2017 Most Anticipated - Simon and Schuster

Today I have Jackie from Simon and Schuster Canada offering up her choices for most anticipated reads of 2017. We have titles for the Middle Grade and YA fans, and even some adult titles for those who are looking for those.

There are a lot of amazing sounding titles and each one links to the Goodreads page, where available, so you can find out more about them. I highly recommend checking them all out.

Middle Grade/Teen
Beast is an Animal by Peternelle Van Arsdale
Anima’s Voice by Hena Khan
The Gauntlet  by Karuna Piazi
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandya Menon
Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han
Save the Date by Morgan Matson
Desserts First by Siobhan Vivian
Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

Adult
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Juliet’s Answer by Glenn Dixon
Kill the Father by Sandrone Dazieri
Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak
Keep Her Safe by KA Tucker
Enemies of Versailles by Sally Christie
Where I Live Now by Sharon Butalla
Roughneck by Jeff Lemire
Watch Me Go by Megan Miranda
Canadaland: Guide to Canada by Jesse Brown

A huge thank you to Jackie for taking the time to provide her list! 

Holiday Shopping - Book Edition

With the holidays quickly approaching I thought I would do a mini-event highlighting some of my favourite gift ideas for the holiday season, especially for those bookish people in your life. It may same early, but plenty of these suggestions need to be order online. It is always a good idea to purchase early as shipping time is usually increased during the holiday season.

Today I have the lovely people from Simon and Schuster Canada helping me with some suggestions on what books to pick up for the people in your life. Jacke from Simon and Schuster, very kindly, offered up her suggestions on what to get based on the kind of reader they are!

Jackie from Simon and Schuster Recommends 

For The Contemporary Teen Reader

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)
The Last Boy and Girl in the World by Siobhan Vivian (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)
Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)
Overdrive by Dawn Ius (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)

For The Canadian Teen Reader

Swan Riders by Erin Bow (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)
The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)
Fate of Flames  by Sarah Raughley (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)

For The Serial Teen Reader

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments 1-7) (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)
PS: I Still Love You by Jenny Han (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)

For the Curious Teen

Boy Robot by Simon Curtis (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)
The Diabolic by SJ Kincaid (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)
Scythe by Neal Shusterman (Goodreads/Simon and Schuster)

These are all amazing choices to give someone and all of them are currently available to purchase as the retailer of your choice!

Now, my own choices for which books you should give this holiday season ... 

If your giving to someone who loves contemporary ...

- Simon Vs The Homosapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Goodreads)
- When We Collided by Emery Lord (any any Emery Lord novel) (Goodreads)
- The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (Goodreads)

If you're giving to someone who like their books with some spice (ie - sexytimes) ....

- Any Elliot Wake novel (Bad Boy, Cam Girl, etc) (Goodreads)
-  Sweet Flithy Boy by Christen Lauren (Goodreads)
- Captive Prince by C.S. Pascat (Goodreads) *

If you're giving to someone who loves twists and chills ....

- Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco (Goodreads)
- Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas (Goodreads)
- Lock and Mori by Heather W Petty (Goodreads)

If you're giving to someone who miss Gossip Girl (or who loves books steeped in drama)

- Paper Princess by Erin Watt (Goodreads)
- The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee (Goodreads)
- Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton (Goodreads)

A few of my personal favourites that I gave gifted everyone

- Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson (Goodreads)
- A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly (Goodreads)
- Stolen by Lucy Christopher (Goodreads)

Cannot miss series

- Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard (Goodreads)
- Six Of Crows series by Leigh Bardugo (Goodreads)
- A Darker Shade Of Magic series by VE Schwab (Goodreads)

And lastly, pre-orders that will delight any book nerd ....

- When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (Goodreads)
- The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich (Goodreads)
- The Gentleman's Guide To Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (Goodreads)

Tomorrow and Saturday I will have some suggestions on what to get the bookish person in your life when you don't want to gift them books! Be sure to stop by to get some ideas, and hopefully a head start on your holiday shopping.

* I have not read Captive Prince (yet) but I have heard nothing by raves about it so feel confident of putting it on the list. 

Spice Up Your Reads With Simon and Schuster Canada!

The New Adult genre is certainly taking off with more and more titles being released from publishers. Simon and Schuster Canada is heating up the month of July with giveaways being held every day to celebrate this new and exciting genre.

You can enter by visiting (and liking) the new SPICED UP READS Facebook page for Simon and Schuster Canada. The contests are for Canadian residents only (excluding Quebec) and all the other rules/regulations can be found on the Facebook page.

http://facebook.com/spicedupreads

They even have a fun 'heat meter' that will help you determine the level of spice you want in your novel, and if the novel in question would be a good fit! Check it out, and be sure to enter some of the giveaways (and check back daily for the new giveaways!).

Are you a fan of New Adult? If so what are some books you've read and loved?

Stay Warm With Simon and Schuster Canada

Do January and February give you the winter blues? If so, Simon and Schuster has just the thing to help you warm up those cold winter days.....

A contest filled with books, mitts, and other goodies to keep you warm, and strive off winter boredom. Sounds great right?

The titles up for grabs are

- The Ultimate Survival Guide (Canadian Edition)
- The Demonologist
- The Troop
- The Best Cook Book Ever
- Chicken Soup for the Soul: Wonders of Winter
- Hyperbole and a Half
- Octopus's Garden
- Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants

If you want more details, Simon and Schuster has a special website StayWarmBooks.ca set up for the contest. You can enter right from there, and check out all the prizes included in the giveaway.

Let me know your stay warm winter tip in the comments below, and be sure check out Simon and Schuster for more details.

Waiting on Wednesday...The Evolution of Mara Dyer

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

My pick this week is The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Two days after Mara walks into a police station in Miami at the close of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, she is committed for psychiatric treatment for what her parents believe is a mental breakdown. But what seems like a hallucination to everyone else is a chilling reality for Mara. Someone from her past has discovered her strange, disturbing secret and that someone wants her to pay. But she's about to discover that the price is more than she can bear.

Dark and thrilling, suspenseful and passionate, The Evolution of Mara Dyer will have readers breathlessly turning pages to find out what will become of Mara Dyer next.

The cover....OMG! I am still hyperventilating over the awesomeness. I love it so much. It scares me though, because it makes me worry about Noah. The synopsis has me beyond crazy excited to get my hands on this one. I am officially wishing I could skip all the months until October right now.

Expected release date - October 23, 2012

Dead to You by Lisa McMann

Dead to You by Lisa McMann
Release Date –  February 7, 2012
Publisher Website –  Simon Pulse
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 243 pages
My Rating- 8/10
**obtained from blogger meet up **

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It's a miracle... at first. Then the tensions start to build. His reintroduction to his old life isn't going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he'd be able to put the pieces back together. But there's something that's keeping his memory blocked. Something unspeakable...

I had only read one Lisa McMann book previous to this, which is Cryer’s Cross. If you read my review you’ll know it wasn’t really the book for me. Dead To You, however, was simply enthralling from the very first page.

The story premise may sound simple - a young boy is kidnapped and years later is returned to his family. The complexity comes from the emotions each of the family members face while adjusting to Ethan’s presence, while trying to bring back some form of  normalcy to their lives. The feelings range from relief, guilt, resentment, and everyone is just overwhelmed.  Media crews, family fights, and accusations put everyone on edge. It’s an all too realistic portrait of what a family might face in this type of situation.

Ethan will pull at your heart strings. He has had a tough life, and feels conflicted about not remembering his family. He still cares about the woman who essentially raised him and he is just doing his best to fit back into his life.

Blake his younger brother still feels bitter about the fact that Ethan got into the car that fateful day. He wants to know why Ethan did it and feels that Ethan is responsible for tearing the family apart. He is also suspicious of Ethan’s memory loss and even voices his opinion that he doesn’t believe that the real Ethan has returned to them.

Gracie the sweet younger sister is met with a little resentment on Ethan’s part. He feels she is a “replacement child” for him after he went missing. Once Ethan bonds with her they end up having very sweet relationship. She’s the one person in the family that accepts Ethan and didn’t know him from before. She was cute, and I really liked her and she brought out another side to Ethan that was refreshing to see.

The ending packs a punch and will leave you heartbroken. Lisa manages to convey the utter devastation the ending brings with just a few paragraphs. While the ending was one I thought of while reading the book, the twist Lisa puts on it keeps it fresh and surprising.

This book made me want to reach out and hug my young nieces and hold them tight. A missing child is pretty much the worst nightmare a family can go through, and as Lisa shows in this haunting novel, the devastation and heartache caused from something like this will impact a family forever, no matter what the outcome.

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Fever by Lauren DeStefano
Release Date – February 21, 2012
Publisher Website – Simon and Schuster
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - pages
My Rating- 8.5/10
**Obtained from swapping with another bloggers**

********************Spoilers for Wither************************

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

Wither ended with Rhine and Gabriel escaping the mansion and setting off to Manhattan to find her brother. Fever picks up when they’ve come ashore and we quickly learn it’s not going to be an easy or peril free journey for them.

In many ways Fever scared me more than Wither. The world outside the mansion is just as (if not more so) dangerous than the one Rhine left behind. There are some pretty horrible fates that can await young women in Rhine’s position and we get a taste of what happens to those who don’t become brides. It’s easy to imagine a world like this and that is where Lauren manages to capture your attention. It also brings to mind one of the main plot points of the second novel - Rhine coming to terms with leaving the mansion and if it was the right choice. She spends a lot of time thinking about Cecily, Linden and the comforts of the mansion. There are cases where it almost seems like Rhine has been freed from one prison just to be locked into another one.

I liked Rhine in this novel. She didn’t just sit back and let things happen. She fights and is very focused. Sadly, she spends much of the novel in situations that are really beyond her control.

Vaughn is horrible.He is such a chilling bad guy. Mostly because he is driven by something we can all understand. He wants to find a cure. His means of doing it are awful, but it is something everyone wants. Also, just when you think the chills and creep factor could not get higher Rhine has something done to her eyes that will give me nightmares.

Fever ends with Rhine once again on the edge and trapped in a precarious situation. She’s dropped an explosion on someone and we are going to have to wait for book three to see the fallout.

Lauren’s dark, scary, and all to realistic world combined with a wonderful writing style has me anxiously awaiting the next instalment in the series.

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick
Release Date – October 4, 2011
Publisher Website – Simon and Schuster
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 438 pages
My Rating- 7.5/10
**purchased**
***SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS***

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

The noise between Patch and Nora is gone. They've overcome the secrets riddled in Patch's dark past...bridged two irreconcilable worlds...faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal, loyalty and trust...and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another, Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for—and their love—forever.

At the end of Crescendo Nora had been told a shocking revelation and it was the kind of cliffhanger that drives you crazy waiting for the next book.

Silence doesn’t pick up right where Crescendo left off. Instead, we see Nora after she’s been missing for a few months. She can’t recall anything of the kidnapping, and even scarier is the fact that she can’t recall the past 5 months. No memories of Patch, the Nephilim or any of the secrets she learned along the way.

The mystery of what happened, and how Nora had her memories erased is filled with some twists, turns, and new reveals. I did not mind knowing more than Nora. It could have been infuriating, but the plot kept me interested and was fast paced.

Nora changes in this novel quite a bit. I felt she became a much stronger character. She actively tried to trigger her memories, and went looking for clues to what happened. She tired to help people in danger, and was there for her friends when they needed her. She, as usual, does some stuff that you want to shake her for, but she seems to be someone who jumps right in and asks questions later.

The only thing that I felt was missing was Patch. He was sparse for the first half of the novel or so, but the end sort of makes up for it. There is enough swoon worthy, romantic moments to satisfy hardcore Patch fans. Patch’s character is pretty much the same as the previous novels, it’s Nora that changes.

Hank Miller sort of surprised me. He was a much better, scarier villain than I was expecting him to be. He was cold, calculating and not above hurting those he claimed to care about, never mind those he doesn’t have any use for.

The ending is once again one of those insane cliffhangers that leaves you gasping. I can’t wait to see what happens next as it changes everything for Nora and Patch.

Becca Fitzpatricks’ writing is captivating and will have you engrossed right from the beginning. You’ll have read large sections of the book without even realizing how much you’ve actually read. Silence is filled with romance, action, mystery and is a great addition to the series.

In My Mailbox...

This is a weekly meme hosted by the awesome Kristi at The Story Siren. It gives us a chance to showcase the books we got during the week.

I have just one book to tell you about this week...kind of a slow book week for me.





*Aria welcoming the new book into her home. She's obsessed with books too*

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (goodreads)

If you read my review you'll know I LOVED this one. I had to get the Collectors First Edition. Chapters (Canadian bookstore company) was offering the edition that has the letter Will wrote to his family on his birthday and an inscription he writes for Tessa in a copy of "A Tale of Two Cities".

What books did you get this week? Leave me a comment and I will check it out.

Happy reading everyone!

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
Release Date – December 6, 2011
Publisher Website – Simon and Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 497 pages
My Rating- 10/10
**obtained from the publisher for an honest review**
***SPOILERS FOR CLOCKWORK ANGEL***

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

If you’ve ever read a Cassandra Clare novel you know that there are certain things you can expect. You can expect to laugh, cry, be shocked, and to swoon over the hot boys. Clockwork Prince offers this and so much more. In what I think is Cassandra’s best work yet she has captured the essence of friendship, the bitter sweetness of first loves, and what desperation will drive people to do.

There are moments of such light hearted humour. Will’s humour is of the sarcastic variety and he once again provides us with some amazing one liners. There are also equal moments of complete heartbreak that I found myself crying more than once. There is a chapter near the end that completely shattered me.

Tessa really comes into her own in this novel. She was always strong but it’s even more evident. Her desire to help others, and learn as much as she can is admirable. She tries to do the right thing, even when it means her own happiness, and she is forgiving. Her journey to find out what and who she is is relatable. We all want to know where we come from, what our purpose is.

Will’s character develops so much in this novel. There are so many layers to this complex young man that I still think we’re just beginning to scratch the surface. We do find out why Will went to see Magnus and it surprised me. I think Jem says it best with this quote “When Will truly wants something, when he feels something — he can break your heart.”. He can, and totally does.

Jem really shines in this novel. Will is by no means not present, and he does play a huge part, but Jem fans will particularly relish the connection he makes with Tessa. Jem definitely brings the sexy. Jem’s story is so heartbreaking, so tragic that you can’t help but feel for him. He’s aware of his own mortality which makes his story that much more devastating.

Which brings us to the triangle. This is hands down my favourite triangle. It’s one of the only ones I enjoy. I don’t have a team, nor do I want one. The relationship between Will and Jem is so developed and wonderful that either of them being hurt is a heartbreaking thought. Tessa has a tough choice to make. The fact that both choices present such clear, yet different pictures of how Tessa’s life could be just shows how developed the characters are.

Magnus Bane…just when I thought I knew him Cassandra goes and reveals something new. His relationship with Will is so touching. He is not quite the Magnus we meet in the Mortal Instruments series, but we do see things that will shape him in to the fabulousness we know and love.

The betrayal that is spoken of was a little shocking. It just shows what someone will do when they feel abandoned and desperate.

I am breathlessly awaiting the final instalment in this amazing, complex series. It’s a completely other story as to whether or not my heart can handle it.