Waiting on Wednesday: My Heart & Other Black Holes and The Girl at Midnight

 

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and features books that we just can't wait to get our hands on!

This week's picks:

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

 Goodreads' description:

"Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who seems scared of her, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father who has made her the town pariah, Aysel’s ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.

There’s only one problem: she’s not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers the website Smooth Passages and its section called Suicide Partners, Aysel’s convinced she’s found her solution. Better yet, a boy with the username FrozenRobot (aka Roman), who’s haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner.

But as their suicide pact starts to become more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, Aysel must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together. Except that Roman may not be so easy to convince.

This is a gorgeously written and compulsively readable debut novel about the transformative power of love and acceptance."

This one sounds dark but compelling. There are numerous YA books about suicide, but not too many about suicide pacts, so I'm interested to see how that aspect (and the dynamic of that relationship) is handled.

The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey

 

"For readers of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones and Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, The Girl at Midnight is the story of a modern girl caught in an ancient war.

Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.

Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.

Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.

But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire."

Not gonna lie, I mostly chose this one because of the cover. I mean, look at it. The beautiful purplish background. The twisty scripted font. The phoenix and...dragon, I think? Anyway, despite the comparisons to City of Bones and Shadow & Bone, the description actually reminds me more of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone (off-topic: that's a lot of titles with "bone" in them.) 

What books are you waiting for?