young she is. Two members of the crew know her nationality, but no one knows the truth of her activities in England before The Resolute set sail.
She and her suffragist sisters in the Women’s Social & Political Union were waging war of a different kind in London. They taught Clara to fight. And now, even marooned on the ice, she won’t stop fighting for women’s rights…or for survival. In the wilderness of Antarctica, Clara is determined to demonstrate what a woman is truly capable of—if the crew will let her.
In this stirring young adult romance from award-winning author Margarita Engle, love and conservation intertwine as two teens fight to protect wildlife and heal from their troubled pasts.
Ana and her mother have been living out of their car ever since her militant father became one of the FBI’s most wanted. Leandro has struggled with debilitating anxiety since his family fled Cuba on a perilous raft.
One moonlit night, in a wilderness park in California, Ana and Leandro meet. Their connection is instant—a shared radiance that feels both scientific and magical. Then they discover they are not alone: a huge mountain lion stalks through the trees, one of many wild animals whose habitat has been threatened by humans.
Determined to make a difference, Ana and Leandro start a rewilding club at their school, working with scientists to build wildlife crossings that can help mountain lions find one another. If pumas can find their way to a better tomorrow, surely Ana and Leandro can too.
A bisexual teen girl tries to make her ex jealous by faking an Instagram romance that leads to surprisingly real feelings in this hijinks-filled rom-com perfect for fans of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and She Gets the Girl.
Ava “Fitz” Fitzgerald has worked hard to create the picture-perfect life she’s always wanted. She spent her junior year transforming her passion for sustainable fashion and upcycling into a viral online platform, maintaining a 4.0 GPA, and spending every free second with her soon-to-graduate girlfriend, Danica. And this summer she plans to take it all to the next level by attending a prestigious summer fashion program in New York City and convincing Dani that they can survive a year of long distance.
But when Dani dumps her before classes even start, accusing Fitz of being more invested in growing her online persona than deepening their relationship, she’s left not only heartbroken, but also creatively blocked.
Fitz will do anything to win Dani back, even if that means taking a break from the platform that she’s worked so hard to build. But just as she decides to go all-in on a hiatus, a chance encounter reunites her with Levi Berkowitz, her childhood best friend that she hasn’t seen since elementary school. Levi is struggling with heartbreak of his own, and this cosmic coincidence sparks a new use for her social media savvy. Fitz offers to help Levi craft a fake relationship online to make his person jealous…if in return he can pretend to be her boyfriend in front of Dani to make her jealous. If all goes according to plan, by the end of the summer they’ll both be reunited with their perfect partners and get to rekindle their friendship in the process.
Sometimes even the most carefully designed plans can come apart at the seams, though. And when real history leads to not-so-fake feelings, Fitz will have to decide if she’s finally willing to let go of what she thought was picture-perfect and choose what might actually be right for her.
Is there any vacation more summer-y than a road trip? (Is summer-y a word? We say yes.) The second the weather turns warm, all we want to do is hop in a car with our friends and see where the road takes us. Whether you’ve got a cross-country journey ahead of you (give the World’s Biggest Ball of Twine our love!), or just wish you did, here are our favorite road trip novels to keep you entertained along the way.
20 Road Trip Novels To Pack in Your Bag This Summer
Stiggy knows is that he needs to get out of Minnesota after his father’s suicide and his girlfriend ghosting him. With no phone, and a just a map of the Great River Road, he heads out in his dad’s old car. The only problem is, life on his own isn’t exactly what he expected and, soon enough, he finds himself at a crossroads: keep running from his demons, or let them hitch a ride back home with him.
Juan and JD both have plans. Juan is going to get out of El Paso, Texas, on a basketball scholarship and JD is going to be a filmmaker. Fabi doesn’t have a plan anymore, not since getting pregnant at sixteen. When Juan and JD embark on road trip to visit Juan’s dad on death row (someone Fabi always said was dead), we find out there are some things you just can’t plan for…
Addie has a plan: get through her aunt’s wedding in Ireland, ignore her brother Ian & escape to visit her friend Lena in Italy ASAP. When she finds a travel guide called Ireland for the Heartbroken, she’s skeptical about its power to heal the wounds of her past, but then she accidentally joins Ian & his cute friend Rowan on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle & she begins to hope the guide can not only heal her broken heart, but also repair her shattered relationship with her brother. That is, if they don’t get completely lost along the way.
Amy thinks her life sucks. Her dad recently died, and her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut—just in time for Amy’s senior year. To escape from it all, Amy embarks on a road trip, driving cross-country from the home she’s always known toward her new life. Joining her is Roger, the son of Amy’s mother’s old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, but her feelings for Roger develop as the miles roll by….
Aspiring artist Dessa Rhodes is a modern day nomad. Her family travels in an RV, their lives defined by state lines, exit signs, and the small communal caravan they call home. Among them is Cyrus, her best friend and long-time crush, whom she knows she can never be with. When your families are perpetually linked, it’s too dangerous to take a risk on romance. But when her family suffers an unexpected blow, Dessa must decide: Say goodbye to her nomadic lifestyle and the boy she loves? Or never stop moving?
Three days after learning of her brother Finn’s death, Honor receives his last letter from Iraq. Devastated, she interprets his note as a final request and sets off to California to fulfill it. She’s joined by Rusty, Finn’s former best friend. Rusty is the last person Honor wants to be with, but as they cover the dusty miles together in Finn’s beloved 1967 Chevy Impala, long-held resentments begin to fade, and Honor and Rusty struggle to come to terms with the loss they share.
Ok, so Blood Red Road is not the most traditional of road trip stories, but variety is the spice of life! Saba has spent her whole life in a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. Civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for she and her family to scavenge from. That’s fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba’s world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.
Jordan and Courtney are totally in love. Sure, they were an unlikely high school couple. But they clicked; it worked. They’re even going to the same college, and driving cross-country together for orientation. Then Jordan dumps Courtney for a girl he met on the Internet, but it’s too late to change plans, so the road trip is still on. Courtney’s sure she can tough it out for a few days. But can she? Can Jordan?
Hendrix has made his grandfather an impossible promise—that he’ll get him back east to where he first kissed his wife before his Alzheimer’s wipes away all memory of her. One hot July night, Hendrix and his friend Corrina steal a car, spring Gpa from his assisted living facility, and take off on a cross-country odyssey from LA to NY. With everyone hot on their heels, Hendrix and Corrina set off to discover for themselves if what Gpa says is true—that the only stories that last are love stories.
To put distance between Rosie and her ex (whose car she may or may not have set on fire, who can really say?), her parents send her on a cross-country road trip with responsible, reliable neighbor Matty. Forget freedom of the road–Rosie wants to hitchhike home and win her ex back. But her determination starts to dwindle with each passing mile. Because Rosie’s spark of anger? It may have just ignited a romance with someone new…
After her mother died, it’s all Tessa can do to keep her friends, her boyfriend, and her happiness from slipping away. Her father’s solution? An impromptu road trip that lands them in Tessa’s grandmother’s small coastal town, where Tessa can’t help but feel even more lost. Untils he meets Henry Lark. He understands the relationships that matter. More importantly, he understands her. A secret stands between them, but Tessa’s willing to do anything to bring them together—because Henry may just be her one chance at forever.
Finn has two things going for him: his best friend, the possibly-insane-but-definitely-excellent Cade Hernandez, and Julia Bishop, the first girl he’s ever loved. Then Julia moves away. Feeling restless, Finn embarks on a road trip with Cade to visit their college of choice in Oklahoma. When an unexpected accident happens and the boys become unlikely heroes, they take an eye-opening detour away from everything they thought they had planned—and learn how to write their own destiny.
Jason Carrillo came out to his basketball team and lost his university scholarship. Now that he’s graduated, he’s been asked to speak at the opening of a gay and lesbian high school across the country. When his boyfriend, Kyle, hears about it, he jumps at the chance to go with Jason. But can their romance survive two weeks crammed together in a car? And can their friend Nelson, who’s looking for a soul mate of his own, handle being the third wheel on this road trip?
Hattie has just discovered she’s pregnant with her best friend Reuben’s baby, who has run off to Europe to “find himself.” When her great-aunt Gloria (who no one even knew existed) comes crashing into her life, Hattie sets out with her on a road trip of self-discovery—Gloria to finally confront the secrets of her past before they are erased from her memory forever and Hattie to face the hard choices that will determine her future.
Owen, Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae have one thing in common: they all want to die. When they meet online, the four teens make a deadly pact: they will escape together on a summer road trip to visit the sites of celebrity suicides…and at their final destination, they will all end their lives. As they drive cross-country, bonding over their dark impulses, sharing their deepest secrets and desires, living it up, hooking up, and becoming true friends, each must decide whether life is worth living–or if there’s no turning back.
In an effort to keep Ruby occupied and mend her own broken heart, Ruby’s mother Ann drags Ruby to the weekly book club she runs for seniors. At first Ruby can’t imagine a more boring way to spend an afternoon, but she is soon charmed by the feisty group. When it is discovered that one of the group’s own members is the subject of the tragic love story they are reading, Ann and Ruby ditch their respective obsessions to spearhead a reunion between the long-ago lovers.
In this contemporary retelling of The Canterbury Tales, a group of teens on a bus ride to Washington, DC, each tell a story—some fantastical, some realistic, some downright scandalous—in pursuit of the ultimate prize: a perfect score.
Peyton and Jace have broken up, but they’ve been thrown together on a road trip. Awkward. One of them is lying about the destination. One of them is pretending not to be leaving something behind. And neither of them is prepared for what’s coming on the road ahead…
When Winston’s absentee mother, Skye Harper (that’s her stage name), sends a letter asking for help, Winston’s Nanny says the best way to give it is to take a cross-country road trip—in a “borrowed” motor home—to go find Winston’s mother once and for all. With a cute stowaway named Steve along for company and an adventure on the horizon, this is sure to be a summer to remember.
We just checked the weather and it’s going to be gorgeous this weekend in Santa Monica for YALLWEST 2019! SO GET READY because here’s a comprehensive schedule of all our Riveted by Simon Teen activity this year. Don’t forget to follow us @SimonTeen on Twitter and in our Instagram Stories for up-to-the minute news and lots of fun video content from our authors at YALLWEST.
Everything Happening With Riveted by Simon Teen @ YALLWEST 2019
Saturday, May 4th
All day long at the Riveted Booth!
Pick up your copy of “Riveted Weekly” to keep track of all the giveaways and author events.
Stop by for our “What’s in Your Bag” raffle to enter for a chance to win a Riveted tote bag and ARCs of The Lady Rogue, Songs from the Deep, and She’s the Worst. We’ll be drawing winners all day!
Get a wristband for our #MalecMeetup at 1pm where you can snag exclusive Shadowhunter swag.
Take a photo (or two…or three) at our photo wall.
10:00am
Meet-and-greet with Shea Ernshaw and get a signed sampler of Winterwood (Riveted Booth)
11:00am
Kiersten White signing (Innovation Quad)
RomComs panel with Mary H.K. Choi and Sandhya Menon (Barnum Hall)
What’s better than eating yummy food, hanging with your friends, and talking about books? Doing all three at the same time! Seriously, we owe so much to the genius behind book clubs. First time hosting? We’ve got you covered with these book club ideas that will make you the best host ever.
Book Club Ideas That Will Totally Impress Your Friends
The Club
Before we get into book club ideas about what to read and how to host, you first need to assemble your squad. The obvious place to start is with your super best friends, but keep in mind that not everyone loves to read. (We know! It’s crazy!) Don’t be afraid to extend invites to casual acquaintances, classmates, coworkers, teammates, and friends of friends as well. You may not be BFF right now, but book club might bring you closer together!
Be real with people about your expectations, though. A great book club member comes prepared, shares their ideas, and listens when others are talking. You want to make sure you’re going to have a good time with your book club members. Whether you’re looking for a second dose of English class, or a catch-up sesh with a dash of literature, you should meet with others who share the same vision for the book club. This includes how often your club will meet!
The System
Okay, you’ve got your list of members on lock. Now you need some book club ideas about how to choose your read!
Every club handles this differently, but two common approaches are allowing the entire club to vote monthly (or bi-monthly, however frequently you meet) on a list of titles, or rotating whose turn it is to pick. Voting is very democratic, but could get tricky (how many titles do you vote on? Who chooses the initial list of options?).
The simplest approach is to allow a different person to choose per month, and then have them host at their home or another location of their choosing (more on that below). Bonus: by doing it this way, you’ll end up reading books you may not have chosen to pick up on your own!
The Book
Either way, you want to select a book you’ll enjoy reading AND discussing with your book pals. It can be fun to pick a recent bestseller everyone is talking about, but don’t be afraid to choose a book that isn’t on everyone’s radar. Some other book club ideas for things to keep in mind:
If you or your buddies are on abudget: Consider only choosing books that are available in paperback (paperback editions of books tend to be cheaper than hardcovers). Or make your selection from a list of e-books available at a temporarily discounted price. And don’t forget the library–most public library systems allow patrons to check out e-books for free.
If you know everybody is super busy: Choose a book that’s on the shorter side, to make it easier for people to read within a certain time frame. Also, most e-retailers and online library catalogs will have the number of pages a book has displayed somewhere on the title’s page. Somewhere between 250-350 pages is the length you’ll want to shoot for. Here’s a list of short books that will give you lots to talk about.
If everybody has totally different tastes: Don’t worry too much about that. Book club is meant to open us up to experiencing varying types of literature. Pick something you want to read when it’s your turn to choose, and let everyone else do the same. And don’t be afraid to go out of your comfort zone! Books teach us empathy, so open yourself up to traveling a few hundred pages in the shoes of someone different than you.
Still need some help? Here are some book lists to get you started:
The options for where to meet are endless! It can be fun to rotate meeting in members’ homes. Or, you could try out that new restaurant with the comfy chairs and fireplace. If the weather’s nice, you could even go outside to a nearby park–this is one of the best book club ideas ever, because it combines reading and getting in your daily dose of vitamin D.
As long as you keep your voices down, your library might be thrilled to see your book club from time to time. (Also a great time to pick your next read!) And if you find yourself in a long-distance book club, a group video chat is perfect.
Honestly, the location for book club doesn’t matter as long as you’re together. (D’awww!)
The Food
Book club ideas for successful snacks: they should be abundant, tasty, and easy to eat! I love a good bowl of Cheetos, but I definitely don’t want orange fingerprints all over my book when I’m paging through to point out my favorite parts.
If hosting book club AND providing the food is a lot to manage, suggest making it a potluck or have everyone bring their favorite snack to go along with a theme.
The Discussion
Remember those scenes in The Lord of the Flies when it was total chaos? Sometimes a little bit of order is a good thing. I’m not saying this has to be Literature 101 or anything, but one of our best book club ideas is to have a little plan of how to discuss your book club’s pick.
One of the best book club ideas for how to get the conversation started is to go around and have each person share whether they liked the read, plus one topic they’d like to talk about. It’s also helpful to have one person designated as the leader to keep the discussion flowing and make sure everyone who wants to contribute gets their chance.
Publishers sometimes create reading group guides to help a book club host out with some discussion questions. Here’s a list of YA books with reading group guides available to take the burden off you in those quiet moments.
It’s the first of the month, which means we’ve got a whole new set of books to read FOR FREE on RivetedLit.com. Plus we have extended excerpts of new YA novels hitting shelves in April 2019. As well as a new Riveted Exclusive!! Read on to discover what’s available this month!
Every Book You Can Read For Free on Riveted by Simon Teen in April 2019
A laugh-out-loud, heartfelt YA romantic comedy, told in alternating perspectives, about two Indian-American teens whose parents have arranged for them to be married.
From #1 New York Times bestseller Cassandra Clare and award-winner Wesley Chu comes the first book in a new series that follows High Warlock Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood as they tour the world after the Mortal War. The Red Scrolls of Magic is a Shadowhunters novel.
This is an unforgettable romance that is part The Sun is Also a Star mixed with Anna and the French Kiss, following two Muslim teens who marvelously and oddly meet during a spring break trip.
After an awkward first encounter, Birdie and Daniel are forced to work together in a Seattle hotel where a famous author leads a mysterious and secluded life in this romantic contemporary novel from the author of Alex, Approximately.
A high school outcast spends his life hoping to be abducted by aliens in this funny, quirky novel about finding your footing in a world that sometimes feels like Mars.
From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes a brand-new series set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that introduces a new Slayer as she grapples with the responsibility of managing her incredible powers that she’s just beginning to understand.
One girl must uncover secrets of the past to save her friend from a terrible curse in this dark and mesmerizing story of love, revenge, and redemption inspired by the myth of Medusa.
In a world ruled by fierce warrior queens, a grand empire was built upon the backs of Phoenix Riders—legendary heroes who soared through the sky on wings of fire—until a war between two sisters ripped it all apart. Sixteen years later, Veronyka is a war orphan who dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider from the stories of old. After a shocking betrayal from her controlling sister, Veronyka strikes out alone to find the Riders—even if that means disguising herself as a boy to join their ranks.
Westworld meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this start to a thrilling, subversive near future series from New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young about a girls-only private high school that is far more than it appears to be.
In the tradition of The Lunar Chronicles, this sweeping reimagining of Les Misérables tells the story of three teens from very different backgrounds who are thrown together amidst the looming threat of revolution on the French planet-colony of Laterre.
A thief. An officer. A guardian.
Originally performed at the Kennedy Center for the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and later as a tribute to Walter Dean Myers, this stirring and inspirational poem is New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds’s rallying cry to the dreamers of the world.
Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds. A fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.
A gun is sold in the classifieds after killing a spouse, bought by a teenager for needed protection. But which was it? Each has the incentive to pick up a gun, to fire it.
In this powerful companion to her award-winning memoir Enchanted Air, Young People’s Poet Laureate Margarita Engle recounts her teenage years during the turbulent 1960s.
In this poetic memoir, which won the Pura Belpré Author Award, was a YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, and was named a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, acclaimed author Margarita Engle tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War.
Becca and her boyfriend, Alec, attend different schools, but they make things work—mainly by being inseparable after school and on weekends. So when Becca has to take a job at a coffee shop, she is more than a little bit insecure about what this will mean for their relationship.
Ava can’t see him or touch him, unless she’s dreaming. She can’t hear his voice, except for the faint whispers in her mind. Most would think she’s crazy, but she knows he’s here.
A forbidden gift helps two teenage girls find hope, friendship, and the will to live in this “beautifully told true story about brave young women who refused to be victims and walked out of Auschwitz with their heads unbowed” (School Library Journal).
Twelve-year-old Hope’s life is turned upside down when her older sister, Lizzie, becomes an elective mute and is institutionalized after trying to kill herself.
Christmas is coming!!! We are all so excited for the holiday cheer and of course we have to start thinking about presents for others to put under the tree. Our staff of writers here at Riveted by Simon Teen wants to share our favorite books we’d like to get this holiday season and exactly why they are our favorites. You can get some gift ideas for your besties, and maybe some for yourself too. Happy Holidays from the Riveted Team to you!!
“If you thought Dimple and Rishi were adorable, wait until you meet Twinkle and Sahil. It’s rom-com, movie magic, and it’s quintessential Sandhya Menon!”
Annika recommends The Books of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
What about this book did you love?
“I love a good dragon story and it’s just such a great and magical adventure!”
“I just want to be a Shadowhunter and be a part of that world! It was so cool how this series took normal living people and put them into a whole fantasy aspect.”
“It was in a way personal because it was the first time I read about someone with a similar cultural background to myself. Also, Peter Kavinsky is bae!”
“It was such a touching and emotional story about a boy and how he wanted to express his feelings and make a difference. I also really appreciated his quest to make the perfect cornbread.”
“The characters are SO real and it feels like you want to be best friends with them. There are so many plot lines that interconnect and fit perfectly together. It was the best!”
“I really didn’t see anything coming. There were so many different surprises that kept me guessing until the end…and of course that love in the distance that couldn’t quite be reached was the star on top.”
We want to give you something extra special to round out an awesome 2018. And what’s better than free books? We’re excited to offer 25 free reads this December, each available for 24 hours only. See the schedule below and mark your calendars! Let’s read!
Celebrate #25DaysOfDecember with These Free Reads!
It’s one of our favorite times of the year! YALLFest is almost here! Here’s a comprehensive schedule of all our Riveted by Simon Teen activity this year. Get your calendars ready because there’s something happening every hour on Saturday! Don’t forget to follow us @SimonTeen and the hashtag #getriveted on Twitter and in our Instagram Stories for up-to-the minute news and content from our authors at YALLFest. See y’all soon!
Everything Happening With Riveted by Simon Teen @ YALLFest 2018
Enter our Magnus Bane giveaway to win a special Shadowhunters Magnus Bane plush.
Get a wristband for our Shadowhunter Army recruitment event where attendees will receive a deluxe tote bag, enamel pin, and a Queen of Air and Darkness chapter sampler when they sign up for the Shadowhunter Army newsletter.
Stop by to pick up your #ShelfQueens crown and snap a photo!
10:00am
Jenn Bennett book giveaway (Riveted Booth)
Mary H. K. Choi signing (Blue Bicycle Books)
Opening Keynote: Jenny Han & Morgan Matson (Music Hall | 37 John St)
Read it Before You See It: Tweak giveaway (Riveted Booth)
3:00pm
Deb Caletti signing (Train Museum)
Friendmance panel with Mary H. K. Choi and moderator Siobhan Vivian (Museum)
Shadowhunter Army Recruitment event (Charleston Museum Courtyard) *ticketed- stop by the Riveted Booth to get a wristband and you’ll get a Shadowhunter tote, pin, poster, and Queen of Air and Darkness sampler at the event!
3:30pm
Read it Before You See It: Hush, Hush giveaway (Riveted Booth)
4:00pm
Pitter Patter: Writing Fresh Love Stories panel with Siobhan Vivian and Jessica Brody (Ballroom)
Magnus Bane raffle winner announced (Riveted Booth)
5:00pm
Secrets and the Ones Who Keep Them panel with Lisa Maxwell (Cinema)
Closing Keynote with Neal Shusterman (Music Hall | 37 John St)
And don’t forget to come say hi to us at the booth all day!
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