Waiting on Wednesday: Love in the Time of Global Warming

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Love in the Time of Global Warming
by Francesca Lia Block
Published by Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: August 27, 2013










(from Goodreads)

Seventeen-year-old Penelope (Pen) has lost everything—her home, her parents, and her ten-year-old brother. Like a female Odysseus in search of home, she navigates a dark world full of strange creatures, gathers companions and loses them, finds love and loses it, and faces her mortal enemy.

In her signature style, Francesca Lia Block has created a world that is beautiful in its destruction and as frightening as it is lovely. At the helm is Pen, a strong heroine who holds hope and love in her hands and refuses to be defeated.

August seems so far away, but I think Love in the Time of Global Warming will be worth the wait. Francesca's books can seem really out there (at least the ones I've read) but I find that I enjoy them immensely. I'm looking forward to this one a lot. 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Elementals

 

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Elementals

by Francesca Lia Block

Published by St. Martin's Press

Publication Date October 16, 2012










The Elementals is on one level an intriguing coming-of-age novel about a young woman, Ariel Silverman, facing the challenges of her first years away at college in Berkeley, California, while her mother battles cancer at home in Los Angeles. But the book takes on deeper, stranger meanings when we realize that Ariel is haunted by the disappearance of her best friend, Jeni, who vanished without a trace a few years before, closing Ariel's heart and changing her forever. Ariel wonders if she will ever be fully alive, until she meets three mysterious, beautiful and seductive young people living in a strange old house in the Berkeley hills. Through them Ariel will unravel the mystery of her best friend's disappearance and face a chilling choice. (from Goodreads)

Why I'm waiting: 

 

I want to read more books by Francesca Lia Block and of her books this is at the top of my list. Her stories are so unusual and she always adds some sort of twist that I didn't see coming. I love those little surprises. 

The Frenzy by Francesca Lia Block

Love is a werewolf, influenced by the moon and terror, and always about to change. Liv has a secret. Something happened to her when she was thirteen. Something that changed everything. Liv knows she doesn't belong anymore-not in her own skin, not in her family . . . not anywhere. The only time she truly feels like herself is when she's with her boyfriend, Corey, and in the woods that surround her town. But in the woods, a mysterious woman watches Liv. In the woods, a pack of wild boys lurks. In the woods, Liv learns about the curse that will haunt her forever. The curse that caused the frenzy four years ago. And that may cause it again, all too soon.While Corey and Liv's love binds them together, Liv's dark secret threatens to tear them apart as she struggles to understand who-or what-she really is. And by the light of the full moon, the most dangerous secrets bare their claws. . . . (from Goodreads)

I know when I read books by Francesca Lia Block, I'm never sure exactly what I am going to get. She has a unique writing style that is sparse and sometimes random, constructing stories while leaving out so much. As a reader, it forces me to create my own scenarios and imagine what may have happened. Usually, this frustrates me as a reader, but with Block, I do expect it and somewhat enjoy it.


Typically, I don't read too much paranormal fantasy, but I was drawn in by the idea of a female werewolf and wanted to know Liv's story. At the age of thirteen, Liv experiences a terrifying awakening in her body that she can't describe and barely remembers. All that she knows is that she is frightened of what she may become or what she may already be. Seen as an outcast in her town, she seeks solace in her friendship with Pace and her relationship with Corey. They all have secrets to hide. Secrets that bring them closer together but also pushes them apart.

Under the veil of the typical story of a werewolf cursed by the moon, Block addresses issues of bigotry, homosexuality, self-awareness and self-acceptance. The Frenzy deserves a closer look and shouldn't be dismissed easily.