Category: YA General

Title: I Just Got a Letter from Allyson Pringle

Author: Anya Bateman

Publisher: Deseret Book

Release Date: December 26, 2008

ISBN: 978-1606410288

Size: 224 pages, softcover

Genre: YA

Kendall’s senior year of high school is turning out to be perfect— he’s preparing to go on a mission, and things are good at home, at school, and with his friends. Best of all, the most popular and funny girl in school— Allyson Pringle— is in two of his classes. As the two become friends, Kendall realizes that Allyson’s bright laughter is hiding some deeper pain. He wants to help her, and he thinks the gospel might be the answer she is looking for, but their friendship falls apart when Allyson cheats on a test for Kendall without telling him. In this fastpaced, YA LDS novel, Kendall learns about honesty, friendship, and the benefits that come from doing the right thing for the right reasons.

Title: The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love

Author: A.E. Canon

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: June, 2008

ISBN: 978-0061128462

Size: 272 pages, hardcover

Genre: Young Adult

Ordinary, boring Ed works a loser summer job at Reel Life Movies, where he doesn’t even have his own name tag. He’s stuck with “Sergio.” Ed’s only consolations are his two best friends. Shelving DVDs isn’t so mind-numbingly dull with Scout cracking jokes, and after hours Ed hangs out with the superbrain, Quark. Life starts to look up when the girl of his dreams saunters into Reel Life. Ed knows he doesn’t stand a chance . . . but maybe, just maybe Sergio does. All he has to do is pretend to be a smoldering Brazilian stud for the rest of his life. Simple, right? But . . . Ed’s new dream girl has her own secrets, Scout wants to be more than Ed’s best friend, and his buddy Quark wants Scout for himself.

Star-crossed crushes make for hilarious misunderstandings as Ed guides his life toward disaster in this fresh, contemporary twist on Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Title: Life in the Pit

Author: Kristen Landon

Publisher: Blooming Tree Press

Release Date: November 15, 2008

ISBN: 978-1933831084

Size: 248 pages, hardcover

Genre: Young Adult

Plain, normal Brittany has always lived in the shadow of her beautiful, popular friend Amanda. Amanda has a new boyfriend every week; Brittany doesn’t date. Amanda is the star of the school musical; Brittany watches from behind her cello in the orchestra pit. But then, the hot lead in the play starts showing an interest in Brittany and not because she’s Amanda s best friend. At the same time, Amanda and Brittany both get threatening anonymous letters. Brittany doesn’t know what to do: a guy likes her, and she and Amanda are in danger. Has the world gone insane?

Title: Lost Luke

Author: Leora Potter

Publisher: Jorlan Publishing, Inc.

Release Date: July 7, 2008

ISBN: 978-1933830056

Size: 204 pages, 6×9, hardback

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

Luke Wilde’s curiosity about a strange customer causes him to become a prisoner of Dr. Rollins. The doctor offers Luke $50,000 for one of his kidneys. Doc plans to sell it on the black market for transplant. The doctor gets greedy and decides Luke will not survive the operation and Dr. Rollins will have lots of body parts to sell on the black market. Nick, the doctor’s PA, learns of the deadly plan and helps Luke escape. As Nick and Luke try to outrun and outsmart the doctor, the suspense intensifies.

Title: Runaway Amanda

Author: Leora Potter

Publisher: Jorlan Publishing, Inc.

Release Date: May 30, 2008

ISBN: 978-1933830049

Size: 196 pages, 6×9, softcover

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

Amanda was a teen with an adult problem. Her charming stepfather was molesting her. When her mother, Kathy, would not listen to the truth, Amanda ran away and found life on the street challenging. Life in prison was even worse. Her dilemma was how to free herself from the demands of the nightmare. Doors were locked, windows nailed shut, and no phone to call out. Debbie, Amanda’s older sister, was willing to be taken prisoner to try to locate Amanda and free her. The suspense intensifies as the two girls fight for their freedom.

Title: Journey of the Heart

Author: W. Dave Free

Publisher: Leatherwood Press

Release Date: 2008

ISBN:

Size: 5.5×8″, softcover

Genre: YA

Steve is a typical teenage boy immersed in the material things of the world. He was raised by active LDS parents who taught him the right, but he has never experienced the fire and truth of the Gospel. Instead he has just gone through the motions. The morning he tells his parents he is not going to serve a mission is the same morning he is in a serious skiing accident. When he wakes up he discovers that he is a on a train and about to embark on a trek across the states to Utah.

While with the pioneer company he struggles with his desires to return home and his knowledge that many of the pioneers will die. In the process he learns that the truth is worth any amount of sacrifice. He also meet a young girl, traveling on her own because her parents disowned her when she joined the church. She becomes Steve’s friend and confidant and has an impact on his life Steve could have never imagined.

Title: Freshman for President

Author: Allyson Condie

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Release Date: May, 2008

ISBN: 978-1590389133

Size: 304 pages; 5.5×8″, softcover

Genre: YA

Fifteen- year- old Milo J. Wright and his best friend, Eden, are crazy to even consider participating in the election for President of the United States of America, aren’t they? Never mind that Milo is twenty years too young. Never mind the fact that he’ll have to balance the election with school, his lawn- mowing job, soccer practice, and trying to understand girls. There are times in life when you just have to go for something, no matter how impossible. Readers will discover that everyone, no matter what age, has something valuable to say.

Title: The Book of Jude

Author: Kimberley Heuston

Publisher: Front Street

Release Date: April 2008

ISBN: 978-1-932425-26-0

Size: 232 pages, Hardcover

Genre: YA

Read the review.

A brilliant young woman’s fight against a debilitating psychological illness is set against the historical events of the Prague Spring and the anti-Soviet struggles in Czechoslovakia. When Jude’s mother gets a fellowship to go to Prague to study, Jude’s world is thrown into chaos. The teenage girl feels threatened and isolated. It turns out her whole family is going, but still Jude feels adrift. When she arrives in Prague and discovers that their life in the embassy compound is closely circumscribed by rules and regulations and that they are closely watched at all times, she begins to suffer even more. Desperate to break out of the constraints imposed on her and her family, Jude sneaks out one night only to encounter a security crackdown on students and dissenters. Although she makes it home safely, her consciousness continues to deteriorate as she fluctuates in and out of rationality. Only when Jude steals a friend’s car and drives into the countryside does the true seriousness of her condition become apparent to her family. Then the long road to recovery begins.

Title: Heaven Scent

Author: Rebecca Cornish Talley

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Release Date: February 2008*

ISBN: 978-1-59955-100-5

Size: 5.5×8.5; 236 pages

Genre: YA

“She’d wanted her father to pay more attention to her, and she’d wanted her family to be like it used to be. She hadn’t wanted everything to change so drastically that she may not even survive it.”

As Liza proves herself a basketball star, everyone – from college basketball recruiters to the gorgeous Kyle Reynolds – seems to take note of her. Everyone, that is, except her own father. While her father is busy at his law practice, Liza learns about a strange new religion from Kyle. Could Kyle’s religion help her family? Or is it already too late for her father to make amends?

When yet another broken promise finally leads to tragedy, Liza doesn’t know if she will ever be able to forgive her father. It will take a good friend, a new belief, and a miracle straight from heaven to help Liza see that she still has a choice. The compelling story of a high school basketball star, this is a novel every girl will want, and none will be able to put down!

*Author website says release in March; publisher’s site says February and it’s listed for sale now.