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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

I checked, and I've never reviewed a Donna Jo Napoli book here on the blog. This is a little (read: a lot!) unbelievable to me, because I devoured her fairy tale retellings when I first started reading young adult fiction (back in the last millennium).  I remember her Little Mermaid and Rapunzel retellings in particular, and I can definitely attribute my continued passion for the subgenre to those early reads.  When I got my weekly Edelweiss* email and saw Napoli's name in conjunction with fairy tale, I knew I had to put this one on the to-read list posthaste. Dark Shimmer will be released on September 8, 2015 by Wendy Lamb Books (Penguin Random House).

Set in medieval Venice, this captivating fairy tale retelling by award-winning author Donna Jo Napoli explores belonging, beauty, and the transformative power of love through the eyes of a teenage girl. Dolce has grown up hidden away on an island in a lagoon. She is a giant, a freak, tormented by everyone but her loving mother. She spends her time learning the valuable secret of making mirrors. Following a tragedy, Dolce swims away and lands on an island where people see her as normal, even beautiful. Marin, a kind widower, and his little daughter bring Dolce to live with them in their grand palazzo. Eventually, Dolce and Marin marry. She secretly continues to make mirrors, not realizing that quicksilver endangers her…and so evil begins in innocence.

What books are you waiting on?

*If you don't already subscribe to/have an account with Edelweiss, I recommend it. Great place to peruse publishers' catalogs, check out upcoming books, and request early review copies (if that's something you'd be interested in).

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This meme will be the death of me. No, nix that. To give credit where credit is due: my own book hoarding desires will be the death of me. It'll happen when an overstuffed bookshelf falls on me as I try to fit just one more precious volume onto the shelf. All that to say, yes, I'm still longing for new books, even though I have hundreds of unread lovelies at home. I'm working on it (kind of). One book I love LOVE loved, and wouldn't have discovered if it hadn't been for blogging, was Kate Elliott's Cold Magic. That book was/is a perfect Cecelia book, and though I didn't love the rest of the series with quite the same passion, I've been watching Elliott's releases with a close eye to see if there'll be another HIT! in my future (the all CAPS bit was necessary). Lo and freaking behold, Elliott has a YOUNG ADULT FANTASY coming out next summer. You may recall that this is my favorite genre. I'm thrilled. Beyond thrilled, even. Yay, so excited!* Court of Fives will be released by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette) on August 18, 2015.

A teenage girl secretly competes in her city's prestigious athletic competitions in this high-fantasy adventure that can be pitched as Game of Thrones meets The Hunger Games meets Little Women.

In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But at night she can be whoever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best competitors. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between a girl of mixed race and a Patron boy causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test Kal's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death. 

What books are you waiting on?

*All of the expression in today's post was absolutely necessary. I'm feeling giddy.

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

I've read one Justine Larbalestier book, How to Ditch Your Fairy.  I thought it was quirky, fun, and I know it would have appealed to teen me (I was a very dedicated teen athlete as well as a bookworm, and I never thought there were enough books for my demographic - especially books featuring girls-who-play-sports!).  I also checked out the short story collection Zombies vs. Unicorns, which she co-edited with Holly Black. Those (positive) reading experiences led me to Larbalestier's blog and Twitter, and I've found that she's articulate, funny, and interesting on social media as well as a great writer of fiction.  So I was quite disappointed when I heard that her latest book hadn't sold in the U.S.  It seemed like pure bad luck.  But hey, that's changed!  It's coming!  I'm super stoked.  Razorhurst will be released by Soho Teen on March 3, 2015.

Sydney’s deadly Razorhurst neighborhood, 1932. Gloriana Nelson and Mr. Davidson, two ruthless mob bosses, have reached a fragile peace—one maintained by “razor men.” Kelpie, orphaned and living on the street, is blessed and cursed with the ability to see Razorhurst’s many ghosts, and she sees the cracks already forming. Then Kelpie meets Dymphna Campbell.

Dymphna is a legendary beauty and prized moll of Gloriana Nelson. She’s earned the nickname “Angel of Death” for the trail of beaus who have died trying to protect her from Mr. Davidson’s assassins. Unbeknownst to Kelpie, Dymphna can see ghosts, too, and as Gloriana’s hold crumbles one burly henchman at a time, the girls will need one another more than ever.

As loyalties shift and betrayal threatens at every turn, Dymphna is determined to not only survive, but to rise to the top with Kelpie at her side—and to save Kelpie from both the living and the dead.

What books are you waiting on?

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

One of my very favorite books of 2014 (so far) is Tin Star, a young adult sci-fi novel set on a mostly-abandoned space station that orbits an abandoned planet.  I adored the world-building, the heroine's emotion and trust issues, and the way the story played with what it means to be human. I was seriously, seriously impressed, and I can't wait for the sequel.  WHICH IS COMING SOON, thank Thor (and yes, that was a nod to my current Avengers fanfiction addiction)! Cecil Castellucci's Stone in the Sky will be released by Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan) on February 24th, 2015.

In this thrilling follow-up to Tin Star, Tula will need to rely on more than just her wits to save her only home in the sky.

After escaping death a second time, Tula Bane is now even thirstier for revenge. She spends much of her time in the Tin Star Café on the Yertina Feray—the space station she calls home. But when it's discovered that the desolate and abandoned planet near the station has high quantities of a precious resource, the once sleepy space station becomes a major player in intergalactic politics. In the spirit of the Gold Rush, aliens from all over the galaxy race to cash in—including Tula's worst enemy.

What books are you waiting on?

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Last year I read a fantastic YA sci-fi novel (These Broken Stars, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner).  I called it “a can't-put-it-down read, with a satisfying romantic element (no love triangles here!) and mystery.” At the time I also mentioned that it was the first in a series, and despite my rampant series fatigue, I was excited to read the next installment.  WELL, folks, it’s not a series.  Or it IS, just that each of the books is its own, self-contained story, featuring unique characters.  And that, meus amiginhos, is my favorite sort of series.  Can I repeat that I loved the first book?!  I can’t freaking wait for This Shattered World. It will be released by Disney-Hyperion on December 23, 2014.

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet’s rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn’s blood. His sister died in the original uprising against the powerful corporate conglomerate that rules Avon with an iron fist. These corporations make their fortune by terraforming uninhabitable planets across the universe and recruiting colonists to make the planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage against the military occupying his home, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape base together, caught between two sides in a senseless war.

What books are you waiting on?

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Blogging has taught me to love short stories.  I can read one or two on any given weeknight, and finish an entire story while also whittling away at a book (that I can later review, yay!).  Short stories are often dark and dangerous... which is perfect, because I still prefer small bites of horror, rather than novel-length ones.  And if we're going to talk about great, fantastical short stories, Kelly Link must enter the mix.  She is a master at both editing and writing tales of this size, and that's all there is to it.  That's why I'm so excited for Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales, edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant (EXCITED!).  It will be released by Candlewick on September 9, 2014.  Yay!

Fifteen top voices in speculative fiction explore the intersection of fear and love in a haunting, at times hilarious, darkly imaginative volume.

Predatory kraken that sing with — and for — their kin; band members and betrayed friends who happen to be demonic; harpies as likely to attract as repel. Welcome to a world where humans live side by side with monsters, from vampires both nostalgic and bumbling to an eight-legged alien who makes tea. Here you’ll find mercurial forms that burrow into warm fat, spectral boy toys, a Maori force of nature, a landform that claims lives, and an architect of hell on earth. Through these and a few monsters that defy categorization, some of today’s top young-adult authors explore ambition and sacrifice, loneliness and rage, love requited and avenged, and the boundless potential for connection, even across extreme borders.

What books are you waiting on?

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

My love of/for fairy tale retellings and fantasy is a given.  However, there are certain kinds of fairy tales I like more than others.  Stories with curses are just... better.  A curse gives the protagonist a disadvantage to overcome from the very beginning, and a concrete evil to fight against/unravel. Another favorite flavor of fairy tale = shapeshifting.  People who can transform into animals are by turns amazing and sinister, depending on perspective.  Lucky for me, there's a young adult book on the way that combines these two fairy tale elements.  I'm pretty pumped.  Cat Hellisen’s Beastkeeper will be released by Henry Holt and Co. (Macmillan) on February 3, 2015.

A haunting story of magic, curses, and dangerous family secrets.

Sarah has always been on the move. She's grown up lonely, longing for magic. She doesn't know that it's magic her parents are running from.

When Sarah's mother walks out on their family, all the strange old magic they have tried to hide from comes rising into their mundane world. Her father begins to change into something wild and beastly, but before his transformation is complete, he takes Sarah to live with grandparents she's never met.

Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too. The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast... unless she can figure out a way to break the curse forever.

What books are you waiting on?

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

It is the best feeling ever when someone gets a book recommendation just right.  My friend Alexis told me about Sarah Cross' Kill Me Softly early last year, and although there were little things about it that I didn't love, the concept was simply fabulous.  I kept thinking: "This is such a cool idea!"  Ever since, I've been wondering if we'd see more of Beau Rivage and the twisted fairy tale lives of the teens who live there.  GOOD NEWS, everyone, I got my wish!  Cross’ Snow White/Twelve Dancing Princesses mash-up Tear You Apart will be released by EgmontUSA on January 27, 2015.  A word on that cover art: I lurvvvvve it.  So pretty/ominous at the same time...

Viv knows there's no escaping her fairy tale curse. One day her beautiful stepmother will feed her a poisoned apple or shove a poisoned comb into her scalp or hire her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Henley, to hunt her down and rip out her heart before she breaks his. In the city of Beau Rivage, no matter how much you fight it, your marchen mark is your destiny. 

Yet, when Viv receives an invitation to the swank underground club where the Twelve Princesses escape to dance each night, she thinks she might have found a loophole to her date with death. There she meets Jasper, the thirteenth prince. "Her" prince. The prince that is destined to save her when her curse comes to call.

But constant nights of partying get old fast. The royal family is ruled with an iron fist by their patriarch, who gloats over the fact that no one can challenge him without his name. And Viv doesn't love Jasper (in fact, she kind of loathes him) and she doesn't want to be an underworld queen--it's a living death.

So when Henley finds his entry into the underworld as a champion set to solve the secret of the Twelve Dancing Princesses in order to save her, Viv takes the rules of fairy tales into her own hands. No matter her curse, no matter her fate, she can't lose the only boy who's ever had her heart.

Sarah Cross rewrites the fate of Snow White in her smart, edgy follow-up to her acclaimed Kill Me Softly.

What are you waiting on?

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

I believe that Catherynne M. Valente's Fairyland books are a big part of the reason I've fallen back in love with middle grade (books aimed at readers ages 8-12... what I would have called 'Juvenile' growing up) fiction. I adore the whimsy inherent in Valente's descriptions, the inventiveness of her settings, and the overall magic of her stories.  I think these books are new classics, and I can't wait to have a set of them all lined up on my shelf together, to read over and over, whenever I need a bit of the fantastical to inspire my day-to-day life.  While I haven't read the third book in the series yet, I read, reviewed and loved The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland, and the short story The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland (all titles shortened for convenience, you understand).  Thus it should come as no surprise that I can't freaking wait for the latest in the Fairyland saga, The Boy Who Lost Fairyland. It will be released by Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan) on March 3, 2015.

When a young troll named Hawthorn is stolen from Fairyland by the Golden Wind, he becomes a changeling – a human boy -- in the strange city of Chicago, a place no less bizarre and magical than Fairyland when seen through trollish eyes. Left with a human family, Hawthorn struggles with his troll nature and his changeling fate. But when he turns twelve, he stumbles upon a way back home, to a Fairyland much changed from the one he remembers. Hawthorn finds himself at the center of a changeling revolution--until he comes face to face with a beautiful young Scientiste with very big, very red assistant.

Time magazine has praised Catherynne M. Valente's Fairyland books as "one of the most extraordinary works of fantasy, for adults or children, published so far this century." In this fourth installment of her saga, Valente 's wisdom and wit will charm readers of all ages.

What books are you waiting on?

waiting on wednesday (76)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

At this point, my fairy tale retelling obsession is a matter of blog record.  I don't know what that says about me, except that Robin McKinley and Jane Yolen converted me early on, and there's no hope for a change at this point.  *grin*  Not that I'd want to change!  In the past year I've enjoyed reading the first two installments in Lili St. Crow's A Tale of Beauty and Madness series - they're interesting twists on familiar tales, and the sort of book you read in one (happy) bite.  I reviewed Nameless, and though I didn't review Wayfarer, rest assured that I gobbled it up, too.  The final book in the trilogy, Kin, will be released by Razorbill (Penguin) on March 3, 2015.

New York Times bestseller Lili St. Crow stuns once again with this enchantingly dark retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Ruby deVarre is Rootkin, and the granddaughter of the most revered clanmother in all of New Haven.

In the kin world, girls Ruby’s age are expected to settle down and start a family. But settling down is the farthest thing from wild-child Ruby's mind--all she wants to do is drive fast with her friends and run free through the woods.

Then Conrad, a handsome boy from a clan across the Waste, comes to New Haven to stay with Ruby, and the sparks fly immediately. Conrad is smart, charming, and downright gorgeous. Ruby gets to know him more, she begins to realize something's...off. Like most kin boys, Conrad's temper can be a bit...short. But does he have to be so rough with Ruby--to the point of leaving bruises? On top of all that, Conrad seems to be isolating Ruby, until he all but forbids her from seeing her best friends Cami and Ellie.

And then the murders start. Someone is terrorizing Ruby’s small woodland community, and now she is more alone than ever. Just when she starts to suspect her Prince Charming is anything but, she becomes his next target. Ruby’s about to find out that Conrad's secrets run deeper than she could have ever imagined...

Get ready to surrender to Ruby's charm in this mesmerizing third and final installment of Lili St. Crow's Tales of Beauty and Madness series.

What books are you waiting on?

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Can you have too many fairy tale retellings?  RHETORICAL QUESTION, do not pass go, do not collect $200.  The answer is always NO.  At least in my case it is.  I get a fizzy feeling whenever I think of reading another fairy tale.  Maybe that will fade someday.  Well, doubtful.  It hasn't yet, and we're 30 years in. So yeah, fairy tale retellings are my jam, and this one looks... amazing.  DAHHHH, I want it now!  But in all seriousness, it sounds twisted and awesome, and there's not a single love triangle in sight (love triangles get major negative points in Cecelia Bedelia-land).  Stacey Jay’s Princess of Thorns will be released on December 9, 2014 by Delacorte (Penguin Random House).  And I will buy it immediately. *grin*

Game of Thrones meets the Grimm's fairy tales in this twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty's daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne.

Though she looks like a mere mortal, Princess Aurora is a fairy blessed with enhanced strength, bravery, and mercy yet cursed to destroy the free will of any male who kisses her. Disguised as a boy, she enlists the help of the handsome but also cursed Prince Niklaas to fight legions of evil and free her brother from the ogre queen who stole Aurora's throne ten years ago.

Will Aurora triumph over evil and reach her brother before it's too late? Can Aurora and Niklaas break the curses that will otherwise forever keep them from finding their one true love?

What books are you waiting on?

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

In 2014 I've cut back substantially on posts about books I can't wait to read, and that isn't because I've lost my love of reading, pretty covers, or books.  No, it's just that my towering to-be-read (TBR) pile has been pricking at my guilty conscience, and it seemed mildly inappropriate to add even more books to the stack. But, well, some books deserve a place.  And I really did adore Legrand's middle grade horror debut The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls.  I watch Legrand closely now, because I know that I'll just love the next thing she comes up with.  That brings us to Winterspell, her YA retelling of The Nutcracker (GET. OUT. zomg i want this book!), which will be released by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on September 30, 2014.

Darkly romantic and entirely enchanting, this reimagining of The Nutcracker from Claire Legrand brims with magic, love, and intrigue. New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer (Cinder) says “this is not your grandmother’s Nutcracker tale.”

After her mother is brutally murdered, seventeen-year-old Clara Stole is determined to find out what happened to her. Her father, a powerful man with little integrity, is a notorious New York City gang lord in the syndicate-turned-empire called Concordia. And he isn’t much help.

But there is something even darker than Concordia’s corruption brewing under the surface of the city, something full of vengeance and magic, like the stories Clara’s godfather used to tell her when she was a little girl. Then her father is abducted and her little sister’s life is threatened, and Clara accidentally frees Nicholas from a statue that has been his prison for years. Nicholas is the rightful prince of Cane, a wintry kingdom that exists beyond the city Clara has known her whole life.

When Nicholas and Clara journey together to Cane to retrieve her father, Clara encounters Anise, the queen of the faeries, who has ousted the royal family in favor of her own totalitarian, anti-human regime. Clara finds that this new world is not as foreign as she feared, but time is running out for her family, and there is only so much magic can do...

What books are you waiting on?

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Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

I read Garth Nix’s Sabriel, the first book in his Old Kingdom series, when I was in high school.  My main prerequisites for checking a book out from the library (my primary means of book discovery) at that point were that the cover look cool (granted, totally subjective) and that the book be substantial/long.  I read very quickly in those days (ah, I miss them!), had few distractions, and craved as long a reading experience as possible.  It is important to note that during this same period I read many James Michener and Leon Uris epics – solely due to page count.  Follies of youth and all that.

Anyway, Sabriel was a huge favorite, and so were the following books, Lirael and Abhorsen.  I actually asked for (and received from an obliging brother) a box set of the Abhorsen books for my nineteenth birthday.  An Old Kingdom novella was included in Nix’s collection of short stories Across the Wall, and that also joined my Garth Nix shelf.  What I am trying to say… is that I am flipping obsessed with this series, and the fact that there’s a new story coming out this year makes me want to spaz out like a child on Mountain Dew for the first time.  I have no idea how I will stay sane until Clariel’s release date (which is October 14, from HarperCollins).  So so so so so so so excited!!!

Clariel is the daughter of the one of the most notable families in the Old Kingdom, with blood relations to the Abhorsen and, most importantly, to the King. When her family moves to the city of Belisaere, there are rumors that her mother is next in line for the throne. However, Clariel wants no part of it—a natural hunter, all she ever thinks about is escaping the city’s confining walls and journeying back to the quiet, green world of the Great Forest.



But many forces conspire against Clariel’s dream. A dangerous Free Magic creature is loose in the city, her parents want to marry her off to a killer, and there is a plot brewing against the old and withdrawn King Orrikan. When Clariel is drawn into the efforts to find and capture the creature, she discovers hidden sorcery within herself, yet it is magic that carries great dangers. Can she rise above the temptation of power, escape the unwanted marriage, and save the King?

What books are you waiting on?

waiting on wednesday (72)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

I'm trying, contemporary young adult (romance), I really am.  I want to start liking you as a genre again, so I'm going to read more of you in 2014.  I started off with Jennifer E. Smith's This Is What Happy Looks Like.  It didn't wow me, but I'll give the author another shot.  There's good news, though!  There's (at least) one contemporary YA book I'm unequivocally excited for this year: Claire LaZebnik’s The Last Best Kiss.  LaZebnik writes young adult retellings of Austen books, and I loved Epic Fail, her take on Pride and Prejudice.  The Last Best Kiss is based on Persuasion, which is one of my favorite books ever.  I. CAN'T. WAIT.  It will be released by HarperTeen on April 22, 2014.

Anna Eliot is tired of worrying about what other people think. After all, that was how she lost the only guy she ever really liked, Finn Westbrook.

Now, three years after she broke his heart, the one who got away is back in her life.

All Anna wants is a chance to relive their last kiss again (and again and again). But Finn obviously hasn’t forgotten how she treated him, and he’s made it clear he has no interest in having anything to do with her.

Anna keeps trying to persuade herself that she doesn’t care about Finn either, but even though they’ve both changed since they first met, deep down she knows he’s the guy for her. Now if only she can get him to believe that, too....

With her signature wit and expertly authentic teen voice, Claire LaZebnik (the author of fan favorites Epic Fail and The Trouble with Flirting) once again breathes new life into a perennially popular love story. Fans of Polly Shulman, Maureen Johnson, and, of course, Jane Austen will love this irresistibly funny and romantic tale of first loves and second chances.

What books are you waiting on?

waiting on wednesday (71)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

I was part of the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction first round panel for the CYBILS awards this year, and I think the group picked a great shortlist.  One of the books that made the final list was Holly Webb’s Rose.  Honesty alert: I'm not sure I would have picked up Rose on my own.  It got great recommendations from readers I trust, but the cover art didn't immediately draw me in (and cover art is important!).  Missing Rose would have been a shame, though, because it was a lovely read.  Historical fiction mixed with fantasy, minus the usual clichés.  Also... it's the first of a series, and it turns out that I cannot wait to get my hands on the next one!  Absence of series fatigue is a wonderful, wonderful thing.  Book two (aka Rose and the Lost Princess) will be released by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky on April 1, 2014.

Rose has just begun her magical training—is she ready to rescue the missing princess?

Turning the worn pages of her spell book, Rose can't believe how much her life has changed. Once a poor orphan, and now an apprentice to the King's chief magician! But when the country's beloved Princess vanishes, everything changes. As rumors of dark magic fly through the city, the King asks Rose for help. She must find the missing Princess—before all is lost.

What books are you waiting on?

waiting on wednesday (70)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

One of my favorite books from 2012 was Claire Legrand's debut, a middle grade horror novel entitled The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls.  I ended up following Legrand on twitter, and that is how I originally heard about The Cabinet of Curiosities website.  Several authors who write middle grade speculative fiction were posting short stories as a collaborative project.  They were GOOD short stories.  Creepy and fantastical and haunting... all at once.  I'd read them whenever I saw a link on twitter (often on my lunch break at work!).  When I heard that the stories were being gathered up and published in one volume, I was delighted.  And here it is, with a shiny cover and everything!  The Cabinet of Curiosities: 40 Tales Brief & Sinister by Stefan Bachmann, Katherine Catmull, Claire Legrand and Emma Trevayne will by released by Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins) on May 27, 2014.

A collection of forty eerie, mysterious, intriguing, and very short short stories presented by the cabinet’s esteemed curators, otherwise known as acclaimed authors Stefan Bachmann, Katherine Catmull, Claire LeGrand, and Emma Trevayne. Perfect for fans of Alvin Schwartz and anyone who relishes a good creepy read-alone or read-aloud story. Features an introduction and commentary by the curators, and illustrations and decorations throughout.

What books are you waiting on?

waiting on wednesday (69)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Dragons have never gone away, per se, but I feel as though recently they've made a resurgence in YA fantasy.  In this past year I've read The Sweetest Dark, Seraphina, and (adult fantasy) A Natural History of Dragons. In 2014 I'm already looking forward to Joshua McCune's Talker 25, and I know there are other titles on my radar that I'm forgetting at this moment.  The truth is that you can never have too many dragon books.  And my latest find looks amazing.  Rebecca Hahn's debut A Creature of Moonlight will be released by HMH Books for Young Readers on May 6, 2014.

A stunning debut novel about a girl who is half dragon, half human, and wholly herself.

As the only heir to the throne, Marni should have been surrounded by wealth and privilege, not living in exile-but now the time has come when she must choose between claiming her birthright as princess of a realm whose king wants her dead, and life with the father she has never known: a wild dragon who is sending his magical woods to capture her.

Fans of Bitterblue and Seraphina will be captured by A Creature of Moonlight, with its richly layered storytelling and the powerful choices its strong heroine must make.

What books are you waiting on?

waiting on wednesday (68)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Sometimes new authors impress me so much with their debut that I become a fan for life.  I called Merrie Haskell's The Princess Curse "a must-read for anyone with a bent towards fairy tale or historical fiction," and I've anxiously awaited news of her forthcoming books ever since.  I'm reading 2013 release Handbook for Dragon Slayers for the CYBILS, but Haskell has another book on the horizon already, and it got a blurb from Robin McKinley.  WHO IS ONLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE LIVING AUTHORS EVER.  Needless to say, I'm excited and happy and extremely impatient to get my hands on it.  Merrie Haskell's The Castle Behind Thorns will be released by Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins) on May 27, 2014.

When Sand wakes up alone in a long-abandoned castle, he has no idea how he got there. The stories all said the place was ruined by an earthquake, and Sand did not expect to find everything inside-from dishes to candles to apples-torn in half or slashed to bits. Nothing lives here and nothing grows, except the vicious, thorny bramble that prevents Sand from leaving. Why wasn't this in the stories?

To survive, Sand does what he knows best-he fires up the castle's forge to mend what he needs to live. But the things he fixes work somehow better than they ought to. Is there magic in the mending, granted by the saints who once guarded this place?

Unexpectedly, Sand finds the lost heir, Perrotte, a girl who shares the castle's astonishing secrets and dark history. Putting together the pieces-of stone and iron, and of a broken life-is harder than Sand ever imagined, but it's the only way to gain their freedom, even with the help of the guardian saints.

With gorgeous language and breathtaking magic, Merrie Haskell's The Castle Behind Thorns tells of the power of memory and story, forgiveness and strength, and the true gifts of craft and imagination.

What books are you waiting on?

waiting on wednesday (67)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Fantasy novelist Diana Wynne Jones (author of The House of Many Ways, Eight Days of Luke, Enchanted Glass and more) passed away in 2011, but she apparently had one manuscript almost finished.  Her sister Ursula Jones has completed it, so all of DWJ's fans will get to experience one more fantastic and whimsical adventure from one of the best.  The Islands of Chaldea will be released by Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins) on April 22, 2014.

Aileen comes from a long line of magic makers, and her Aunt Beck is the most powerful magician on Skarr. But Aileen's magic has yet to reveal itself, even though she is old enough and it should have, by now. When Aileen is sent over the sea on a mission for the King, she worries that she'll be useless and in the way. A powerful (but mostly invisible) cat changes all of that-and with every obstacle Aileen faces, she becomes stronger and more confident, until her magic blooms. This stand-alone novel, by the beloved and acclaimed author of such classic fantasy novels as Howl's Moving Castle and the Chrestomanci books, will be welcomed by fans old and new.

What books are you waiting on?

waiting on wednesday (66)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Twitter is my social media network (network? that sounds so... 1999) of choice.  When I go through my feed each day I discover new books, read the news I should know about, and see pretty pictures of food.  Yes, I mostly follow book people and food bloggers.  What of it?!  Let me give you a concrete example of how this works.  I was on twitter and saw a link to Epic Reads' Spring 2014 cover reveals.  I scrolled down and saw a beautiful cover and interesting tag line.  It happened to be for  Joshua McCune's debut novel.  Then I went over to his website and read a little more, and now Talker 25 is at the top of my wishlist for 2014.  Added all officially to my Goodreads account and everything!  It will be released by Greenwillow (HarperCollins) on April 22, 2014.  The power of twitter, everyone!

It’s a high school prank gone horribly wrong—sneaking onto the rez to pose next to a sleeping dragon—and now senior Melissa Callahan has become an unsuspecting pawn in a war between Man and Monster, between family and friends and the dragons she has despised her whole life. Chilling, epic, and wholly original, this debut novel imagines a North America where dragons are kept on reservations, where strict blackout rules are obeyed no matter the cost, where the highly weaponized military operates in chilling secret, and where a gruesome television show called  Kissing Dragons unites the population. Joshua McCune’s debut novel offers action, adventure, fantasy, and a reimagining of popular dragon lore.

What books are you waiting on?