September is such an exciting month around here, with the forthcoming releases of The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, AND The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton! I hope you don’t mind if I continue to share some of the great news we’re receiving on these three great books. Like this fab Kirkus review ofThe Name of the Star, which reads:
A clever, scary, little-bit-sexy beginning to a series that takes Louisiana teen Rory to London.
Rory’s parents are teaching for a year at the University of Bristol, so she gets to spend senior year at Wexford, a London boarding school. She recounts her story, from mining her colorful relatives for stories to wow her English classmates, coming to grips with heavier course loads and making a couple of fairly adorable friends. But London is soon caught up in fear, as a copycat killer has begun recreating Jack the Ripper’s bloody murders in gruesome detail. Johnson fearlessly takes readers from what seems like a cool innocent-abroad-with-iPod story to supernatural thriller, when Rory sees a man no one else does on campus the night of one of those murders. Enter a trio of young folks who are ghost hunters of a very specific sort. The tension ramps up exquisitely among cups of tea, library visits and the London Underground. The explosive ending is genuinely terrifying but never loses the wit, verve and humor that Rory carries with her throughout. While this tale does conclude, it does so with a complicated revelation that will have readers madly eager for the next installment.
Nice touches about friendship, kissing, research and the way a boy’s curls might touch his collar fully integrate with a clear-eyed look at a pitiless killer.
And have you seen the official trailer for The Name of the Star? Check it out!
And speaking of MJ’s new book, I promised a galley to one of the many fabulous commenters on my post last week, didn’t I? Let’s see who random.org thinks should win it… Congrats, Rebecca Enzor! Rebecca, email me with your mailing address, and I’ll send you your galley!
Speaking of contests, do stop by Kiki’s site for a chance to win The Faerie Ring as well as two other September releases, including Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Friend of the Blog and all-around fabulous person Laini Taylor. This one is tops on my TBR pile, for certain!
3 thoughts on “Some “NAME” News”
That is a really really cool trailer! I read an ARC of Name of the Star and just tore through it at an ungodly speed and have categorically refused to venture any further East than Holborn since (Ok, so I'd rarely have a reason to go East of Holborn anyway). Can't wait to get my hands on the shiny signed copy with the maps and what not. Also found out while reading it that my flatmate as a vast and entirely inexplicable store of knowledge about Jack the Ripper and that her chosen use of the Tardis would be to solve the mystery of the Ripper's identity. After reading Name of the Star, I kind of agree with that use…
Didn't realize LOLA was coming out this month! And both THE NAME OF THE STAR and THE FAERIE RING sound great, too. *falls into a happy swoon* Gotta love the fall release season:)
I can't wait, oh sweet lord.