2012 YA Debut Authors (2)

After getting started looking through the list of 2012 YA debut authors and the books they're introducing this year to the shelves, I couldn't stop at just one posting...it's just not my style. So I'm continuing on in my hunt to see what else is debuting in 2012 and which I need to add to my list that have somehow slipped past my radar! How are you guys doing as you work your way through your 2012 reads? Any new authors or titles that have really stuck out for you? You know I'm always curious to see what everyone's reading, and which ones I should be adding to my list if they aren't already on there. I love getting recommendations, so keep them coming!

Debut Pick #1: My Heart Be Damned (Damned, #1) by Chanelle Gray (07/15/2012)

If you're a Hunter, there are only three things you must know about the Damned. The Damned can't lie, can't live without a body, and can't leave you alone.

Amerie Carter has the blood of a Hunter, unfortunately. She is one of a rare line of women who, upon her sixteenth birthday, will come into extraordinary powers used to hunt the Damned; escaped souls from Hell who take up residence in human bodies. It's supposed to be her sweet sixteen, but Amerie has never dreaded a day more, and her worst fears are confirmed as the celebration turns tragic when her mother is killed.

Grief-stricken, Amerie vows to never hunt a day in her life. She's determined to hide behind normalcy, attending school, hanging out with her friends and working an after-school job at The Hut. All Amerie wants is to be left alone. But try telling the Damned that. The harder Amerie tries to ignore her powers, the more the Damned come looking for her.

When an attack leaves one of Amerie's friends in the hospital, and endangers the lives of her fellow students, she knows she has no choice: Hunt or Be Hunted. Thankfully, the gorgeous, secretive, and so-off-limits Marshall offers to train Amerie to take out her supernatural enemies. But training with Marshall means leading lying to her friends, her family, and confronting the mysterious circumstances surrounding her mother’s death.

Amerie soon discovers she’s not the only one with something to hide, Marshall's secrets might kill her before the Damned get the chance.

Debut Pick #2: The Broken Destiny (Broken, #1) by Carlyle LaBuschagne (2012)

Her Destiny is to Rise against the fall that threatens to take her soul.

Her soul is the Key to unlocking a secret weapon.

But to know her soul she has to hate it first, and then come back from that.

Her Destiny starts with Betrayal.

Debut Pick #3: Gravity (The Taking, #1) by Melissa West (10/16/2012)

In the future, only one rule will matter: Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed--arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know--especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.

Debut Pick #4: The Sphinx Project (The Chimaera Chronicles, #1) by Kate Hawkings (02/28/2012)

Not many people can say their entire existence has been one big lab experiment: poked and prodded by scientists, genetically modified to be the best and endure the worst, subjected to daily tests and trials that would kill a normal human. All Michaela wants is her own life, to be able to go to school, flirt with boys, maybe eat ice cream now and then. So when the chance to escape finally comes, Michaela and her sister grab it, taking their friends with them.

But they weren’t the only ones to find their way out of those labs. Following close behind are another breed of creature, one that doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong, who exist only to feed their own hunger. The appearance of a strange boy who seems too much like them to be a coincidence makes things even more confusing. But as the world begins to literally fall apart around them, Michaela must accept his help, especially when she could lose the very thing she holds dearest: her sister.

Be sure to check out the contest on Goodreads, you can enter yourself for a chance to win one of three copies currently being given away!

Debut Pick #5: Storm (Elemental, #1) by Brigid Kemmerer (04/24/2012)

Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they have more power than you dream.

Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her, Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys—all the ones she doesn't want. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water—just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They’re powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life’s at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who’s hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

The storm is coming . . .

Yet another future release that Goodreads has a contest going for, where there are 10 copies being given away and one of those could be yours. Hurry on over and enter for your chance to win!