"Waiting On" Wednesday: Because It Is My Blood

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
Series: Birthright
Amazon | B&N | The Book Depository | IndieBound

In a thrilling new novel about a reluctant mobster, Anya tries to shatter the ties that bind — with deadly consequences.

Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship. But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It's a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate, where her resolve — and her heart — will be tested as never before.

I really enjoyed All These Things I've Done — the plot, setting and Gabrielle Zevin's writing style. I'm really surprised to hear that Win and Anya aren't together and that he has even moved on — especially after the way All These Things I've Done ended. It doesn't sound like the Win I got to know and really liked. He seemed to be genuinely in love with Anya and she — being a realist and not believing in romance at all — fell for him despite the trouble being in a relationship with Win would cause her and her family. What changed and why is she now apart of the criminal world she tried so hard to distance herself from?

Here's a short excerpt from Because It Is My Blood:

"How is your heart?" Yuji Ono asked by way of greeting.

"Still beating," I told him.

"Simon Green tells me that you wish to leave New York. I think you should go somewhere you can learn the business. Sophia Bitter's family has a cacao farm on the west coast of Mexico. You will be able to take a boat there and the connection to Balanchine Chocolate is not so obvious that anyone will think to look for you."

"Mexico," I said. "I'm a city girl, Yuji."

"Do you trust me, Anya?"

Yes, I decided that I did trust him.

"Then know I do not say this lightly when I tell you that this is where I want you to go. You will be better able to run Balanchine Chocolate someday if you know something about how cacao is grown. And this will make you a superior partner to me. A superior business partner, I mean." He dropped my hand and moved in even closer to me. "Don't be frightened, Anya."

"I'm not." I looked him in the eye. "Nothing frightens me anymore, Yuji."

As if I didn't have enough questions after reading the synopsis. Why doesn't anything frighten her? That must mean something she feared happened. What? Something involving a certain important person in Anya's life comes to mind right away. If it does involve the person I think it could, Anya must be devastated. And I doubt Yuji wants her only as a business partner.