ARC Giveaway: Icefall, The Scorpio Races, & The Eleventh Plague

Giveaway is Closed! Thanks guys and gals.

Hey book loving friends.

I spent some time cleaning out my bookshelves and bins at home, and came across some ARCs from 2011′s BEA. It seems a shame to just toss them out, especially when I enjoyed each of these books so very much.

So, I’m doing a little ARC giveaway. Just leave a comment about what book you’d like out of these three, and I’ll pick one of you at random sometime next week and mail it your way. You get a great book, I clean out my library, everyone wins.

Here we go!

Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby: I distinctly remember snagging this book from Scholastic’s table because I wanted something to read while at lunch. What? Don’t judge me. I ended up devouring this book (as well as lunch) over the course of two days. From Goodreads:

Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father’s victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.

Those charged with protecting the king’s children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father’s watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?

For a Middle Grade book, I was really swept up in the story. And the moral / message that’s dished out, encouraging the reader to believe in the power of storytelling… well, it’s just damn sweet. Great book, made me want to read more from Kirby.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: Wow. Who could have known this was going to become a huge New York Times bestseller? Another outstanding book from Scholastic. From Goodreads:

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen

This one is Young Adult, and pretty damn intense. Lots of violence and really quite heartbreaking, this was a great read in the Fall.

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch: Hm. Seems like all the ARCs I had were from Scholastic. This one actually received some fabulous acclaim from Suzanne Collins, the gal who wrote The Hunger Games. It’s your standard dystopian piece of YA, and a fun read.

In the aftermath of a war, America’s landscape has been ravaged and two thirds of the population left dead from a vicious strain of influenza. Fifteen-year-old Stephen Quinn and his family were among the few that survived and became salvagers, roaming the country in search of material to trade for food and other items essential for survival.

But when Stephen’s grandfather dies and his father falls into a coma after an accident, Stephen finds his way to Settler’s Landing, a community that seems too good to be true, where there are real houses, barbecues, a school, and even baseball games. Then Stephen meets strong, defiant, mischievous Jenny, who refuses to accept things as they are. And when they play a prank that goes horribly wrong, chaos erupts, and they find themselves in the midst of a battle that will change Settler’s Landing forever.

Was surprised to find this one didn’t get a lot of good reviews on Goodreads. Hirsch’s debut is a good one.

Tagged as: ARCs, Icefall, Scholastic, The Eleventh Plague, The Scorpio Races