Waiting On Wednesday: Penguin Spring 2014 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 Penguin Spring 2014 Catalog:

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
Date: April 8, 2014

Add to Goodreads

Harper Price, peerless Southern belle, was born ready for a Homecoming tiara. But after a strange run-in at the dance imbues her with incredible abilities, Harper's destiny takes a turn for the seriously weird. She becomes a Paladin, one of an ancient line of guardians with agility, super strength and lethal fighting instincts.

Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him--and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.

I wouldn't say Rebel Belle is my typical read, but it caught my interest because it reminded me of one of my favourite TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Plus, I always hear great things about Rachel Hawkins' sense of humour and her ability to write witty banter!

Curiosity by Gary Blackwood
Date: April 10, 2014

Add to Goodreads

Philadelphia, PA, 1835. Rufus, a twelve-year-old chess prodigy, is recruited by a shady showman named Maelzel to secretly operate a mechanical chess player called the Turk. The Turk wows ticket-paying audience members and players, who do not realize that Rufus, the true chess master, is hidden inside the contraption. But Rufus’s job working the automaton must be kept secret, and he fears he may never be able to escape his unscrupulous master. And what has happened to the previous operators of the Turk, who seem to disappear as soon as Maelzel no longer needs them? Creeping suspense, plenty of mystery, and cameos from Edgar Allan Poe and P. T. Barnum mark Gary Blackwood’s triumphant return to middle grade fiction.

Curiosity, a steampunk-ish historical middle grade novel, reminds me of a lot of another book I enjoyed of the same genre, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, so I'm thinking I would enjoy Curiosity as well. And I'm totally in love with the idea of a featured cameo from Edgar Allan Poe!

The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer
Date: April 22, 2014

Add to Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Charlotte and her fellow refugees have scraped out an existence on the edge of Britain’s industrial empire. Though they live by the skin of their teeth they have their health (at least when they can find enough food and avoid the Imperial Labor Gatherers) and each other. When a new exile with no memory of his escape from the coastal cities or even his own name seeks shelter in their camp he brings new dangers with him and secrets about the terrible future that awaits all those who have struggled has to live free of the bonds of the empire’s Machineworks.

The Inventor’s Secret is the first book of a YA steampunk series set in an alternate nineteenth-century North America where the Revolutionary War never took place and the British Empire has expanded into a global juggernaut propelled by marvelous and horrible machinery.

I always find alternate histories fascinating. Combine that with steampunk and I'm good to read! I've not yet read anything by Andrea Cremer, but I've been curious about many of her books in the past. The Inventor's Secret definitely sounds right up my alley so I'm excited for it!

Inland by Kat Rosenfield
Date: June 12, 2014

Add to Goodreads

After nine years spent suffocating in the arid expanses of the Midwest, far from the sea where her mother drowned, Callie Morgan and her estranged father are returning to the coast. And miraculously, Callie can finally breathe easily. No more sudden, clawing attacks and week-long hospital stays. No more wary, pitying glances from classmates and teachers. She can be more than a sickly freak, coughing her way between nondescript inland towns every year.
But something waits for Callie in the water. Just as her life begins to feel like her own, with an almost-family and a first love and a circle of loud-mouthed friends, her body starts to rebel in new ways. She finds herself fighting the intoxicating pull of the black waters right outside her window. Her dreams turn wild and real, and she wakes up with salt water in her hair. Family secrets and whispering doubts flood her brain as she leads herself and those around her into danger, jeopardizing everything she once longed for. Is it madness, or is there a voice, beckoning her to come to the sea’s deepest heart; to come home?

Oooh, I love the premise for Inland and I think it has so much potential! Having always lived inland myself, I've always longed to live by the sea. Never before has that translated to waking up with salt water in my hair and the sea beckoning to me though! Very intriguing.


How about you? Are you waiting on any of these Penguin Spring 2014 reads? Are there any upcoming books from the Penguin Spring 2014 Catalog that I didn't include here that you feel I should add to my list?