Waiting On Wednesday.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine where you can spotlight an upcoming release that you're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on....

Spellbinding

by Maya Gold

Salem is the bewitching backdrop to this lush, fast-paced tale of one girl discovering the source of her powers.

It is during a routine school project that Abby Silva--sixteen and nearly friendless--makes a startling discovery: She is descended from women who were accused of witchcraft back in 1600s Salem. And when Abby visits nearby Salem, strange, inexplicable events start to unfold. Objects move when she wills them to. Candles burst into sudden flame. And an ancient spellbook somehow winds up in her possession.

Trying to harness her newfound power, Abby concocts a love potion to win over her longtime crush--and exact revenge upon his cruel, bullying girlfriend. But old magic is not to be trifled with. Soon, Abby is thrust headlong into a world of hexes, secrets, and danger. And then there's Rem Anders, the beautiful, mysterious Salem boy who seems to know more about Abby than he first lets on. 

A reckoning is coming, and Abby will have to make sense of her history--and her heart--before she can face the powerful truth.

Expected publication: April 2013 by Scholastic Point

Wasteland

by Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan

Welcome to the Wasteland. Where all the adults are long gone, and now no one lives past the age of nineteen. Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan’s post-apocalyptic debut is the first of a trilogy in which everyone is forced to live under the looming threat of rampant disesase and brutal attacks by the Variants—hermaphroditic outcasts that live on the outskirts of Prin. 

Esther thinks there’s more to life than toiling at harvesting, gleaning, and excavating, day after day under the relentless sun, just hoping to make it to the next day. But then Caleb, a mysterious stranger, arrives in town, and Esther begins to question who she can trust.

As shady pasts unravel into the present and new romances develop, Caleb and Esther realize that they must team together to fight for their lives and for the freedom of Prin.

Expected publication: March 26th 2013 by HarperTeen

Hidden (Hidden #1)

by Marianne Curley

When baby Ebony is snatched from the midwife, she is rent not only from her parents but also her betrothed. In her world, a special bond is formed with one other being - for eternity. But Ebony is no longer in her world; she has been hidden in ours. An angel on earth. Earth was the best place to conceal Ebony, to keep her from her kin who desperately seek her, and to keep Ebony from discovering for herself who she really is. But Ebony is coming of age, and then no one will be able to hide her true origins. She will be 'visible', and the one who stole her away will come back to claim her. But who will reach her first?

Expected publication: March 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The Art of Wishing

by Lindsay Ribar

Margo McKenna has a plan of attack for everything, from landing the part she wants in her high school musical to dealing with her increasingly absent parents. But when she finds herself in possession of a genie’s ring and the opportunity to make three wishes, she doesn’t know what to do. Especially since Oliver – not blue-skinned, not bottle-dwelling, but a genie nonetheless – can see more than what she’s willing to show him. With one peek into her mind, he can see the wishes that even Margo herself doesn’t know she wants.

But Oliver comes with more than just mind-reading abilities, a flair for magic, and the prettiest eyes Margo’s ever seen. Someone from his past is hunting him – someone bent on killing him, along with all the other genies in the world, for the sake of honor. And as Margo soon discovers, it will take more than three wishes to save him.

A whole lot more.

Expected publication: March 21st 2013 by Dial Books For Young Readers

The Disappeared

by C.J. Harper

In a future where children are segregated into institutions that range from comfortable "Learning Communities" to prison-like "Local Academies", seventeen-year-old Jackson is an academic high flyer, living in a top Learning Community and destined for a position in the Leadership. But when he is sent with his best friend Wilson to deliver a package to a factory block, the two boys are attacked leaving Jackson badly beaten and Wilson dead. Confused and upset, Jackson returns to his Learning Community only to be dismissed by his teachers who claim not to know him. Sent to an Academy, an institute set up to train factory workers, Jackson finds himself immersed in a world that couldn't be further removed than the comfortable life he's used to; a harsh, violent, semi-articulate society where the students have created their own hierarchy based on fighting ability. Using his wits to survive, Jackson starts to realise that his whole life has been based on half-truths. And in order to survive he needs to expose the lies that surround the Academy and find out the truth about who he really is. As he builds alliances and begins to educate those closest to him, a plan for rebellion and escape gradually comes into shape...

Fast-paced, page-turning, moving, yet with a streak of dark humour, The Disappeared is a very British dystopia, with shades of Orwell and Huxley. 

Expected publication: February 1st 2013 by Simon & Schuster Childrens Books