Waiting on Wednesday #11

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine where bloggers post spotlights on upcoming releases that they're eagerly anticipating.

This week, my pick is Whole Latte Life by Joanne DeMaio. Publication Date: March 2012. I know it has already been published and it's not exactly a Young Adult novel, but it caught my attention and here it is.

Goodreads summary: Would you leave everything behind to know who you are?

Sara Beth Riley never dreamt she'd walk straight out of her life. Actually she'd never dreamt a lot of things that had happened this year ... From being kidnapped by her own best friend, to throwing her wedding rings into the Hudson River, to calling an old love in France, to getting inked with said best friend, painting the passionate constellation of these choices into permanence. But mostly, she could never have dreamt what started it all. How could it be that her mother's unexpected death, and the grief which lingered painfully long, turned her into the woman she was finally meant to become?

Sara Beth's escape begins a summer of change - of herself, of marriage, of the lives of those around her. In a story that moves from Manhattan to the sea to a quaint New England town, Whole Latte Life looks at friends we never forget, at decisions we linger with, at our attempts to live the lives we love.

What's your Waiting on Wednesday pick?

Waiting on Wednesday #10 False Memory by Dan Krokos

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine where bloggers post spotlights on upcoming releases that they're eagerly anticipating.

This week, my pick is False Memory by Dan Krokos. Publication Date: August 14th 2012 by Hyperion.

Goodreads summary: Miranda North wakes up alone on a park bench with no memory. In her panic, she releases a mysterious energy that incites pure terror in everyone around her. Except Peter, a boy who isn’t at all surprised by Miranda’s shocking ability.

Left with no choice but to trust this stranger, Miranda discovers she was trained to be a weapon and is part of an elite force of genetically-altered teens who possess flawless combat skills and powers strong enough to destroy a city. But adjusting to her old life isn’t easy—especially with Noah, the boyfriend she can't remember loving.

Then Miranda uncovers a dark truth that sets her team on the run. Suddenly her past doesn’t seem to matter...when there may not be a future.

Waiting on Wednesday #7

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine where bloggers post spotlights on upcoming releases that they're eagerly anticipating.

This week, my pick is Being Friends with Boys by Terra Elan McVoy. Publication Date: March 13th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

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Goodreads summary: Charlotte and Oliver have been friends forever. She knows that he, Abe, and Trip consider her to be one of the guys, and she likes it that way. She likes being the friend who keeps them all together. Likes offering a girl's perspective on their love lives. Likes being the behind-the-scenes wordsmith who writes all the lyrics for the boys' band. Char has a house full of stepsisters and a past full of backstabbing (female) ex-best friends, so for her, being friends with boys is refreshingly drama-free...until it isn't any more.

When a new boy enters the scene and makes Char feel like, well, a total girl...and two of her other friends have a falling out that may or may not be related to one of them deciding he possibly wants to be more than friendswith Char...being friends with all these boys suddenly becomes a lot more complicated.

Why I'm waiting on it: I really like this concept. Too often I see a book where it's the complete opposite scenario: the girl only has girl friends, or the girl has one boy and one girl friend, etc. Maybe it's just me and my lack of perception, but I haven't seen a book with a female narrator and she only has male friends. If you know of books that are similar to this, feel free to write them in the comments and I'd be more than happy to check 'em out!

Waiting on Wednesday #6

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine where bloggers post spotlights on upcoming releases that they're eagerly anticipating.

This week, my pick is Pretty Crooked (Pretty Crooked #1) by Elisa Ludwig. Publication Date: March 13th 2012 by Katherine Tegen Books.

Goodreads summary: Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.

Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”—known to everyone as the Glitterati—without them suspecting a thing is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.

The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her: evening the social playing field between the haves and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.

But when the cops start investigating the string of thefts at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could Aidan wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

Waiting on Wednesday #5 / WWW Wednesdays

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine where bloggers post spotlights on upcoming releases that they're eagerly anticipating.

This week, my pick is The Story of Us by Deb Caletti. Publication Date: April 24th, 2012 by Simon Pulse.

Goodreads summary: Cricket’s on a self-imposed break from her longtime boyfriend—but she’s picked a bad week to sort out her love life. For one thing, her mother’s romance is taking center stage: After jilting two previous fiancés, her mom is finally marrying Dan Jax, whom Cricket loves. But as wedding attendees arrive for a week of festivities at a guesthouse whose hippie owners have a sweet, sexy son—Ash—complications arise:

Cricket’s future stepsisters make it clear they’re not happy about the marriage. An old friend decides this is the week to declare his love for Cricket. Grandpa chooses to reveal a big secret at a family gathering. Dan’s ex-wife shows up. And even the dogs—Cricket’s old, ill Jupiter and Dan’s young, lively Cruiser—seem to be declaring war.

While Cricket fears that Dan is in danger of becoming ditched husband-to-be number three, she’s also alarmed by her own desires. Because even though her boyfriend looms large in her mind, Ash is right in front of her....

What's your Waiting on Wednesday pick?

WWW Wednesdays is a reading meme hosted by Should be Reading

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions...

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I'm currently reading Smiles to Go by Jerry Spinelli

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently re-read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter will never get old!

What do you think you'll read next?

I think it's time to read a classic - so I'll probably go through Project Gutenberg for a free HTML copy of a book. Maybe Alice in Wonderland?

Waiting on Wednesday #3

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine where bloggers post spotlights on upcoming releases that they're eagerly anticipating.

This week, my pick is The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus. Publication Date: January 17th, 2012.

Goodreads Review: From one of the most innovative and important writers of his generation: a brilliant, mesmerizingly dark new novel in which the speech of children is killing their parents.

At first it's just Jews--then everyone. People are leaving their families to survive. Sam's wife, Claire, is already stricken and near death. In a year or two, as she grows into adulthood, their daughter, Esther, too, will become a victim. Sam and Claire decide to leave Esther on her own, hoping a "cure" will miraculously appear. Sam's car is waved off the road at a government-run laboratory where horrific tests are being conducted to create non-lethal speech. Throngs bang on the doors to be subject volunteers; they're all carried out half-dead. When Sam realizes what's going on, he makes a desperate escape, vowing that if he dies it will be with his family, the only refuge of sanity and love.

Ben Marcus's nightmarish vision is both completely alien and frighteningly familiar.

What caught my eye was, of course, the cover. It's so colorful! But beyond that, the content seems completely unique. Parents leaving children? The child's voice being deadly? It's horrific, yet mesmerizing and I'm interested to see how it plays out.

Waiting on Wednesday #2

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine where bloggers post spotlights on upcoming releases that they're eagerly anticipating.

This week, my pick is Balthazar by Claudia Gray. Publication Date: March 6th, 2012.

goodreads summary: Haunted by memories from his first days as a vampire, Balthazar has spent hundreds of years alone—without allies, without love. When he emerges from his isolation to help Skye Tierney, a human girl who once attended Evernight Academy, Balthazar has no idea how dangerous it will be. Skye’s psychic powers have caught the attention of Redgrave, the cruel master vampire responsible for murdering Balthazar and his family four centuries ago. Having learned of Skye’s powers and the remarkable effect her blood has on vampires, he plans to use her for his own evil purposes. As they stand together to fight the evil vampire, Balthazar realizes his lonely world could finally be changed by Skye...just as Redgrave realizes that he can destroy Balthazar once and for all by taking her for his own.

In a story filled with forbidden love and dark suspense, one of the most beloved characters in Claudia Gray’s New York Times bestselling Evernight series will captivate readers with his battle to overcome his past and follow his heart.