Hello, Muses!
I'll keep this short and sweet since I am late in posting the new releases for this week. I didn't list any tv series since there really isn't much coming out on the 23rd. There are quite a few awesome releases at the very end of July, so this is a perfect week to play catch up. Nonetheless, enjoy these new releases!
Best Wishes,
BOOKS (22nd-24th JULY)
ADULT
Gamel, The
by: Ciaran Collins
Meet Charlie. People think he's crazy. But he's not. People think he's stupid. But he's not. People think he's innocent...
He's the Gamal.
Charlie
has a story to tell, about his best friends Sinead and James and the
bad things that happened. But he can't tell it yet, at least not 'til
he's worked out where the beginning is.
Is the beginning long ago
when Sinead first spoke up for him after Charlie got in trouble at
school for the millionth time? Or was it later, when Sinead and James
followed the music and found each other? Or was it later still on that
terrible night when something unspeakable happened after closing time
and someone chose to turn a blind eye?
Charlie has promised Dr
Quinn he'll write 1,000 words a day, but it's hard to know which words
to write. And which secrets to tell.
This is the story of the
dark heart of an Irish village, of how daring to be different can be
dangerous, and how there is nothing a person will not do for love.
Exhilarating, bitingly funny and unforgettably poignant, this is a story like no other. This is the story of the Gamal.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Lacey and Lethal
by: Laurann Dohner
Set in the same world as Scarred and Kilt and Mine to Chase.
Lacey
hunts vampires—vile monsters who leave death and shattered lives in
their wake. They murdered her sister and she wants revenge. Until she
captures a big, sexy, blue-eyed vamp, and the strong attraction she
feels contradicts everything she’s become. But she can’t resist getting
closer. Just looking at him makes her mouth water and her thighs clench.
Lethal
can’t believe the little lass got the better of him. He’s been drugged
and chained, but he’s more insulted than concerned. She’s bold,
fearless, as she straddles his hips and threatens to use his body, teach
him how it feels to be taken without consent. Now he’s intrigued and
eager to get her out of her clothes. She swears he’s the enemy, but he’s
determined to be her lover.
Release Date: 24th July 2013
Never Deal With Dragons
by: Lorenda Christensen
Consoling a sobbing
dragon and serving pig buffets are just part of the job for Myrna Banks.
Working for a mediation firm, it’s her job to get humans compensated
for damages caused by the dragons who now rule. But her “typical” day is
interrupted by Trian Chobardan, an old flame who sneaked out of her bed
two years ago, taking her heart and a handful of classified documents
with him.
Myrna would love to show Trian the door, but he’s been
sent by North America’s reigning dragon lord for help negotiating a
truce with a powerful rival to avert war. Myrna agrees to help, even
though she’ll be stuck with Trian as a partner.
As the two work
together, Myrna finds Trian to be surprisingly supportive—and still
irresistibly attractive. Though her brain tells her not to forget his
betrayal, her body feels differently. When they learn the enemy dragon
lord is planning something no one could have imagined, Myrna has to
learn who she can trust before she loses not only her heart, but her
life.
Release Date: 22nd July 2013
Three Parts Dead (Three Parts Dead, #1)
by: Max Gladstone
A god has died, and
it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic
firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before
His city falls apart.
Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire
god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam
generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four
million citizens will riot.
Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before
chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the
dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.
When
Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a
case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers
their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.
Set
in a phenomenally built world in which justice is a collective force
bestowed on a few, craftsmen fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can
rule cities, Three Parts Dead introduces readers to an ethical landscape in which the line between right and wrong blurs.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Tiger Tiger (Chicagoland Shifters, #2)
by: A. Catherine Noon, Rachel Wilder
When you grab a tiger by the tail, sometimes he bites back.
Chicagoland Shifters, Book 2
Veterinary
trauma surgeon and animal empath Sasha Soskoff has found everything he
ever wanted with his new partners Neal, Steve and Carlos. Life feels as
safe and secure as it can be among a group of ex-Marine tiger shifters.
Until a homeless man is found, gruesomely mauled and murdered, near
Neal’s BDSM club.
When it’s determined a rogue tiger did the
deed, the jaguars’ accusing eyes turn toward Sasha’s lovers. The
precarious balance of peace tips dangerously toward war.
Neal
knows damned well none of his tigers committed the crime. Someone must
be in Chicago without his knowledge or permission, and they’d better
find him fast before uncertainty and conflict rip the tight-knit band
apart from the inside.
As Sasha struggles to heal the stress
fractures forming among his tiger family, he begins to wonder if his
dreams of a home, and love, were too good to be true. And it’s precisely
that moment the killer strikes at the heart of the tiger clan—Sasha
himself.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
To Sin with a Viking (Forbidden Vikings, #1)
by: Michelle Willingham
Playing With Fire!
Caragh Ó Brannon defended herself bravely when the enemy landed—only, now she finds herself alone with one very angry Viking…
Styr
Hardrata sailed to Ireland intending to trade, never expecting to find
himself held captive in chains by a beautiful Irish maiden.
The
fiercely handsome warrior both terrifies and allures Caragh, but he is
forbidden territory. He is the enemy…and he is married. Yet Styr harbors
a secret that just might set them both free…
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
A Darkness Strange and Lovely (Strange and Lovely, #2)
by: Susan Dennard
Following an all-out
battle with the walking Dead, the Spirit Hunters have fled Philadelphia,
leaving Eleanor alone to cope with the devastating aftermath. But
there’s more trouble ahead—the evil necromancer Marcus has returned, and
his diabolical advances have Eleanor escaping to Paris to seek the help
of Joseph, Jie, and the infuriatingly handsome Daniel once again. When
she arrives, however, she finds a whole new darkness lurking in this
City of Light. As harrowing events unfold, Eleanor is forced to make a
deadly decision that will mean life or death for everyone.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
A Really Awesome Mess
by: Trish Cook, Brendan Haplin
A hint of Recovery Road, a sample of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and a cut of Juno.
A Really Awesome Mess is a laugh-out-loud, gut-wrenching/heart-warming
story of two teenagers struggling to find love and themselves.
Two teenagers. Two very bumpy roads taken that lead to Heartland Academy.
Justin
was just having fun, but when his dad walked in on him with a girl in a
very compromising position, Justin's summer took a quick turn for the
worse. His parents' divorce put Justin on rocky mental ground, and after
a handful of Tylenol lands him in the hospital, he has really hit rock
bottom.
Emmy never felt like part of her family. She was adopted
from China. Her parents and sister tower over her and look like they
came out of a Ralph Lauren catalog-- and Emmy definitely doesn't. After a
scandalous photo of Emmy leads to vicious rumors around school, she
threatens the boy who started it all on Facebook.
Justin and Emmy
arrive at Heartland Academy, a reform school that will force them to
deal with their issues, damaged souls with little patience for
authority. But along the way they will find a ragtag group of teens who
are just as broken, stubborn, and full of sarcasm as themselves. In the
end, they might even call each other friends.
A funny, sad, and
remarkable story, A Really Awesome Mess is a journey of friendship and
self-discovery that teen readers will surely sign up for.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Contaminated
by: Em Garner
After the
Contamination—an epidemic caused by the super-trendy diet drink ThinPro
that turned ordinary citizens into violent, uncontrollable creatures—the
government rounded up the "Connies" to protect the remaining
population. Now, two years later, the rehabilitated are being allowed
home, complete with shock collars that will either control, or kill,
them.
Velvet Ellis has struggled to care for her ten-year-old
sister since her parents were taken in the round up. When she finds her
mother in one of the "Kennels," Velvet resolves to do whatever it takes
to put her family back together. But the danger isn’t over. It’s
beginning all over again…
Gritty and grabbing, Velvet is a harrowing, emotionally charged novel for fans of Carrie Ryan and The Walking Dead
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Counterfeit Family Tree of Vee Crawford-Wong
by: L. Tam Holland
A hysterically funny debut novel about discovering where you come from—even if you have to lie to get there.
When
Vee Crawford-Wong’s history teacher assigns an essay on his family
history, Vee knows he’s in trouble. His parents—Chinese-born dad and
Texas-bred Mom—are mysteriously and stubbornly close-lipped about his
ancestors. So, he makes it all up and turns in the assignment. And then
everything falls apart.
After a fistfight, getting cut from the
basketball team, offending his best friend, and watching his grades
plummet, one thing becomes abundantly clear to Vee: No one understands
him! If only he knew where he came from… So Vee does what anyone in his
situation would do: He forges a letter from his grandparents in China,
asking his father to bring their grandson to visit. Astonishingly, Vee’s
father agrees. But in the land of his ancestors, Vee learns that the
answers he seeks are closer to home then he could have ever imagined.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Fury, The (The Fury, #1)
by: Alexander Gordon Smith
From the creator of the Escape from Furnace series, a ferocious epic of supernatural terror, perfect for Stephen King fans
Imagine if one day, without warning, the entire human race
turns against you, if every person you know, every person you meet
becomes a bloodthirsty, mindless savage . . . That’s the horrifying
reality for Cal, Brick, and Daisy. Friends, family, even moms and dads,
are out to get them. Their world has the Fury. It will not rest until
they are dead.
In Alexander Gordon Smith’s adrenaline-fueled
saga, Cal and the others must uncover the truth about what is happening
before it destroys them all. But survival comes at a cost. In their
search for answers, what they discover will launch them into battle with
an enemy of unimaginable power.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
OCD Love Story
by: Corey Ann Haydu
In this raw and relatable romance, Bea learns that some things just can’t be controlled.
When
Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he’s her kind of crazy. Sweet,
strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He
makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in
love again.
But despite her feelings for Beck, Bea can’t stop
thinking about someone else: a guy who is gorgeous and magnetic... and
has no idea Bea even exists. But Bea knows a lot about him. She spends a
lot of time watching him. She has a journal full of notes. Some might
even say she’s obsessed.
Bea tells herself she’s got it all under
control. But this isn’t a choice, it’s a compulsion. The truth is,
she’s breaking down...and she might end up breaking her own heart.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Of Beast and Beauty
by: Stacey Jay
In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...
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.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Shadows of Glass (Ashes, #2)
by: Kassy Tayler
Wren's world has
changed. The thing that she fought for, escaping the dome has come to
fruition, but it's not the paradise she thought it would be. Most of the
shiners have died, and according to James, she is to blame for many of
the deaths, a burden which sits heavy on her shoulders. Still some have
survived and Wren is determined to keep them safe as they fight to
establish a home outside while hiding from the rovers who have weapons
that can kill from far away. But as long as she has Pace she knows
everything will be fine. Still Wren wonders, as she sees the smoke that
continually pours forth from the dome, how did her friends inside fare?
Will they ever find out if Lucy, David, Jill and Harry, along with
Pace's mother survive the explosions?
Meanwhile, someone else has
also seen the smoke. A band of explorers from across the sea arrive in
an airship, curious about the dome, and offering help to those who
survive. When Wren meets the handsome Levi Addison, she suddenly
questions her love for Pace as Levi offers to show her the world from
his airship. Does she really love Pace? Or was it just the circumstances
that made her think she did? Meanwhile, word arrives from inside via
Pip, and Wren is forced to go back inside the dome, a thing that
terrifies her more than anything else, to save her friends. Once she's
back inside will she be able to escape again?
A whirlwind of adventure, romance, conspiracy and the struggle to stay alive in a dystopian world where nothing is as it seems.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Starglass (Starglass, #1)
by: Phoebe North
Terra has never known anything but life aboard the Asherah,
a city-within-a-spaceship that left Earth five hundred years ago in
search of refuge. At sixteen, working a job that doesn't interest her,
and living with a grieving father who only notices her when he's
yelling, Terra is sure that there has to be more to life than what she's
got.
But when she inadvertently witnesses the captain's guard
murdering an innocent man, Terra is suddenly thrust into the dark world
beneath her ship's idyllic surface. As she's drawn into a secret
rebellion determined to restore power to the people, Terra discovers
that her choices may determine life or death for the people she cares
most about. With mere months to go before landing on the long-promised
planet, Terra has to make the decision of a lifetime--one that will
determine the fate of her people
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Undercurrent
by: Paul E. Blackwell
In this suspenseful
teen thriller with a touch of the otherworldly, perfect for fans of Neal
Shusterman, a boy goes over a waterfall and wakes up to find himself in
a twisted version of the life he knew.
A shadowy figure. An intense roar. The sensation of falling—fast.
That’s
all Callum Harris remembers from his tumble over the waterfall. But
when he wakes up in a hospital bed and finds his best friend trying to
kill him, Callum knows something is seriously wrong. Unfortunately for
him, the mysteries are just getting started.
Why are his parents
acting like he’s some big sports star all of a sudden? And why are all
the buildings in town more run-down than Callum remembers? Worst of
all...what happened to Callum’s brother? Either Callum has gone
seriously crazy or something happened when he went over the falls.
Something impossible. Callum needs answers, and now. Because in this
twisted new version of the life Callum knew, his former best friend
isn’t the only one who wants to see him dead.
Filled with
mind-bending suspense and unsettling thrills, Undercurrent is a
grippingly paced teen debut that will pull you under and never let go
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
MOVIES (23rd July)
(No TV Series This Week)
Arcadia
Directed by: Olivia Silver
Starring: John Hawkes, Ryan Simpkins
A coming-of-age story set in a vast, cross-country landscape, Arcadia
begins when twelve-year-old Greta's dad Tom (Academy Awardr nominated
actor John Hawkes) wakes her up before dawn and crams her and her two
siblings into a dented station wagon. They set off on a 3,000 mile
journey from the New England woods to the California desert. On the way,
Tom tells enchanting stories, paints pictures of a California paradise,
and assures the kids that Mom will soon join them. Greta believes him
at first, mesmerized by the strange new scenery and clinging to her
stuffed bunny Harrison. Older sister Caroline nonchalantly accepts his
stories, more focused on the boyfriend she's leaving behind. And
nine-year-old Nat, too young to suspect a thing, is eager to see the
epic Grand Canyon. But Tom's mood shifts as often as the landscape
outside their window, and the kids soon find themselves in increasingly
unpleasant and even dangerous situations. Mom's presence seems to recede
further with every mile they travel.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Defiant Requiem
Directed by: Doug Shultz
Starring: n/a
DEFIANT REQUIEM tells the remarkable story of Rafael Sch„chter, a
brilliant young and passionate Czech opera-choral conductor who was
arrested and sent to the concentration camp of Theresienstadt (Terez¡n)
in 1941. Under the most brutal of circumstances, and determined to
sustain dignity, humanity, and hope within his fellow prisoners, he
recruited 150 prisoners and taught them Verdi's Requiem by rote in a
dank cellar using a smuggled score, after grueling days of forced labor.
They performed on 16 occasions for fellow prisoners, with the last,
most infamous performance on June 23, 1944, in front of high-ranking SS
officers from Berlin and the International Red Cross to support the
charade that the prisoners were well treated and flourishing. The Nazi
legacy of brutality is well established, but the Terez¡n legacy is
virtually unknown. This documentary highlights how a rare form of
courage, hope, and survival sparked an entirely unique method of
fighting Nazi oppression, battling the worst of mankind with the best of
mankind.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Ginger + Rosa
Directed by: Sally potter
Starring: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert
London. 1962. Two teenage girls - Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert) - are
inseparable: they play truant together, discuss religion, politics and
hairstyles, and dream of lives bigger than their mothers' frustrated
domesticity. But, as the Cold War meets the sexual revolution, and the
threat of nuclear holocaust escalates, the lifelong friendship of the
two girls is shattered by the clash of desire and the determination to
grow up.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Graceland
Directed by: Ron Morales
Starring: Arnold Reyes, Menggie Cobarrubias
Intense and unpredictable, GRACELAND is the story of family man Marlon
Villar, the longtime chauffeur of Manuel Chango a corrupt Filipino
politician. One afternoon, while he and his daughter accompany the
politician’s daughter home, their car is ambushed in a kidnapping
attempt. During the confusion of the ambush, the kidnapping goes
horribly wrong and the wrong girl is taken and held for ransom. Marlon
is determined to save his daughter, but between the conflicting motives
of the kidnappers and Chango, Marlon is forced into a terrible downward
spiral. As events unfold, Marlon, Chango, and their families are forced
into a game of deceit and betrayal that will leave no one innocent.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Kiss of the Damned
Directed by: Xan Cassavetes
Starring: Josephine de La Baume, Milo Ventimiglia
Beautiful vampire Djuna (Josephine de La Baume) tries to resist the
advances of the handsome, human screenwriter Paolo (Milo Ventimiglia),
but eventually gives in to their passion. When her troublemaker sister
Mimi (Roxane Mesquida) unexpectedly comes to visit, Djuna's love story
is threatened, and the whole vampire community becomes endangered...
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Love and Honor
Directed by: Danny Mooney
Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Austin Stowell
When young soldier Dalton Joiner (Austin Stowell, The Secret Life of the
American Teenager) finds out that his girlfriend Jane (Aimee Teegarden,
Friday Night Lights) back home has dumped him, he vows to sneak out of
Vietnam during his one-week leave to win her back. His best friend
Mickey Wright (Liam Hemsworth, The Hunger Games) will do anything to
help his buddy out as long as there might be a few girls along the way.
In just seven days they must get to the States, change Jane s mind and
make it back to the war without getting caught. But when they arrive
stateside they find Jane and her beautiful, committed activist friend
Candace (Teresa Palmer, Warm Bodies) at the heart of the anti-war
movement. Now the young soldiers must make some life changing decisions
as they spend a week learning the truth about love, honor and
commitment. Set against the backdrop of the landmark summer of 1969,
LOVE AND HONOR is a heartwarming romantic drama featuring a passionate
young cast.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Vehicle 19
Directed by: Mukunda Michael Dewil
Starring: Paul Walker
A recently paroled man unwittingly picks up the wrong rental vehicle,
having just got off a long haul flight. He soon realizes that he is the
target of an entire police force that will use any means necessary to
stop him and the tied up female "passenger" he discovers in the trunk,
from getting to the courthouse to testify against top-to-bottom local
corruption.
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
Welcome to the Punch
Directed by: Eran Creevy
Starring: Mark Strong, James McAvoy
Three years ago, master criminal Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong, Sherlock
Holmes, Zero Dark Thirty) escaped London during a daring robbery that
left detective Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy, X-Men: First Class, Wanted)
physically and emotionally scarred. When a failed heist puts Sternwood s
son in a hospital, the fugitive is forced to come out of hiding giving
Max his second chance to get the one criminal who got away. But as Max
returns to the pursuit of his arch-nemesis, he begins to uncover
evidence of a vast conspiracy that may put him in even greater danger
than his personal vendetta. From executive producer Ridley Scott,
WELCOME TO THE PUNCH is a sleek, modern thriller co-starring Andrea
Riseborough (W.E., Shadow Dancer) and Peter Mullan (Tyrannosaur, War
Horse).
Release Date: 23rd July 2013
