Cover Craving...

For Darkness Shows the Stars
by Diana Peterfreund

Publication date: 2012

I'd already mentioned how excited I am for this book earlier on my blog (here), but today Diana Peterfreund posted both the cover and a little snippet on her website. As a post-apocalyptic retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion, it sounds AMAZING! I cannot wait for it...and the cover is BEAUTIFUL too!!

OMG. I want this title NOW, please!

Diana Peterfreund (whom I LOVE!!!) is releasing a totally different book, For Darkness Shows the Stars in the summer of 2012. She describes it as a post-apocalyptic retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion.

Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Eighteen-year-old Luddite Elliot North has always known her place in this caste system. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. But now the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress and threatening Luddite control; Elliot’s estate is floundering; and she’s forced to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliott wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she abandoned him.

But Elliot soon discovers her childhood friend carries a secret—one that could change the society in which they live…or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she has lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s PERSUASION, FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

Can I just say, whoa?! I cannot wait to dive into this one...and next summer is SOOOO far away!

For more information, you can check Diana Peterfreund's website, or read this interview that Diana did on Presenting Lenore's blog!

Rot and Ruin

Rot and Ruin
by Jonathan Maberry

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human. (description taken from Amazon.com)

Ummm...we are perilously close to me declaring this my new favorite zombie book. I can't decide...I LOVED this book, but I also loved Carrie Ryan's The Dead-Tossed Waves just as much. It may be a cop-out, but I think they officially tie for first place.

Nevertheless... this book is officially receiving one of my coveted "Gold Star" reviews!

I was absolutely drawn in and then blown away by this book. The world is very reminiscent of Carrie Ryan's zombie apocalypse, which is great, because they are both fantastically imagined. What I thought set this book apart from hers, setting-wise, was the frontier feeling. There is a definite Western vibe to this book that I totally dug.

After the events of First Night, when zombies took over the modern world, society reverted back to more of a frontier lifestyle. Safe within the boundaries of small towns, with only bounty hunters or loners venturing out into the wild frontier...the Rot and Ruin.

The excellently drawn characters - the Imura brothers, Nix, Lilah, Charlie Pink-Eye - all force readers to really think through the morality of a lifestyle in the wild free from rules. As Benny begins to open his eyes to what the world is like, more and more questions must be asked and most of the answers are truly appalling. Even their town which seemed to be a safe haven slowly becomes a place led by fear and built on turning a blind eye.

I was transfixed throughout this book. I cried when Benny finally had to bring peace to his own memories, and I CANNOT wait to get my hands on Dust and Decay.

2011 Zombie Reading Challenge title