I was recently lucky enough to receive a copy though NetGalley of Publishers Lunch Buzz Books 2016 for upcoming young adult releases in the fall and winter. There’s a big variety of excerpts to read from and surprisingly they were almost no books that were already on my radar to check out. I thought I would share which of the samplers I enjoyed the best and am most looking forward to read!

Three Dark Crowns: Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions. But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

The Hawkweed Prophecy: Poppy Hooper and Ember Hawkweed couldn’t lead more different lives. Poppy is a troubled teen: moving from school to school, causing chaos wherever she goes, never making friends or lasting connections. Ember is a young witch, struggling to find a pace within her coven and prove her worth. Both are outsiders: feeling like they don’t belong and seeking escape. Poppy and Ember become friends, secretly sharing knowledge of their two worlds. Little do they know that destiny has brought them together: an ancient prophecy, and a life-changing betrayal. Growing closer, they begin to understand why they’ve never belonged and the reason they are now forever connected to each other. Switched at birth, Poppy and Ember must come to terms with their true identities and fight for their own place in the world.

The Forgetting: Seventeen-year-old Nadia lives in Canna, a quiet city in an idyllic world, hemmed in by high walls that are constructed of a material no one in her town recognizes. Every twelve years, the people of Canaan undergo a collective Forgetting, in the days before which the town devolves into a chaos of bloody violence, and after which the people are left without any trace of memory of themselves, their families, their lives. Nadia has never forgotten, however. As the next Forgetting approaches, Nadia is determined to find out what causes it and whether there is any way to stop it. With the help of Gray, the handsome glassblower’s son, she discovers that there is a devious plot afoot…one that keeps the people of Canaan permanently subdued. Will Nadia be able to solve the mystery before the people forget the truth? And before Gray forgets her?

A Shadow Bright and Burning: Henrietta Howel can burst into flames.Forced to reveal her power to save a friend, she’s shocked when instead of being executed, she’s invited to train as one of Her Majesty’s royal sorcerers. Thrust into the glamour of Victorian London, Henrietta is declared the chosen one, the girl who will defeat the Ancients, bloodthirsty demons terrorizing humanity. She also meets her fellow sorcerer trainees, handsome young men eager to test her power and her heart. One will challenge her. One will fight for her. One will betray her. As Henrietta discovers the secrets hiding behind the glamour of sorcerer life, she begins to doubt that she’s the prophesied one. With battle looming, how much will she risk to save the city-and the one she loves?

The Thousandth Floor: New York City, 2118. A thousand-story tower has been built in the middle of Manhattan, with every amenity imaginable-at least, for the wealthy living at the top. But even in the world of unimaginable luxury, life isn’t perfect. Rylin Myers lives on the lower floors and is struggling to make ends meet, any way she knows how. Leda Cole can’t tell her perfect friends she spent the summer at rehab, or what sent her there in the first place. Watt Bakradi finds himself the center of the tower’s elite social scene, with the help of an illegal A.I.he designed. Eris Dodd-Radson defines herself by her wealth by discovers that might not last forever. And the genetically perfect Avery Fuller who lives in the thousandth floor penthouse is hiding a terrible secret that could be her undoing. When a young woman falls from the 1,000th floor, her death ignites a scandal that ensnares the top-floor elite and bottom-floor drones.

The Female of the Species: Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it. Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone. As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.