The Reading Fish: Out This Week in YA (3): Dystopians, Teen Life, and Revenge

Every week there is another new release, so why not highlight them? This week there have been some great releases, these are some that I am most excited for:

Title: Of Beast and Beauty
Author: Stacy Jay
Release: July 23, 2013

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.
Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.
As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.
Amazon--Goodreads--Barns and Noble

RETELLINGS!!!!<3 Enough said. I love retellings of classics stories into something more modified or in a completely different genre. I enjoyed Stacy Jay's Juliet Immortal which as you can tell is a rendition of Romeo and Juliet. So I can't wait to see what's in store with Of Beast and Beauty.

Title: OCD Love Story

Author: Corey Ann Haydu

Release: July 23, 2013

When Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he’s her kind of crazy. Sweet, strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in love again.

But despite her feelings for Beck, Bea can’t stop thinking about someone else: a guy who is gorgeous and magnetic... and has no idea Bea even exists. But Bea knows a lot about him. She spends a lot of time watching him. She has a journal full of notes. Some might even say she’s obsessed.

Bea tells herself she’s got it all under control. But this isn’t a choice, it’s a compulsion. The truth is, she’s breaking down...and she might end up breaking her own heart. Amazon--Goodreads--Barns and Noble

Contemporary romance, enough said! Like usual I am obsessed with contemps, and this one definitely looks cute. Sadly I don't have OCD so I have a feeling I may not be able to connect with the character as much. Though I have a feeling Zareen will love this!

Title: The Fury
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Release: July 23, 2013

From the creator of the Escape from Furnace series, a ferocious epic of supernatural terror, perfect for Stephen King fans

Imagine if one day, without warning, the entire human race turns against you, if every person you know, every person you meet becomes a bloodthirsty, mindless savage . . . That’s the horrifying reality for Cal, Brick, and Daisy. Friends, family, even moms and dads, are out to get them. Their world has the Fury. It will not rest until they are dead.
In Alexander Gordon Smith’s adrenaline-fueled saga, Cal and the others must uncover the truth about what is happening before it destroys them all. But survival comes at a cost. In their search for answers, what they discover will launch them into battle with an enemy of unimaginable power. Amazon--Goodreads--Barns and Noble

I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved Gordon's other books but I have been looking around and this one has received more wishy washy reviews. There are a lot of mixed reviews, so I'm not too sure on how I will feel about this one.

Title: A Darkness Strange and Lovely

Author: Susan Dennard

Release: July 23, 2013

Following an all-out battle with the walking Dead, the Spirit Hunters have fled Philadelphia, leaving Eleanor alone to cope with the devastating aftermath. But there’s more trouble ahead—the evil necromancer Marcus has returned, and his diabolical advances have Eleanor escaping to Paris to seek the help of Joseph, Jie, and the infuriatingly handsome Daniel once again. When she arrives, however, she finds a whole new darkness lurking in this City of Light. As harrowing events unfold, Eleanor is forced to make a deadly decision that will mean life or death for everyone. Amazon--Goodreads

I have yet to read the first book in this series, so I can't really say much about the second book. But I do love the cover though! :D

Title: The Counterfeit Family Tree or Vee Crawford Wong

Author: L. Tan Holland

Release: July 23, 2013

A hysterically funny debut novel about discovering where you come from—even if you have to lie to get there.When Vee Crawford-Wong’s history teacher assigns an essay on his family history, Vee knows he’s in trouble. His parents—Chinese-born dad and Texas-bred Mom—are mysteriously and stubbornly close-lipped about his ancestors. So, he makes it all up and turns in the assignment. And then everything falls apart.

After a fistfight, getting cut from the basketball team, offending his best friend, and watching his grades plummet, one thing becomes abundantly clear to Vee: No one understands him! If only he knew where he came from… So Vee does what anyone in his situation would do: He forges a letter from his grandparents in China, asking his father to bring their grandson to visit. Astonishingly, Vee’s father agrees. But in the land of his ancestors, Vee learns that the answers he seeks are closer to home then he could have ever imagined. Goodreads--Amazon--Barns and Noble

Yay for a contemp in the male POV, plus yay to a minority character story. Reading The Counterfeit Family Tree or Vee Crawford Wong, I feel like not only will I get a great story to read, but I will get the chance to learn about a whole new culture.