Postcard For Reader

Debut December: Upcoming Books (3)

And here... we... go. (Mad props to whoever acknowledges the movie I'm referencing. Or, er, who I hear in my head every time I say that!)

Gilt
Author: Katherine Longshore
Release Date: 15 May 2012

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In the Tudor age, ambition, power and charismatic allure are essential and Catherine Howard has plenty of all three. Not to mention her loyal best friend, Kitty Tylney, to help cover her tracks. Kitty, the abandoned youngest daughter of minor aristocracy, owes everything to Cat – where she is, what she is, even who she is. Friend, flirt, and self-proclaimed Queen of Misrule, Cat reigns supreme in a loyal court of girls under the none-too-watchful eye of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.

When Cat worms her way into the heart of Henry VIII and becomes Queen of England, Kitty is thrown into the intoxicating Tudor Court. It’s a world of glittering jewels and elegant costumes, of gossip and deception. As the Queen’s right-hand-woman, Kitty goes from the girl nobody noticed to being caught between two men – the object of her affection and the object of her desire.

But the atmosphere of the court turns from dazzling to deadly, and Kitty is forced to learn the difference between trust and loyalty, love and lust, secrets and treason. And to accept the consequences when some lessons are learned too late.

How does Katherine Longshore summarize it?: "I wanted to write an historical novel that reads like a contemporary -- just with gowns, jewels, swords and codpieces. In Gilt, Cat Howard was Queen Bee long before she became queen, and her best friend Kitty Tylney is the one who has to live with the consequences."

Blind Spot
Author: Laura Ellen
Release Date: Fall 2012

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Winter stopped hiding Tricia Farni on Good Friday. A truck driver, anxious to shave forty minutes off his commute, ventured across the shallow section of the Birch River used as an ice bridge during the winter. His truck plunged into the frigid water, and as rescuers worked to save him and his semi, Tricia’s body floated to the surface. She’d been missing since the incident in the loft six months ago.

Fifteen-year-old Roswell Hart is used to missing things. With macular degeneration, an eye disease that robs her of central vision (and it seems, best friends too), Roz is constantly piecing together bits and pieces to make sense of her life. But sometimes life just doesn't make sense. Like when she has to start high school alone, betrayed by her lifetime best friend, in a special needs class even though she has consistently been an A student, and when the hottest guy in school, Jonathan Webb, seduces her into his fast-paced social circle. Roz's desperate need to be 'normal' manifests in choices that spin all the bits and pieces of her life wildly out of control. When Roz's classmate Tricia Farni is found dead and Roz was the last person to see her alive, Roz needs to know what she missed that awful night by Birch River. Problem is, she doesn’t remember...

How does Laura Ellen summarize it?: "Blind Spot, a YA thriller, is as much about finding one’s self as it is about finding a killer. With a visual impairment that blocks her central vision, 16 year old Roswell Hart is desperate to prove she’s ‘normal’. But when her classmate, Tricia, is found dead and she was last seen fighting with Roz, Roz finds herself desperate to prove something else — her innocence. Unable to remember the events of that terrible night, Roz must find a way to discover the truth. But how do you find a killer when your memory has betrayed you and you don’t know who to trust, including yourself?"

Velveteen
Author: Daniel Marks
Release Date: 2012

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Velvet Monroe won’t be “resting in peace” until her killer is either behind bars, catatonic, or 6-feet-under. But in Purgatory, unsanctioned hauntings are criminal and her secret campaign of terror is distracting her from her soul salvaging work. When a bizarre mission turns up devastating hottie Nick—so not her type—her tenuous grasp on the rules goes straight out the window. Casual banter turns into passionate trysts, a week of ritual abuse awaits her killer’s latest victim, and a revolution looms threateningly. If Velvet doesn’t straighten up, it could mean death knells for Purgatory and all those she’s come to love.

How does Daniel Marks summarize it?: "Haunting her own serial killer, while gratifying, turns into a huge and possibly catastrophic distraction for Velvet Monroe and everyone she holds dear, including newly dead Nick, who despite a startling lack of scars and tattoos, she’s into…sort of."

Scarlet
Author: A.C. Gaughen
Release Date: 14 February 2012

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Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance. Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

How does A.C. Gaughen summarize it?: "Scarlet is the side of Robin Hood that I always wanted to read as a young girl. If you're a cool and fierce and not-waiting-to-be-rescued girl, it's tough to find a place to see yourself in the existing stories. Scarlet gives the butt-kicking girls a new part of the legend to enjoy!"

Mystique
Author: Shari Arnold
Release Date: Spring 2012

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Only Bauer Grant can pull off gorgeous while dead. But staying dead is another thing entirely. When he wakes up at his own funeral, the town of Mystique calls it a miracle—until it happens again. Something is bringing the residents of Mystique back to life, but what? Presley Caine finds herself caught up in the mystery when Bauer asks her to visit him. Presley can’t figure out why the most popular guy in school is so drawn to her. And when Bauer is kidnapped soon after, she looks to Bauer’s brooding best friend Sam, whose dad works for the powerful Mystique military base, for answers. In her quest to discover the truth, Presley’s relationship with Sam deepens, her feelings for Bauer are tested, and it becomes clear that her own mysterious past is somehow connected to these strange events. But is she strong enough to handle the truth when it is finally revealed?

How does Shari Arnold summarize it?: "Seventeen-year-old Presley Caine witnesses the resurrection of the most popular boy in her school, in the middle of his funeral, and must figure out why the people of Mystique, Maine are coming back to life. And why the boy is now strangely drawn to her."

Which one of these are you excited for? Gilt sounds fabulous, and Scarlet reminds me a lot of BBC's Robin Hood!