Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
As the year winds to a close, I'm working on a YA trends post. It looks like retellings will remain hot in 2013!
Here are two I'm excited about:
Of Beast and Beauty
by Stacey Jay
Random House
Expected publication date: July 2013
You might remember how much I enjoyed Stacey Jay's Juliet Immortal/Romeo Redeemed books. If you missed my review, you can read it here. So I was super-excited to see that Stacey Jay is doing a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Here's the Goodreads blurb:
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.
Then, you might remember how posting books on WoW is good luck for me. Well, I just put in a NetGalley request for this:
Strands of Bronze and Gold
by Jane Nickerson
Random House
Expected Publication date: March 2013
When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram’s beloved father dies, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation—on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting—from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble childhood home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi. Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it is as if a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives—all with hair as red as her own—in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she’s trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac’s intoxicating world. Glowing strands of romance, mystery, and suspense are woven into this breathtaking debut—a thrilling retelling of the “Bluebeard” fairy tale.
Crossing my fingers that I get approved for this one!
Are you anxiously waiting for a book? Tell me about it in comments!
Of beast and beauty, my favorite fairytale retold! Stupid that I didn't think to feature that one this week.. but I also picked Strands of bronze and gold! :D Awesome choices, I adore this genre.
ReplyDeleteWoW Mel@thedailyprophecy.
Those both sound really awesome!! I am really looking forward to Towering by Alex Flinn. I love Rapunzel!!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah I want to read both of these-cannot resist a potentially awesome fairy tale retelling and I hope both of these will live up to expectations!
ReplyDeleteOoooh, these sounds like the kind of book you love!
ReplyDeleteThis is the second time I've seen Strands of Bronze and Gold today. Both of these sounds great.
ReplyDeleteI am really excited for Strands of Bronze and Gold! I didn't even know of the story until I read a different re-telling earlier this year, but I am definitely looking forward to this one!
ReplyDeleteI'm anxiously awaiting both of those. They just look amazing, and the covers for both are beautiful. Two fantastic picks this week, Jen.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great holiday :)
I've read some great re-tellings. These look fabulous.
ReplyDeleteI'm also dying to read both of these. I love retellings.
ReplyDeleteHere's mine
~Danica Page
Taking it One Page at a Time
I rolled my eyes at another Beauty and the Beast, but that sounds so different and good!
ReplyDeleteI am on board with both of these books- I love re-imagined fairy tales and myths (although some have been a major let down- Tris and Izzie, I'm looking at you). Very interested in the Blue Beard tale... but I'm staying away from Net Galley until I can learn to only request the books I will actually read and review!
ReplyDeleteI've seen Strands of Bronze and Gold popping up on a lot of WoW picks. I'm not familiar with the original fairy tale but it does look good. I hope you get approved Jen!
ReplyDeleteOf Beast and Beauty looks great - darker than some of the other retellings.
I've never heard of the Bluebeard” fairytale, but it sounds good! :) Great picks- I totally love retellings too!
ReplyDeleteI really want to read Strands of Bronze and Gold! Although I don't remember ever reading Blue Beard's story.
ReplyDeleteOoh! Haven't heard of Of Beast and Beauty before! It looks really good. Different, but good :)
ReplyDeleteJesse @ Pretty In Fiction