Countdown: January 2014

With only a month left in 2013 I think there's plenty to do to keep most of us busy.  Not only are the holidays right around the corner, but the weather outside is making sure we're all staying on our toes...never knowing what kind of scene we'll wake up to on the other side of our windows.  Now if I could wake up to a scene like the picture to your left...I'd be more than OK with it.  Since we can't all walk outside and enjoy a view like this one, I do my best to find escape in the fabulous books we can all look forward to in the new year.  2014 is right around the corner, and there are already more new releases about to hit the shelves than I know what to do with.  My TBR list has no chance of getting smaller anytime soon, but I'll never complain about something like that.  Here are a few titles I'm looking forward to checking out in January.

 

Countdown Pick #1:  Afterparty by Anne Redisch Stampler (01/07/2014)

 

Emma is tired of being good. Always the dutiful daughter to an overprotective father, she is the antithesis of her mother -- whose name her dad won't even say out loud. That's why meeting Siobhan is the best thing that ever happened to her...and the most dangerous. Because Siobhan is fun and alluring and experienced and lives on the edge. In other words, she's everything Emma is not.

And it may be more than Emma can handle.

Because as intoxicating as her secret life may be, when Emma begins to make her own decisions, Siobhan starts to unravel. It's more than just Dylan, the boy who comes between them. Their high-stakes pacts are spinning out of control. Elaborate lies become second nature. Loyalties and boundaries are blurred. And it all comes to a head at the infamous Afterparty, where debauchery rages and an intense, inescapable confrontation ends in a plummet from the rooftop...

This explosive, sexy, and harrowing follow-up to Ann Redisch Stampler's spectacular teen debut, Where It Began, reveals how those who know us best can hurt us most.

 

The cover alone refused to let me leave this page without knowing more about this upcoming release.  Stampler's writing was fabulous with her debut and I'm anxious to see what she brings to the table for her readers next.  I mean look at that cover?!  I can only imagine what readers will find happening at this infamous afterparty.

 

Countdown Pick #2:  Evertrue (Everneath, #3) by Brodi Ashton (01/21/2014)

 

Now that Nikki has rescued Jack, all she wants is to be with him and graduate high school. But Cole tricked Nikki into feeding off him, and she’s begun the process of turning into an Everliving herself... which means she must feed on a Forfeit soon — or die.

Terrified for her survival, Nikki and Jack begin a desperate attempt to reverse the process using any means possible. Even Cole, who they expected to fight them at every turn, has become an unlikely ally — but how long can it last? Nikki needs to feed on Cole to survive, Cole needs Nikki to gain the throne in the Everneath, Jack needs Nikki because she is everything to him — and together, they must travel back to the Underworld to undo Nikki’s fate and make her mortal once more. But Cole isn’t the only one with plans for Nikki: the Queen has not forgotten Nikki’s treachery, and she wants her destroyed for good. Will Nikki be forced to spend eternity in the Underworld, or does she have what it takes to bring down the Everneath once and for all?

In this stunning conclusion to the Everneath trilogy, Brodi Ashton evokes the resiliency of the human spirit and the indomitable power of true love.

 

There are so many readers and fans out there chomping at the bit to see how Ashton will wrap things up for her stunning trilogy.  I'm not even quite sure as to what I'm hoping happens within these pages, I'm so torn, but I have no doubt that it will be a thrilling ride...one I can't wait to experience.

 

Countdown Pick #3:  Unhinged (Splintered, #2) by A.G. Howard (01/07/2014)

 

Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she's always dreamed of.

That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.

As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.

If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she'll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.

 

I was lucky enough to check out a sampler chapter for this sequel a few months ago and after just one chapter, I wanted more!  With her spin on a classic that I've always loved, I'm looking forward to seeing where Howard will take Alyssa on her journey and of course what else readers will get to enjoy once she fall through the rabbit hole yet again...we all know it's inevitable, right?

 

Countdown Pick #4:  Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill (01/07/2014)

 

Meet Sloane Emily Jacobs: a seriously stressed-out figure-skater from Washington, D.C., who choked during junior nationals and isn’t sure she’s ready for a comeback. What she does know is that she’d give anything to escape the mass of misery that is her life.

Now meet Sloane Devon Jacobs, a spunky ice hockey player from Philly who’s been suspended from her team for too many aggressive hip checks. Her punishment? Hockey camp, now, when she’s playing the worst she’s ever played. If she messes up? Her life will be over.

When the two Sloanes meet by chance in Montreal and decide to trade places for the summer, each girl thinks she’s the lucky one: no strangers to judge or laugh at Sloane Emily, no scouts expecting Sloane Devon to be a hero. But it didn’t occur to Sloane E. that while avoiding sequins and axels she might meet a hockey hottie—and Sloane D. never expected to run into a familiar (and very good-looking) face from home. It’s not long before the Sloanes discover that convincing people you’re someone else might be more difficult than being yourself.

 

I realize this sounds very much like The Parent Trap and probably a ton of other movies and books we've all seen at one point or another, but I don't care to be honest.  I loved The Parent Trap, and this sounds like it could be both light and funny, while also heartfelt and moving, and I'm completely on board with those combinations.

 

Countdown Pick #5:  Vitro (Origin, #2) by Jessica Khoury (01/14/2014)

 

 On a remote island in the Pacific, Corpus scientists have taken test tube embryos and given them life. These beings--the Vitros--have knowledge and abilities most humans can only dream of. But they also have one enormous flaw.

Sophie Crue is determined to visit Skin Island and find her mother, a scientist who left Sophie behind years ago. She enlists hunky charter pilot Jim Julien to take her there. But once on the island, Sophie and Jim encounter more than they bargained for, including a charming, brilliant Vitro named Nicholas and an innocent, newly awoken one named Lux.

In a race for their lives, Sophie and Jim are about to discover what happens when science stretches too far beyond its reach.

I've had Khoury's series opener, Origin on my TBR list for longer than I care to admit, but now I feel like there's extra insentive for me to wipe it off the list.  This sequel coming out next month sounds even more exciting than her first did, but I'm not the type to go out of order, so I'll be circling back to the book that started it all and working my way up from there...anxious to see where this all goes.