Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #470: Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian

 

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:

From bestselling author Alex Grecian comes a folk horror epic about a ragtag posse that must track down a witch through a wild west beset by demons and ghosts—and where death is always just around the bend.

Sadie Grace is wanted for witchcraft, dead (or alive). And every hired gun in Kansas is out to collect the bounty on her head, including bona fide witch hunter Old Tom and his mysterious, mute ward, Rabbit.

On the road to Burden County, they’re joined by two vagabond cowboys with a strong sense of adventure – but no sense of purpose – and a recently widowed schoolteacher with nothing left to lose. As their posse grows, so too does the danger.

Racing along the drought-stricken plains in a stolen red stagecoach, they encounter monsters more wicked than witches lurking along the dusty trail. But the crew is determined to get that bounty, or die trying.

Written with the devilish cadence of Stephen Graham Jones and the pulse-pounding brutality of Nick Cutter, Red Rabbit is a supernatural adventure of luck and misfortune.

Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian is expected out September 19th, 2023 from Tor Nightfire.

Why am I waiting on this book? I like what some people call weird westerns. This book definitely qualifies. I want to know more about Sadie Grace. Is she really all that bad? And I think I would root for this ragtag bunch to be the ones to catch up to her.

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 #469: Assassins Are Us by Kimberly Van Sickle

 

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:

Meet Hedy Hinterschott, a 17-year-old assassin-in-training, who has been groomed for the family business since birth. Despite growing up in a loving and supportive nuclear family, Hedy has always felt like a misfit, struggling to fit into the family's dynamics and their covert and highly unorthodox profession. As the next generation of accomplished and stealthy assassins, Hedy and her twin brother Gerhardt are expected to carry on the family legacy.

However, Hedy's secretive family history, tumultuous teenage years, and predetermined future not only in the family business but also in the family itself, have left her questioning her place in the world. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Hedy is the first female Hinterschott to be born in the family's long line of assassins, prompting her to question why all other women in her family tree have only been added through marriage.

As the story unfolds, a mysterious prospective boyfriend, a plot to uncover Hitler's billions, and the unraveling of family secrets lead Hedy on a journey of self-discovery, where she finds that assassinations may be easier than navigating the complexities of romance and family.

With its unique blend of dark comedy, drama, and romance, Assassins Are Us offers a thrilling and thought-provoking coming-of-age story that will keep you hooked from beginning to end.

Assassins Are Us by Kimberly Van Sickle is expected out September 12, 2023 from Atmosphere Press.

Why am I waiting on this book? It's a little bit different. I like the concept of the plot plus that it's supposed to have dark comedy to it. 

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!

Happy Book BIrthday to Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is out today from Del Rey Books. I'm 30% through and I'm really enjoying it. Review to follow soon.

From the publisher:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film—and awakens one woman’s hidden powers.

Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys’ club running the film industry in ’90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood.

Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives—even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed.

Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.

As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.

Check it out! 

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #468: In These Hallowed Halls edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

 

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: In these stories, dear student, retribution visits a lothario lecturer; the sinister truth is revealed about a missing professor; a forsaken lover uses a séance for revenge; an obsession blooms about a possible illicit affair; two graduates exhume the secrets of a reclusive scholar; horrors are uncovered in an obscure academic department; five hopeful initiates must complete a murderous task and much more! 

Definition of dark academia in English:
dark academia
1. An internet subculture concerned with higher education, the arts, and literature, or an idealised version thereof with a focus on the pursuit of knowledge and an exploration of death.
2. A set of aesthetic principles. Scholarly with a gothic edge – tweed blazers, vintage cardigans, scuffed loafers, a worn leather satchel full of brooding poetry. Enthusiasts are usually found in museums and darkened libraries.

A beguiling, sinister collection of 12 dark academia short stories from masters of the genre, including Olivie Blake, M.L. Rio, Susie Yang and more!

In These Hallowed Halls edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane is expected out September 12th, 2023 from Titan Books.

Why am I waiting on this book? I have enjoyed some books of dark academia such as Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House. I'm curious to see what other authors do with the theme.

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!

Happy Book Birthday to Thief Liar Lady by D.L. Soria

 

From the publisher: 

I’m not who you think I am.

My transformation from a poor, orphaned scullery maid into the enchantingly mysterious lady who snagged the heart of the prince did not happen—as the rumors insisted—in a magical metamorphosis of pumpkins and glass slippers. On the first evening of the ball, I didn’t meekly help my “evil” stepmother and stepsisters primp and preen or watch forlornly out the window as their carriage rolled off toward the palace. I had other preparations to make.

My stepsisters and I had been trained for this—to be the cleverest in the room, to be quick with our hands and quicker with our lies. We were taught how to get everything we wanted in this world, everything men always kept for themselves: power, wealth, and prestige. And with a touchingly tragic past and the help of some highly illegal spells, I would become a princess, secure our fortunes, and we would all live happily ever after.

But there’s always more to the story. With my magic running out, war looming, and a handsome hostage prince—the wrong prince—distracting me from my true purpose with his magnetic charm and forbidden flirtations, I’m in danger of losing control of the delicate balance I’ve created . . . and that could prove fatal.

There’s so much more riding on this than a crown.

Thief Liar Lady by D.L. Soria Is available today from Del Rey.

I've started reading the story and it really is different from the traditional tellings. I'll post a review when I finish the book.

Is this one on your TBR list? Have you read it or are you reading it? Drop a comment and let us know what you think of it. Happy Reading!

Book Review: Say My Name by Joe Clifford

 

From the publisher:

SAY MY NAME is a true crime story about a crime that never happened. 

On the heels of a divorce, a midlist mystery writer returns to his hometown in Central CT and is dragged back into a decades’ old, unsolved case involving former missing classmates to expose the horrific secrets of a quaint, idyllic New England town.

Fusing the modern domestic psychological thriller with popular unsolved mysteries (Girl on the Train meets In Cold Blood), this meta blend of true crime and fiction plays with expectations and perspective before its mind-blowing conclusion.  

Say My Name by Joe Clifford was released June 6th, 2023.

My thoughts:  Say My Name by Joe Clifford is a strange book starting with the first line of the synopsis: "a true crime story about a crime that never happened." Things only get stranger with time as we watch the main character on a downward spiral while investigating the disappearance of a set of twins from when he was a youth in central Connecticut. 

The story is told from the main character's point of view. He is an unreliable narrator - he spends much of the book drinking heavily and not eating. This leads him to maybe make conclusions he wouldn't have made if he was sober. At least he questions some of them once he sobers up. I thought that the author did a good job of showing how the main character declines with time.

In order to read the book, I had to suspend disbelief early on and read it as a mystery that the main character was investigating. It's not a neat mystery. It reads like a real mystery would with messy investigations, strange conclusions, getting into trouble, and being told to leave things alone. Still, I read on wanting to know what would happen and what kind of conclusion he would draw next.

The ending of the book was a big twist. It wasn't the one I was expecting, which is a good thing. It's nice to be surprised. Still, I felt it was a little off in the way it was explained.

Overall, it's a good book. If you like your mysteries written weirdly, maybe experimentally, then this would be a good book for you. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars for execution. It was different. I didn't really like the narrator. I wasn't fond of the ending, but it was interesting.

I received a copy of the book through Swell Media. This did not affect my opinions.

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #467: Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan

 

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: It’s 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with…normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. That’s how Ducey Evans has done it for the last eighty years, and her progeny—Lenore the experimenter and Grace, Lenore’s soft-hearted daughter, have run Evans Funeral Parlor for the last fifteen years without drama. Ever since That Godawful Mess that left two bodies in the ground and Grace raising her infant daughter Luna, alone.

But when town gossip Mina Jean Murphy’s body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead, it’s clear that the Strigoi—the original vampire—are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town.

As more folks in town turn up dead and Deputy Roger Taylor begins asking way too many questions, Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and now Luna, must take up their blades and figure out who is behind the Strigoi’s return. As the saying goes, what rises up, must go back down. But as unspoken secrets and revelations spill from the past into the present, the Evans family must face that sometimes, the dead aren’t the only things you want to keep buried.

A crackling mystery-horror novel with big-hearted characters and blood-soaked Southern charm, Bless Your Heart is a gasp-worthy delight from start to finish.

Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan is expected out April 9th, 2024 from Minotaur Books.

Why am I waiting on this book? I like the idea of a southern vampire novel. It sounds like this one has humor as well as horror which is a good combination. I'm wondering what besides the dead the ladies would like to keep buried.

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!