"Waiting On" Wednesday #16

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine that spotlights an upcoming release (or releases) that we’re eagerly anticipating.

My picks for this week:

Article 5 (Article 5 Trilogy 1)

By: Kristen Simmons

Publisher: Tor Teen

Release Date: February 14, 2012

Add it on Goodreads!

New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC have been abandoned.

The Bill of Rights has been revoked, and replaced with the Moral Statutes.

There are no more police – instead, there are soldiers. There are no more fines for bad behavior – instead, there are arrests, trials, and maybe worse. People who get arrested don’t usually come back.

17-year-old Ember Miller is old enough to remember that things weren’t always this way. Living with her rebellious single mother, it’s hard to forget that people weren’t always arrested for reading the wrong book or staying out after dark. That life in the United States used to be different.

In the three years since the war ended, Ember has perfected the art of keeping a low profile. She knows how to get the things she needs, like food stamps and hand-me-down clothes, and how to pass the random home inspections by the Federal Bureau of Reformation. Her life is as close to peaceful as circumstances allow. That is, until her mother is arrested for noncompliance with Article 5 of the Moral Statutes. And what’s worse, one of the arresting officers is none other than Chase Jennings… the only boy Ember has ever loved.

So many apocalyptic/dystopian novels take place so far in the future that the characters don’t know any other kind of life, so I’m really excited that this one is about a very recent event and that our MC remembers life before. I also love that her mom is arrested by the guy she loves. Talk about conflicting interests! And aren’t you dying to know what Article 5 is?? And the Moral Statutes… this whole book just sounds so good.

Unraveling Isobel

By: Eileen Cook

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date: January 3, 2012

Add it on Goodreads!

Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friends. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother.

But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling – her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

Gothic mansion, ghosts, hot off-limits stepbrother? Yes, yes, and yes please. I’m so in.

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?