What's Next? Highly Anticipated Releases of 2016

Now that all the books with the 2015 release date have either been released or have been already published and devoured, we book lovers have already started looking toward the future. What will be available for all the bibliomaniacs to stock their libraries and cram their faces with in the coming years? As we all expected, the answer is too much yet too little. We can look forward to new releases from the most talked about authors and continuations of the book world's hottest series. John Green, anyone?

Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare
First up, we have Cassandra Clare, the author that put the hot in Shadowhunter. Of course we all saw this coming. One thing's for sure, Clare ain't fading into the night (aka Washed-up-author-ville) without a hearty fight. With that suggestive (and might I say intriguing) end to her Mortal Instruments series, I would've been mad if this wasn't coming out. A devoted (not as much as some but still) follower of Jace and Clary, I wanted more than the ending Clare gave me. Excuse me if I get a bit book-righteous, but I feel I deserve this new beginning of the much-wanted new series, along with all other the Mortal Insturment-obsessed. Of course, Cassandra Clare will have to do the almost impossible: live up to all the hype. And nothing can kill a book or an author's career like hype. Release Date: March 8, 2016 by Margaret K. McElderry Book
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Los Angeles. It’s been five years since the events of the Mortal Instruments when Nephilim stood poised on the brink of oblivion and Shadowhunter Emma Carstairs lost her parents. After the blood and violence she witnessed as a child, Emma has dedicated her life to to discovering exactly what it was that killed her parents and getting her revenge.

Raised in the Los Angeles Institute with the Blackthorn family, Emma is paired as a parabatai with her best friend, Julian Blackthorn. A series of murders in the city catch her attention — they seem to have the same characteristics as the deaths of her parents. Could the murderer be the same person? And her attention isn’t the only one caught: someone has been murdering Downworlders as well. The Fair Folk make a deal with the Institute: if the Blackthorns and Emma will investigate the killings, they’ll return Mark Blackthorn to his home. The catch: they have only two weeks to find the killers. Otherwise it’s open war between faeries and Nephilim.

The Shadowhunters of the Institute must race against time to catch the killers, even as they begin to suspect the involvement of those closest to them. At the same time, Emma is falling in love with the one person in the world she’s absolutely forbidden by Shadowhunter Law to love. Set against the glittering backdrop of present-day Los Angeles, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches from the warlock-run nightclubs of the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica.

P.S. Cassandra Clare is also said to be working on another one of the five series she hopes to write about the Shadowhunters. Chain of Thorns is the first novel in The Last Hours trilogy, said to take place in 1903 following the next generation after The Infernal Devices (Tessa Gray and Will Herondale). Unfortunately, we have even less information about it than the Dark Artifices. More waiting, I suppose.


Untitled by Stephanie Perkins
Up next in the brigade of books is Stephanie Perkins. Known for her witty, light books of the romance variety, Perkins has made a name for herself among the young and old of the young adult crowd, with the help of Lola, Isla, and Anna. Her humor and sweet, feel-good stories are iconic, which is why it's so surprising that her new novel is anything but. The changeover between chick-lit to horror-suspense is sure to be a rough one. Am I so wrong to doubt the Perkins' revolution? Release Date: 2016 by Dutton
+Summary

A YA horror novel in the vein of the movie Scream in which a cadre of high school students are being stalked and attacked by a mysterious killer with no obvious motive.
From the author's blog:
Yes, it's a contemporary. The killer is not a supernatural creature. I'm talking about ye old traditional knife-wielding maniac.
Yes, it will be bloody.
Yes, it will be sexy.
Yes, it will be scary.

Untitled (Untitled #1) by Marissa Meyer
Little is known about this series. The few bits of knowledge available are that it doesn't have a title, it's part of a trilogy that also has no title, and has something to with "super heroes and super villains". Cyborg super humans perhaps? Princesses with a thing against being in distress? All, I think, are likely possibilities. Release Date: Fall 2016 by Feiwel and Friends
+Summary

To be published Fall 2016. This will be the first installment of a trilogy about "super heroes and super villains".

Heartless by Marissa Meyer 
Along with her new series, Marissa Meyer is said to also be publishing another new novel called Heartless. If anyone has the control of the reins of the writing train, it seems to be Marissa Meyer, pounding out novels as she is. This book is rumored to be a prequel to Alice in Wonderland and will tell the tale of the notorious Queen of Hearts. Meyer apparently has a thing for fairy tale spin-offs. Who knew? Release Date: November 8, 2016 by Feiwel and Friends
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A prequel to “Alice in Wonderland,” HEARTLESS will tell the tale of how a marquis’ teenage daughter became the infamous Queen of Hearts. It will be a story of whimsy and madness, passion and tragedy, ravens and writing desks.

Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan
I read the Lynburn Legacy. I fell in love with the first one, then fell into a spell of depression after reading the next books which I lovingly refer to as The Epic Fails. I'm not sure my love (or lack thereof) will keep me from reading this new one, however. I know Brennan can write well because the first book of the Lynburn Legacy is evidence. And besides, this is the first book, if not the only book, of a series, and if Brennan has a talent for anything, it's humor and first novels. Release Date: 2016 by HarperCollins
+Summary

Tell the Wind and Fire is about a young girl called Lucie who lives in a New York very different from the New York we know: the city is torn between two very different kinds of magic, and Lucie’s own family was torn apart years ago by that conflict. Lucie wears magic rings and carries a burden of guilt she can’t share with anyone.
The light in her life is her sweetheart boyfriend Ethan, but it turns out Ethan has a secret too: a soulless doppelganger created by dark magic, who has to conceal the face identical to Ethan’s with a hood fastened by a collar nobody but a Light magician with magical rings can take off… and who introduces himself to both of them by, for reasons nobody can understand, saving Ethan’s life…

Flamecaster (The Shattered Realms #1) by Cinda Williams Chima 
This book is one I am genuinely excited for. Chima is a goddess when it comes to really good fantasy novels. Don't even get me started on The Demon King series because I could go on for days about how much I love it. And finding out that Chima is writing about The Seven Realms a generation later? Did I die? Cause I'm pretty sure this is heaven. I've been waiting years for this to happen, and it's actually happening. I just...I'm just so happy. Release Date: April 19, 2016
+Summary

Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now Ash is closer than he’s ever been to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. As a healer, can Ash use his powers not to save a life but to take it?
Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told that the mysterious magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught.
Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.
Set in the world of the acclaimed Seven Realms series a generation later, this is a thrilling story of dark magic, chilling threats, and two unforgettable characters walking a knife-sharp line between life and death.

Untitled by John Green
Basically, the only thing we know is John Green is writing a book. And that's enough to see fireworks in some people's eyes, including mine. Release Date: Unknown by Puffin
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There is none.

AND SINCE IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY TO LOOK INTO THE FUTURE, HERE'S A HEALTHY DOSE OF 2017...

Untitled by Veronica Roth
It's widely known that Veronica Roth is sore spot amongst the YA community, you know, after the whole Tris episode. Some words were said, some rash actions taken, but hopefully all of that is behind us. We can move on, forget, and forgive. Okay... maybe, we'll just forget. ...Or just ignore anything happened, like they do in all unhealthy relationships. It'll be fine. Anyway, Veronica Roth is publishing a duology, and I believe the words "Star Wars" were used. Hopefully, this series won't cause an uproar and a near miss with an all-out rebellion. Crossing my fingers! Release Date: 2017 by Katherine Tegen Books
+Summary

In the untitled first novel of a highly anticipated duology in the vein of Star Wars, Veronica Roth explores—with poise and poignancy—the story of a boy who forms an unlikely alliance with an enemy. Both desperate to escape their oppressive lives, they help each other attain what they most desire: for one, redemption, and the other, revenge.
The first of Veronica Roth's upcoming young adult novels will publish in 2017, with the next novel to follow in 2018.

The City of Heavenly Fire Review

The City of Heavenly Fire (Mortal Instruments #6) by Cassandra Clare

Title: The City of Heavenly Fire 

Author: Cassandra Clare 

Series: The Mortal Instruments #6 

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (Simon & Schuster) 

Publication Date: May 27th 2014 

Genre: Supernatural; Young Adult 

Pages: 725 

Format: Kindle ebook 

goodreads

Synopsis: 

Darkness has descended on the Shadowhunter world. Chaos and destruction overwhelm the Nephilim as Clary, Jace, Simon, and their friends band together to fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in this world can defeat Sebastian–but if they journey to the realm of demons, they just might have a chance… Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world will change. Who will survive the explosive sixth and final installment of the Mortal Instruments series?

"We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss."        

 The Mortal Instrument series has had me hook, line, and sinker since page one of City of Bones.  After each world-destroying cliffhanger and frustration filled respite between books, I subsequently fell in love with City of Ashes, Glass, Fallen Angels, Lost Souls, and finally City of Heavenly Fire.  Like all of Clare's books, it was gripping and filled with emotionally-traumatizing plot twists. 

Like most of the Mortal Instrument series, Jace Lightwood is struggling with an internal conflict. Of course, in this new edition to the series, he is neither possessed nor brainwashed, which, may I be the one to say, is a definite first! Compared to the problems Jace has had in the past, this is only a material problem. 

While Jace is struggling to control his freakishly divine angel fire powers with the help of his friends and Clary, Sebastian, like all good malevolent antagonists, is making sure to make the life of the Nephilim as difficult as possible. Raids of Institutions and random acts of murder are only some of the things he has decided to plague the Shadowhunters with. 

Relationships will divide, love will be sacrificed, and world-altering decisions will be made. Just another day as a Shadowhunter...

The opening pages of the book were hard for me to get absorbed into. The first few moments seemed to go as follows: talk, talk, talk, attack!, talk, talk, talk, talk, attack!, talk, talk. The sheer amount of dialogue was hard to grasp. I am only grateful that Cassandra Clare is as good of a writer as she actually is. While there was so much dialogue, in my opinion, dialogue is one of Cassandra Clare's specialties. Very few writers can make dialogue seem as effortless and natural as she can. 

"I loved you recklessly from the moment I knew you. I never cared about the consequences. I told myself I did. I told myself you wanted me to, and so I tried, but I never did. I wanted you more that I wanted to be good. I wanted you more than I wanted anything ever." 

You know when you've found a good book when, after you've read the first three words of the beginning sentence, you no longer know exactly what is going on around you. You no longer hear your classmates' boisterous noises or heavy guffaws. You no longer feel the chair beneath you or remember to swallow your own spit. You know when you've found a great book when you start reading, and, as you are transported into its world, you stop living in your own. City of Heavenly Fire gave me some of those moments.

I thought this book was beyond fantastic. It captivated me until the very end and I still wanted more than what I was given. I would recommend this book and this series to anyone who has read anything by Cassandra Clare, or anyone who wants to read a roller coaster ride of emotions and plot twists. This was actually the first time I have ever read something in this series where I didn't actually want to cry and hurl my book at the wall. The end left me endlessly pleased and eagerly waiting for the next series under the Shadowhunter name. 

"Freely we serve/ Because we freely love, as in our will/ To love or not; in this we stand or fall."