Z is for Zeroboxer

Zeroboxer

by Fonda Lee

Paperback, 360 pages

Expected publication: April 8th 2015 by Flux (first published April 1st 2015)

A rising star in the weightless combat sport of zeroboxing, Carr “the Raptor” Luka dreams of winning the championship title. Recognizing his talent, the Zero Gravity Fighting Association assigns Risha, an ambitious and beautiful Martian colonist, to be his brandhelm––a personal marketing strategist. It isn’t long before she’s made Carr into a popular celebrity and stolen his heart along the way.

As his fame grows, Carr becomes an inspirational hero on Earth, a once-great planet that’s fallen into the shadow of its more prosperous colonies. But when Carr discovers a far-reaching criminal scheme, he becomes the keeper of a devastating secret. Not only will his choices place everything he cares about in jeopardy, but they may also spill the violence from the sports arena into the solar system.

Cover thoughts...

Jax- Cool cover, from the wings of armor to the destructed Z. Love it!

Dani- This is one of those covers I just really like. It has a cool name and the graphics are distinctive.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

Y is for The Young Elites

The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1)

by Marie Lu
Hardcover, 355 pages

Published October 7th 2014 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

Cover Thoughts...

Dani- Talk about the best way to practice K.I.S.S – Keep It Simple Stupid! This cover is so sharp and yet still looming.

Jax- I love the sword used for the letter T and the clouds are mysterious. Is this the calm before the storm? Are they rumbling with anger or opening to let the sun shine through? Great cover!

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

X is for I am Princess X

This one was a bit of a stretch but it was a perfect fit for X!

I Am Princess X

by Cherie Priest
Kindle Edition, 256 pages

Expected publication: May 26th 2015 by Arthur A. Levine Books

Best friends, big fans, a mysterious webcomic, and a long-lost girl collide in this riveting novel, perfect for fans of both Cory Doctorow and Sarah Dessen; illustrated throughout with comics.

Once upon a time, two best friends created a princess together. Libby drew the pictures, May wrote the tales, and their heroine, Princess X, slayed all the dragons and scaled all the mountains their imaginations could conjure.

Once upon a few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across the Ballard Bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away, and Princess X died with her.

Once upon a now: May is sixteen and lonely, wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window.

Princess X?

When May looks around, she sees the Princess everywhere: Stickers. Patches. Graffiti. There's an entire underground culture, focused around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the webcomic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby's story and Princess X online. And that means that only one person could have started this phenomenon---her best friend, Libby, who lives.

COVER THOUGHTS...

Jax- Are those Chuck Taylor shoes? LOVE it!!! The shoes combined with the girl dressed like a princess who's wielding a katana...where do I sign up? Girl power!

Dani- Totally agree with you Jax, I LOVE it too!! This cover just screams, “READ ME!” And the blurb sounds just as amazing.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

W is for The Wrong Girl

The Wrong Girl (The 1st Freak House Trilogy #1)

by C.J. Archer

Paperback, 218 pages

Published May 25th 2013 by C J Archer

It's customary for Gothic romance novels to include a mysterious girl locked in the attic. Hannah Smith just wishes she wasn't that girl. As a narcoleptic and the companion to an earl's daughter with a strange affliction of her own, Hannah knows she's lucky to have a roof over her head and food in her belly when so many orphans starve on the streets. Yet freedom is something Hannah longs for. She did not, however, want her freedom to arrive in the form of kidnapping.

Taken by handsome Jack Langley to a place known as Freak House, she finds herself under the same roof as a mad scientist, his niece, a mute servant and Jack, a fire starter with a mysterious past. They assure Hannah she is not a prisoner and that they want to help her. The problem is, they think she's the earl's daughter. What will they do when they discover they took the wrong girl?

Cover thoughts...

Dani- The title doesn’t match the cover in my opinion but that is what makes it so appealing to me. I want to discover the connection.

Jax- The girl on the cover is stunning, and the house is gorgeous, yet creepy. 

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

V is for Veracity

Veracity

by Laura Bynum

Hardcover, 376 pages

Published January 5th 2010 by Pocket (first published December 14th 2009)

Harper Adams was six years old in 2012 when an act of viral terrorism wiped out one-half of the country's population. Out of the ashes rose a new government, the Confederation of the Willing, dedicated to maintaining order at any cost. The populace is controlled via government-sanctioned sex and drugs, a brutal police force known as the Blue Coats, and a device called the slate, a mandatory implant that monitors every word a person speaks. To utter a Red-Listed, forbidden word is to risk physical punishment or even death.

But there are those who resist. Guided by the fabled "Book of Noah," they are determined to shake the people from their apathy and ignorance, and are prepared to start a war in the name of freedom. The newest member of this resistance is Harper -- a woman driven by memories of a daughter lost, a daughter whose very name was erased by the Red List. And she possesses a power that could make her the underground warriors' ultimate weapon -- or the instrument of their destruction.

In the tradition of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Laura Bynum has written an astonishing debut novel about a chilling, all-too-plausible future in which speech is a weapon and security comes at the highest price of all. 

Cover thoughts...

Jax- If I were the girl on this cover, I don't know if I'd walk down that tunnel or not. Part of me wants to scream, "Go the other way!" while the other part wants a peek at where this path leads.

Dani- Exactly! I want to know more but then I don’t.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

U is for Until the Beginning

Until the Beginning (After the End #2)

by Amy Plum

Hardcover, 336 pages

Expected publication: May 5th 2015 by HarperTeen

When Juneau's clan disappeared, she lost so much more than her friends and family. She soon discovered everything she thought she knew about her life was a lie. Her people's gifts were actually secret abilities that others wanted, desperately enough to kidnap an entire village.

Juneau and her new companion Miles's cross-country journey to find her clan has led them to a game preserve in New Mexico. Now Juneau's people are finally within reach, and she will stop at nothing to save them. But she has a target on her back too, because unbeknownst to her she is the key to unlocking everything. To rescue her people - and herself - Juneau must discover what she, and her abilities, are truly capable of.

Cover thoughts...

Dani- This cover brings the same the feeling as After the End; same isolated, lonely feeling that begs you to pick it up and read it.

Jax- This cover is two-fold for me. They have each other in a helpless situation and location, but the eagle at the top makes me think of hope... Hope for them in the future.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

T is for Trial by Fire

Trial by Fire (The Worldwalker Trilogy #1)

by Josephine Angelini

Hardcover, 374 pages

Published September 2nd 2014 by Feiwel & Friends (first published August 28th 2014)

This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying experiences that others in her hometown of Salem take for granted, which is why she is determined to enjoy her first high school party with her best friend and longtime crush, Tristan. But after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class, Lily wishes she could just disappear.

Suddenly, Lily is in a different Salem—one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruelest of them all is Lillian . . . Lily's other self in this alternate universe.

What makes Lily weak at home is what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. In this confusing world, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can't hope to shoulder alone and a love she never expected.

Cover thoughts...

Jax- This cover is gorgeous! It feels 3Dish. The girl heading to the castle, but having to go through fire to get there, makes me want to read this book and cheer her on.

Dani- You’re right Jax, this cover is a very cool one indeed. Let’s grab our weapons and follow her inside.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

S is for Sanctum

Sanctum (Asylum #2)

by Madeleine Roux

Paperback, 400 pages

Published August 26th 2014 by HarperCollins

In this haunting, fast-paced sequel to the New York Times bestselling photo-illustrated novel Asylum, three teens must unlock some long-buried secrets from the past before the past comes back to get them first. Featuring found photographs, many from real vintage carnivals, Sanctum is a mind-bending reading experience that blurs the lines between past and present, genius and insanity, perfect for fans of the smash hit Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Dan, Abby, and Jordan remain traumatized by the summer they shared in the Brookline asylum. Much as they'd love to move on, someone is determined to keep the terror alive, sending the teens photos of an old-timey carnival, with no note and no name. Forsaking their plan never to go back, the teens return to New Hampshire College under the guise of a weekend for prospective students, and there they realize that the carnival from the photos is not only real, it's here on campus, apparently for the first time in many years.

Sneaking away from sample classes and college parties, Dan and his friends lead a tour of their own—one through the abandoned houses and hidden places of the surrounding town. Camford is hiding a terrible past, and the influence of the asylum runs deeper than Dan ever imagined.

Cover thoughts...

Dani- Ummm… yeah, spine tingles. These type of covers and stories sets my mind racing.

Jax- Agree, Dani! Goose bumps galore!

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

R is for Red Queen

Red Queen (Red Queen #1)

by Victoria Aveyard

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published February 10th 2015 by Orion

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

Cover Thoughts...

Jax- The jeweled crown gives this cover a regal feel, but throw in the blood dripping from it, and it amps up the chill factor times a hundred.

Dani- Yes, total chills! I just love how simple this cover is yet it says so much.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

Q is for Quake

Quake (Pulse #3)

by Patrick Carman
Hardcover, 288 pages

Published February 24th 2015 by Katherine Tegen Books

In the year 2051, Faith can move mountains…

Faith Daniels and Dylan Gilmore are in love, and they have a special ability called a pulse: they can move things with their minds. They're caught in the middle of a deadly war with two other pulses: Clara and Wade Quinn, who have joined forces with Hotspur Chance, the most wanted man in the world.

At the start of Quake, Faith and Dylan are holed up in a spectacular abandoned mountain lodge (once used in the film The Shining 71 years before), and their Intel friend Hawk leaves them in the middle of the night, in spite of a newly blossoming love with a girl named Jade. Hawk’s plan is to penetrate the Western State and make contact with a sleeper cell working on the inside that will give them valuable information about Hotspur’s violent plan.

But while Hawk is searching for answers on the inside, Faith and Dylan are still fighting on the outside. In a series of hair-raising battles, the second pulses duel it out, only to raise the body count on both sides. During the battles, Faith and Dylan discover an even great strength: the power of their combined love. Together, Faith and Dylan might just be able to save the world with a quake that is big enough to change the course of history.

Cover thoughts...

Dani - I think all of the Pulse series covers are amazing and this one is no different. Makes you think, “What is going on here?” I really enjoy covers which goad inner thoughts.

Jax -  This cover seems so real. The destruction to the city, with only more to come, really makes me think of the future and where the world is headed.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

P is for Please Remain Calm

Please Remain Calm (This is Not a Test #2)

by Courtney Summers

Kindle Edition, 96 pages

Published January 20th 2015 by St. Martin's Griffin

In this gripping sequel to THIS IS NOT A TEST, Rhys and Sloane are headed for a safe haven when they get separated along the way. Rhys is determined to reunite with Sloane until he discovers people who might need him more--people who offer him the closest he'll get to everything he's lost, if they can just hold on long enough.

Rhys thinks he has what it takes to survive and find the girl he lost, but in a world overrun by the dead, there are no guarantees and the next leg of his journey will test him in unimaginable ways ... 

Jax -  The blood spattered cover combined with the person being dragged through the dirt gives me chills. 

Dani - I like how the blood splattered on this cover matches the blood splatter on This is Not a Test, ties it all together.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

O is for The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Hardcover, 181 pages

Published June 18th 2013 by William Morrow Books

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

Cover thoughts...

Dani - This cover is dark & mysterious and that’s just the way I like them! The submerged girl and the amazing title of the book pulls it all together with perfection.

Jax - Wow! This cover's beautiful, yet haunting. It's like being in a dream, and not sure if it's going to turn into a nightmare or be something magical.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

N is for Never Never

Never Never (Never Never #1)

by Colleen Hoover
Kindle Edition, 159 pages

Published January 7th 2015 by Hoover Ink

Best friends since they could walk. In love since the age of fourteen.
Complete strangers since this morning.
He'll do anything to remember. She'll do anything to forget.

Cover thoughts...

Jax - This cover gives me chills with the hands underwater appearing lifeless. I love the forget-me-nots in the palm.

Dani – Oh yeah, chills to the bone. Anything under water like this drips of suffering.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

M is for Mary: The Summoning

MARY: The Summoning (Bloody Mary #1)

by Hillary Monahan

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published September 2nd 2014 by Disney-Hyperion

There is a right way and a wrong way to summon her.

Jess had done the research. Success requires precision: a dark room, a mirror, a candle, salt, and four teenage girls. Each of them--Jess, Shauna, Kitty, and Anna--must link hands, follow the rules . . . and never let go.

A thrilling fear spins around the room the first time Jess calls her name: "Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. BLOODY MARY." A ripple of terror follows when a shadowy silhouette emerges through the fog, a specter trapped behind the mirror.

Once is not enough, though--at least not for Jess. Mary is called again. And again. But when their summoning circle is broken, Bloody Mary slips through the glass with a taste for revenge on her lips. As the girls struggle to escape Mary's wrath, loyalties are questioned, friendships are torn apart, and lives are forever altered.

A haunting trail of clues leads Shauna on a desperate search to uncover the legacy of Mary Worth. What she finds will change everything, but will it be enough to stop Mary--and Jess--before it's too late?

Cover thoughts...

Dani - Uh, yeah. This cover is a total fearfest! And did you read the blurp? Holy hell.

Jax - Talk about spine chilling! It's creepy and gorgeous mixed into one!

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

L is for Last Day of Love

Last Day of Love (Teardrop 0.5)

by Lauren Kate
ebook, 60 pages

Published December 10th 2013 by Delacorte Press

Don't miss this beautiful original digital story by Lauren Kate, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fallen series, set in the romantic world of Teardrop, a place of  devastating secrets and dark magic . . . a world where everything you love can be washed away.

Cover thoughts...

Jax - This cover is stunning with the ancient city peeking through a shimmer like fog.

Dani - Yup, the peeking city is the perfect touch.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

K is for The Kiss of Deception

The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles #1)

by Mary E. Pearson

Kindle Edition, 492 pages

Published July 8th 2014 by Henry Holt

A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor's secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

COVER THOUGHTS...

Dani - The doom and gloom of the sky, birds of death, and a girl with her crown of flowers… it just looks like trouble. And I like trouble.

Jax - Great description, Dani! Innocence and chaos all wrapped up in one beautiful cover!

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

J is for Jubilee Manor

Jubilee Manor (Landry Park #2)

by Bethany Hagen
Hardcover

Expected publication: August 11th 2015

The thrilling conclusion to Landry Park is full of love, betrayal, and murder--perfect for fans of Divergent, The Selection, and Pride and Prejudice

In Landry Park, Madeline turned her back on her elite family, friends, and estate to help the Rootless. Now, in Jubilee Manor, she struggles to bring the Gentry and the Rootless together. But when Gentry heirs—Madeline’s old friends—are murdered, even she begins to think a Rootless is behind it, putting her at odds with the boy she loves and the very people she is trying to lead. If she can’t figure out who is killing her friends and bring them to justice, a violent war will erupt and even more will die—and Madeline’s name, her estate, and all the bonds she’s forged won’t make any difference.

This conclusion to Landry Park, which VOYA dubbed "Gone with the Wind meets The Hunger Games,” is a richly satisfying, addictive read.

COVER THOUGHTS...

Jax - The first thing I notice is her gorgeous red hair and the vibrant blue dress! I like the different century feel of this cover.

Dani – Boom! Color! The different standout hues is the perfect eye catcher.

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.

I is for In a Handful of Dust

In a Handful of Dust (Not a Drop to Drink #2)

by Mindy McGinnis
Hardcover, 384 pages

Published September 23rd 2014 by Katherine Tegen Books

The only thing bigger than the world is fear.

Lucy’s life by the pond has always been full. She has water and friends, laughter and the love of her adoptive mother, Lynn, who has made sure that Lucy’s childhood was very different from her own. Yet it seems Lucy’s future is settled already—a house, a man, children, and a water source—and anything beyond their life by the pond is beyond reach.

When disease burns through their community, the once life-saving water of the pond might be the source of what’s killing them now. Rumors of desalinization plants in California have lingered in Lynn’s mind, and the prospect of a “normal” life for Lucy sets the two of them on an epic journey west to face new dangers: hunger, mountains, deserts, betrayal, and the perils of a world so vast that Lucy fears she could be lost forever, only to disappear in a handful of dust.

In this companion to Not a Drop to Drink, Mindy McGinnis thrillingly combines the heart-swelling hope of a journey, the challenges of establishing your own place in the world, and the gripping physical danger of nature in a futuristic frontier.


                           COVER THOUGHTS...

Dani - Just like Not a Drop to Drink, this cover brings vibrant color and an instant glimpse into the mood of this book.

Jax- Well said, Dani! I'm not sure if I'd follow those people down the field path... That cloud looks creepy, making my mind think all sorts of things! Great cover!!!

To view other bloggers participating in the challenge, and to read about A to Z, please go HERE.