Waiting for the mail person to arrive is an exciting pastime, and it’s one that I look forward to with a childlike mixture of glee and joy. Last week was a big one when it comes to receiving packages with a treasure trove of soon-to-be-released finished copies and ARCs that I get to read before the book ever comes out. Check out what’s got me so happy this week….
I’ve been a big fan of vampire movies for as long as I can remember. However, even though I’ve read a large number of paranormal novels for YABookShelf.com, I’ve never actually read one where the only “monster” was a vampire since I was in high school. In fact, the only book I’ve read and reviewed so far with some vampires was the Charlotte Brontë and Sherri Browning Erwin collaboration, Jane Slayre. However, last week I received my first vampire only mashup novel, Romeo & Juliet & Vampires, which was adapted from the Shakespearean play to a novel by Claudia Gabel. Now, I’m a huge Shakespeare fan, but just as he adapted many existing narratives and plays into the forms that we know so well today, I think that we owe it to people like Gabel to learn what she can do with Romeo And Juliet before we judge it harshly. In fact, I really don’t see the difference with what he did and what she’s doing today, except that his version has been around for 100s of years already.
While I’ve actually already started Romeo&Juliet&Vampires, the books that I’m most excited about are Elizabeth C. Bunce‘s StarCrossed and Natalie Standiford‘s How To Say Goodbye in Robot. I’m looking forward to the former because I read and reviewed Bunce’s debut novel, A Curse Dark As Gold, recently and I absolutely loved it. The main character in her new novel, Digger, lives as a spy and thief among the feuding religious factions and dodging the Greenmen who have banned magic from the city. However, when circumstances find her among a new crowd and caught red handed, Remy Daul blackmails her into becoming his personal spy on the castle. I don’t know about you, but the mix of fantasy and adventure seems like a great read. As for HowToSayGoodbyeInRobot, I’ve read so many positive reviews about this novel featuring an unexpected friendship between Bea and Jonah (a boy who hasn’t made a new friend since third grade) that I just had to give it a try. Moreover, Phil Falco’s design of the hardcover edition is absolutely phenomenal. If I were you, I’d check it out for that alone!
With a very different look, Natalie Standiford’s September release called, Confessions Of The Sullivan Sisters seems like an entirely different novel from the other novel that I received. Books about sisters are always intriguing to me, so I’m definitely looking forward to reading and reviewing this novel for my site. In case you haven’t heard of it yet, it commences with their grandmother’s announcement on Christmas Day that she’s going to die soon and that she’s cut the entire family out of the will because one of them has offended her greatly. Each of the family members deliver confessions about love, hate, life and death because if the individual steps forward with the “crime” that has bothered her so much, then she’ll change her will. You’ll want to read this smart and funny novel just as much as I do.
While I’ve never read anything by either Neil Connelly or Samantha Schutz, the description of these two novels definitely struck a chord with me when I first heard of them, and I’m sure they will with you too. Schultz’s You Are Not Here is the first free verse YA novel that I’ll ever read. You might not have heard of it before, so I’m happy to tell you that it’s about a secret romance between Annaleah and Brian, which was everything they wanted. However, when Brian dies unexpectedly, Annaleah has to hide the depth of her grief because no one would understand what she’s going through.
In contrast, The Miracle Stealer is about the relationship between a teen and her younger brother, who everyone thinks is the “Miracle Boy,” who survived a freak accident and is rumored to cure the sick and even raise the dead. Can she protect him when a dangerous stalker starts targeting six-year-old Daniel? Both of these books will be released in October, so you’ll get to know a little bit more about them as it gets closer to the release days.
Have you read any of these books already? Are you looking forward to their release dates? Let me know because your excitement will definitely add to my excitement. 
Melissa has always been a voracious reader of fiction and has an M.A. in English Literature to prove it. Like many other adults, she got caught up in the young adult crossover fiction phenomenon. Now, one of her great joys comes from sharing her love of YA lit on this popular review site. Come with expectations of intellect, magic, and honest reviews, and you won’t be disappointed.
