Sunday 4 January 2015

On My Radar: Upcoming January Releases

   Behind my deadline for the second month in a row, shame on me. But it was the holidays! I wanted to let you guys enjoy Christmas & New Year's before I posted anything...fine, you caught me, I was too distracted eating my weight in holiday food to write this up. But now that we're back to our regular old schedules, here's my list of the 10 books I'm most excited for this month!


Vendetta by Catherine Doyle (January 1)

    Vendetta seems to be a modern-day retelling of Romeo & Juliet. You've got your two warring clans and your forbidden love between two members. The summary never outright states that it is a Shakespearean retelling, but we can read between the lines. Let's hope this one doesn't end with a double suicide.

What I'm excited for: Meeting the members of each clan and learning why they've got such a ~*VENDETTA*~ against each other.


All The Bright Things by Jennifer Niven (January 6)

   One of my New Year's Reader Resolutions is to read more contemporary novels. This one looks like a good place to start: two kids, one depressed and the other suicidal, have a chance meeting and stops the other's plan right in its tracks. They begin to spend more time together, exploring their hometown. The Goodreads blurb says it's "The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this compelling, exhilarating, and beautiful story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die." 

What I'm excited for: How Niven will create the friendship between her two protagonists. That, and the feels. 


The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall (January 13)

   When a book is marketed as a "YA Da Vinci Code", how could you not be interested?! From what I've been able to glean from the summary, it's an adventure-thriller that takes place all over Europe, and our heroine is the missing heir to the throne of a secret society (cough, Illuminati, cough). She doesn't want any of that though, and goes on the run to take down the Illuminati Circle of Twelve.

What I'm excited for: The whole dang novel! Maggie Hall, do not let me down.




The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (January 13)

   While not a fairytale retelling per se, TDPotF certainly draws from fairytale elements: There's a brother-sister tandem involved, knights, fairies, and a person in a glass coffin (except it's a boy!). If I get my hands on it, this book will be my very first Holly Black book! I mean, I've read the Iron Trial and all, but that was penned with Cassie Clare, so to read a pure Holly Black tale should be interesting. She's one of the YA authors I've been hearing about for ages but have yet to read. 

What I'm excited for: This line from the summary: "Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children." If the author means "in love" the way I think it does, then that's going to make for a sibling love triangle with a nice twist to it. 
   


The Prey by Tom Isbell (January 20)

   Just when you think dystopians are dead, here comes a new generation of 'em. In the world of The Prey, the boys and girls who have been separated from the other gender team up, and try to outrun the Big Bad Dystopian Government. There's also a mention of twins in the summary, and I don't exactly know how that ties in with the whole shebang, but you know me, once I hear a whiff of twin-plotlines, I'm hooked.

What I'm excited for: Learning about the Big Bad Dystopian Government's motives for locking up all these children and consequently, turning them into Prey. Also, I want to know which dystopian backstory the author'll choose to employ. There's famine (The Hunger Games), natural disaster (The Chemical Garden), plague (The Maze Runner), so many tragedies to choose from.

   


The Way We Bared Our Souls by Willa Strayhorn (January 22)

    This novel is ensemble driven, with five characters all going through hardships: a former child soldier, a teen suffering from MS, a guy whose girlfriend just died, a girl with CIP (a disorder that means she can't feel physical pain), and a drug addict. After sharing their stories with one another, they all somehow taking the other person's problems as their own. It's one of those "walk a mile in my shoes" tales, and it should be really interesting.

What I'm excited for: Hearing each person's story at the beginning, particularly the former child soldier's, because that's not something we really see a lot in YA. 


Woven by Michael Jensen & David Powers King (January 27)

   The plot summary reads like a high fantasy-version of Meg Cabot's The Mediator, and you will hear no complaining from me on that front. The hero is a ghost named Nels who spent his mortal (peasant) life wanting to don the armor of a knight. As a ghost, he goes on an adventure with a princess. Cue Taylor Swift's Love Story.

What I'm excited for: The falling-in-love bit. Give me a good ol' fairytale with a happily ever after any day.


Love, Lucy by April Lindner (January 27)

   This is your typical American-girl-in-Europe story, but sometimes, a good cliché is exactly what you need. Another NY Resolution I've got is to travel more, and not just to other countries, but around the 7,107 islands that make up mine. Maybe Love, Lucy will inspire me to get off my duff and start booking for those promotional travel packages.

What I'm excited for: Seeing Italy through Lucy's eyes. It's definitely one of my favorite European destinations, and I'd love to see if April Lindner's got any hidden Italian spots to share.


All Fall Down by Ally Carter (January 27)

    I've never finished an Ally Carter novel--I read the first book of her Gallagher Girls series and gave up. But maybe that particular series wasn't my cup of tea. Her new book, All Fall Down, seems to be more up my alley. It's got the same international flair as The Conspiracy of Us, and written from the point of view of an ambassador's daughter. The summary seemed very Nancy Drew-like, and if there's a heroine I will defend to the death, it's the original girl detective herself. If the story is as Carolyn Keene-esque as I think it will be, it should make for quite an interesting book!

What I'm excited for: I really hope that her Embassy Row gang of sleuths are comprised of kids from different countries of the world. Like, the Avengers, but with more Asians.



Enter The Uncreated Night by Christopher Rankin

   Such an intriguing book, right down to its lack of release date on Goodreads. It's about a psychiatrist treating a young girl who talks to an imaginary person who seems to know anything about everything, and just typing that sentence out sent chills down my spine. The good doctor also seems to suffer from something himself, as he drugs himself up with cough medicine, almost a la Doctor House. Hmm. Secrets, secrets.

What I'm excited for: The fact that this isn't YA. Hopefully this'll be the start of me broadening my horizons to more general fiction.


That's it for my January #RadarReads! Which one are you looking forward to the most? Leave a comment!

xoxo,
Salve

IG: 
@cuckooforbooks 

photo and summary credits to: Goodreads.com









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