At the end of Ashfall by Mike Mullin, he mentions a sequel . . . and promises a first chapter on his website. Although the first chapter is not there yet, the sequel, Ashen Winter, is scheduled to publish on October 8, 2012. I'm definitely looking forward to finding out what happens next for Alex and Darla. (As an aside, Mike is one of the most fun authors I've ever met. If you ever run into him, ask him how many swear words he can list for you.)
The first line of Delirium by Lauren Oliver is one of my all-time favorites. The end of the book, though, was a huge cliffhanger. I have been not-so-patiently waiting for Pandemonium to be published. Although I have ordered a copy for the library, I will be purchasing this one too because I already have a waiting list. February 28, 2012 can't come soon enough!
Confession: I am fascinated by MTV's "Sixteen and Pregnant." When I first started watching it, I told my friends that my next job would be working with pregnant teens. Due to this craziness, I was intrigued Megan McCafferty's Bumped. She has mentioned in interviews that she often wondered what the world would be like if every teen was like those from the show. After finishing the book, I had no idea that there would be a sequel. Imagine how excited I was to find that Thumped is going to be published on April 24, 2012. I can't really stomach the commercial nature of the MTV series any more, but this is a sequal I can't wait to read. 
Wither by Laurn DeStefano is one of the many books I read over the summer when I was furiously reading through the YALSA BFYA nominations. I didn't look at covers or read descriptions, I just dove in and read book after book. I have to admit that this one left me with a bit of a creepy feeling--and lots of ideas about what might be coming in the sequel. Fever publishes on February 21, 2012, so I don't have to wait much longer to see what DeStefano has in store for Rhine and Gabriel.
I picked up an ARC of The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson at ALA in New Orleans. The cover kind of freaked me out (not to mention the Jack the Ripper premise), so I left it alone for a while. However, once I picked it up I was totally sucked in. When I recommended it to one of my student's parents, she read it immediately--and began a serial killer reading jag (and we began a discussion about how one book leads to another). The "Shades of London" book two, The Madness Underneath, is listed for a January 2013 publication date according to GoodReads.
When I first started hearing buzz about Divergent by Veronica Roth, I couldn't wait to read it. And, of course, reading it meant thinking about just which group would I end up in if I live in the future Chicago? Candor? (that's probably a no) Abnegation? (maybe) Amity? (maybe) Dauntless? (uh, definitely not) Erudite? (not likely) I also nabbed some cool temporary tattoo swag at ALA last summer along with a signed copy of Divergent. I'm now salivating like crazy at the thought that there are ARCs of the sequel, Insurgent in the wild. I don't imagine I'll get my hands on one, but I'm content knowing that May 1, 2012 is just around the corner.
I finished Cinder by Marissa Meyer last week after it arrived at my library. I had read a review and purchased the book without having any idea that it was part of a series. However, as I kept reading, I began to realize that there just weren't enough pages left for a satisfying conclusion. Of course. I am anticipating book two in the trilogy, Scarlet, but it sounds like I may have to wait until 2013 to get my hands on it.
Ashes by Ilsa J. Blick was available on Net Galley and I'll admit that I avoided it. I was a little freaked out by the cover (I know, don't judge me). It was on the BFYA nomination list, so I ended up borrowing a copy from the public library and diving in. It was probably one of the bloodiest books I read in past year--and also one of the biggest cliffhangers. Shadows, book two in the trilogy, is scheduled to published September 11, 2012.
These are only a few of the second-in-a-series books I'm looking forward to. As if it's not bad enough to be left waiting for seconds, imagine . . . many of these are part of a trilogy--we'll soon be waiting for book three. My current most-anticipated book three? Easy: Seeds of America #3 Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson (uh, maybe tied with book three in Maureen Johnson's Scarlet series). In the meantime, there is a giant TBR stack of (hopefully) stand-alone books just waiting for me to dig in. What series/sequel are you most anticipating in 2012?
