Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #296: The Will and the Wilds by Charlie N. Holmberg

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

From Goodreads:

Enna knows much of the mystings that roam the wildwood near her home. After they killed her mother, her father gifted her a stone that senses their nearness. When one mysting tries to kill her to obtain it, Enna takes a huge risk: fighting back with a mysting of her own.

Maekallus’s help doesn’t come free. His price? A kiss. But even the most naïve mortals know Maekallus’s kind use kisses to steal souls. Drawing upon a power unknown to her, Enna persuades Maekallus to commit to much less. The bargain struck, he goes to destroy Enna’s mysting—but in the ensuing fight, he’s bound to the mortal realm, which begins eating him alive. Compelled to help by the magic enchaining them, Enna gives Maekallus a kiss—the only thing that can save him from immediate destruction. But Maekallus’s temporary salvation is Enna’s lingering doom. Part of her soul now burns bright inside of him, making him feel for the first time. 

Enna shares Maekallus’s suffering, and even the sliver of her soul she sacrificed won’t heal either of them for long. If he and Enna cannot find a way to break the spell binding him to the mortal realm, Maekallus will be consumed completely—and Enna’s soul with him.

The Will and the Wilds by Charlie N. Holmberg is expected to be published January 21st, 2020 from 47North.

Why am I waiting on this one? It sounds interesting to me. I want to know what happens to Enna and Maekallus. I want to know if what they do is enough to save them both.

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday: Disorganized Crime by Alex A. King

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

When he was done I said, "But you said there's no crime in Greece."

"That is not crime," he told me. "That is life."

Approximately twenty years later I'd discover he was wrong. It was both.

(p. 3)

Disorganized Crime by Alex A. King is the first book in the  Kat Makris Greek Mafia series. The Kindle edition was published January 28th, 2015 by Citizen A Press.

Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #295: Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

From Goodreads:

A new side-splitting Meg Langslow mystery from award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Toucan Keep a Secret 

Meg's grandfather has been booked to give lectures on a cruise as part of the education/entertainment itinerary, and he's arranged for a passel of family members to join him.

The passengers' vacation quickly becomes a nightmare when they wake up to find themselves broken down and in need of repairs. Things get even worse when a crew member announces to all that a woman has jumped overboard, leaving behind her shoes, shawl, and a note. The note reveals she's a disliked member of a writers' group on board for a retreat, and the group is split on whether this is in-character for her.

The captain decides not to investigate, saying he'll notify American authorities when they reach their destination. But Meg's father decides they need to look into whether there was possible foul play while the prime suspects are all stuck on board. It'll be a race against the clock to solve this mystery before they make the necessary repairs and return to shore.

Donna Andrews' long-running Meg Langslow series continues to be beloved by its fans, who loyally buy every new installment. Terns of Endearment is a perfect new addition, full of laughter, adventure, and Andrews' wonderful cast of wacky characters.

Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews is expected to be published August 6th, 2019 by Minotaur Books. It is #25 in the Meg Langslow series.

Why am I waiting on this one? I like a good cozy that is also humorous. This one seems to fit the bill. Even though I haven't read any of the other books in the series yet, I am interested in this one now and the series. Have you read any of this series yet?

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Book Review: Changeling by William Ritter

Once upon a time there was a goblin named Kull who took on a mission to steal a human baby and leave a changeling in its place. Things being what they were, Kull was interrupted in the process. When he looked back, both babes looked the same and he couldn't pick out the changeling. So, he left them both.

The babies are named Cole and Tinn. They are raised as twin brothers by their mother after their father disappears. When they are 12, Kull comes back and leaves them a note with a map informing them that one of them is a changeling and just return to the goblins or he would die. The boys take this at face value and set out together since they don't know which of them is the changeling either. Adventures ensue.

I like that Cole and Tinn are raised together and that their mother appears to love the pair unconditionally. And she loves them fiercely, protectively. She follows them into the woods seeking them. She isn't passive or evil. I like that it doesn't matter to the boys or their mother that one of them is a changeling.

The pace of the book is generally fine. There are a few places where it slows down a little, but it still manages to keep the reader's attention. You will want to know what happens next.

There is an overall feeling of fantasy and fairy tale to the story. There are these two boys who go into the Wild Wood and the Oddmire. This is what they find there and what happens to them.

This book is aimed at middle-graders. It takes place in the same world as the young adult Jackaby series. I don't read many middle-grade books, but this one is definitely worth a read. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend it primarily for kids who enjoy fantasy and fairy tales. The evil they encounter may seem too scary for some, but generally the level of danger is acceptable. Overall, it is a good book with themes of family and unconditional love that is worth the time to read alone or together with an adult.

Changeling book one in the Oddmire series by William Ritter was published July 16th, 2019 by Algonquin Young Readers.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own and freely given.

Blog Tour excerpt: The Oddmire Book One: Changeling by William Ritter

Today I have something a little different for you. As part of a blog tour, I have an excerpt from the first book in a new series for middle readers called The Oddmire by William Ritter. Book one is Changeling. This new series is written by the same author that did the Jackaby series and is set in the same world as Jackaby.

From the press release: This “captivating series opener” (Booklist) introduces two brothers as they follow a curious map into a magical wood, leading them on a journey to discover which one of them is human and which is the changeling. Like Jackaby, THE ODDMIRE features witches, shape-shifters, and other creatures of fairytale and folklore, traditional and original from the mind of William Ritter.

Changeling by William Ritter was published July 16th, 2019 by Algonquin Young Readers. Thanks to Algonquin for supplying the excerpt.

Excerpt:

PROLOGUE

A VERY LONG TIME AGO, HUMANS AND FAIRIES and elves and dolphins and all of the other intelligent beings of the world got sick of one another—which was understandable, as intelligent beings were all pretty much rubbish in those days. After much arguing, they decided to split up the world and build a sort of magical wall between the two halves. On the human side of the barrier, life would be governed by logic and reason and the laws of nature. It would be an honest world of soil and struggle. The other side would be ruled by forces more ancient than any earthly science, a world of magic and madness and raw potential. Humans called their side the Earth, and magical beings called their side the Annwyn (all except for the gnomes, who called it Pippin-Gilliewhipple—which is one of many reasons that, to this day, nobody from either side much cares for gnomes).

 For many centuries, the wall stood—a sort of veil between two worlds, invisible but everywhere. Neither side could see or touch the other, and in time many creatures forgot there was another world at all. This remained the state of things until rogue groups brought their simmering strife to an unruly boil and a new war broke out. As it turned out, intelligent beings were still fairly rubbish if not properly supervised. The resulting battle blasted a great, gaping hole right through the invisible barrier.

 When the dust had settled, some felt the hole in the wall should be patched back up, and others felt the barrier should come down entirely. In all the hubbub, nobody noticed as the thing that had been inside the wall—the thing that may have been the very soul of the wall—escaped. Nobody was watching as the thing that had spent countless centuries listening at the cracks and growing hungrier and hungrier slipped past the rubble and across the bloody battlefield. Nobody saw it slide quietly into the forest.

 The Thing clutched at shadows as it moved between the trees, drawing the darkness around itself like a riding cloak. It had never known sunlight, or birdsong, or honey-sweet breezes, or even the sound of its own name. If the Thing even had ever had a name, it had never had anyone to speak it.

 The Thing whipped past mossy boulders, through towering trees, and over the muggy, murky Oddmire. When it reached the very heart of the Wild Wood, it finally slowed and came to rest. The trees grew more densely there, and the air was still. Even the sound of the birds died away. The shadows here were thick and heavy, and the Thing gathered them up, greedily.

 The Thing knew shadows. In that sunless, starless place between worlds, there had been shadows so absolute they had no form. The Thing’s whole world had been a shadow—its whole life had been one great shadow, and within it, the Thing had felt impossibly small. But the shadows in this new place were different. They would do as it bid them. They were powerful, those shadows of stones and boulders and tall pine trees, and the pieces torn from them felt comfortable as they knit together across the Thing’s back. The Thing felt strong. Beneath its swelling cloak of darkness, the Thing began to take on new shapes. Bigger shapes. Terrible shapes. Still, there was one shadow that caught the Thing like a thorn: its own. The creature’s meager slip of a shadow followed it, clung to it, taunted it with its own true, trifling form. 

The creature plunged its talons into the forest floor, and for a time, the only sound was the scratching of unseen claws digging into the soil. When the hole was deep enough, the Thing turned its talons in on itself. It tore and it ripped until finally, reverently, it lowered its own severed shadow into the cold earth and buried the humble scrap beneath the dirt. All around it, pools of darkness blossomed as if the entire forest floor were a fresh, clean napkin laid over a seeping ink stain.

 The darkness grew.

 The Thing drew itself up to its full height, and then it drew itself up a little higher, and higher still. Countless stolen shadows rippled along its cloak like waves of grain shimmering in a breeze. The Thing would be whatever it pleased now. It was never going back.

The darkness spreading across the forest floor solidified into angry coils and knots as it grew. Wicked thorns burst from its surface. For just a moment, there was silence and the forest was still. And then the darkness began to creep.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: William Ritter is an Oregon author and educator. He is the proud father of the two bravest boys in the Wild Wood, and husband to the indomitable Queen of the Deep Dark.The Oddmireis Ritter’s first series for middle-grade readers. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Jackaby series for young adult readers. Visit him online at rwillritter.wordpress.com and find him on Twitter: @Willothewords.

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #294: Haunted House Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

From Goodreads:

Tricks and treats keep the Halloween spirit alive in coastal Maine. But this year the haunted house theme is getting carried a little too far . . .
 
HAUNTED HOUSE MURDER by LESLIE MEIER
Newcomers to Tinker’s Cove, Ty and Heather Moon have moved into a dilapidated house reputed to be a haven for ghosts. Now strange noises and flickering lights erupt from the house at all hours and neighborly relations are on edge. And when a local boy goes missing near the house, it’s up to Lucy Stone to unravel the mystery of the eccentric couple and their increasingly frightful behavior.
 
DEATH BY HAUNTED HOUSE by LEE HOLLIS
For the past two years, the house next door to Hayley Powell has sat abandoned after the owner died under mysterious circumstances. The Salinger family has recently taken possession of the property, but the realtor behind the deal has vanished—after a very public and angry argument with Damien Salinger. If Bar Harbor’s newest neighbors are murderers, Hayley will haunt them until they confess.
 
HALLOWED OUT by BARBARA ROSS
With its history of hauntings and ghost sightings, Busman’s Harbor is the perfect setting for Halloween festivities. But when a reenactment of a Prohibition-era gangster’s murder ends with a literal bang and a dead actor from New Jersey, Julia Snowden must identify a killer before she ends up sleeping with the fishes.
 
There’s nothing like home sweet home in this trio of Halloween tales... 

Haunted House Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross is expected to be published August 27th, 2019 by Kensington.

Why am I waiting on this one? I like a good story with a Halloween setting. All three of these novellas have that. Plus they take place in haunted houses. And yet they are all different. This sounds like a perfect fall read.

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #293: Life and Limb by Jennifer Roberson

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

From Goodreads:

A biker and a cowboy must stop the apocalypse in the first book of the Blood and Bones western urban fantasy series.

‘The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.’ —Baudelaire

He is, after all, the master of lies.
But is it lies when a man comes calling and says the End of Days is nearing?  That you must do everything within your power to stop it? Even when you have no powers. You are, after all, just a human.

Or do you have no powers? Are you just a human? And what the hell are you supposed to do about preventing hell-on-earth when you’re fresh out of prison, a biker ex-con who can’t even vote?

But the man who bears the message, the mission, is not a stranger shouting on a street corner while hoisting a sign promising death and damnation. He is someone you’ve known since boyhood, someone you trust implicitly. Someone who has never, ever lied to you. He's Grandaddy.

But who is he really? And who are you? Are you truly a weapon meant to be wielded against the devil’s return? Against the End Times. The End of Days. Apocalypse and Armageddon.

Demons, Grandaddy says, are now loosed upon the earth in the first spasms of a most unholy war. Demons inhabit and make real the beasts and characters of fiction, folklore, fairytales. Gods and goddesses walk the earth. The minotaur. Murderers. A horseman without his head. Myth becomes reality. Legends—and lies—are truths.

And maybe the man you’ve always trusted isn’t entirely human.

Life and Limb by Jennifer Roberson is expected to be published November 5th, 2019 by DAW.

Why am I waiting on this one? This sounds like an interesting urban fantasy title. I've enjoyed other books I've read by the same author. This one sounds different from anything else I've read by her. I like the combination in the synopsis of mythical creatures, a biker, and a cowboy. I'm looking forward to checking this one out. 

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #292: The Bodies in the Library by Marty Wingate

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

From Goodreads:

Hayley Burke's fresh start as the curator of The First Edition Society's library in Bath, England, is about to take a rotten turn in this charming new mystery series from USA Today bestselling author Marty Wingate. 

Hayley Burke has landed a dream job. She is the new curator of Lady Georgiana Fowling's First Edition library. The library is kept at Middlebank House, a lovely Georgian home in Bath, England. Hayley lives on the premises and works with the finicky Glynis Woolgar, Lady Fowling's former secretary.

Mrs. Woolgar does not like Hayley's ideas to modernize The First Edition Society and bring in fresh blood. And she is not even aware of the fact that Hayley does not know the first thing about the Golden Age of Mysteries. Hayley is faking it till she makes it, and one of her plans to breathe new life into the Society is actually taking flight--an Agatha Christie fan fiction writers group is paying dues to meet up at Middlebank House.

But when one of the group is found dead in the venerable stacks of the library, Hayley has to catch the killer to save the Society and her new job.

The Bodies in the Library is expected to be published October 8th, 2019 from Berkeley/Penguin Random House.

Why am I waiting on this one? I enjoy a good mystery. And I have a particular fondness for mysteries that are set in libraries and bookstores. 

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday: Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman by J.B. Lynn

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Family: You can't live with 'em, ya can't get away with killing them yourself."

Thinking of Dirk the Jerk and his idiot sister Raelene, I muttered with feeling, "I know exactly what you mean." 

(p. 39 on my Kindle)

Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman by J.B. Lynn was published February 7, 2012 by Avon Impulse.

Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!