16th Day Update: Summertime Hues!

The news continues to be all about Sweet Sixteen cover reveals and we couldn’t be happier!

We recently added two pages to our website: check out MG Books & YA Books to see all The Sweet Sixteen covers that have been revealed to date. Prepare yourself! The pages are glorious! And you can link right to the book’s Goodreads pages from the cover image. How’s that for awesome?

Fenway and HattieFENWAY AND HATTIE

Victoria J. Coe’s Fenway made his debut into the world on this adorable cover for the MG novel FENWAY AND HATTIE set to sniff bookstores on February 9. 2016!

Fenway and his beloved short human, Hattie, are the perfect pair. She loves romping in the Dog Park, playing fetch, and eating delicious snacks as much as he does.

But when they move from the city to the suburbs, there’s bad news. While Fenway’s hard at work deterring intruders and battling a slippery floor, Hattie starts changing. She hangs out in a squirrely treehouse. She plays ball without him. What could be happening?

Crushed and confused, Fenway sets out on a mission. He’s going to get his Hattie back and nothing will stop him—not the Wicked Floor, not the dreaded Gate, not even a giant squirrel!

Get a dog’s-eye view of the world in this hilarious and heartfelt story about two best friends who learn that big changes aren’t always easy, but sometimes trying new things can get you everything you want.

FirstTimeSheDrownedTHE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED

Kerry Kletter revealed her gorgeous cover for her YA debut THE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED over at Publishing Crawl.

Cassie O’Malley has spent her whole life trying to keep her head above water–literacy and metaphorically. It’s been two-and-a-half years since her mother dumped Cassie in a mental institution against her will for something Cassie claims she didn’t do. Now, at eighteen, Cassie enrolls in college, ready to reclaim her life and enter the world on her own terms.

But as she struggles to find her way forward, the starling truths she uncovers about her own family narrative make it impossible to cut the tethers of a tumultuous past. And when the unhealthy mother-daughter relationship that defined Cassie’s childhood and adolescence threatens to pull her under once again, Cassie must decided: whose version of history is the truth? And more important, whose life must she save?

THE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED will arrive at your local bookstore on March 15. 2016!

Summer of SloaneSUMMER OF SLOANE

Erin L. Schnieder revealed her sun-warm cover for THE SUMMER OF SLOANE with help from Pop!Goes The Reader.

Warm Hawaiian sun. Lazy beach days. Flirty texts with her boyfriend back in Seattle. These are the things seventeen-year-old Sloane McIntyre pictured when she imagined the summer she’d be spending at her mom’s home in Hawaii with her twin brother, Penn. Instead, after learning an unthinkable secret about her boyfriend, Tyler, and best friend, Mick, all she has is a fractured hand and a completely shattered heart.

Once she arrives in Honolulu, though, Sloane hopes that Hawaii might just be the escape she needs. With beach bonfires, old friends, exotic food, and the wonders of a waterproof cast, there’s no reason Sloane shouldn’t enjoy her summer. And when she meets Finn McAllister, the handsome son of a hotel magnate who doesn’t always play by the rules, she knows he’s the perfect distraction from everything that’s so wrong back home. But it turns out a measly ocean isn’t nearly enough to stop all the emails, texts, and voicemails from her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, desperate to explain away their betrayal. And as her casual connection with Finn grows deeper, Sloane’s carefree summer might not be as easy to find as she’d hoped. Weighing years of history with Mick and Tyler against their deception, and the delicate possibility of new love, Sloane must decide when to forgive, and when to live for herself.

SUMMER OF SLOANE will be arriving in bookstores on May 3. 2016, just in time to pack in your beach bag!

Beyond the RedBEYOND THE RED

Ava Jae released her gorgeous cover for BEYOND THE RED with a little help from YA Books Central.

Alien queen Kora has a problem as vast as the endless crimson deserts. She’s the first female ruler of her territory in generations, but her people are rioting and call for her violent younger twin brother to take the throne. Despite assassination attempts, a mounting uprising of nomadic human rebels and pressure to find a mate to help her rule, she’s determined to protect her people from her brothers’ would=be-tyrannical rules.

Eros is a rebel soldier hated by aliens and human alike for being a half-blood. Yet that doesn’t stop him from defending his people, at least until Kora’s soldiers raze his camp and take him captive. He’s given an ultimatum: Be an enslaved bodyguard to Kora, or be executed for his true identity–a secret kept even from him.

When Kora and Eros are framed for the attempted assassination of her betrothed, they flee. Their only chance of survival is to turn themselves in to the high court, where revealing Eros’s secret could mean a swift public execution. But when they uncover a violent plot to end the human insurgency, they must find a way to work together to prevent genocide.

Fear the Drowning Deep_coverFEAR THE DROWNING DEEP

Sarah Glenn Marsh revealed her hauntingly beautiful cover for FEAR THE DROWNING DEEP over at Pop! Goes the Reader.

Witch’s apprentice Bridey Corkill has hated the ocean ever since she watched her granddad dive in and drown with a smile on his face. So when a dead girl rolls in with the tide in the summer of 1913, sixteen-year-old Bridey suspects that whatever compelled her granddad to leap into the sea has made its return to the Isle of Man.

Soon, villagers are vanishing in the night, but no one shares Bridey’s suspicions about the sea. No one but the island’s witch, who isn’t as frightening as she first appears, and the handsome dark-haired lad Bridey rescues from a grim and watery fate. The cause of the deep gashes in Fynn’s stomach and his lost memories are, like the recent disappearances, a mystery well-guarded by the sea. In exchange for saving his life, Fynn teaches Bridey to master her fear of the water—stealing her heart in the process.

Now, Bridey must work with the Isle’s eccentric witch and the boy she isn’t sure she can trust—because if she can’t uncover the truth about the ancient evil in the water, everyone she loves will walk into the sea, never to return.

16th Day Update: Covers, Conferences and Congrats!

thegirlwhofell_comps_006COVER REVEALS

April saw two more cover reveals from 2016 debuts authors. One YA and one MG! 2016 debuts are coming, people!!

THE GIRL WHO FELL: YA Contemporary

HIS OBSESSION. HER FALL. Zephyr Doyle is focused. Focused on leading her team to the field hockey state championship and leaving her small town for her dream school, Boston College.

But love has a way of changing things… (read more at Shannon’s website)

 

BOUNDERS: SciFi Middle GradeBounders_cvr_LR-2

Thirteen years ago, Earth Force, a space-military agency, discovered a connection between brain structure and space travel. Now EarthBound Academy has recruited the first group of cadets, Bounders, to be trained as aeronauts and experts in quantum ship bounding—traveling anywhere in the universe in a split second.

Twelve-year-old Jasper is in the first group sent out to space. After being bullied back on Earth, Jasper is excited to serve in Earth Force and connect with the other cadets. (read more at Monica’s website)

Next Cover Reveal? Brooks Benjamin My Seventh-Grade Life in Tights on Pop! Goes the Reader on MAY 4th!

Meet-ups!

YALLwest

YALLwest!

So many Sweet Sixteens were able to attend YALLwest  on April 11th and 12th on the sunny Cali coast. Among attendees were Sweet Sixteen members (L-R): Marisa Reichardt, Audrey Crass, Shea Olsen, Janet Taylor and Kerry Kletter.

 

 

 

Sweet Sixteen New England Retreat And on the opposite coast? A New England Retreat!

On Saturday, April 11th, Sweet Sixteens gathered at the home of Bridget Hodder for a productive and inspirational retreat by the sea. Highlights included reading the first pages from our debut novels, eating amazing food, and enjoying the long-awaited sunshine on a walk along the ocean. Pictured (L-R): Kim Savage, Monica Tesler, Jenn Biship, Emily Martin, Bridget Hodder, Victoria J. Coe and Ruth Lehrer.

 

Publications

Patrick Samphire’s short story “Five Things of Beauty” has been podcast on Toasted Cake.

Kali Wallace’s short story “Water in Springtime” will be included in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2015, to be published by Prime Books in July. And her short story “No Portraits on the Sky” is in the Clarkesworld Year 7 collection, now available in print and ebook formats.

Ruth Lehrer’s poem Sweetheart is a Lilly Press pocket poem for National Poetry Month.

Two of Laura Shovan’s poems are on display in Baltimore. (aka Charm City). Here’s a photo of “Daddy Long Legs Speaks”. As part of the Baltimore Ekphrastic Project, Laura partnered with local artist Sanzi. Sanzi created a spirit mask in response to Laura’s poem “Symmetry” and Laura wrote a poem in response to Sanzi’s sculpture named Daddy Long Legs.

What? Pre-Order?… Yeppers!

Sweet Sixteen books are on Amazon for pre-order, people!!

Marieke Nijkamp’s YA  THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS  Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

Marisa Reichardt’s UNDERWATER  Morgan is an agoraphobic trapped in the apartment she shares with her mother and brother; when surfer boy Evan moves in next door, she has to face the life she’s been missing.

Rights: Sweet Sixteen debuts will travel the globe!

Foreign rights to SUMMER OF SUPERNOVAS by Darcy Woods have sold to Mondadori in Italy & Brazil.

Russian rights to Laurie Elizabeth Flynn’s FIRSTS were sold, making this the second territory for FIRSTS, which previously sold in Italy as well.

Patrick Samphire novel, SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB, and its sequel, THE EMPEROR OF MARS, have both been resold to Germany.

Turkish rights to Meg Leder’s THE MUSEUM OF HEARTBREAK, to Pegasus Yayinlari, by Fusun Kayi at Kayi Literary Agency on behalf of Lauren Abramo at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

Shea Olsen’s FLOWER has sold Polish rights.