Today I’m just going to do an update of where I’m at with the Reading Challenges I’m taking part in, as well as a beautiful cover reveal of a new book by one of my favorite YA authors.

First up – the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge, hosted by fiktshun.com.  I have three reviews up for two books (My Soul To Take, My Soul To Save) and one novella (My Soul To Lose).  Click on each title for the review.  I still have three more books and two novellas before Rachel Vincent’s sixth book in the series, Before I Wake, comes out June 26.  If you are interested in checking these books out, Soul Screamers Volume One is out with all three stories I reviewed in one book.  This is a great way to get started on the series.

Next – the 2012 Debut Author Challenge reading update.  If you remember, I originally challenged myself to read 15 books by debut Young Adult/Middle School authors as part of the challenge hosted by thestorysiren.com.  I now have three reviews under my belt (Cinder, Everneath and Tempest - click each title for the review), I’ve finished a fourth – Fracture by Megan Miranda (which I hope to have a review up for tomorrow), and am currently reading a fifth – Embrace by Jessica Shirvington – with a review up next week.  It looks like I’m on track for this challenge.

I also have a tentative list of the other books I hope to read and review for the challenge, but I’m noticing that A LOT of them are coming out in April and May – in fact, eight of them!!  I will definitely have to do some serious budgeting in May, especially because the newest additions to Cassandra Clare’s “Mortal Instruments” series, City of Lost Souls, and Rick Riordan’s “Kane Chronicles,” The Serpent’s Shadow, will be released then.  May also means “The Avengers” hits the big screen – and if it is good, I’ll be seeing it more than once.  I think May is going to be a busy month.

And last, but not least – one of my favorite YA authors is going to be releasing a new book in August, and the cover was recently revealed.  Lesley Livingston is writing a spin-off to her “Wondrous Strange” trilogy (which I’ve read at least four times) that will follow the character of the Fennrys Wolf and include a lot of mythology.  This will be a bit of a change from “Wondrous Strange,” which used Shakespeare’s plays as an inspiration for her world of faeries and otherworldly creatures.  If you haven’t read the series, I recommend it.  It is well-balanced with very likable characters.  Anyway, here is a look at the cover for the newest book and the description:

Love is just the beginning… of the end.”
When Mason Starling rescues an unconscious young man from the ravages of a terrible storm—and he rescues her from the otherworldly creatures lurking in that storm—little does she know her whole life is about to spiral dramatically, mystically out of control. Someone is trying to kill her, someone else is trying to use her, and the only one who seems willing to help her is the tantalizing, dangerous stranger who can’t even remember who—or what—he is. All he remembers is his name: Fennrys Wolf.

What Fennrys doesn’t know is that, thanks in part to his past actions, a crack has appeared in the barrier between the mortal world and the Beyond Realms. The crack has opened up a nexus of dark energy in the middle of the East River and it’s attracting the attention of powerful entities on both sides of the rift.

Because of that, a longstanding truce involving the members of several ancient underworld cartels is now in jeopardy. Mason, Fennrys, and the students of elite Gosforth Academy—a neutral-ground “safe haven” for children of the Families—soon find themselves caught in the crossfire as the servants of the warring pantheons fight to see whose gods come out on top…and whose demons go down in flames.

Set in New York City, with all its dark, gritty sparkle, the STARLING saga explores the spaces between the worlds and the realms of the ancient gods… only a heartbeat beyond. It’s a tale spun from ancient mythologies—Norse and Greek and Egyptian—filled to the brim with adventure, danger, and romance, and played out against the backdrop of a city with its own siren-song.

From the universe of Lesley Livingston’s WONDROUS STRANGE, a new series and captivating heroine make their exciting debut. (lesleylivingston.blogspot.com)

It’s a lovely cover and the story is right up my alley – this is definitely on my pre-order list!

And that’s it for today.  Tomorrow I’ll have a new book review up and then it’s time for the weekend – and maybe a trip to see The Lorax!