Fourteen books for Twenty Fourteen

The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd (Out 1st January) 

I am excited about this novel as I read The Secret Life of Bees and fell in love with Kidd's easy and insightful writing style. The Invention of Wings follows Sarah, who on her eleventh birthday receives 'Hetty' Handful as her housemaid. The story follows the pair for thirty five years; Handful endures heartbreak but discovers her courage, whilst Sarah, tired of her sheltered upbringing, becomes a pioneer for liberation and empowerment.  

Raw, Belle Aurora (Out 1st January)

I’m not usually into romances but I thought this story looked a bit different. The woman, who has a difficult upbringing, is now in a successful, stable job surrounded by friends. Then, she falls in love with her stalker. An interesting internal examination of a love story gone wrong. 

Uninvited, Sophie Jordan (Out 28th January)

With the world of DNA mapping rapidly developing, this is a compelling examination of a possible moral dilemma from discovering the real meaning of our DNA. Davy Hamilton tests positive for Homicidal Tendency Syndrome, which means she is going to kill someone in the future. Everyone is scared of her until she meets Sean a fellow carrier, but she does not know if she can trust him, as they will both be killers one day. 

Alienated, Melissa Landers (Out 4th February)

A typical love story which develops into more than it initially seems. Two years ago, aliens made contact with Earth. The L'eihs has nearly identical DNA to humans but lack emotional connections. Cara hosts the first ever L'eihr exchange with handsome Aelyx. The university becomes engaged in anti-L'eihr paranoia, leaving Cara alienated with Aelyx as her only friend. However, Aelyx is hiding the true purpose of his exchange and soon Cara will have to fight for her life and the future of the planet. 

Landry Park, Bethany Hagen (Out 4th February)

If you liked The Hunger Games, I think this one will tickle your fancy. At seventeen, Madeline must marry and run the family estate. Yet, everything she knows is shattered when she realised the consequences of her lavish lifestyle on those less fortunate. Madeline begins to question the life she has always known. She becomes drawn to enigmatic David Dana and soon they are at the centre of a rebellion. Madeline is forced to make the ultimate choice between duty and destiny. 

White Hot Kiss, Jennifer L. Armentrout (Out 25th February)

A more complex and intriguing version of The Twilight concept. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has a kiss that kills anything with a soul. Wardens, gargoyles who hunt demons, raise Leyla and she has a crush on warden Zayne. Everything is going perfectly until she meets attractive demon Roth, who as a demon has no soul. Yet, her life seems to fall apart in an instant when there is a demon uprising and Leyla is forced to pick her side.

The Fifty-Seven Lives of Alex Wayfare, M. G. Buehrlen (Out 4^th March)

I love the concept of this novel as it is both dark yet, vividly imaginative. Alex has visions of the past and sometimes she returns from the visions with lasting effects and unexplainable wounds. One day she meets Porter and he knows all her dark secrets and tells her that she is a descender - capable of time travel through accessing limbo. Alex starts to revisit her past lives and the same blue-eyed boy keeps reappearing. However, the more she descends, the more it becomes apparent someone wants to stop her, at any cost.

Boy, Snow, Bird, Helen Oyeyemi (Out 6th March) 

The cover of the novel is reminiscent of the Genesis story and this recreation of the fairy-tale in pre-Civil Rights America is fascinating. In 1953, Boy Novak arrives in Massachusetts, marries a local widower, and becomes a cruel stepmother to Snow after her own daughter Bird is born dark-skinned which exposes the Whitman’s African-American decent. A reimagining of the snow-white tale which examines race, beauty, and vanity. 

Dorothy Must Die, Danielle Paige (Out 1st April) 

This is probably the novel I am most excited about, it sounds wonderful. Dorothy has found her way back to Oz (see the prequel to this novel, No Place Like Oz, published last year) and has seized power as a tyrannical dictator. Amy Gumm, the other girl from Kansas, has a mission; remove the tin woodman's heart, steal the scarecrows brain, eliminate the lion’s courage - then finally kill Dorothy. 

The Geography of You and Me, Jennifer E Smith (Out 15th April) 

The story of true love when continents get in the way. Lucy and Owen meet when they are stuck in a lift together during a blackout, and after they are rescued, they watch the stars above the streets of Manhattan. After that one night, reality is restored and Lucy moves to Edinburgh and Owen, West with his father. They continue a long distance relationship through postcards and finally reunite in the city they met, but can it ever be the same? 

To all the boys I've loved before, Jenny Han (Out 22nd April)

This is the realisation of every girls worst nightmare. Lara Jean writes each one of her crushes a letter about how she felt and keeps them stored under her bed. One day she discovers they have all been mailed meaning that she has to face up to all her old loves. However, she soon discovers that something good may come out of it. 

After the End, Amy Plum (Out 6th May) 

World War III left the world destroyed by radiation and everyone dead apart from a small few who escaped to Alaska. Thirty years pass and teenage Juneau returns from hunting one day to find everyone gone. She leaves to search for them only to discover that everything she knew was a lie - there was never a war. In a modern day society, Juneau is searching for her family, unaware that someone who knows the truth is searching for her. A truly insightful novel into the intricacy of deception and our fascination with a post-apocalyptic society.

Lost for Words - A Novel, Edward St Aubyn (Out 20th May) 

The Elysion Prize for Literature receives hundreds of submissions every year, yet every writer has an agenda. The novel is both comic, when one writer submits a cookbook instead of her novel and dark when one of the judges realises he is not on the shortlist and seeks revenge. This satire examines the nature of the literary prize and the nature of true talent from a writer who has received much acclaim for his previous novels. 

 

Califonia, Edan Lepucki (Out 8th July)

In a post-apocalyptic world Cal and Frida live alone in the wilderness until one day Frida discovers that she is pregnant. They set out to find a settlement, scared to raise the baby alone. The settlement they find offers security but in a paranoid world full of secrets, the couple must correctly decide who to trust as their lives depend on it. Human nature is investigated in this tale of trust, love and lies.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the new released of twenty fourteen and have been inspired to read one or two of them. 

Lots of Love 

Elouise 

xxx