Waiting on Wednesday (12): The Vicious Deep

Feb 1

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. I love it because it is basically a squee-fest where book lovers can choose one book that they are DYING to get their hands on. Check it out!

The Vicious Deep (The Vicious Deep #1)

by Zoraida Córdova

When an unnatural riptide sweeps lifeguard Tristan Hart out to sea for three days and then dumps him back on the shore of Coney Island, it’s the start of the Sea Court claiming its own. Suddenly, Tristan’s girlfriend dramas and swimming championship seem like distant worries as he discovers the truth: he’s a Merman. Now Tristan must fight for his life, the lives of his friends, and his humanity (if he still wants it), while competing in a race for a throne as ancient as the gods.

Seductive, duplicitous, and with an agenda of their own, these are not the mermaids you know.

HOLLA! This book sounds BANANAS. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that lots of people think of Ariel when they think of mermaids. (I do.) But I love that the mermaids in THE VICIOUS DEEP are being described as something much darker and nastier. As much as I adore Ariel and King Trident and their sweet, weepy moment at the end of The Little Mermaid and their generally likable dispositions, I’ve always LOVED reading about the vindictive, manipulative side of mythological creatures who have little care for humanity. I can’t wait to see what happens with Tristan and his battle to be KING OF THE OCEAN. Sounds so epic.

THE VICIOUS DEEP is coming out May 1, 2012 from Sourcebooks Fire.

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Waiting on Wednesday (10): Kill Me Softly

Jan 18

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. I love it because it is basically a squee-fest where book lovers can choose one book that they are DYING to get their hands on. Check it out!

Kill Me Softly

by Sarah Cross

 True love’s kiss just may prove deadly….

Mirabelle’s past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents’ tragic deaths to her guardians’ half-truths about why she can’t return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who’s a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren’t pretty things, and they don’t always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy-tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy-tale curses of their own … brothers who share a dark secret. And she’ll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

I can’t help it, guys. I’m really, REALLY feeling the fairy tale retellings right now. I promise next week will be something completely different. But lately I keep thinking of this book–with its story that sounds like ALL THE FAIRY TALES EVER and the striking red cover with lots of ominous-looking blood-like spatter–and I just couldn’t keep myself from sharing my anticipation with you guys. Because seriously: ALL THE FAIRY TALES.

This book sounds like reading Once Upon a Time, my new favorite TV show. I’m not sure anyone could convince me that this ISN’T awesome. Snow White, the Beast, Prince Charming, and what seems to be the Brothers Grimm, maybe? KILL ME SOFTLY sounds like it’s going to be dramatic and dark and intense with lots of shout outs to my favorite old stories. Plus I’m intrigued by Mira: Is she a fairy tale character? Which one? (I swear, this is exactly like OUaT). What happened to her parents? Why can’t she return to her home? This book is SCREAMING my name, and I can’t wait to read it. Three cheers for fairy tales, friends!!

(PS. I’m ignoring the fact that the title reminds me of Roberta Flack. And The Fugees. Ignoring it.)

KILL ME SOFTLY is coming out April 10, 2012 from EgmontUSA.

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Waiting on Wednesday (9): Enchanted

Jan 11

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. I love it because it is basically a squee-fest where book lovers can choose one book that they are DYING to get their hands on. Check it out!

Enchanted

by Alethea Kontis

 It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?

I love the sound of ENCHANTED. It reminds me a little bit of Juliet Marillier’s WILDWOOD DANCING with the frog and the princess (or, in this case, it appears to just be a girl from a powerful family?) angle, which is excellent. BUT THEN! Business takes a turn into ROMEO & JULIET-ville (hopefully without the whole “Let’s both die together” part) when the newly de-frogged prince and the girl turn out to be from two families who hate each other’s guts. DRAMA!

Seriously though. ENCHANTED sounds fantastic. I LOVE this spin on The Frog Prince story, which, like all fairy tales, usually ends with the frog returned to his princely form whereupon the princess is immediately in love with him. I’m excited to read a version of events that requires a little more effort and creates more tension. PLUS. What about those “twisted secrets,” huh? What’s THAT about?? Can’t wait for this one, guys.

ENCHANTED is coming out May 8, 2012 from Harcourt Children’s.

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Oooh, Pretty!: Seraphina

Jan 5

Seraphina

by Rachel Hartman

So, when did THIS happen?! I’m SO STOKED about Rachel Hartman’s debut, and this cover is so old-school gorgeous that it’s turning my excitement up to 11. PLUS, according to Rachel herself, the cover is actually a FOR REAL woodblock print. Like, someone carved this awesome into a piece of wood LIKE A CHAMP and then the cover geniuses made a print of it. WORD. I’m done talking now.

Aaaaaaaannnnnnd…BOOM.

SERAPHINA is coming out on July 10, 2012 from Random House Books for Young Readers.

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Book Review | The Faerie Ring | Kiki Hamilton

Dec 29
Book Review | The Faerie Ring | Kiki HamiltonThe Faerie Ring on September 27, 2011
Pages: 343
Format: eBook
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

The year is 1871, and Tiki has been making a home for herself and her family of orphans in a deserted hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London. Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. For the ring belongs to Queen Victoria, and it binds the rulers of England and the realm of Faerie to peace. With the ring missing, a rebel group of faeries hopes to break the treaty with dark magic and blood—Tiki’s blood.

Unbeknownst to Tiki, she is being watched—and protected—by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects she is involved in the disappearance of the ring. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki is not all that she appears to be. Her very existence haunts Prince Leopold, the Queen’s son, who is driven to know more about the mysterious mark that encircles her wrist.

Prince, pauper, and thief—all must work together to secure the treaty…

[Read more…]

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Waiting on Wednesday (4)

Dec 7

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. I love it because it is basically a squee-fest where book lovers can choose one book that they are DYING to get their hands on. Check it out!

Scarlet

by A.C. Gaughen

Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance.

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

So, Robin Hood is one of my weaknesses, in any medium. The Robin Hood Disney movie? OWN IT. Jennifer Roberson’s Sherwood books Or even Robin McKinley’s THE OUTLAWS OF SHERWOOD? I’m obsessed with reading them (they’re out of my library right now). I even love Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves! I just love the setting and the characters and how the whole premise, to me, revolves around the moral ambiguity of Robin Hood’s thievery. It’s so gray! Yes, he steals, but hey look, he gives what he steals to people in his community who are destitute because of the mistreatment of THE MAN. #OccupySherwood! It’s no wonder at all that he was a folk hero.

This retelling of the story sounds particularly amazing, though, because usually the only women in the Robin Hood tale are Maid Marion, maybe Little John’s wife, Lady Cluck. In SCARLET though, one of the members of Robin’s band of thieves–borrowing the name of Robin’s brother/friend/squire, Will Scarlet–is, secretly to outsiders, a girl (that would be Scarlet), who robs the rich as a member of the Merry Men while trying to elude capture by the evil Lord Gisbourne (Sheriff of Nottingham-ish baddie) and come to grips with her growing feelings for the leader of the pack, Robin. I just sighed out loud, it sounds so great! I am waiting for this one VERY impatiently!

SCARLET is coming out February 14, 2012 from Walker.

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Waiting on Wednesday (2)

Nov 22

Bitterblue (The Seven Kingdoms #3)

by Kristin Cashore

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past. Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

How did I not have THIS as my very first Waiting on Wednesday?! I have been drooling with anticipation for this book since FIRE, book 2 in this trilogy, came out waaaaaaaaaaay back in 2009 (us YA folks are spoiled with those “book a year” schedules lots of series are on, huh?). In all seriousness, though, GRACELING was one of the very first YA books I ever read and is largely responsible for sucking me into this wonderful world, so I have a particular soft spot for that book, and this series, and Kristin Cashore. I’m so excited for this book I could…I don’t know. Do something super-crazy! Plus, did you see that synopsis from the publisher? Oh baby! It sounds GREAT! I will read every word Kristin Cashore writes, and BITTERBLUE is up next!

BITTERBLUE is coming out May 1, 2012 from Dial.

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Five-Star Friday | The Scorpio Races | Maggie Stiefvater

Nov 11

Five-Star Friday is a periodically regular (say what?!) feature that I’m planning on running on Fridays (but not every Friday) in which I talk about (or verbally drool over) a book that I’ve read and ADORED (sometimes they’ll be recent releases and other times they might be older…my piles are tall and the bottoms are old). Yay! I always feel so happy and light and wonderful when I am beside myself with delight over a book, and I want to share the love with you all in the hopes that we can all get together and have an embarrassing, squeal-filled love-fest full of lots of high-pitched “Ohmygod, I KNOW!s” and chest-clutching sighs of contentedness. Huzzah!*

First up, Maggie Stiefvater’s THE SCORPIO RACES

Book cover for The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater [Read more…]

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