Every hundred years, the gods toy with us mere mortals. And we let them.
The gods of myth are alive and well. Once every century, they select a new ruler in a cutthroat competition, pushing mortal players to the limit. But this year, Hades is done sitting on the sidelines. And he’s picking a champion no one expects—in this modern mythic romantasy, she’ll fight for her life… for the god of Death.
Why I’m Excited:
I like the idea of ancient Gods playing around with humans like chess pieces. It fits with the old mythology but giving it a more modern twist. I’ve always liked the story of Hades too, so I am interested to see what this book’s take on him is. All in all, it’s intriguing.
Stranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle
Expected Publication: November 5, 2024 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Opening locked doors has a price—even for those who hold a key. After going through the door that called to them both in dreams, Emory and Romie find themselves in the the same verdant world written of in Song of the Drowned Gods, albeit a twisted, rotting version of it. A sinister force has awoken with their arrival, intent on destruction as it spills across realms, and now Emory and Romie must stop it before it reaches their own shores. Meanwhile, Baz and Kai are desperate to follow their friends through the door to other worlds, but a mishap pulls them back in time instead—where they come face to face with Cornus Clover himself, famed author of Song of the Drowned Gods. Stuck together in the past, they must navigate a very different Aldryn as they unravel the school’s darkest secrets. Across time and worlds, Emory, Romie, Baz, and Kai find their fates eerily interwoven with the heroes from Clover’s book. But when stories can’t be trusted, friendships are put to the test, and deadly enemies are not always as they seem, they must decide who gets to be a hero—and who is desperate enough to see themselves become a villain.
Why I’m Excited:
I am always a sucker for these young adult fantasy novels that have a gorgeous cover. And this is yet another one. I love the idea of travelling to a world that you’ve dreamed of, but finding it different than you imagined is an interesting tale. I hope I can get a copy of this when it’s released.
When Among Crows is swift and striking, drawing from the deep well of Slavic folklore and asking if redemption and atonement can be found in embracing what we most fear.
We bear the sword, and we bear the pain of the sword.
Pain is Dymitr’s calling. His family is one in a long line of hunters who sacrifice their souls to slay monsters. Now he’s tasked with a deadly mission: find the legendary witch Baba Jaga. To reach her, Dymitr must ally with the ones he’s sworn to kill.
Pain is Ala’s inheritance. A fear-eating zmora with little left to lose, Ala awaits death from the curse she carries. When Dymitr offers her a cure in exchange for her help, she has no choice but to agree.
Together they must fight against time and the wrath of the Chicago underworld. But Dymitr’s secrets—and his true motives—may be the thing that actually destroys them.
Why I want to read it: I am a pretty big fan of Veronica Roth. I enjoy her writing style and her ideas. Even though she really flubbed the last book of the Divergent series…I am still not over it, I will never be over it. This idea sounds interesting and I am also a big fan of urban fantasy. There’s something appealing about taking a fantasy world and overlaying it on the modern world that just works.
Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.
Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.
Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.
Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.
But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.
Why I want to read it: I don’t read Chick Lit often, but sometimes you want an easy read. Sometimes you want a book that you know exactly what it is and exactly what to expect. I know what to expect when I read this book. Two people who got married for mutual convenience and then their marriage becomes mutually inconvenient. And somewhere along the line they’ll fall in love. Perfect for some light summer reading.
Murder your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes
Who hasn’t wondered for a split second what the world would be like the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you’ve probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death.
The campus of this “Poison Ivy League” college-its location unknown to even those who study there-is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate…and where one’s mandatory graduation thesis is getting away with the perfect murder of someone whose death will make the world a much better place to live.
Prepare for an education you’ll never forget. A delightful mix of witty wordplay, breathtaking twists and genuine intrigue, Murder Your Employer will gain you admission into a wholly original world, cocooned within the most entertaining book about well-intentioned would-be murderers you’ll ever read.
Why I want to read it: Technically this isn’t a new release, although the paperback edition was recently released…which is how I saw it on the a list of new releases. The title made me howl with laughter. The synopsis was pithy and fun. All in all, this sounds like a delightful book.
As a free A.I., Mal finds the war between the modded and augmented Federals and the puritanical Humanists about as interesting as a battle between rival anthills. He’s not above scouting the battlefield for salvage, though, and when the Humanists abruptly cut off access to infospace he finds himself trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary, and responsible for the safety of the modded girl she died protecting.
A dark comedy wrapped in a techno thriller’s skin, Mal Goes to War provides a satirical take on war, artificial intelligence, and what it really means to be human.
What caught my attention: The cover of this one drew my eye from across the library. When I read the cover summary I was hooked. An artificial intelligence who ends up embroiled in a conflict that he takes no interest in, protecting someone that he has no allegiance to. That’s an interesting idea. And I am interested to see what kind of commentary this book gives on war.
In a world of constant winter, only the citizens of the climate-controlled city of Snowglobe can escape the bitter cold—but this perfect society is hiding dark and dangerous secrets within its frozen heart.
Enclosed under a vast dome, Snowglobe is the last place on Earth that’s warm. Outside Snowglobe is a frozen wasteland, and every day, citizens face the icy world to get to their jobs at the power plant, where they produce the energy Snowglobe needs. Their only solace comes in the form of twenty-four-hour television programming streamed directly from the domed city.
The residents of Snowglobe have fame, fortune, and above all, safety from the desolation outside their walls. In exchange, their lives are broadcast to the less fortunate outside, who watch eagerly, hoping for the chance to one day become actors themselves.
Chobahm lives for the time she spends watching the shows produced inside Snowglobe. Her favorite? Goh Around, starring Goh Haeri, Snowglobe’s biggest star—and, it turns out, the key to getting Chobahm her dream life.
Because Haeri is dead, and Chobahm has been chosen to take her place. Only, life inside Snowglobe is nothing like what you see on television. Reality is a lie, and truth seems to be forever out of reach.
What drew my attention: The first thing that I noticed about this book was the cover. It is breathtakingly beautiful. I have also been hearing about this book quite often over the past few months. I have heard it compared to the Korean Hunger Games. So that piqued my interest. I was very excited to see it at my library. Honestly, if the world was this desolate, wouldn’t you trade your privacy for warmth and safety? I probably would.
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
Published: December 6, 2022 by Little, Brown and Company
A queer, mixed race writer working in a largely white, male field, science and conservation journalist Sabrina Imbler has always been drawn to the mystery of life in the sea, and particularly to creatures living in hostile or remote environments. Each essay in their debut collection profiles one such creature: the mother octopus who starves herself while watching over her eggs, the Chinese sturgeon whose migration route has been decimated by pollution and dams, the bizarre Bobbitt worm (named after Lorena), and other uncanny creatures lurking in the deep ocean, far below where the light reaches. Imbler discovers that some of the most radical models of family, community, and care can be found in the sea, from gelatinous chains that are both individual organisms and colonies of clones to deep-sea crabs that have no need for the sun, nourished instead by the chemicals and heat throbbing from the core of the Earth. Exploring themes of adaptation, survival, sexuality, and care, and weaving the wonders of marine biology with stories of their own family, relationships, and coming of age, How Far the Light Reaches is a book that invites us to envision wilder, grander, and more abundant possibilities for the way we live.
What drew my attention: My local library has a shelf titled “Great nonfiction that you may have missed”. I always give it a look to see if something catches my eye. The first thing that caught my eye with this book was the sturgeon on the front cover. I love the ocean. I love the creatures who live in the ocean. So, to find a book with a particular theme on 10 sea creatures that can teach us valuable lessons in life, is a fascinating idea. I hope it turns out as fascinating as it sounds.
Noah Prime must set out to save his friends and the universe once again in this jaw-dropping sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel, I Am the Walrus .
Noah Prime thought he was no more running, no more murderous aliens, and absolutely no more saving the world. The day he went into hiding should have put an end to it. But staying away is no longer an option when he winds up embroiled in yet another intergalactic calamity. This time, it’s courtesy of his usually level-headed friend Ogden, whose crush on the most popular girl in school, Claire, leads him to buy her a star for her birthday.
However, this heart-warming gesture ends up having disastrous consequences when it turns out the star is real—as in home to a gazillion aliens real. And it’s not long before these creatures have swooped down to Earth to abduct Claire and take her back to their planet—or rather her planet—as its new owner.
Now it’s up to Noah and his quick-changing animal abilities to help his friends find her. But with dangerous forces still out there and a perilous journey ahead, will Noah be able to find Claire before she meets her untimely doom? Even if it means putting his friends in more danger than ever before?
This action-packed, laugh-out-loud sci-fi adventure is perfect for fans of Eoin Colfer and Rick Riordan.
Why I want to read it: You might remember Neal Shusterman from the Unwind series. I read the first book of that series back in 2022, it was honestly one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read. It left me thinking about it for days after I closed the cover. Remembering it still leaves me with the creepy crawlies. You can check out that review here. So, when I saw a new book from Neal Shusterman it went immediately on my Want To Read list. And a mental note that I need to get back to the Unwind series, I was interested to see where it went.
The world’s population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families let alone raise them.
But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality tv show. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child or risk it all for the chance of a real baby . . .
Set in the same universe as John Marrs’s bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate ‘tamagotchi’ – a virtual baby.
Why I Want to Read It: I love a good dystopian novel. Because it may seem like everything is rosy at first, but it’s going to go wrong. We all know it is going to go wrong, because that’s what dystopian fiction means. The question is always, how will it go wrong? When will it go wrong? What will be the collateral damage? This one looks like a perfect example of this kind of fiction. It takes real world issues and the extrapolates them to an extreme to examine what could happen. I love it. I want it.
The second heart-racing instalment in this bestselling and sizzling fantasy romance trilogy. Perfect for fans of Red Queen and The Hunger Games.
The kingdom of Ilya is in turmoil…
After surviving the Purging Trials, Ordinary-born Paedyn Gray has killed the King, and kickstarted a Resistance throughout the land. Now she’s running from the one person she had wanted to run to.
Kai Azer is now Ilya’s Enforcer, loyal to his brother Kitt, the new King. He has vowed to find Paedyn and bring her to justice.
Across the deadly Scorches, and deep into the hostile city of Dor, Kai pursues the one person he wishes he didn’t have to. But in a city without Elites, the balance between the hunter and hunted shifts – and the battle between duty and desire is deadly.
Be swept away by this bestselling, kiss-or-kill romantasy trilogy taking the world by storm.
Why I’m Excited:
This is the second installment of a series, and full disclosure I have not read the first installment. But this caught my eye on the upcoming books lists. I enjoyed Red Queen and The Hunger Games, which are compared to this series. And, anyone who follows this blog knows that I am a sucker for dystopian young adult fiction. The best news of all, with a July release date there is plenty of time to read the first book to get up to speed.
Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland
Expected publication date: May 7, 2024 by Entangled Publishing LLC
The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon.
He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.
And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness―from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.
They can agree on murder.
They can agree on treachery.
But for these five killers―each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal―it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.
Let the best liar win.
Why I’m Excited:
I love books that have untrustworthy main characters. They are often quite compelling and tell us a great story. This is the beginning of a series and sounds really interesting. A bunch of ruffians brought together by a single purpose. I like it, I want it.
A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
Expected publication date: October 1, 2024 by St. Martin’s Press
Inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China, A Song to Drown Rivers is an epic historical fantasy about womanhood, war, sacrifice, and love against all odds. Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.
Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue—convinced that the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi draws the attention of the famous young military advisor, Fanli, he presents her with a rare opportunity: to use her beauty as a weapon. One that could topple the rival neighboring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister’s murder. All she has to do is infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, seduce their immoral king, and weaken them from within.
Trained by Fanli in everything from classical instruments to concealing emotion, Xishi hones her beauty into the perfect blade. But she knows Fanli can see through every deception she masters, the attraction between them burning away any falsehoods.
Once inside the enemy palace, Xishi finds herself under the hungry gaze of the king’s advisors while the king himself shows her great affection. Despite his gentleness, a brutality lurks and Xishi knows she can never let her guard down. But the higher Xishi climbs in the Wu court, the farther she and Fanli have to fall—and if she is unmasked as a traitor, she will bring both kingdoms down.
Why I’m Excited:
Historical fiction has a special place in my heart. It can be done so beautifully and this book sounds beautiful. The cover is beautiful, the synopsis is beautiful, the story is beautiful. Hopefully it lives up to the expectations I have in my head.
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s dangerous and beautiful world of archangels, vampires, and mortals has never faced a threat this cataclysmic…
Raphael and Elena are experiencing their first ever year of true peace. No war. No horrors of archangelic power. No nightmares given flesh. Until…the earth beneath the Refuge begins to tremble, endangering not only angelkind’s precious and fragile young, but the very place that has held their most innocent safe for eons.
Amid the chaos, Elena’s father suffers a violent heart attack that threatens to extinguish their last chance to heal the bonds between them and make sense of the ruins of their agonizing shared history.
Even as Elena battles grief, Raphael is torn from her side by the sudden disappearance of an archangel. But worse yet is to come. An Ancestor, an angel unlike any other, stirs from his Sleep to warn the Cadre of a darkness so terrible that it causes empires to fall and civilizations to vanish.
This time, even the Cadre itself may not be able to stop a ticking clock that is counting down at frightening speed…
Why I’m going to read it:
I have been absolutely obsessed with the Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh. I have read at least 7 of the books so far and have adored every single one. Raphael and Elena was one of my favorite stories and to see Singh touching on them again is fantastic. I have missed Raphael and Elena. I am so excited to jump back into their story. If you haven’t read this series, it comes highly recommended.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age
In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position.
What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor.
Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.
Why I’m going to read it:
If you were reading the site when I discovered Leah Bardugo, then this needs no explanation. I ran through the Shadow and Bone series in record time and I couldn’t get enough of that world. It cemented Bardugo in my list of “Will Read Anything They Ever Publish” authors. I also love historical fiction. Historical fiction plus magic plus Leah Bardugo = yes please!
A new true-crime fueled mystery thriller about a girl determined to uncover the shocking truth about her missing mother while filming a documentary on the unsolved case.
Lights. Camera. Lies.
18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.
But the case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.
Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And – could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .
From world-renowned author Holly Jackson comes a mind-blowing masterpiece about one girl’s search for the truth, and the terror in finding out who your family really is.
Why I’m going to read it:
I’m a big fan of true crime. I love watching true crime documentaries, listening to true crime podcasts. This idea intrigues me. I like the idea of a girl who agrees to participate in a documentary about her missing mother and the suddenly her mother reappears with an outrageous story. I look forward to following that journey and finding out what really happened.
Synopsis:Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds.
Now she’s awakened a nightmare.
During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.
As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.
While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity’s greatest and final hope . . .”
My Thoughts: I went through hell and high water to get an ARC of this. I got rejected by two of my ARC services and the publisher directly, but then I got approved for the audiobook from Macmillian Audio because they like me, hehe. I have a full review of the audiobook coming in the next few days. Be warned it is LONG. 880 pages long. But, oh so good.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Published: September 15, 2020 by Margaret K. Elderberry Books
Synopsis:Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of City of Bones with a modern-day twist on a classic legend and a lot of Southern Black Girl Magic.
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.
A flying demon feeding on human energies.
A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.
And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.
The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.
She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.
My Thoughts: I really hope this book lives up to the hype. I am hearing about it constantly. I want a YA book with a strong female lead, a rich world, a thorough magic system. And please, Gods please, no love triangles.
Synopsis: Reinmar of Bielawa, sometimes known as Reynevan, is a healer, a magician, and according to some, a charlatan. When a thoughtless indiscretion forces him to flee his home, he finds himself pursuednot only by brothers bent on vengeance but by the Holy Inquisition.
In a time when tensions between Hussite and Catholic countries are threatening to turn into war and mystical forces are gathering in the shadows, Reynevan’s journey will lead him to the Narrenturm — the Tower of Fools.
The Tower is an asylum for the mad…or for those who dare to think differently and challenge the prevailing order. And escaping it, avoiding the conflict around him, and keeping his own sanity will prove more difficult than he ever imagined.
Why I’m Excited: I am currently reading The Witcher series, and absolutely loving it. I have watched The Witcher on Netflix twice so far, and absolutely loved it. This sounds very interesting and also very different from that series. It interests me. And, I just so happen to have an ARC. I’m so excited!!
Synopsis: If you had the chance to look one year into the future, would you?
For Ben Boyce and Adhi Chaudry, the answer is unequivocally yes. And they’re betting everything that you’ll say yes, too. Welcome to The Future: a computer that connects to the internet one year from now, so you can see who you’ll be dating, where you’ll be working, even whether or not you’ll be alive in the year to come. By forming a startup to deliver this revolutionary technology to the world, Ben and Adhi have made their wildest, most impossible dream a reality. Once Silicon Valley outsiders, they’re now its hottest commodity.
The device can predict everything perfectly—from stock market spikes and sports scores to political scandals and corporate takeovers—allowing them to chase down success and fame while staying one step ahead of the competition. But the future their device foretells is not the bright one they imagined.
Ambition. Greed. Jealousy. And, perhaps, an apocalypse. The question is . . . can they stop it?
Told through emails, texts, transcripts, and blog posts, this bleeding-edge tech thriller chronicles the costs of innovation and asks how far you’d go to protect the ones you love—even from themselves.
Why I’m Excited: I love a good sci-fi and particularly ones in which AI leads to mass chaos. I am not 100% sure that’s where this book is going, but I’m fairly sure that’s where it will end up. The way it is told seems to be similar to World War Z. I am a bit hesitant about that because I have seen lots of books try to copy the storytelling style of that book and never succeeded. I am excited to see what this one brings.
Synopsis: A young woman in Belle Epoque France is cursed to relive a doomed love affair through many lifetimes, as both troubled muse and frustrated artist.
In 1895, sixteen-year-old Juliet LaCompte has a passionate, doomed romance with the married Parisian painter Auguste Marchant. When her mother — a witch — botches a curse on Marchant, she unwittingly binds Juliet to the artist through time, damning her to re-live her affair and die tragically young lifetime after lifetime as the star-crossed lovers reincarnate through history.
Luke Varner, the worldly demon tasked with maintaining this badly crafted curse, has been helplessly in love with his charge, in all her reincarnations, since 19th century France. He’s in love with Nora, a silver screen starlet in 1930s Hollywood. He’s in love with Sandra, a struggling musician in 1970s Los Angeles. And he’s in love with Helen, a magazine exec in present-day DC who has the power to “suggest” others do her bidding.
In this life, Helen starts to recall the curse and her tragic previous lives. But this time, she might have the power to break the cycle…
My Thoughts: So this one is kind of a cheat. It was officially published in February, but it didn’t hit my radar until today when I saw the paperback is being published next week. But I loved it so much I am cheating. This idea sounds intriguing, the cover makes my heart pitter patter. I love the idea of this book!
Synopsis: When Coop—a U.S. Army paratrooper serving in Afghanistan—is called urgently to his Captain’s office, he fears he’s headed for a court martial. Coop has been keeping a terrible secret from his fellow soldiers, and worries he’s been discovered. Instead, his life is devastated in a different way: his wife, Kay, has been killed in a hit-and-run.
Given a brief leave to fly back to New York and attend to Kay’s affairs, Coop is increasingly disturbed by the suspicious circumstances of his wife’s death. He decides to go AWOL, using his military training to uncover the real story behind Kay’s fatal accident. As he circles in on the truth, Coop must distinguish ally from enemy among a cast of players in the Bronx underworld: Albanian heroin smugglers, shady cops, corrupt rehab doctors, and his wife’s family, a powerful clan of financial elites. Navigating this new battlefield, he’ll have to find justice for Kay while also seeking his own redemption.
My Thoughts: This book sounds absolutely heartbreaking. It’s a situation that no deployed soldier probably gives much thought because they are in a warfare mindset, but sometimes accidents happen. I am interested to learn what Coop’s secrets are and if they are connected to the tragic death of his wife.
Synopsis: Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.
But there will be no turning back.
Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice:
They are not alone.
They’re looking for the truth… But what if it finds them first?
Why I’m Excited: This sounds so creepy! It reminds me of Silent Hill with regard to the plot. I saw this pop up on my radar and it piqued my interest immediately.
Synopsis: Faced with abominable working conditions, unsympathetic owners, and hard-hearted managers, the mill girls of Lowell have had enough. They’re going on strike, and they have a secret weapon on their side: a little witchcraft to ensure that no one leaves the picket line.
For the young women of Lowell, Massachusetts, freedom means fair wages for fair work, decent room and board, and a chance to escape the cotton mills before lint stops up their lungs. When the Boston owners decide to raise the workers’ rent, the girls go on strike. Their ringleader is Judith Whittier, a newcomer to Lowell but not to class warfare. Judith has already seen one strike fold and she doesn’t intend to see it again. Fortunately Hannah, her best friend in the boardinghouse—and maybe first love?—has a gift for the dying art of witchcraft.
Why I’m Excited: This sounds like such a great combination, I cannot wait to read it. Women fighting for their right to a fair workplace and strike organizers desperate enough to use a little magical force to make that happen. It sounds like a combination of plots that will ensure a really fun ride.
Written Among The Stars 