Welcome to the Monday Morning Book Buzz, a preview of notable books being released this week. Some of them will be added to the Academy Library collection; if you read about a title that you would like added to the collection, let me know by either commenting on this post or by contacting me directly at the Library.

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This week’s releases are listed by category: Young Adult Fiction, General Fiction and Nonfiction. On-sale dates are indicated in parentheses.

Notable New Releases for the week of February 20th:

Young Adult Fiction

• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (2/21/2012) — Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before. “A tender, honest exploration of identity and sexuality, and a passionate reminder that love-whether romantic or familial-should be open, free, and without shame.” — Publishers Weekly

• A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton (2/21/2012) — The sequel to Darkness Becomes Her. In the post-apocalyptic city of New 2, Ari Selkirk, who has discovered that she is a descendant of Medusa, is trying to keep at bay the evil growing inside her, but the goddess Athena will stop at nothing to possess Ari’s power, provoking a monumental battle between good and evil. Download A Beautiful Evil desktop wallpapers from Novel Novice!

• The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg (2/21/2012) — Just before her sixteenth birthday, Brie Eagan literally dies of a broken heart when her boyfriend tells her he does not love her, and she then must go through the five stages of grief, while watching her friends and family try to cope with her death, before her faith in love is restored and she can move on to the afterlife. “An imaginative and intriguing vision of what might happen after death.” — School Library Journal

• Faery Tales & Nightmares by Melissa Marr (2/21/2012) — A collection of short stories featuring tales of characters from Marr’s Wicked Lovely novels that mix with accounts of new characters.

• Fever (Chemical Garden Series #2) by Lauren DeStefano (2/21/2012) — In a future where genetic engineering has cured humanity of all diseases and defects but has also produced a virus that kills all females by age twenty and all males by the age twenty-five, teenaged Rhine escapes her forced marriage and journeys back to New York to find her twin brother. Read the review at Novel Novice!

General Fiction

• Before the Poison by Peter Robinson (2/21/2012) — After his wife’s death, Chris Lowndes, a composer, returns to Yorkshire where they grew up and buys a charming old mansion, but he soon learns that the former owner was supposedly poisoned by his wife in the 1950s and was hanged and the more he discovers about that past the more he believes that the wife was innocent.

• Celebrity in Death (In Death Series #34) by J. D. Robb (2/21/2012) — Eve Dallas New York City homicide detective, investigates the death of a young actress with the assistance of her husband Rourke and Detective Peabody. “Cleverly conceived, cinematically riveting, and sexily charming.” — Booklist

• Death of a Kingfisher (Hamish Macbeth Series #28) by M. C. Beaton (2/22/2012) — When Scotland is hit by the recession, the local tourist director renames the woods of the quaint village of Braikie “The fairy glen” but when a kingfisher bird is found hanging from a branch in the woods the people turn to Police constable Hamish Macbeth and soon the vandalism that threatens to ruin the woods, forever, turns into murder. “The Hamish Macbeth series, like Scotland’s locally produced whiskey, only gets better with age.” — Booklist

• Echoes of Betrayal (Paladin’s Legacy Series #3) by Elizabeth Moon (2/21/2012) — The action continues fast and furious in this third installment of Moon’s celebrated return to the fantasy world of the paladin Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter. “Readers hungry for more dragons, elves, mages and gnomes will find exactly what they’re looking for.” — Kirkus Reviews

• In-Flight Entertainment by Helen Simpson (2/21/2012) — A new collection of stories-dazzling, poignant, wickedly funny, and highly addictive-by the internationally acclaimed writer whose work The Times (London) calls “dangerously close to perfection.”

• The Little Russian by Susan Sherman (2/21/2012) — Berta Alshonsky once lived a wealthy life in Moscow, is now a grocer’s daughter in the Jewish townlet of Mosny, and meets a man who is a wheat merchant, arms smuggler, and member of the Bund, The Jewish Worker’s League who changes her life. “Sherman’s sweeping saga works on multiple levels, from its grim depiction of war’s depredations to its harsh portrayals of anti-Semitism to its fiery love story. A mesmerizing read.” — Booklist

• The Shadow Patrol (John Wells Series #6) by Alex Berenson (2/21/2012) — John Wells goes undercover in Afghanistan to investigate not only the Taliban, but also his fellow Americans, as he seeks the source of the hostility, mistrust, and drug trafficking involving people within the CIA, the military, and the Taliban. “[A] riveting duel between good and evil that will keep readers blazing through the pages.” — Publishers Weekly

• The Technologists by Matthew Pearl (2/21/2012) — The first graduating class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is thrown into turmoil by bizarre phenomena that cause instruments to inexplicably spin out of control, challenging enterprising students to protect lives while combating Harvard rivals. “This thriller won’t disappoint Pearl’s many fans.” — Library Journal

• Watergate by Thomas Mallon (2/21/2012) — From one of our most esteemed historical novelists, a remarkable retelling of the Watergate scandal, as seen through a kaleidoscope of its colorful perpetrators and investigators. “While billed as a novel,this book reads more like a documentary of a fascinating yet unlamented time.” — Kirkus Reviews

Nonfiction

• Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler (2/21/2012) — Providing abundance is humanity’s grandest challenge–this is a book about how we rise to meet it. Abundance for all is within mankind’s grasp. This bold, contrarian view, backed up by exhaustive research, introduces the near-term future. “A nicely optimistic look at a matter that usually brings out the darkest thoughts among prognosticators–if a touch starry-eyed, at least a dream worth nurturing.” — Kirkus Reviews

• Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith (2/21/2012) — In his magisterial bestseller FDR, Smith provided a fresh, modern look at one of the most indelible figures in American history. Now this peerless biographer returns with a new life of Dwight D. Eisenhower that is as full, rich, and revealing as anything ever written about America’s 34th president. “Smith rounds out a positive portrait that perfectly suits readers needing an introduction to Ike.” — Booklist

• Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom Before It’s Too Late by James Robison (2/20/2012) — Robison, the founder and president of LIFE Outreach International, partners with writer Jay Richards to tackle tough, controversial political issues facing conservative Christians today, including abortion, stem cell research, education, economics, health care, the environment, judicial activism, marriage, and others

• Restless Souls: The Sharon Tate Family’s Account of Stardom, the Manson Murders, and a Crusade for Justice by Alisa R. Statman (2/21/2012) — The 1969 murder of beautiful and talented actress Sharon Tate, her unborn child, and four others that same night by the notorious “Manson family” rocked the nation. Now, after nearly forty years, their story is finally revealed. Compiled by close family friend Alisa Statman and Sharon’s niece Brie Tate, Restless Souls draws on material never before available to the public, to provide a powerful and affecting three-generation memoir of crime and punishment, anguish and hope, rage and love.

• While America Sleeps: A Wake-up Call for the Post-9/11 Era by Russ Feingold (2/21/2012) — Former U.S. Senator Feingold explains from his unique view where America went wrong after September 11th and how to fix the mess. “Sage, sensible words by a leader who can now point to how he right he was.” — Kirkus Reviews