Waiting On Wednesday: HarperCollins Fall 2013 Catalog

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

This week, I've chosen to feature a few picks from the HarperCollins Fall 2013 Catalog:

Find Me by Romily Bernard
Date: September 24, 2013

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"Find Me." These are the words written on Tessa Waye's diary. The diary that ends up with Wick Tate. But Tessa's just been found...dead.
Wick has the right computer-hacking skills for the job, but little interest in this perverse game of hide-and-seek. Until her sister Lily is the next target. Then Griff, trailer-park boy next door and fellow hacker, shows up, intent on helping Wick.
Is a happy ending possible with the threat of Wick's deadbeat dad returning, the detective hunting him sniffing around Wick instead, and a killer taunting her at every step?
Foster child. Daughter of a felon. Loner hacker girl. Wick has a bad attitude and sarcasm to spare.
But she's going to find this killer no matter what.
Because it just got personal.

I only just read my first early review for Find Me a few days ago (courtesy of Melissa from i swim for oceans) and it sounds like this one has that perfect blend of mystery and thriller that I love. I haven't read many great mysteries lately, so I'm looking forward to what should be quite a good one!

Black Out by Robison Wells
Date: October 1, 2013

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Laura and Alec are trained terrorists.

Jack and Aubrey are high school students.

There was no reason for them to ever meet.

But now, a mysterious virus is spreading throughout America, infecting teenagers with impossible powers. And these four are about to find their lives intertwined in a complex web of deception, loyalty, and catastrophic danger—where one wrong choice could trigger an explosion that ends it all.

A short synopsis, but one that has my complete attention. Black Out sounds like it should be able to bring the intensity of a true thriller. Plus, who doesn't love the teens-with-superpowers stories?

Hideous Love by Stephanie Hemphill
Date: October 1, 2013

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An all-consuming love affair.
A family torn apart by scandal.
A young author on the brink of greatness.
Hideous Love is the fascinating story of Gothic novelist Mary Shelley, who as a teen girl fled her restrictive home only to find herself in the shadow of a brilliant but moody boyfriend, famed poet Percy Shelley. It is the story of the mastermind behind one of the most iconic figures in all of literature: a monster constructed out of dead bodies and brought to life by the tragic Dr. Frankenstein.
Mary wrote Frankenstein at the age of nineteen, but inspiration for the monster came from her life-the atmospheric European settings she visited, the dramas swirling around her, and the stimulating philosophical discussions with the greatest minds of the period, like her close friend, Lord Byron.

So this could be interesting. I don't know a ton about Mary Shelley so I am curious to learn more, even if some of Hideous Love is likely to be fictionalized. This one is written in verse though, so I'm a bit wary of that.

Across A Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund
Date: October 15, 2013

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Centuries after wars nearly destroyed civilization, the two islands of New Pacifica stand alone, a terraformed paradise where even the Reduction—the devastating brain disorder that sparked the wars—is a distant memory. Yet on the isle of Galatea, an uprising against the ruling aristocrats has turned deadly. The revolutionaries’ weapon is a drug that damages their enemies’ brains, and the only hope is rescue by a mysterious spy known as the Wild Poppy.
On the neighboring island of Albion, no one suspects that the Wild Poppy is actually famously frivolous aristocrat Persis Blake. The teenager uses her shallow, socialite trappings to hide her true purpose: her gossipy flutternotes are encrypted plans, her pampered sea mink is genetically engineered for spying, and her well-publicized new romance with handsome Galatean medic Justen Helo… is her most dangerous mission ever.
Though Persis is falling for Justen, she can’t risk showing him her true self, especially once she learns he’s hiding far more than simply his disenchantment with his country’s revolution and his undeniable attraction to the silly socialite he’s pretending to love. His darkest secret could plunge both islands into a new dark age, and Persis realizes that when it comes to Justen Helo, she’s not only risking her heart, she’s risking the world she’s sworn to protect.

Aw yeah, the companion novel to a 2012 favourite of mine, For Darkness Shows the Stars, is almost upon us! I was so impressed with the writing and characterization in For Darkness so you bet I want to read Across A Star-Swept Sea. Though I will admit to having very limited knowledge of The Scarlet Pimpernel, the book Across A Star-Swept Sea is retelling.


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