Countdown: April 2014

With Spring being right around the corner, we're so close to being able to say goodbye to this cold weather and hello to fresh blooms, and sunny skies, right?  At least that's what I keep telling myself, knowing full well, that we're likely to see more rain than sun next month, but I'm trying to stay optimistic.  And with all these amazing new releases that will hit the shelves next month, it's getting easier each and every time I add one to my countdown list.  Are there any titles that you're extra excited about?  Here are a few of the ones I'm looking forward to in April.

Countdown Pick #1:  Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #3) by Laini Taylor (04/29/2014)

By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

I haven't had the chance to read the sequel in this series yet, so I tried not to spoil anything and read the synopsis for this third installment.  So while I don't know what this installment is about, and we don't have a finalized cover image to drool over, I know how much I enjoyed the series opener, and I have no doubt that this book will be just as good, if not better.

Countdown Pick #2:  House of Ivy & Sorrow by Natalie Whipple (04/15/2014)

Josephine Hemlock has spent the last 10 years hiding from the Curse that killed her mother. But when a mysterious man arrives at her ivy-covered, magic-fortified home, it’s clear her mother’s killer has finally come to destroy the rest of the Hemlock bloodline. Before Jo can even think about fighting back, she must figure out who she’s fighting in the first place. The more truth Jo uncovers, the deeper she falls into witchcraft darker than she ever imagined. Trapped and running out of time, she begins to wonder if the very Curse that killed her mother is the only way to save everyone she loves.

I'm loving that there are so many titles coming out this year that feature witches at the center of everything.  It's a nice change of pace, and fun to see the different and creative ways authors are using to make the stories their own.  Hopefully the suspense and action that this book sounds like it'll bring won't be too much for me to handle.

Countdown Pick #3:  A Phantom Enchantment (Unbound, #3) by Eve Marie Mont (04/2014)

The conclusion to the Unbound trilogy, in which Emma Townsend travels to Paris and gets lost in Gaston Leroux's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Normally I'd be at a loss with such a short description for the book, but Mont has proved time and again that her Unbound series will never disappoint.  I love Emma and all the other characters and can't wait to see where readers will be taken this time around.  I'll admit that I enjoyed the series opener better than the sequel, but I think with a Paris background and a trip through Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, it's safe to say that this one will be right up there in the top with my other favorites.

Countdown Pick #4:  A Shard of Ice (The Black Symphony Saga, #1) by Alivia Anders (04/18/2014)

 THEIR SOULS, REAWAKENED.

When 13-year-old Lilix Morgan is found alive and floating on a bed of ice at sea, everyone counts it a miracle. Kidnapped nearly four weeks earlier, she remembers nothing of her mysterious abduction. When she tries to remember what happened, she hears only a melody – a faint and delicate set of notes, strung together in a tune she doesn’t understand.

THEIR POWER, UNMATCHED.

A year later and desperate to put the lingering nightmares of her past behind her, Lilix crosses the country to enroll at Baelmorte Academy, aiming to become the violinist she once dreamt of. Things seem to be finally going well, and Lilix settles into a routine of sheet music and inspiration among new friends.

Then the dreams start.

The melody and night terrors she thought she’d left behind return with a vengeance, threatening to ruin her fragile version of normalcy. Then an unlikely ally tells her that she isn’t alone. That there are others just like her, fighting to hide their own shocking truths from coming to light. That they know who she is, and what she’s been through. Now, accompanied by four other girls, Lilix discovers her nightmares are larger than a single trauma; they’re a window to a hidden part of her soul, a place of immense power with a destiny that cannot be ignored.

THEIR BATTLE, IS ONLY BEGINNING.

With this knowledge comes a new and frightening reality. For Lilix has been reawakened to stop an age-old enemy, one thought to have been destroyed centuries ago. Trapped by her destiny, Lilix is torn between what feels right and what she remembers. Her memories tell her of a star-crossed love waiting to be reunited, of friendships and trust broken in the past. But can she save that love when reality brings her an enemy, and an evil that will be the undoing of them all if they don’t destroy it?

Despite the long synopsis, this book description isn't giving away any of it's secrets, now is it?  I'm confused and intrigued all at the same time, and can't help but want to pick up this book as soon as it hits the shelves in stores next month.

Countdown Pick #5:  Salvage by Alexandra Duncan (04/01/2014)

Ava, a teenage girl living aboard the male-dominated deep space merchant ship Parastrata, faces betrayal, banishment, and death. Taking her fate into her own hands, she flees to the Gyre, a floating continent of garbage and scrap in the Pacific Ocean, in this thrilling, surprising, and thought-provoking debut novel that will appeal to fans of Across the Universe, by Beth Revis, and The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood.

 

Ava is the captain’s daughter. This allows her limited freedoms and a certain status in the Parastrata’s rigid society—but it doesn’t mean she can read or write or even withstand the forces of gravity. When Ava learns she is to be traded in marriage to another merchant ship, she hopes for the best. After all, she is the captain’s daughter. Betrayal, banishment, and a brush with love and death are her destiny instead, and Ava stows away on a mail sloop bound for Earth in order to escape both her past and her future. The gravity almost kills her.

 

Gradually recuperating in a stranger’s floating cabin on the Gyre, a huge mass of scrap and garbage in the Pacific Ocean, Ava begins to learn the true meaning of family and home and trust—and she begins to nourish her own strength and soul. This sweeping and harrowing novel explores themes of choice, agency, rebellion, and family and, after a tidal wave destroys the Gyre and all those who live there, ultimately sends its main character on a thrilling journey to Mumbai, the beating heart of Alexandra Duncan’s post–climate change Earth.

Does anyone else feel like this book's description gave a lot away?  I'm hoping that there's a lot more to this book than what the description says, because otherwise I feel like I've already been given the beginning, middle and end so to speak.  I've added it to the list because the idea is intriguing and sounds exciting, but I'm crossing my fingers that there's more to it than what meets the eye.