Countdown: 2012 Releases (23)

I'll never get over or be able to believe how many great titles are coming out and how badly I want to read them all. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage to fit everything in, but I'm crossing my fingers I'll find a way and at least if I have some traveling to do for these weddings I'll be sure to have plenty of great reads to take a long with me to pass the time, right?

That's the plan anyways and hopefully I'll have some down time as well in between all the fun festivities lined up to squeeze in a book or two on a night in, curled up on my couch unwinding from all the craziness!

Countdown Pick #1: Hanging by a Thread by Sophie Littlefield (09/11/2012)

Summer is the best part of the year in Winston, California, and the Fourth of July is the highlight of the season. But the perfect town Clare remembers has changed, and everyone is praying that this summer will be different from the last two—that this year's Fourth of July festival won't see one of their own vanish without a trace, leaving no leads and no suspects. The media are in a frenzy predicting a third disappearance, but the town depends on tourist dollars, so the residents of Winston are trying desperately to pretend nothing's wrong.

And they're not the only ones hiding something.

Clare, a seamstress who redesigns vintage clothing, has been blessed—or perhaps cursed—with a gift: she can see people's pasts when she touches their clothes. When she stumbles across a denim jacket that once belonged to Amanda Stavros, last year's Fourth of July victim, Clare sees her perfect town begin to come apart at the seams.

In a town where appearance means everything, how deep beneath the surface will Clare dig to uncover a murderer?

Who doesn't love a good mystery? And a murder mystery with a few abductions raises the ante for sure. The supernatural element in here makes me wonder how far will Littlefield go within the genre? Will that be the only piece or will the mystery surrounding the missing victims also surround something supernatural? That's a question I can't wait to get an answer to.

Countdown Pick #2: Break My Heart 1,000 Times by Daniel Waters (10/16/2012)

Living in the aftermath of the Event means that seeing the dead is now a part of life, but Veronica wishes that the ghosts would just move on. Instead, the ghosts aren’t disappearing—they’re gaining power.

When Veronica and her friend, Kirk, decide to investigate why, they stumble upon a more sinister plot than they ever could have imagined. One of Veronica’s high school teachers is crippled by the fact that his dead daughter has never returned as a ghost, and he’s haunted by the possibility that she’s waiting to reappear within a fresh body. Veronica seems like the perfect host. And even if he’s wrong, what’s the harm in creating one more ghost?

From critically acclaimed Generation Dead author Daniel Waters, comes a delectably creepy and suspenseful thriller. Break My Heart 1,000 Times will leave readers with the chills. Or is that a ghost reading over the page?

Not usually my cup of tea, ghosts and all that, but I couldn't resist putting this one on my countdown list. I hate not knowing the answer to a mystery like this one, and while I haven't had any experience with any of Waters' previous works, I'm hopeful that his writing lives up to the praise that I hear regarding this other YA titles. Have you read any of his work before? What did you think?

Countdown Pick #3: So Close To You (So Close To You, #1) by Rachel Carter (07/10/2012)

Lydia Bentley has heard stories about the Montauk Project all her life: stories about the strange things that took place at the abandoned military base near her home and the people who've disappeared over the years. Stories about people like her own great-grandfather.

When Lydia stumbles into a portal that transports her to a dangerous and strange new reality, she discovers that all the stories she's ever heard about the Montauk Project are true, and that she's in the middle of one of the most dangerous experiments in history.

Alongside a darkly mysterious boy she is wary to trust, Lydia begins to unravel the secrets surrounding the Project. But the truths behind these secrets force her to question all her choices—and if Lydia chooses wrong, she might not save her family but destroy them... and herself.

No pressure right? First off, Goodreads is hosting a contest for the chance to win one of ten copies up for grabs, so if you've had your eye on this one, head on over there and enter for your chance at a free copy for yourself! With that being said, this one has me intrigued to say the least. I can't wait to see where this portal takes Lydia and what events would lead up to her making this huge decision that holds everyone's lives in the balance....and come on, you know you're just as interested!

Countdown Pick #4: Flawed by Kate Avelynn (07/10/2012)

Sarah O’Brien is only alive because of the pact she and her brother made twelve years ago—James will protect her from their violent father if she promises to never leave him. For years, she’s watched James destroy his life to save hers. If all he asks for in return is her affection, she’ll give it freely.

Until, with a tiny kiss and a broken mind, he asks for more than she can give.

Sam Donavon has been James’s best friend—and the boy Sarah’s had a crush on—for as long as she can remember. As their forbidden relationship deepens, Sarah knows she’s in trouble. Quiet, serious Sam has decided he’s going to save her. Neither of them realize James is far more unstable than her father ever was, or that he’s not about to let Sarah forget her half of the pact...

I'm going to have a hard time with this one, I just know it. With what sounds like the terrible world Sarah lives in, I know it won't be easy to read what she has to endure and the awful situations she finds herself in, at no fault of her own. I'm hopeful that the character Sam will be able to help her come out of this Hell that she's been living in and also to find the strength she'll surely need to move past everything she's had to endure. But mainly I'm just hoping she's able to get out of the situation she's in period! Hopefully despite the serious nature of the book, Avelynn will have a happy ending waiting for Sam and Sarah.

Countdown Pick #5: The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna (08/28/2012)

Eva’s life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination—an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her “other”, if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it’s like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.

But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.

Now she must abandon everything she’s ever known—the guardians who raised her, the boy she’s forbidden to love—to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive.

We've got ourselves another Goodreads contest readers! Head on over and enter for your chance to win one of five copies of this upcoming release. While there are arrived a ton of people entered in this contest, you might just be one of the lucky five! I've seen movies and read books that have similar story lines or at least revolve around the cloning of people that have been kept in the wings to take over for the original hosts, or to be used for parts so to speak if something should go wrong in the "real" world, and I'm always interested in reading more. I'm not saying this title will be like the others, of course I'm hoping to find the opposite, but my interest was piqued for the same reasons.