Waiting on Wednesday #29

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

Sadie Windas has always been the responsible one — she’s the star player on her AAU basketball team, she gets good grades, she dates a cute soccer player, and she tries to help out at home. Not like her older sister, Carla, who leaves her three-year-old daughter, Lulu, with Aunt Sadie while she parties and gets high. But when both sisters are caught up in a drug deal — wrong place, wrong time — it falls to Sadie to confess to a crime she didn’t commit to keep Carla out of jail and Lulu out of foster care. Sadie is supposed to get off with a slap on the wrist, but somehow, impossibly, gets sentenced to six months in juvie. As life as Sadie knew it disappears beyond the stark bars of her cell, her anger — at her ex-boyfriend, at Carla, and at herself — fills the empty space left behind. Can Sadie forgive Carla for getting her mixed up in this mess? Can Carla straighten herself out to make a better life for Lulu, and for all of them? Can Sadie survive her time in juvie with her spirit intact?

Yes, yes, YES. There aren’t enough books featuring prison in YA, let alone females. I practically added Juvie by Steve Watkins to my TBR with the title alone. Want! 

Due to be released by Candlewick Press in October 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week?  Please share your WoW in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday #28

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

Cherry Kerrigan loves her simple life, her family’s tiny trailer, even working at Burrito Barn. Forget college — she’s marrying her sweetheart from next door. But here comes Ardelia Deen, a glamorous starlet who sweeps Cherry into a world of fast cars and penthouse parties. Now Cherry’s small-town life just seems so . . . small. When Ardelia drops a bomb of an offer — one involving a baby — Cherry knows her life will change forever, no matter what she decides. John M. Cusick focuses his signature wit on Hollywood royalty and the wide-eyed dreams of Small Town, U.S.A. in a novel about discovering who you are . . . and changing your mind.

This week I’ve picked a fun read; Cherry Money Baby by John M Cusick. It sounds like a good post-summer read, and funny too.

Due to be released by Candlewick Press in September 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week?  Please share your WoW in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday #26

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

What if the bomb had actually been dropped? What if your family was the only one with a shelter?

In the summer of 1962, the possibility of nuclear war is all anyone talks about. But Scott’s dad is the only one in the neighborhood who actually prepares for the worst. As the neighbors scoff, he builds a bomb shelter to hold his family and stocks it with just enough supplies to keep the four of them alive for two critical weeks. In the middle of the night in late October, when the unthinkable happens, those same neighbors force their way into the shelter before Scott’s dad can shut the door. With not enough room, not enough food, and not enough air, life inside the shelter is filthy, physically draining, and emotionally fraught. But even worse is the question of what will — and won’t — remain when the door is opened again. Internationally best-selling author Todd Strasser has written his most impressive and personal novel to date, ruthlessly yet sensitively exploring the terrifying what-ifs of one of the most explosive moments in human history.

I’m stepping outside my comfort zone with Fallout by Todd Strasser, as I don’t usually like books set in the past. However, I love a good what-if.

Due to be released by Candlewick Press in September 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week?  Please share your WoW in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday #25

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

 

Get Well Soon

Anna Bloom is depressed—so depressed that her parents have committed her to a mental hospital with a bunch of other messed-up teens. Here she meets a roommate with a secret (and a plastic baby), a doctor who focuses way too much on her weight, and a cute, shy boy who just might like her.

But wait!  Being trapped in a loony bin isn’t supposed to be about making friends, losing weight, and having a crush, is it?

In her fiction debut, Julie Halpern finds humor in the unlikeliest of places, and presents a character whose voice—and heart—will resonate with all of us who have ever felt just a little bit crazy.

Have a Nice Day

Anna Bloom has spent the last three weeks in a mental hospital dealing with her depression, conspiring with her fellow inmates, and tripping through first love. But now she’s out, where does she stand? Is she too crazy to fit in with her normal friends? Is she too normal to fit in with her mental hospital friends? The sequel to GET WELL SOON answers the questions readers want to know: How do you go back to normal after you just got out of a mental hospital?

I spotted ‘Have a Nice Day’, and was instantly sold on ‘mental hospital’. However, this is the second in a series which I haven’t previously heard of, so I thought I’d feature both. Get Well Soon was published in 2007.

Have a Nice Day is due to be released by Macmillan in November 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week?  Can you recommend any other mental hospital books? Please share your WoW in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday #24

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

 

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, the result of a construction accident, and her already-fragile relationship with her mother is strained over whether or not to remove him from life support. Her best friend fails even to notice that anything is wrong and Ellis feels like her world is falling apart. But when all seems bleak, Ellis finds comfort in the most unexpected places. 
Life goes on, but in those four fleeting days friends are lost and found, promises are made, and Ellis realizes that nothing will ever quite be the same.

37 Things I Love (In no Particular Order) by Kekla Magoon has a really intriguing cover, and doesn’t really match the blurb.

Due to be released by Macmillan in October 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week?  Please share your WoW in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday #23

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

Evvy Hoffmeister is thirteen years old when her family brings her to Loon Lake Sanatorium to get cured of tuberculosis (TB). Evvy is frightened by her new surroundings; the rules to abide are harsh and the nurses equally rigid. But Evvy soon falls into step with the other girls in her ward. There’s Sarah, quiet but thoughtful; Pearl, who adores Hollywood glamour; and Dina, whose harshness conceals a deep strength. Together, the girls brave the difficult daily routines. Set in 1940 at a time of political unrest throughout the U.S. and Europe, this thought-provoking novel sheds light on a much-feared worldwide illness. Hundreds of thousands of people died each year of TB, and many ill children were sent away to sanatoriums to hopefully recover.

This is a masterful novel—both eloquent and moving—that gives voice to those who fought hard to overcome the illness.

Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles sounds like nothing I have read before. And what a simple yet effective cover! 

Due to be released by Macmillan in September 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week? Do you know any other YA books featuring diseases other than cancer? Please share your WoW in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday #22

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

Meet Quentin, a middle school football star from Chicago… 
Sarah, an Upstate New York girls’ hockey team stand-out… 
Ben, a horse lover from the Pacific Northwest…
And Cat, an artistic bird watcher from California. 

The four have nothing in common except for the head injuries that land them in an elite brain-science center in the Florida Everglades. It’s known as the best in the world, but as days pass, the kids begin to suspect that they are subjects in an experiment that goes far beyond treating concussions….and threatens their very identities. They’ll have to overcome their injuries – and their differences – to escape, or risk losing themselves forever.

Unexplained head injuries? Experimenting on children? Sounds like my kind of book! The science geek in me loves the DNA cover of Wake Up Missing by Kate Messner.

Due to be released by Walker in September 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week? Can you recommend any good action YA books? Please share your WoW in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday #21

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

  

Darren took the fall for Diamond Tony, the notorious head of the city’s drug cartel. Now, two years later, Darren’s finally out of juvie and determined to get even.

Working as an informant for the police, Darren infiltrates Diamond Tony’s operation. But falling for sweet, innocent Jessica was not part of that plan. She’s a distraction–and a liability. She’s also everything Darren dreamed about while he was locked up, and with her he has the promise of a fresh start.

When a deadly turf war breaks out between Diamond Tony and the Bloods, Darren gets caught in the crossfire. And the cops think he’s playing both sides. Any mistake could be his last. Darren has to stay on his game if he’s going to protect Jessica–and if he’s going to stay alive.

Takedown by Allison van Diepen sounds like a gritty YA thriller. I haven’t read any of her previous, but I love action YA and don’t think there is enough good stuff about. So I may be checking them out before this releases!

Due to be released by Simon & Schuster in September 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week? Can you recommend any good action YA books? Please share your WoW in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday #20

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

                   

Sixteen-year-old Nica Ashley moves to sleepy Barrington, Colorado, to live with her father and discovers a mysterious pulse of energy has given her and her friends superhero-like powers.

The cover is just gorgeous. I mean, I love green, but this takes it to a whole new level!  There isn’t a lot of info available for Mark Kruger’s Overpowered, but it sure has my interest.

Due to be released by Simon & Schuster in August 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week? Do you agree that this cover is pretty? Please share your WoW in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday #19

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we’re eagerly anticipating.

                   

What happens when you put a suicidal eighteen-year-old, his ex-girlfriend, his best friend, and his kidnapped newborn baby in a truck and send them to Grandma’s house? Hilarious, deeply moving, mind-bending, original, romantic, and surprising, this debut teen novel by Emil Ostrovski will appeal to fans of John Green, Chris Crutcher, and Andrew Smith.

The blurb for this just sounds so quirky, I have to know more! And with a name like The Paradox of Vertical Flight, this book definately stands out from the crowd. 

Due to be released by Harper Collins in September 2013.

 What are you looking forward to this week? Do you agree that this cover is gross? Please share your WoW in the comments!