Angieville

Come on! How am I supposed to sit around and ignore these upcoming releases when they feature such pretty, pretty covers? You've likely seen them floating around before, but they go so well together I had to throw out a mention. I like to think their dust jackets will be thick and matte, with that slightl pebbly feel to them that makes my bibliophilic heart sing. Well done, Bloomsbury and Allison & Busby cover peeps. I mean, really. Well done. Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst Okay. A supernatural librarian in the witness protection program. A magical serial killer on the loose. I feel fairly confident I can just stop there. Yes? But, oh dear, all the pins in that heart . . . Due out September 3rd. Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth This one's got all sorts of potential. A retelling of the Rapunzel fairy tale told (partially) from the perspective of a woman at the court of Louis XIV. I ask you. Need I go on? The early word from across the pond (and Oz) is very good. C...

I'm really quite enamored of all three of these covers. All young adult. All fantasy. All filled to the brim with magic and promise. Who knows where the contents will take you?  Through a burst of feathers, an intricate keyhole, a hidden passage...the possibilities are endless.  Sapphique   by  Catherine Fisher In the interest of full disclosure, I have not even read  Incarceron   yet! I simply haven't been able to get my hands on a copy. But I will. Never fear. In the meantime, can you believe what gorgeous covers  Dial  is throwing at these books? Talk about enchanting. For those of you who haven't heard,  Sapphique   is the second in this two-book set and follows Claudia and Finn and the prison known as Incarceron. Due out December 28th. The Fire Opal   by Regina McBride Award-winning novelist McBride makes her YA debut with this tale of young woman named Maeve who embarks on an impossible journey to save her mother and y...

As soon as I heard about Sarah Beth Durst 's retelling of the East of the Sun, West of the Moon fairy tale , I felt that old familiar tug. I've read Edith Pattou's East and Jessica Day George 's Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow and enjoyed parts of both of them very much, though neither captured my imagination the way I really wanted them to. You see, as it is basically a Norse version of Beauty and the Beast, I've always felt I ought to love this fairy tale more than I do. But I've been vaguely but persistently dissatisfied with every retelling I've read. I'm beginning to think this is a problem with the source material, a mismatch between us if you will, and not necessarily with the retellings themselves. As I've talked about before , it's a problematic storyline in many ways and particularly difficult to pull off in novel form, I think. Yet somehow I eagerly anticipate each new attempt, hoping this one will be the one. Cassie loves ice. She was ra...