Matched by Allyson Condie

In the future, Society will determine what you eat, where you work and how you spend your free time. More importantly, Society determines who you will marry. For Cassia Reyes, she is thrilled that her Matched ceremony occurs on her seventeenth birthday. Even better, Cassia is Matched with Xander, whom she has known since childhood. Cassia sees her life as perfect. She will get to spend the rest of her life with her best friend. So when Cassia reads her microcard on Xander from her Matched ceremony, she is shocked when Xander's photo fades into Ky Markham, a boy she also knows.

Later that evening while at rec time, an official from the Societal Classification Department comes to talk to Cassia. She informs Cassia that what happened is a rare mistake and hopes that someone didn't play a cruel joke. Cassia realizes that Ky is a Single, someone who will not be Matched or allowed to have children. Only those Matched are allowed children. No, the official says. "He's not a Single. Ky Markham is an Aberration." People who are Aberrations have usually incurred an infraction but that knowledge is not publically known. Cassia is told to keep this information to herself. She asks if she may tell her Grandfather whose 80th birthday is in a couple of days. The official says that would be alright. In Cassia's Society, one's eightieth birthday is also the day one dies. As Cassia's family prepares for Grandfather's final banquet, he tells Cassia to bring his mother's gold compact. The compact is Cassia's artifact, the one item from past society that she is allowed to keep. He reveals that there is a secret piece of paper inside that he finds comfort in. He also tells her to be true to herself before he passes away.

Since her Match ceremony and the blunder with the microcard, Cassia begins to see Ky Markham everywhere. She is surprised when they share the same summer rec activity, hiking. With no instruction, the group is told to meet at the top. Cassia takes off through the woods. Near the top, she stops and hides. She pulls out her compact to read the slip of paper hidden there. On it are two poems, but they are not a part of the 100 poems that Society has chosen. As Cassia reads the Dylan Thomas poem, she quickly realizes why it wasn't chosen. It is about fighting for what you believe in and Cassia begins to understand what her Grandfather's final words to her truly mean.

Soon Cassia finds herself drawn to Ky even though she is Matched to Xander. As the two get to know more about each other on their hikes, Cassia begins to question Society's control over every aspects of their lives, especially when Society begins to tighten their control. Will Cassia assume the role Society has planned for her or does she take her Grandfather's last advise and follow her heart?

Cassia'a story continues with Crossed on November 1, 2011.

Visit Allyson Condie's website.
Visit the official website for Matched.

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Sisters Scarlett and Rose March have always been extremely close. In fact, they believe that they started out as the same person. Scarlett wanted to be born, so she took half of their heart and Rose followed later with the other half. So when the strange man arrived at Oma March's cottage that day selling citrus fruits, Scarlett protected her younger sister Rose from the man who changed into a Fenris or werewolf when he killed their grandmother. Scarlett paid a heavy price in killing the Fenris by losing her right eye and becoming heavily scarred. In the seven years since, Scarlett and Rose have learned how to lure and hunt the Fenris who come to their small town of Ellison, Georgia. Red cloaks and perfume work well to draw the Fenris from his human form.

Scarlett lives to hunt the Fenris. Wearing her cloak and carrying a hatchet, she vows to keep other young girls safe and kill all of the wolves. Rose also hunts the Fenris and her bond with Scarlett is strong. But what happens when Rose dreams of a life outside of hunting the wolves? And how will Scarlett react when Rose finds herself drawn to Silas Reynolds, a young woodsman who is Scarlett's hunting partner and only friend?

Told in alternating points of view between the March sisters, this modern day twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story will have you on trhe edge of your seat.

Sweetly, a companion to Sisters Red debuts June 2011.

Visit Jackson Pearce's website.

Books Coming to the Big Screen in 2011

Feb. 18 - I Am Number Four by Pitticus Lore

March 4
Beastly by Alex Flinn

March 11
Jane Eyre
Little Red Riding Hood

July 15 -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two

Oct. 14 - The Three Musketeers

Nov. 19 - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part One

Dec. 16 - Sherlock Holmes 2

Dec. 21 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Book movies in production in 2011

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (Starring Taylor Lautner as Finn)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Titles Eagerly Awaiting in 2011

Notice that a lot of these titles are sequels.

Feb. 1 - Delirium by Lauren Oliver

March 1 - Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins (Hex Hall book 2)
March 22 - The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

April 5 - A BIG Reading Day, what to read first?
Plague by Michael Grant (Gone book 4)
City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments book 4)
Red Glove by Holly Black (Curse Workers book 2)

May 31 - What Ever Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

June 14 - Passion by Lauren Kate (Fallen book 3)

July 12 - Forever by Maggie Stiefvater (Linger book 3)

August 23 - Sweetly by Jackson Pearce (Sisters Red book 2)
August 30 - Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (Infernal devices book 2)

Dates To Be Announced

Beautiful Creatures book 4 by Kami Garcis and Margaret Stohl
Crossed by Ally Condie (Matched book 2)

Alex Van Helsing : Vampire Rising by Jason Henderson

"This doesn't happen ... does it?"

Alex Van Helsing has always gotten comments on his name, especially from those fascinated with the Dracula story. His father runs the Van Helsing Foundation, a research foundation that brings health care to Third World countries. Or so he is led to believe until he arrives at his boarding school, Glenarvon Academy, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Within three days of his arrival, Alex encounters two vampires and notices the late night wanderings of his literature teacher Mr. Sangster. Alex follows Mr. Sangster one night and hides in a roadside ditch when he hears a caravan of vehicles behind him. Turns out it is a caravan of vampires and Alex is soon spotted.

Alex takes off running and soon encounters Mr. Sangster coming to his aid on a motorcycle. They arrive at a safehouse where Alex finds he is well known. Turns out Alex has stumbled upon the Polidorium, a secret vampire hunting organization that is the firepower behind the Van Helsing Foundation. Alex is shocked to learn his true family heritage and that his father has been untruthful to him. The Polidorium are in the area looking for the Scholomance, an ancient vampire university rumored to be in the area and a vampire clan lord known as the Icemaker.

When two of Alex's friends are kidnapped by the Icemaker, will he embrace his vampire hunter heritage and go after them?

Alex's story will be continued in book two of the series, Voice of the Undead to be published July 26, 2011.

Visit Jason Henderson's website.
Visit the Alex Van Helsing website.

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

SPOILER ALERT! Please do not read any further if you have not read Hush, Hush. I don't want to ruin the story for you.

The book in which several lingering questions are answered, yet the ending is a complete shock that I never saw coming. Two months after the end of Hush, Hush, Patch is now Nora's guardian angel but life is far from perfect. When Nora tells Patch that she loves him, he begins to pull away from her. Worse yet, he begins to spend time with her mortal enemy, Marcie Millar. So when an old family friend, Scott Parnell, moves back to town, Nora is determined to uncover his secrets, even when she is in danger. On top of everything that is going on, Nora begins to see her dead father. Sometimes secrets are better left buried.

Becca Fitzpatrick continues Patch and Nora's story in a still untitled book due out October 18, 2011.

Visit Becca Fitzpatrick's website.

Visit the official fansite, Fallen Archangel.

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

SPOILER ALERT!!! If you haven't read the first book in the trilogy, Levianthan, please don't read any further. I don't want to spoil the series for you.

Behemoth picks up the next morning where Leviathan left off. The Leviathan has left the Italian peninsula behind and is headed for the city of Istanbul. Deryn is still in disguise as a boy in the British Air Service and Prince Alek is hiding his true identity from the British crew of the Leviathan. The crew's mission is to deliver Dr. Barlow's eggs to the Sultan. Alek and Deryn have been taking care of them. The hope is to keep the Ottoman Empire from joining the Clankers in the brewing war. But what will happen when the peace keeping mission doesn't go as planned? Will Deryn and Alek be able to survive in a strange city when they are not only separated from the Leviathan but from each other? Who discovers Deryn's secret? And will Alek be able to find any allies in a city crawling with Germans?

Deryn and Alek's story will conclude with book three in the series due out Fall of 2011.

Visit Scott Westerfeld's website.