The View From Monday - December 13, 2010

Happy Monday! There are not many releases that I'm interested in for today and tomorrow. In fact there are not many releases until the 28th that I would like.  There will be no vlog this week. On Wednesday, winners for some recent closed contests will be announced, Thursday is comics, and Friday will be Photo Friday.

In unrelated news I finally ordered my holiday cards. I usually make my cards, but had no time this year. I chose a cheery non-wintery photo. This is the Asclepias tuberosa from my garden. It is commonly known as Butterfly Weed.

And now back to books. Here's what I put on my new release list for this week. They are all YA.

December 13, 2010

The Gift
Witch & Wizard 2
by James Patterson and Ned Rust
Hardcover, 320 pages

When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order.

But the One has other plans in store for them: He needs Wisty, for she is "The One Who Has the Gift." While trying to figure out what that means, Whit and Wisty's suspenseful adventures through Overworld and Shadowland lead to a jaw-dropping climax and conclusion: the highly-anticipated fulfillment of the heart-pounding opening prologue of book one... The Execution of the Allgoods.

December 14, 2010

Captivate

Need 2

by Carrie Jone

Trade Paperback, 304 pages

The pixie problem keeps growing . . . and so does this New York Times bestselling series!

Zara's pixies are locked away in the forest, but that doesn't mean the threat is gone. In captivity, the king's needs grow stronger and his power weakens. When a new king, Astley, arrives and tells Zara she's fated to be his queen, Zara discovers she's in deeper than she ever imagined.

Carrie Jones captivated readers with her evil pixies in Need and this series is showing no signs of slowing down. The sales are hot, the online buzz is still growing, and this sequel pubs in paperback just in time to entice fans with a teaser for the third book in January 2011.


Entice
Need 3
by Carrie Jones
Hardcover, 272 pages
The much anticipated third book in a series of New York Times bestsellers.

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out. For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla? And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't turned into just any pixie. . . She's Astley's queen.


Andromeda Klein
by Frank Portman
Trade Paperback, 432 page
Andromeda Klein has a few problems.

Her hair is kind of horrible.

Her partner-in-occultism, Daisy, is dead.

Her secret, estranged, much older and forbidden boyfriend-in-theory, has gone AWOL.

And her mother has learned how to text.

In short, things couldn't get much worse. Until they do. Daisy seems to be attempting to make contact from beyond, books are starting to disappear from the library, and then, strangely and suddenly, Andromeda's tarot readings are beginning to predict events with bizarrely literal accuracy.

Omens are everywhere. Dreams; swords; fires; hidden cards; lost, broken, and dead cell phones . . . and what is Daisy trying to tell her?

In the ensuing struggle of neutral versus evil, it's Andromeda Klein against the world, modern society, demonic forces, and the "friends" of the library.

From Frank Portman, author of King Dork, comes another unique literary experience. Andromeda Klein is dark, funny, smart, and entirely unforgettable.

From the Hardcover edition.