Books To Watch Out For In February

So you'll get the idea of this if you've read my January post about new titles, so here's my top picks for February. Some of these may have slightly fluid publication dates, but they're still ones to add to your wish list.

Blood & Fire: The Double Axe by Philip Womack 9781846883903

Dark forces are at work in the House of the Double Axe. Stephan, the thirteen-year-old son of King Minos of Crete, stumbles across a terrifying conspiracy. Is the Minotaur, a half man half bull who eats human flesh, real? Or is something even more dangerous threatening to engulf both the palace and the world? Stephan must race to save his family from a terrible fate and find out what really lurks inside the labyrinth...You think you know the story? Think again.

I love a good story that's based in myths and legends. Being slightly addicted to Rick Riordan I'm hoping this will be another great take on the subject. 

Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh 9781509803569

Sully is a sphere dealer at a flea market. It doesn't pay much - Alex Holliday's stores have muscled out most of the independent sellers - but it helps him and his mum make the rent. No one knows where the brilliant-coloured spheres came from. One day they were just there, hidden all over the earth like huge gemstones. Burn a pair and they make you a little better: an inch taller, skilled at maths, better-looking. The rarer the sphere, the greater the improvement - and the more expensive the sphere.

When Sully meets Hunter, a girl with a natural talent for finding spheres, the two start searching together. What they find will change more than just their lives . . . Because the entire world fights over spheres, but no one knows why they're here or what their powers are . . . until now.

An intriguing one here. A story of a world chasing after perfection without know how it's achieving it. That sounds horribly close to real life to me.

Day Four by Sarah Lotz 9781444775389

Four days into a five day singles cruise on the Gulf of Mexico, the ageing ship Beautiful Dreamer stops dead in the water. With no electricity and no cellular signals, the passengers and crew have no way to call for help. But everyone is certain that rescue teams will come looking for them soon. All they have to do is wait.

That is, until the toilets stop working and the food begins to run out. When the body of a woman is discovered in her cabin the passengers start to panic. There's a murderer on board the Beautiful Dreamer... and maybe something worse.

I've got Lotz's first book in my TBR, Day Three, that one caught my interest quite by chance, as did this one... who would't be drawn in with that last line? "and maybe something worse."

Jonathan Unleashed by Meg Rosoff 9781408870778

Jonathan Trefoil's boss is unhinged, his relationship baffling and his apartment just the wrong side of legal. His girlfriend wants to marry someone just like him - only richer and more organised with a different sense of humour.

On the plus side, his two flatmates are determined to fix his life - or possibly to destroy it altogether. It's difficult to be certain as they only speak dog.

Poor Jonathan. He doesn't remember life being this confusing back in the good old days before everyone expected him to act like a person. But one thing he knows for sure: if he can make it in New York City, he can make it anywhere.

Will he get out of advertising, meet the girl of his dreams and figure out the gender of his secret crush?

Given how it's going so far, probably not.

I enjoy Meg Rosoff's writing, The Bride's Farewell was beautiful. But usually I understand what they're about... not this one. I guess February is a month of intrigue!

The Last Immortal by Alex Marlowe 9780349131801

Percy Jackson meets The League of Extraordinary Gentleman meets Sherlock

In Victorian London, 13-year-old Luke Frankenstein dreams of joining The Immortals - a supernatural crime-fighting squad, founded by his father Victor. But when Luke secretly follows the Immortals on a mission against the Dark Pharaoh Sanakhte, he is killed.

Luke's body is preserved for 160 years before he is reanimated in the modern day, his body bestowed with superhuman powers and fitted with modern upgrades. Sanakhte has returned and Luke must reunite the scattered Immortals. But to destroy Sanakhte, Luke must uncover a terrible secret hidden in his past....

Inside cover printing features a comic strip detailing more of the Last Immortals' adventures!

Another one where everything is right! Read the first line people... buy the book.

Looking Glass Girl by Cathy Cassidy 9780141357836

Alice nearly didn't go to the sleepover. Why would Savvy, queen of the school, invite someone like her?

Now Alice is lying unconscious in a hospital bed.

Lost in a wonderland of dreams and half-formed memories, she's surrounded by voices - the doctor, her worried friends and Luke - whose kisses the night of the fall took her by surprise . . .

When the accident happened her world vanished - can Alice ever find her way back?

A wonderful modern-day reimagining of Lewis Carroll's timeless classic, an unforgettable tale of friendship and love from one of the UK's best-loved authors.

There are many rejigged classics going round, this one sounds like it's quite different to others that I've seen. Cassidy is a massively popular author, so I'm hoping for big things.

The Map of Bones by Francesca Haig 9780007563098

‘It holds a mirror up to our obsession with perfection’ Guardian

The second book in Francesca Haig’s incredible Fire Sermon series.

The Omega resistance has been brutally attacked, its members dead or in hiding.

The Alpha Council’s plan for permanently containing the Omegas has begun.

But all is not entirely lost: the Council’s seer, The Confessor, is dead, killed by her twin’s sacrifice.

Cass is left haunted by visions of the past, while her brother Zach’s cruelty and obsession pushes her to the edge, and threatens to destroy everything she hopes for.

As the country moves closer to all-out civil war, Cass will learn that to change the future she will need to uncover the past. But nothing can prepare her for what she discovers: a deeply buried secret that raises the stakes higher than ever before.

I somehow missed the first book in this series, so along with this one it will be going into the TBR pile. Twins are born, one is the alpha and the other is cast away. Another take on dystopian fiction.

Mutant Rising by Steve Feasey 9781408855720

The world has changed for Rush since he discovered that he wasn't the only one. A Mutant with powers that the Pure government would kill for, there are five kids like him on Scorched Earth, hidden from the world until now. Rush: telekinetic; Anya: shapeshifter; Jax: mind reader; Flea: time-stopper; Brick: healer.

As their powers grow, Rush knows that they have a mission that means more than their own survival. Together, they're like the ultimate weapon - they might just beat the evil government of President Melk. But someone will stop at nothing to break them up. And as Melk threatens to destroy the entire Mutant city, Rush's feelings for Tia, one of the Pure, threaten to complicate everything ...

A brilliant follow-up to Mutant City, packed with action, adventure and a collection of unlikely heroes - plus two spectacularly good villains, to boot. Perfect for fans of X-Men, Charlie Higson and action-packed sci-fi extravaganzas.

Say it with me everyone... "Mutant and proud!"

Off The Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer 9781473614291

An enchanting YA novel from Number One bestselling author Jodi Picoult, co-written with her teenage daughter.

Meant for each other . . .

Meet Oliver, a prince literally taken from the pages of a fairy tale and transported into the real world. Meet Delilah, the girl who wished Oliver into being. It's a miracle that seems perfect at first - but there are complications. To exist in Delilah's world, Oliver must take the place of a regular boy. Enter Edgar, who agrees to play Oliver's role in the pages of Delilah's favorite book. But just when it seems that the plan will work, everything gets turned upside down.

In this multilayered universe, the line between what's on the page and what's possible is blurred. Is there a way for everyone to live happily ever after?

I'm officially intrigued this month. More fairy tales, but this time with another twist. Something I don't admit to very often is that I love Jodi Picoult novels... I know, it doesn't exactly fit in with my superhero/CSI/Criminal Minds/Doctor Who obsession, but damn that woman knows how to make her readers get the feels.