Countdown: May 2013 (3)

So for me and most others, May marks the beginning of Summer, Memorial Day weekend has always been a favorite of mine.  Friends and I have always headed down to the beach and spent the weekend basking in the sun (hopefully), enjoying the beach and getting excited that Summer is here and it means the end of cold weather, the start of vacations for most, and a lot of other good things.  Last year it marked the beginning of wedding season for my friends and me as a member of their wedding parties.  While that was a lot of fun it was also complete craziness and didn't leave a lot of time for reading and checking out new books to review.  This year I'm hoping and crossing my fingers that I'll get a real vacation in and a whole lot of quality time with my books and hopefully a lot of these future new releases scheduled to hit the shelves!

Countdown Pick #1:  The Dark Shore (The Atlanteans, #2) by Kevin Emerson (05/21/2013)

Owen, Lilly, and Leech have escaped Camp Eden, but the next step on their journey to find Atlantis and protect it from Paul and Project Elysium involves crossing the perilous wastelands of a wrecked planet. And unlike in EdenWest, where bloody truths were kept hidden beneath the surface, out here the horrors live bright beneath the poisonous sun.

Filled with sizzling romance, action, mind-bending twists, and powerful scenes of emotional and physical sacrifice, The Dark Shore: Book Two of the Atlanteans takes readers on a journey to a question that’s so great, even the gods have trouble answering it: What would you be willing to do to save humanity from itself?

You guys know how much I liked Emerson's first installment in the series, and I've been anxiously waiting to see what happens next to these wonderful characters.  While May is still a ways off, I'm glad I've got a date nailed down that I can work with and start up a countdown.

Countdown Pick #2:  Coda by Emma Trevayne (05/07/2013)

Ever since he was a young boy, music has coursed through the veins of eighteen-year-old Anthem—the Corp has certainly seen to that. By encoding music with addictive and mind-altering elements, the Corp holds control over all citizens, particularly conduits like Anthem, whose life energy feeds the main power in the Grid.

Anthem finds hope and comfort in the twin siblings he cares for, even as he watches the life drain slowly and painfully from his father. Escape is found in his underground rock band, where music sounds free, clear, and unencoded deep in an abandoned basement. But when a band member dies suspiciously from a tracking overdose, Anthem knows that his time has suddenly become limited. Revolution all but sings in the air, and Anthem cannot help but answer the call with the chords of choice and free will. But will the girl he loves help or hinder him?

I'm not really sure that I understand what this one is about.  But with that being said, I still want to read it.  It sounds fascinating and definitely the type of read that would be right up my alley and a wonderful addition to my bookshelves.  The added bonus is that I haven't read anything by Trevayne before so with my fingers crossed I'm hoping there's potential to add a great book to my collection as well as a new favorite author.

Countdown Pick #3:  Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan (05/07/2013)

Seventeen-year-old Meg Fellowes is a wry, resourceful thief forced to join an elite group of female spies in Queen Elizabeth’s Court. There she must solve a murder, save the Crown, and resist the one thing that will become her greatest freedom–and her deadliest peril. 

For Meg and her fellow spies are not alone in their pursuit of the murderer who stalks Windsor Castle.

A young, mysterious Spanish courtier, Count Rafe de Martine, appears at every turn in the dark and scandal-filled corridors of the Queen’s summer palace. And though secrets and danger are Meg’s stock-in-trade, she’s never bargained on falling in love…

While I'm not sure I'm in love with the cover art for this title, the description won me over.  I love the unrequited love angle and female super spies solving murder investigations in Queen Elizabeth's court?  Oh yeah I've definitely added this YA debut to my list and countdown.

Countdown Pick #4:  The Beautiful and the Cursed (The Dispossessed, #1) by Page Morgan (05/14/2013)

Fans of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series and Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy will devour The Beautiful and the Cursed, a wholly original interpretation of gargoyle lore. 

It was bizarre and inexplicable, but after it happened no one spoke of it and Ingrid Waverly was forced to leave her life in London behind. She had to trade a world full of fancy dresses and society events for Paris with her mother and younger sister, Gabby.

In Paris there are no grand balls or glittering parties, and, disturbingly, the house her twin brother Grayson found for them isn't a house at all. It's an abbey. A creepy, old abbey with a roof lined in stone gargoyles that one could almost mistake for living, breathing creatures.

And Grayson is missing. 

Yet no one seems to be concerned about Grayson's whereabouts save for Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant who has some secrets of his own. 

There's one secret about the city that he can't keep hidden, though. There's a murderer on the loose. And every day Grayson is missing means that there's less of a chance he's alive.

Ingrid is sure her twin isn't dead--she can feel it deep in her soul--but she knows he's in grave danger, and that it's up to her and Gabby to find him before all hope is lost. 

Only the path to him is more than she could ever imagine.

Gargoyles!!!  Now how often do readers get the chance to come across a YA novel featuring these creatures?  Not very often is the answer that we're all thinking, and I'm excited for the chance to change that up.  I'm always looking for a change of pace and a way to mix up what I've been reading so that I can avoid those reading ruts that we all find ourselves in from time to time.  I'm excited to see what Morgan will bring to the table.

Countdown Pick #5:  The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave, #1) by Rick Yancey (05/07/2013)

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother–or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Not always a huge fan of science fiction but I've got to say that lately the books that I've picked up that fall into this category have been pretty great actually.  I'm starting to think that while I might not have been a fan of the genre in the past, that the genre is now getting a healthy dose of some fantastic writing and I'm crossing my fingers that Yancey's future release falls into this theory.