"Breathless" Teen Read!

So I've mentioned the Breathless Reads promotion here a few times now. Five fabulous teen reads released between August and December, including Brenna Yovanoff's debut, The Replacement, Kirsten Miller's teen reincarnation romance, The Eternal Ones, last week's pre-pub post, Matched by Ally Condie, the sequel to Catherine Fisher's Incarceron (Sapphique), and Andrea Cremer's debut, Nightshade.

I've got Incarceron on my wish list, so Sapphique will have to wait, but I finished both Matched and Nightshade this weekend. Both were fabulous!

In Andrea Cremer's Nightshade, alpha Calla Tor has always followed the laws of the Keepers and the Guardians. She's to be paired with fellow alpha, Ren Laroche, in an official union ceremony on Samhain, uniting their two packs and creating a new, young pack of Guardians with a very special purpose. But when Calla saves a mortal boy from a bear one afternoon, everything changes. Shay is no normal human. His uncle is very important to the Keepers and wants to ensure that his nephew is protected at all cost, especially after he and Calla are attacked one evening. Calla again saves Shay and is assigned as his unofficial bodyguard. But, Calla is to reveal nothing about her world to Shay. As they spend more time together, Calla is unable to keep her promise of secrecy. Shay begins digging on his own as well, and the two make some startling discoveries about the history of the Keepers and the Guardians.

With Nightshade, Cremer has created a unique and vivid world of mythology and alternate history. It's an excellent debut and first in the series. I really can't wait to see what will happen next (and won't give anything away for you!).

I'll admit, the first few chapters are little confusing. The reader is literally thrown into this world and bits of information are revealed along the way. It becomes a more comfortable read after just a few chapters, though, once some of the backstory has begun to unfold.

These are not your typical werewolves! Definitely a highly recommended one. I think you're going to love it!

New Releases 11/23/10

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

The Lady's Slipper by Deborah Swift

Social Lives by Wendy Walker

The Emperor's Tomb by Steve Barry

The Athena Project by Brad Thor

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear

Knot Gneiss by Piers Anthony

Third Degree by Maggie Barbieri -- fifth in the Murder 101 series

New on DVD:

The Expendables

Eat Pray Love

The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Pre Pub Book Buzz -- Matched by Ally Condie

Whew. This has been a long week. Slow reading on my part, but I'm taking a break to dive into Ally Condie's new teen release, Matched. I read about half last night before falling asleep and it's fabulous. It's a good thing my sisters haven't heard of it yet, or they'd be nagging me already!

Matched had been getting huge buzz this year. BEA folks were all over it, so of course I've been keeping an eye out for it as well. Then it was offered up as part of the Breathless Reads promotion, so I lucked out with an early copy.

Matched is set for release on November 30. I'd recommend preordering it if you're a fan of YA dystopian fiction -- or if you have a voracious teen reader like the Junior Junkies in your house!

Here's the description from the official web site:

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one… until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow — between perfection and passion.

Check out Ally Condie's page and the official Matched page for and excerpt and more. And what's on my plate for this holiday week? I'm hoping to jump into The Hunger Games and some other teen reads that have been hanging around on my TBR stack!

Another Must Read From My Collection!

Have you read the fabulousness that is Ariana Franklin yet? Historical and forensic mystery fans definitely need to add her to their list. Why? Because she's amazing. Her current series, which began with Mistress of the Art of Death, features a 12th century female pathologist and incorporates historical details of the time. It's wonderful!

I was first introduced to Franklin (aka Diana Norman) by way of her release City of Shadows, which hit shelves back in '06. And as I mentioned in my Mistress post last year, I was lucky enough to read Shadows much earlier thanks to one of the wonderful marketing folks at Harper Collins at the time (I was still Fiction Lead at the bookstore at this time).

Like her series, Franklin incorporated actual historical events into City of Shadows. One of histories most famous missing persons legends (akin to Elvis!) is that of Duchess Anastasia. It's a story that's fascinated me since I was kid and it's been the subject of many movies and books throughout the years. The idea that the little princess was spirited away and saved from execution, hiding out -- possibly with amnesia -- is a romantic one indeed.

Interestingly, in the 1920s, a woman called Anna Anderson was believed, at least by some, to be the lost duchess. She was one of many who made that claim, and her story was ultimately proved to be false (here's the link to her Wikipedia page). But that doesn't change the fact that her story and that of Anastasia is still a fascinating one.

And it is Anna who is the basis of Franklin's City of Shadows. It's been a while for me, so here's the review from PW:

British author Franklin (the pseudonym of a veteran historical fiction writer) makes the most of an original premise in this engrossing thriller that opens in 1922 Berlin. The German government is in crisis, inflation is staggering, anti-Semitism is rife, citizens are starving and Hitler has begun his rise to power. Horribly scarred Esther Solonomova works as a secretary for fake Russian nobleman Prince Nick, the owner of several Berlin nightclubs (think Cabaret) catering to the rich, the foreign and the deviant. Nick finds an inmate in a local asylum who claims to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia, sole survivor of the slaughter of Russia's royal family. Prince Nick renames the inmate Anna Anderson, installs her in an apartment with Esther and sets in motion plans to get his hands on the money and jewels that Anna will claim as the heir to the Russian throne. But a mysterious Nazi is trying to murder Anna, and those near her begin to die. Franklin deftly orchestrates her characters on and off the world's stage, building suspense to a dramatic, surprising finish.

I'd recommend all of Franklin's work, but this is undeniably my favorite!

A Follow Up on The Distant Hours

Last week, I posted a Pre-Pub post on Kate Morton's latest, The Distant Hours. Well, what a whopper of a read it was! At just under 700 pages, I finished it in five days (not my best finish time).

I have to say I was totally blown away. Milderhurst Castle came alive! The book was a completely absorbing read -- and very nicely gothic in style! I have to highly recommend this to anyone looking to be swept away in a fabulous mystery. If you enjoyed Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale (an absolute favorite of mine) then you should definitely add Kate Morton to your "Must Read" list!

Enjoy! I'm currently diving into Jo Nesbo's The Redbreast and will keep you posted!

New Releases 11/16/10

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

Night Star by Alyson Noel - Immortals book 5

Hollywood Hills by Joseph Wambaugh

The Neighbors Are Watching by Debra Ginsberg

Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie

New on DVD:

Disney's Christmas Carol

The Last Airbender

New Reviews at Bookbitch.com:

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

The Immortals by JT Ellison

Pre Pub Book Buzz -- Critical Condition by CJ Lyons

November 30 is the official release date for CJ Lyons's final Angel of Mercy installment, Critical Condition. I've been following the series since the beginning, when Lyons made her debut with Lifelines in 2008. I've been a big fan of this series and can't wait to see what Lyons has up her sleeve next! (Rumor has it, she's coauthoring a series with Erin Brockovich.)

Each of the four books follows a different character at Angels of Mercy hospital. Lifelines was Lydia's story, Warning Signs featured Amanda, Urgent Care was Nora's tale, and now it's Gina's turn. Course they're each more ensemble stories than that, but the core part of each book focuses on one character.

Here's a bit more about Critical Condition from the publisher's email:

Critics loved Lifelines, her debut novel which won the Readers’ Choice Award for Best First Novel and appeared on the Barnes and Nobles Bookscan Mass Market bestseller list for a few weeks after its release. Now, CJ returns with CRITICAL CONDITION, the fourth book in her fast-paced and thrilling medical series which follows the intersecting lives of four women who spend one fated night together during a blizzard, with a killer on the loose claiming patients as his next victim…

Trapped within the ER are resident Gina Freeman and her friends: Amanda, a fourth-year medical student on her last night of her PICU rotation, and Nora, an ER charge nurse. Can Gina summon up the courage to face her lies and tell the truth before its too late? Will Gina be able to face the deadly killer before another victim is taken?

CJ is an awesome, awesome person. I had the pleasure of meeting her at Left Coast Crime where Lifelines sold out after her panel. Fortunately, I found a copy at the bookstore on my way home and was able to get it signed : ) You can check out more from CJ at her official site (linked above) and at her new blog, Marketing With Heart.