What's Next? (1)

What's Next? is a weekly event hosted by Icey Books where you guys get to suggest what book I should read next from a list that I provide.

Some of you might have guessed I've been having trouble reading books lately! Between writing, family stuff and fall weather (which for some reason makes me really, really, sleepy!) the books on my shelves are doing that weird thing where all the words sorta meld together. But I need to take a pause between doing edit notes for Sealer's Promise and actually making the edits, and if I want those edits to come out well I know I need to read stuff. That's non-negotiable.

What's Next? seems like a win-win to me. I hopefully get some motivation to read something and you guys get to hear my thoughts on something, rather than wondering what random book I'll finally come back with. So without further ado, here are...

The Burning Sky
by Sherry Thomas

It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.

Why I Bought It: Magic, a prince, and romance? What's not to love, it's right up my alley. :D

Why I'm hesitant: Things could go very bad for this couple. It's the first book in a trilogy. It's historical, which can be hit or miss for me--and I didn't know that when I bought it.

If You Leave
by Courtney Cole

26-year old Gabriel Vincent is a badass hero. Or he used to be, anyway. As an ex-Army Ranger, Gabe never thought he needed anyone. But after one horrible night in Afghanistan scars him in a way that he can't get past, he needs someone who can help him heal...even if he doesn't realize it.

25-year old Madison Hill doesn't need anybody...or so she thinks. She grew up watching her parents' messed-up abusive relationship and she knows there's no way in hell that she's ever letting that happen to her.

They don't know it in the beginning, but Gabriel and Madison will soon develop a weakness: Each other.

But Gabriel's got a secret, a hidden monster that he's afraid Maddy could never overcome... And Maddy's got issues that she's afraid Gabe will never understand. They quickly realize that they need each other to be whole, but at the same time they know that they've got demons to fight.

And the problem with demons is that they never die quietly.

Why I Bought It: I totally, madly, loved If You Stay. I bought If You Leave the day it released, but I've been so busy I haven't had time to even take a glance at the first page.

Why I'm Hesitant: A string of contemporary NA / Adult reads that didn't click with me is part of what caused me to need to take time away from blogging, so I'm not 100% sure this is the right thing to read as I dive back in.

Elsker
S.T. Bende

You don't win the heart of an immortal assassin without making a few enemies along the way. Kristia Tostenson prefers Earl Grey to Grey Goose and book clubs to nightclubs, but when she transfers from her one-stoplight town to Cardiff University in Wales she falls in love with Ull Myhr. Her new boyfriend isn't exactly what she was expecting. He's an honest to goodness Norse God - an immortal assassin fated to die at Ragnarok, the battle destined to destroy Asgard and Earth. Kristia's crazy visions are the only thing that can save their realms. Her orderly life just got very messy.

Why I Bought It: I love books based on mythology, and Norse myth is both interesting and less common. This was one of those books where I went "Oh, I have to read that." Yet it's still on my Kindle. Go figure.

Why I'm Hesitant: Mythology based fantasy is, to some extent, the driving force of my own novel. I've been very careful about what I read while doing the latest draft. However, I'm at the editing stages now so I should be okay. Still, it'll be weird to read this after the two months I've had.

Cinder
by Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Why I Bought It: Cyborg Cinderella? Again, how could I resist. I honestly can't tell ya why I haven't read it. I've never even opened it. It just hasn't happened.

Why I'm Hesitant: Every time I look at this book all I can think is "It's big.". That's silly--one of my favorite series is The Tiger Saga! If I was patient enough to get into that, Cinder should be cake. But at least I'm honest. :)

The Liberator
by Victoria Scott

Bad boy, meet bad girl.

Dante has a shiny new cuff wrapped around his ankle, and he doesn't like that mess one bit. His new accessory comes straight from Big Guy himself and marks the former demon as a liberator. Despite his gritty past and bad boy ways, Dante Walker has been granted a second chance.

When Dante is given his first mission as a liberator to save the soul of seventeen-year-old Aspen, he knows he’s got this. But Aspen reminds him of the rebellious life he used to live and is making it difficult to resist sinful temptations. Though Dante is committed to living clean for his girlfriend Charlie, this dude’s been a playboy for far too long…and old demons die hard.

With Charlie becoming the girl she was never able to be pre-makeover and Aspen showing him how delicious it feels to embrace his inner beast, Dante will have to go somewhere he never thought he’d return to in order to accomplish the impossible: save the girl he’s been assigned to, and keep the girl he loves.

Why I Bought It: The Collector was the most recent recipient of my writing award, the Kat's Meow. With how much I loved the first book, it only makes sense I want to read the second.

Why I'm Hesitant: Here's the thing, though. When I love a book that can prove a double edged sword. Will The Liberator be able to match The Collector? That'll be a tough act to follow! 

Now for the fun part. 

Leave a comment and tell me...

Looking Back: 12 Books I Wish I'd Read in 2012

This has been a tough year for me, reading-wise. Between working on my own novel, helping take care of my grandma and general life stuff going on, I haven't read or reviewed as much as I would have liked. With that in mind, here are 12 books I wish I'd read this year, why I want to read them and why I didn't. Let's see if I can make getting these read in 2013 a top priority!

The Vincent Boys
by Abbi Glines

Why I Want To Read It: I got this as a Christmas gift twice--once for my Kindle last year, and again as a paperback this year. Obviously, fate wants me to read this book. And I'll admit, I kinda am intrigued. *laughs*

Why I Haven't: I started to read this--while my grandma was in the hospital, before she had received her diagnosis. That is not a conductive time to be reading and retaining anything, so I decided I would stop and come back to this later. As you can see, that did not happen. It needs to, since I recall being very interested in the story.

Clockwork Prince
by Cassandra Clare

Why I Want To Read It: I read and loved Clockwork Angel, and I actually bought it after buying this book on sale at WalMart last year. This is long overdue to be read and I definitely want to have it read by the time Clockwork Princess releases.

Why I Haven't: Your guess is as good as mine here. I often try not to read sequels too close together, but the amount of time I've waited on this is kinda ridiculous and I'm thinking of throwing that rule out the window. If I want to read stuff back to back, why shouldn't I?

Second Chance Summer
by Morgan Matson

Why I Want To Read It: Amy and Roger's Epic Detour was a totally amazing book, so reading another contemporary YA by Morgan Matson seems like a good call. I read a sample of this on Kindle and liked it.

Why I Haven't: This one's going to hit a lot closer then I usually want a book to hit me. Losing a loved one is always hard and knowing you're about to seems like it would be unimaginable. I have a strong suspicion that I'm going to be a mess if I read this.

The Mephisto Kiss
by Trinity Faegen

Why I Want To Read It: I really enjoyed The Mephisto Covenant and I was eagerly awaiting this book for most of 2012.

Why I Haven't: Life has just been so darn busy! I was knee deep in my second round of Sealer's Promise edits when I bought this, I got it in a huge Amazon order and it kinda buried itself among the books on my shelf. Bad!

My Life Next Door
by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Why I Want To Read It: I've heard so many good things about this and I have a strong suspicion that this is going to be my kinda book. I didn't read nearly as much contemporary this year as I wanted to, and I think that may have had something to do with some of my burn out issues. I need to pay closer attention to that in 2013.

Why I Haven't: This book is proving elusive, much as Die For Me and Enclave did before it. I can't read this yet, because I don't own it. I need to make this a priority 1 in my next Amazon order.

Thumped
by Megan McCafferty

Why I Want To Read It: It's the other half of Bumped, which was one of my favorite books of 2011. I ordered this the day it released!

Why I Haven't: I got this, Insurgent, The Fault In Our Stars and The Selection in the same order. Two books made my Best list, and two made this one. I guess that says something about my buying habits, huh?

Insurgent
by Veronica Roth

Why I Want To Read It: It's the sequel to Divergent. Need I say more? I'm embarrassed that I haven't read this yet. I put it off on purpose and then--WHY?--never got back to it.

Why I Haven't: By the time this book came out I was so sick of the promotional campaign for it that I decided the best thing I could do for the book was to wait until people weren't as sick as I was of seeing Insurgent related posts anymore. Then I kinda forgot about it entirely. Oops. I'll need to fix that when the mood hits me.

A Midsummer's Nightmare
by Kody Keplinger

Why I Want To Read It: There is a book by Kody Keplinger that I have not read yet. Something is inherently wrong with that sentence. Those words shouldn't be able to go together. This is a travesty that must be fixed!

Why I Haven't: I love Kody's books and I usually read them the minute they release... and then have to wait forever for the next one. I thought I was being smart waiting to read this. But I didn't mean to wait this long.

The Iron Daughter
by Julie Kagawa

Why I Want To Read It: I totally loved The Iron King, I own the entire Iron Fey series and the fact that I haven't read this yet is nuts!

Why I Haven't: I honestly don't know. I found The Iron King very tense and I'm equal parts excited and scared to see what will happen between Ash and Meghan. It's silly I haven't gone on... And I need to fix it.

Catching Jordan
by Miranda Kenneally

Why I Want To Read It: I've already read half of this and loved it. And I know a lot of my friends have read and loved it. I desperately want to finish this and get Stealing Parker, actually.

Why I Haven't: My wrists / hands had their flare up start half way through this book and I was physically unable to finish it! I can't put into words how irritating this was. I was getting very into this and was not happy with needing to set it down. I was tempted to get it for my kindle so I could continue, but I hate buying stuff twice.

Cinder
by Merissa Meyer

Why I Want To Read It: I love fairy tale retellings and I've heard nothing but praise for Cinder all year. This has been sitting on my shelf for a year as of today. Gah!

Why I Haven't: I honestly have no idea. Everything about this book should appeal to me, yet here it sits. Has it been mood? Is the cover too simple? Am I afraid it might disappoint due to all the hype? I couldn't tell ya. I just know I haven't read it.

The Book I Most Wish I'd Read In 2012 is...

Meant to be or not meant to be . . . that is the question.

It's one thing to fall head over heels into a puddle of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the—gasp—wrong guy. Straight-A junior Julia may be accident prone, but she's queen of following rules and being prepared. That's why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her, well, pocket. And that's also why she's chosen Mark Bixford, her childhood crush, as her MTB ("meant to be").

But this spring break, Julia's rules are about to get defenestrated (SAT word: to be thrown from a window) when she's partnered with her personal nemesis, class-clown Jason, on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts . . . from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to break a few rules along the way. And thus begins a wild goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.

Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.

Why I Want To Read It:

-- It has a hero named Jason. That's my boyfriend's name. I find that cute.

-- I've heard much praise for the London setting. I'm always a sucker for a book that does a good job with it's setting.

-- I can be neurotically organized, so I can relate to Julia. A lot.

-- It looks like the kind of fun, sweet romance I've been dying to read for months. I'm totally dying to get my hands on this book. *goes to check Amazon.ca again*

Why I Haven't: 

Why So Difficult, huh?!

This book has been a total pain in the butt to get ahold of. It's been outta stock on Amazon. It's name has eluded me twice. It got mixed up with another title at Christmas. It wasn't in stock last week when I went to chapters. It wants to be one of THOSE books. You know the type I'm talking about.

So, what book did you want to read this year and not get to? And which book on my list do you think I most need to read? I'd love to know, so feel free to leave a comment! :) 

The Time Will Come (Sept. 27th)

Every Thursday l am going to list a book which l really want to read/keep meaning to get to. These are mostly books which have been on my shelf for awhile now but don't have to be, maybe you got it two weeks ago and really want to read it! 

~

Want to join in?

- Pick a book you have been meaning to read

- Do a post telling us about the book 

- Link the post up in the linky

- Visit the other blogs!

Cinder
by Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I love fairytale retellings. So the fact that I purchased Cinder comes as no surprise. What is shocking is that I haven't even opened this yet, despite awesome reviews and really wanting to read it. My local bookstore had this a week before release when I picked it up, so the amount of time I've waited is ridiculous.

So, have you read Cinder? What did you think? Should this get pushed up the TBR pile? I'd love to know, so feel free to leave a comment. :)