YA Books: New March Releases

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March has arrived with a plethora of new reads, including the end of some of your favorite series. Before you head off for Spring Break, check out what March has to offer for YA gluttons. Below are our Top Six highly anticipated titles of the month with bonus tidbits about the author, advanced reviews and books-into-television and film news. As usual, Goodreads ratings, blogger reviews and hype have all contributed into the choosing.

Fantasy

Source: Goodreads

Source: Goodreads

“Poison” by Bridget Zinn
Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction  and she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend. Releases March 12th 2013 by Disney Hyperion.

Bonus Tidbit: Krista, co-blogger at Nawanda Files and fellow book reviewer, reviewed “Poison”  saying the YA fantasy is “as cute and adorable as the pink little pig on the cover!” Krista compared the book to beloved favorite “Ella Enchanted” and says Kyra, the potions master, is like a sixteen-year-old girl version of Severus Snape (Harry Potter), but with more talent and way more sass. Read the review.

“Let the Sky Fall” by Shannon Messenger 
Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the F5 tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is. Releases March 5th 2013 by Simon Pulse.

Bonus Tidbit: Messenger graduated from USC with a Film degree and decided that she rather watch movies than make them. Her middle grade fantasy series “Keeper of the Lost Cities” released in 2012. To make her even more awesome, she dressed up as Rainbow Brite at Comic Con. Visit her website and you’ll probably wish you were friends.

Science Fiction

“Unremembered” by Jessica Brody
When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe. Releases March 5th 2013 by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux (BYR).

Bonus Tidbit: With so many “amnesia” books, readers may be hesitant to start “Unremembered.” Have no fear! After reading and reviewing the YA mystery/science-fiction, I wholeheartedly suggest buying or snagging a copy from your local library. Brody answers every little question, and if you skip the full back-cover summary, you may be even more shocked by each twist and turn. Brody, an established YA author (“52 Reasons to Hate my Father”), writes like a true fan of the genre, using a combination of science fiction tropes in a way that will catch you off guard. Two more have already been planned in the “Unremembered” trilogy, and I, for one, am more than excited for the next. Read the review.

Paranormal

“Spellcaster” by Claudia Gray
Nadia instantly realizes there’s more to Captive’s Sound than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia senses a dark and powerful magic at work in her new town. Mateo has lived in Captive’s Sound his entire life, trying to dodge the local legend that his family is cursed. When his strange dreams of rescuing a beautiful girl—Nadia—from a car accident come true, he knows he’s doomed. March 5th 2013 by HarperTeen.

Bonus Tidbit: Claudia Gray is the author of “Evernight” — the popular YA paranormal series that remains cagy about whatparanormal creature exists within the pages. Readers either love the twist or hate it. Gray also released “Fateful” in 2011, a YA historical fiction about the Titanic. “Spellcaster” marks the first novel in Gray’s new paranormal series about powerful magic in Captive’s Sound.

Continuing Series

“Clockwork Princess” by Cassandra Clare
The third installment to “The Infernal Devices”: Danger intensifies for the Shadowhunters as the “New York Times” bestselling Infernal Devices trilogy comes to a close. March 19th 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry Books.

Bonus Tidbit: Currently, I’d say that Cassandra Clare may have the most cult-like fan following out of all YA authors with series still developing (that excludes “Hunger Games” fanatics and Twi-hards). “The Infernal Devices” serves as a prequel series to “The Mortal Instruments,” which will see itself on the big screen come August 2013, starring Lily Collins (“Mirror Mirror”). Also, “Teen Wolf” star Daniel Sharman narrates the audio book for “Clockwork Princess” and his super sexy British accent will make you swoon. Listen here.

“Requiem” by Lauren Oliver
The third installment to “Delirium” (spoilers from book 1 and 2 ahead): Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight. Releases March 5th 2013 by HarperTeen.

Bonus Tidbit: If you ever browse in a bookstore near the YA section, someone will undoubtedly suggest a Lauren Oliver novel. Even at a YA festival, editors and agents gushed over Oliver’s heartbreaking “Before I Fall” — released three years ago. But don’t count out her dystopian series. FOX is currently developing a television pilot of “Delirium” with Emma Roberts cast as the lead. So even as the series comes winding down, you may be able to actually watch it come Fall 2013.

 Becca Ritchie

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