Release Days Round-Up: January 13-19

New Releases

In Paperback

Catherine by April Lindner

Release Date: Jan. 2, 2013
Publisher: Poppy
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 320
Buy: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / IndieBound
Description: Goodreads
A forbidden romance. A modern mystery. Wuthering Heights as you’ve never seen it before.

Catherine is tired of struggling musicians befriending her just so they can get a gig at her Dad’s famous Manhattan club, The Underground. Then she meets mysterious Hence, an unbelievably passionate and talented musician on the brink of success. As their relationship grows, both are swept away in a fiery romance. But when their love is tested by a cruel whim of fate, will pride keep them apart?

Chelsea has always believed that her mom died of a sudden illness, until she finds a letter her dad has kept from her for years—a letter from her mom, Catherine, who didn’t die: She disappeared. Driven by unanswered questions, Chelsea sets out to look for her—starting with the return address on the letter: The Underground.

Told in two voices, twenty years apart, Catherine interweaves a timeless forbidden romance with a compelling modern mystery.

Confession time: I’ve never actually read Wuthering Heights. Not only that, but I’m not that familiar with the story. I know there’s a girl named Catherine, a boy named Heathcliff, and they’re always wandering the foggy moors.  Oh, and it’s also dead depressing, emphasis on the word dead. However, April Lindner’s modern retelling of Jane Eyre (2010’s Jane) somehow got me to care about a novel I had despised since high school (love the plot, but please Charlotte, get to the point!). I’m happy to state that while I didn’t love Catherine as much as Jane, I found Lindner’s new retelling to be edgy, exciting, and enthralling, and I know I’ll carry this story with me for a long time.

Chelsea Price grew up believing that her mother Catherine had died when she was only three years old. One boring summer day before her senior year, she discovers a letter from Catherine that turns her world upside down—Catherine may still be alive and hiding in New York City. Without hesitation, Chelsea takes off to the letter’s return address: an infamous rock venue in The Bowery called The Underground. Alternating between present day Chelsea and a teenaged Catherine, Chelsea digs deep to solve the mystery of her mother’s whereabouts, finding an entirely new story along the way.

The alternating narrators prevail here. Chelsea starts as so naïve, but she’s strong-willed and stubborn as well. As soon as we hear from Catherine, we find that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Still, their voices, and most definitely their stories, are distinct enough to where you’re never confused. The most compelling aspect, though, is the stark difference between the Hence that Catherine meets in the past versus the snarly, drunken, bitter Hence of the present. As the stories unfold and you get why Hence has become that way, your heart breaks just a little bit more. I’m not a stickler when it comes to retellings about keeping every plot point. To me, it’s far more important that the tone and theme of the original carries through to the retelling.  From what I’ve now learned about Wuthering Heights plus the little I already knew, that’s definitely the case here. Oh, sweeping, all-encompassing, impossible romance. How you tear us all asunder!

Now, you’ve had time to get to know me through my previous reviews, so it shouldn’t surprise you that what I would have liked to see here was a bit more back story. What happened to Hence before we came to The Underground to make him so broken? Why was Quentin so creepily laser-focused on Catherine, and why didn’t that raise any big honkin’ red flags to anyone? These may not have been vitally important, but I think it would have enhanced the characters to know their motivation. Also, occasionally I found the dialogue to be awkward and stilted, more like the way you think people talk as opposed to how they actually talk. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it took me out of the moment.

Catherine succeeded to me because it piqued my interest in the source material, and it could easily do the same for you. Whether you’ve read Wuthering Heights before or not, I think Catherine is an excellent example of a retelling done right.

More Author Insight: Writerly Convenience

Outside of the internet, what's your biggest writerly convenience?

"My office. It gives me a space that’s just for Sara the Writer and allows me to leave that persona behind when I step out of the room." - Sara Walsh, author of The Dark Light.

"The woods outside my house. For Thinking Walks, you know." - Stefan Bachmann, author of The Peculiar.

"Five subject notebooks are my weakness. I love buying new notebooks and filling them with plot ideas and character names and sketches. The blank page is full of possibility. If you have a notebook full of blank pages, the universe can be yours." - Robin Bridges, author of The Unfailing Light.

"I love working in my office at home where I have a second computer screen. I can see so much more of the page when I’m working there. So though I love going to coffee shops and writing, I also have definite days that I spend at home when I know I have a ton to accomplish." - P.J. Hoover, author of Solstice.

Waiting on Wednesday (40)

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

that highlights eagerly anticipated books.

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Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger

Release Date: March 5, 2013

Publisher: Simon Pulse 

Author Website: http://ramblingsofawannabescribe.blogspot.com/

Pre-order: Amazon / IndieBound / Barnes & Noble

Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.

Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

Why can't I wait? 
This novel hooked me when I first heard about it nearly six  months ago and every time I read the description I get sucked back in. Elementals, powers, love, sacrifice... Is there anything this story doesn't have?

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Poison by Bridget Zinn

Release Date: March 12, 2013

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Author Website: http://www.bridgetzinn.com/

Pre-order: Amazon / IndieBound / Barnes & Noble

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she’s the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

Why can't I wait? 

A potion-making, dart-shooting, attempted-murdering-of-her-former-bestie heroine on the run from an army as well as her ex? Oh, and also there's a pig.  I don't even know, but that's why I love it.  Bring it, Kyra.

Author Insight: Writerly Conveniences

Outside of the internet, what's your biggest writerly convenience?

"My iPhone. I take it with me hiking and stop and tap out notes to myself as emails, sometimes whole passages skitter out on that tiny screen." - Daniel Marks, author of Velveteen.

"My shower. I swear it’s magic. When I am having trouble writing, somehow water flowing over my head always jumpstarts my good ideas." - Lenore Appelhans, author of Level 2.

"The dictionary, of course. Often I know what a word means in a general sense, but not in a specific one. And precision of language is obviously very important to a writer. Which is why I’m constantly getting up from my chair to bop on over to the Oxford English Dictionary, consult its pages." - Lili Peloquin, author of The Innocents. 

"My word processor, definitely. When I started writing as a kid I used my mom's typewriter--that's what I learned on. But later, my family got a computer. I started using a word processor, and the flexibility astounded me, especially in fixing errors and moving things around. These days I mostly take it for granted, but I also wonder if there are any weaknesses produced by all of this convenience. (I haven't wondered enough yet to give it up, though.)" - Steven Arntson, author of The Wrap-Up List.

Pivot Point by Kasie West

Release Date: Feb. 12, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 320
Buy: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / IndieBound
Description: Goodreads
Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

There’s this movie I love from the late 90s called Sliding Doors.  It features a British accented Gwyneth Paltrow as a recently fired woman named Helen, and the entire narrative of the film alternates between the Helen who caught her train home and the Helen who didn’t.  As soon as I read the summary of Kasie West’s Pivot Point, I thought it sounded like a YA paranormal Sliding Doors, which is absolutely my kind of story.  Plus, there’s the added bonus of teens with superpowers, a trope of which I never seem to tire.  While there are a few aspects that didn’t completely win me over, I found Pivot Point to be engaging and entirely worth my time.

Addison Coleman is a Searcher, which means that when she has a decision to make, she can look into the future and see both potential outcomes.  They live together on The Compound, a secret location where paranormals like her and her family live, work, and go to school to learn to harness their power as well as exist among the Norms on the outside.  One day, she comes home to a series of bombshells: her parents are divorcing, and her dad is moving out of The Compound to live a decidedly more normal life.  Her parents tell her to Search both options to decide which parent she should live with, and that’s when our real story begins.  Each chapter alternates between Door Number 1 (staying with her mom on The Compound) and Door Number 2 (moving to Dallas with her father and attending a normal public high school). 

 The plotting and story-telling at work here are really something.  The two timelines weave in and out of one another seamlessly, but somehow it manages to steer clear of confusion.  There are so many ways Addie’s back-and-forth could easily send the reader’s mind into a tailspin of “What the what is she talking about?” but Kasie West pulls this off and she pulls it off well.  Actually, the reader is the big winner here, as we are treated to more details and twists by knowing both storylines.  There are times when you wish you could let Para-Addie or Norm-Addie know what’s to come, but it’s so much better to watch it unfold on its own.  Another super fun aspect of dual plots is dual love interests without creating a triangle!  Huzzah!  Granted, one fella is leaps and bounds over the other, but I’ll let you make that decision for yourself.

But then there’s the world building.  While I think the world itself is dynamic (and I’m always excited to see a touch of Friday Night Lights with that football arc), I wish there was a bit more detail to the paranormal side of things.  Addie is bare-bones in her description of certain aspects of her paranormal world, and I would have liked to hear more about it.  Part of that is just my own curiosity, but also I thought knowing more about her para life and The Compound would make the Normal World look more interesting.

All together, I totally dug Kasie West’s thrilling debut.  I’m delighted to know there will be a sequel, because I’m not quite ready to let these characters go.  If you’re looking for something outside of your typical paranormal or contemporary, Pivot Point strikes a perfect balance.