Postcard For Reader

Debut December: Upcoming Books (7)

I hope you all enjoyed Brave New Worlds week as much as I did! Now we're back to a general assortment of books, including some steampunk, some historical, some contemporary...

Butter
Author: Erin Lange
Release Date: Fall 2012

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A boy everyone calls “Butter” is about to make Scottsdale High history. He’s going to eat himself to death live on the Internet – and everyone will watch.

He announces his deadly plan to an army of peers and expects pity, insults or even indifference. Instead, he finds morbid encouragement. When that encouragement tips the scales into popularity, Butter has a reason to live. But if he doesn’t go through with his plan, he’ll lose everything.

How does Erin Lange summarize it?: "Christmas is over, and New Year's Eve is right around the corner. Most of us are planning where to party and who to kiss at Midnight. But one obese teenage boy is planning his own death. On New Year's Eve, a boy everyone calls Butter will eat himself to death live on the internet. At least, that's the plan. But this morbid suicide plot has earned Butter a few fans - maybe even a few friends. Now he wants to live, but if he doesn't go through with his plan, he could lose everything. He has a decision to make, and the countdown to Midnight is already ticking away..."

Innocent Darkness
Author: Suzanne Lazear
Release Date: 8 August 2012

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Wish. Love. Desire. Live.

Sixteen-year-old Noli Braddock's hoyden ways land her in an abusive reform school far from home. On mid-summer's eve she wishes to be anyplace but that dreadful school. A mysterious man from the Realm of Faerie rescues her and brings her to the Otherworld, only to reveal that she must be sacrificed, otherwise, the entire Otherworld civilization will perish.

How does Suzanne Lazear summarize it?: "Hot. Steampunk. Fairies."

Cracked
Author: K.M. Walton
Release Date: 3 Janurary 2012

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Sometimes there's no easy way out.

Victor hates his life. He has no friends, gets beaten up at school, and his parents are always criticizing him. Tired of feeling miserable, Victor takes a bottle of his mother's sleeping pills—only to wake up in the hospital.

Bull is angry, and takes all of his rage out on Victor. That makes him feel better, at least a little. But it doesn't stop Bull's grandfather from getting drunk and hitting him. So Bull tries to defend himself with a loaded gun.

When Victor and Bull end up as roommates in the same psych ward, there's no way to escape each other or their problems. Which means things are going to get worse—much worse—before they get better…

How does K.M. Walton summarize it?: "Cracked is serious and touching, heartbreaking and hopeful. It tells the story of a bully and his victim in alternating points of view. I thought it would be interesting for readers to see the effects of bullying from both sides. I taught middle school for ten years and I never encountered a bully who didn’t have his/her own junk to deal with. That anger and rage has to stem from somewhere."

Crewel
Author: Gennifer Albin
Release Date: 16 October 2012

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Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight.

Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.

How does Gennifer Albin summarize it?: "Crewel is really a mish-mash of things I love: Old Hollywood, exotic cuisine, smoke and mirrors, and plenty of kissing. Adelice, the 16 year-old heroine, is entirely her own person in a society that tries to choose everything for women, so it's a world that you both want to live in and escape from, and I hope readers will love it as much as I do."

The Wicked & The Just
Author: J. Anderson Coats
Release Date: 17 April 2012

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Cecily longs to return to her beloved Edgeley Hall, where her father was lord of the manor. But now he has completely ruined her life. He is moving them to Caernarvon, in occupied Wales, where he can get a place for almost nothing, since the king needs good strong Englishmen to keep down the vicious Welshmen. At least Cecily will get to be the lady of the house at last—if all goes well.

Gwenhwyfar knows all about that house. Once she dreamed of being the lady there herself, until the English came and destroyed the lives of everyone she knows. Now Gwenhwyfar must wait hand and foot on this bratty English girl who has taken what should have been hers.

While Cecily struggles to find her place amongst the snobby English landowners, Gwenhwyfar struggles just to survive. And meanwhile the Welsh are not as conquered as they seem. Outside the city walls of Caernarvon, tensions are rising ever higher—until finally they must reach the breaking point.

Fun fact about this cover: It's one of Nicole's favorite covers of all of the debut novels - she loves silhouettes!