Waiting on Wednesday (2): The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

"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 I’m featuring Maureen Johnson’s upcoming release The Name of the Star. 

  

Title: The Name of the Star (Shades of London #1)

Author: Maureen Johnson

Publisher: Putnam

Pages: 370

ISBN: 9780399256608

Release Date: September 29, 2011

Description: The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Why I’m excited:  I’m super excited for this because it’s by Maureen Johnson and I loved her book 13 Little Blue Envelopes (I started The Last Little Blue Envelope, but put it down a few weeks ago to read something else).  Anyway, I like that this book is set in London.  Books in places other than the U.S.A. always make me happy because I don’t know if/when I’ll be able to travel anywhere out of the country so the books are a good way for me to “see” the areas through the character’s eyes.  I also got to meet Maureen at a signing even back in June, she is definitely the funniest person I’ve ever met… seriously she made the event so much fun.  I was so grateful that it was that fun because it was the first book signing in my area that I was actually home to attend.  I now have a goal to read all of the books by Maureen Johnson, which is going to be difficult and probably take me forever since my to be read pile keeps growing every day and I can’t seem to read fast enough to catch up with the new releases.  I plan to find a library near my college, though.  The campus library, which is huge, does not have much in YA, I think they have the Harry Potter series, but they do have this really cool online thing where we can request any book in print and they’ll ship it from another library in the state somewhere to the school.

What are you looking forward to this week?