Yearly Archives:: 2012

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Fresh Batch (May 20th – 26th)

Posted by Giselle • 24 Comments

Exclusively titled for Xpresso Reads, Fresh Batch features the hottest releases of this upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Shift
Em Bailey
Release date: May 22nd, 2012
by Egmont USA

Goodreads / Purchase

Olive Corbett is not crazy. Not anymore.

She obediently takes her meds and stays under the radar at school. After “the incident,” Olive just wants to avoid any more trouble, so she knows the smartest thing is to stay clear of the new girl who is rumored to have quite the creepy past.

But there’s no avoiding Miranda Vaile. As mousy Miranda edges her way into the popular group, right up to the side of queen bee Katie – and pushes the others right out – only Olive seems to notice that something strange is going on. Something almost . . . parasitic. Either Olive is losing her grip on reality, or Miranda Vaile is stealing Katie’s life.

But who would ever believe crazy Olive, the girl who has a habit of letting her imagination run away with her? And what if Olive is the next target?

Shift book trailer:

Em’s Goodreads / Facebook

Em Bailey is an Australian living in Germany where, despite having been a vegetarian for many years, she now enjoys the occasional Wurst. Em used to be a new-media designer for a children’s television production house and is now a full-time author. Shift is her first YA novel, although she has written a number of books for children under the name Meredith Badger.

Other releases this week (click on cover for Goodreads):
*In no particular order* *Purchase links are for Book Depository*

Bryn knows first-hand that being the alpha of a werewolf pack means making hard decisions, and that being human makes things a thousand times worse. She’s prepared to give up her humanity, but the wolf who promised to Change her is waiting – though for what, Bryn doesn’t know.

Purchase

Amid the tangle of lies, an unexpected thread of truth connecting Ian and Kori comes to light. But with opposing goals, they’ll have to choose between love and liberty…

Purchase

WHAT IF YOUR WHOLE LIFE WAS A LIE?
One Planet.Two Worlds.
Population: Human … 7 billion. Others … unknown.

Purchase

Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life.

Purchase

Sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne and her “straynge band of mysfits” have journeyed from London to America to rescue their friend Jasper, hauled off by bounty hunters. But Jasper is in the clutches of a devious former friend demanding a trade-the dangerous device Jasper stole from him…for the life of the girl Jasper loves.

Purchase

Italy, 1453. Seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is brilliant, gorgeous—and accused of heresy. Cast out of his religious order for using the new science to question old superstitious beliefs, Luca is recruited into a secret sect to investigate evil and danger in its many forms, and strange occurrences across Europe, in this year—the end of days.

Purchase

Chantal is a planner, and her summer-before-senior-year plan requires best friend Jillian, resumé updating, and studying for AP classes. Jillian wants something different and is afraid to leave introverted Chantal in the dust. All that changes, though, when popular classmates Parker and Will suspiciously start hanging out with the girls.

Purchase

Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine

Purchase

Mistress of death Francesca Giordano—court poisoner to the House of Borgia—returns to confront an ancient atrocity that threatens to extinguish the light of the Renaissance and plunge the world into eternal darkness.

Puchase

The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity’s only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between.

Puchase

The drama and romance continue in this 144-page full-color graphic novel adaptation of the second Vampire Academy novel, Frostbite, which was overseen by Richelle Mead and features beautiful art by acclaimed British illustrator Emma Vieceli.

Purchase

Jeane Smith is seventeen and has turned her self-styled dorkiness into an art form, a lifestyle choice and a profitable website and consultancy business.

Purchase

When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup.

Simmi’s loyalty is on the line. Who will she choose—the blind seer who loves her, or the charming telekinetic with “bad idea” written all over him? Emotions run high as the tension mounts in book two of the Farsighted series.

Kate has no time for meaningless romantic charades, and definitely no time for hot college professors who are full of themselves and smitten with her. Constantly battling eviction notices, tuition she can’t afford, and a sick, dependent mother, the last thing she needs is to be distracted with someone else’s complicated baggage.

Purchase

Peter Warlock is a magician with a dark secret. Every night, he amazes audiences at his private theater in New York, where he performs feats that boggle the imagination. But his day job is just a cover for his otherworldly pursuits

Purchase

I don’t do dangerous. Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha-that’s me. But I just couldn’t pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me…something strange.

Purchase

Lately strange things have been happening to Daire Santos. Animals follow her, crows mock her, and glowing people appear out of nowhere. Worried that Daire is having a nervous breakdown, her mother packs her off to stay in the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico with a grandmother she’s never met.

Purchase

Today the battle for Danu Talis will be won or lost.
But will the twins of legend stand together?
Or will they stand apart—
one to save the world and one to destroy it?

Purchase

If Owen can unlock the lost code in his very genes, he may rediscover the forgotten knowledge of his ancestry…and that less-than-ordinary can evolve into extraordinary.

Purchase

Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma’s gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom…

Purchase

Ellis only has four days of her sophomore year left, and summer is so close that she can almost taste it. But even with vacation just within reach, Ellis isn’t exactly relaxed. Her father has been in a coma for years

Purchase

When Rose was twelve, her mother and stepfather went out for dinner and never came back. Now seventeen, she lives with her grandmother and goes to school in London. She’s always wondered about her stepbrother, Joshua, whom she only lived with briefly and who was also relocated after their parents’ disappearance.

Purchase

The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.

Purchase

What are you getting this week?

Hello lovelies, I hope you’re as happy as I am to get a chance to know Jen Calonita a bit better today. She’s a fabulous author and you may recognize her most recent novel, Belles. I, myself, enjoyed and reviewed it on the blog last month. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s the deets:

BellesJen CalonitaRelease date: April 10th, 2012by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Goodreads / Purchase

Fifteen-year-old Isabelle Scott loves her life by the boardwalk on the supposed wrong side of the tracks in North Carolina. But when tragedy strikes, a social worker sends her to live with a long-lost uncle and his preppy privileged family. Isabelle is taken away from everything she’s ever known, and, unfortunately, inserting her into the glamorous lifestyle of Emerald Cove…

Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Posted by Giselle on 05/17/2012 • 36 Comments

Of Poseidon Anna BanksSeries: Of Poseidon, #1 Release date: May 22nd, 2012by Feiwel & Friends

Goodreads / Purchase

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he’s heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma’s gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom…

Told from both Emma and Galen’s points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

*A copy was provided by Raincoast Books for review purposes*

With a beautiful cover…

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Posted by Giselle on 05/16/2012 • 40 Comments

InsurgentVeronica RothSeries: Divergent, #2Release date: May 1st, 2012by HarperTeen

Goodreads / Purchase

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical…

Waiting on Wednesday (36)

Posted by Giselle on 05/16/2012 • 60 Comments

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. My pick this week:

Fall to Pieces Vahini Naidoo Release date: October 2nd, 2012 by Marshall Cavendish Add it to your Goodreads

When your best friend dies, you’re supposed to know what happened. You’re supposed to know why.

But Ella has no idea what happened the night Amy jumped to her death. She has no idea why Amy would want to die.

Ella’s other friends, Mark and Petal, are hiding something. Ella thinks they know exactly what happened that terrible night. But they’re not talking. Instead, Ella, Mark, and Petal play Pick Me Ups—a game in which they jump from dangerous heights. And every time Ella falls, she…

Review: Awaited by Lynn Rush

Posted by Giselle on 05/15/2012 • 19 Comments

AwaitedLynn RushSeries: Wasteland, #2Release date: May 1st, 2012by Crescent Moon Press

Goodreads / Purchase

The voice is a powerful thing…

Russell Leonard is a centuries-old Guardian who’s lost faith in his purpose. So when he’s charged with procuring the first female Guardian in over two centuries, he can only hope it’s the red-headed beauty who’s been haunting his dreams for months. And if it is, he intends to claim her as his. But when he finds his dream woman, Annabelle is mute and bears no Guardian’s Mark.

He soon realizes she’s been tainted by an ancient evil. Russell must somehow release the secrets trapped within this delicate soul to help her tap into the only weapon powerful enough to silence a millennia-old demon—her voice.

*A copy was provided by Lynn…

Review: The Princesses of Iowa

Posted by Giselle on 05/14/2012 • 32 Comments

The Princesses of IowaM. Molly BackesRelease date: May 8th, 2012by Candlewick Press

Goodreads / Purchase

Paige Sheridan has the perfect life. She’s pretty, rich, and popular, and her spot on the homecoming court is practically guaranteed. But when a night of partying ends in an it-could-have-been-so-much worse crash, everything changes. Her best friends start ignoring her, her boyfriend grows cold and distant, and her once-adoring younger sister now views her with contempt. The only bright spot is her creative writing class, led by a charismatic new teacher who encourages students to be true to themselves. But who is Paige, if not the homecoming princess everyone expects her to be? In this arresting and witty debut, a girl who was once high-school royalty must face a truth that money and…

Xpresso Weekly: Stacking the Shelves (3)

Posted by Giselle on 05/13/2012 • 91 Comments

Xpresso Weekly is my edition of Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring the books I got this week, and I also mention blog news/happenings of the past week.

Hi lovelies! Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms! I had a great week, but pretty uneventful which is good and stress free 🙂 On the blog, though I had a blast. On Tuesday I had the Until I Die blog tour stop by for my review, a great guest post and a giveaway for a signed copy of Die For Me! It’s open worldwide so make sure you’re entered! On Thursday I had the fabulous Devri Walls who showed us a sneak peak of Wings of Arian! Also, make sure you don’t miss the wonderfully badass cover reveal for…