Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #398: Book of Night by Holly Black

 

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

From the publisher:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black makes her stunning adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies in the vein of Ninth House and The Night Circus.

Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn’t pick, a book she couldn’t steal, or a bad decision she wouldn’t make. She's spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows to peer into locked rooms, strangle people in their beds, or worse. Gloamists guard their secrets greedily, creating an underground economy of grimoires. And to rob their fellow magicians, they need Charlie.

Now, she’s trying to distance herself from past mistakes, but going straight isn’t easy. Bartending at a dive, she’s still entirely too close to the corrupt underbelly of the Berkshires. Not to mention that her sister Posey is desperate for magic, and that her shadowless and possibly soulless boyfriend has been keeping secrets from her. When a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie descends back into a maelstrom of murder and lies. Determined to survive, she’s up against a cast of doppelgängers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world — all trying to steal a secret that will allow them control of the shadow world and more.

"Dark, strange, thick with mystery and twists—Book of Night is everything delicious and frightening I've come to expect from Holly Black. It's a story so believable in its magic, you'll be keeping one eye on your shadow as you turn the pages." —Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House

Book of Night by Holly Black is expected to be published May 3rd,2022 by Tor Books. Cover to be revealed.

Why am I waiting on this book?  It's supposed to be somewhat similar to Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. And Leigh Bardugo gave it a good blurb. I find the bit about secret societies draws me too. And it's Holly Black's first novel for adults. 

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: Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

 

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!

Hugo knocked his head back against the railing softly. "But isn't that life? We second guess everything because it's in our nature. People with anxiety and depression just tend to do it more."  ( 67% through on my Kindle)

Under the Whispering Door by T. J. Klune was released September 21st, 2021 by Tor Books.

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 #397: The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley by Mercedes Lackey

 

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

From the publisher:

The sixteenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series follows sharpshooter Annie Oakley as she tours Europe and discovers untapped powers. 

Annie Oakley has always suspected there is something "uncanny" about herself, but has never been able to put a name to it. But when Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show goes on tour through Germany, Bill temporarily hires a new sharpshooter to be part of his "World Wide Congress of Rough Riders": a woman named Giselle, who also happens to be an Elemental Master of Air. Alongside this new performer, Annie discovers that she and her husband, Frank, are not simply master marksman, but also magicians of rare ability.

As they travel and perform, Annie must use her newfound knowledge and rare skill to combat creatures of the night scattered across the countryside, who threaten both the performers and the locals. Annie's got her gun, and it's filled with silver bullets.

The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley by Mercedes Lackey is expected to be published January 11th, 2022 by DAW.

Why am I waiting on this book? Each of the books in this series can be read as a standalone. I like the notion of an Annie Oakley who fights "creatures of the night." I'm looking forward to seeing how the author blends historical figures and fantasy.

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: The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher

 

From the publisher: 

A deeper magic. A stronger curse. A family lost...and found.

Persephone May has been alone her entire life. Abandoned as an infant and dragged through the foster care system, she wants nothing more than to belong somewhere. To someone. However, Persephone is as strange as she is lonely. Unexplainable things happen when she’s around—changes in weather, inanimate objects taking flight—and those who seek to bring her into their family quickly cast her out. To cope, she never gets attached, never makes friends. And she certainly never dates. Working odd jobs and always keeping her suitcases half-packed, Persephone is used to moving around, leaving one town for another when curiosity over her eccentric behavior inevitably draws unwanted attention.

After an accidental and very public display of power, Persephone knows it’s time to move on once again. It’s lucky, then, when she receives an email from the one friend she’s managed to keep, inviting her to the elusive Wile Isle. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. However, upon arrival, Persephone quickly discovers that Wile is no ordinary island. In fact, it just might hold the very things she’s been searching for her entire life.

Answers. Family. Home.

And some things she did not want. Like 100-year-old curses and an even older family feud. With the clock running out, love might be the magic that saves them all.

The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher was published September 28th, 2021 by St. Martin's Griffin.

My thoughts: I almost DNF'd this book. But, I did finish it. I found it confusing in places. And the number of descriptions of smiles dragged me away from the story. I had to re-read the ending twice. And I had trouble getting invested in the characters.

On the plus side, the cover draws the eye. And the notion of Persephone May having magical reasons for not making eye contact is interesting. I liked the Library. It was like a character itself. And it was interesting how the magic worked. "There's always a cost."

Overall, I give The Orphan Witch 3/5 stars. It's an interesting book. If you enjoy witchy stories, you might enjoy this one.  

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This review is my unbiased opinion.

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #396: French Braid by Anne Tyler

 

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

From the publisher:

A major new novel from the beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning author—a freshly observed, funny, joyful, brilliantly perceptive journey deep into one family’s foibles, from the 1950s up to our pandemic present.

The Garretts take their first and last family vacation in the summer of 1959. They hardly ever venture beyond Baltimore, but in some ways they have never been farther apart. Mercy has trouble resisting the siren call of her aspirations to be a painter, which means less time keeping house for her husband, Robin. Their teenage daughters, steady Alice and boy-crazy Lily, could not have less in common. Their youngest, David, is already intent on escaping his family's orbit, for reasons none of them understand. Yet, as these lives advance across decades, the Garretts' influences on one another ripple ineffably but unmistakably through each generation.
 
Full of heartbreak and hilarity, French Braid is classic Anne Tyler: a stirring, uncannily insightful novel of tremendous warmth and humor that illuminates the kindnesses and cruelties of our daily lives, the impossibility of breaking free from those who love us, and how close—yet how unknowable—every family is to itself.

French Braid by Anne Tyler is expected to be published March 22nd, 2022 by Knopf. 

Why am I waiting on this book? I've enjoyed Anne Tyler's writing ever since I read Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant years ago. I like that in the description it says there is humor. The whole book won't be funny, but the humor will probably balance the heartbreak. 

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 #395: The Long Game by K. J. Parker

 

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

From the publisher:

The always unpredictable K. J. Parker has written some of the most original and compelling fantasy fiction of recent decades. In his latest novella, The Long Game, Parker has turned once again to the comic side of his multi-faceted talent, and the result is one of the most purely entertaining creations of a distinguished career.

The unnamed narrator of The Long Game is an Adept, a member of an Ecclesiastical order charged, among other things, with opposing a race of immaterial demons, creatures capable of possessing and controlling human minds. Complicating the narrator’s life is the fact that, over time, he has developed a cordial “relationship” with one of the demons. Complicating matters further is the unexpected arrival of Amalasomtha, a young woman with impossible abilities who claims to have come from the remote—perhaps mythical—country of Idalia. She also claims that, for reasons she does not entirely understand, she has been tasked with capturing one such demon and returning with it to Idalia. The truth, it turns out, is considerably more complex.

Amalasomtha’s arrival sets in motion a chain of events encompassing murder, magic, deception, and an array of unintended consequences. By the story’s end, this consistently witty account of demonic possession, hidden agendas and Ecclesiastical politics has taken us to some unexpected places and given us a glimpse of a larger story still, the “long game” that lies at the heart of all human history. The Long Game is funny, provocative, extravagantly imagined, and good for the soul. This is K. J. Parker at the top of his considerable form. What more needs to be said?

The Long Game by K.J. Parker is expected to be released March 31st, 2022 by Subterranean Press.

Why am I waiting on this book? I think it sounds interesting and creative. And I really like that it's supposed to be funny and well imagined.

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: Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

 

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!

She relaxed. "I won't pretend to say I understand what you're going through. How can I? And even if I thought I knew what it's like, I'd probably still be wrong. It's different for everyone, man. What the people went through before you and those who will come after you, it's never going to be the same thing twice. But that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing." ( 31% through on my Kindle)

Under the Whispering Door by T. J. Klune was released September 21st, 2021 by Tor Books.

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!