Waiting on Wednesday (3) & Debut Kpop

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

 
Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick
• Egmont // September 13, 2011

It could happen tomorrow. A cataclysmic event. An army of quasi-zombies. Can one teen really survive on her own?

An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it’s a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.... Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom—a young army veteran—and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse. This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive.

Though Ashes doesn't yet have a cover for me to squeal over and the premise fails to knock me over, I love the excerpt included in the catalog:

The air was a welter of odors: Ellie’s fear; her own peculiar perfume of sweat and anxiety; and that dead-meat stink that pillowed through the woods like ashy, gray smoke. 

Slowly, carefully, Alex dropped to her knees, the cold earth biting through her hiking pants. Ellie didn’t move a muscle. Wordlessly, Alex followed the girl’s horrified gaze—and then her blood turned to slush. No, she thought. 

No, please, God, I’m not seeing this.

And it's blurbed by Michael Grant and James Dashner! So it must be some kind of awesome.


Now, for an adult read:

 
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
• Ballantine Books // August 23, 2011

The Victorian language of flowers was used to express emotions: honeysuckle for devotion, azaleas for passion, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it has been more useful in communicating feelings like grief, mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. 

Now eighteen, Victoria has nowhere to go, and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. When her talent is discovered by a local florist, she discovers her gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But it takes meeting a mysterious vendor at the flower market for her to realize what's been missing in her own life, and as she starts to fall for him, she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, and decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness. 

The Language of Flowers is a heartbreaking and redemptive novel about the meaning of flowers, the meaning of family, and the meaning of love.

I think the cover for this one is simple but beautiful and the premise matches that. The Language of Flowers sounds like a sweet and touching read, and love stemming (haha, pun) from flower meanings? Sign me up. ;)


On a final book-related note, YA characters sure have gorgeous eyes. Like die-hard gorgeous, vibrant, enviable eyes. These are the two paperback covers for Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus (releases May 4th) and Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin (releases September 20th). Based on aesthetics alone, I prefer the hardcover Shadow Hills cover and the paperback Extraordinary one, though I really don't feel that strongly for either one.... Regardless, I think I'm hypnotized by their eyes. *o*

Bonus for Kpop fans: New boy group Block B just debuted today with its single Do You Wanna B? and the MV to its title track, Don't Move! What do you think? The group is supposedly based off hip hop, which  isn't my favorite genre, but I do like the choruses to the two songs.

As for the MV, I can't stop looking at that guy with the floppy cowl. It just keeps -- flopping! Gah, lol. The shininess is also a little over the top. But I drool over the guy with wavy brown hair and the one with red -- redddd -- hair. Now, off to find out their names...