Waiting On Wednesday: Penguin Winter 2013 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 Penguin Winter 2013 Catalog:

Just One Day by Gayle Forman
Date: January 8, 2013

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When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Admittedly, I've never read any of Gayle Forman's books myself, so my anticipation of Just One Day is based purely on what I know from what other people have said about her books: that they're beautiful and emotional and real. And for that reason, I am very interested in reading Just One Day (as well as her previous books, obviously).

The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell
Date: January 10, 2013

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There is a new king on the throne of Tildor. Currents of political unrest sweep the country as two warring crime families seek power, angling to exploit the young Crown's inexperience. At the Academy of Tildor, the training ground for elite soldiers, Cadet Renee de Winter struggles to keep up with her male peers. But when her mentor, a notorious commander recalled from active duty to teach at the Academy, is kidnapped to fight in illegal gladiator games, Renee and her best friend Alec find themselves thrust into a world rife with crime, sorting through a maze of political intrigue, and struggling to resolve what they want, what is legal, and what is right.

The Cadet of Tildor is touted as "Tamora Pierce meets George R.R. Martin" and if that isn't enough to get people excited about this one, then I don't know what is. I love political medieval-era high fantasies, so I'm thinking I'm really going to love The Cadet of Tildor.

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
Date: January 15, 2013

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Amy and Elder have finally left the oppressive walls of the spaceshipGodspeed 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. The biggest secret of all? 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--else is out there if they are to have any hope of saving their struggling colony and building a future together. They will have to look inward to the very core of what makes them human on this, their most harrowing journey yet. Because if the colony collapses? Then everything they have sacrificed--friends, family, life on Earth--will have been for nothing.

CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS! The previous two books in the Across the Universe series have been fast-paced and intriguing as heck, and I really can't wait for any new surprises Beth Revis is going to cook up for us in the final book, Shades of Earth.

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
Date: February 13, 2013

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It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street.
Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

Just as with Just One Day by Gayle Forman, I have not read Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, but based on all the raving reviews for that one, I know that Out of the Easy is going to be a book that I need to read (again, along with Between Shades of Gray). And I love that Out of the Easy takes place in 1950's New Orleans!


How about you? Are you waiting on any of these Penguin Winter 2013 reads? Are there any upcoming books from the Penguin Winter 2013 Catalog that I didn't include here that you feel I should add to my list?