By the catalog: Macmillan, Winter 2014.
Titles I've read from the Macmillan Winter 2014 catalog:
Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer:
Anyway, it's pretty safe to say that if you liked Cinder, that you'll really like Scarlet! It has all of the first book's strengths—plucky heroine, really cool worldbuilding INCLUDING a setting centered OUTSIDE of the United States (WOO!), political intrigue and threads about cultural and economic and physical differences and YES, ROMANCE—and, like Cinder, in Scarlet, Meyer takes a familiar story and makes it fresh and new and compelling and surprising.
Unlike a lot of verse novels, it reads like poetry: lots of rhythm, lots of passages that convey multiple meanings, even some wordplay. As the title suggests, Angel is writing her own story, and voice is believable, raw, determined, and surprisingly enough* considering her circumstances, displays a decent amount of humor. I don't want to say that there are moments of loveliness in the story—because, for me, there weren't—but the writing itself is lovely.
Midwinterblood, by Marcus Sedgwick:
It's not going to be for everyone. I GUARANTEE that some readers are going to want to throw it at the wall. (Perhaps you have already done so?) But something about it resonated with me. It's not just that I'm impressed by the structure—I am—or that I love Sedgwick's writing and skillful atmosphere creation—I do—or that I was blown away by how each segment was so different, but how (even discounting the physical details: the names, the flowers, the hare) each one was also so clearly part of a larger whole.
Titles I'd like to read from the same catalog:
The Rule of Three, by Eric Walters: Sounds a bit like Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It, but with a larger cast. I continue to suffer from apocalypse ennui, but I'll give it a try.
Grandmaster, by David Klass: Klass' books have been hit-or-miss for me (LOVED You Don't Know Me, HATED Firestorm), but this one is about a CHESS TOURNAMENT! (I have no interest in playing chess, but oddly enough, I am fascinated by the culture that surrounds it.)
The Winner's Curse, by Marie Rutkoski: The catalog write-up namechecks Kristin Cashore. GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.
Love Letters to the Dead, by Ava Dellaira: This one sounds like it'll be a readalike for both 13 Reasons Why and Perks of Being a Wallflower. So. Onto the list it goes.
Plus One, by Elizabeth Fama: Star-crossed love in a world where people are divided into two groups—those who can only go out at night, and those who can only go out during the day.
Cress, by Marissa Meyer: GIMME GIMME GIMME. Ahem. Yes, I very much enjoyed Cinder and Scarlet. So. Duh.
The Undertaking of Lily Chen, by Danica Novgorodoff: A graphic novel about a guy who accidentally kills his older brother... and then is ordered to go out and find him a bride. He finds the perfect girl, but there's one rather large problem: she's still alive.
Tin Star, by Cecil Castellucci: I covered my reasons for wanting to read this one over at Kirkus.
She is Not Invisible, by Marcus Sedgwick: I love his books. That is all.
Keeping the Night Watch, by Hope Anita Smith: Verse novel about a boy wrestling with his feelings about his father, who walked out on the family... and then came back.
Fourmile, by Watt Key: When Foster first gets to know the new guy in town, a Gulf veteran, he thinks he's found the perfect ally to go up against Dax, his mother's bad news boyfriend... but it turns out that the stranger might be just as dangerous as Dax, if not more so. WARNING: THERE IS A DOG ON THE COVER.