15 Authors Reveal Their Last YA Purchases

The Wrath and The Dawn, by Renée Ahdieh. I’ve been hearing so many incredible things about this book, and the library hold list was 5ever long. I got tired of waiting, so I picked up a copy at Little Shop of Stories, my favorite indie. I haven’t read it yet, but I hear I’m in for a massive book hangover!
–Lauren Morrill (The Trouble with Destiny)

This One Summer, by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki ,and Soman Chainani’s School for Good and Evil were my last young adult novels purchased. I got them because I had a great Comic Con panel with both authors in July, and had heard fabulous things about their books. And I got to have them signed as well! I’m excited to read them!
–Cindy Pon (Serpentine)

The Witch Hunter. I checked out the ebook from my library, but as soon as I read the first few pages I was hooked by the magic and the hilarious heroine. I HAD to have a hardcover for my bookshelf!
–Stephanie Diaz (Extraction)

Shadowshaper, by Daniel José Older. Older writes the kind of urban fantasy stories I sought, but never found, as a young reader. The hero is the very awesome Sierra Santiago. The picture on the cover looks like someone who might be named Sierra Santiago. I couldn’t NOT buy this book.
–Lamar Giles (Endangered)
The last YA I bought was Shadowshaper, by Daniel José Older. We did a panel recently and he’s hilarious, thoughtful, and earning the hype.
–Evan James Roskos (Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets)

I always have a steady flux of preorders coming in, but the most recent YA novel I actually purchased was A Hero at the End of the World, by Erin Claiborne. I’d already heard awesome things about it—a smart, meta fantasy with a diverse cast tackling failed prophecies? yes, please!—including this Book Smugglers review. When the book was on sale at my local English indie, I couldn’t resist.
–Corinne Duyvis (Otherbound)

The last one I bought for myself was An Ember in the Ashes because I have been obsessing over historical fantasies lately!
–Lauren Destefano (Chemical Garden Trilogy)

The last YA I picked up was Emily Adrian’s Like It Never Happened. I was walking home after getting a tooth pulled (yes, seriously), and all I wanted was a good book to cuddle up with that would make me feel better. What better than a novel about high school drama AND theater? Bought and read. Just what the doctor ordered. Or, dentist.
–Eric Smith (Inked)

The last book I bought was Under the Lights, by Dahlia Adler, which is the sequel to her YA debut, Behind the Scenes. I was drawn to this book initially because it takes place in the entertainment industry and I am a sucker for all things Hollywood. Another reason I was drawn to Under the Lights is because of the much needed diversity in this book and as an author who writes books with diversity, it’s important for me to support the ones that are out there. For the record, this book was amazing and I highly recommend it to everyone!
–Valerie Tejeda (Hollywood Witch Hunter)

I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I want to be Your Class President, by Josh Lieb. My friend Kurt Dinan wrote on his blog about how hilarious this book was, and I’m always on the lookout for YA books that make me genuinely laugh out loud. Also, that title.
–Lance Rubin, author of Denton Little’s Deathdate 

The last YA book I bought was Meg Medina’s The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind. A strong sense of place and history, plus a hint of the magical, plus a book my little Latina heart would have been drawn to when I was a teen, means I’m looking forward to being swept up in this one!
–Anna-Marie McLemore (The Weight of Feathers)

I just bought Tommy Wallach’s We All Looked Up after months of wanting to get my hands on it. I was hooked back when I saw the cover reveal and read Tommy’s very funny post attached to it. I’ve always been a fan of the asteroid/end of the world storyline, and not having read an example of that particular doomsday scenario in YA, I was immediately excited for it. I read 135 pages on a recent flight, and it is not disappointing in the least. Beautiful writing, inherent edge-of-your-seat tension, great cast of varied characters.
–Adi Alsaid (Never Always Sometimes)

Robin Benway’s Emmy & Oliver, for a read as utterly lovely as the woman who wrote it.
–Katie Cotugno (99 Days)

The last YA I bought was Slasher Girls & Monster Boys, which is an anthology, because it features a lot of authors whose books I enjoyed. I’m a wuss about horror films, but I love horror books!
–Lori Lee (Gates of Thread and Stone)

I bought two at the same time! (Is that cheating?) I was at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia, and nabbed both Carrie Mesrobian’s Sex & Violence and Maggie Stiefvater’s Lament. Those are both first novels! I’m such a fan of Mesrobian and Stiefvater today, I had to see how they both started.
–Will Walton, author of Anything Could Happen