September 2016 Releases

Done with August 2016 Releases? Here are September 2016 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

30th August 2016 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Robin Bridges
The Form of Things Unknown
Kensington (US & CA: 30th August 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Natalie Roman isn’t much for the spotlight. But performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a stately old theatre in Savannah, Georgia, beats sitting alone replaying mistakes made in Athens. Fairy queens and magic on stage, maybe a few scary stories backstage. And no one in the cast knows her backstory. Except for Lucas – he was in the psych ward, too. He won’t even meet her eye. But Nat doesn’t need him. She’s making friends with girls, girls who like horror movies and Ouija boards, who can hide their liquor in Coke bottles and laugh at the theatre’s ghosts. Natalie can keep up. She can adapt. And if she skips her meds once or twice so they don’t interfere with her partying, it won’t be a problem. She just needs to keep her wits about her.

Stefanie Gaither
Into the Abyss (Falls the Shadow, Book 2)
Simon & Schuster (US, UK, CA, & AU: 30th August 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Violet Benson used to know who she was: a dead girl’s clone, with a dead girl’s memories. But after Huxley’s attempt to take over the government left her memories and personality wiped all she has left is a mission: help the CCA fight back against the rest of Huxley’s deadly clones that are still at large. But when a group of clones infiltrate CCA headquarters, Violet is blamed. Already unsure of where her loyalties should lie, Violet finds herself running away with an unlikely ally: Seth, Jaxon’s unpredictable foster brother. With Seth at her side, Violet begins to learn about a whole new side of her city’s history – and her own. But when she learns the shocking truth about cloning, Violet will have to make a choice – and it may be one that takes her away from everyone she ever loved.

Stacia Kane
Made for Sin
Random House Loveswept (US & CA: 30th August 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
A lot of bad hands get dealt in Vegas, but E. L. Speare may be holding one of the worst: He’s cursed with the need to commit sins, and if he misses his daily quota, there’s hell to pay – literally. Fortunately, his hometown affords him plenty of chances to behave badly. But Speare’s newest case really has him going out on a limb. The right-hand man of a notorious crime boss has been found dead in a Dumpster – minus his right hand, not to mention the rest of his arm. What catches Speare’s attention, however, is that the missing appendage was severed clean by a demon-sword, a frighteningly powerful tool of the underworld. Speare’s out of his element, so he turns to a specialist: Ardeth Coyle, master thief, dealer in occult artefacts, and bona fide temptress. Ardeth’s hotter than a Las Vegas sidewalk on the Fourth of July, but she’s one sin Speare has to resist. The dismembered corpses are piling up, unimaginable evil lurks in the shadows, and if this odd couple hopes to beat the odds, Speare needs to keep his hands off Ardeth, and his head in the game.

Katharine McGee
The Thousandth Floor
HarperCollins (US, UK, & CA: 30th August 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. Everyone there wants something…and everyone has something to lose. Leda Cole’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction – to a drug she never should have tried, and a boy she never should have touched. Eris Dodd-Radson’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart. Rylin Myers’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world – and a romance – she never imagined…but will this new life cost Rylin her old one? Watt Bakradi is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy for an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught in a complicated web of lies. And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all – yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have. Amid breathtaking advancement and high-tech luxury, five teenagers struggle to find their place at the top of the world. But when you’re this high up, there’s nowhere to go but down…

Richelle Mead
Succubus Shadows (Georgina Kincaid, Book 5)
Kensington Zebra (US & CA: 30th August 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Georgina Kincaid has formidable powers. Immortality, seduction, shape-shifting into any human form she desires, walking in heels that would cripple mere mortals – all child’s play to a succubus like her… Helping to plan her ex-boyfriend’s wedding is a different story. Georgina isn’t sure which is worse – that Seth is marrying another woman, or that Georgina has to run all over Seattle trying on bridesmaid dresses. Still, there are distractions. Georgina’s roommate, Roman, is cluttering her apartment with sexual tension. Then there’s Simone, the new succubus in town, who’s intent on corrupting Seth. But the real danger lies in the mysterious force that’s visiting her thoughts, trying to draw her into a dark, otherworldly realm. Sooner or later, Georgina knows she’ll be too weak to resist. And when that happens, she’ll discover who she can trust, who she can’t – and that Hell is far from the worst place to spend eternity…

August 2016 Releases

Done with July 2016 Releases? Here are August 2016 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

March 2016 Reads

Yes, this is coming a week late, but it took time to summon up the brainpower to even write a single paragraph about a book. In the end, I reviewed six books, and wrote a paragraph for a seventh.

Megan Shepherd: Her Dark Curiosity: 5 stars
Erica Spindler: The Final Seven: 3 stars: Review
Blythe Woolston: MARTians: 5 stars: Review
Carrie Mesrobian: Cut Both Ways: 3 stars: Review
Megan Hart: Hold Me Close: 4 stars: Review
Robin Bridges: Dreaming of Antigone: 3 stars: Review
Sophie Littlefield: The Guilty One: 3 stars: Review

HER DARK CURIOSITY
When Book 1 in a series is worth five stars, you may hesitate to pick up Book 2. What if the sequel can’t live up to the quality of its predecessor? I needn’t have worried, because Her Dark Curiosity is another smashing read from Megan Shepherd. The novel opens with science, which bodes well for the rest of the story, a battle not to cure but to perhaps manage a violent condition. I’m not sure why Juliet shags Edward, but otherwise it’s a fabulous read that I definitely recommend. (NOTE TO ANIMAL LOVERS: There’s a dog character, and he’s alive for the entire book. There are thoughts against him, though thankfully none of them turn into action.)

29th March 2016 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Robin Bridges
Dreaming of Antigone
Kensington (US & CA: 29th March 2016)
Review
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Andria’s twin sister, Iris, had adoring friends, a cool boyfriend, a wicked car, and a shelf full of soccer trophies. She had everything, in fact – including a drug problem. Six months after Iris’s death, Andria is trying to keep her grades, her friends, and her family from falling apart. But stargazing and books aren’t enough to ward off her guilt that she – the freak with the scary illness and all-black wardrobe – is still here when Iris isn’t. And then there’s Alex Hammond. The boy Andria blames for Iris’s death. The boy she’s unwittingly started swapping lines of poetry and secrets with, even as she tries to keep hating him.

Kady Cross
Sisters of Salt and Iron (Sisters of Blood and Spirit, Book 2)
Harlequin Teen (US: 29th March 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Lark Noble is finally happy. She’s trying to move on and put the events of the past behind her: the people who avoided her because she talked to the ghost of her dead twin sister, the parents who couldn’t be around her anymore and even the attempt she made on her own life. She finally has friends – people who know her secrets and still care about her – and she has Ben, the cute guy she never saw coming. Wren Noble is lonely. Unable to interact with the living, she wants to be happy for her sister’s newfound happiness, but she feels like she’s losing her. It doesn’t help that Kevin, the very not-dead guy she was starting to fall for, seems to be moving on. Then Wren meets Noah, the spirit of a young man who died a century ago. Noah is cute, he’s charming and he makes Wren feel something she’s never felt before. But Noah has a dark influence on Wren, and Lark’s distrust of him drives the sisters apart for the first time in their lives. As Halloween approaches and the veil between the worlds thins, bringing the dead closer to the world of the living, Lark must find a way to stop whatever deadly act Noah is planning, even if it means going through her sister to do so.

Claudia Gabel & Cheryl Klam
Etherworld (Elusion, Book 2)
HarperCollins Katherine Tegen (US & CA: 29th March 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Regan and her friend Josh now know the truth about Elusion – but they, along with Regan’s dad and other users of Elusion, are stuck beyond the firewall in bleak Etherworld. They must fight Elusion from within, but the longer they stay, the less likely they’ll be able to return to the real world. And even if they do escape, the next battle to stop Elusion may be even more difficult. They’ll face corporate cover-ups, personal betrayals, and the terrifying realization that the danger may have grown beyond anyone’s control.

Martin Leicht & Isla Neal
The World Forgot (Ever-Expanding Universe, Book 3)
Simon & Schuster Saga (US & CA: 29th March 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
After dealing with killer whales, evil scientists, the return of her long-lost mother and, certainly not least of all, the challenges of breastfeeding, Elvie Nara has just about had it. And then the Jin’Kai (along with the aforementioned estranged mom) kidnaps her baby. And before she knows it, another Jin’Kai attack puts her on the run again, but not before discovering that Olivia was implanted with a genetic tracking device. So along with Cole, Ducky, and her dad, Elvie goes back out into space to follow the signal. There she finds evil Dr. Marsden up to some evil tricks and realizes that Mars may hold the secret to defeating her enemies once and for all. So, off to Mars she goes. Because alien race war aside, Elvie really wants to be back with her daughter. For a kid she wasn’t even sure she wanted, Olivia has come to mean the world to Elvie – and she’ll search the universe to be with her again.

Katie McGarry
Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road, Book 1)
Harlequin Teen (US: 29th March 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighbourhood. Sure, she’s curious about her biological father – the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent – but that doesn’t mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns into an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both. Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They’re the good guys. They protect people. They’re…family. And while Emily – the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club’s most respected member – is in town, he’s gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it’s his shot at his dream. What he doesn’t count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down. No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

Katie McGarry
Walk the Edge (Thunder Road, Book 2)
Harlequin Teen (US: 29th March 2016)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Smart. Responsible. That’s seventeen-year-old Breanna’s role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behaviour puts her into a vicious cyber-bully’s line of fire – and brings fellow senior Thomas “Razor” Turner into her life. Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don’t belong. But when he learns she’s being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them – a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness – he knows it’s time to step outside the rules. And so they make a pact: he’ll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she’ll help him seek answers to the mystery that’s haunted him – one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they’re both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they’re going from here.

[REVIEW] Dreaming of Antigone – Robin Bridges

Robin Bridges
Dreaming of Antigone
Kensington (US & CA: 29th March 2016)
Buy (US Kindle Edition) Buy (US Paperback) Buy (UK Kindle Edition) Buy (UK Paperback) Buy (CA Kindle Edition) Buy (CA Paperback) Buy (Worldwide)

CONTENT WARNING: Drug overdose, suicide, paedophilia/child abuse.

Can an Ancient Greek tragedy be translated into contemporary YA romance? Unfamiliar with the story of Antigone, I can’t confirm how much Robin Bridges’ Dreaming of Antigone sticks to the template, but Andria Webb’s English class studies Sophocles’ play. This inclusion affected my enjoyment, because I dislike when characters read/study texts that inspired their story. (Seems too obvious; banging readers over the head.)

The poetry also didn’t work for me, though I understand its inclusion as it forms part of the characters’ meet-cute. But it comes across as pretentious.

Since Dreaming of Antigone is based on a tragedy, Andria has a lot of problems in her life: She has epilepsy, her father committed suicide when she was young, her twin sister died from an overdose, and now her stepfather’s in trouble with the law. I feel worse for Andria’s mother, though – she can’t catch a break. Meanwhile, Andria has friends, a poetry-reciting boyfriend, and a passion for astronomy.

(Also, we need to kill the trope of journals conveniently written to give insight and answers into a person’s life and death. Seems too easy. Investigation would’ve been more interesting.)

March 2016 Releases

Done with February 2016 Releases? Here are March 2016 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

Now Available for US Pre-Order

Josephine Angelini: FIREWALKER (paperback): 20th September 2016: Buy (US)
Josephine Angelini: WITCH’S PYRE: 20th September 2016: Buy (US)
S. A. Bodeen: THE DETOUR (paperback): 4th October 2016: Buy (US)
Robin Bridges: THE FORM OF THINGS UNKNOWN: 30th August 2016: Buy (US)
Mira Grant: CHIMERA (paperback): 2nd August 2016: Buy (US)
Megan Hart: LITTLE SECRETS (paperback): 2nd February 2016: Buy (US)
J. M. Kelly: SPEED OF LIFE: 11th October 2016: Buy (US)
Herman Koch: DEAR MR. M: 6th September 2016: Buy (US)
Kim Liggett: THE LAST HARVEST: 11th October 2016: Buy (US)
Katharine McGee: THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR: 30th August 2016: Buy (US)
Mindy McGinnis: A MADNESS SO DISCREET (paperback): 6th September 2016: Buy (US)
Kristen Simmons: METALTOWN: 20th September 2016: Buy (US)
Rachel Vincent: THE FLAME NEVER DIES: 16th August 2016: Buy (US)
Cecily von Ziegesar: DARK HORSES: 13th September 2016: Buy (US)

4 New Covers (Bridges, Cabot, DeStefano, Wasserman)

Now Available for US Pre-Order

V. C. Andrews: SAGE’S EYES (mass market paperback): 26th January 2016: Buy (US)
Kelley Armstrong: FOREST OF RUIN: 5th April 2016: Buy (US)
Robin Bridges: DREAMING OF ANTIGONE: 29th March 2016: Buy (US)
Janet Edwards: EARTH 2788: THE EARTH GIRL SHORT STORIES: 4th July 2015: Buy (US)
Rinda Elliott: RAISONNE CURSE (paperback): 14th July 2015: Buy (US)
Claudia Gabel & Cheryl Klam: ETHERWORLD (paperback): 29th March 2016: Buy (US)
Francesca Haig: THE REFUGE SONG: 3rd May 2016: Buy (US)
Kim Harrison: THE DRAFTER (mass market paperback): 26th April 2016: Buy (US)
Kathy Hepinstall & Becky Hepinstall: SISTERS OF SHILOH (paperback): 29th March 2016: Buy (US)
Karen Kincy: STORMS OF LAZARUS: 29th July 2015: Buy (US)
Karen Kincy: CLOCKWORK MENAGERIE: 1st September 2015: Buy (US)
Kate Karyus Quinn: DOWN WITH THE SHINE: 26th April 2016: Buy (US)
Jessica Spotswood: WILD SWANS: 1st April 2016: Buy (US)
Rachel Vincent: MENAGERIE: 29th September 2015: Buy (US)