New Releases Nov. 12-19 and Reader's Choice C*ntest

First, today is the kickoff of the online tour for River Road, which comes out tomorrow! There are tons of prizes with this tour—see the TOUR PRIZES list in the righthand column. Each day, I’ll be running the URLs of the tour stops and what you can win at each. Here are today’s stops:

***I’m being interviewed at Reading and WritingUrban Fantasy; enter for the official tour prizes; a comment will enter you for the $25 GC and a mystery book.
***I'm talking about the world of my Merpeople at SG Rogers' blog today. Comment for a chance at the $25 GC, mystery book, and a special giveaway of a signed copy of Royal Street (UK version if you already have the US version.)

***There’s a promo up at Place of Reads. Enter for the official tour prizes.

And now…on to this week’s Reader’s Choice Contest….

Why, what is that I spy among the new releases this week? It’s that River Road book! And sure, I could cheat and say it’s the only release this week and therefore you should run right over and click one of those buy links to the right of this column, but I won’t. There are actually a lot of good releases this week!

What do you want to read? As always, leave a comment telling me the book you’d most like to win (or the first in its series), and maybe random.org will make your wishes come true. If the book is part of a series, you can request the first book in the series. Your choice of print or digital unless otherwise stated. International? Of course! As long as Book Depository delivers to your country, please enter.

Here we go…. 

River Road (Sentinels of New Orleans #2), by Suzanne Johnson(November 13, Tor)

Hurricane Katrina is long gone, but the preternatural storm rages on in New Orleans. New species from the Beyond moved into Louisiana after the hurricane destroyed the borders between worlds, and it falls to wizard sentinel Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep the preternaturals peaceful and the humans unaware. But a war is brewing between two clans of Cajun merpeople in Plaquemines Parish, and down in the swamp, DJ learns, there’s more stirring than angry mermen and the threat of a were-gator. Wizards are dying, and something, or someone, from the Beyond is poisoning the waters of the mighty Mississippi. DJ and Alex must figure out what unearthly source is contaminating the water and who, or what, is killing the wizards. After all, DJ’s undead suitor, the pirate Jean Lafitte, knows his way around a body or two. 

Echo (Soul Seekers #2), by Alyson Noel (November 13, St. Martin’s Griffin)

Daire Santos just saved her grandmother’s life—and her soul. But at a cost. The Richters, a dark family of sorcerers, have been let loose in the Lowerworld, and Daire and her boyfriend, Dace, must once again work together to find them before they upset the balance between good and evil, and destroy not only their small town in New Mexico, but the entire world. As Daire and Dace’s relationship deepens, Dace’s evil brother Cade grows stronger than ever, building his power and forcing Daire to confront the horrifying prophecy that has brought them all together. One that will leave Daire no choice but to claim her true destiny as Seeker, but only by making an unthinkable sacrifice for the greater good of all. 

Flash Point, by Nancy Kress (November 8, Viking Juvenile)

Young Adult. Amy had dreams of going to college, until the Collapse destroyed the economy and her future. Now she is desperate for any job that will help support her terminally ill grandmother and rebellious younger sister. When she finds herself in the running for a slot on a new reality TV show, she signs on the dotted line, despite her misgivings. And she’s right to have them. TLN’s Who Knows People, Baby—You? has an irresistible premise: correctly predict what the teenage cast will do in a crisis and win millions. But the network has pulled strings to make it work, using everything from 24/7 hidden cameras to life-threatening technology to flat-out rigging. Worse, every time the ratings slip, TLN ups the ante. Soon Amy is fighting for her life, on and off camera. 

Bad Hair Day (Kate Grable #2), by Carrie Harris (November 13, Delacorte)

Young Adult. Kate Grable is geeked out to shadow the county medical examiner as part of her school’s premed program. But after he’s arrested for murder, she’s left with the bodies. And when Kate’s brother, Jonah, stumbles upon a dead gamer girl, Kate realizes that the zombie epidemic she cured last fall was only the beginning of the weirdness taking over her town. Someone, or something, is murdering kids. Something really hairy. And strong. Possibly with claws. Could it be werewolves, like Jonah and his dorktastic friends think? Kate’s supposed to be a butt-kicking, zombie-killing genius, but if she can’t figure out what’s behind the freakish attacks, the victims, or what’s left of them, are going to keep piling up. 

Pax Britannia: Time’s Arrow, by Jonathan Green (November 13, Abaddon)

Paris. City of lights. City of lovers. City of dreams. If one man gets his way its inhabitants will soon be forced to endure a nightmare such as they have never known. Detective and Hero of the British Empire, Ulysses Quicksilver, is determined to get in his way. Arriving at a murder scene, with the dead man’s blood on his hands, Ulysses is forced to go on the run. His intention: to clear his good name, and get back to England in one piece and as quickly as possible; for the love of his life is about to take a most ill-advised trip to the Moon. 

Reached (Matched #3), by Ally Condie (November 13, Dutton)

Young Adult. Cassia faces the ultimate choices in the long-anticipated conclusion to the Matched Trilogy. After leaving Society and desperately searching for the Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again: Cassia has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again. Cassia will reconcile the difficulties of challenging a life too confining, seeking a freedom she never dreamed possible, and honoring a love she cannot live without. 

Speed of Light (Fenestra #3), by Amber Kizer (November 13, Delacorte)

Young Adult. Meridian Sozu is a Fenestra, an angel infused human, destined to transition souls into the next world. Together with Tens Valdes, her soulmate and Protector, they’ve made a home in Indiana, making sure the dead safely enter the light and aren’t stolen by the Dark, known as the Nocti. Upon rescuing Juliet Ambrose from her terrible childhood, Juliet has become vulnerable without her Protector and grasps at any hope to find her parents, even when it’s offered by a proven Nocti, Ms. Asura. Juliet is now faced with the choice between uncovering her past and having a future. Meanwhile, time may be running out for the hundreds of thousands preparing for the festivities surrounding the Indianapolis 500 car race. As centuries of secrets are revealed, the battles will pit Light versus Dark. 

Witch World (Witch World #1), by Christopher Pike  (November 13, Simon Pulse)

Young Adult. Heading off for a weekend in Las Vegas with her friends, Jessie Ralle has only one worry: how to make it through the road trip in the same car with her ex, Jimmy Kelter. The guy who dumped her for no reason. The guy who’s finally ready to tell her why he did it, because he wants her back. In Las Vegas she meets Russ, a mesmerizing stranger who shows her how to gamble, and who never seems to lose. Curious, Jessie wants to know his secret, and in response, alone in his hotel room, he teaches her a game that opens a door to another reality. To Witch World. Suddenly Jessie discovers that she’s stumbled into a world where some people can do the impossible, and others may not even be human. She fears she’s lost her mind. Are there really witches? Is she one of them? 

Black City (Black City #1), by Elizabeth Richards (November 13, Putnam)

Young Adult. In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable, they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed, but their feelings are too strong. When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths. 

Execution (Escape From Furnace #5), by Alexander Gordon Smith (November 13, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Young Adult. Alex Sawyer has escaped his underground nightmare to discover the whole world has become a prison, and Alfred Furnace is its master. Monsters rule the streets, leaving nothing but murder in their wake. Those who do not die become slaves to Furnace’s reign of cruelty. Alex is a monster too. He is the only one who can stop Furnace, but in doing so he could destroy everything. Is he the executed or the executioner? Who will die? All Alex knows is that one way or another, it all ends now. U.S. release. 

The Colony: A Novel, by A.J. Colucci (November 13, Thomas Dunne Books)

A series of attacks have been sweeping New York City. A teacher and two sanitation workers are found dead, their swollen bodies nearly dissolved from the inside out. The predator is a deadly supercolony of ants, an army of one trillion soldiers with razor-sharp claws and stinging venom that liquefies its prey. The desperate mayor turns to the greatest ant expert in the world, Paul O’Keefe. But Paul is baffled by the ants. Paul calls on the one person he knows can help destroy the colony, his ex-wife Kendra Hart. Kendra finds herself working side by side with her ex-husband and a military officer hell-bent on stopping the insects with a nuclear bomb. When the ants launch an all-out attack, Paul and Kendra hit the streets of New York, searching for a coveted queen. 

The Inexplicables (The Clockwork Century #5), by Cherie Priest (November 13, Tor)

Rector “Wreck ‘em” Sherman was orphaned as a toddler in the Blight of 1863. Wreck has grown up, and on his eighteenth birthday, he’ll be cast out of the orphanage. He’s also pretty sure he’s being haunted by the ghost of a kid he used to know, Zeke Wilkes, who almost certainly died six months ago. Wreck can’t take it anymore, so he sneaks over the wall. The walled-off wasteland of Seattle is every bit as bad as he’d heard. Rector’s pretty certain that whatever attacked him was not at all human, and not a rotter, either. Known to the locals as simply “The Inexplicables.” It seems some outsiders have decided there’s gold to be found in the city and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get a piece of the pie unless Rector and his posse have anything to do with it. 

Truancy City (Truancy #2), by Isamu Fukui (November 13, Tor Teen)

Young Adult. As a new threat arises from outside the walls of the City, the warring Truants and Educators must join forces or be destroyed. The fate of the City is determined at last in this long-awaited conclusion to the Truancy trilogy.  

Curse of the Thirteenth Fey: The True Tale of Sleeping Beauty, by Jane Yolen (November 8, Philomel)

Young Adult. Gorse is the thirteenth and youngest in a family of fairies tied to the evil king’s land and made to do his bidding. Because of an oath made to the king’s great-great-ever-so-many-times-great-grandfather, if they try to leave or disobey the royals, they will burst into a thousand stars. When accident-prone Gorse falls ill just as the family is bid to bless the new princess, a fairytale starts to unfold. Sick as she is, Gorse races to the castle with the last piece of magic the family has left—a piece of the Thread of Life. But that is when accident, mayhem, and magic combine to drive Gorse’s story into the unthinkable, threatening the baby, the kingdom, and all.   

Crown of Vengeance: The Dragon Prophecy, by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory (November 13, Tor)

Here, readers will learn the truth about the Elven Queen Vielissiar Faricarnon, who was the first to face the Endarkened in battle and the first to bond with a dragon. She worked some of the greatest magics her world has ever known, and paid the greatest Price. Crown of Vengeance is a fantasy adventure that will appeal to fans of Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series. No previous knowledge of Lackey and Mallory’s collaborations is necessary.  

Knife-Sworn (Tower and Knife Trilogy #2), by Mazarkis Williams (November 13, Night Shade)

After spending most of his life in captivity, Sarmin now sits upon the Throne of Cerana. But his reign is an uneasy one. And the emperor’s own heart is torn between two very different women: Mesema, a Windreader princess, and Grada, a lowborn untouchable with whom Sarmin shares a unique bond. In times past, a royal assassin known as the Emperor’s Knife served to defend the throne from menace, but the last Knife has perished and his successor has yet to be named. Sarmin must choose his own loyal death-dealer, but upon whom can be he bestow the burden of the Knife-Sworn? 

Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1), by J.A. Souders (November 13, Tor)

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law. But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. Her memories have been altered. Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. And the person she knows as Mother is a monster. Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb, and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all. U.S. release.

Five entries possible: +1 for comment to tell me what book (any book) you want, +1 for blog follow, +1 for Twitter follow, +1 for a Tweet or RT about the contest, +1 for a Facebook follow. This contest is international to any place Book Depository ships. Contests end at midnight CDT U.S. on Saturday, and winners are announced on Sunday’s blog. It’s the responsibility of the winner to contact me with their mailing info. Books unclaimed after a month will go into a general giveaway pile.

Now….go!