#K.A. Cobell

[bookaddict24-7]

NEW YOUNG ADULT RELEASES! (JUNE 4TH, 2024)

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HAVE I MISSED ANY NEW YOUNG ADULT RELEASES? HAVE YOU ADDED ANY OF THESE BOOKS TO YOUR TBR? LET ME KNOW!

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NEW STANDALONES/FIRST IN A SERIES:

Annie LeBlanc is Not Dead Yet by Molly Morris

Four Eids and a Funeral by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé & Adiba Jaigirdar

Heiress Takes All by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee

Wish You Weren't Here by Erin Baldwin

Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine

One Killer Problem by Justine Pucella Winans

The Breakup Artists by Adriana Mather

Take All of Us by Natalie Leif

Louder Than Words by Ashley Woodfolk & Lexi Underwood

Tristan and Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights by James Persichetti & L.S. Biehler (Illustrator)

Markless by C.G. Malburi

Furious by Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos

An Outbreak of Witchcraft by Deborah Noyes & Melissa Duffy (Contributor)

Storm: Dawn of a Goddess by Tiffany D. Jackson

Now, Conjurers by Freddie Kölsch

Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell

Lady of Steel and Straw by Erica Ivy Rodgers

Spilled Ink by Nadia Hashimi

If You Can't Take the Heat by Michael Ruhlman

Lockjaw by Matteo L. Cerilli

London on My Mind by Clara Alves & Nina Perrotta (Translator)

What's Murder Between Friends by Meg Gatland-Veness

NEW SEQUELS:

Past Present Future (Rowan & Neil #2) by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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Happy reading!

[lifeofafemalebibliophile]

Book Review: "Looking for Smoke" by K.A. Cobell

“Looking for Smoke” by K.A. Cobell (2024) Genre: YA, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller Page Length: 416 pages (hardcover edition) Synopsis: When local girl Loren includes Mara in a traditional Blackfeet Giveaway to honor Loren’s missing sister, Mara thinks she’ll finally make some friends on the Blackfeet reservation. Instead, a girl from the Giveaway, Samantha White Tail, is found…

[richincolor]

I thought it would be fun to highlight some books that came out earlier this summer! Have you read any of these yet? Did they make your TBR list?

Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell Heartdrum

Since moving to the Blackfeet Reservation with her parents, Mara Racette has felt like an outsider, taunted by her tight-knit classmates for growing up far away. So, when a local girl includes Mara in a traditional Blackfeet giveaway to honor her missing sister, Mara thinks she’ll finally make some friends. Instead, a girl from the giveaway, Samantha White Tail, is found murdered. Because the members of the giveaway group were the last to see Samantha alive, each becomes a person of interest in the investigation: New-girl Mara, who hated Samantha for being particularly cruel. Grief-stricken Loren Arnoux, who was Samantha’s best friend until her sister’s disappearance drove a wedge between them. Class-clown Brody Clark, whose unreciprocated crush on Samantha is an open secret. And tough-guy Eli First Kill, who has his own complicated history with Samantha. Despite deep mistrust, the four must now take matters into their own hands and clear their names. Even though one of them may be the murderer. In her powerful debut novel, Looking for Smoke, author K. A. Cobell (Blackfeet) weaves loss, betrayal, and complex characters into a mystery that will illuminate, surprise, and engage readers until the final word.

The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

A group of friends fight to choose their own fates in this trope-savvy, self-referential young adult thriller from the acclaimed author of Their Vicious Games, about a demonic force that acts according to horror movie rules in the spirit of the Scream movies. Devon is always being left behind by her genius twin sister, Drew. At this point, it’s a fact of life. But Devon has one last plan before Drew leaves for college a whole year early—The Best Summer Ever. After committing to the bit a little too much, the twins and their chaotic circle of friends learn why you don’t ever mess with a Ouija board if you want to actually survive the Best Summer Ever, and soon find themselves being hunted down by…a demon? But while there’s no mistaking the creeping, venomous figure is not from around here, their method doesn’t feel very demonic at all. In fact, it’s downright human—going after them in typical slasher movie kill order. And that means Devon, the blonde, is up first and her decade-long crush, Yaya, is the Final Girl who must kill or be killed to end the cycle. Devon has never liked playing by anyone else’s rules though, not even a demon’s, and the longer this goes on, the more she feels Drew and Yaya slipping away from her even as she tries to help them all survive. Can they use their horror movie knowledge to flip the script and become the hunters instead of the hunted? Or will their best summer ever be their last?

The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow Delacorte Press

Princess Ying Yue believed in love … once upon a time. Yet when she’s chosen to wed the crown prince, Ying’s dreams of a fairy tale marriage quickly fall apart. Her husband-to-be is cold and indifferent, confining Ying to her room for reasons he won’t explain. Worse still are the rumors that swirl around the imperial palace: whispers of seven other royal brides who, after their own weddings, mysteriously disappeared. Left alone with only her own reflection for company, Ying begins to see things. Strange things. Movements in the corners of her mirror. Colorful lights upon its surface. And when, on the eve of her wedding, she unwittingly tears open a gateway, she is pulled into a mirror world. This realm is full of sentient reflections, including the enigmatic Mirror Prince. Unlike his real-world counterpart, the Mirror Prince is kind and compassionate, and before long Ying falls in love—the kind of love she always dreamed of. But there is darkness in this new world, too. It turns out the two worlds have a long and blood-soaked history, and Ying has a part to play in the future of them both. And the brides who came before Ying? By the time they discovered what their role was, it was already too late.

[talonpaw]

How about 3, 6, and 10 :3

3. What were your top five books of the year?

typed out longer explanations for each book here, but a quick recap:

The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore

Bright Young Women - Jessica Knoll

The Honeys - Ryan La Sala

Certain Dark Things - Silvia Moreno-Garcia (elk, i think you would enjoy this one based on what i know about your reading preferences)

Rosewater - Tade Thompson

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

also answered here :)

TL;DR, every single book ever 😭

…also, i gotta get back to finishing the feline wizards series at some point

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

my main anticipated release is alecto the ninth, which didn’t end up releasing this year 🥲

i’ll offer you two 2024 releases that i enjoyed:

Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell is a YA mystery/thriller centered around the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. I highly recommend the audiobook, which has a full cast with different narrators for each of the book’s POV characters. this was a strong debut novel, and i’m looking forward to seeing what this author publishes next. i’m really glad that this book exists in the YA space.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore is a mystery surrounding the disappearance of a 13 year old girl from her summer camp, in the same woods where her brother went missing years ago. this follows MANY different perspectives and jumps back and forth in time as both mysteries unravel. i think there were times when i was reading this where i audibly gasped out loud, lol.