Raincoast Teens Read Preview
(2017 Winter/Spring Edition)

On September 10, 2016, I attended the Raincoast Books preview event and was joined by other influencers in the community — bloggers and store buyers inclusive — to glimpse forthcoming 2017 titles.

For worldwide readers, if you’re unfamiliar with what/who Raincoast Books is, they’re the Canadian distributors for publishers like Bloomsbury, Macmillan, Tor/Forge, FSG, HMH, among others. So thank you to Raincoast Books for extending an invitation for me to attend!

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Roundtable Seating and Cupcakes 

Upon arriving at the library (place of event), it is always wonderful to see the community members I’ve come to know online and off. It was also neat to have book buyers from various companies in attendance too. And I probably knew of 90% of them in passing (?). That’s dandy.

Attendees were greeted with swag bags at each of the seats with books and knick knacks galore! There were also cupcakes; to which I had four of them (moist bundles of joy is what they were).

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Coming in Winter/Spring 2017

And with everyone settled in, I recap to you — as verbatim as possible — the books pitched to attendees presented by month. Better get your Goodreads opened up because cover lust and hype galore will ensue. Please note that the covers below are just one image and the link redirects are in Green.

(Note: titles marked with * are those that currently interest me!)

January 2017

Louise Gornall’s “UNDER ROSE-TAINTED SKIES“ (03/01/17)

(Thoughts: when I read the blurb, my immediate thought was Everything, Everything. That is my comp title of choice.)

*Susan Dennard’s “WINDWITCH“ (03/01/17)

(Thoughts: Truthwitch was an OK series opener. I’m keen on seeing where this book goes…but mainly because Baeduan.)

Amanda Hocking’s “FREAKS“ (03/01/17)

(Thoughts: my comp title shout is “YA American Horror Story: Freakshow”, yeah?)

Kami Garcia  & Jonathan Maberry’s “THE X-FILES ORIGINS” Stories  (03/01/17)

(Thoughts: you do not need to have watched the T.V. show to read these two books; exploring the teen lives of Mulder and Scully.)

Len Vlahos “LIFE IN A FISHBOWL“ (03/01/17)

(Thoughts: this appeals to me because it sounds like BIG BROTHER with issues.)

Marissa Meyer (illustrations by Douglas Holgate) “WIRES AND NERVE“ (31/01/17)

(Thoughts: graphic novel of Lunar Chronicles. I hype for you, dear reader.)

*Stephanie Garber’s “CARAVAL” (31/01/17)

(Thoughts: SO MUCH NEED, SO MUCH WANT, I NEEDED THIS LAST YEAR WHY WHEN HOW WHERE?! I cry…)

*Jeff Giles’ “THE EDGE OF EVERYTHING” (31/01/17)

(Thoughts: if I’m being honest, I think I zoned out when they presented this book…which is a shame cause this SF-F sounds awesome — “X” on face value reminds me of Evan Walker (5th Wave) too?!)

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February 2017

Catherine Alene’s “THE SKY BETWEEN YOU AND ME“ (01/03/17)

(Thoughts: I cannot do verse. I also think the cover reminds a bit of Jandy Nelson’s repackaged PB cover of I’ll Give You The Sun.)

*Sheryl Scarborough’s “TO CATCH A KILLER” (07/02/17)

(Thoughts: One thing that stands out to me is that this mystery/thriller is a TOR Imprint release. But besides that, it’s Veronica Mars. That’s all the hype you need.)

Scott Bergstrom “THE CRUELTY” (07/02/17)

(Thoughts: So this author was in the center of the “morally complicated” YA debacle and a lot of people I know are screaming to boycott this title. But we’ll see how I feel about this title when it comes out because I’m still of the school of thought that not always is the author = their work.)

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March 2017

*Benjamin Alire Saenz’ “THE INEXPLICABLE LOGIC OF MY LIFE” (07/03/17)

(Thoughts: I want this so I can finally get that nudge to read A&D Discover the Secrets of the Universe.)

Sara Lovestam’s “WONDERFUL FEELS LIKE THIS“ (07/03/17)

(Thoughts: comp title is This Song Will Save Your Life with jazzy vibes.)

Kayla Cagan’s “PIPER PERISH“ (07/03/17)

(Thoughts: I must mention the cover will have an embossed design where the letters look like paint strokes. That’s rad as hell. Anyways: art is art is art is art.)

Rin Chupeco’s “THE BONE WITCH“ (07/03/17)

(Thoughts: Dark fantasy about a girl who happens to resurrects her dead brother…? Neat, but also sounds like opposite-Labyrinth Lost…?)

Sarah Cohen-Scali’s “MAX“ (07/03/17)

(Thoughts: I’ve already drowned in praise from Jenna @ Reading with Jenna as this title has already been released elsewhere. Youth Hitler is basically how I was sold this by Jenna. I think?)

Samantha Shannon “THIS SONG RISING“ (07/03/17)

(Thoughts: lettuce not talk about the day I found out this was a 7-book series…or when they decided to redesign the cover and the original future designs would feel like a premium in cost… …and just say I still want to read this series.)

Claire Lazebnik “THINGS I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN“ (28/03/17)

(Thoughts: Sisterhood, autism, and first love. Cover art not final and is thus not disclosed above.)

Roshani Chokshi’s “A CROWN OF WISHES“ (28/03/17)

(Thoughts: …I’ll enjoy this vicariously through all you readers as I could not finish The Star Touched Queen :(…)

April 2017

Cyndy Etler’s “THE DEAD INSIDE” (01/04/17)

(Thoughts: There’s no Goodreads page for this yet or book cover. All I can say is that this book is written like a memoir by the author who worked with teens with substance abuse at a “concentration camp for throwaway kids”.)

Estelle Laure’s “BUT THEN I CAME BACK” (04/04/17)

(Thoughts: I wrote no notes on this…so maybe if you enjoyed or wanted to read This Raging Light, you can have a go at this!)

*Whitney Taylor’s “DEFINITIONS OF INDEFINABLE THINGS”  (04/04/17)

(Thoughts: All The Bright Places meets Juno. I think I just have to get over the main character sharing the same name as my dad lololol.)

Erin Gough’s “GET IT TOGETHER, DELILAH!” (04/04/17)

(Thoughts: This Aussie YA book has been previously released as “FLYWHEEL”!)

L.E. Sterling’s “TRUE NORTH” (04/04/17)

(Thoughts: A follow up to True Born.)

*Scott Westerfeld’s (illustrated by Alex Puvilland) “SPILL ZONE” (04/04/17)

(Thoughts: a comp title this was pitched as was…wait for it…STRANGER. FUCKING. THINGS. That is all I need to say.)

Other Releases

There were several other releases that were next in series that Raincoast didn’t feel like they had to promo as their book titles and fanbases would speak for themselves.

*Victoria Schwab’s “A CONJURING OF LIGHT” (21/02/17)
Cecelia Ahern’s “PERFECT” (04/04/17)
Cindy Anstey’s “DUELS & DECEPTION” (11/04/17)
Leopold Gout’s “GENIUS: THE CON” (06/06/17)
Sarah J. Maas “ACOTAR Book #3″ (XX/05/17)

This was followed by a presentation of some Middle Grade titles. I’ll only list the standout ones I remembered that were discussed in length.

Cat Clarke’s “THE PANTS PROJECT“ (01/03/17)

(Thoughts: “Transgender title with no cliche characters.”)

Steven B. Frank’s “ARMSTRONG AND CHARLIE“ (07/03/17)

(Thoughts: “about teen segregation and violence that is handled with sensitivity.”)

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Mary E. Pearson

The event at Toronto was actually a live stream of the event held in Vancouver (headquarters). The author in attendance was Mary E. Pearson (The Remnant Chronicles: The Kiss of Deception) and aside from speaking about her trilogy that just recently concluded, she went on to discuss her thoughts on writing the series, her process, and what upcoming titles she has read that she was excited for — one of which is Jenny Moyer’s Sci-Fi dystopia Flashfall!

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Swag and ARCs

I spoke of a swag bag previously, this is what was in mine!

Also shout out thanks to Amanda @ Brains Books and Brawn and Patty @ Bookish Wander Love for the birthday present of that Grimm reaper — as I am, for all intents and purposes, the killer of hype and other shit in fiction.

Post Event Shenanigans

As with many events, it’s the cool off downtime that is always a blast! Plus food. Always food. This time, I was joined by Patty, Ambur @ Burning Impossibly Bright, and a book seller from Indigo. We went for pub grub and chatted all things books; particularly recapping the events of that day, books we were excited for, forthcoming romance releases (I was unable to contribute haha), and some blogging related things. T’was a grand time!

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Afterthoughts

Anyways, though I am saddened that I am the brilliant one who brought a camera and forgot to take pictures, the event was loads of great fun with awesome company (as it always is).

Which early 2017 releases are you excited for?

Cheers,
Joey

connect: 
afterthoughtAn // twitter
anotherafterthought // goodreads
picturevomit // instagram