The books which this catalogue, if you can call it that, were amazing. From the authors to the stories itselves, I personally enjoyed every little thing about these. Definitely keeping an eye out on some of them! There was a lot of variety, and options to choose from. Regardless, some of the books I didn’t really care about. I thought either the description wasn’t good or it was flat out uninteresting. Overall, the books talked about were pretty interesting and I’ll see if I can give my students some of them.

Looking forward to reading more than just the preview for some of these

I enjoyed reading the previews of the YA Spring/Summer collection. I definitely added some books to my TBR list & sent some requests on NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.

Buzz Books previews are always amazing for getting you hooked on a book and leaves you frothing at the mouth wanting more.

Published in January?!? Well, I knew I delayed in reading this book, but I didn’t realise it was that long!!
Ms4Tune enjoyed a sample set like this some time ago and it encouraged me to try one for myself. It wasn’t until after I’d been accepted for it that I realised it was perhaps not something I would enjoy, all those start-stops! Took me forever to build up to reading it though! I’ve already read three of the books and own another 2!

Renee Ahdieh – Flame in the Mist

This is a mulan retelling! This is a story I’ve already read an enjoyed. It seems to be set in some kind of alternate Japan though I think.

Emily Barr – The One Memory of Flora Banks

I don’t really like stories where one friend goes out with/kisses another’s boy/girlfriend etc even if they’d split first. It’s a fuzzy moral line and I really don’t know what to do with those. I didn’t quite realise that this is what this book was about, I just thought the boy was a boy, not a friend’s boyfriend.
This excerpt was pretty good though! Which is lucky as I own this book! I’d hoped to have read this book before now, but it might be some time now before I get to it. I look forward to reading it though, Why does she remember?!?
This is a contemporary story.

Kathryn Berla – Dream Me

The summery of this sounded odd to me – according to the notes I made when I read about this one. I classed it as an urban fantasy/sci-fi story and thought that it reminded me of what I remembered of Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout and Neptune’s Tears by Susan Waggoner. This extract didn’t really cover anything from the synopsis, it was just the setting up of both their worlds. It was interesting but a little too familiar for me.

Elizabeth Briggs – Future Threat

This was a sequel and now I know the plot of book one… You might not actually need to read it at all to read this book, it’s got a really good recap going on – probably very annoying for those who’ve just read the first though, I’m sure.
I ended up REALLY curious about their ‘future selves’ but there’s the old “she’s the problem” cliche that will only end in tears.
This is a time hopping Sci-fi.

Kayla Cagan – Piper Perish

I don’t read many contemporary books but I feel that this is a little cliche – it opens with a break up.
I was NOT impressed with this. One character deeming another to have ‘too much class’ to be gay?! Uh, no thanks.
This was one of the longer excerpts and was almost a story in itself.
Piper is whiny, self-centred and annoying. Not to mention her attitude towards people was just grrrr. I can perhaps see her point of views, but her inability to see anyone else’s aggravated me.

Cora Carmack – Roar

I’ve read this one.
It’s a slow starting fantasy but when I got to the end I’d enjoyed it more than I was expecting to.

Erin Chack – This is really Happening

This is a memoir and I don’t really read memoirs – or any non fiction at all to be honest. I have 4 memoirs on my selves waiting to be read.
This was written well however and I thought that Sean was a sweetheart!

Joelle Charbonneau – Dividing Eden

I received this in my June Mark The Page book box and I hadn’t heard of it.
Sibling rivalry is not something I like to read about, especially when it’s forced. It makes it so much worse when they’re close too so this isn’t a book I’d have chosen for myself.
It has a good start, mysterious and world building without info dumping. I’m already on Carys’s side….
It’s a fantasy story I’ll certainly give a chance to

Jennifer Frick – Ruppert – The Legend of Skyco

It was interesting to read about a culture different from my own. It’s written in first person and written well but it’s not my kind of book.
I don’t know enough to know whether this is a historically inspired book or if it’s complete fiction.

Laurie Ann Forest – The Black Witch

This fantasy starts with the ‘meant to have power but doesn’t’ trope. But it was actually well written and engrossing. It reminded me of the Obsidian Mountain series by Mercedes Lackey – (while that was hard to get into the pay off was fantastic) the deep misunderstanding that is going on here and the naive MC. I’m quite interested in reading this one!

Michael Fry – How to be a Supervillian

This is the first of the two teen books promised.
It’s full of drawings which was interesting. It’s funny but again involves choosing between people. I’ve never read captain underpants but it feels like that kind of book. It’s written by a cartoonist and makes a good transition from picture books to full books, or even the kind of book for those who also require a visual with their words.

Meg Haston – The End of Our Story

This mysterious contemporary starts with a reformed relationship and the MC wants out of town. (At this point I was getting annoyed at all the samey openings.) She did something and her best friend turned boyfriend is now speaking to her anymore. He seemed rather nice but I guess the key word is SEEMED. Though she knew him/them for 8 years and spent so much time with them an saw NO SIGN of a temper? Or perhaps she did? They synopsis and/or extract don’t let on. I’m curious about the murder but I really don’t think I’m curious enough to read it.

James Patterson and Chris Grabenstien – Lough Out Loud

This has the same feel as How To Be A SuperVillian and is the second teen book.
It’s an interesting concept about a boy with a big idea and the drive to go for it.
Not the sort of book I’d like, the writing style is not a favourite. It’s one of those that says “I’ll tell you something…” and then tells you everything BUT the thing.

Bonnie Pipkin – Aftercare Instructions

I think this contemporary story would be a very good book for people who like to read about real-world ‘small’ issues. Gen was abandoned by her boyfriend after an abortion. I can’t fathom someone doing this at all and I really don’t like him for doing it. What’s worse is that there are actually people out there like him.
I thought that the ‘play’ bits would be really annoying but it’s actually a really created way of showing flashbacks.
There are other issues going on too of course, obviously something we’ll be told of within the storyline, possibly involving a jealous girl?
I’m curious and I like the way it’s set out but I really won’t be able to deal with the guy.

Ashley Poston – Geekerella

I’ve read this book too and I really enjoyed this contemporary retelling of a fairytale (can you guess which one?!)
It reminded me of Galaxy Quest – but without the actual aliens…

Liz Reinhardt – Rebels Like Us

Break up, blah blah, moves to a new town, blah blah, a town across the country etc etc.
It DOES sort of poke fun at itself for being so stereotypical though. It has a nice, if generic intro but it will focus on racism which makes me uncomfortable – as it should, of course – and I don’t like to feel uncomfortable.
If that’s your kind of book then give this one a go maybe?

Whitney Taylor – Definitions of Indefinable Things

This covers depression and has no sign of any cliches I know!
No new people, no moves, just a meet cure in the prescription line! It was a well introduced contemporary story.
I think this was one of the shortest ones.

Sara Zarr – Gem & Dixie

She’s had to take care of her sister and her sister’s doing fine now, but she isn’t and her sister really isn’t helping!
That really annoyed me, the younger sister seemed completely oblivious! It’s almost as though they live in two different worlds.
I can see that giving her sister up would do her so much good but she loves her and I really don’t think that I’d be able to really read this happily.

Conclusion:

I got on better with this than I thought I would the stopping and starting didn’t bother me all that much and I got to explore books I wouldn’t usually have tried out. The ones that stick are 16 and 12, aside from one I already own.
These stories cover a lof of important subjects that need far more attention than they currently have. There’s also a lot of bailing men in them and some other characters that I don’t like either.

I might be tempted to read another Buzz Books again as the experience was a lot better than I thought it would be.

Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of excerpts that I was interested in, so my cumulative review is lacking.

So many great book are coming out spring 2017!

Once again, I love being able to read excerpts from so many books before purchasing them.

Some books I'm excited for are:

Flame in the Mist

Roar

Dividing Eden

How to Be a SuperVillan - this one looks really cute!

Geekerella

As always, a great collection of samples from a range of titles coming out soon.

Definitely a great way to see if the voice and style of a story work well for the reader, so they know which books will be the best investment for them, personally.

Always great to take a look at the upcoming reads for the season. I appreciate getting these sneak peeks at what books I might like to review in the future. It helps narrow them down before I request anything. Hope these continue in the future.

I love Buzz Books as it has new books and authors. Great for book clubs and reader's advisories.

Great assistance in discovering new books and authors!

Always interesting to read what's coming up as little tasters. This really helps give me a feel before I consider purchasing or requesting later in the year

I always really enjoy these little snipets of works to come! Amazing if you want to know what will come out soon

This is a great collection of excerpts of upcoming YA books for Spring/Summer 2017.

It contains an introduction followed by a list of authors that appeared at Winter Institute (Kayla Cagan, Cora Carmack, Laurie Forest, Ashley Poston, and Liz Reinhardt). After that section there are excepts by publishers. I particularly enjoyed the excerpt for FLAME IN THE MIST by Renee Ahdie.

Overall, a great list of buzzing YA titles for Spring/Summer 2017.

Thank you for this fabulous compilation of new Young Adult literature.
I often find it hard to search out the good YA literature from all the fantasy novels and these Buzz YA issues are always a great help.

Another buzz book read, and as always it had some good stories and done bad, definitely picking up some of them

I love love love the young adult Buzz Books sampler! My favorite genre, and a season's worth of books to look forward to! Flame in the Mist sounds so incredible! The One Memory of Flora Banks sounds extremely interesting. Future Threat is right up my alley. Piper Perish has a darling cover! Roar sounds so awesome! And I adore the cover! Dividing Eden has the coolest cover, omg! I can't wait to read the entire book! Geekerella sounds so adorable! I don't usually go for those types of books, but I don't think that I can resist! All of the excerpts were compelling, even for the types of books that I don't normally read. I just love this sampler!

I always look forward to buzz books including the young adult edition. I find myself enjoying the excerpts even if I have read some of the authors before. I usually find myself enjoying the story excerpt while reading it and am sorry that it's an excerpt. I know I will find the majority if not all the titles to be books I want to read. Don't miss out on this one!

This book makes me so excited for the recent releases!

I've been using this book to inform a teenage book group. It had been really useful for me to get teenagers to engage in reading, not every book catches the imagination of every potential reader. but this gives the a good idea of what they may enjoy and encourages them to choose texts they wouldn't have otherwise tried.