Waiting on Wednesday (64)

For those who don't know, Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine where book bloggers showcase books they are particularly looking for to. For the next few weeks, I'm going to be doing this a little differently. Like I did last year, each week I will be talking about books that are coming out early next year from different publishers. Up first are January 2013 releases coming for HarperCollins.

Boundless by Cynthia Hand
January 22, 2013

The past few years have held more surprises than part-angel Clara Gardner could ever have anticipated. Yet from the dizzying highs of first love, to the agonizing low of losing someone close to there, the one thing she can no longer deny is that she was never meant to live a normal life. 

Since discovering the special role she plays among the other angel-bloods, Clara has been determined to protect Tucker Avery from the evil that follows her…even if it means breaking both their hearts. Leaving town seems like the best option, so she's headed back to California--and so is Christian Prescott, the irresistible boy from the vision that started her on this journey in the first place.

As Clara makes her way in a world that is frighteningly new, she discovers that the fallen angel who attacked her is watching her every move. And he's not the only one…With the battle against the Black Wings looming, Clara knows she must finally fulfill her destiny. But it won't come without sacrifices and betrayal. 

In the riveting finale of the Unearthly series, Clara must decide her fate once and for all.

Though I haven't read the second book, Hallowed, I am still really excited about the conclusion to this trilogy. When I read the first book, Unearthly, I completely fell in love with the story and the characters so I can't wait to finally get back in that world. You can be sure that I will be reading the second book before Boundless comes out so that I can be ready for it.

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

January 29, 2013

London, 1894. Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself--working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns her father is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations were true.

Juliet is accompanied by the doctor's handsome young assistant and an enigmatic castaway, who both attract Juliet for very different reasons. They travel to the island only to discover the depths of her father's madness: he has created animals that have been vivisected to resemble, speak, and behave as humans. Worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape the island, even though her horror is mixed with her own scientific curiosity. As the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius--and madness--in her own blood.

It wasn't until I started going through all the publishers' catalogues that I discovered The Madman's Daughter and from then on I couldn't get the summary out of my mind. The story sounds really intriguing and like it has a lot of potential so I'm really looking forward to reading Megan Shepherd's debut.

Shadows in the Silence by Courtney Allison Moulton
January 29, 2013

Your strength in heart and hand will fall…

Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.

The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.

As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world's darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.

Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion.

Again, I have yet to read the second book in this series, Wings of the Wicked, but I am still looking forward to reading the conclusion to the trilogy. Like with the Unearthly trilogy, I kinda fell in love with this story when I read the first book, Angelfire, so I can't wait to get back into it. 

So these are the January 2013 HarperCollins titles I'm looking forward to. If you hadn't already guessed it, January really can't come soon enough. Be sure to keep checking back each week to see what books I'm waiting on from other publishers.

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Title: Angelfire (Angelfire #1)

Author: Courtney Allison Moulton

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Release Date: February 15, 2011

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

First there are nightmares.

Every night, Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

Then come the memories.

When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Elli's power, and she knows that she can fight creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the Key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream. 

Now she must hunt.

Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives an truths that may be too frightening to remember.

So far this year I have read some fantastic debut novels, and Angelfire has now joined that list. It was a great story packed with action, romance, twists and turns that left me wanting more. I absolutely loved it!

Ever since school started up again, Ellie has been having strange nightmares and can’t seem to focus on anything, especially in school. And as her seventeenth birthday gets closer, Ellie’s nightmares appear to be coming to life. And then there’s Will, the mysterious boy who just seems to appear both in her nightmares and in the real world. Ellie feels a connection to Will, like she’s always known him, but she doesn’t understand just how that could even be possible. But Will just might be the only person who can help Ellie understand what her nightmares mean and how to deal with them when they start coming to life. Ellie definitely needs to trust Will, especially if staying alive is something she wants to do.

Ellie is basically a superhero, but a very reluctant one. I loved that she didn’t immediately believe everything Will was telling her. It was so refreshing not to have a protagonist who believes everything she’s told, there is nothing more that annoys me more than that. Of course that is not the only thing I liked about Ellie, she was a pretty great character. Will was pretty dreamy if you ask me. I loved how loyal he was to Elli and didn’t ever doubt her. The best part though, was seeing the relationship between Ellie and Will develop and blossom. Both struggled with it, but for me that only made it that much better and feel more real.

Courtney Allison Moulton wrote a wonderful story. It kept me guessing the whole way through and never saw what was coming next. Until I read Angelfire, I had never encountered reapers, and I loved finding out about paranormal beings and how their world functions. Though my favorite part of the story was how she weaved in the nightmares and the flashbacks. I didn’t really think much of them at first but they turned out to be an integral part of the story. They really added more depth and I don’t think the story would have worked as well without them.

Angelfire was a great and highly enjoyable read. Courtney Allison Moulton is a fantastic new writer and I can’t wait to read what comes next from her.