HCC Frenzy Presents...

I was recently invited to visit HarperCollins Canada along with a number of other local bloggers to meet some of the faces behind HCC and hear about some of their most exciting fall releases. If you aren't familiar with Frenzy, it's the feature HarperCollins Canada has put together to showcase their awesome teen books. You can even find them on Twitter!

It was such a great night, finally getting to meet some of the lovely ladies over there and just socializing with other book lovers!

Plus there was pie. Really good pie- with fun bookish names! I tweeted along during the event, so you'll find the same information in this recap post that I shared there :)

HCC did a great job of introducing us to Shannon, Vikki, Jessica and Hadley, all who took the time to share with us some of the work they do - everything from designing the Frenzy mag, publicity, author, and editor!

 

Besides introducing their fave fall books, we also held a mini Insurgent/Divergent book club where we discussed some of the themes and ideas in the series.
And our highly scientific faction poll ended up with a fairly even split among us for which faction we would choose - the most, however, was Erudite which doesn't surprise me too much (book bloggers tend to be super smart, I find). (Fun fact: I chose Dauntless, much to Angel @ Mermaid Vison's surprise at first!)

 

There was also a special guest who arrived... a few of us had used our sleuthing skills to guess that it might be Tahereh Mafi (author of Shatter Me) and we were right! It was so great getting to meet Tahereh, who is honestly one of the sweetest, most down to earth people I've ever met.

 

Tahereh was incredibly friendly and realy took the time to talk to all the bloggers there. And amazingly enough, she surprised many of us by telling us she knew who we were from Twitter/our blogs! Seriously, there is nothing cooler than having an author remember the last thing you talkd about/your fangirl review for her book.

 

  

HCC also had a copy of Shatter Me for everyone attending which we could get signed by Tahereh (keep your eye on the blog for an upcoming giveway for a copy)!

 

 

Each of us left with a Frenzy gift bag including a HCC Fall 2012 catalogue, a copy of the latest Frenzy mag (you can sign up for your own here), excerpt of What's Up With Jody Barton?, signed Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, ARC Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon, Before I Fall book plate signed by Lauren Oliver, and Delirium & Divergent temporary tattoos. You can't see them in this photo, but there was also a Frenzy pin and Pretty Little Liars lip chap!

Okay, now on to the most important part: the fall books!

HCC Frenzy put together a list of the top 6 books they're most excited about this fall - they had plenty to say about them, and I'll try to sum it up for you here (also: each blogger received a different ARC in their gift bag of one of the 6).

• Breathe by Sarah Crossan:
  
   
  This pick's a new dystopian in a world where the outside world lacks oxygen - people can apparently go on little trips (kind of like camping) to the outside world, and so a couple teens do... and danger ensues. We were told this one has a definite survival feel to it, which sounds pretty exciting! Plus it has dual narrators: one male and one female.
   
• Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon:
   
  This one's a thriller, perhaps with a somewhat paranormal aspect to it. There's an international conspiracy, lots of action, and a computer hacker. Plus some really weird stuff starts happening to the main character, so she has to figure out the mysteries. This one is totally right up my alley!
   
• Starling by Lesley Livingston:
   
  Lesley Livingston's upcoming release is a new series, but I believe it's set in the same world as wonderou strange. Features a totally tough heroine (she's a FENCER, guys. SO COOL), some really awesome action, Nordic myths, and of course a cute guy.

• Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel:
   
  This one's the sequel to This Dark Endeavour, a fantastic series based off the Frankenstein story. Imagine Victor Frankenstein as a teenager and you get Kenneth Oppel's new series. And Frenzy tells us that this one is EVEN BETTER than the first one.
   
• Ten by Gretchen McNeil:
   
  As if this one didn't sound cool enough already, Frenzy just had to completely sell me on this one. Ten teens on an island - with a serial killer. I KNOW, RIGHT?! Total thriller/horror aspect which is awesome. Apparently Ten is super scary with an Agatha Christie sort of vibe.
   
• Debutates by Cora Harrison:
   
  Perfect new book for fans of historical fiction (oh why yes, that IS me!) - we were told that it's somewhat similar to The Luxe by Anna Goldberg but A MILLION TIMES BETTER. This is promising. It has 4 sisters in it, and they have a really great relationship with each another.