Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #606: Silver Fox by Adam Borba

 

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 riotous debut spy comedy that follows an elderly retired CIA operative who has to dust off his skills after spotting his old foe at a party, for fans of Slow Horses and Killers of a Certain Age.

Harvey Fox—eighty-three years-old, widowed, and retired from the CIA—has been thrown out of yet another assisted living facility, this time for sleeping with seven different women (nine if you count nursing staff). With nowhere else to go, he reluctantly moves in with his grown daughter, Nancy. Harvey’s greatest skill as an operative was always his ability to charm anybody, but Nancy is frustratingly immune to his charisma. Meanwhile, he’s been sidelined by his granddaughter in favor of teenage drama and subjected to the company of Nancy’s insufferable Silicon Valley venture capitalist husband.

Feeling out of sorts and in the way, Harvey is planning his next move when his son-in-law invites him to a party with fellow VCs. Harvey is stunned to see a familiar face in the crowd—Dmitri Volkov, the KGB agent who'd nearly killed him half a century ago. What is Volkov doing in California? Why is he rubbing elbows with American tech companies with defense contracts? When the powers that be chalk it all up to a bored old man’s delusions, Harvey realizes that he must run one last covert op. But doing so will dredge up memories of the last time he faced off against Dmitri Volkov. Then he had his youth and the weight of the US government behind him. Now Harvey is all alone and losing this battle could cost more than his life.

Silver Fox by Adam Borba is expected out March 30, 2027 from Flatiron Books: Pine and Cedar.

Why am I waiting on this book? l like the idea of the older protagonist. It says that it's good for fans of Killers of a Certain Age. I enjoyed the older women main characters in that book, so I think it's reasonable to think I might enjoy this story as well. It sounds like a fun read.

What book are you waiting on? 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 #520: Alter Ego by Alex Segura

 

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:

Alex Segura, award–winning author of Secret Identity, returns with a clever and escapist standalone sequel set in the world of comic books. In the present day, a comics legend is given the chance to revive a beloved but forgotten character. But at what price?

Annie Bustamante is a cultural force like none other: an acclaimed filmmaker, an author, a comic book artist known for one of the all time best superhero comics in recent memory. But she’s never been able to tackle her longtime favorite superhero, the Lethal Lynx. Only known to the most die-hard comics fans and long out of print, the rights were never available—until now.

But Annie is skeptical of who is making the offer: Bert Carlyle's father started Triumph Comics, and has long claimed ownership of the Lynx. When she starts getting anonymous messages urging her not to trust anyone, Annie’s inner alarms go off. Even worse? Carlyle wants to pair her with a disgraced filmmaker for a desperate media play.

Annie, who has been called a genius, a sell-out, a visionary, a hack, and everything else under the sun, is sick of the money grab. For the first time since she started reading a tattered copy of The Legendary Lynx #1 as a kid, she feels a pure, creative spark. The chance to tell a story her way. She's not about to let that go. Even if it means uncovering the dark truth about the character she loves.

Sharply written, deftly plotted, and with a palpable affection for all kinds of storytelling, Alter Ego is a one-of-a-kind reading experience.

Alter Ego by Alex Segura s expected out December 3, 2024 from Flatiron Books.

Why am I waiting on this book? I read the first one, Secret Identity, and enjoyed it. I like that this is a standalone sequel. What seems to be carried over from the first book is that it is a mystery involving the comic book industry, in particular the character of the Lynx. I am interested in how the main character will fare and what she will do with the Lynx.

What book are you waiting on? 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 #479: The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

 

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 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.

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo is expected out April 9th, 2024 from Flatiron Books.

Why am I waiting on this book? I like the way Leigh Bardugo writes. I haven't read any of the books in the Grishaverse yet, but I've read Ninth House and Hell Bent and enjoyed them both. I like the idea of Luzia using her gift to make her life better. And how she uses it seems to morph from the description. And it is a dangerous time both to be Jewish and to have magic. I want to know what happens to her. I am rooting for her already.

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 #461: Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine

 

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:

For fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Mexican Gothic, a novel set in 18th-century Venice at a prestigious music school, about two girls drawn together by a dangerous wager.

Venice, 1717. Fifteen-year-old Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. As a student at the Ospedale della Pietà, she hopes to join the highest ranks of its illustrious girls’ orchestra and become a protégé of the great Antonio Vivaldi. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena.

After a scandal threatens her noble family’s reputation, Maddalena is sent to the Pietà to preserve her marriage prospects. When she meets Luisa, Maddalena feels the stirrings of a friendship unlike anything she has known. But Maddalena has a secret: she has hatched a dangerous plot to rescue her future her own way. When she invites Luisa into her plans, promising to make her dreams come true, Luisa doesn’t hesitate. But every wager has its price, and as the girls are drawn into the decadent world outside the Pietà’s walls, they must decide what it is they truly want—and what they will do to pay for it.

Lush and heady, swirling with music and magic, Maddalena and the Dark is a Venetian fairytale about the friendship between two girls and the boundless desire that will set them free, if it doesn’t consume them first.

Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine is expected to be released June 13th, 2023 from Flatiron Books.

Why am I waiting on this book? I like the idea of a Venetian fairytale. I'm wondering what the girls will find outside their school. And I want to know what they will decide it is that they really want and what the price will be. At least it's a short wait for this one to come 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!

Book Review: Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

 

From the publisher:

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory—even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.

Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.

Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo was released January 10th, 2023 by Flatiron Books. This is the second book in the Alex Stern series.

My thoughts:

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo is an excellent read. I give it 5 stars out of 5 possible. 

Among other things, this book is well paced right up to the ending. The end leaves off in such a way that a sequel is definitely called for. I can't wait for it!

The characters are interesting. I liked Alex, Turner, and Dawes the best. They were the most well-rounded characters. We did learn a little about Tripp and Alex's roommate Mercy, but not as much as we do about Stern, Turner, and Dawes. I especially liked the commitment that the characters showed to getting Darlington out of Hell.

I liked the definition of what vampires are supposed to be and what affects them. It was different. At first I was surprised at that inclusion of a vampire character. As the book goes on though, it makes sense to have the character type introduced when it was. 

So, overall this was a really great read. I would recommend it to people who enjoy dark academia novels, horror, or dark urban fantasy. The ending is a little bit of a cliffhanger, but it makes sense and has me looking forward to the next book in the series.

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #417: Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

 

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:

Alex Stern returns in another tale of murder and dark magic set among the Ivy League elite

Galaxy "Alex" Stern is determined to break Darlington out of hell—even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale. But Alex is playing with forces far beyond her control, and when faculty members begin to die off, she knows these aren't just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if Alex is going to survive, she'll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university's very walls.

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo is expected out January 10th, 2023 from Flatiron Books.

Why am I waiting on this book?  I read the first book in the series, Ninth House, and enjoyed it. I want to know what happens next for Alex Stern. I want to know if she will be able to rescue Darlington. And I enjoy the university setting.

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: Secret Identity by Alex Segura

 

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  knew New York City was dangerous. Yet she felt a strange, probably false, sense of security--because she was surrounded by so many people of so many different stripes and shapes and sizes, she would be okay. It made her feel alive. (8% through on my Kindle)

Secret Identity by Alex Segura was published March 15th, 2022 by Flatiron 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 #411: Secret Identity by Alex Segura

 

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 Anthony Award-winning writer Alex Segura comes Secret Identity, a rollicking literary mystery set in the world of comic books.

It’s 1975 and the comic book industry is struggling, but Carmen Valdez doesn’t care. She’s an assistant at Triumph Comics, which doesn’t have the creative zeal of Marvel nor the buttoned-up efficiency of DC, but it doesn’t matter. Carmen is tantalizingly close to fulfilling her dream of writing a superhero book.

That dream is nearly a reality when one of the Triumph writers enlists her help to create a new character, which they call “The Lethal Lynx,” Triumph's first female hero. But her colleague is acting strangely and asking to keep her involvement a secret. And then he’s found dead, with all of their scripts turned into the publisher without her name. Carmen is desperate to piece together what happened to him, to hang on to her piece of the Lynx, which turns out to be a runaway hit. But that’s complicated by a surprise visitor from her home in Miami, a tenacious cop who is piecing everything together too quickly for Carmen, and the tangled web of secrets and resentments among the passionate eccentrics who write comics for a living.

Alex Segura uses his expertise as a comics creator as well as his unabashed love of noir fiction to create a truly one-of-a-kind novel--hard-edged and bright-eyed, gritty and dangerous, and utterly absorbing.

Secret Identity by Alex Segura is expected out March 15th, 2022 from Flatiron Books.

Why am I waiting on this book?  It sounds interesting - a noir based in the comic book business. And I like that there is a female lead character.

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!