Countdown: October 2013 (3)

I've been excited to feature this month for countdowns for some time now. October is my birthday month, so I always look forward to seeing what books are going to be hitting the shelves throughout the thirty-one days that make up this calendar month. It's never a bad idea to have my birthday wish list ready for friends and family to draw from right? I've also always been a big fan of Halloween and getting dressed up and celebrating and marking the day with all the good fun that comes with it...and don't even get me started on pumpkin carving. The competition is pretty steep in my family and I've yet to come out on top, but it is a whole new year, and I'll have plenty of time to try and create a very impressive looking jack-o-lantern that will hopefully put my dad's to shame.

 

Countdown Pick #1:  The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney (10/08/2013)

 

A teenage girl is transformed into a reluctant superhero and must balance her old life with the dark secret of who she has become.

Prima ballerina Anthem Fleet is closely guarded by her parents in their penthouse apartment. But when she meets the handsome Gavin at a party on the wrong side of town, she is immediately drawn into his dangerous world. Then, in a tragic accident, Anthem falls to her death. She awakes in an underground lab, with a bionic heart ticking in her chest. As she navigates her new life, she uncovers the sinister truth behind those she trusted the most, and the chilling secret of her family lineage…and her duty to uphold it.

The Dark Knight meets Cinder in this gripping and cinematic story of heartbreak and revenge. From Alloy Entertainment, this inventive new superhero story is sure to captivate any reader.

This upcoming release sounds more like a movie to me than a book, but that won't stop me from picking it up on it's release day to see what it's all about.  This will be my first experience reading Kahaney's work, and I'm looking forward to hopefully adding another favorite author to my list.

 

Countdown Pick #2:  Desert Tales: A Wicked Lovely Companion Novel by Melissa Marr (10/22/2013)

 

Return to the world of Melissa Marr’s bestselling series and discover how the events of Wicked Lovely set a different faery tale in motion...

The Mojave Desert was a million miles away from the plots and schemes of the Faerie Courts—and that’s exactly why Rika chose it as her home. The once-mortal faery retreated to the desert’s isolation after decades of carrying winter’s curse inside her body. But her seclusion—and the freedom of the desert fey—are threatened by the Summer King’s newfound strength. And when the manipulations of her trickster friend, Sionnach, thrust Rika into a new romance, she finds new power within herself—and a new desire to help Sionnach protect the desert fey and mortals alike. The time for hiding is OVER.

Originally presented as a manga series, and now available for the first time as a standalone novel, Desert Tales combines tentative romance, outward strength, and inner resolve in a faery story of desert and destiny.

 

I was a huge fan of the Wicked Lovely series, but I was never really able to get into the manga style novels.  So when I found out that Marr would be spinning her manga series into a standalone novel I was thrilled and eager to pick this one up.

 

Countdown Pick #3:  Premeditated by Josin L. McQuein (10/08/2013)

 

A week ago, Dinah’s cousin Claire cut her wrists.

Five days ago, Dinah found Claire’s diary and discovered why.

Three days ago, Dinah stopped crying and came up with a plan.

Two days ago, she ditched her piercings and bleached the black dye from her hair.

Yesterday, knee socks and uniform plaid became a predator’s camouflage.

Today, she’ll find the boy who broke Claire.

By tomorrow, he’ll wish he were dead.

Yikes!  While this whole set up kind of puts me on edge and tips my scale into scary, at the same time, I'm already finding myself wanting to root for this female lead if she's going to try and make sure this "boy" doesn't hurt another girl like her cousin again.

 

Countdown Pick #4:  Tandem (Many-Worlds Trilogy, #1) by Anna Jarzab (10/08/2013)

 

Everything repeats.
You. Your best friend. Every person you know.
Many worlds. Many lives--infinite possibilities.
Welcome to the multiverse.

Sixteen-year-old Sasha Lawson has only ever known one small, ordinary life. When she was young, she loved her grandfather's stories of parallel worlds inhabited by girls who looked like her but led totally different lives. Sasha never believed such worlds were real--until now, when she finds herself thrust into one against her will.

To prevent imminent war, Sasha must slip into the life of an alternate version of herself, a princess who has vanished on the eve of her arranged marriage. If Sasha succeeds in fooling everyone, she will be returned home; if she fails, she'll be trapped in another girl's life forever. As time runs out, Sasha finds herself torn between two worlds, two lives, and two young men vying for her love--one who knows her secret, and one who thinks she's someone she's not.

The first book in the Many-Worlds Trilogy, Tandem is a riveting saga of love and betrayal set in parallel universes in which nothing--and no one--is what it seems.

 

I'm so excited for this title to hit the shelves and cannot wait to read more about Sasha and these parallel universes!

 

Countdown Pick #5:  Teardrop (Teardrop, #1) by Lauren Kate (10/22/2013)

 

Never, ever cry. . . . Eureka Boudreaux's mother drilled that rule into her daughter years ago. But now her mother is gone, and everywhere Eureka goes he is there: Ander, the tall, pale blond boy who seems to know things he shouldn't, who tells Eureka she is in grave danger, who comes closer to making her cry than anyone has before.

But Ander doesn't know Eureka's darkest secret: ever since her mother drowned in a freak accident, Eureka wishes she were dead, too. She has little left that she cares about, just her oldest friend, Brooks, and a strange inheritance—a locket, a letter, a mysterious stone, and an ancient book no one understands. The book contains a haunting tale about a girl who got her heart broken and cried an entire continent into the sea. Eureka is about to discover that the ancient tale is more than a story, that Ander might be telling the truth . . . and that her life has far darker undercurrents than she ever imagined. From Lauren Kate comes an epic saga of heart-stopping romance, devastating secrets, and dark magic . . . a world where everything you love can be washed away.

 

Lauren Kate is back with another series and I think all of her fans agree that it couldn't have come at a better time.  I'm always on the lookout for a good romance, so when that's combined with Lauren Kate's amazing character development and story lines that flow together so effortlessly that readers easily lose track of the hour as they're trying their best to fly through the pages, it was a done deal for me.