From: Our Vengeful Souls by Kristi McManus
Interesting Book Passages – July 29, 2024
literature
Upcoming Releases – July 28, 2024
The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn
Expected publication: March 18, 2024 by St. Martin’s Griffin
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
Practical Magic meets Gone Girl in Ava Morgyn’s next dark, spellbinding novel about a woman who is more than a witch – she’s a hunter.Piers Corbin has always had an affinity for poisonous things – plants and men. From the pokeweed berries she consumed at age five that led to the accidental death of a stranger, to the husband whose dark proclivities have become… concerning, poison has been at the heart of her story. But when she fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her volatile marriage and goes to stay with her estranged great aunt in the mountains, she realizes her predilection is more than a hunger – it’s a birthright. Piers comes from a long line of poison eaters – Bane Witches – women who ingest deadly plants and use their magic to rid the world of evil men. Piers sets out to earn her place in her family’s gritty but distinguished legacy, all while working at her Aunt Myrtle’s cafe and perpetuating a flirtation with the local, well-meaning sheriff to allay his suspicions on the body count she’s been leaving in her wake. But soon she catches the attention of someone else, a serial killer operating in the area. And that only means one thing – it’s time to feed. In Ava Morgyn’s dark, thrilling novel, The Bane Witch, a very little poison can do a world of good.
Why this caught my eye:
Normally I hate writeups that hype a book as “X meets Y!!”. It is almost never accurate and I find it annoying. If I wanted to read thing X, then I would. But, I am here for this one. Practical Magic…yes! Gone Girl…yes! I am bought and sold on this one.
American Sheep by Brett Bannor
Expected publication: October 1, 2024 by University of Georgia Press
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
American Sheep introduces the “remarkable story” of how sheep helped shape American history from the colonial era through the early twentieth century. By introducing the readers to a cast of characters—some forgotten and some famous—whose lives intersected with sheep, the book illuminates the roles the animals played in the “growth and development of the United States.” John Brown’s relationship with sheep, for example, reveals how “sheep culture influenced racial relations.” And John Muir’s fears about sheep grazing in Yosemite were central to the development of the environmental movement his name is most often attached to. American Sheep, in other words, is a book that shears away our misunderstandings of the past and weaves sheep into the fabric of American economic and social history.
Why it caught my eye:
I don’t think I’ve talked about this much on the site, but another one of my hobbies is fiber art. I love wool. I love sheep. I spin my own yarn. I dye my own wool. I knit and crochet with my own spun yarn. I am friends with shepherds, and I own some of their fleeces and know their name, how old they were, who their parents are, and what kind of year they had based on the wool they produced (you can tell if they were sick, or if it was particularly hot, or particularly wet, etc). This book detailing how important sheep have been to the United States’ cultural history, yes please!
What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould
Expected publication: December 10, 2024 by Wednesday Books
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
Devin Green wakes in the middle of the night to find two men in her bedroom. No stranger to a fight, she calls to her foster parents for help, but it soon becomes clear this is a planned abduction—one everyone but Devin signed up for. She’s shoved in a van and driven deep into the Idaho woods, where she’s dropped off with a cohort of equally confused teens. Finally, two camp counselors inform them that they’ve all been enrolled in an experimental therapy program. If the campers can learn to change their self-destructive ways—and survive a fifty-days hike through the wilderness—they’ll come out the other side as better versions of themselves. Or so the counselors say.
Devin is immediately determined to escape. She’s also determined to ignore Sheridan, the cruel-mouthed, lavender-haired bully who mocks every group exercise. But there’s something strange about these woods—inhuman faces appearing between the trees, visions of people who shouldn’t be there flashing in the leaves—and when the campers wake up to find both counselors missing, therapy becomes the least of their problems. Stranded and left to fend for themselves, the teens quickly realize they’ll have to trust each other if they want to survive. But what lies in the woods may not be as dangerous as what the campers are hiding from each other—and if the monsters have their way, no one will leave the woods alive.
Why this caught my eye:
Troubled teen wilderness “therapy” is having a moment in the spotlight, rightly so in my opinion. The idea of taking a circumstance that is already morally and ethically questionable and adding a horror element with monsters is a great idea. Fun fact, I got sent to a church version of one of those type things when I was a teenager. It was not as bad as many others, but sending a bunch of teenagers to go hiking around the woods for miles a day with untrained adults is not therapeutic, and I can’t believe that people would actually do that to their child. But this book still peaks my interest.
Audiobook review: Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Narrated by: Jim Dale
Published: June 26, 1997 by Scholastic
Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo
Synopsis:
Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That’s because he’s being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he’s really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.
Rating: 
Review:
I have always loved the Harry Potter books. I was first introduced to them about six months after Prisoner of Azkaban was released. And I devoured them. I was the crazy person who signed up for all of the midnight releases of the new books. Got locked into the Barnes & Noble to await the book being delivered, got my book at midnight and went home to start reading. Once I was an adult I would take the following day off work to read the book in one sitting. I couldn’t get enough. I saw every film on release day. I bought every audiobook on release day. For a long time when I worked a data entry job I would listen to the audiobooks on repeat. I would get to the end and start again, over and over and over. So this was a comfort listen for me.
As far as the narration goes, what more do I need to say other than Jim Dale. Disclaimer, I also love the audiobooks by Stephen Fry because he is a legend and I adore his version. But there’s just something special about the Jim Dale audiobooks. He puts on such a performance! All of the voices and the inflection and the emotion. He is a legend. I could listen to these audiobooks every single day and never get bored of hearing his voice.
Enough of my fawning over Jim Dale, on to the book. It was just as book as I remembered it. One of the most memorable opening sentences in all of fiction, ““Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” This single line puts you into this world immediately. You know exactly what kind of people the Dursley’s are. And then you have the wonder of all the “strange” and “unusual” thing that Vernon Dursley keeps noticing, but doesn’t say anything to Petunia because he wouldn’t want to worry her. The moment Harry Potter learns he is a wizard is a moment filled with so much emotion that it still makes me tear up.
Naturally the book isn’t perfect, but it’s close. You have to suspend reality a lot for this plot to be plausible. Why a group of 11 year old children, who had been learning magic for about 5 minutes, thought that they were more capable of protecting the stone than a group of wizards and witches that had more magical experience in their pinky finger? Realizing that if Harry had just left well enough alone that Voldemort wouldn’t have stood a chance at getting the stone in the first place, so he put his friends in danger entirely unnecessarily. And, of course, the royal screw job that Dumbledore gives Slytherin for the House Cup at the end of the book.
But, if you just suspend your imagination a little then these are merely things to giggle about in an otherwise legendary book. The only place where this book loses a star for me is that is it full of tropes. The nerdy, unattractive girl. The fat boy who resembles a pig. The shabby kid who comes from a large family and doesn’t dress well. A lot of tropes that make me crinkle my nose a bit as an adult. But it is just as magical reading it for the thousandth time as it was the first.
Progress Update Fridays – July 26, 2024
How it’s going:
This book is really cooking now! Sereia was cursed by her brother in epic fashion and left to drown in the ocean with human legs. She struggles to the surface and finds some floating debris and eventually arrives on land. The writing is beautiful, the world McManus is creating is rich, and the characters are wonderful. I am savoring every word of this so far.
How it’s going:
I’m so bored!!! This book has nothing going on. Literally nothing. If I have to hear one more story about “the boy” doing something naughty like looking at a naked maid and getting scolded for it, I might actually scream. If something hasn’t actually happened by the time I hit 250 pages then I am giving up.
Audiobook review: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Narrated by: Richard Poe, Julia Gibson, Barbara McCullough and others
Published: March 29, 2016 by Simon & Schuster Audio
Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo
Synopsis:
Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate — a life and a role that she has never challenged… until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.
A provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues, My Sister’s Keeper is the story of one family’s struggle for survival at all human costs and a stunning parable for all time.
Rating: 
Review: Spoiler alert: This book irritated me, so I doubt that I will be able to discuss it without spoilers. Consider this your warning.
From the audiobook side, this was very well done. The narrators were very good. I always enjoy having a full voice cast on an audiobook. It makes the audiobook much more of a performance, which I find a wonderful experience. I am very pleased that a lot of audiobooks are moving in the direction of a full voice cast and I hope that’s a continuing trend.
I gave this book two stars mainly because of the moral issues and dilemmas that it discusses. I found the concept of the book fascinating. What would any of us do in the face of our child’s inevitable death? To what lengths would we go to save them? In this book, the parents decide to conceive a child through in-vitro fertilization. But they implant an embryo that is genetically match to their sick child. They have the best of intentions, they are only going to give their sick daughter an umbilical cord blood transfusion, which the new baby doesn’t need anyway. And it works for awhile. Kate goes into remission. But, then she doesn’t. And all of a sudden, it starts becoming reasonable to have your young daughter donate other things. Blood, plasma, bone marrow. The story kicks off when Anna is expected to donate a kidney to her sister, and she doesn’t want to. So she goes to a lawyer and asks if she can sue her parents for the right to make this decision on her own. As she points out, as a child, no one ever bothered to ask what she wanted.
This book had so much wonderful potential! The very issues of bodily autonomy, parental decision making, bodily consent are highlighted on every page. The problem is that the only sympathetic people in this book are Anna and Kate. Their parents are awful, horrendous people. I thought they would be sympathetic people who felt desperate to do the right thing. Instead I found horrendous abusers who berate their healthy children because they have the audacity to be healthy. For example, when Anna isn’t allowed to play hockey because practice would interfere with her ability to donate plasma to her sister. When Anna wants to go to a summer camp, she is berated for even asking. At one point her mother screams at her “Your organs need to be here for Kate, not off at camp!” Wow. Just wow. You’ve entirely reduced your child’s existence down to being body parts that need to be available to someone else. I wanted to vomit. These people were awful.
The ending of the book was similarly terrible. It felt like the author lost her nerve. She didn’t want to make a hard decision so she just opted out of making any decision at all. At the end of the book, Anna confesses that she actually wanted to donate her kidney to Kate. But Kate asked her to refuse, because Kate is ready to die. Kate doesn’t want to keep living like this. That part was ok. It made the book less compelling than Anna wanting to fight for her autonomy, but I was willing to go with it.
Then, it all goes to hell. Anna wins her case. She is awarded autonomy to make her medical decisions, and her attorney is appointed as her POA to sign all the paperwork for her and do the official things that she is too young to do. Anna decides that she is going to donate her kidney after all, if Kate will accept it. And on the way to the hospital to see Kate, Anna is killed in a car accident. And the book happily recounts how Anna ended up donating her kidney to Kate in the end after all. What a letdown. While I had no sympathy for the parents, I had a lot of sympathy for Anna and Kate. They were both in an impossible situation and I wanted to see how it ended. But it didn’t end. Anna wins a pointless victory, and ends up being a kidney donor anyway…..well, that happened.
New Releases Wednesday – July 24, 2024
There was no upcoming releases post on Sunday because it was my littlest’s birthday! He’s officially a threenager now, and we spent the day playing with his new toys, going out for a Happy Meal and generally having an amazing day. So, let’s pick up with this week’s new releases. I think I found something to appeal to everyone. Tell me what you have your eye on.
Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti
Published: July 23, 2024 by Griffin
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
In this steamy Regency romp, Lady Selina is determined to find the Duke of Stanhope the perfect wife―the only problem is she’s starting to think that might be her.
Peter Kent―newly inherited Duke of Stanhope and recently of New Orleans, Louisiana―must become respectable. Between his radical politics and the time he interrupted a minor royal wedding with a flock of sheep―not his fault!―he’s developed a scandalous reputation at odds with his goal of becoming guardian to his half siblings. For help, he turns to the cleverest and most managing woman of his acquaintance, Lady Selina Ravenscroft.
Selina is society’s most proper debutante, save one tiny secret: she runs an erotic circulating library for women. When Peter asks for her help, she suggests courtship and marriage to a lady of unimpeachable reputation. (Which is to say, definitely not herself.)
But matchmaking doesn’t go according to plan. Peter’s siblings run rampant on Bond Street. Selina ends up in the Serpentine. And worst of all, the scorching chemistry between Peter and Selina proves impossible to resist. For the disreputable duke and his unpredictable matchmaker, falling in love just might be the ultimate scandal.
In the Lonely Hours by Shannon Morgan
Published: July 23, 2024 by Kensington
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
In a bewitchingly melancholy, thrillingly modern ghost story for readers of Eve Chase, Megan Shepherd, and Lisa Jewell, the new inhabitants of a centuries-old castle perched on a remote island in northwest Scotland must confront its tragic and terrifying history…
On a small island in a remote corner of northwest Scotland lies Maundrell castle, owned by its wealthy namesake family for centuries—until now. Edwina Nunn is shocked to learn a relative she never heard of has bequeathed the castle and its land to her. What awaits Edie and her teenage daughter, Neve, is even more startling, for the castle is home to a multitude of ghosts.
Yet there’s a strange beauty in the austere architecture and the eerie, bloody waters of Loch na Scáthanna, the Lake of Shadows. Beguiled by a frightened ghost who gazes longingly out of the castle’s windows, Edie and Neve are drawn to the legends shrouding the island and the mystery of the Maundrell Red—a priceless diamond that disappeared decades before.
Is the gem really cursed, and the cause of the family tragedies that have all occurred on Samhain—Scottish Halloween? As Samhain approaches once more, Edie and Neve race to peel back the dark secrets entwining the living and the dead—a twisted story of bitter cruelty and hidden love—or they will become another Maundrell tragedy trapped in the lonely hours .
Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald
Published: July 20, 2024 by Penguin
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
To hell with love, this goddess has other plans…
Thousands of years ago, the gods told a lie: how Persephone was a pawn in the politics of other gods. How Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his bride. How her mother, Demeter, was so distraught she caused the Earth to start dying.
The real story is much more interesting.
Persephone wasn’t taken to hell: she jumped. There was no way she was going to be married off to some smug god more in love with himself than her.
Now all she has to do is convince the Underworld’s annoyingly sexy, arrogant and frankly rude ruler, Hades, to fall in line with her plan. A plan that will shake Mount Olympus to its very core.
But consequences can be deadly, especially when you’re already in hell . . .
Progress Updates – July 19, 2024
Synopsis:
In the 1950s Tropical Republic, a boy lives amid opulence and privilege, spending days at the beach or in the cool hills above the sweltering capital, enjoying leisurely Sunday lunches around the family compound’s swimming pool. That is, until the reign of The Mortician begins, unleashing unimaginable horrors that bring his childhood idyll to an end. Narrowly escaping the violent fate visited on so many of his fellow citizens, he and his brother follow their parents into exile in the United States where they must start a new life. But as he grows, he never feels at home, and leaves his family to travel across Europe and outrun the ghosts of the past.
A searing novel of a life lived in the shadow of history, The Delicate Beast portrays the persistent, pernicious legacy of political violence.
How it’s going:
So far this book has been 149 pages of….absolutely nothing. I put it down for a few weeks and hoped that would help spark my interest in it. But it hasn’t. All we’ve talked about so far is memories of the main character’s childhood. A few family history stories about how they came to be on the island. And the writing is difficult to read. The author meanders so much that I often forget what I’m reading. I’m not sure how much longer I will continue reading but something needs to happen soon. The synopsis says it’s about political violence, it is reminiscent of politics in one way so far. Tedium.
Synopsis:
When magical mermaid Sereia saves her little sister and overshadows brother and rightful heir, Triton, the position of next ruler of the sea is in question. Determined to keep his throne, Triton curses Sereia, transforming her into a human and stripping her of magic. Banishing her from their underwater kingdom, he gives her a final warning: if you should ever return, you will become a monster.
Left for dead, Sereia washes up on the shores of Atlantis, discovered by a kind merchant with a tragic past. Patient and charming, he helps her build a life on land, leaving her realizing that everything she was taught about humans may have been wrong. But legends are powerful forces, and mermaids are burned for their magic by humans who fear their power. Sereia is forced to keep her true identity a secret, even as her feelings for her savior deepen.
Channeling her skill with a blade, she finds a place within the ranks of the Atlantean army, finally giving her the chance to become the respected warrior she always desired. During her training, however, she discovers the legend of a trident of equal power to her father’s exists, and is within her grasp in Atlantis. With a way back to the sea in her grasp, she wavers between the pull of revenge and the possibility of love on land, all under the hateful eye of a vengeful enemy within her ranks. But when the fate of a friend is in the balance, she must make the hardest decision of all: be burned at the stake as a witch, or turn into a monster should she return to the sea.
In line with the classic fairy tale The Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Anderson) and the mythological adventure Lore (Alexandra Bracken), Our Vengeful Souls takes you on a journey of loss, love and vengeance, into the life of one of fairy tales most famous villains.
How it’s going:
I am LOVING this one so far. Sereia is a formiddable character. And I love the idea of this book too, an origin story for Ursula. I can’t wait to see how it goes.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Progress: 40%
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That’s because he’s being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he’s really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.
How it’s going:
It’s been a long time since I read these books. And I realized that I’ve never actually done a formal review of the books. So I decided to listen to my favorite audiobook versions of Harry Potter, the one and only Jim Dale. Harry is much more whiny than I remember. Hermoine is about the same as I remember. Ron is much funnier than I remember. And so far, I’m having a blast.
Audiobook review: Briefly Perfectly Human by Alua Arthur
Synopsis:
For her clients and everyone who has been inspired by her humanity, Alua Arthur is a friend at the end of the world. As our country’s leading death doula, she’s spreading a transformative message: thinking about your death—whether imminent or not—will breathe wild, new potential into your life.
Warm, generous, and funny AF, Alua supports and helps manage end-of-life care on many levels. The business matters, medical directives, memorial planning; but also honoring the quiet moments, when monitors are beeping and loved ones have stepped out to get some air—or maybe not shown up at all—and her clients become deeply contemplative and want to talk. Aching, unfinished business often emerges. Alua has been present for thousands of these sacred moments—when regrets, fears, secret joys, hidden affairs, and dim realities are finally said aloud. When this happens, Alua focuses her attention at the pulsing center of her clients’ anguish and creates space for them, and sometimes their loved ones, to find peace.
This has had a profound effect on Alua, who was already no stranger to death’s periphery. Her family fled a murderous coup d’état in Ghana in the 1980s. She has suffered major, debilitating depressions. And her dear friend and brother-in-law died of lymphoma. Advocating for him in his final months is what led Alua to her life’s calling. She knows firsthand the power of bearing witness and telling the truth about life’s painful complexities, because they do not disappear when you look the other way. They wait for you.
Briefly Perfectly Human is a life-changing, soul-gathering debut, by a writer whose empathy, tenderness, and wisdom shimmers on the page. Alua Arthur combines intimate storytelling with a passionate appeal for loving, courageous end-of-life care—what she calls “death embrace.” Hers is a powerful testament to getting in touch with something deeper in our lives, by embracing the fact of our own mortality. “Hold that truth in your mind,” Alua says, “and wondrous things will begin to grow around it.”
Rating:
Review: **Spoiler alert** Since this is a memoir style book, I cant give an adequate review without talking intricately about the plot. Therefore, the review will likely spoil portions of the book.
This book is one of those times that I feel like the synopsis sold me a completely different book than the book I received. What I expected was a memoir that had a heavy focus on what she had learned in her work with the dying and lessons that she had hoped to pass on. But that isn’t the book I read. Alua’s work as a death doula isn’t really covered until the very end of the book and almost none of it was in any sufficient detail to take away a lesson from it. Most of the stories were about how the client’s situation impacted her. Which, as a doula, is not supposed to be the focus. Hopefully this is just because it is her perspective of the story and she comes across to her clients as centered on them and their needs.
I’m also not sure it was the right decision for the author to narrate the book herself. Audiobook narration is a specific skillset and not everyone has it, not everyone is able to convey the story accurately and truthfully while also making it compelling for the listener. That is where this one failed. This work is supposed to be Alua’s passion. Her life mission. But I heard none of that passion in her narration. Her tone was quite monotone and slow, which made it easy for me to tune out and stop paying attention because it didn’t compel my attention.
A large portion of this book is also devoted to Alua’s experience as a black Ghanaian woman. Naturally this made race and racism a big theme in the book. But in some of the circumstances it was difficult to have sympathy for her. For example, when she arrives at a client’s home and is told by the client’s sons that “Sorry, we should have told you that our dad is a little racist”. Now, there is no excuse for the sons actions. They knew damn well that Alua was a black woman. They knew full well that their dad was a racist. So it was entirely abhorrent that they tried to hire her at all. If she had rejected the job and gone back home every single person reading would have cheered. But she decided to stay. Only to help the sons, not interact with their dad. They agreed. And then they pushed her to help their dad. Again, abhorrent behavior on their part. Every single person reading would have supported her in walking away immediately and going home. No one should subject themselves to racism and hatred directed at them. Never for a moment.
But again, she decides to stay and interact with the father and participate in his care. A decision that I thought displayed a level of empathy and compassion that I could never understand. Then, as she is sitting at this dying man’s bedside she is privately thinking about how she wishes that he is suffering, wishes that they wouldn’t give him pain medication so that he would die miserable. Relishing the idea that he would die with his last image being a black woman. My eyebrows raised almost off my head. Clearly she was unable to provide the client compassionate or empathetic care. She could not remain neutral. And I don’t blame her, I doubt anyone could. And they shouldn’t have to, let me be clear. But she had numerous opportunities to remove herself from the abhorrent situation and decline to work with them. She chose not to and then told us the story of wishing this dying man would be in more pain. That is gross. If she couldn’t give the family the same service she gives others then she shouldn’t have been there. Then she sums it up with it being “another situation where I diminished myself as a black woman for the comfort of white folks.” I feel like that was the wrong lesson. The real lesson should have been that she needed to advocate for herself as hard and passionately as she advocates for her clients.
Often time the stories that the author tells focus on her efforts to help the dying client “die with grace”. While this is a nice ideal, it often isn’t a reality. And it seems like an unreasonable burden to put on a dying person, to have grace. It feels like the expectation is performative. Die with grace so that all of your family can have a nice experience. I didn’t like it. It made me feel uncomfortable.
Overall, I don’t think this book was for me. I was expecting something completely different and I didn’t enjoy what I got.
New Releases Wednesday – July 17, 2024
The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
Published: July 16, 2024 by Ballantine Books
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.
As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.
Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.
Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.
Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
Published: July 16, 2024 by Viking
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, only to find he’s too late. The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, leaving no heir, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table survive.
They aren’t the heroes of legend, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Tables, from the edges of the stories, like Sir Palomides; the Saracen Knight; and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. Together this ragtag fellowship will set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance.
But Arthur’s death has revealed Britain’s fault lines. God has abandoned it, and the fairies and monsters and old gods are returning, led by Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. Kingdoms are turning on each other, warlords are laying siege to Camelot, and rival factions are forming around the disgraced Lancelot and the fallen Queen Guinevere. It is up to Collum and his companions to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world and make it whole again. But before they can restore Camelot they’ll have to learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell and lay to rest the ghosts of his troubled family and of Britain’s dark past.
The Keeper of Stars by Buck Turner
Published: July 16, 2024 by Page & Vine
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
Who says you can’t rewrite the stars?
1962—Twelve years removed from the summer when she first gave her heart away, Dr. Elizabeth (Ellie) Spencer, Professor of Astronomy at Indiana University, receives a mysterious package that has her asking that very question.
Inside the unmarked box is a novel written by Ellie’s first love, Jack Bennett. It tells the story of a young man and woman who meet at the water’s edge and fall madly in love, only to have their romance cut short by forces beyond their control. Ellie quickly realizes this is no ordinary story; it’s their story. Captivated by Jack’s words, she immerses herself in the pages, reliving the adventures they shared that magical summer. To her astonishment, hidden among the tales of star-gazing and stolen kisses is a detail that has her questioning everything.
Seeking answers, Ellie turns to her sister for help, but before they can get to the bottom of the mystery, news reaches them of their aunt’s death, sending Ellie back to the water’s edge with the hopes of finding the truth and rewriting the stars.
Upcoming Releases – July 14, 2024
The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene
Expected publication: November 5, 2024 by Crooked Lane Books
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
It’s 1998, and female students are going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina. But freshman Jessica Fadley, once a bright and responsible student, is going through her own struggles. Just as her life seems to be careening dangerously out of control, she suddenly disappears.
Twenty-four years later, Jessica’s sister Lindsey is desperately searching for answers and uses the momentum of a new chart-topping true crime podcast, Ten Seconds to Vanish, that focuses on the cold cases, to guide her own investigation. Soon, interest reaches fever pitch when the bodies of the long-missing women begin turning up at a local lake, which leads Lindsey down a disturbing road of discovery.
In the present, one sister seeks to untangle a complicated web of lies.
In the past, the other descends ever deeper into a darkness that will lead to her ultimate fate.
This propulsive and chilling suspense is a sharp examination of sisterhood and the culture of true crime.
What caught my eye: I’m a big fan of crime mystery books, and I am also a big fan of true crime podcasts. This story says that it uses the medium of a true crime podcast to introduce us to the mystery. I love that idea.
The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson
Expected publication: November 12, 2024 by Flatiron Books
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
From NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Mary E. Pearson comes a thrilling romantic fantasy full of dangerous fae, dark secrets, and addictive romance
After losing both their parents, Bristol Keats and her sisters struggle to stay afloat in their small, quiet town of Bowskeep. When Bristol begins to receive letters from an “aunt” she’s never heard of who promises she can help, she reluctantly agrees to meet—and discovers that everything she thought she knew about her family is a lie. Even her father might still be alive, not killed but kidnapped by terrifying creatures to a whole other realm—the one he is from.
Desperate to save her father and find the truth, Bristol journeys to a land of gods and fae and monsters. Pulled into a dangerous world of magic and intrigue, she makes a deadly bargain with the fae king, Tyghan. But what she doesn’t know is that he’s the one who drove her parents to live a life on the run. And he is just as determined as she is to find her father—dead or alive.
Why it caught my attention: I can never refuse a fantasy romance with fae. Many of them are not good, but I can’t refuse them anyway. This one sounds great though with mysteries on all sides.
Cabinet of Curiosities by Aaron Mahnke
Expected publication: November 12, 2024 by St. Martin’s Press
Check this book out at: Goodreads
Synopsis:
The new book based on the long-running hit podcast by Aaron Mahnke, which has translated into over 120-million downloads to date, and a monthly average of over 2 million listeners. The podcast, Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities, has delighted millions of listeners for years with tales of the wonderful, astounding, and downright bizarre people, places, and things throughout history. Now, in Cabinet of Curiosities the book, learn the fascinating story of the invention of the croissant in a country that was not France, and relive the adventures of a dog that stowed away and went to war, only to help capture a German spy. Along the way, readers will pass through the American state of Franklin, watch Abraham Lincoln’s son be rescued by his assassin’s brother, and learn how too many crash landings inspired one pilot to leave the airline industry and trek for the stars. For the first time ever, Aaron has gathered scores of his favorites in print, and curated them into a beautiful, topical collection for devoted followers and new fans alike.
Why it caught my eye: I am a huge fan of the podcasts by Aaron Mahnke (Lore and Cabinet of Curiosities). He is a magnificent storyteller, and I always want to know more about the stories he tells. And soon I will be able to. I’m thrilled!
Written Among The Stars 