Waiting On Wednesday (18): Hachette Spring 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.

Is anyone else tired of winter and excited for spring to finally get here? I know I am - not just for the weather to change, but also for the great books that will be released in the springtime. This week, I've chosen a few picks from the Hachette Spring 2012 Catalogue:

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad
Date: April 17, 2012

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Three teenagers are going on the trip of a lifetime. Only one is coming back. It's been more than forty years since NASA sent the first men to the moon, and to grab some much-needed funding and attention, they decide to launch an historic international lottery in which three lucky teenagers can win a week-long trip to moon base DARLAH 2 - a place that no one but top government officials even knew existed until now. The three winners, Antoine, Midori, and Mia, come from all over the world. But just before the scheduled launch, the teenagers each experience strange, inexplicable events. Little do they know that there was a reason NASA never sent anyone back there until now - a sinister reason. But the countdown has already begun...

What is going on with this freaky cover? It's almost as awesome as the premise of 172 Hours on the Moon. What on earth could this "sinister reason" be for sending three teenagers to the moon on vacation?

Revived by Cat Patrick
Date: May 8, 2012

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As a little girl, Daisy Appleby was killed in a school bus crash. Moments after the accident, she was brought back to life.
A secret government agency has developed a drug called Revive that can bring people back from the dead, and Daisy Appleby, a test subject, has been Revived five times in fifteen years. Daisy takes extraordinary risks, knowing that she can beat death, but each new death also means a new name, a new city, and a new life. When she meets Matt McKean, Daisy begins to question the moral implications of Revive, and as she discovers the agency’s true goals, she realizes she’s at the center of something much larger — and more sinister — than she ever imagined.

I have not gotten around to reading Forgotten by Cat Patrick, though I've heard very good things about it and its interesting premise. Revived also has quite the intriguing premise. I'd be interested in knowing how Cat Patrick explains the science behind bringing people back from the dead.

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger
Date: June 5, 2012

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Whitley Johnsons dream summer with her divorce dad has turned into a nightmare. She’s just met his new fiancee and her kids. The fiancee’s son? Whitley’s one-night stand from graduation night. Just freakin’ great.
Worse, she totally doesn’t fit in with her dad’s perfect new country-club family. So Whitley acts out. She parties. Hard. So hard she doesn’t even notice the good things right under her nose: a sweet little future stepsister who is just about the only person she’s ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn’t “do” friends), and a smoking-hot guy who isn’t her stepbrother... at least, not yet. It will take all three of them to help Whitley get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.

Kody Keplinger is another author that I have yet to read, despite hearing amazing things. Contemporaries are definitely outside my comfort zone, but I would like to break out of the box for A Midsummer's Nightmare because it sounds authentic and raw.

The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Date: June 7, 2012

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A mysterious toymaker who lives as a recluse in an old mansion, surrounded by the mechanical beings he has created ...an enigma surrounding strange lights that shine through the mists that envelop the small island on which the old lighthouse stands...a shadowy creature that hides deep in the woods...these are the elements of a mystery that bind will bind 14-year-old Irene to Ismael during one magical summer spent in the Blue Bay. Her mother has taken a job as a housekeeper for the toymaker, Lazarus, but his house contains more secrets than Irene and Ishmael have bargained for.

I adore MG, but don't read nearly enough of it. The Watcher in the Shadows reminds me very much of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, with the "mysterious toymaker" who creates mechanical beings, so I am hoping it will be just as good!


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