Countdown: November 2013

While the month of October is one of my favorites (your birthday month usually is) I find that November has always been an exciting and fun time of year as well.  Everyone is always running around trying (and usually failing) to get ready for the December holidays, visiting family, booking those trips and making travel plans.  Its all usually a whirlwind and sometimes I find myself feeling a bit frayed at the edges, but I love it nonetheless!  So amid all the chaos that the holidays usually bring all of us, I enjoy counting down for the books that will hit the shelves and hopefully carving out some time to take a break and lose myself in their pages.

Countdown Pick #1:  Broken by C.J. Lyons (11/05/2013)

New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons makes her YA debut with a fast-paced thriller sure to keep readers guessing to the very last page

The only thing fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has ever wanted is a chance at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, she has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. So when her parents offer her three days to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now... or never. Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But this high school is far from normal. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does.

I thought the premise of this one was interesting enough and that was before the mention of the non-normal school our main character is attending.  Now my curiosity is definitely piqued, and if you haven't already done so, make sure you add this title to your 2013 Debut Author Challenge lists.

 

Countdown Pick #2:  Burning Paradies by Robert Charles Wilson (11/05/2013)

 

Cassie Klyne, nineteen years old, lives in the United States in the year 2015—but it’s not our United States, and it’s not our 2015.

Cassie’s world has been at peace since the Great Armistice of 1918. There was no World War II, no Great Depression. Poverty is declining, prosperity is increasing everywhere; social instability is rare. But Cassie knows the world isn’t what it seems. Her parents were part of a group who gradually discovered the awful truth: that for decades—back to the dawn of radio communications—human progress has been interfered with, made more peaceful and benign, by an extraterrestrial entity. That by interfering with our communications, this entity has tweaked history in massive and subtle ways. That humanity is, for purposes unknown, being farmed.

Cassie’s parents were killed for this knowledge, along with most of the other members of their group. Since then, the survivors have scattered and gone into hiding. Cassie and her younger brother Thomas now live with her aunt Nerissa, who shares these dangerous secrets. Others live nearby. For eight years they have attempted to lead unexceptional lives in order to escape detection. The tactic has worked.

Until now. Because the killers are back. And they’re not human.

 

Most of you know that science fiction isn't my normal go-to when it comes to books, but there are always a few that catch my eye and this is one of them.  I can't wait to see what all goes on and what type of non-humans readers are dealing with.

 

Countdown Pick #3:  Engines of the Broken World by Jason Vanhee (11/05/2013)

 

Merciful Truth and her brother, Gospel, have just pulled their dead mother into the kitchen and stowed her under the table. It was a long illness, and they wanted to bury her—they did—but it’s far too cold outside, and they know they won’t be able to dig into the frozen ground. The Minister who lives with them, who preaches through his animal form, doesn’t make them feel any better about what they’ve done. Merciful calms her guilty feelings but only until, from the other room, she hears a voice she thought she’d never hear again. It’s her mother’s voice, and it’s singing a lullaby. . . .


There isn't one part of this book's synopsis that I really understand.  I have no idea what to expect from a book like this, and the cover alone, once you look close enough is enough to scare me away from reading it for good, but I'm going to ignore the cover for now, and hopefully satisfy my curiosity when this hits the shelves next month.

Countdown Pick #4:  Palace of Spies (Palace of Spies, #1) by Sarah Zettel (11/05/2013)

A warning to all young ladies of delicate breeding who wish to embark upon lives of adventure: Don't. 

Sixteen-year-old Peggy is a well-bred orphan who is coerced into posing as a lady in waiting at the palace of King George I. Life is grand, until Peggy starts to suspect that the girl she's impersonating might have been murdered. Unless Peggy can discover the truth, she might be doomed to the same terrible fate. But in a court of shadows and intrigue, anyone could be a spy—perhaps even the handsome young artist with whom Peggy is falling in love . . . History and mystery spark in this effervescent series debut.

Fun and light, and I'll admit that the first sentence of the synopsis alone had me laughing and wanting to read more.  I'm always on the lookout for a new series to pick up and start, and I think this is a good place to go to for the Fall.

 

Countdown Pick #5:  The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (11/05/2013)

 

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides— especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.