Happy Monday!
As our Riveted Summer rolls along, we hope YOU’RE having a great summer! We just wrapped up The Summer of Deception and what else could possibly follow up all that deception than consequences! Justice always prevails, the good guys win in the end, and for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Well, maybe that last one’s a bit of a stretch in this case but there is a nugget of truth in there: in fiction (and often—but not always—IRL), a character’s actions, big or small, good or bad, always have consequences. A prank, a kiss, a word, the smallest acts sometimes prove pivotal, shifting the story in an unexpected direction and often resulting in a complete transformation. In each of our featured reads this week, our protagonists will find themselves grappling with the unintended and unforeseen consequences of their actions…
First up for the Summer of Consequences, we’re SO excited to feature an advance extended excerpt of Alexandra Sirowy’s upcoming First We Were IV! Available July 25, First We Were IV follows four high school students who form a secret society devoted to mischief that rights wrongs and pays back debts (After all, there needs to be consequences for those wrongdoings, right?). Of course, things quickly spiral out of control in ways you won’t see coming and suffice it to say, our four protagonists find themselves facing consequences of their own. This thriller is sexy and intense, featuring a roster of characters that leap off the page! With her previous books, The Creeping and The Telling, Alexandra Sirowy has been making a name for herself as a YA thriller author and no doubt First We Were IV will propel her even further!
Next up: in Rachele Alpine’s A Void the Size of the World, Rhylee must face the consequences after her actions indirectly lead to her sister’s disappearance. It’s another perfect fit for this week’s theme! But what was it that Rhylee did, you may be wondering? She kissed her sister’s boyfriend. Worse, her sister caught her. Worse still, her sister ran off into the dark woods and never came home. We were already in love with this striking cover image and we’re looking forward to reading this one right alongside you all, start reading the extended excerpt right here!
For our next title, we’ve got an extended excerpt of Boy from Blake Nelson! Now, we can’t talk about Boy without talking about Girl: in case you weren’t already familiar with it, Blake’s Girl was originally serialized in Sassy magazine over twenty years ago and went on to become a cult favorite. Fast-forward to today and after all these years, Blake’s written a new companion novel, Boy. In Boy, protagonist Gavin is one of the cool kids, living an easy life of parties, girls and snowboarding…until he meets dark and dramatic Antoinette. Antoinette’s a force of nature and Gavin’s obsession with her quickly grows, culminating in one life-altering night (#consequences!). Blake’s devoted following is going to LOVE Boy, and a new generation of readers will be delighted to discover both Girl and Boy. The best part: while you can read our extended excerpt of Boy here on Riveted as part of our Summer of Consequences, you can ALSO read ALL of Girl on our new Wattpad profile where we’re currently serializing it!
Then, throwing a little mystery into the mix, we’ve got Lock and Mori, a modern-day re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes and the first book in Heather W. Petty’s Lock and Mori Trilogy. When a murdered body is found in London’s Regent’s Park, sixteen-year-old Lock (Sherlock) challenges his classmate Mori (Miss James Moriarty) to solve the crime before he does. The attraction between Lock and Mori, mixed with their friendly competition and Lock’s social awkwardness, is the perfect recipe for a hot romance, but while the murder may bring them together, the truth may very well drive them apart. Powerhouse author Ellen Hopkins described Lock and Mori as “wise, witty and engaging” and author Heather W. Petty as “a force to be reckoned with.” Read the whole book here for our Summer of Consequences and if you find yourself hooked, don’t miss the rest of the trilogy: the second book, Mind Games, is available now, and the third and final book, The Final Fall, will be available November 28!
Moving right along! Our next featured title is Abigail Haas’s Dangerous Girls. Anna and a few of her friends fly down to Aruba for Spring Break of their senior year for what they expect will be the time of their lives, but when one of them is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself a prime suspect. Kirkus described Dangerous Girls as “a compulsively readable, hair-raising snapshot of 21st-century legal spectacle” and “ripped from the headlines.” Readers will be swept up in the story the same way we’ve been swept up in the stories of the likes of Natalee Holloway, Lacey Peterson, and Amanda Knox. A psychological thriller you’ll want to read in one sitting, Dangerous Girls will leave you mentally and emotionally exhausted (in a good way).
For our final featured title, we’re happy to bring back One Cut by Eve Porinchak, one of the launch titles for Simon Pulse’s new Simon True series. While Dangerous Girls was practically ripped from the headlines, One Cut actually is—it’s a non-fiction title, as each of the Simon True books are, and recounts the events of May 22, 1995 when a backyard brawl led to a murder and turned a small, quiet town upside down. This is no dry, slow read though: from the initial brawl to the trials that ensued, One Cut is tense and dramatic and will keep you reading late into the night. The fact that you may find yourself inadvertently learning a lot about the criminal justice system is a bonus.
