Waiting on Wednesday (66)

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 this week are January 2013 releases coming from Simon & Schuster.

Crash by Lisa McMann
January 8, 2013

If what you see is what you get, Jules is in serious trouble. The suspenseful first of four books from the New York Times bestselling author of the Wake trilogy.

Jules lives with her family about their restaurant, which means she smells like pizza most of the time and drives their double-meatball-shaped food truck to school. It's not a recipe for popularity, but she can handle that.

What she can't handle is the recurring vision that haunts her. Over and over, Jules sees a careening truck hit a building and explode…and nine body bags in the snow.

The vision is everywhere--on billboards, television screens, windows--and she's the only one who sees it. And the more she sees it, the more she sees. The vision is giving her clues, and soon Jules knows what she has to do. Because now she can see the face in one of the body bags, and it's someone she knows. Someone she has been in love with for as long as she can remember.

In this riveting start to a gripping series from New York Times bestselling author Lisa McMann, Jules has to act--and act fast--to keep her vision from becoming reality.

I read a book by Lisa McMann for the first time this year and it definitely made me want to read more. And then I read the summary for Crash and I just knew this was a book I need to get my hands on. It sounds so intriguing and I can't wait to be able to dive into it come January.

Then You Were Gone by Lauren Strasnick

January 8, 2013

In the tradition of 13 Reasons Why, a suspenseful and heart-wrenching novel from the author of Nothing Like You and Her and Me and You.

Two years ago, Adrienne's best friend walked out of her life. One week ago, she left Adrienne a desperate, muffled voicemail. Adrienne never called back.

Now Dakota is missing. She left behind a string of broken hearts, a flurry of rumors, and a suicide note.

Adrienne can't stop obsessing over what might have happened if she'd answered Dakota's call. And she's increasingly convinced that Dakota must still be alive.

Maybe finding and saving Dakota is the only way Adrienne can save herself.

Or maybe it's too late for them both.

If you've been following this blog for any amount of time, you probably know that I am a major sucker for any story that involves mystery. So when I discovered Then You Were Gone I was hooked from just reading the synopsis. Now I'm just hoping that the story lives up to my expectations of it.

Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans
January 15, 2013

In this gripping exploration of a futuristic afterlife, a teen discovers that death is just the beginning.

Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia War has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she's lost--family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved. 

Then a girl in a neighboring chamber is found dead, and nobody but Felicia recalls that she existed in the first place. When Julian--a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life--comes to offer Felicia a way out, Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again.

Suspended between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself at the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come back to haunt her, and as the Morati hunt her down, Felicia will discover it's not just her own redemption at stake…but the salvation of all mankind.

I've been lucky enough to already read an ARC of Level 2 and it definitely left me intrigued. I feel like this is one of those books that could definitely benefit from a re-read as there are some things that are still unclear in my mind. So come January, hopefully I'll have some time to take another shot at this one.


So those are the January 2013 titles I'm looking forward to from Simon & Schuster. Once again, let me just say that my wallet will be suffering come the new year. But I can't help being excited about all these upcoming titles. So many books, so little time, right?

Dead to You Blog Tour: Q&A with Lisa McMann

Today I am lucky enough to be participating in Simon & Schuster Canada's blog tour for Dead to You by Lisa McMann. I had the pleasure of asking author Lisa McMann a few questions and here is what she had to say.

Many of your books, and especially Dead to You, have a thriller feel to them. What is it about that genre that attracts you to it?

I’m not really sure. All I know is that I like books where the ‘enemies’ are bigger than the ordinary teen, because it’s so freaking awesome when a teen character successfully overcomes it. Often one of those enemies is internal. And I like books with action. Where something’s terribly wrong, and maybe there isn’t a perfect way to make it right, but people will go through strange, sometimes sinister feats to make it right as they can, even if that only makes it more wrong. (Was that deep or what?)

Dead to You is about a boy who returns to his family after having been missing for 9 years. Where did the inspiration come from for writing this story?

The inspiration came from a story in The New Yorker, though I took the concept in a different direction. I think the story title was The Chameleon – don’t Google it if you haven’t read DEAD TO YOU yet, because it will spoil the ending.

How did you go about doing the research for Dead to You? 

I had several conversations with a child/teen social worker and spoke with someone at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. I also did a lot of online research.

Are any of the characters in Dead to You, or any of your other books, based on or inspired by people you know?

I guess all the characters I write have characteristics in them of people I know or have met along the way. Some of them have traits I admire and wish I had. In The Unwanteds, Mr. Today is inspired by a combination of two people I know – a mentor of mine, and a mentor of my daughter’s. In the WAKE trilogy, Captain is a lot like my friend Diane.

How would you describe Dead to You in one sentence for people who haven't heard about it?

DEAD TO YOU is about a boy who was abducted at the age of seven. Now he’s sixteen and he’s found his family back…but he doesn’t really remember them. (Sorry, that was two sentences. J)

Thank you to Lisa McMann for answering my questions, and to Simon & Schuster Canada for letting me be a part of this blog tour. Before you go be sure to check out the trailer for Dead to You below, and if you haven't already be sure to also check out my review to know what I thought of the book.

Dead to You by Lisa McMann

Title: Dead to You

Author: Lisa McMann

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date: February 7, 2012

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Some memories are best left untouched.

Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family.

It’s a miracle…at first.

Then the tensions start to build, and his family starts falling apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he’d be able to put pieces back together.

But there’s something that’s keeping his memory blocked.

Something unspeakable…

Until I read Dead to You, I had heard plenty about Lisa McMann but had never actually read any of her books. But once I started reading, I pretty much read the whole book in one sitting. I'm definitely glad I've finally picked up a Lisa McMann book. 

For nine years, Ethan lived with a woman who wasn't his mother. But Ethan doesn't really remember having any other life. That's because when he was seven years old, Ethan was abducted from his front yard an all his memories from before that time seem to be blocked. Now sixteen, Ethan is reunited with his family and everything is going great. At first. But not long after Ethan's return, things start to take a turn for the worst. Right when Ethan starts feeling at home with his family, his younger brother starts doubting that Ethan isn't who he says he is. And from there, everything spirals downwards. But unless Ethan can remember his life from before the abduction, non one will know the truth.

I am very happy that I have now discovered what a fantastic writer Lisa McMann is. Dead to You was an incredible book. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading, and I just couldn't seem to put the book down. Every time I told myself I would stop after just one more chapter, I found myself reading on and on. It was just that good. The way Lisa McMann wrote the story, I couldn't help but want to find out more about everything that was going on. A lot of that also had to do with the fact she decided to tell the story from Ethan's perspective. This way, the reader would get as frustrated with everything as Ethan, and would want to understand what was going on as much as him. And the ending was great, though I'm not sure I was fully satisfied by it. A few weeks later I'm still sort of trying to make sense of it.

With this book, it's really hard to say anything about the characters, mainly because the story focuses mostly on Ethan and how he's reacting to being back with his family after nine years of being away. But that doesn't mean that Ethan wasn't an interesting character, because he really was. I loved that even though he was the one telling the story, there was still a lot of mystery surrounding him because he was missing some of his memories. I really enjoyed puzzling everything out at the same time as he did. But I also really liked finding out more about him and just getting to know him. He was definitely the most important part of the story. Ethan's family was also interesting, but I felt like I didn't know enough about them. But at the same time, knowing more about them would have completely changed the story.

Overall, Dead to You was an incredible story and I'm happy I've now discovered Lisa McMann as a writer. If you're in the mood for a mystery and a thriller, I definitely recommend you pick up Dead to You and give it a chance.