Debut Showcase: Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Wondrous Strange ( US - Canada - UK)
By Lesley Livingston (Website - Blog - My Space)
Publisher: HarperTeen (December 23, 2008)
Hardcover: 336 pages
Snippet

Publisher's Blurb:

For seventeen-year-old actress Kelley Winslow, faeries are just something from childhood stories. Then she meets Sonny Flannery, whose steel-gray eyes mask an equally steely determination to protect her.

Sonny guards the Samhain Gate, which connects the mortal realm with the Faerie's enchanted, dangerous Otherworld. Usually kept shut by order of icy King Auberon, the Gate stands open but once a year.

This year, as the time approaches when the Samhain Gate will swing wide and nightmarish Fae will fight their way into an unsuspecting human world, something different is happening . . . something wondrous and strange. And Kelley's eyes are opening not just to the Faerie that surround her but to the heritage that awaits her.

Mulluane's Take:
This debut novel is a YA tale of budding romance and self discovery. Set in New York, this is an Urban Fantasy with faeries! Not your cuddly sugar plum faeries either but some very nasty, very angry faeries. The Compulsive Reader has some nice things to say about the book here. They suggest that this one belongs at the very top of your wishlist!

Tia's Take:
I'm curious as to why Kelley needs protection. Sonny's name is delightfully Irish--as is Kelley's. I agree with Mulluane--this is an urban fantasy that would interest me. The cover is delightfully creepy. The author, like Kelley, is a stage actress with some TV experience. Her role as Waitron-9000 sounds hilarious. For more info, read her bio.

Debut Showcase: Sleepless

Sleepless (Amazon UK, Canada)
by Terri Clark (website, blog, myspace, ClassOf2K8)
HarperTeen
Paperback
Excerpt
Book Trailer

Eighteen-year-old Trinity Michaels has the ability to dream walk. It's a power she doesn't want, but it forever alters her life when she's unable to find an abducted teen before she's killed. While Trinity does help police capture the killer, Rafe Stevens, her involvement makes her his next target. Stevens pleads insanity and his convincing performance, aided by his despicable attorney, get him sentenced to a mental institute where a diabolical physician experiments on him. Now Rafe's escaped the sanitarium and he's after Trinity. Like her, he now has a special ability, one that allows him to stalk Trinity through her dreams. If he kills her in her sleep, she'll die for real. To survive she must find him first and the only person willing to help her is Dan Devlin, disillusioned son of the shady lawyer who knowingly aided Rafe in getting away with murder. Can she trust Dan with her safety, not to mention her heart?

This author has the same name as a major country singer, which, unfortunately, didn't make her website obvious. I was surprised that no link was provided from the publisher's site (hint, hint). However "author terri clark" did the trick. The plot seems vaguely Cthulhuoid with its diabolical doctor and weird experiments going on in mental hospitals. The connection with the shady lawyer's son is unexpected and interesting. The author is a member of Fangs, Fur and Fey.