WOW: 3 Hot Upcoming YA Releases (4/11/12)

WoW is hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine and showcases upcoming releases we're dying to read!

SILVER

Talia Vance

Sept 2012 - Flux

Beauty is pointless when no one's looking.

Brianna Paxton has been invisible to guys since the eighth grade. She’s pretty enough, it’s just that no one bothers to look. There’s almost nothing that can’t be explained with science, and Brianna has a theory: she’s missing the pheromone that attracts people to one another. Brianna’s theory is shot to hell in one frozen, silver moment, when time stops and Blake Williams not only sees her, he recognizes something inside her that she’s been hiding from even herself.

Before Brianna fully understands who and what she is, she accidentally binds her soul to Blake. Forced to find a way to reconcile forbidden love and her bloody heritage, Brianna discovers that there's nothing pointless about her, and Blake may be in the most danger of all.

BLACK CITY

Elizabeth Richards

Nov 2012 - GP Putnam and Sons

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection, that causes Ash’s long dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong. When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

STARLING

by Lesley Livingston

Aug 2012 - Harper Teen

"Love is just the beginning... of the end."

Mason Starling is a champion fencer for Gosforth Academy, but she’s never had to fight for her life. Until now. When a ferocious storm rips through Manhattan and unleashes terrifying creatures onto Gosforth’s campus, Mason barely escapes alive. Without help from the mysterious stranger who appeared in the midst of the storm, she might not have made it at all. But now, in the aftermath, Mason’s life begins to spin dramatically, mystically out of control, and the only one who seems able to help her is the stranger who can remember nothing but his name: Fennrys Wolf.

As Mason and Fenn uncover more about Fenn’s past and the strange events that surround them, they realize that Mason’s family — and its dark allegiance to the ancient Norse gods — is at the center of everything. A predetermined fate seems to be closing in on Mason, but is it possible to change one’s destiny?

What are you waiting for? 

A Perfect Storm by Lori Foster: Guest Post and Q&A

A PERFECT STORM

by Lori Foster

pub: Mar 27

Amazon/Goodreads/Website

He never saw her coming… 
Spencer Lark already knows too many secrets about Arizona Storm, including the nightmare she survived and her resulting trust issues. But in order to expose a smuggling ring—and continue avenging his own tragic past—the bounty hunter reluctantly agrees to make Arizona a decoy. Yet nothing has equipped him for her hypnotic blend of fragility and bravery, or for the protective instincts she stirs in him. 
Arizona wants to reclaim her life, which means acting as bait to lure the enemy into a trap. Sure it's dangerous, especially with a partner as distractingly appealing as Spencer. But as their plan—and their chemistry—shifts into high gear, Arizona may discover there's an even greater risk in surrendering her heart to a hero… 

Please welcome Lori Foster who's stopping by on her blog tour for a guest post and interview! 

GUEST POST 

Shedding Light on Human Trafficking

 I can’t say that any particular series has affected me in a great way. I’m a writer – I “make up stuff.” I know evil exists, but I also know love is there to help balance it. That said, obviously, after all the research, I’m more aware of human trafficking. It’s HERE, in our cities, our towns, sometimes our own neighborhoods. People you thought were safe, are not. Careers you considered mundane are intricately involved.

I have truck drivers in my family. GREAT guys. Totally trustworthy. Wouldn’t hurt a fly, and would do what they could to defend anyone abused.

Yet in my research I found that many sales of underage girls and captives happen at truck stops. Obviously, all truckers don’t take part, but enough do that it’s a key spot for surveillance when breaking down trafficking rings. I don’t know if the men are ignorant of the girl’s age and/or circumstances. Maybe they think these women are willingly taking part. Maybe they think the underage girls are older. Regardless, it’s unforgiveable.

I also learned that Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have a *wonderful* organization. “We are committed to forcing sex slavery out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Freedom is a basic human right and slavery is one of the greatest threats to that freedom. No one has the right to enslave another person. Freedom - It's in our DNA.”

These days, I stop in to get my nails done, and I notice closed doors in the back, women who look like they’ve just awakened. I pass by shabby hotels or read about issues at restaurants, and wonder if one of the rooms is used to house innocents caught up in forced labor. I see kids on the street, and pray that they’re just out and about having fun, getting into the same mischief common to many youths. But I always worry now.

Author Q&A

Describe A PERFECT STORM in 15 words or fewer.
Alpha hero meets Alpha heroine. Wills clash, sparks fly, emotions tangle, and satisfaction awaits.

Which character in each of the Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor novels do you indentify with the most?
I don’t identify with any of them! LOL. They’re all beautiful, young, in some ways tragic, and they’re involved in exciting romances. I married at 19, hubby and I were made for each other (no tragedy and no danger) and I’m as boring as a woman can be. But I guess... since Molly was a writer, I can relate to that.

Where do you do most of your writing?
My office is in the downstairs of our house. It’s like an apartment – 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchenette, French doors facing the pond, big screen TV, treadmill... it’s where my 2 youngest boys were before they moved off to college. Since they’re all grown and on their own now, we a custom desk built for the space and I while we’re in town, I write there.

We also have a lake house we bought last year, and we’re in the middle of having part of that space remodeled to include a better desk area for me. Before the remodel, I wrote from the patio table in the sun room at the lake house, facing the lake. 

Why did you choose to give Arizona and Spencer such painful backgrounds versus some of the other leads in the series?
I don’t choose those things – the characters do. Arizona came about during Jackson’s story. He sort of told me about her (at the same time he was telling the readers, btw) and during Jackson’s book, after he introduced us to Arizona, she was in a bar... and Spencer just showed up. I said, “Well hello there,” and he proceeded to tell me about his story. I know, that makes me sound nuts. Aren’t all writers a little crazy?

What is, in your opinion, the key to a great romance novel?
Great romance!!! I don’t care who the characters are, what their backgrounds are, the conflicts – both emotional and external – that they have to deal with. If the romance is there, popping off the page, then I’ll love it. We as readers have to _feel_ it, and we have to believe it.

************************

Thanks for stopping by, Lori. And don't miss A PERFECT STORM, the fourth in her Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor series. It's full of hot guys, exciting action, and steamy romance!
  

WOW: 3 Hot Upcoming Releases (4/4/12)

WoW is hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine and showcases upcoming releases we're dying to read!

THE DEAD GIRLS DETECTIVE AGENCY

by Suzy Cox
Sept 2012 - Harper Teen

When Charlotte comes to after being pushed onto the subway tracks, she is informed by a group of teenage girls that she is dead…they all are. Meet the Dead Girls Detective Agency. With the support of these dynamic girls—including fashionable Lorna, who can’t wait to find out if the devil actually wears Prada, and nerdy Nancy, who insists on staying in limbo to help out other girls—Charlotte follows leads and tracks down clues to solve her own murder. With plenty of juicy mysteries and some pretty cute guys, readers are sure to fall in love with this fun and suspenseful page-turner!

WHAT'S LEFT OF ME
by Kat Zhang
Sept 2012 - Harper Collins

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t…
For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable–hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet…for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

FALSE MEMORY

by Dan Krokos

Aug 2012 - Hyperion

Miranda wakes up alone on a park bench with no memory. In her panic, she releases a mysterious energy that incites pure terror in everyone around her. Except Peter, a boy who isn't at all surprised by Miranda's shocking ability.
Left with no choice but to trust this stranger, Miranda discovers she was trained to be a weapon and is part of an elite force of genetically-altered teens who possess flawless combat skills and powers strong enough to destroy a city. But adjusting to her old life isn't easy--especially with Noah, the boyfriend she can't remember loving. Then Miranda uncovers a dark truth that sets her team on the run. Suddenly her past doesn't seem to matter...when there may not be a future.

What are you waiting for?