New Releases Jan. 13-19 and Reader’s Choice C*ntest

Yawn. There isn’t a big selection of new releases this week, although some interesting choices for YA readers. I guess if I picked one, I’d choose…the James Blaylock book, which sounds suitably creepy. And it has pirates. Pirates are always good, right?

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

Level 2 (The Memory Chronicles #1), by Lenore Appelhans (January 15, Simon & Schuster)

Young Adult. Since her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what she’s lost, family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved. When Julian, a dangerously charming guy Felicia knew in life, comes to offer Felicia a way out, Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again. Suspended between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself at the center of an age-old struggle between good and evil. Felicia will discover it’s not just her own redemption at stake, but the salvation of all mankind.

The Gates of Paradise (Blue Bloods #7), by Melissa de la Cruz (January 15, Hyperion)

Young Adult. Schuyler Van Alen is running out of time. The Dark Prince of Hell is storming the Gates of Paradise, intent on winning the heavenly throne for good. This time he has his greatest angels by his side, Abbadon and Azrael, or as they are known in the coven, Jack and Mimi Force. Will Bliss and the wolves she has recruited to join her win the battle for the vampires? Is Schuyler prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, the same one Michael was forced to make in Florence so long ago? Love and vengeance, duty and loyalty, life and death, are all at odds in the gripping, heartbreaking finale of the Blue Bloods series.

The Aylesford Skull, by James P. Blaylock  (January 15, Titan)

It is the summer of 1883 and Professor Langdon St. Ives, brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer, is at home in Aylesford with his family. However, a few miles to the north a steam launch has been taken by pirates above Egypt Bay; the crew murdered and pitched overboard. In Aylesford itself a grave is opened and possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of Langdon St. Ives. When Dr. Narbondo returns to kidnap his four-year-old son Eddie and then vanishes into the night, St. Ives and his factotum Hasbro race to London in pursuit. U.S. release.

Shades of Earth (Across the Universe #3)   by Beth Revis  (January 15, Razorbill)

Young Adult. Amy and Elder have finally left the oppressive walls of the spaceship Godspeed behind. They’re ready to start life afresh, to build a home, on Centauri-Earth, the planet that Amy has traveled 25 trillion miles across the universe to experience. But this new Earth isn’t the paradise Amy had been hoping for. There are giant pterodactyl-like birds, purple flowers with mind-numbing toxins, and mysterious, unexplained ruins that hold more secrets than their stone walls first let on. Godspeed’s former passengers aren’t alone on this planet. And if they’re going to stay, they’ll have to fight. Amy and Elder must race to discover who or what is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. If the colony collapses, then everything they have sacrificed, friends, family, life on Earth, will have been for nothing.

  

Nest of Serpents (Wereworld #4), by Curtis Jobling  (January 15, Viking)

Young Adult. With friends turning into enemies, can Drew find his way out of this war alive? The entire kingdom of Lyssia is now at war, and the battle lines have been drawn. While Drew and his ragtag army defend the throne against Ratlords and Crowlords, Gretchen and Whitley venture on a harrowing journey through the perilous Dyrewood. But none of the werelords counted on the return of the most terrifying monster of them all.

  

Seven Kings (Books of the Shaper #2), by John R. Fultz  (January 15, Orbit)

In the jungles of Khyrei, an escaped slave seeks vengeance and finds the key to a savage revolution. In the drought-stricken Stormlands, the Twin Kings argue the destiny of their kingdom: one walks the path of knowledge, the other treads the road to war. Beyond the haunted mountains King Vireon confronts a plague of demons bent on destroying his family. Iardu the Shaper weaves history like a grand tapestry, spinning sorceries into a vision of apocalypse. Giants and Men march as one to shatter a wicked empire. The fate of the known world rests on the swift blades of Seven Kings.

Five entries possible: +1 for comment to tell me what 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 the Book Horde list (see tab at the top of the page).

Now….go forth and comment!