"Waiting On" Wednesday #42

"Waiting On" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

What I'm "Waiting On" this week...

Shannon's Pick~

THE HALLOWED ONES by Laura Bickle
Release Date: September 25th, 2012 from Graphia

Synopsis from Goodreads
If your home was the last safe place on earth, would you let a stranger in?

Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers are free to experience non-Amish culture before officially joining the church. But before Rumspringa arrives, Katie’s safe world starts to crumble. It begins with a fiery helicopter crash in the cornfields, followed by rumors and the disappearance of people all over the world. Something is out there...and it is making a killing.

Unsure why they haven’t yet been attacked, the Amish Elders make a decree: No one goes outside their community, and no one is allowed in. But when Katie finds a injured young man lying just outside the boundary of their land, she can’t leave him to die. Refusing to submit to the Elder’s rule, she secretly brings the stranger into her community but what else is she bringing in with him?

OMG! That's was my initial thought when I heard about this book. I'm always looking for something a bit different in the sea of YA books and this one definitely fits that description. 


Carrie's Pick~

SHADOW OF NIGHT by Deborah Harkness
Release Date: July 10th, 2012 from Viking Adult

Synopsis hidden dues to spoilers. Book Two of the All Souls Trilogy and sequel to A Discovery of Witches.


You guys...it is getting closer to July which means my excitement level for this book is reaching a fever pitch. I have been tirelessly convincing people to read A Discovery of Witches in anticipation of the sequel. My job just got a little bit easier because Amazon will be offering the e-book as their “Deal of the Day” on June 10th. So that means if you haven't read it yet and you have a Kindle you will be able to buy it for just $2.99 on that day only. That is great news, so mark your calendars!!

Also on Deborah’s Facebook page, Viking will be hosting a contest leading up to the book’s publication.  Every Friday from June 1st to July 6th, four winners will be selected to receive an advance copy of SHADOW OF NIGHT signed by Deborah and sample bottles of two perfumes specially selected to represent the scents of Matthew and Diana. To enter, click on this link to the contest page.

What are you "Waiting On"?

In My Mailbox #26

Hey everyone, Carrie here again. I am pretty excited about the books in my mailbox this week so I thought I would share.  Here goes...

All books shown are ones I bought or received between May 13th - May 26th. In My Mailbox is a meme created by Kristi@TheStorySiren, its purpose is to encourage blogger interaction, as well as highlight books for our readers. IMM is not only for books you have received through the mail, but also library,borrowed, and bought books.

Gifted (from my boys for Mother's Day):

Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams

Received for review:

Gold by Chris Cleave

(thanks Simon & Schuster)

Bought:

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Borrowed (from the library):

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Changeless by Gail Carriger

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

 

Bought for my Nook:

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Well that's it for me. What did ya'll get in your mailboxes?

Author Feature: A Day in the Life of... J. Anderson Coats

We here at Stalking the Bookshelves thought it might be fun to step behind the veil (if you will) and find out what goes on during an average day in the lives of our favorite authors. This will be a new monthly feature so stay tuned to see who else pops on by.

First up is J. Anderson Coats author of The Wicked and the Just.

A Day in the Life...

5:00 - Alarm goes off.  Regret staying up late to get that extra hundred words in.

5:05 - Shower.  Try to remember where I left off in the WIP.

5:30 - Sit down to write.  Mutter barely-coherent thanks to whoever invented the programmable coffee maker.

6:30 - Save the day’s words.  Assign a sticker to the progress log if warranted.  Crowbar surly teenager out of bed.

6:50 - Sneak in some Facebook while surly teenager reluctantly showers.

7:15 - Hold a mostly-one-sided conversation with surly teenager over toast and generic Lucky Charms.

7:30 - See surly teenager off to school.  Answer as many of All Of The Emails as possible before it’s time to punch in at the Day Job.

7:45 - Fire up the Day Job laptop.  Turn my brain over to spreadsheets and industrial supplies.

10:15 - Take a five-minute Twitter break.  Envy writers lucky enough to write full-time.

12:00 - Spend lunch at my desk answering more of All Of The Emails while nibbling on corn chips and carrot sticks.

2:10 - Tea and candy.  Pet the writing laptop as I pass it by.

4:45 - Log out of the Day Job laptop.  Sit outside for fifteen minutes doing absolutely nothing.

5:30 - Dinner with the family.  Reflect on the bright side of having only one steady income: how nice it is to eat someone else’s cooking.

6:30 - Interact with the family.  Perfect my turns in Mario Kart or soak in a little Downton Abbey.

9:00 - Enforce the unpopular doctrine of bedtime.  Smile politely at surly teenager’s mumbled accusations of fascism.

9:30 - Read a chapter of something that I haven’t written.

10:00 - Scrawl down an idea for the WIP that comes to me as I’m falling asleep.  Realize it’s a whole scene.  Get out of bed, find a notebook, scribble down just a hundred more words...

Follow J. Anderson Coats 

At her blog: http://www.jandersoncoats.com/

Or on twitter: https://twitter.com/#%21/jandersoncoats

The Wicked and the Just
Available now from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 

Thanks so much to Jillian for taking time out of her busy schedule (with a new book out) to write this post for us and for letting us get a sneak peek into her writing process. One of our favorite things about blogging is meeting new people and forming fabulous new friendships!

Teaser Tuesday: Anna Dressed in Blood & Glimpse

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page 
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 
• Share the Title & Author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Shannon's Teaser:

Anna is looking down at the corpse calmly. Then she looks at me for a long moment before turning her attention back to it. When the door bursts open she doesn't seem to notice, and then I'm being dragged by my shoulders from behind, pulled out of the house and away from the blood, my legs thumping down the front porch steps. When whoever it is lets go of me, they drop me too suddenly on my head, and I don't see anything anymore.

~pg. 78, Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Carrie's Teaser:

I stand

to go to her.

To get to her.

To take care of her.

But Momma, she grabs at my arm,

pinching.

There’s an

animal in my throat

that wants to scream

its way out.

It could tear my

throat apart,

I think.

They get to the door

to the sign

Liz fightingfightingfighting.

~pg. 48, Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams

 

Cover Reveal: The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron

Last year I met author Sharon Cameron at a Teen Writers Group. She was there alongside her friend and fellow YA writer, Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray) to talk about their writing process. It was the first time I heard about her upcoming Steampunk novel The Dark Unwinding. She only gave a brief run down of the story but I knew right away that I wanted to read it. Now here we are almost a year later and I feel like a very lucky blogger in getting to reveal it's Final Cover to all of you.

 RD: September 1st, 2012 from Scholastic

Synopsis:
When Katharine Tulman's inheritance is called into question by the rumor that her eccentric uncle is squandering away the family fortune, she is sent to his estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, Katharine discovers a genius inventor with his own set of rules, who employs a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London.

Katharine is now torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving the peculiar community she grows to care for deeply. And her choices are made even more complicated by a handsome apprentice, a secretive student, and fears for her own sanity.

As the mysteries of the estate begin to unravel, it is clear that not only is her uncle's world at stake, but also the state of England as Katharine knows it. 

 Pre-Order The Dark Unwinding

B&N / Amazon / The Book Depository

Follow Sharon on her Blog or Facebook page

I want to thank Sharon so much for allowing me to help reveal her novel's cover! What do you all think of it? We'd both love to hear your thoughts

It's Here! The Near Witch in Paperback

It's May 15th and do you know what that means?

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

"If the wind calls at night, you must not listen.
The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.
And there are no strangers in the town of Near."

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

THE NEAR WITCH by Victoria Schwab come out in paperback TODAY! To help celebrate its release, "The Ash-Born Boy" is finally up over at Disney* Hyperion's website! Here's the link: http://un-requiredreading.com/books/the-ash-born-boy

So, what IS "The Ash-Born Boy"?

It's a free story Victoria wrote as a thank-you to her fans, and she wrote it to answer ONE question: "Who was Cole before he came to Near?"

Now, if you've already read THE NEAR WITCH, "The Ash-Born Boy" is guaranteed to change the way you see Cole.

And if you haven't read THE NEAR WITCH yet, don't worry, "The Ash-Born Boy" won't spoil anything!

So basically, either way, you should go read Cole's story ;)

And if you want to wait and read THE NEAR WITCH first, don't worry! Cole's story will stay up on Disney*Hyperion's website, and if it ever comes down, Victoria will carve out a space for it on her own site. It will always be available somewhere, and it will always be free.

And!

Cole's story isn't the only goodie to go along with the paperback release. In the back of the paperback itself, you'll find the first chapter of Victoria's new book, THE ARCHIVED, which doesn't come out until January!

So what are you waiting for?

Help Victoria celebrate today by taking a look at "The Ash-Born Boy," and don't forget to buy/order/pick up your own paperback copy of THE NEAR WITCH! If you know anything about me or this blog you'll know that I LOVED TNW and I think everyone should read it! If you'd like to read my review of the novel, you can find it here.

Buy a paperback copy of The Near Witch

B&N / Amazon / The Book Depository

Follow Victoria @ her Website: www.victoriaschwab.com 

Blog: www.veschwab.wordpress.com 

Or on Twitter: @veschwab

Bout of Books 4.0 Updates

We are at the starting line...well technically we've kind of past it. Still it has began...and both Carrie & I are participating. We have some lofty goals which you can read about here but this will be the post with all the updates. Throughout the week and most likely in the evening, we will come back here to update our progress with pages and books read.

Updates throughout the day will likely happen on twitter. You can follow Carrie @OneBookishMom and me @StalkintheBooks if you want to read those. If you're participating let us know in the comments.

Carrie's Updates

Monday:
# of pages read today: 198
# of books read today: 1
Total Pages read: 198
Books I've finished: 1 - First Comes Love

Tuesday:
# of pages read today: 291
# of books read today: 1
Total Pages read: 489
Books I've finished: 2 - First Comes Love, Heist Society

Wednesday:
# of pages read today: 55
# of books read today: 1 (read but not completed)
Total Pages read: 544
Books I've finished: 2 - First Comes Love, Heist Society

Thursday:
# of pages read today: 90 and 3 audiobook discs
# of books read today: 3 (1 completed, 2 in progress)
Total Pages read: 634 and 3 audiobook discs
Books I've finished: 3 - First Comes Love, Heist Society, Story of a Girl

Friday:
# of pages read today: 73 and 4 audiobook discs
# of books read today: 2 (both in progress)
Total Pages read: 707 and 7 audiobook discs
Books I've finished: 3 - First Comes Love, Heist Society, Story of a Girl

Saturday:
# of pages read today: 0 (busy day @ the Ogden Marathon)
# of books read today: 0
Total Pages read: 707 and 7 audiobook discs
Books I've finished: 3 - First Comes Love, Heist Society, Story of a Girl

Sunday:
# of pages read today: 190
# of books read today: 1
Total Pages read: 897 and 7 audiobook discs
Books I've finished: 4 - First Comes Love, Heist Society, Story of a Girl, The Near Witch

Friday Mini-Challenge:
Books and Shoes - Take any book you like and match up a character in the book OR the cover of the book to a shoe. The requirement is to only do one pairing, but feel free to do as many as you like.

Lexi from The Near Witch and her father's worn-in brown leather work boots

 

Shannon's Updates

Monday:
# of pages read today: 69
# of books read today: 1
Total Pages read: 69
Books I've finished: N/A

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