Countdown: July 2013 (2)

So July has always marked that middle point for me in the Summer where we're in the thick of it, I'm usually complaining about the heat and seeking shelter anywhere air conditioning can be found at full blast, and hopefully a vacation is in the works to give me a break from reality.  If a vacation hasn't been planned or is still a ways off, I always look to my books to get me through the high temperatures and regret that I no longer get my summers off, all part of being an adult and all that.  Not really what it's cracked up to be....this being responsible and productive bit.  So I'm always on the lookout for reads that I consider mini vacations, breaks from the bump and grind of every day life.  We've got fireworks, good BBQ foods, usually a few parties thrown and good reads all around!

Countdown Pick #1:  SYLO by D.J. MacHale (07/02/2013)

Does Tucker Pierce have what it takes to be a hero when the U.S. military quarantines his island?

Fourteen-year-old Tucker Pierce prefers to fly under the radar. He’s used to navigating around summer tourists in his hometown on idyllic Pemberwick Island, Maine. He’s content to sit on the sidelines as a backup player on the high school football team. And though his best friend Quinn tells him to “go for it,” he’s too chicken to ask Tori Sleeper on a date. There’s always tomorrow, he figures. Then Pemberwick Island is invaded by a mysterious branch of the U.S. military called SYLO. And sitting on the sidelines is no longer an option for Tucker, because tomorrow may never come. 

It’s up to Tucker, Quinn, and Tori to uncover the truth about the singing aircraft that appears only at night—and the stranger named Feit who’s pushing a red crystal he calls the Ruby that brings unique powers to all who take it. Tucker and his friends must rescue not just Pemberwick Island, but the fate of the world—and all before tomorrow is too late.  

#1 New York Times bestselling author D.J. MacHale brings his brilliant plotting and breathless pacing to SYLO, the first in this ultimate end-of-the-world adventure trilogy.

July is looking like a good month for action and suspense thrillers if this title is anything to go by, wouldn't you say?  I'm excited to see if Tucker and his friends can rise to the challenge and get down to the bottom of what's really going on with the government and their hometown.

Countdown Pick #2:  The Distance Between Us by Kasie West (07/02/2013)

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.

I was instantly reminded of John Hughes' Pretty In Pink when I came across this future release and whether or not it turns out to be similar doesn't matter because it's hooked my interest and now there's no turning back.  I've got to read this one and see for myself what happens with Xander and Caymen.

Countdown Pick #3:  Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay (07/23/2013)

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

I've been a fan of this classic for as long as I can remember and any time a retelling or a twist comes along involving the age old story I jump at the chance to take a look for myself.  This new take by Jay sounds really interesting and I can't wait to see what she has in store for her readers this time around.

Countdown Pick #4:  Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols (07/16/2013)

From the author of the “real page-turner” (Seventeen) Such a Rush comes an unforgettable new drama that follows friends-turned-lovers as they navigate the passions, heartbreaks, and intrigue of country music fame.

Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.

Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…

Yay for all things Jennifer Echols!  I always get so excited whenever she comes out with anything new, because everything she writes has me falling in love with her writing, her characters and her stories all over again!  I can't wait for this release!

Countdown Pick #5:  Some Quiet Place by Kelsey Sutton (07/08/2013)

I can’t weep. I can’t fear. I’ve grown talented at pretending.

Elizabeth Caldwell doesn’t feel emotions . . . she sees them. Longing, Shame, and Courage materialize around her classmates. Fury and Resentment appear in her dysfunctional home. They’ve all given up on Elizabeth because she doesn’t succumb to their touch. All, that is, save one—Fear. He’s intrigued by her, as desperate to understand the accident that changed Elizabeth’s life as she is herself.

Elizabeth and Fear both sense that the key to her past is hidden in the dream paintings she hides in the family barn. But a shadowy menace has begun to stalk her, and try as she might, Elizabeth can barely avoid the brutality of her life long enough to uncover the truth about herself. When it matters most, will she be able to rely on Fear to save her?

This one sounds haunting, exciting, and totally addicting!  I'm curious how the relationship between Fear and Elizabeth will occur and develop and what this mysterious menace the description mentions plays into things.  Not completely sure what to expect when it comes to this future release, but sometimes those are the best kinds of reads, don't you think?