Awhile on the Pile #4: The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

Awhile on the Pile/From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday but was also inspired by Rachel at My Reading Pile/Fiktshun. The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review -- or any book that you own and really want to read/review -- but haven't yet got around to reading in order to give the book some extra publicity.

Here's the book I chose to give some extra love this week:

Title:  The Storyteller
Author:  Antonia Michaelis
Series:  n/a
Publisher:  ABRAMS
Publication Date:  January 1, 2012
Source:  ARC from publisher

Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she?

Award-winning author Antonia Michaelis moves in a bold new direction with her latest novel: a dark, haunting, contemporary story that is part mystery, part romance, and part melodrama.

I honestly don't know why I haven't gotten around to reading this one yet, aside from lack of time.  I was intrigued by the very idea of the book, and then I read a ton of great reviews for it.  I even had bookish friends outside the realm of the blogosphere raving about it.  And yet, I still haven't read it.  I need to rectify that soon.  It's sitting in the cubby of my shelf that I've labeled "to read in the very near future" in my head.  (I don't label my shelves in reality because I rearrange them too often and I'd hate to leave behind a sticky mess.)  It's my goal to at least have it read by the end of the year.  But the same could be said for another 30 or so books on my shelf.  :C

So, what book has been on your pile for way too long?