I’m not a huge fan of pitches in the vein of x meets y. I find they don’t often make a lot of sense, and if I’m not familiar with either or both of the titles being called out, the description is meaningless to me. But despite not being a fan of them, I still like reading them. Maybe it’s because some are so bizarre that you have to stop and wonder what it means, if anything. Maybe it’s because sometimes I wonder who the pitch is geared toward — is it the teen reader or is it the adult who will be getting the book into the hands of the teen reader (or the adult who will read it themselves)?
X-meets-y is different than books which are pitched as read alikes or for fans of a certain genre, author, or well-known book, and it makes me wonder if the x-meets-y is a bit reductive. I know it’s all in the marketing, but when so many books are pitched as x-meets-y, I wonder what’s new and fresh.
Then again, some of the x-meets-y pitches really do pique my curiosity (the one for The Girl in the Well below really got me interested).
And now it should be clear why I can’t stop reading them. They torment me a little bit because I want it both ways.
I thought it’d be fun to round up some of the recent YA x-meets-y pitches I’ve read that have stood out to me in one way or another. All of the descriptions come from the publisher’s copy on Edelweiss, and all of the books are either out recently or will be out sometime this year, with included dates of publication. As you might notice, Edelweiss descriptions are much different than ones that would come from WorldCat, as they’re much more about selling the book than they are about giving a short, to-the-point description.
This is part one of a two-part post because there were so many I wanted to show off the range of them.
First Clara Rutherford starts having loud, uncontrollable tics in the middle of class. More students and stranger symptoms follow: seizures, body vibration, violent coughing fits. The media descends on Danvers, MA, as school officials, angry parents and the board of health scramble to find something, or someone, to blame. Pollution? Stress? Or are the girls faking? But Colleen—who’s been reading The Crucible for extra credit—comes to realize what nobody else has: Danvers was once Salem Village, where another group of girls suffered from a similarly bizarre epidemic three centuries ago…
Okiku wants vengeance…and she gets it. Whenever there’s a monster hurting a child-the same way she was hurt 300 years ago in Japan-her spirit is there to deliver punishment. But one American boy draws her like no other. The two are pulled into a world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from the American Midwest to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan. The boy is not a monster, but something evil writhes beneath his skin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. Can Okiku protect him? Or is her presence only bringing more harm?
The Girl From The Well by Rin Chupeco will be available August 5 from Sourcebooks.
Lisa McMann’s Dead to You meets Kate Ellison’s The Butterfly Clues in a psychological thriller full of romance, intrigue, and mystery.
One year ago, Callie was found in an abandoned apartment, scrawling words on the wall: “I KILLED HIM. His blood is on my hands. His heart is in my soul. I KILLED HIM.” But she remembers nothing of that night or of the previous thirty-six hours. All she knows is that her father, the reverend at the Church of the Holy Promise, is missing, as is Hannah, a young girl from the parish. Their disappearances have to be connected and Callie knows that her father was not a righteous man.
Since that fateful night, she’s been plagued by graphomania-an unending and debilitating compulsion to write. The words that flow from Callie’s mind and through her pen don’t seem to make sense-until now.
As the anniversary of Hannah’s vanishing approaches, more words and memories bubble to the surface and a new guy in school might be the key to Callie putting together the puzzle. But digging up the secrets she’s buried for so long might be her biggest mistake.
Oblivion by Sasha Dawn will be available May 27 from EgmontUSA.
A breathtaking, genre-defying debut that will grab hold of you and not let go until the very last page
Sophie Winters nearly died. Twice.
The first time, she’s fourteen, and escapes a near-fatal car accident with scars, a bum leg, and an addiction to Oxy that’ll take years to kick.
The second time, she’s seventeen, and it’s no accident. Sophie and her best friend Mina are confronted by a masked man in the woods. Sophie survives, but Mina is not so lucky. When the cops deem Mina’s murder a drug deal gone wrong, casting partial blame on Sophie, no one will believe the truth: Sophie has been clean for months, and it was Mina who led her into the woods that night for a meeting shrouded in mystery.
After a forced stint in rehab, Sophie returns home to a chilly new reality. Mina’s brother won’t speak to her, her parents fear she’ll relapse, old friends have become enemies, and Sophie has to learn how to live without her other half. To make matters worse, no one is looking in the right places and Sophie must search for Mina’s murderer on her own. But with every step, Sophie comes closer to revealing all: about herself, about Mina and about the secret they shared.
Cabaret meets Cassandra Clare — a haunting magical thriller set in a riveting 1930s-esque world.
Sixteen-year-old Thea Holder’s mother is cursed with a spell that’s driving her mad, and whenever they touch, Thea is chilled by the magic, too. With no one else to contribute, Thea must make a living for both of them in a sinister city, where danger lurks and greed rules.
Together, they find a whole new side of the city. Unrest is brewing behind closed doors as whispers of a gruesome magic spread. And if they’re not careful, the heartless masterminds behind the growing disappearances will be after them, too.
Survive one world. Save another.
Ana wakes on a barren alien world. The instructions in her pocket tell her that she must survive a trek across Paradox in less than 28 hours.
Mission? Check.
Weapons? Check.
Memory? Missing….
Meeting up with three other teens-including one boy who seems strangely familiar-Ana treks across the inhospitable landscape, occasionally encountering odd twists of light that carry glimpses of people back on Earth. They’re fighting some sort of disease, and the situation is critical. What’s the connection between Ana’s mission and the crisis back on Earth, and how is she supposed to figure it out when she can’t remember anything?
Oracles see the future but are never supposed to interfere. Charlotte learned that the hard way. If she hadn’t tried to change one of her childhood visions, her father would still be alive. Since the accident, Charlotte has suppressed her visions to avoid making the same mistake. But when she receives a premonition of a classmate’s murder, she can no longer ignore her powerful gift.
Then Charlotte meets someone who not only knows her secret but who also has a way for her to stop the killer. He offers to teach her how to manipulate her visions to change the future. But doing so will put Charlotte in the path of the murderer.…
Sleep No More by Aprilynne Pike will be available April 9 from HarperTeen.
When Callie’s life is cut short by a tragic accident, she expects to find nothingness, or maybe some version of heaven.
Instead, her spirit travels to the Prism, an ethereal plane populated by the ghosts she thought were fictional. Here she meets a striking and mysterious ghost named Thatcher, who is meant to guide her as she learns to haunt and bring peace to the loved ones she left behind.
However, Callie uncovers a dark secret about the spirit world: The angry souls who always populate ghost stories are real, dangerous, and willing to do whatever it takes to stay on Earth, threatening the existence of everyone she ever cared about.
As she fights to save them, Callie will learn that while it may no longer beat, her heart can still love-and break.
Ashes to Ashes by Melissa Walker is available now.
Number the Stars meets Code Name Verity in Anne Blankman’s harrowing and evocative debut.
In 1930s Munich, danger lurks behind dark corners and secrets are buried deep within the city. But Gretchen Müller, who grew up in the National Socialist Party under the wing of her uncle Dolf, has always been shielded from that side of society. Uncle Dolf has kept Gretchen’s family in his cherished inner circle ever since her father traded his life for Dolf’s, and Gretchen is his favorite, his pet.
Uncle Dolf is none other than Adolf Hitler. And Gretchen follows his every command.
Until she meets a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter named Daniel Cohen, who claims that her father, the adored Nazi martyr, was actually murdered by an unknown comrade.
As Gretchen investigates the very people she always considered friends, she must decide where her loyalties lie. Will she choose the safety of life as a Nazi darling or will she dare to dig up the truth-even if it could get her and Daniel killed?
House of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman will be available April 22 from Balzer and Bray.
The Goddess Test meets Dexter in an edgy, compelling debut about one teen’s quest for revenge…no matter how far it takes her.
Amelie Ainsworth is not alone in her head. Bound to a deal of desperation made when she was a child, Amelie’s mind houses the Furies—the hawk and the serpent—lingering always, waiting for her to satisfy their bloodlust. After escaping the asylum where she was trapped for years, Amelie knows how to keep the Furies quiet. By day, she lives a normal life, but by night, she tracks down targets the Furies send her way. And she brings down Justice upon them.
Amelie’s perfected her system of survival, but when she meets a mysterious boy named Niko at her new school, she can’t figure out how she feels about him. For the first time, the Furies are quiet in her head around a guy. But does this mean that Amelie’s finally found someone who she can trust, or are there greater factors at work? As Amelie’s mind becomes a battlefield, with the Furies fighting for control, Amelie will have to decide which is worse: denying the only man she might ever love, or subjecting him to the fate the Furies want for him?
Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland is available now.
Cold cases are about to get hot. The Mentalist meets Heist Society in this exhilarating teen crime thriller.
Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But, it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.
What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides-especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms close. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.
Think The Mentalist meets Pretty Little Liars – Jennifer Lynn-Barnes’ The Naturals is a gripping psychological thriller with killer appeal, a to-die-for romance, and the bones of a gritty and compelling new series.
The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is available now. I think it’s interesting this one got TWO x-meets-y descriptions in the summary.
Graceling meets The Lion King in this powerful high-fantasy debut YA novel.
But when the leader of the Assassins Guild offers Kyra a lucrative job, she hesitates. She knows how to get by on her own, and she’s not sure she wants to play by his rules. But he is persistent-and darkly attractive-and Kyra can’t quite resist his pull.
Tristam of Brancel is a young Palace knight on a mission. After his best friend is brutally murdered by the Demon Riders, a clan of vicious warriors who ride bloodthirsty wildcats, Tristam vows to take them down. But as his investigation deepens, he finds his efforts thwarted by a talented thief, one who sneaks past Palace defenses with uncanny ease.
When a fateful raid throws Kyra and Tristam together, the two enemies realize that their best chance at survival-and vengeance-might be to join forces. And as their loyalties are tested to the breaking point, they learn a startling secret about Kyra’s past that threatens to reshape both their lives.
In her arresting debut novel, Livia Blackburne creates a captivating world where intrigue prowls around every corner-and danger is a way of life.
Sixteen-year-old Iris has a recurring dream— about a long corridor of many doors, and behind each door a hidden world—some magical, some terrifying. But always she is searching for the man who calls to her—the man of her dreams—who knows everything about her, who stirs feelings in her that she’s never felt before. When she discovers her father is actually the god of dreams, her nightmares and dreams follow her into reality, with both frightening and romantic results. Hunted by the god of nightmares, stalked by the horrifying creatures of the underworld, Iris must try to navigate both of her worlds, as she tries finally to be with Sebastian, the man of her dreams. Can she triumph over the dangers that have haunted her forever, and be with Sebastian, or will terrors ultimately destroy them both?
Every year, the lives of ten girls at Vienna High are transformed.
All because of the list.
Kenzie Summerall can’t imagine how she’s been voted onto a list of the hottest girls in school, but when she lands at number five, her average life becomes dazzling. Doors open to the best parties, new friends surround her, the cutest jock in school is after her.
This is the power of the list. If you’re on it, your life changes.
If you’re on it this year? Your life ends.
They All Fall Down by Roxanne St. Claire will be available October 14 from Delacorte.
Pretty Crooked is Elisa Ludwig’s feisty debut and the first in a trilogy about teen outlaw Willa Fox. With a daring heroine who has the pluck to stand up to bullying, a string of clever heists, a flirtatious romance, and a dramatic ending that will leave readers eager to snatch up its sequel, Pretty Crooked is perfect for fans of Sarah Mlynowski, Ally Carter, or Sara Shepard.
Are any of the X-Meets-Y pitches here appealing to you as a reader? Any favorites? Any head-scratchers? I’d love to know!
A lot of these sound good, especially The Girl in the Well and Illusive. But yeah, there are plenty where I don't know both things and thus aren't sure what they're supposed to read like.
Some of the actual books sound intriguing (Dark Metropolis, Prisoner of Night and Fog). But the x meets y descriptions don't do a lot for me. They seem to either be too similar ("Number the Stars meets Code Name Verity"–why not just say this is WWII fiction?) or else be referring to something I don't know or didn't like. Illusive might be the only one that really works for me.
The description of Midnight Thief as "Graceling meets The Lion King" cracked me up AND enticed me as a reader. Most of these descriptions seem lame or lazy, but a few of them (namely this one) are just creative and crazy enough to make me take notice.
I have to say, Graceling meets Lion King and Cabaret meets Cassandra Clare are intriguing! For the rest of the pairs, I only know half, so it isn't as grabbing for me.