Most Anticipated Reads of 2014 (January)

2013 was an amazing year for me in terms of finding new authors and series to read. I discovered the amazing talents of Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss/ Lola and the Boy Next Door) and Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor and Park and Fangirl) who made me realise I do actually like to read contemporary fiction. Fantasy became my new love, Maria V Snyder, Leigh Bardugo, Laini Taylor and Sarah Mass all contributed to this and had my imagination living in far off lands. However 2014 is set to be just as good with so many series reaching their epic conclusions but what about the new authors, new series and standalones. There are so many great book set to be released this year which I why I've compelled by list of my most anticipated reads.

Each month I'll list the books I'm most looking forward to reading this month, the ones I'll be rushing out to buy on release day.

 Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

 

In 1940 after the first book ends, Jacob and his new Welsh island friends flee to London, the Peculiar capital of the world. Caul, a dangerous madman, is Miss Peregrine’s brother, and can steal Peculiar abilities for himself. The Peculiars must fight for survival, again.

 

Taste of Power by Maria V. Snyder

 

 

Avry knows hardship and trouble. She fought the plague and survived. She took on King Tohon and defeated him. But now her heart-mate, Kerrick, is missing, and Avry fears he's gone forever.

But there's a more immediate threat. The Skeleton King plots to claim the Fifteen Realms for his own. With armies in disarray and the dead not staying down, Avry's healing powers are needed now more than ever.Torn between love and loyalty, Avry must choose her path carefully. For the future of her world depends on her decision.

 

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

 

 

For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over?

 

Up From the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

 

Lately, life has been unnaturally calm for vampires Cat Crawfield and her husband Bones. They should have known better than to relax their guard, because a shocking revelation sends them back into action to stop an all-out war…

A rogue CIA agent is involved in horrifying secret activities that threaten to raise tensions between humans and the undead to dangerous heights. Now Cat and Bones are in a race against time to save their friends from a fate worse than death…because the more secrets they unravel, the deadlier the consequences. And if they fail, their lives—and those of everyone they hold dear— will be hovering on the edge of the grave.

 

Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

 

Their love and their leadership have been tested. Now it's time for Perry and Aria to unite the Dwellers and the Outsiders in one last desperate attempt to bring balance to their world.The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe-haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do-and they are just as determined to stay together.

Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. And when Roar returns to camp, he is so furious with Perry that he won't even look at him, and Perry begins to feel like they have already lost.Out of options, Perry and Aria assemble a team to mount an impossible rescue mission-because Cinder isn't just the key to unlocking the Still Blue and their only hope for survival, he's also their friend. And in a dying world, the bonds between people are what matter most.

 

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

 

 

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

 

What are you looking forward to reading this month?

 

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

 “She absorbed the terror and beauty of him and his world. Of every moment over the past days. All of it, filling her up like the first breath she'd ever taken. And never had she loved life more.”                                             
Rossi dives right in to the story from the very first page and uses the show rather then tell technique to develop her world. She drops the reader in right at the beginning of the action with little background information or real explanation as to what is occurring. Instead of being confused and frustrated, it actually made me want to continue on reading to understand more of this strange new world I had found myself in. Rossi managed to pique my interest within the first chapter and kept me intrigued to continue, a trait which many authors fail at. She has managed to take what is now a well developed genre in the YA field and put her own unique slant on it.

In Under the Never Sky the population have been forced into living in 'pods' these are bland structures that separate people from the outside world which has now become near inhabitable due to Aether storms, which are basically very severe electrical storms that consist of lightening and fire raining down from the sky (its all very biblical). These storms have destroyed the landscape and left the world a desolate and dangerous place. The people within in the pods have very limited 'real' interactions with each other, they never truly touch another person instead they communicate and live their lives through eye pieces known as smart-eyes which allow them to alter their realities, they can be partying in Ancient Greece one minute and the next they can be flying, they feel no pain but neither to they know what anything truly feels like. But one day Aria's mother (who has been sent to another pod known as 'bliss') fails to communicate with her, which leaves Aria panicked and she knows Bliss has been hit by one of the Aether storms and so when she hears of her chance to find out more information about her mother she takes it, which is how the story opens. The events that happen that night outside the pod will change Aria's life forever and she will be left questioning everything she thought she knew about herself and the life she leads inside the pods.

Rossi has done a superb job at creating a believable dystopian world, at first it was a world I wanted to live in the smart-eyes sounded like such a cool idea, the idea that you could experience such amazing feats intrigued me but as the story developed and I saw how Aria felt discovering touch and really being able to feel for the first time I realised how deprived the world inside the dome is and as it progresses Aria becomes more human and you see how the people inside the pods lack emotion and empathy, they are unable to connect emotion and killing and it ultimately results in a madness descending upon them. Rossi created a memorable and exciting world and I know that there is still more to uncover in the next instalment. I also really liked the differences between the dwellers and the outsiders or the moles and savages as they refer to each other as. Both groups of people are fearful of each other, they misunderstand each other. It was an intriguing twist that the outsiders developed enhanced senses due to being exposed to the Aether storms, some have better sight/hearing or smell which helps them in their survival on the outside.

Perry and Aria have spilt narration in this book, I liked being able to hear from both of their perspectives, normally I don't think this can work, as either the voices are not distinct enough or I end up not liking one of the characters but Rossi actually made it work here and it helped the story develop and the characters are actually more likeable because of this. I felt like I got to understand their backgrounds more which in turn helped in world development.

Perry and Aria are great leading characters but I don't think either of them could carry the story alone, Rossi has managed to create two strong leading characters that have their own reasons for needing to carry on through extreme circumstances, I could feel their pain and struggles. Aria has to struggle to life outside the dome, she struggles to adjust to her surroundings and Perry's indifference to her, all the while trying to find out what has happened to her mother whilst Perry has to struggle with the guilt he feels over loosing his nephew and the infuriating presence in his life that is Aria. The romance here wasn't insta-love, it was slow building but this made in more believable, at first they couldn't stand each other but as they spent more time together they soon started to realise they aren't as different as they first thought.

This book wasn't non-stop action, it was a slow build at the beginning but it does pick up speed and the plot starts to develop at a faster pace. It was funny and light hearted at some moments with Perry having to tell Aria about her 'Aunt Irma'. This wasn't just a dystopain read, it was a story about family and loyalty and above all trying to survive and keep going in the most pressing of times.


My rating: 4