Waiting On Wednesday: Macmillan Summer 2012 Catalog

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking The Spine in which an upcoming, eagerly anticipated release is highlighted on the blog.

This week, I've chosen to feature a few picks from the Macmillan Summer 2012 Catalog:

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake
Date: August 7, 2012

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It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.
His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.
Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.
Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

Okay, so don't kill me, but I haven't actually read Anna Dressed in Blood yet, despite all the rave reviews. I just know I will absolutely adore it though - the tone, Cas, Anna, everything. So I'm going to do my best to read it soon so that I can get to Girl of Nightmares right away.

Courtship & Curses by Marissa Doyle
Date: August 7, 2012

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Sophie’s entrance into London society isn’t what she thought it would be: Mama isn’t there to guide her, Papa is buried in his work fighting Napoleon, and Sophie’s newly acquired limp keeps her from dancing at any of those glittering balls. If it weren’t for her shopping escapades with her new French friend Amélie and a flirtation with the dashing Lord Woodbridge, she would think this season a complete disaster.
But when someone uses magic to attack Papa the night of Sophie’s first ball, her problems escalate, especially when it becomes clear that all the members of the War Cabinet are being targeted. Can she catch the culprit and keep her own magic powers hidden long enough to win herself a match?

I love me some historical fantasy - when it's done well, that is. I'll admit, I've read quite a few misses when it comes to the historical fantasy genre, but I have high hopes that Courtship & Curses will be different.

The Raft by S.A. Bodeen
Date: August 21, 2012

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Robie is an experienced traveler. She’s taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there’s a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn’t panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket. They are over miles of Pacific Ocean. She sees Max struggle with a raft.
And then . . . she’s in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that’s when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is a bag of Skittles. There are sharks. There is an island. But there’s no sign of help on the way.

Ooh, okay so I'm all for a good ol' intense survivor story. Granted, they tend to make me pretty stressed, but I love seeing how a character makes it through such an event with only a few supplies. I have high hopes for The Raft!

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama
Date: September 4, 2012

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Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.
Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

I have yet to have read a mermaid book and I think it's because I have yet to have been truly enticed into reading one. Finally though, the early buzz surrounding Monstrous Beauty has got me interested in reading a mermaid book for the first time.


How about you? Are you waiting on any of these Macmillan Summer 2012 reads? Are there any upcoming books from the Macmillan Summer 2012 Catalog that I didn't include here that you feel I should add to my list?