8 Most Anticipated July 2016 Releases!

CRYSTAL CROWNED
Author: Elise Kova
Series: Air Awakens #5
Publisher: Silver Wing Press
Publication Date: July 12, 2016

Summary:
Long live Solaris.

One bloodthirsty ruler has been overthrown by another, casting the shadow of death over the Solaris Empire. Vhalla Yarl stands upon the stage of fate, prepared to do battle one final time. Fragile alliances will be tested and new bonds will be formed as the world is reshaped. She fights as the champion of peace, but when the night is darkest will she be able to pay the price of a new dawn?

Preorder:

Amazon

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THE KILLER IN ME
Author: Margot Harrison
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: July 12, 2016

Summary:
Hasn't he lived long enough? Why not? I could take him like a thief in the night.

This is how the Thief thinks. He serves death, the vacuum, the unknown. He’s always waiting. Always there.

Seventeen-year-old Nina Barrows knows all about the Thief. She’s intimately familiar with his hunting methods: how he stalks and kills at random, how he disposes of his victims’ bodies in an abandoned mine in the deepest, most desolate part of a desert.

Now, for the first time, Nina has the chance to do something about the serial killer that no one else knows exists. With the help of her former best friend, Warren, she tracks the Thief two thousand miles, to his home turf—the deserts of New Mexico.

But the man she meets there seems nothing like the brutal sociopath with whom she’s had a disturbing connection her whole life. To anyone else, Dylan Shadwell is exactly what he appears to be: a young veteran committed to his girlfriend and her young daughter. As Nina spends more time with him, she begins to doubt the truth she once held as certain: Dylan Shadwell is the Thief. She even starts to wonder . . . what if there is no Thief?

From debut author Margot Harrison comes a brilliantly twisted psychological thriller that asks which is more terrifying: the possibility that your nightmares are real
. . . or the possibility that they begin and end with you?

Preorder:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

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Waiting on Wednesday: IVORY AND BONE by Julie Eshbaugh

This week I'm waiting on a book that I first heard about during the FAC16 chat back in July 2015! It's been almost a YEAR and I am still waiting on this book! Time sure flies when you're having fun! I really enjoyed this one and loved the way it was written. I really connected with the story! 

So now I'm waiting for you guys to be able to read...

IVORY AND BONE by Julie Eshbaugh

Title: IVORY AND BONE

Author: Julie Eshbaugh

Waiting on Wednesday: THE UNDERDOGS by Sara Hammel

This week's WoW book is a mystery that promises a fun twist that we don't see coming. I love mystery books because they usually have such good rereadability where you catch different things the next time you read it that lead you to understanding the whole "whodunnit!?" Say hello to...

THE UNDERDOGS by Sara Hammel

Title: THE UNDERDOGS

Author: Sara Hammel

Waiting on Wednesday: SUFFER LOVE by Ashley Herring Blake

After the huge week of fantasy novels that was last week, I think it's best if we move back into contemporary novels, yes? Here is a retelling of ROMEO & JULIET that I am dying for. I'd probably even stab myself in the chest for it (*wink*). Say hello to...

SUFFER LOVE by Ashley Herring Blake

Title: SUFFER LOVE

Author: Ashley Herring Blake

Waiting on Wednesday: 100 DAYS OF CAKE by Shari Goldhagen

I am steamrolling on the contemporary novels now but once I start, I can't seem to stop. This week I am waiting on what promises to be a quirky and poignant novel about what it means to live. My choice for this week is...

100 DAYS OF CAKE by Shari Goldhagen

Title: 100 DAYS OF CAKE

Author: Shari Goldhagen

ARC REVIEW: A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON by Samantha Mabry

ARC REVIEW: A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON

Summary:
In this stunning debut, legends collide with reality when a boy is swept into the magical, dangerous world of a girl filled with poison.

Everyone knows the legends about the cursed girl--Isabel, the one the senoras whisper about. They say she has green skin and grass for hair, and she feeds on the poisonous plants that fill her family’s Caribbean island garden. Some say she can grant wishes; some say her touch can kill.

Seventeen-year-old Lucas lives on the mainland most of the year but spends summers with his hotel-developer father in Puerto Rico. He’s grown up hearing stories about the cursed girl, and he wants to believe in Isabel and her magic. When letters from Isabel begin mysteriously appearing in his room the same day his new girlfriend disappears, Lucas turns to Isabel for answers--and finds himself lured into her strange and enchanted world. But time is running out for the girl filled with poison, and the more entangled Lucas becomes with Isabel, the less certain he is of escaping with his own life.

A Fierce and Subtle Poison beautifully blends magical realism with a page-turning mystery and a dark,  starcrossed romance--all delivered in lush, urgent prose.

Title: A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON

Author: Samantha Mabry

Source: eARC via the Publisher:

Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers

Publication Date: April 12, 2016

Rating: 3.5/5

Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little underwhelmed by this one but it was still a good book. I guess I thought from the description that there would be a bit more magic and a little less introspection. It was almost as if the book couldn't decide if it wanted to fully be magical realism or not. I think I was anticipating more magic or at least have it be integrated into the world a bit more. I thought that there just wasn't enough. But let's break it down.

Waiting on Wednesday: JERKBAIT by Mia Siegert

Another contemporary, look at me go! This one mixes hockey with LGBTQ issues, focusing specifically on the G there, and it is one of my most highly anticipated reads of 2016. Period. This seems like everything I could ever want in a book and more. Give it to me right meow. So join me in waiting on...

JERKBAIT by Mia Siegert

Title: JERKBAIT

Author: Mia Siegert

Waiting on Wednesday: LOVE & GELATO by Jenna Evans Welch

Again, I am slacking on recommending you guys contemporary novels that are coming out this year. I have an ARC of this one, so I figured I'd let you know about it! This week I'm waiting on...

LOVE & GELATO by Jenna Evans Welch

Title: LOVE & GELATO

Author: Jenna Evans Welch

REVIEW: THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE by Heidi Heilig

THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE by Heidi Heilig

Summary:
Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.

As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.

But the end to it all looms closer every day.

Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.

For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.

She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.

Or she could disappear.

Title: THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE

Author: Heidi Heilig

Series: The Girl From Everywhere #1

Source: Purchased from Amazon

Publisher: Greenwillow

Publication Date: February 16, 2016

Rating: 3.5*

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

I had a really hard time getting into this one to start. It took me about 25% to be hooked, but then I was and it got better as it went along. I had two main problems with it, but I generally liked it and will for sure be reading the sequel! I think Heilig has a good grasp on her niche genre and the characters are ones I really liked!

Waiting on Wednesday: INTO THE DIM by Janet B. Taylor

This week I am waiting on a book that comes out SO SOON! This week's pick is one that Nicola has read and reviewed (and loved!) It is being marketed as  "Outlander for Teens" and even has a Diana Gabaldon blurb on the cover (!!!!). Say hello to...

INTO THE DIM by Janet B. Taylor

Title: INTO THE DIM

Author: Janet B. Taylor

ARC REVIEW: THESE VICIOUS MASKS by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

THESE VICIOUS MASKS by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

Summary:
Jane Austen meets X-­Men in this gripping and adventure-­filled paranormal romance set in Victorian London.

England, 1882. Evelyn is bored with society and its expectations. So when her beloved sister, Rose, mysteriously vanishes, she ignores her parents and travels to London to find her, accompanied by the dashing Mr. Kent. But they’re not the only ones looking for Rose. The reclusive, young gentleman Sebastian Braddock is also searching for her, claiming that both sisters have special healing powers. Evelyn is convinced that Sebastian must be mad, until she discovers that his strange tales of extraordinary people are true—and that her sister is in graver danger than she feared.

Title: THESE VICIOUS MASKS

Authors:Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

Source: eARC via the Publisher

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Publication Date: February 9, 2016

Rating: 4/5 stars

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
 
So I really enjoyed this one. I love anything that resembles Jane Austen because Jane Austen is my homegirl (I wonder how she would feel about being called that). And I mean my phone case has a picture of Kitty Pryde on it so I think we all know that I love the X-Men. And that is what really sold me to even try this one out was the tagline that it is Jane Austen meets X-Men. And it does deliver on that front. But there is something almost missing from this one for me.

Waiting on Wednesday: WHERE FUTURES END by Parker Peevyhouse

I added this one to my TBR after Emily Henry, author of THE LOVE THAT SPLIT THE WORLD, recommended that I check it out! Since then I have been eagerly waiting for it to release and luckily it does so next week! This week I'm waiting on...

WHERE FUTURES END by Parker Peevyhouse

Title: WHERE FUTURES END

Author: Parker Peevyhouse

Publisher: Kathy Dawson Books

Publication Date: February 9, 2016

Summary:
Five teens.
Five futures.
Two worlds.
One ending.

One year from now, Dylan develops a sixth sense that allows him to glimpse another world.

Ten years from now, Brixney must get more hits on her social media feed or risk being stuck in a debtors' colony.

Thirty years from now, Epony scrubs her entire online profile from the web and goes “High Concept.”

Sixty years from now, Reef struggles to survive in a city turned virtual gameboard.

And more than a hundred years from now, Quinn uncovers the alarming secret that links them all.

Five people, divided by time, will determine the fate of us all. These are stories of a world bent on destroying itself, and of the alternate world that might be its savior--unless it's too late.

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

ARC REVIEW: THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US by Emily Skrutskie

THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US by Emily Skrutskie

Summary: For Cassandra Leung, bossing around sea monsters is just the family business. She’s been a Reckoner trainer-in-training ever since she could walk, raising the genetically-engineered beasts to defend ships as they cross the pirate-infested NeoPacific. But when the pirate queen Santa Elena swoops in on Cas’s first solo mission and snatches her from the bloodstained decks, Cas’s dream of being a full-time trainer seems dead in the water. 

There’s no time to mourn. Waiting for her on the pirate ship is an unhatched Reckoner pup. Santa Elena wants to take back the seas with a monster of her own, and she needs a proper trainer to do it. She orders Cas to raise the pup, make sure he imprints on her ship, and, when the time comes, teach him to fight for the pirates. If Cas fails, her blood will be the next to paint the sea.

But Cas has fought pirates her entire life. And she's not about to stop.

Title: The Abyss Surrounds Us

Author: Emily Skrutskie

Publisher: Flux

Publication Date: February 8th, 2016

Rating: 4.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for the e-ARC!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was Pirates of the Caribbean on crack with a plethora of genetically engineered monsters thrown in. Cas was such a vibrant, real character and she really appealed to me. 

The book follows Cassandra Leung, the daughter of Reckoner scientists/trainers. On her first solo trip she is taken by pirates led by the villainous Santa Elena. Her dream of becoming a Reckoner trainer comes true, but in the most unlikely of ways when the pirates intend on using her to train their unhatched Reckoner pup to become a monster of their own. 

Me while reading this book.

Cassandra is badass. If Captain Jack Sparrow has an illegitimate daughter, it's Cas. She grows and changes throughout the entire novel in such an interesting way. I devoured her story in just one sitting, unable to stop reading. Also, queer characters and queer love! It's so refreshing to see more representation in fantasy books. After reading THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US, I've realised that this is the first book I've ever read that is a fantasy with a lesbian main romance. There definitely needs to be more. (Audrey Coulthurst's OF FIRE AND STARS also features a lesbian couple in the high fantasy setting! It comes out later this year and I'm incredibly excited about it already.) 

Also, I want a Reckoner. No idea where I could keep it as they are HUMONGOUS, but I do. Do you think that I could find a bath big enough?

I had a few issues with this book, but that all falls down to personal preference. It was a relatively short book for YA and I feel that it could have been longer, the world more expanded. Also, I would have liked some more world building, but I'm expecting to see much more of it in Book 2. So it's really no big issue. 

In short, if you love pirates, monsters of the deep and a touching and sometimes hot F/F romance, this is the book for you. Very excited for another book about Cas and her adventures! Skrutskie really knocked the ball out of the park, and I can easily see THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US doing very well indeed.

Waiting on Wednesday: OF FIRE AND STARS by Audrey Coulthurst

Title: OF FIRE AND STARS

Author: Audrey Coulthurst

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Publication Date: September 2016

Summary:

Princess Dennaleia always puts royal duty first, even if it means hiding her forbidden magic and moving to a new kingdom to marry a prince she’s never met. But as soon as she arrives, it’s clear that a lifetime of studying etiquette, history, and politics didn’t prepare her for everything. She must become an expert horsewoman before her wedding, and the prince’s sister, Amaranthine, is assigned as her reluctant riding instructor. Amaranthine would rather spend her days trolling for information in dangerous parts of the city instead of doing anything she’s supposed to. She’s cocky, curvy, and about as friendly as the business end of a blade—but Dennaleia can’t stop thinking about her.

When a member of the royal family is killed with a magical arrow, Dennaleia’s hidden powers put her at risk of being discovered and condemned. The two princesses must work together to find out who is responsible before the kingdom goes to war. But as they fall in love and Dennaleia’s magic flares out of control, the two must decide whether to obey their duty to the kingdom or sacrifice everything to follow their hearts.

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters

Hi, this book features GIRLS LOVING GIRLS so I am all over it. That is all. Also, if you missed the chat all about OF FIRE AND STARS, you can check out a recap here so you can learn more about what you can expect to see in the book!

ARC REVIEW: INTO THE DIM by Janet B. Taylor

INTO THE DIM by Janet B. Taylor

Summary: When fragile, sixteen-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. Trapped in the twelfth century in the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hope has seventy-two hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time. Along the way, her path collides with that of a mysterious boy who could be vital to her mission . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing.

Title: Into the Dim

Author: Janet B. Taylor

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publication Date: March 1st, 2016

Rating: 5/5 stars

 

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC! 

If you have a Scottish relative that lives nearby that you can bully, or you can pull off a Scottish accent yourself, I highly recommend reading this book aloud. Or have bagpipes playing over your headphones. Or both for maximum effect. 

*clears throat* anyway!

Firstly, I was terrified of reading this book. Through the years the genre of time travel in YA has grown stale, boring and terribly predictable and I had developed an aversion to the topic. I had no idea how INTO THE DIM would fare, but it sounded much too good to pass up. 

And I'm very glad that I didn't slide past this book. 

INTO THE DIM was a masterpiece, it has to be said. Janet's imagination is beautiful and her storytelling ability exquisite. She has crafted a tale that will inspire everyone everywhere to delve into history a little bit deeper. 

Hope, our heroine, was a character that I really identified with. She never felt like she fit in and has a large amount of fears and phobias. Though it would probably hurt like hell, I would adore having her memory. I've always been rather envious of those with perfectly photographic memories. Hope was incredibly likeable and a joy to read about. 

There is no love triangle for those who are picky, just lots of hot boys and lots of feelings. Both happy and sad. And lots of pain, of course. The romance was a perfect blend of sweet and sizzling that you need in your life. Janet used an era that I had never read of before, so it was great fun diving into another time of our history while learning new things the entire way. Warning: this book will make you stay up until the wee hours of the morning reading everything to do with the twelfth century and Eleanor of Aquitaine. 

I wish I could gush about this book forever! No review could ever do this book justice. Make sure INTO THE DIM is on your To-Read list, because this stunning debut is certainly not one to miss! Romance, adventure, high stakes and shocks at every turn. This book will leave you willing to jump into the Dim for more.