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ya books

YA Books by C. K.

I Know It's Over Starred Reviews, Kirkus & Publishers Weekly

The New York Public Library's Stuff for the Teen Age 2009 list

Pure. Unplanned. Perfect. Those were Nick's summer plans before Sasha stepped into the picture. With the collateral damage from his parent's divorce still settling and Dani (his girl of the moment) up for nearly anything, complications are the last thing he needs.

All that changes, though, when Nick runs into Sasha at the beach in July. Suddenly he's neck-deep in a relationship and surprised to find he doesn't mind in the least. But Nick's world shifts again when Sasha breaks up with him. Then weeks later, while Nick's still reeling from the breakup, she turns up at his doorstep and tells him she's pregnant, and with his emotions and hopes crashing in around him, Nick finds himself struggling once more to understand the girl he can't stop caring for, the girl who insists that it's still over.

Beautifully written, richly layered, and intensely readable, first-time author C.K. Kelly Martin's I Know It's Over shows how high first love can take us, and how great its loss can be, in this passionate, powerful and heartbreakingly honest debut.

Random House, 2008
0375845666 (ISBN13: 9780375845666)

One Lonely Degree Starred Review, Kirkus

Fifteen-year-old Finn has always felt out of place, but suddenly her world is unraveling. It all started with The Party. And Adam Porter. And the night in September that changed everything. The only person who knows about that night is Audrey—Finn's best friend, her witness to everything and the only person (under thirty) Finn trusts implicitly. So when Finn's childhood friend Jersy moves back into town—reckless, beautiful boy Jersy, all lips and eyes and hair so soft you'd want to dip your fingers into it if you weren't careful—Finn gives her blessing for Audrey to date him. After all, how could she possibly say no to Audrey?

With Audrey gone for the summer, though, Finn finds herself spending more and more time with Jersy, and for the first time since September, for the first time in her life maybe, something feels right—absolutely, stunningly right. But Finn can't be the girl who does this to her best friend...can she?

Random House, 2009
0375851631 (ISBN13: 9780375851636)

Starred Review, Booklist

Booklist Magazine Top 10 Romance Fiction for Youth 2010 list

The Lighter Side of Life and DeathSixteen-year-old Mason Rice is having the night of his life. He's just delivered an incredible performance in the school play, basked in celebratory afterglow vibes at the party of the year, and lost his virginity to one of his best friends—the gorgeous but previously unobtainable Kat Medina. His dreams are coming true, and the future looks golden.

Unfortunately, Kat sees things very differently. Crossing the friendship line was a big mistake, and all she wants is to forget it and move on, even if that means forgetting Mason altogether. What's a guy to do? Well, if you're Mason, you hang your hopes on the first attractive twenty-three-year-old you cross paths with. At first Mason wonders if he's imagining the chemistry . . . until Colette invites him over to her apartment. Suddenly Mason's living in a whole new world.

The Lighter Side of Life and Death is the sexy, soulful story of one confused boy, two girls, and all the complications that ensue—a romantic feel-good love story that celebrates friendship, first love, first lust, and second chances.

Random House, 2010
0375845887 (ISBN13: 9780375845888)

My Beating Teenage Heart Shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association’s Young Adult Book Award 2012

Shortlisted for the Stellar, British Columbia's Teen Readers' Choice Award 2012/2013

Amazon's Best Book of the Month: Young Adult, October 2011

Ashlyn Baptiste is falling. One moment she was nothing—no memories, no self—and then suddenly, she's plummeting through a sea of stars. Is she in a coma? She doesn't remember dying, and she has no memories of the life she left behind. All she knows is that she's trapped in a consciousness without a body and she's spending every moment watching a stranger.

Breckon Cody's on the edge. He's being ripped apart by grief so intense it literally hurts to breathe. On the surface, Breckon is trying to hold it together for his family and his girlfriend, but underneath he's barely hanging on.

Even though she didn't know him in life, Ashlyn sees Breckon's pain, and she's determined to find a way help him. As her own distressing memories emerge from the darkness, she struggles to communicate with the boy who can't see her, but whose life is suddenly intertwined with hers. In alternating voices of the main characters, My Beating Teenage Heart paints a devastatingly vivid picture of both the heartbreak and the promise of teenage life—a life Ashlyn would do anything to recover and Breckon seems desperate to destroy.

Random House, 2011
0375868550 (ISBN13: 9780375868559)

YesterdayTHEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas's life. Until that world starts to crumble.

NOW: It's 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father's death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy? When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can't get him out of her head. She's sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they've never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered. Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from. Yesterday will appeal to fans of James Dashner's The Maze Runner, Veronica Roth's Divergent, Amy Ryan's Glow, Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and Ally Condie's Matched.

Random House, 2012
0375866507 (ISBN13: 9780375866500)

 

content © 2012 C. K. Kelly Martin