Countdown: Missed Titles (10)

While trying to keep up on the blog along with my crazy, and sometimes chaotic life, I of course decided to bring back the countdown post today.  They're some of my favorites posts to prepare and doing the research on them is always exciting because I seem to always end up pleasantly surprised by how many titles out there that I end up wanting to read in the worst possible way.

So while I've got a huge list already compiled of all the great titles still to come in 2013, I want to feature some reads that I somehow missed in the previous countdowns.  I'm always both upset and excited to find titles that somehow went under my radar.  Upset because I already feel like I'm behind, and have possibly missed out on great reading experiences, but also excited to finally come across them so that I'll have the chance to make up for lost time and dive right into these intriguing reads.  Finding new titles is like someone bringing over a package of macaroons to me...so unexpected and incredibly sweet...not to mention impossible to resist!

Countdown Pick #1:  The Supremacy by Megan White

What would you be willing to sacrifice for the perfect way of life?

We had lost everything. We were desperate and looked to our officials for help.

The Supremacy stepped in, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

They were a government issued task force set up to rebuild life and prosperity.

They gave us homes, they gave us food, but they wanted something priceless in return.

We were the beginning, the first batch. We were the Testers.
Once again Big Brother seems to be at the heart of this novel...what they want on the other hand is hard to tell, but it sounds like an exciting adventure leading to the answers, don't you think?

Countdown Pick #2:  Temptation (Temptation, #1) by Karen Ann Hopkins

Your heart misleads you.
That's what my friends and family say.

But I love Noah.
And he loves me. 

We met and fell in love in the sleepy farming community of Meadowview, while we rode our horses together through the grassy fields and in those moments in each other's arms.

It should be

ROSE & NOAH

forever, easy.

But it won't be.

Because he's Amish.
And I'm not.

This book intrigued me for several reasons, but most of all I realized that I don't know nearly enough about the Amish culture, and while this is book falls into the fiction category, I'm hoping that it'll educate me on some of the issues and information that I'm sorely lacking.

Countdown Pick #3:  Hurt by Tabitha Suzuma

Why? is the burning question on everyone’s lips. Why would a guy like Mathéo Walsh want to die? At seventeen, he is Britain’s most promising diving champion. He is a heartthrob, a straight A student and lives in one of the wealthiest areas of London. He has great mates and is the envy of everyone around him. And most importantly of all, he is deeply in love with his girlfriend, Lola. He has always been a stable, well-adjusted guy...

Until one weekend. A weekend he cannot seem to remember. All he knows is that he has come back a changed person. One who no longer knows how to have fun, no longer wants to spend time with his friends, no longer enjoys diving. Something terrible happened that weekend – something violent and bloody and twisted. He no longer knows who he is. He no longer trusts himself around people: he only wants to hurt, wound and destroy. Slowly, he begins to piece back the buried, fragmented memories, and finds himself staring at the reflection of a monster.

Tormented, Mathéo suddenly finds himself faced with the most devastating choice of his life. Keep his secret, and put those closest to him in terrible danger. Or confess, and lose Lola forever...

I have to know what happened that weekend to Matheo, don't you?  The cover image for this title was what drew me in initially but after reading the description there was no way I wasn't going to add this to my TBR list!

Countdown Pick #4:  Steelheart (Reckoners, #1) by Brandon Sanderson

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.

But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

Yep, the comic book nerd in me came out with a vengeance when I heard about this one...I want to know what kinds of powers the Epics got when this event took place and I can only imagine the action packed scenes that Sanderson will bring within these pages.  There's a contest going on for this title that ends June 20th over at Goodreads, so if you're interested make your way over there and enter for your chance to win!

Countdown Pick #5:  Prophecy Girl (Angel Academy, #1) by Cecily White

Amelie Bennett. . . . Ending the world, one prophecy at a time.

I was born to slay Crossworld demons.

Big black flappy ones, little green squirmy ones. Unfortunately, the only thing getting slain these days is my social life. With my high school under attack, combat classes intensifying, and Academy instructors dropping right and left, I can barely get my homework done, let alone score a bondmate before prom.

Then he shows up.

Jackson Smith-Hailey. Unspeakably hot, hopelessly unattainable, and dangerous in all the right ways. Sure, he’s my trainer. And okay, maybe he hates me. Doesn’t mean I’ll ignore the wicked Guardian chemistry between us. It’s crazy! Every time I’m with him, my powers explode. Awesome, right?

Wrong.

Now my teachers think I’m the murderous Graymason destined to bring down our whole race of angelbloods. Everyone in New Orleans is hunting me. The people I trusted want me dead. Jack and I have five days to solve the murders, prevent a vampire uprising, and thwart the pesky prophecy foretelling his death by my hand. Shouldn’t be too difficult.

Getting it done without falling in love. . . that might take a miracle.
Entangled publishing sent me an email regarding this release and once I got a peek at it there was no turning back.  I was intrigued and super excited for the chance to read this one in the future!