The YA Authors Cafe celebrates Teen Read Week with the following authors, discussing their “Books with Bite” and more!

Surf by the Cafe every day this week to learn more about the books, the authors, and to join in on the discussion!

Monday, Oct. 13- Kimberly Pauley, author of Sucks to Be Me (Mirrorstone, 2008)! From the promotional copy:

So, you think your life sucks?

Try being Mina Hamilton. Her parents are vampires, which would sound cool if they weren’t so bo-ring and parent-like. And now Mina has to decide whether or not she wants to be one too…in a month. As if high school wasn’t bad enough, now she’s got to go to vampire classes with a bunch of freaks who actually want to drink blood (Gross! As if sushi wasn’t bad enough.). And she can’t even tell her best friend about any of it, not with a bunch of red-tape-loving vampire bureaucrats breathing down her neck.

How’s a girl supposed to find a prom date and get through school with all this blood-sucking drama going on?

Tuesday, Oct. 14-Annette Curtis Klause, author of Blood and Chocolate (Delacorte, 1997) and Freaks, Alive on the Inside! (Simon & Schuster, 2006, 2007)(excerpt). From the promotional copy of Freaks!

If this is a dream, why does she seem so real?

Though Abel Dandy was born to circus performers and grew up in a troupe of odd and inexplicable people, he has never felt limited by his normalcy–until now. Realizing he’ll never be more amazing than the talented oddities around him, Abel can only dream of living a life richer than his own.

But in his dreams a mysterious woman beckons him, calling him passionately by a name he doesn’t know and speaking in a language he’s never heard, but fully understands. Compelled by these visions and yearning to be more than ordinary, Abel embarks on a journey more frightening and wondrous than he ever imagined….

Wednesday, Oct. 15-Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007, 2008). From the promotional copy:

Classified Ads: Restaurants Sanguini’s: A Very Rare Restaurant is hiring a chef de cuisine. Dinners only. Apply in person between 2 and 4 P.M.

Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her hybrid-werewolf first love threatens to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. And just as she and her uncle are about to debut Austin’s red hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef.

Can Quincie transform the new hire into a culinary dark lord before opening night? Will Henry Johnson be able to wow the crowd in fake fangs, a cheap cape, and red contact lenses? Or is there more to this earnest fresh face than meets the eye?

As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything?

Thursday, Oct. 16, Kristopher Reisz, author of Unleashed (Simon Pulse, 2007)(excerpt). From the promotional copy:

Daniel Morning seems perfect — handsome, charismatic, intelligent.

But living up to everyone’s expectations has cost him the right to make his own decisions. The urge to shatter those expectations is beginning to gnaw at his insides.

Then Daniel meets Misty and her pack of outcasts– her twin brother Marc, her best friend Valentine, and brooding Eric. Finally, Misty lets Daniel in on their little secret: She and her friends have learned to shapeshift, and have been prowling the night as wolves.

Daniel falls in love with the primal sensation of shifting, just as he’s falling in love with Misty. The freedom to follow his most basic instincts is like nothing he’s ever felt. But Daniel will slowly realize that such freedom comes at a price…

Friday, Oct. 17, A.M. Jenkins, author of Night Road (HarperCollins, 2008). From the promotional copy:

For a heme like Cole, life is a tightrope existence in which sunlight is his deadly enemy and one mistake could trap him underground, staring at the inside of a coffin lid, for eternity.

After a century of wandering he may still look like a teenager, but he’s known in the heme community for being observant, meticulous, and controlled—a master of life on the road.

When Cole is asked to take a newly created heme out for training, however, his usual caution may not be enough. If Gordon, the rookie who really is in his teens, can’t cut ties with his old life and accept his new limitations, Cole will have to discreetly dispose of the kid—the same way a mad dog would be put down for the safety of society.

Cole thinks he can handle it. But no matter how carefully he plans, or how much he thinks he’s in control, accidents still happen… Saturday, Oct. 18, Marlene Perez, author of Dead Is The New Black (Harcourt, 2008). From the promotional copy:

Fashion statement…or something freakier?

The first installment of this creepy, campy paperback original series introduces the psychic Giordano sisters—and their very strange hometown, Nightshade, California.

Teenage girls are being mysteriously attacked all over town, including at Nightshade High School, where Daisy Giordano is a junior.

When Daisy discovers that a vampire may be the culprit, she can’t help but suspect head cheerleader Samantha Devereaux, who returned from summer break with a new “look.”

Samantha looks a little…well, dead, and all the popular kids at school are copying her style.

Is looking dead just another fashion trend for pretty popular Samantha, or is there something more sinister going on? To find out, Daisy joins the cheerleading squad….

Reminder

Be sure to also participate in readergirlz’s “Books with Bite” series celebration of Teen Read Week: