Waiting on Wednesday #45: Gated

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

My pick for this week is:

Do the gates keep the unchosen out or the chosen in?

In Mandrodage Meadows, life seems perfect. The members of this isolated suburban community have thrived under Pioneer, the charismatic leader who saved them from their sad, damaged lives. Lyla Hamilton and her parents are original members of the flock. They moved here following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, looking to escape the evil in the world. Now seventeen, Lyla knows certain facts are not to be questioned:

Pioneer is her leader.

Will is her Intended.

The end of the world is near.

Like Noah before him, Pioneer has been told of the imminent destruction of humanity. He says his chosen must arm themselves to fight off the unchosen people, who will surely seek refuge in the compound's underground fortress--the Silo.

Lyla loves her family and friends, but given the choice, she prefers painting to target practice. And lately she'd rather think about a certain boy outside the compound than plan for married life in the Silo with Will. But with the end of days drawing near, she will have to pick up a gun, take a side, and let everyone know where she stands.

---

This sounds like a really fascinating story.  I look forward to reading about the Silo.  I will be picking this up once it releases on August 27th.

What are you Waiting On this Wednesday?

Katie

Review: Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

  A sexy and poignant romantic tale of a young daredevil pilot caught between two brothers.

When I was fourteen, I made a decision. If I was doomed to live in a trailer park next to an airport, I could complain about the smell of the jet fuel like my mom, I could drink myself to death over the noise like everybody else, or I could learn to fly.

Heaven Beach, South Carolina, is anything but, if you live at the low-rent end of town. All her life, Leah Jones has been the grown-up in her family, while her mother moves from boyfriend to boyfriend, letting any available money slip out of her hands. At school, they may diss Leah as trash, but she’s the one who negotiates with the landlord when the rent’s not paid. At fourteen, she’s the one who gets a job at the nearby airstrip.

But there’s one way Leah can escape reality. Saving every penny she can, she begs quiet Mr. Hall, who runs an aerial banner-advertising business at the airstrip and also offers flight lessons, to take her up just once. Leaving the trailer park far beneath her and swooping out over the sea is a rush greater than anything she’s ever experienced, and when Mr. Hall offers to give her cut-rate flight lessons, she feels ready to touch the sky.

By the time she’s a high school senior, Leah has become a good enough pilot that Mr. Hall offers her a job flying a banner plane. It seems like a dream come true . . . but turns out to be just as fleeting as any dream. Mr. Hall dies suddenly, leaving everything he owned in the hands of his teenage sons: golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson. And they’re determined to keep the banner planes flying.

Though Leah has crushed on Grayson for years, she’s leery of getting involved in what now seems like a doomed business—until Grayson betrays her by digging up her most damning secret. Holding it over her head, he forces her to fly for secret reasons of his own, reasons involving Alec. Now Leah finds herself drawn into a battle between brothers—and the consequences could be deadly.

My Review:

Such a Rush was a great story with a unique topic that I haven't seen before in the books I've read - flying.  This is the first book that I have read about an 18 year old pilot.  I enjoyed the story and the characters and the writing.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Leah is a great main character.  She's been dealt many challenges in her life, yet she's managed to make the best of things.  After living next to airports in trailer parks through her childhood, at 14, she decides she is going to become a pilot and learn to fly at the nearby airport.  Mr. Hall, the owner of a banner-flying company, teaches Leah how to fly.  She forges her mother's name on a paper to show she has permission to take lessons.  Little does she know how that will come back to haunt her four years later.  Four years later, Leah is a certified pilot with an upcoming job for Hall Aviation, but then Mr. Hall.  His son, Grayson, decides to keep the business open, and he blackmails Leah to get her to work for her.

The two twin brothers in this book are both interesting characters.  They are Grayson and Alec Hall, and they often seem like opposites of each other.  Grayson is manipulative, but he's the one that Leah has crushed on for years.  He blackmails Leah into not only working for him, but also into dating his brother, Alec.  He won't tell her why she has to date Alec, though the reason becomes clear later in the book.  It also becomes obvious later that Grayson likes Leah, yet he won't let her stop pretending to like Alec.  Alec is the other brother, and he's a nice guy, but Leah is never romantically interested in him.  She pretends to like him to please Grayson, but she dreads the moments when he'll kiss her.

Another interesting character and relationship in this story is the friendship between Leah and Molly.  Sometimes Molly says a few things that aren't that nice about Leah, but it is obvious that she doesn't mean these things.  She and Leah begin to grow farther apart in the book as Molly gets angry at Leah.  Once the reader finds out something about Molly and Alec, it is easy to understand why Molly was mad.  Leah and Molly fight over this, and there is a great scene in the end when they reconcile.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie

Review: Fall for Anything

From the author of Cracked Up to Be and Some Girls Are comes a gripping story about one girl’s search for clues into the mysterious death of her father.

When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on...but are some questions better left unanswered?

My Review:

Fall for Anything was a quick read with an interesting plot and characters.  The storyline had an emotional feel to it due to the subject matter.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Eddie Reeves is a fascinating protagonist for this story.  She is clearly grieving after the suicide of her father, Seth Reeves, and she really wants to know why.  She had never known that her father was unhappy in the life that he had been living.  Seth was a photographer, and once she meets a student of his named Culler, she begins to search for clues about why he did what he did.  This book is primarily focused on Eddie, her interactions with others, and her emotions after this tragic event.  She was an interesting character to read about.

Then, there are the two boys in this book, Milo and Culler.  I say two boys, but this is not really a love triangle.  Culler was Seth's student of photography.  He and Eddie meet because they both visit the place where her father died.  Culler is looking for answers just like Eddie is.  Seth really saw talent in Culler, and Culler feels emotions about losing him too.  I liked Culler for most of the book, but there are some things late in the story that change my feelings towards him.  Milo is the boy that has been Eddie's best friend since the two of them were in 2nd grade.  There are times when it seems like they have feelings for each other, but then she has feelings for Culler, and it seems as if he has feelings for another girl.  Once she finds out that he and the other girl are just friends, there is a hint of romance between the two.

There is a strong family component to this story since Eddie is grieving because of what her dad did.  It is clear that her mom feels lost after Seth's death.  Her mom's best friend, Beth, has moved into the house with them to help Eddie and her mom try to rebuild their lives.  It is obvious that Eddie does not like Beth, yet sometimes she seems to realize that her mom needs her friend there.  Her mom basically lives in an old coat that Eddie's dad owned, and it is clear that she isn't ready to let him go.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie 

Waiting on Wednesday #44: My Life After Now

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

My pick for this week is:

WHAT NOW?

Lucy just had the worst week ever. Seriously, mega bad. And suddenly, it’s all too much—she wants out. Out of her house, out of her head, out of her life. She wants to be a whole new Lucy. So she does something the old Lucy would never dream of.

And now her life will never be the same. Now, how will she be able to have a boyfriend? What will she tell her friends? How will she face her family? Now, every moment is a precious gift. She never thought being positive could be so negative. But now, everything’s different…because now she’s living with HIV.

---

This sounds like it will be a really good book.  I look forward to seeing how Lucy deals with her illness.  I think it will probably be an emotional book.  This book releases on April 1st.

What are you Waiting On this Wednesday?

Katie

Review: Never Enough by Denise Jaden

From the author of Losing Faith, a novel about two sisters and the eating disorder that threatens to destroy their family.

Loann’s always wanted to be popular and pretty like her sister, Claire. So when Claire’s ex-boyfriend starts flirting with her, Loann is willing to do whatever it takes to feel special… even if that means betraying her sister.

But as Loann slips inside Claire’s world, she discovers that everything is not as it seems. Claire’s quest for perfection is all-consuming, and comes at a dangerous price. As Claire increasingly withdraws from friends and family, Loann struggles to understand her and make amends. Can she heal their relationship —and her sister—before it’s too late?

My Review:

I loved Losing Faith so I was excited to read Denise Jaden's second book, Never Enough.  I ended up loving it just as much as, if not more than, Losing Faith.  The family relationships, friendships, and plot in this book were amazing.  I have seen some reviews say they thought the pacing was off, but that isn't how I felt about.  I read through this book in a couple days, loving every minute of it.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

My favorite part of this book was probably reading about the relationship between the two sisters, Loann and Claire.  The book is told through Loann's POV, and the reader can see how she feels jealous of her older sister, and she feels like Claire is perfect, and she is not.  As the book progresses, readers can see how Claire is keeping many secrets, and how Loann cares about her and just wants her to get better.  Loann tries to make small comments, and do little things to get her parents to notice what is wrong with Claire.  It is clear to both Loann and the reader, yet the parents don't notice right away.

Another great part of this book is the way the friendship develops between Marcus and Loann.  Marcus' locker is next to Loann's, and that is how they meet.  They begin going out for coffee, and during the summer they start to work at the coffee shop.  They get to know each other more when they volunteer to work on a set together for school.  It becomes clear to Loann that Marcus is hiding some issues of his own, but she doesn't push him to tell her.  Though the friendship stays a friendship for the majority of the book, there are hints of it becoming something more.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie 

Review: Empty by KM Walton

Dell is used to disappointment. Ever since her dad left, it’s been one let down after another. But no one—not even her best friend—gets all the pain she’s going through. So Dell hides behind self-deprecating jokes and forced smiles.

Then the one person she trusts betrays her. Dell is beyond devastated. Without anyone to turn to for comfort, her depression and self-loathing spin out of control. But just how far will she go to make all of the heartbreak and name-calling stop?

My Review:

Empty is an emotional story about one girl's struggle with being overweight and bullied.  Even when some of the situations are hard to read about, the story keeps you gripped into the book.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Dell is an amazing protagonist.  Her life has clearly went downhill since her parents divorced after her dad cheated on her mom.  After her dad cheated, she began to eat for comfort, and she gained much weight.  At the beginning of the book, she gets cut from her softball team because she isn't in shape to play.  Kids at school bully her.  She doesn't think positively about herself, either.  She makes self-deprecating jokes, and thinks about herself in negative ways.

The bullying in this book is awful to read about.  The kids in the popular crowd tell her to moo and act like a sumo wrestler, and she listens to them.  They are entertained by this and think it's funny.  One of the boys who finds this funny is Brandon, the guy she's had a crush on since middle school.  At a party, he takes her up to a room to show her a video of a sumo wrestler who falls down and can't get up.  After showing her the video, he takes advantage of her.  When people at school find out they went upstairs together, he claims she took advantage of him.  She doesn't tell anyone the truth because she is sure that nobody would believe.

Cara, Dell's best friend, is not a good best friend.  She has some good moments, but she mostly isn't a true friend to Dell.  Cara is searching for a way into the popular crowd.  When she gets invited to a party by Taryn and Sydney, she begins to ditch Dell for them.  Of Cara's new friends, I found Sydney's character the most interesting.  She did two things that contradict each other, and she didn't seem to be a completely awful person.

The ending of this book is completely shocking.  It is definitely not a happy ending.  It is the type of ending that leaves me wanting to see how other characters react.  I would have loved to see the POV of Cara, or of Dell's mom, after this ending, but since the book is Dell's story that obviously wasn't going to happen.  I just really wonder how these characters reacted.

 If you like heavy, emotional YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie 

Waiting on Wednesday #43: The S Word

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

My pick for this week is:

First it was SLUT scribbled all over Lizzie Hart’s locker.

But one week after Lizzie kills herself, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it—in Lizzie's looping scrawl.

Lizzie’s reputation is destroyed when she's caught in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend on prom night. With the whole school turned against her, and Angie not speaking to her, Lizzie takes her own life. But someone isn’t letting her go quietly. As graffiti and photocopies of Lizzie’s diary plaster the school, Angie begins a relentless investigation into who, exactly, made Lizzie feel she didn’t deserve to keep living. And while she claims she simply wants to punish Lizzie’s tormentors, Angie's own anguish over abandoning her best friend will drive her deep into the dark, twisted side of Verity High—and she might not be able to pull herself back out.

Debut author Chelsea Pitcher daringly depicts the harsh reality of modern high schools, where one bad decision can ruin a reputation, and one cruel word can ruin a life. Angie’s quest for the truth behind Lizzie’s suicide is addictive and thrilling, and her razor-sharp wit and fierce sleuthing skills makes her impossible not to root for—even when it becomes clear that both avenging Lizzie and avoiding self-destruction might not be possible.

---

This sounds like a fascinating story.  I look forward to meeting Angie and finding out more about Lizzie.  This sounds like it will be an emotional read.

What are you Waiting On this Wednesday?

Katie

Review: Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moscowitz

In the wake of the post-9/11 sniper shootings, fragile love finds a stronghold in this intense, romantic novel from the author of Break and Invincible Summer.

It's a year after 9/11. Sniper shootings throughout the D.C. area have everyone on edge and trying to make sense of these random acts of violence. Meanwhile, Craig and Lio are just trying to make sense of their lives.

Craig’s crushing on quiet, distant Lio, and preoccupied with what it meant when Lio kissed him...and if he’ll do it again...and if kissing Lio will help him finally get over his ex-boyfriend, Cody.

Lio feels most alive when he's with Craig. He forgets about his broken family, his dead brother, and the messed up world. But being with Craig means being vulnerable...and Lio will have to decide whether love is worth the risk.

This intense, romantic novel from the author of Break and Invincible Summer is a poignant look at what it is to feel needed, connected, and alive.

Review:

Gone, Gone, Gone is the first book that I read in 2013, and I completely loved it.  It was a great way for me to start off the new year.  I fell into the story immediately, and I fell in love with the characters.  This book is character driven, and it isn't really about the plot.  It's about the lives of the people who are the protagonists.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

This book is told in dual POV by Craig and Lio.  I fell in love with both of these characters as I read this book.  They were extremely well-developed, and they both had flaws.  Craig had many animals that he liked to take in and keep, but they all escaped in the first scene of the book.  Throughout, there are mentions of him finding some of the animals again, and he keeps a count of which ones he is still missing.  He has many problems because his ex-boyfriend went a bit crazy after 9/11, and he is in a mental hospital type place now.  Meanwhile, the shootings are going on, and Craig seems to think he's invincible.  He doesn't worry about himself.


The other protagonist is Lio, the new kid in school who met Craig through an ambassador program that the school has.  Lio has several sisters, and he used to have a twin brother.  Both he and his brother got leukemia when they were young, but only Lio survived.  This has emotionally damaged him a bit.  He colors his hair multiple colors, so he won't look the way his twin brother would have grown up to look.  He also has a fascination with numbers and probability of things happening to certain people.  He uses numbers when thinking about the shootings.


The romance in this book was well done.  Both Lio and Craig are gay, but the book isn't about them coming out.  The fact that they're gay is more matter-of-fact in this book.  From the beginning it's clear that Lio has a crush on Craig, and it's also clear that Craig has a crush on Lio as well.  Despite this, the two boys don't immediately start dating each other.  Craig is still hung up on his ex-boyfriend, Cody, and he still loves Cody.  He and Cody never really did officially break up either.  The relationship that develops between is slow and realistic and sweet.  Their relationship certainly wasn't perfect, but it eventually worked out.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie 

Review: Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard

It's hard finding beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming, but 14-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it's not her mother's pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild-girl Mandarin Ramey: 17, shameless and utterly carefree. Grace would give anything to be like Mandarin.

When they're united for a project, they form an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and searching for someplace magic. Grace plays along when Mandarin suggests they run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds plaguing their Badlands town.

Because all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin's unique beauty hides a girl who's troubled, broken, and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, no friendship can withstand betrayal.

My Review:

I read Like Mandarin within one day.  At the beginning the story moved fairly slow, but once I really got into it, it picked up and I couldn't put it down.  The characters, setting, and the story were all very well done and enjoyable to read about.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Grace is a great protagonist, and one that is easy to like.  Much of this story involves Grace really finding herself and coming-of-age.  There's a huge transformation between the Grace in the beginning and the Grace in the end.  Her obsession with Mandarin was fascinating.  As the book progressed, I could see Grace changing (from the way she dressed to things she said to the way she acted) and becoming more like Mandarin.  

Mandarin herself is a very intriguing character.  In Washokey, there are plenty of rumors going around about her, but how many of them are actually true?  Even by the end of the book, the readers don't know the truth about all the rumors.  Mandarin tells some lies to Grace, including a huge lie about her mother.  Once she and Grace become friends, she definitely isn't always the best friend to Grace.  Grace and she have fun together, including doing some law-breaking things (liberating the trophies).  There is one time at a party at the quarry when Mandarin  sets Grace up in a bad situation.  This makes Grace start to really question her friendship with Mandarin.

Grace's family is also well written.  She lives with her Momma and her six-year-old sister Taffeta.  Taffeta is in pageants, and the pageants are an obsession of her Momma.  When Grace was young, she messed up her chances to win the pageants, so Taffeta is Momma's second chance.  Grace often believes her mom is still mad at for messing up the pageant years earlier.  Her mom doesn't pay too much attention to her for much of the book, but there are still some scenes with the two of them.

The setting was important to this book.  The book was descriptive about the setting, but not overly descriptive.  The winds in Washokey are mentioned in the book.  It says that these winds are what make the people get crazy.  The small-town setting shapes the plot since Washokey is the type of town where everyone knows everyone, and they all know each other's business.  When Grace befriends Mandarin, everyone knows.  It's also the type of town where crime goes unpunished since the police trust everyone and assume a drifter must have committed the crime. 

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie 

Waiting on Wednesday #42: Crash and Burn

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

My pick for this week is:

Michael Hassan’s shattering debut is a tale of first love and first hate, the story of two high school seniors and the morning that changed their lives forever. It’s a portrait of the modern American teenage male, in all his brash, disillusioned, oversexed, schizophrenic, drunk, nihilistic, hopeful, ADD-diagnosed glory.
And it’s a powerful mediation on how normal it is to be screwed up, and how screwed up it is to be normal.

---

This sounds like a really interesting.  It's also male POV, which is something that I like to read.  I look forward to reading this once it is released on February 19th.

What are you Waiting On this Wednesday?

Katie

Review: Me, Him, Them, and It by Caela Carter

When Evelyn decided to piss off her parents with a bad reputation, she wasn't planning to ruin her valedictorian status. She also wasn't planning to fall for Todd-the guy she was just using for sex. And she definitely wasn't planning on getting pregnant. When Todd turns his back on her, Evelyn's not sure where to go. Can a distant mother, a cheating father, an angry best friend, and a (thankfully) loving aunt with adopted daughters of her own help Evelyn make the heart-wrenching decisions that follow? With the popularity of Juno, Teen Mom, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager, this novel has a built-in audience. Gripping, heartfelt, and responsible, Me, Him, Them, and It is not to be missed!

My Review:

Me, Him, Them, and It is a great story that I sped through quickly.  I received an eARC of this book through Netgalley.  I loved the characters, and I grew attached to them as I read this story.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD 

Evelyn was a great main character.  It was easy for readers to see the decisions that she was struggling with throughout the book.  At the beginning she was rebelling because she felt her parents didn't pay enough attention to her.  She did not want to get pregnant, but it happened, so she was left with some big decisions to make.

The family characters in this book are well done.  It is clear that her parents aren't happy together, and sometimes they also don't know how to deal with Evelyn.  They don't really completely understand the right things to do or say as parents.  Evelyn is mad at her parents when they send her to her Aunt Linda's to have her baby there.  She is mad at first, but them sending her there turns out to be a good thing for Evelyn.  She becomes close with her Aunt Linda.  At first, her aunt's wife, Nora, seems to be wary of Evelyn.  She doesn't want Evelyn to spend time with her and Linda's adopted daughters.  Slowly, as she sees how her daughters love Evelyn, she grows to like her as well.  

Some other characters in the story are Lizzie and Todd.  Todd is the father of Evelyn's baby.  I wasn't a big fan of his character since he was so unsupportive.  He didn't want to be at all involved in Evelyn's decision.  He told her he didn't care what she did.  Lizzie was Evelyn's best friend.  When she found out about Evelyn's pregnancy from Todd, she got mad that Evelyn didn't tell her.  She wasn't in the story very much after the beginning, but she was still a good character.  By the end, she and Evelyn were friends again.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie 

Review: The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

Some schools have honor codes.
Others have handbooks.
Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.

In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone--especially yourself--you fight for it.

My Review:

The Mockingbirds was a book that I sped through quickly since I completely loved the story and the characters.  I couldn't put the book down since I had to know what would happen to Alex and how the trial would turn out.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Alex was a great main character.  The book starts off with her waking up in a stranger's bed and it shows the confusion that she feels.  It shows how she really doesn't remember her night with this guy, Carter.   Her friend TS, and sister Casey, help her realize that this may mean he date-raped her.  As more memories of the night come back to her, she realizes they are right.  They tell her she can go to the Mockingbirds, an organization that Casey had founded when she was a Themis student.  The book also shows how Alex plays the piano, and how the incident has an effect on her piano playing as well.

The secondary characters are well done.  Alex's two roommates, TS and Maia, are great friends to her.  She's closest to TS, but she has a good friendship with Maia as well.  In fact, Maia becomes her student advocate (lawyer) when she has her Mockingbird trial.  Then, there are the Mockingbird board who play rules in the story as well.  One member of the board is Martin, who was already friends with Alex before.  As the story progresses, a relationship between Alex and Martin begins to grow, and Mockingbird rules would forbid this relationship.  The other Mockingbirds, Amy and Ilana, play important rules in the story as well, especially Amy.  Then, there's Carter, a character I did not like, but he is a character that readers are also not supposed to like.  He dug himself into a hole in the trial by making a huge mistake in what he said.

The Mockingbird organization itself is rather fascinating.  The Mockingbirds have a leader, and there is one specific qualification necessary to be this leader.  Then there are the two other board members.  Then there are the New Nine (the jury).  Three of the New Nine will serve on the jury for each case.  Below them are the runners.  They do jobs around the school like attendance, and they can change the attendance so it says someone was absent when they weren't.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie

Waiting on Wednesday #41: Infinite Sky

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

My pick for this week is:

Iris Dancy’s free-spirited mum has left for Tunisia, her dad’s rarely sober and her brother’s determined to fight anyone with a pair of fists.

When a family of travellers move into the overgrown paddock overnight, her dad looks set to finally lose it. Gypsies are parasites he says, but Iris is intrigued. As her dad plans to evict the travelling family, Iris makes friends with their teenage son. Trick Deran is a bare knuckle boxer who says he’s done with fighting, but is he telling the truth?

When tools go missing from the shed, the travellers are the first suspects. Iris’s brother, Sam, warns her to stay away from Trick; he’s dangerous, but Iris can no longer blindly follow her brother’s advice. He’s got secrets of his own, and she’s not sure he can be trusted himself.

Infinite Sky is a family story about betrayal and loyalty, and love.

---

This sounds like a great book.  It's coming out February 14th in the UK, and I'm hoping it will out in the US then as well since I want to read it.

What are you Waiting On this Wednesday?

Katie

January Releases I'm Most Excited For

January 1st:
Empty by KM Walton  - I loved the KM Walton's debut novel, Cracked.  This one sounds just amazing.  I'm planning on buying this, reading it, then rereading Cracked.  It will be a good way to start off the new year.
Falling for You by Lisa Schroeder  - This sounds like a great, emotional book.  I haven't read anything else by the author, but this book sounds like a powerful story.  From the description, I think it's about an abusive relationship.



January 7th:
Brianna on the Brink by Nicole McInnes  - This sounds like an interesting teen pregnancy book.  I also like the cover.



January 8th:
Then You Were Gone by Lauren Strasnick - I haven't read any of Lauren Strasnick's other books yet, but this one sounds really good.  It sounds like it will be a really emotional read.




January 15th:
Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt - I have seen a lot of mixed reviews for this book.  Many of the complaints have to do with the writing style.  I don't know if I like the writing style or not since I haven't seen the book yet.  The book sounds really emotional and good, so I still want to read it, despite the mixed reviews.  Plus, Trish Doller did like it, and I loved her book.
Return to Me by Justina Chen - I really enjoyed North of Beautiful by this author, so I'm looking forward to this one too.  It sounds like a good story.



January 22nd:
Boundless by Cynthia Hand - I loved the first two books in this series, Unearthly and Hallowed.  I can't wait to see how the story gets wrapped up in the final book of the series.



January 29th:
Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook - This book sounds emotional and awesome.  I can't wait to read it.  It's told in dual POV, and I enjoy that style of writing.

 

January 31st:
Hooked by Liz Fichera - This sounds like an interesting story.  I look forward to meeting Fred and Ryan and watching their relationship develop.



Katie