Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish post a top ten list topic so that book lovers like you and me can pour over our shelves and make our own lists. You can check out all the other Top Ten Tuesday‘s on their site!
***
Witch's Brew by Heidi R. Kling 
Once soulmates, the witch and warlock covens of the California coast have been estranged for a century. Raised to hate each other, their teenagers meet in the Solstice Stones, a magical battleground where they draw energy from each other to maintain their balance. 16 year olds Logan and Lily have spent years training for their first Stones…only to discover just days before that the enemy may not be what either of them had thought.
In Witch’s Brew, Lily is torn between her feelings for Logan and her coven’s need to know who—or what—he is. The young lovers race against time, their distrust for each other, and the powerful influence of their elders to unravel the mystery of their pasts before their future is destroyed.
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. It’s awesome. Every week, we all get a chance to tell everyone what new books we’ve gotten so that we can tell you guys and we can all drool and squee together! Huzzah for squees!
I got some things this week, guys, that I am positively GIDDY over! GIDDY. Woot!
FROM NETGALLEY
This Is Not A Test, by Courtney Summers (June 19, 2012 from St. Martin’s Griffin). So. ZOMBIES. I’ve made a pledge to myself that this year I’m going to branch out and read things that I usually bypass. Zombies are perennially at the top of that list. They’re just not really my thing. But I’ve heard great things about this book–it basically sounds like a zombie-pocalypse Breakfast Club, where six kids are trying to stay alive by holing up in their high school while the zombies try to bust their way in–so I’m giving it a go. Amy + Zombies is going down, guys.
The Académie, by Susanne Dunlap (April 10, 2012 from Bloomsbury). Let me just get this right out in the open: I’m big fan of books set in boarding schools. Something about unsupervised kids running amok really appeals to me. I’m also a big nerdy fan of French history (seriously, the DRAMA is outrageous). This book combines those two things, with an added dash of Napoleonic family bickering and scheming rich girls. Sounds juicy! I really can’t wait to dig in to this one.
Unbreak My Heart, by Melissa C. Walker (May 22, 2012 from Bloomsbury). I haven’t read anything by Melissa Walker yet, but this one sounds like a good, dramatic contemporary that also touches a little bit on the double-standard between guys who cheat and girls who cheat. That’s always good and infuriating. Also, I really love the idea of the story partially taking place on a boat. Close quarters and all, plus lots of time to spend with family and a new love interest.
Daughter of the Centaurs: Centauriad, book 1, by Kate Klimo (January 24, 2012 from Random House). This one sounds really intriguing. It’s about a girl who is a horse wrangler/hunter and the last human on earth who leads a band of horses. She’s eventually captured by centaurs and then things get down to business. All of that sounds really fresh, and I love reading about horses. (Centaurs! Firenze! This could rock my world. Can’t wait to see the mythology behind them here.) But what interests me the most about this book is that it’s actually not meant to be a fantasy, really, like you might expect. The Goodreads synopsis makes it sound dystopian, saying that the story is set in a future Earth. Really interesting. I hope this is a great start to a new series.
BOUGHT
Witch’s Brew: The Spellspinners of Melas County, book 1, by Heidi R. Kling (January 17, 2012 from Coliloquy). So THIS BOOK. I’ve been waiting and waiting for this one to come out for AGES, and it was finally released this past week. I snapped it right up. Because this isn’t just any old book. It’s kind of a choose your own path sort of story about witches and warlocks and forbidden love and prophecies. I’m reading it right now and it’s FAB. PLUS! This is only the first of TEN BOOKS in this series. Ten! It’s like hunkering down to watch all three extended Lord of the Rings movies back to back to back: I’m giddy with anticipation of the HEAPS of awesome coming my way.
Arcania: Trial By Fire, book 1, by Liz Maverick (January 17, 2012 from Coliloquy). This is another interactive book from Coliloquy that sounds geek-fabulous. It’s a book about a young girl with “gifts” who gets sucked into this magical MMO-style game while investigating the truth behind her sister’s death. I read a snippet of this one a little while back, and it definitely whet my appetite. Looking forward to this one.
The Assassin and the Pirate Lord: Throne of Glass, novella 1, by Sarah J. Maas (January 21, 2012 from Bloomsbury). GUYS. It’s highly possible that Sarah J. Maas’ THRONE OF GLASS is near the very top of my most anticipated reads of 2012. Every time I read about it–it’s an epic fantasy retelling of Cinderella, with our girl playing the role of an assassin who gets into a whole heap of drama trying to serve out a sentence for a crime–I just get this feeling that I’m going to love it so hard. I’m excited too that the publisher and the author are putting out two novellas this year featuring Celaena, and one of them–involving a pirate and slave trading and other assorted badassery–just came out today. I can’t WAIT to read it and get myself even more psyched for THRONE OF GLASS to come out in August. Woot!
Did you guys get anything squee-worthy in your mailboxes this week?
The Survival Kit by Donna Freitas 
When Rose’s mom dies, she leaves behind a brown paper bag labeled Rose’s Survival Kit. Inside the bag, Rose finds an iPod, with a to-be-determined playlist; a picture of peonies, for growing; a crystal heart, for loving; a paper star, for making a wish; and a paper kite, for letting go.
As Rose ponders the meaning of each item, she finds herself returning again and again to an unexpected source of comfort. Will is her family’s gardener, the school hockey star, and the only person who really understands what she’s going through. Can loss lead to love?
So, I’m having a dilemma, friends. Maybe you’ve heard me mention my Pile of Shame before on the blog, which is basically a list of all the incredible books I still haven’t read yet that I fully intend to conquer this year. This is *kind* of about that, except I need your help filling in some of my worst series gaps. I’ve narrowed it down, but now I can’t decide which one to start first!! To be clear, there’s quite a few series that have only one book out and I’ve left those out because I figure I’m not so behind on those. No, these few series are a couple of books in or even entirely OVER. *Sigh*
Thanks for your help, guys!!
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges 
St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888. As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.
An evil presence is growing within Europe’s royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina’s strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar’s standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina’s help to safeguard Russia, even if he’s repelled by her secret, and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.
The time has come for Katerina to embrace her power, but which side will she choose—and to whom will she give her heart?
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!
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.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish post a top ten list topic so that book lovers like you and me can pour over our shelves and make our own lists. You can check out all the other Top Ten Tuesday‘s on their site!
***
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellom 
High school senior Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.
Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat handle first.
Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.
Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.
And then ditched her.
Now, as the sun rises over her small town, and with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven, Justina must piece together — stain by stain on her thrift-store dress — exactly how she ended up dateless. A three-legged Chihuahua was involved. Along with a demolition derby-ready Cadillac. And there was that incident at the tattoo parlor. Plus the flying leap from Brian Sontag’s moving car…
But to get the whole story, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. And discover if losing out at prom can ultimately lead to true love.
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. It’s awesome. Every week, we all get a chance to tell everyone what new books we’ve gotten so that we can tell you guys and we can all drool and squee together! Huzzah for squees!
Good stuff this week, guys! I got some really exciting stuff from all over the place. Yay!
FROM NETGALLEY
Starters: Starters, book 1, by Lissa Price (March 13, 2012 from Delacorte Books for Young Readers). So, this cover is pretty creepy, guys. But I think that isn’t necessarily a bad thing when you read the synopsis. You got: it sounds creepy awesome. In a future US, people between the ages of 20 and 60 have been wiped out by a war, and whoever is left can only scrounge for a living. Callie must take care of her brother and a friend, and so agrees to basically sell her body for possession by Elders–old people who want to feel young–in order to make some money. Of course, things are not as they seem and shizz goes down. Sounds GOOD.
Goddess Interrupted: Goddess Test, book 2, by Aimee Carter (March 27, 2012 from Harlequin Teen). The continuing sage of Kate and Henry. Can’t wait to catch up with them! There’s Persephone! And Tartarus! Yay!
BOUGHT
The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green (January 10, 2012 from Dutton Juvenile). *Sigh* More cancer books. I’m going to get depressed, guys! But seriously, this is John Green we’re talking about here. I’ve never actually read any of his books (I know, I know!), but that changes REAL SOON. Because this book has been giving everyone the ugly sobs, and we all know I LOVE those. I can’t wait to read this one.
WON
The Fine Art of Truth or Dare, by Melissa Jensen (February 16, 2012 from Speak). A couple of weeks ago, Melissa Jensen was running a contest on Twitter for an ARC of her new book about a quiet, unassuming, art-loving girl Ella gets to crushing on her French tutor and big man on campus, Alex. It sounds really cute and wonderful and I can’t wait to read it. THANKS SO MUCH MELISSA!
That’s it for me this week, friends. Did you guys get anything awesome in your mailboxes this week?
