Not to send anyone into panic, but you do realize that 2013 is only about five weeks from now, right? As such, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I need to still read this year, especially as I’ve been lucky enough to have some exciting titles for next year start showing up.

This is where I ask for your help in a couple of different ways. I’ve mentioned I’m working on a book about contemporary YA fiction, and while I feel like I’ve read a lot of great stuff, I feel like I’m behind in my 2012 reading this year.

I’ve been brainstorming some of the books I still need to read, and I’ve been looking to see the ways I could acquire them. While I am lucky enough to have access to a great wealth of YA titles at work, it’s still a limited selection. I could make use of Interlibrary Loan, except that Interlibrary Loan has a year waiting period on it, so titles published in the last year can’t be acquired easily. Likewise, being that I am in small town Wisconsin, it’s over a fifty-mile drive to a chain bookstore, and that particular store is underwhelming in the YA department. I could order from an online retailer, but I am on a tight budget and spending on books, well. I’m a librarian, and here’s a hard fact: we don’t make money.

So what I’m asking is two-fold: if anyone has a copy of any of the books I’m super interested in reading but haven’t got access to and would be willing to lend me either a galley or a finished copy (I’d be happy to cover shipping) I would be so grateful; likewise, if there is a book that you think I should know about and read, please drop a note in my comments. Note that I only want help if you can help me acquire a title legally.

Obviously I haven’t blogged every book I’ve read this year. But I’m still curious to know what are your must-reads before the end of 2012? What came out this year that’s not to be missed? What’s been the most underappreciated title of 2012 you wish more people would read?

While I am primarily interested in contemporary, I’m sure other readers would be interested in any book published this year not worth missing. Even though I’ve reached my goal of reading 32 debut novels this year (I finished number 33 last weekend, in fact), I’d love to hear about more debuts. Did you have a favorite this year? You can share one title fitting one of those questions or multiple titles. I want to know so I can put some more stuff on my must-read list.

Here are the things I’m looking forward to reading and hope maybe someone can help me out getting access to. Please feel free to email me personally (my email address is kellybjensen at gmail) and if you can spread the word, I would be thrilled. Obviously, reading the book doesn’t guarantee it’ll either be something I blog about nor write about in my book, but I want to explore as many options as possible. Even if you can’t help me out on this aspect, maybe this post will put some of the titles that slid under my radar this year on yours.

All descriptions are from WorldCat.

Four Secrets by Margaret Willey: Through journal entries required by their social worker at a juvenile detention center, middle-schoolers Katie, Nate, and Renata relate how they came to kidnap their tormentor, Chase, a star athlete from the town’s most prominent family, who surprisingly became their willing victim.

After Eli by Rebecca Rupp: After the death of his older brother, Daniel Anderson became engrossed in recording details about dead people, how they died, and whether their deaths mattered but he is eventually drawn back into interaction with the living.

Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery: A slight error left Olympic diving-hopeful Bryce Graham in a five-year coma and now, at at twenty-two, she must adjust to a world that went on without her and to visions that may or may not be real.

Since You Left Me by Allen Zadoff: A Jewish teenager struggles to find something to believe in and keep his family together in the cultural confusion of modern-day Los Angeles. 

My Beautiful Failure by Janet Ruth Young: While dealing with the recovery of his mentally ill father, sophomore in high school Billy volunteers at a suicide prevention line and falls for one of the incoming callers.

Freaks Like Us by Susan Vaught: A mentally ill teenager who rides the “short bus” to school investigates the sudden disappearance of his best friend.

Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols: High school senior Leah Jones loves nothing more than flying, which allows her to forget her absentee mother and life in a South Carolina trailer park, but when Grayson, the son of her deceased flight instructor, blackmails her into working for him and his brother Alec, the consequences could be deadly.

Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz: Struggling with the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and sniper shootings throughout the Washington, D.C. area, Craig and Lio consider a romantic relationship that is complicated by Craig’s ex-boyfriend, Lio’s broken family, and the death of Lio’s brother.

Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous by Kathryn Williams: Although sixteen-year-old Sophie has grown up working in her family’s Mediterranean restaurant in Washington, D.C., she is not prepared to compete on the new reality show, Teen Test Kitchen, when her best friend Alex convinces her to audition. Includes recipes.

Someone Else’s Life by Katie Dale: When seventeen-year-old Rosie’s mother dies from Huntington’s Disease, a devastating secret is revealed that sends Rosie on a journey from England to the United States with her ex-boyfriend, where she discovers yet more deeply buried and troubling secrets and lies.

Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse by Lucas Klauss: A fifteen-year-old high school student becomes involved with an evangelical Christian girl in spite of his father’s adamant atheism and his own confusion about life.

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill: During an educational trip to London, away from her friends and the boy she thinks she is fated to love, Massachussets high school junior Julia Lichtenstein is paired with her nemesis, Jason, and begins seeing many things differently.

Send by Patty Blount: All Dan wants for his senior year is to be invisible. This is his last chance at a semi-normal life. Nobody here knows who he is. Or what he’s done. But on his first day at school, instead of turning away like everyone else, Dan breaks up a fight. Because Dan knows what it’s like to be terrorized by a bully. He used to be one.

Social Suicide by Gemma Halliday: Hartley Featherstone’s first big story for the school paper takes an unexpected turn when she discovers the girl she’s supposed to interview dead in her swimming pool. 

Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Amy McNamara: In the aftermath of a car accident that kills her boyfriend and throws her carefully planned future into complete upheaval, high school senior Wren retreats to the deep woods of Maine to live with the artist father she barely knows and meets a boy who threatens to pull her from her safe, hard-won exile.

Getting Somewhere by Beth Neff: Four teenaged girls participating in a progressive juvenile detention facility on a farm have their lives changed by the experience.

Fall to Pieces by Vahini Naidoo: Knowing that two friends are lying and keeping secrets about the night another friend killed herself, seventeen-year-old Ella searches for the truth.

Starting From Here by Lisa Jenn Bigelow: Sixteen-year-old Colby is barely hanging on with her mother dead, her long-haul trucker father often away, her almost-girlfriend dumping her for a boy, and her failing grades, when a stray dog appears and helps her find hope.

One Moment by Kristina McBride: Rising high school senior Maggie remembers little about the accidental death of her boyfriend, Joey, but as she slowly begins to recall that day at the gorge with their long-time friends, she realizes he was keeping some terrible secrets.

While He Was Away by Karen Schreck: When Penna Weaver’s boyfriend goes off to Iraq, she’s left facing life
without him. Then David stops writing. She knows in her heart he will
come home–but will he be the same boy she fell in love with?

Intentions by Deborah Heiligman: After fifteen-year-old Rachel overhears her rabbi committing infidelity,
she must come to terms with the fact that adults make mistakes,
too–and that she is old enough to be held responsible for her own
mistakes.

Way to Go by Tom Ryan: Danny is pretty sure he’s gay, but he spends his summer trying to prove otherwise.

The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland: Em welcomes the chance to spend a month at her aunt’s island resort
where she can take a break from her family’s expectations, but
uncovering a family secret makes her reconsider her future.

The Space Between Us by Jessica Martinez: Seventeen-year-old Amelia feels like her life might be getting back on
track after a bad break-up when her younger sister’s pregnancy gets them
both banished to Canada, where new relationships are forged, giving
Amelia a new perspective.

Between You & Me by Marisa Calin: Phyre, sixteen, narrates her life as if it were a film, capturing her
crush on Mia, a student teacher of theater and film studies, as well as
her fast friendship with a classmate referred to only as “you.”