Countdown: April 2013 (4)

The saying might be that April showers bring May flowers, but apparently it also brings a heck of a lot of good books.  You guys are very familiar with my love of countdowns here on the blog and there's no way that's going to change anytime soon, certainly not in 2013!  So now that the new year is here, my excitement level for 2013 new releases has gone through the roof.  I've got my January list, and I'm trying to stick to my plan.  I'll keep reading at lease one or two of the books that are already on my shelf that haven't been read yet before I purchase a new book.  So two older ones for everyone new one I buy is the way this game is played.  So far so good!  If you guys don't see a book you're looking forward to on one of my countdowns you know what to do...post a comment, send me an email, you name it, it works as long as you don't hold back and keep the great future releases a secret!  Let us know, I'm always on the lookout for a few more titles to add to my TBR list!

Countdown Pick #1:  Walking Disaster (Beautiful, #2) by Jamie McGuire (04/16/2013)

Walking Disaster is Travis' POV.

How much is too much to love?

Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.

In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. Just when he thought he was invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees.

Every story has two sides. In Jamie McGuire's New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster Abby had her say. Now it's time to see the story through Travis's eyes.

Oh my gosh you guys I cannot even begin to express how excited I am for this one...it might just be my most anticipated 2013 read!  McGuire has quickly become one of my all time favorite authors and her first installment in this series will always be one of my all time favorites.  But today I saw that a cover was paired with this hotly anticipated future release and my anticipation just went up another notch....which I didn't even think was possible but there ya go.  I cannot wait to have a copy of this book in my hands and I'm sure I'll be reading this one more than once!

Countdown Pick #2:  Echo by Alicia Wright Brewster (04/25/2013)

The countdown clock reads ten days until the end of the world. The citizens are organized. Everyone's been notified and assigned a duty. The problem is . . . no one knows for sure how it will end.

Energy-hungry Mages are the most likely culprit. They travel toward a single location from every corner of the continent. Fueled by the two suns, each Mage holds the power of an element: air, earth, fire, metal, water, or ether. They harness their powers to draw energy from the most readily available resource: humans.

Ashara has been assigned to the Ethereal task group, made up of human ether manipulators and directed by Loken, a young man with whom she has a complicated past. Loken and Ashara bond over a common goal: to stop the Mages from occupying their home and gaining more energy than they can contain. But soon, they begin to suspect that the future of the world may depend on Ashara's death.

While this might not be a title by Jamie McGuire, I'm just as excited about this April 2013 release.  Echo sounds quite different than a lot of the other 2013 releases and it sounds like it might be a great combination of a lot of interesting elements.  Potential romance, heartache, death and destruction, action and suspense....you get the picture.  So get excited!

Countdown Pick #3:  Chosen At Nightfall (Shadow Falls, #5) by C.C. Hunter (04/30/2013)

Kylie Galen's life hasn't been the same since her world was turned upside-down in Born at Midnight, Shadow Falls #1, and now an epic conclusion to her journey—not to mention a tough choice between two guys!—is brewing in Chosen at Nightfall:

When Kylie Galen left Shadow Falls, she thought it was the hardest decision of her life. Heartbroken and separated from everyone she loves, she has to embrace her abilities and what it means to be a chameleon. But as Kylie's journey comes to a close, she must return to the camp that started it all...and she must finally chose between the two boys who love her. The werewolf who broke her heart when he chose his pack over her, and the half-fae who ran from their intense attraction before they ever really had a chance. For Kylie, everything will finally be revealed and nothing will ever be the same.

Please choose Derek, please choose Derek!  I'm repeating this mantra in my head each and every time I come across anything about this book.  I hope you can tell that I really want Kylie to make the RIGHT decision and choose Derek and not Lucas.  I've been crossing my fingers and yelling at each new installment in the hopes that by sheer will power alone Hunter will have the two of these characters end up together....pretty please!

Countdown Pick #4:  Moonset (Legacy of Moonset, #1) by Scott Tracey (04/08/2013)

Justin Daggett, his trouble-making sister, and their three orphan-witch friends have gotten themselves kicked out of high school. Again. Now they’ve ended up in Carrow Mills, New York, the town where their parents—members of the terrorist witch organization known as Moonset—began their evil experiments with the dark arts one generation ago.

When the siblings are accused of unleashing black magic on the town, Justin fights to prove their innocence. But tracking down the true culprit leads him to a terrifying discovery about Moonset’s past . . . and its deadly future.

I haven't read a title about witches and hunts for their "crimes" in a while and this adventure sounds like it would be a great read to change all that.  I like the idea surrounding the read as well as the mystery and intrigue that's been woven into this teaser of a description and can already see myself becoming engrossed in these pages so that I can figure out this mystery for myself.

Countdown Pick #5:  In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters (04/02/2013)

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

To be honest, even this book's description if freaking me out.  It's going to take some serious bravery on my part to finally crack open this book's cover.  I'm such a wimp about stuff like this, but at the same time it does sound romantic and like a read that I could enjoy if I could get past the spooky stuff.  I'm going to do my best and add it to my TBR just in case I can work up the courage and nerve to check this one out.  There's a contest for this title over at Goodreads that ends February 2nd if anyone's interested.  And if any of you readers do check this one out and don't think it would end up scaring me too bad, let me know so I'll have that extra added confidence that I need when I hit the bookstores in April.