Which dark YA releases are we most looking forward to in 2012?

This week’s prompt poses a real challenge. A book summary or jacket copy won’t tell us if an upcoming release is truly “dark”, but we can pick up enough clues to make an educated guess. Based on what we know of these bone-chilling books, the members of Ink & Angst have ranked these high on our list.

Here are the books we’re dying to read in 2012. Comment and tell us if we missed any books on your 2012 wish list.

  FRACTURE by Megan Miranda

By the time seventeen-year-old Delaney Maxwell is pulled out of the icy waters of a frozen lake, her heart has stopped beating. She is in a coma and officially dead. But Delaney pulls through. How? Doctors are mystified. Outwardly she has completely recovered. But Delaney knows something is very wrong. Pulled by sensations she can’t control, she finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her brain predicting death or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who lost his whole family in a car accident and emerged from a coma with the same powers as Delaney. At last she’s found a kindred spirit who’ll understand what she’s going through. But Delaney soon discovers that Troy’s motives aren’t quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature – or something much more frightening?  View the book trailer here.

PASSENGER by Andrew Smith

You’re going to want to know about this one…

You didn’t really expect Jack’s connection to Marbury to just end, did you?

This is it.

The long-awaited sequel is coming soon.

  UNDER THE NEVER SKY                       by Veronica Rossi

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

Learn more about the book here.

  LIVING VIOLET by Jaime Reed

He’s persuasive, charming, and way too mysterious. And for Samara Marshall, her co-worker is everything she wants most–and everything she most fears. . .

Samara Marshall is determined to make the summer before her senior year the best ever. Her plan: enjoy downtime with friends and work to save up cash for her dream car. Summer romance is not on her to-do list, but uncovering the truth about her flirtatious co-worker, Caleb Baker, is. From the peculiar glow to his eyes to the unfortunate events that befall the girls who pine after him, Samara is the only one to sense danger behind his smile.

But Caleb’s secrets are drawing Samara into a world where the laws of attraction are a means of survival. And as a sinister power closes in on those she loves, Samara must take a risk that will change her life forever. . .or consume it.

  CINDER by Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

  CROAK by Gina Damico

 Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

  BLACK HEART by Holly Black

Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.

But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob, and new secrets coming to light, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong becomes increasingly blurred. When the Feds ask Cassel to do the one thing he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what’s a con and what’s truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet—this time on love.

SPLINTERED by Anita Howard

For sixteen years, Alyssa Gardner has lived with the stigma of being descended from Alice Liddell — the real life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s famed novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But cruel jokes about dormice and tea parties can’t compare to the fact that Alyssa hears the whispers of bugs and flowers … the same quirk which sent her mother to a mental institution years before.

When her mother takes a turn for the worse and the whispers grow too strong for Alyssa to bear, she seeks the origins of their family curse. A set of heirlooms and a moth tied to an eerie website lead Alyssa and her gorgeous best friend / secret crush, Jeb, down the rabbit hole into the real Wonderland, a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on.

There, creepy and violent counterparts of the original fairytale crew reveal the purpose for Alyssa’s journey, and unless she fixes the things her great-great-great grandmother Alice put wrong, Wonderland will have her head.

Since the cover art isn’t yet available, enjoy the trailer:

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s Christmas time! All the department store music says so. So all us angsters are spreading our quotient of goodness and light by participating in the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway & Blog Hop. (Want details on the other prizes? Cari has listed them out)

So welcome to the second day of Christmas!

We thought about giving you our hearts (which you’d just give away the very next day), or buying you Christmas shoes to push up the daisies with, or even chipping in on Grandma’s spiked egg nog to reaffirm yours and Grandpa’s faith in Santa. But in the end, we found something much, much better.

The Abominable Snowman

complete with mint snowballs.

I Lay My Stitches Down

By our very own Cynthia Grady!

I lay my stitches down and troubles fallaway. Before too long, I’m breathing withthe rhythm of my quilting — listeningwide with every fiber of my soul:the praise songs of my people; voices ofmy kin; drumbeats of my motherland form the threads that weave the fabric of my life.

You Will Call Me Drog

By Sue Cowing, who will soon be stopping by I&A for an interview!

From Amazon:

Parker is a normal sixth grader–or he was normal before the puppet. It’s just an old hand puppet, sticking out of a garbage can, and even though Parker’s best friend says leave it, Parker brings the puppet home and tries it on. Or maybe it tries him on. “You will call me Drog!” the puppet commands once they’re alone. And now, no matter how hard Parker tries, he can’t get Drog off his hand.

Drog is sarcastic, cruel, unpredictable, and loud–everything Parker isn’t. Worse yet, no one believes that Drog–not Parker–is the one saying the outrageous things that get Parker into trouble. Then Drog starts sharpening his snarky wit on the most fragile parts of Parker’s life–like his parents’ divorce. Parker’s shocked, but deep down he agrees with Drog a little.

Perhaps Drog is saying things Parker wants to say after all. Maybe the only way to get rid of Drog is to truly listen to him.

A SMASH* folio journal/scrapbook

Complete with letter stickers, post-its, and bookmark.

Two turtle dove ornaments

In keeping with the true spirit of Christmas.

How to enter

You NEED this stuff. You know you do.

Since I hate giving my life’s blood while tap dancing on the table behind my napkin and singing Jingle Bells as much as the next person, I’ll make this easy:

1) Leave a comment on this post with your name and email

OR

2) Tweet a link to this post with the hashtag #12DOC, then @ me (@feonua) saying “Hey, I tweeted, where’s my snowman??” (To which I’ll reply “You did catch the abominable-would-eat-you-as-soon-as-look-as-you part, right?”)

You can enter from now until midnight, December 12th. The winner will be chosen on the second day of Christmas, December 14th.

So what are you waiting for? Jump in!

Happy post-Thanksgiving! I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful holiday weekend. A fairly productive week all told, must be all that good food.

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I’m not a religious woman. I appreciate the symbolism of my culture – the nuance and metaphor – over the literal translations of the traditions we pass from generation to generation. One of my favorite traditions happens during Passover, when we open our doors for the prophet Elijah.

During the sedar, a meal commemorating freedom and redemption, a place setting is left vacant at the table, and a glass of wine poured for Elijah. A child is asked to open the door for his spirit, so that he may enter the hearts of those who celebrate, fill us with assurances of freedom, instill us with hope, and inspire us to build a better world.

There are many literal interpretations of this ritual found in the writings of the Talmud. But for me, the symbolic gesture – opening the door and leaving it ajar throughout the Passover meal – is an expression of trust. We are safe. We are free to dine and worship without fear. The seat remains empty each year, and the wine remains in that symbolic cup. Until the end of the night when someone always drinks it. Silly to let it go to waste. After all, it’s a celebration, a night when we luxuriate in the pleasures of free men.

I think of Elijah during Thanksgiving, when two seemingly non-related meals collide in one foggy childhood memory.

The night James came to Thanksgiving dinner.

My father brought James home from work and introduced him to our extended family. James was a quiet man with a warm smile and a kind face. Like my father, he was a decorated war veteran, except James walked with the aid of a cane. And though I was only eight years old at the time, I recall his polite and genuine appreciation for the meal, and for my family’s hospitality. Sad, I thought, that he didn’t have his own family close by. Generous, I thought, of my family to share a seat at our table with this lonely man.

As polite conversation turned toward James, my Uncle asked him, “So you work together?” We kept eating, shoveling in rounded forkfuls of turkey and stuffing. Chasing it with sweet potato casserole and wine. My father was a prison warden. Surely, James was a fellow administrator, a counselor, or a guard. None of us looked up when my Uncle asked, “What exactly do you do at the prison, James?”

There was a quiet beat while James wiped the corner of his mouth with a fine cloth napkin. “Twenty to life,” he said over the clinking of silver on china. “For Murder One.”

Knives poised over plates and forks fell silent while we all waited for a punch line that never came.

When I looked up from my plate, James didn’t look any different. He was still a gracious guest with a gentle face. He still limped from wounds suffered in defense of our country. He was a good man who’d made an angry choice that had cost him twenty years of his life, and taken another.

It’s been thirty years since James came to dinner. But I never forgot that Thanksgiving. Or his grateful smile when James thanked my mother and my father drove him back to prison. How in the blink of five courses, he made me think differently about people. About good and bad. And about what hope, freedom and redemption really mean.

“Why you want me to read that crazy suicide book? I don’t got those problems.”

Seven teenagers committed suicide in my small town.

ALL IN ONE YEAR

One hung from the rafters above the goats. One decomposed in a car beside the lake, suicide note and empty pill bottle in hand. Another put a bullet through his brain. The others were less dramatic, but just as horrible, equally memorable.

With one high school in town there wasn’t a single person not connected to the tragic teens. Students, athletes, artists, friends, sons and daughters, they went to school, church, practice, parties—they were everywhere, around everyone, and no one saw the signs. One disastrous choice opened the floodgates and a stream of youth followed. Our little town was blind until we were blindsided.

A year later driving to the airport, preparing for a SCBWI conference, I listened to Jay Asher’s (beautifully read audio version) of Thirteen Reasons Why. Jay was speaking at the conference. I wanted to familiarize myself with his work.

I listened on the plane, during my layover, in the taxi, that night before falling asleep. For hours I was captivated by the story of a girl who committed suicide. Next morning, I searched out Jay Asher, congratulated him. In addition to being a writer, I’m a psychiatric nurse, my specialty, At Risk Youth. Thirteen Reasons Why became an integral part of my therapeutic life, a lifeline for my patients and me.

True Story

            One evening, in group session, I switched off the television, flipped open a book and began reading aloud.

            “Hey!” A heavy-set kid in cowboy hat and boots turned from the window, jabbed a fist toward me. “Why you want to read us that crazy suicide book? We don’t got those kinds a problems.”

             A chorus of teen echoes reverberated through the common room. Boys grunting, girls slouching. No one making eye contact.

            I smiled, shrugged, read on until silence swallowed the room.  Eventually, I paused, took a sip of water and a boy about fifteen leaned toward me, half lounging on the couch.           

           “What’s wrong with that ho, why she so stupid?”

            I tipped my head, counted to three.

           “Shut up Mo-Fo.” The oldest member of the group snapped, “That girl’s just whack.”

            A tiny grin sparked my lips.

           A petite cheerleader with heavy eyeliner smacked her gum. “You’re stupid. Can’t you see how messed up she was? How everybody screwing around with her hurts, bad?”

           “Why don’t she tell somebody?” A Skinny boy with a guaze bandage around his wrist, squeaked.

            I eyed the kids, waited.

            A quiet girl raised pencil-thin eyebrows, whispered at the skinny kid, “Why didn’t you?”

           Thirty seconds of DEAD SILENCE, then conversation erupted, words on top of words, spilling out  like lava. Every kid had a take on the story, each related to something. Each knew about the seven suicides over the past year. Each had thought about suicide and never told before.

After that, Thirteen Reasons Why became a staple in my office, it supplanted the usual hospital-approved propaganda and morphed into a routine member of group therapy. I frequently sent it home with kids who always said the same thing, “Why do you want me to read this crazy suicide book?” But, every time I handed one out  it facilitated conversation, opened up avenues of communication, allowed kids to express themselves, talk about  taboo topics.

So, when I think of dark YA that’s had an impact on me, Thirteen Reasons Why immediately springs to mind. Yes, it’s about death, of course there’s violence, mean people, cruelty, sex. But Jay Asher’s book leads to light, like the light at the end of a tunnel. I’m grateful to him for writing an amazing book and for giving me a tool that opens life-saving channels of communication!

 Thirteen Reasons Why

By Jay Asher

 (From Good Reads)

“Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list. 

Through Hannah and Clay’s dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.”