YABC Staff's Current Reads ~ October 23rd, 2017
Hello YABC'ers!
Welcome to the newest weekly post by the Staff at YA Books Central called Current Reads Monday!
We love everything bookish and just wanted to share with our readers what books we are currently reading and obsessing about! So check out what books the YABC Staff are currently reading below and comment to let us know what your book or books your reading as well!!
Share, Tweet, and post with the hashtag #YABCCurrentReads!
Happy Reading!!
*Beth's Current Reads*
(YABC Assistant Blog Manager)
The Traitor Prince (CJ Redwine)

Expected publication: February 13th, 2018
After barely escaping the imposter’s assassins, Javan is thrown into Maqbara, the kingdom’s most dangerous prison. The only way to gain an audience with the king — and reveal Javan’s identity — is to fight in Maqbara’s yearly tournament. But winning is much harder than acing competitions at school, and soon Javan finds himself beset not just by the terrifying creatures in the arena, but also a band of prisoners allied against him, and even the warden herself.
The only person who can help him is Sajda, who has been enslaved by Maqbara’s warden since she was a child, and whose guarded demeanor and powerful right hook keep the prisoners in check. Working with Sajda might be the only way Javan can escape alive — but she has dangerous secrets.
Together, Javan and Sajda have to outwit the vicious warden, outfight the deadly creatures, and outlast the murderous prisoners intent on killing Javan. If they fail, they’ll be trapped in Maqbara for good—and the secret Sajda’s been hiding will bury them both.

Expected publication: February 6th, 2018
An action-packed fantasy adventure perfect for fans of Julie Kagawa's Talon and Renée Ahdieh's The Wrath and the Dawnabout a princess who must fight the dragons trying to destroy her world.
Six months ago, Princess Sorrowlynn stood beside Prince Golmarr to defeat the glass dragon. But when the prince almost killed her after inheriting the dragon's curse of hatred, he went into hiding to keep Sorrow safe . . . from himself.
Now the princess has been training to become a great warrior, with the hope of finding Golmarr. But her search proves difficult when she discovers she has been wed to the prince of an enemy kingdom. Desperate to end her forced marriage and be reunited with her true love, Sorrow must find a way to escape her captor husband. But there's just one more dangerous obstacle in her way. A two-headed dragon is hunting her and will stop at nothing until she is dead.
Can Sorrow summon the courage to wield the only sword that can defeat the beast and save her world from the destruction of the dragon's curse?
*Elisha's Current Reads*
(YABC Staff Reviewer)
Somebody's Baby (Lurlene McDaniel)

Expected publication: July 11th, 2017
Ever since Sloan won a reality singing competition, her music career has taken off. Now she has a manager, a recording contract, and a tour in the works. Her manager warned her that strangers would ask her for all sorts of things, and that she must not respond. But one email stands out—from a young woman who claims to be Sloan’s half sister. Sloan’s mother, now deceased, never told her who her father was, so the prospect of knowing some family history is too strong a desire to ignore.
Now Sloan must return to Windemere, the town where she grew up, to face a past she’s worked hard to forget. One trip leads to another, and when circumstances take a devastating turn, Sloan is faced with a complicated choice involving not only herself, but also those who have come to depend on her.
*Samantha's Current Reads*
(YABC Staff Reviewer)
Akata Witch (Nnedi Okorafor)

Expected publication: July 11th, 2017
Publisher: Speak
Akata Witch transports the reader to a magical place where nothing is quite as it seems. Born in New York, but living in Aba, Nigeria, twelve-year old Sunny is understandably a little lost. She is albino and thus, incredibly sensitive to the sun. All Sunny wants to do is be able to play football and get through another day of school without being bullied. But once she befriends Orlu and Chichi, Sunny is plunged in to the world of the Leopard People, where your worst defect becomes your greatest asset. Together, Sunny, Orlu, Chichi and Sasha form the youngest ever Oha Coven. Their mission is to track down Black Hat Otokoto, the man responsible for kidnapping and maiming children. Will Sunny be able to overcome the killer with powers stronger than her own, or will the future she saw in the flames become reality?
*Bethany W's Current Reads*
(YABC Indie Staff Reviewer)
On A LARP (Stefani Deoul)

Expected publication: May 16th, 2017
Question: Do any of you know the truly scary part about being seventeen?
Answer: Your brain doesn't actually know, understand or care what it can't do; and, while this sounds great in theory, in my particular case, my under-developed brain apparently didn't know I couldn't fly.
So I jumped . . .
And I plummeted . . .
And I promise you, if I somehow manage to survive this act of immature-brain-encased-in-unbelievable-stupidity, I will gladly tell you exactly how I got here.
Which, for the record, is chasing a dark-web killer through the middle of a live action role-playing game, better known as a LARP.
*Kayla's Current Reads*
(YABC Blog Manager)
Things I'm Seeing Without You (Peter Bognanni)

Expected publication: October 3rd, 2017
Seventeen-year-old Tess Fowler has just dropped out of high school. She can barely function after learning of Jonah’s death. Jonah, the boy she’d traded banter with over texts and heartfelt e-mails.
Jonah, the first boy she'd told she loved and the first boy to say it back.
Jonah, the boy whose suicide she never saw coming.
Tess continues to write to Jonah, as a way of processing her grief and confusion. But for now she finds solace in perhaps the unlikeliest of ways: by helping her father with his new alternative funeral business, where his biggest client is . . . a prized racehorse?
As Tess’s involvement in her father’s business grows, both find comfort in the clients they serve and in each other. But love, loss, and life are so much more complicated than Tess ever thought. Especially after she receives a message that turns her life upside down.
*Melissa R's Current Reads*
(YABC Instagram Manager)
My Lady Jane (Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows, Cynthia Hand)

Expected publication: June 7th, 2016
The comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey. In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.
At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane is about to become the Queen of England.
*Kim B's Current Reads*
(YABC Staff Reviewer)
Moxie (Jennifer Mathieu)

Expected publication: September 19th, 2017
Moxie girls fight back!
Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her small-town Texas high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes and hallway harassment. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.
Viv’s mom was a punk rock Riot Grrrl in the ’90s, so now Viv takes a page from her mother’s past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She’s just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. Pretty soon Viv is forging friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, and she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution.
What book are you currently reading? Comment below!
Share, Tweet, and post with the hashtag #YABCCurrentReads!