Countdown: 2012 Releases (16)

While I've been doing a pretty great job keeping up with my reading (if I do say so myself) while balancing all the craziness that is going on around me, there is never a shortage of books, it seems, that I'm looking forward to hitting the shelves. So I've got quite a few countdown posts in the works for this week and maybe even next week, because there just doesn't seem to be an end in sight for all the great titles that have still yet to be released this year. I can only imagine what 2013 will turn out to be like.

I've got a whole bunch of series' that I've fallen in love with and I'm aching to see how the authors will continue their adventures in future installments. Lots will hopefully be coming out next year, but for now, the new releases schedule for the rest of this year are more than enough than I can handle right now. I try to fly through a few books a week on my downtime, and I am a fast reader, but even I'm having a hard time. How does everyone do it? This is why I know my TBR list will forever continue to grow and never shrink!

Countdown Pick #1: Whispers At Moonrise (Shadow Falls, #4) by C.C. Hunter (10/02/2012)

A breathtaking new installment of the bestselling Shadow Falls series for young adults by rising star C. C. Hunter!

At a camp filled with vampires, werewolves, and fairies, Kylie Galen has always struggled to figure out what she is. Now she finally knows the truth—but she's left with more questions than answers. She doesn’t have a clue what her heritage means or how to harness her new found powers. All she knows is that she needs to sort out her feelings for Derek, the sexy half-Fae who just confessed his love, and Lucas, her werewolf boyfriend who seems more committed to his pack than to their relationship. All the while, Kylie's dealing with a group of underground rogues who want her dead and a mysterious grandfather who makes it clear he doesn’t trust the FRU . . . or Shadow Falls. Soon Kylie will have to choose: Will she stay with the new family she’s formed at Shadow Falls, or will she leave with her grandfather and embrace her destiny?

You guys know how big of a fan I am of this series. I've devoured each and every installment and I'm always left wishing the next installment was available to continue on in Hunter's journey. But sadly I am left waiting with the other readers for the next release date that always seems so far away. But that's also how you can separate a good book from a great book. If you're always shouting more, more...than you've found yourself a great book, and you need to spread the word. This series had me hooked from the start, and I'm going to be crossing my fingers that I get to check this one out sooner rather than later...hopefully I can hold out for it's release date!

Countdown Pick #2: Tilt by Ellen Hopkins (09/11/2012)

TILT is the story of three teens inter-related through their parents' family relationships and friendships. As their parents pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the kids' worlds tilt, through love--good and bad:

Mikayla, almost eighteen, is over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back jealously. But what happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their senior year, and decides to keep the baby?

Shane turns sixteen that same summer, and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex, who happens to be HIV positive. Shane has lived for four years with his little sister's impending death. Can he accept Alex's love, knowing his life, too, will be shortened?

Harley is fourteen—a good girl searching for new experiences, especially love from an older boy. She never expects to hurdle toward self-destructive extremes in order to define who she is and who she wants to be.

Talk about having issues to resolve and obstacles to overcome, right? Hopkins seems to be stepping out of her normal genre and bringing readers what sounds like a very realistic taken on three teens' lives and what all they must face on a day to day basis. While it doesn't sound like a book that will be fun and easy to fly through, it sounds like it has the makings of a page turner, and one that could make everyone stop and think and maybe reevaluate what's truly important in our lives.

Countdown Pick #3: Beautiful Redemption (Caster Chronicles, #4) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (10/23/2012)

Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?

Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

The end is finally here. I wasn't sure how many installment the authors had planned for this series, but now I've got my answer. With this final installment, readers are sure to be put through their paces. These authors never cease to amaze me with how quickly they can get me involved in their writing and how I'm always left on the edge of my seat wondering what could possibly happen next, haven't these characters been through enough? I guess this time around, the authors will be wrapping things up and hopefully Lena and Ethan will get themselves the happy ending they deserve...but if they do I'm sure the authors will have definitely made them work for it.

Countdown Pick #4: Mystic City (Mystic City, #1) by Theo Lawrence (10/09/2012)

For fans of Matched, The Hunger Games, X-Men, and Blade Runner comes a tale of a magical city divided. A political rebellion ignited. A love that was meant to last forever.

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.

With a description like that I knew I didn't stand a chance! I of course am a huge fan of The Hunger Games and Matched series....who isn't? So if this book and series turn out to be even half as good as the two it's being compared to, than I think it sounds like we've got ourselves a winner, don't you think? I'm loving how this one sounds like there will be a fantastic mix of action and suspense, love and romance, and mystery and intrigue. I'm always up for a challenge, and the idea of our main character struggling to figure out what happened to her memories and to get them back, not to mention all that is going on around her? Sign me up for sure! Can't wait until it's release date!

Countdown Pick #5: Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini (10/30/2012)

Life altering mistakes are meant to alter lives…

When Elliot dies for the third time, she knows this is her last shot. There are no fourth-timers in this afterlife, so one more chance is all she has to get things right. But before she can move on to her next life, Elliot will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed… and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the mistakes of her past, Elliot must earn the forgiveness of her best friend and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

Did you guys ever read The Five People You Meet In Heaven? I did and while it was a tough read to get through (not very upbeat obviously) it's always stayed with me in a lot of ways. This book's description sounds very close to them central focus in that book as well. I always find it interesting when people give their versions of what they think will happen when we pass on, and while I'm not saying that this is what Sabatini's take on that is, she's putting a unique spin on the ways things might go. So the idea that this character must go through these trials and tribulations in order to find her peace is something I'm very much looking forward to checking out for myself.