Countdown: July 2013

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:  After Eden (After Eden, #1) by Helen Douglas (07/04/2013)

Eden Anfield loves puzzles, so when mysterious new boy Ryan Westland shows up at her school she's hooked. On the face of it, he's a typical American teenager. So why doesn't he recognize pizza? And how come he hasn't heard of Hitler? What puzzles Eden the most, however, is the interest he's taking in her. 

As Eden starts to fall in love with Ryan, she begins to unravel his secret. Her breakthrough comes one rainy afternoon when she stumbles across a book in Ryan's bedroom - a biography of her best friend - written over fifty years in the future. Confronting Ryan, she discovers that he is there with one unbelievably important purpose ... and she might have just destroyed his only chance of success.

Uh oh!  It was my first through when I finished reading this description. Romance, time travel, and suspense are all elements this future release has to offer and I'm excited to check it out!  Hopefully Eden doesn't botch things up too badly for her future self and the lives of her friends in the future.

Countdown Pick #2:  Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike (07/30/2013)

Love, fate, and power collide in this new series by #1 New York Timesbestselling author Aprilynne Pike!

Tavia Michaels is the sole survivor of the plane crash that killed her parents. When she starts to see strange visions of a boy she’s never spoken with in real life, she begins to suspect that there’s much about her past that she isn’t being told. Tavia will soon to discover that she’s an Earthbound—someone with the ability to create matter out of nothing—and that she alone holds the key to stopping the Reduciata, an evil society that manipulates global events for its own shadowy purposes. Tavia will ultimately have to make a choice: to come into her powers and save the world from the evil Reduciata or to choose free will and a love of her own.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike has created a heart-stopping romance built on a love triangle like you’ve never seen before and filled with epic stakes and a centuries-long conspiracy. Give it to fans of Nightshade and Fallen.

Pike is one of those authors that I've heard so much about, all wonderful things and yet for some reason I still haven't had the chance to check out any of her work.  I'm hoping with this future release of hers to change all that.  I'm almost positive based on what everyone tells me and what I've read that this will not be the last book of Pike's that I'll be adding to my library.

Countdown Pick #3:  Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt (07/09/2013)

Can a road trip repair a romance gone wrong? Find out in this standalone companion to Lauren Barnholdt’s Two-way Street.

Here are Peyton and Jace, meeting on vacation. Click! It’s awesome, it’s easy, it’s romantic. This is the real deal.

Unless it isn’t. Because when you’re in love, you don’t just stop calling one day. And you don’t keep secrets. Or lie. And when your life starts falling apart, you’re supposed to have the other person to lean on.

Here are Peyton and Jace again, broken up but thrown together on a road trip. One of them is lying about the destination. One of them is pretending not to be leaving something behind. And neither of them is prepared for what’s coming on the road ahead…

I don't know about you guys but I have always loved a story involving a road trip.  There's something about the close quarters that the characters are in for the majority of the book that creates a unique dynamic and often a great recipe for a lot of adventure, fun, and sometimes intense and revealing stuff.

Countdown Pick #4:  Starglass (Starglass, #1) by Phoebe North (07/23/2013)

My darling daughter,

Know that I never would have left the Earth if it hadn't already been doomed. . .

The generation ship Asherah coasts through space, bound for a planet its passengers have never even seen. On the eve of their arrival, sixteen-year-old botanist Terra discovers that her orderly society has fractured. Walking home one night through the long-abandoned engine rooms, she witnesses the murder of an innocent man. Now, called on by the Children of Abel, a group of rebels intent on destroying the High Council, Terra must prove her mettle--assassinate the ship's rising captain. In order to carry out her task, Terra must betray her father, deceive her teacher, and challenge everything the Council has ever taught her was true. 

The rebels think that Terra has nothing left to lose. But when she falls for Silvan Rafferty, the boy that she's meant to kill, Terra learns that "doing your duty" isn't always as easy as it seems.

There might be something wrong with me because I'm already sad for these two characters and the book hasn't even hit the shelves yet.  How Terra will manage to keep her end of the deal and kill the boy she's fallen in love with is beyond me, and if she doesn't, I can only imagine what will happen.  This is yet another series that I'm anxious to start!

Countdown Pick #5:  Undercurrent by Paul E. Blackwell (07/23/2013)

In this suspenseful teen thriller with a touch of the otherworldly, perfect for fans of Neal Shusterman, a boy goes over a waterfall and wakes up to find himself in a twisted version of the life he knew.

A shadowy figure. An intense roar. The sensation of falling—fast.

That’s all Callum Harris remembers from his tumble over the waterfall. But when he wakes up in a hospital bed and finds his best friend trying to kill him, Callum knows something is seriously wrong. Unfortunately for him, the mysteries are just getting started.

Why are his parents acting like he’s some big sports star all of a sudden? And why are all the buildings in town more run-down than Callum remembers? Worst of all...what happened to Callum’s brother? Either Callum has gone seriously crazy or something happened when he went over the falls. Something impossible. Callum needs answers, and now. Because in this twisted new version of the life Callum knew, his former best friend isn’t the only one who wants to see him dead.

Filled with mind-bending suspense and unsettling thrills, Undercurrent is a grippingly paced teen debut that will pull you under and never let go.

I heard about this book through an online recommendation for new dystopian titles coming out soon.  I'm not sure I'd describe this as a dystopian novel from what the description gives us, but more of a thriller taking place in what sounds like an alternate reality of some sort.  Either way its one that I've added to my list and can't wait to start reading.