Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for SUFFER LOVE! Today I have a fun tens list post by the author to share with you - and don't forget to enter the giveaway!
Suffer LoveAuthor: Ashley Herring Blake
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 3, 2016
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Synopsis:
Hadley St. Clair's life changed the day she came home to a front door covered in slips of paper, each of them revealing the ugly truth about her father. Now as her family falls apart in the wake of his year-long affair, Hadley wants everyone - her dad most of all - to leave her alone.
Then she meets Sam Bennett, a cute new boy who inexplicably "feels like home" to Hadley. Hadley and Sam's connection is undeniable, but Sam has a secret about his family that could ruin everything.
Funny and passionate, Suffer Love is a story about first love, family dysfunction, and the fickle hand of fate.
Top 10 Favorite 2016 Debuts (In no particular order)
Hi,
welcome my top 10 2016 debuts. I’ve loved so many books from my fellow
Sweet 16ers and it was so hard to choose only 10. Know that this is by
no means an exhaustive list—one, because I haven’t read all of the
debuts, and two, because there are so many that I wished I could’ve put
on here, but just didn’t have the space. So, without further ado…
10: Everyone We’ve Been by Sarah Everett
From Goodreads:
Addison Sullivan has been in an accident. In its
aftermath, she has memory lapses and starts talking to a boy that no one
else can see. It gets so bad that she’s worried she’s going crazy.
Addie takes drastic measures to fill in the blanks and visits a shadowy
medical facility that promises to “help with your memory.” But at the
clinic, Addie unwittingly discovers it is not her first visit. And when
she presses, she finds out that she had certain memories erased. She
had a boy erased.
But why? Who was that boy, and what happened that
was too devastating to live with? And even if she gets the answers she’s
looking for, will she ever be able to feel like a whole person again?
So
this sounds amazing, right? Because it totally is. Everett writes
beautifully and emotionally and what really amazed me about this book
was that it dealt with really difficult things and at its core, it’s
about owning that difficulty. It’s about opening your eyes and living,
even when it sucks, even if you need a ton of help, even after you go
through something awful, even through years of depression. It’s so
beautiful. I can’t wait for this book to be in the world.
9. If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
From Goodreads:
Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone
else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping
a secret. She's determined not to get too close to anyone.
But when
she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can't help but start to let him
in. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is
losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with
Grant everything about herself--including her past. But Amanda's
terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won't be able to see
past it.
Because the secret that Amanda's been keeping? It's
that she used to be Andrew.
Will the truth cost Amanda her new
life--and her new love?
I’m calling this book
right now for the Stonewall Award. Written by a trans woman, Amanda’s
story is one we so desperately need in a YA—a trans girl who’s already
transitioned and who’s story is difficult and emotional and does not end
tragically. This book will change and save lives.
8. The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos
From Goodreads:
All Imogene Scott knows of her mother is the bedtime
story her father told her as a child. It’s the story of how her parents
met: he, a forensic pathologist, she, a mysterious woman who came to
identify a body. A woman who left Imogene and her father when Imogene
was a baby, a woman who was always possessed by a powerful loneliness, a
woman who many referred to as “troubled waters.”
Now Imogene is
seventeen, and her father, a famous author of medical mysteries, has
struck out in the middle of the night and hasn’t come back. Neither
Imogene’s stepmother nor the police know where he could’ve gone, but
Imogene is convinced he’s looking for her mother. And she decides it’s
up to her to put to use the skills she’s gleaned from a lifetime of
reading her father’s books to track down a woman she’s only known in
stories in order to find him and, perhaps, the answer to the question
she’s carried with her for her entire life.
This book
contains the sort of writing that makes me almost angry it is so damn
gorgeous. Part mystery, part coming of age, Imogene’s story is full of
longing and an aching that never really goes away and proves that love
can coexist with messiness and sadness and missing and acceptance. It’s
so gorgeous.
7. Seven Ways We Lie by Riley RedgateFrom Goodreads:
Paloma High School is ordinary by anyone’s standards. It’s got the same cliques, the same prejudices, the same suspect cafeteria food. And like every high school, every student has something to hide—whether it’s Kat, the thespian who conceals her trust issues onstage; or Valentine, the neurotic genius who’s planted the seed of a school scandal.
When that scandal bubbles over, and rumors of a teacher-student affair surface, everyone starts hunting for someone to blame. For the unlikely allies at the heart of it all, the collision of their seven ordinary-seeming lives results in extraordinary change.
This book was so, so impressive to me. Seven, first person points of view and each one was distinct enough that I never had to wonder who I was reading. And I cared about every single one of them. That, my friends, is a hell of an accomplishment. This book was messy and authentic I really loved seeing pansexual reprentation on the page. Such a unique and wild ride.
6. The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
From Goodreads:
Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s
ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and
imagination.
As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any
time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land
from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the
way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief
who could come to mean much more to Nix.
But the end to it all
looms closer every day.
Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one
map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s
mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very
existence.
For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.
She
could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability,
her own epic love.
Or she could disappear.
This
book is simply a feast of words. Gorgeous writing, beautiful blending of
fantasy and myth and history, Smart and witty banter, and a slow
burning romance that left me wanting more. Way more, but in the best
way. This fanstasy is already a favorite among so many and it’s easy to
see why. I cannot wait until book 2.
5. The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie
From Goodreads:
For Cassandra Leung, bossing around sea
monsters is just the family business. She’s been a Reckoner
trainer-in-training ever since she could walk, raising the
genetically-engineered beasts to defend ships as they cross the
pirate-infested NeoPacific. But when the pirate queen Santa Elena swoops
in on Cas’s first solo mission and snatches her from the bloodstained
decks, Cas’s dream of being a full-time trainer seems dead in the water.
There’s no time to mourn. Waiting for her on the pirate ship is an
unhatched Reckoner pup. Santa Elena wants to take back the seas with a
monster of her own, and she needs a proper trainer to do it. She orders
Cas to raise the pup, make sure he imprints on her ship, and, when the
time comes, teach him to fight for the pirates. If Cas fails, her blood
will be the next to paint the sea.
But Cas has fought pirates her entire life. And she's not about to stop.
This
is, hands down, my favorite science fiction read ever. Cas is both
tough and vulnerable, in an imposible situation, and sloooooooow burning
romance between her and Swift is both compelling, sexy, and just
absolutely perfect. I loved the action scenes, the setting on the water,
and the monsters Cas wrangles. The beautiful thing about this book is
that it is so damn complex. Cas’s motivations, what she ends up learning
about herself and the world and what she thought she always knew. It is
just so damn good.
From Goodreads:
Zephyr Doyle is focused. Focused on leading her team
to the field hockey state championship and attending her dream school,
Boston College. But love has a way of changing things.
Enter the new
boy in school: the hockey team’s starting goaltender, Alec. He’s cute,
charming, and most important, Alec doesn’t judge Zephyr. He understands
her fears and insecurities—he even shares them. Soon, their relationship
becomes something bigger than Zephyr, something she can’t control, something
she doesn’t want to control.
Zephyr swears it must be love. Because
love is powerful, and overwhelming, and…terrifying?
But love shouldn’t
make you abandon your dreams, or push your friends away. And love
shouldn’t make you feel guilty—or worse, ashamed. So when Zephyr finally
begins to see Alec for who he really is, she knows it’s time to take
back control of her life. If she waits any longer, it may be too late.
From
the beginning, Shannon Parker has always called this a “dark kissing
book” and it is, in every way. The beautiful thing about this book is
that Alec’s transition from perfect boyfriend to threat is so slow, so
subtle, so manipulative, that it makes it so clear how anyone could fall
for this, anyone can get trapped in a toxic relationship. A girl is not
stupid because she finds herself explaining away her boyfriend’s fist.
Zephyr is an amazing character, strong and vulnerable, messy and
believable. This is a book every girl needs to read.
3. Dig Too Deep by Amy Allgeyer
From Goodreads:
With her mother facing prison time for a violent
political protest, seventeen-year-old Liberty Briscoe has no choice but
to leave her Washington, DC, apartment and take a bus to Ebbottsville,
Kentucky, to live with her granny. There she can finish high school and
put some distance between herself and her mother-- her 'former' mother,
as she calls her. But Ebbottsville isn't the same as Liberty remembers,
and it's not just because the top of Tanner's Peak has been blown away
to mine for coal. Half the county is out of work, an awful lot of people
in town seem to be sick, and the tap water is bright orange--the same
water that officials claim is safe to drink. When Granny's lingering
cold turns out to be something much worse, Liberty is convinced the mine
is to blame, and starts an investigation that quickly plunges her into a
world of secrets, lies, threats, and danger. Liberty isn't deterred by
any of it, but as all her searches turn into dead ends, she comes to a
difficult decision: turn to violence like her former mother or give up
her quest for good.
It’s hard to find a book that
really tackles poverty and tackles it well. In this Erin
Brockovich-style YA, the author not only deals with poverty in a very
real way, she empowers her characters even in the worst of situations. I
loved this book and it is such a unique story—I’ve never read anything
like it—and I hope lots of teens find some comfort in this book.
From Goodreads:
There are two sides to every story.
It’s
friends-at-first-sight for Jessie and Annie, proving the old adage that
opposites attract. Shy, anxious Jessie would give anything to have
Annie’s beauty and confidence. And Annie thinks Jessie has the perfect
life, with her close-knit family and killer grades. They're BFFs…until
suddenly they're not.
Told through alternating points of view,
How It Ends is a wildly fast but deeply moving read about a friendship
in crisis. Set against a tumultuous sophomore year of bullying, boys and
backstabbing, the novel shows what can happen when friends choose
assumptions and fear over each other.
Great
friendship books are so rare, but this is one of them. It’s messy, the
two main characters go through a ton, hurt each other, deal with things
badly, but they make it to the other side. I think this book really
shows a very authentic portrait of teen female friendships and in the
most beautiful and hopeful way.
1. American Girls by Alison Umminger
From Goodreads:
She was looking for a place to land.
Anna is a
fifteen-year-old girl slouching toward adulthood, and she's had it with
her life at home. So Anna "borrows" her stepmom's credit card an runs
away to Los Angeles, where her half-sister takes her in. But LA isn't
quite the glamorous escape Anna had imagined.
As Anna spends her days
on TV and movie sets, she engrosses herself in a project researching the
murderous Manson girls—and although the violence in her own life isn't
the kind that leaves physical scars, she begins to notice the parallels
between herself and the lost girls of LA, and of America, past and
present.
In Anna's singular voice, we glimpse not only a picture of
life on the B-list in LA, but also a clear-eyed reflection on being
young, vulnerable, lost, and female in America—in short, on the B-list
of life. Alison Umminger writes about girls, sex, violence, and which
people society deems worthy of caring about, which ones it doesn't, in a
way not often seen in YA fiction.
Every now and then,
there comes a book that just hits you in the chest and you wish you had a
time machine and you could go back and hand that book to your teenage
self.
This book was one of those books for me. I think at the
core of this book is the question of self-worth and that is one that so
many girls wonder about over and over and over again into adulthood.
Umminger’s story reveals so much about American culture and the
emotional violence we often ignore. It’s going to be such an important
book when it hits shelves.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing some of your favorite debuts of 2016 with us Ashley!
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Ashley Herring Blake is a poet, teacher, and YA novelist. Her debut novel, SUFFER LOVE, follows two teens as they attempt to wade through an intense relationship complicated by their parents' infidelities. Ashley lives in Nashville, TN.
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