My Selection for Waiting on Wedneday: Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. I learn about way more books than I can ever hope to read through this great resource! This week I'm going for something a little different, at least for me. It's called Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama. Check out the description...

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences. Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra's help, Hester investigates her family's strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean - but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

When I look at the haunting cover and read the description, it gives me the creeps. I was fascinated with mermaids as a kid and they're making a comeback. They're the topic of several YA novels, but none has caught my attention like this one. There's an undercurrent of horror brewing. I wasn't even sure if this was YA, but I learned that it is. It has a "something wicked this way comes" vibe. Creepy...

Monstrous Beauty releases September 4, 2012 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Toodles!