Up and Coming: February 2015 Releases

Up and Coming was created so I could share four soon-to-be-published-this-month books I think deserve more attention. (In other words, these are the books you should be adding to your TBR pile!) I'll be doing these at the beginning of each month, so feel free to do the same if you'd like :)

Inherit Midnight by Kate Kae Myers

Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary
Publication Date: February 10, 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Other books by Kate Kae Myers: The Vanishing Game

The Competition:

Outlandishly wealthy Grandmother VanDemere has decided to leave her vast fortune to the family member who proves him or herself worthiest-by solving puzzles and riddles on a whirlwind race around the globe, from the mines of Venezuela to the castles of Scotland. There will be eight competitors, three continents ... and a prize worth millions.

The Players:

Seventeen-year-old Avery is the black sheep of the VanDemere clan, the ostracized illegitimate daughter. Finally, she has a chance to prove herself ... and to discover the truth about her long-lost mother.

Marshall might be Avery's uncle, but there's no love lost between the two of them. He's her main competition, and he'll do anything to win-including betray his own children.

Riley is the handsome son of Grandmother VanDemere's lawyer. As the game progresses, Avery falls hard for Riley. Suddenly, losing the game might mean losing him, too.

As the competition takes treacherous turns, it becomes clear there can only be one victor. Who can Avery truly trust? And is winning worth her life?

I just finished The Conspiracy of Us and this is sounding REALLY familiar (puzzles, foreign countries, a character named Avery ...) but I've found that I really enjoy YA mystery, so I'm hoping this will be different.

Rebound by Noelle August
Book 2 in the Boomerang series

Genre(s): New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publication Date: February 10, 2015
Publisher: William Morrow (HarperCollins)

Adam Blackwood has it all. At twenty-two, he’s fabulously wealthy, Ryan Gosling-hot and at the top of his game in the business world. His life is perfect, until a scandal from his past resurfaces and threatens to knock the tech wunderkind down and throw his company, Boomerang, a hook-up site for millennials, into chaos.

Alison Quick, the twenty-one-year-old daughter of a business tycoon — and the very ex-girlfriend of Boomerang’s former intern, Ethan — has a problem of her own. After nearly flunking out in her senior year of college, she has one chance to redeem herself to her father by proving that she deserves a place in his corporate empire. That means spearheading her father’s plan to sink big money into Adam’s company and launch it into the stratosphere — provided Adam has no skeletons in his closet.

When the two meet, their sizzling chemistry makes it tough to keep things strictly professional. But when Alison discovers Adam’s secret, she knows she should bring it right to her father, who’ll leverage it for his own gain and use it to ruin Adam. The only problem: she’s falling for Adam — hard.

Will earning her father’s approval come at the price of losing her first real love? Or can Adam and Alison leave behind past mistakes and conquer the world — together?

After reading Boomerang, the first book in this series, I've been looking for something just as witty and full of banter. (If you know of something, please let me know!) Although I'm not fond of Allison, one of the perspectives in Rebound, I'm ready to be thoroughly entertained.

Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott
Book 2 in the Fire & Flood series

Genre(s): Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Publication Date: February 24, 2015
Publisher: Scholastic Press

How far would you go to survive?

In Fire & Flood, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and a terrifying march across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can’t stop – and in Salt & Stone, Tella will have to face the unseen dangers of the ocean, the breathless cold of a mountain, and twisted new rules in the race.

But what if the danger is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone’s keeping secrets? What do you do when the person you’d relied on most suddenly isn’t there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?

The race is coming to an end, and Tella is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the beginning of the race there were one hundred twenty-two Contenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the fourth and final part of the race, just forty-one are left ... and only one can win.

I've heard really great things about this one already. Fire & Flood was not a disappointment and as crazy as it is, I'm still looking forward to being back in this world.

A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas

Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy
Publication Date: February 24, 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)

A spinning wheel. A prick of a finger. A terrible curse.

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairytale.

Her family is long dead. Her “true love” is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept. Everyone expects Aurora to marry her betrothed and restore magic and peace to the kingdom before revolution tears it apart. But after a lifetime spent locked in a tower for her own safety, Aurora longs for the freedom to make her own choices. When she meets a handsome rebel, he tempts her to abandon everything for a different kind of life.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her.

With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

If I could only read one new February release, I'd pick this one. There's something about fairytales that always captures my attention, and this is no exception.

Other popular mentions that I'm quite excited for as well: I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard and A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Which February releases are you most looking forward to?

Have you been lucky enough to read any yet?