Waiting on Wednesday: Charisma & The Winner's Crime

"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 WoW selections are...








's Pick:

Title: Charisma
Author: Jeanne Ryan
Series: n/a
Publisher: Dial
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2015

A chance at the ultimate makeover means deadly consequences in this Sarah Dessen-meets-Robin Cook thriller

Aislyn suffers from crippling shyness—that is, until she’s offered a dose of Charisma, an underground gene therapy drug guaranteed to make her shine. The effects are instant. She’s charming, vivacious, and popular. But strangely, so are some other kids she knows. The media goes into a frenzy when the disease turns contagious, and then deadly, and the doctor who gave it to them disappears. Aislyn must find a way to stop it, before it's too late.

Part medical thriller, part social justice commentary, Charisma will have readers on the edge of their seats.

The description to this book sound really interesting to me. I tend to love medical thrillers. Also, the fact that there are bunnies on the cover and it comes out approx a month before Easter is a total plus.





's Pick:





Title: The Winner's Crime
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Series: The Winner's Trilogy, book #2
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Publication Date: March 3, 2015

Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement…if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

The Winner's Trilogy is far and above one of my favorite new series...and I've only read the first book. But the quick wit, the moral dilemmas, the depths of the characters...not to mention the most gorgeous "girl in a dress" covers...these are all things I value in a good fantasy series and The Winner's Trilogy has them in spades. After the high stakes and that ending in The Winner's Curse, I'm salivating to know what's to come.

What are you desperately waiting for this Wednesday? Let us know in the comments or share a link to your own WoW post!