Waiting on "The Bone Dragon" by Alexia Casale

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where each week you post and write about a book you're looking forward to in the future.  To create a "theme" of sorts, I've decided to use my "Waiting on Wednesday" posts as a way to show off debut, young adult novels that I'm excited about. Here's my pick for this week:

The Bone Dragon

By:  Alexia Casale
Publisher:  Faber & Faber
Publication Date:  April 4, 2013 (Possibly May?)

Evie's shattered ribs have been a secret for the last four years. Now she has found the strength to tell her adoptive parents, and the physical traces of her past are fixed - the only remaining signs a scar on her side and a fragment of bone taken home from the hospital, which her uncle Ben helps her to carve into a dragon as a sign of her strength.

Soon this ivory talisman begins to come to life at night, offering wisdom and encouragement in roaming dreams of smoke and moonlight that come to feel ever more real. As Evie grows stronger there remains one problem her new parents can't fix for her: a revenge that must be taken. And it seems that the Dragon is the one to take it.

This subtly unsettling novel is told from the viewpoint of a fourteen-year-old girl damaged by a past she can't talk about, in a hypnotic narrative that, while giving increasing insight, also becomes increasingly unreliable.

A blend of psychological thriller and fairytale, The Bone Dragon explores the fragile boundaries between real life and fantasy, and the darkest corners of the human mind.

I've been wanting to post this book for awhile... and I've been waiting on a cover to be attached to it so I actually could.  As of right now this cover isn't even the official one, and according to the author there was another cover design before this one (and when I search and eventually find it on Amazon it's a completely different cover there as well).  So really, it's like a game trying to find out what this book will look like, but I suppose what's important is what the content is going to be, and from what I've read the content sounds pretty freaking great.

The synopsis sounds (or at least feels) similar to how I felt while reading Libba Bray's Going Bovine, so I'm kind of a lot excited to go back to that place again with The Bone Dragon.

So, what are you waiting on this Wednesday?  Leave a comment with a link and I'll check your post out :)

Waiting on "That Time I Joined the Circus" by J.J. Howard

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where each week you post and write about a book you're looking forward to in the future.  To create a "theme" of sorts, I've decided to use my "Waiting on Wednesday" posts as a way to show off debut, young adult novels that I'm excited about. Here's my pick for this week:

That Time I Joined the Circus

By:  J.J. Howard
Publisher:  Scholastic Point
Publication Date:  April 1, 2013
Preorder:  Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

A music-obsessed, slightly snarky New York City girl, Lexi is on her own. After making a huge mistake—and facing a terrible tragedy— Lexi has no choice but to track down her long-absent mother. Rumor has it that Lexi’s mom is somewhere in Florida with a traveling circus.

When Lexi arrives at her new, three-ring reality, her mom isn’t there…but her destiny might be. Surrounded by tigers, elephants, and trapeze artists, Lexi finds some surprising friends and an even more surprising chance at true love. She even lucks into a spot as the circus’s fortune teller, reading tarot cards and making predictions.

But then Lexi’s ex-best friend from home shows up, and suddenly it’s Lexi’s own future that’s thrown into question…

With humor, wisdom, and a dazzlingly fresh voice, this debut reminds us of the magic of circus tents, city lights, first kisses, last heartaches, and the importance of an excellent playlist.

This was another book that took me by surprise, however it was the reviews that really sold it for me to actually put it on my TBR list.  It seems a little bit different than what I read, even for contemporary fiction-sake.  But I'm honestly kind of excited about it.  It sounds like a good mix of serious, funny, and cute.  And I'm actually really attracted to the cover.  I think the only thing that bothers me is the fact that they put a girl on the cover at all.  I think without her it probably would have been just as strong, if not stronger.

So, what are you waiting on this Wednesday?  Leave a comment with a link and I'll check your post out :)

Waiting on "In the Shadow of Blackbirds" by Cat Winters

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where each week you post and write about a book you're looking forward to in the future.  To create a "theme" of sorts, I've decided to use my "Waiting on Wednesday" posts as a way to show off debut, young adult novels that I'm excited about. Here's my pick for this week:

In the Shadow of Blackbirds

By:  Cat Winters
Publisher:  Amulet Books
Publication Date:  April 2, 2013
Preorder:  Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

So... I sort of stumbled upon this one.  The cover looked a little different than most, and I really liked the typeface they used for the text on the cover.  The description and the cover also give me the feel of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children... and I really enjoyed that novel.  So, I do believe there's a good chance I'll enjoy this one as well.  Also, just like Miss Peregrine, it has photographs included within the narrative.  I'm actually kind of excited to see that format featured again.  All I hope is that it enhances, rather than distracts.

So, what are you waiting on this Wednesday?  Leave a comment with a link and I'll check your post out :)

Waiting on "Arclight" by Josin L. McQuein

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where each week you post and write about a book you're looking forward to in the future.  To create a "theme" of sorts, I've decided to use my "Waiting on Wednesday" posts as a way to show off debut, young adult novels that I'm excited about. Here's my pick for this week:

Arclight

By:  Josin L. McQuein
Publisher:  Greenwillow Books
Publication Date:  April 23, 2013
Preorder:  Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

No one crosses the wall of light . . . except for one girl who doesn’t remember who she is, where she came from, or how she survived. A harrowing, powerful debut thriller about finding yourself and protecting your future—no matter how short and uncertain it may be.

The Arclight is the last defense. The Fade can’t get in. Outside the Arclight’s border of high-powered beams is the Dark. And between the Light and the Dark is the Grey, a narrow, barren no-man’s-land. That’s where the rescue team finds Marina, a lone teenage girl with no memory of the horrors she faced or the family she lost. Marina is the only person who has ever survived an encounter with the Fade. She’s the first hope humanity has had in generations, but she could also be the catalyst for their final destruction. Because the Fade will stop at nothing to get her back. Marina knows it. Tobin, who’s determined to take his revenge on the Fade, knows it. Anne-Marie, who just wishes it were all over, knows it.

When one of the Fade infiltrates the Arclight and Marina recognizes it, she will begin to unlock secrets she didn’t even know she had. Who will Marina become? Who can she never be again?

Thriller + Dystopian = Something I'll probably end up loving.  And the cover is kind of neat to look at, even if it's just a girl's face.  I think it's the colors and how the compliment and contrast one another.

So, what are you waiting on this Wednesday?  Leave a comment with a link and I'll check your post out :)

Waiting on "Linked" by Imogen Howson

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where each week you post and write about a book you're looking forward to in the future.  To create a "theme" of sorts, I've decided to use my "Waiting on Wednesday" posts as a way to show off debut, young adult novels that I'm excited about. Here's my pick for this week:

Linked

By:  Imogen Howson
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date:  6.11.13

Elissa used to have it all: looks, popularity, and a bright future. But for the last three years, she’s been struggling with terrifying visions, phantom pains, and mysterious bruises that appear out of nowhere.

Finally, she’s promised a cure: minor surgery to burn out the overactive area of her brain. But on the eve of the procedure, she discovers the shocking truth behind her hallucinations: she’s been seeing the world through another girl’s eyes.

Elissa follows her visions, and finds a battered, broken girl on the run. A girl—Lin—who looks exactly like Elissa, down to the matching bruises. The twin sister she never knew existed.

Now, Elissa and Lin are on the run from a government who will stop at nothing to reclaim Lin and protect the dangerous secrets she could expose—secrets that would shake the very foundation of their world.

Riveting, thought-provoking and utterly compelling, Linked will make you question what it really means to be human.

When I was going through debut novels this one stood out to me.  Initially it was the cover.  It's different, and I like how it looks.  It's a nice change of pace from the girls in flowy dresses (even if it's a girl with flowy hair... but that's not the point).  Then I read the description and I became even more intrigued.  Twins with a connection, government involvement, and dangerous secrets?  Sounds like something that I'll enjoy quite a lot.  I'm really looking forward to this novel.

So, what are you waiting on this Wednesday?  Leave a comment with a link and I'll check your post out :)