Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #248: A Cathedral of Myth and Bone by Kat Howard

"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.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In these sixteen exquisite stories, Kat Howard deftly weaves in and out of the countries of myth and hagiography to write the lives of women untold and unexplored.

A woman being written into her boyfriend’s fiction is at first flattered to be his muse, but then finds her real life literally consumed and overtaken by his. A desperate young woman makes a prayer to the Saint of Sidewalks, but the miracle she receives isn’t what she expected. A painter spies a naked man, crouched by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, transform into a beautiful white bird and decides to paint him, and becomes involved in his curse. Jeanne, a duelist and a sacred blade for God and Her holy saints, finds that the price of truth is always blood. And in the novella “Once, Future” Howard reimagines the Arthurian romance on a modern college campus as a story that is told, and told again, until the ending is right.

A Cathedral of Myth and Bone by Kat Howard is expected out September 25th, 2018 from Saga Press.

Why am I waiting on this one? I really enjoyed her novel Roses and Rot. It was well-written and inventive. I expect the same thing from the short stories and the novella.

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!

Review: Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

Published May 17th 2016
by Saga Press

"What would you sacrifice for everything you ever dreamed of?"(From the synopsis)

Imogen and Marin were raised by a highly dysfunctional, abusive mother. And yet they've managed to mostly grow beyond that experience. They have both been accepted to a prestigious program at a place called Melete where they will work with a mentor to improve their crafts. Imogen is a writer. Marin is a dancer.

As with most fairy tales, there is more than meets the eye here. And there will be some big decisions to be made. Imogen is finally getting to live out a fairy tale with some similarities to Tam Lin. But, “Perhaps the only happily ever after is to survive to tell the story.”(location 2492 on my Kindle)

This book is wonderfully well written. It stayed with me long after I had closed it. And in fact, it was one of the few books I wanted to re-read right away. The cover has a very positive blurb from Neil Gaiman saying how good the book is. 

I could see the elements of Tam Lin. Using two sisters instead of a couple was a great idea. The two sisters in fairy tales is a theme used throughout the book. I liked that the book referred to other older fairy tales where the Good Folk were often not so good and the solution of the story wasn't always exactly a happily ever after.

The pace of the book is sometimes dreamy like fairy and sometimes faster. It makes sense and suits the story. 

Overall I felt this book was excellent. I give it 5 stars out of 5. I started to give it 4, but realized how much it had stuck with me in the days following my finishing the story, and the desire to re-read it right away made me give it the last boost up to 5. This is a book I will revisit. I also look forward to seeing more from this writer in the future.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. 

Teaser Tuesday: Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
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!

Nothing lasts forever, and midnight is a purposeful stop. A pause to remind you that there is always a clock ticking. There will never be enough time, and for every Beauty who saves  her Beast, there will be a voiceless mermaid who dissolves into sea foam.

~13% on my Kindle

It was hard to pick a teaser from this book. It is very well written. It's a fairy tale with a twist, sort of a version of Tam Lin.

What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out. Happy Reading!

Waiting on Wednesday #124: Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Imogen and her sister Marin have escaped their cruel mother to attend a prestigious artists’ retreat, but soon learn that living in a fairy tale requires sacrifices, be it art or love in this haunting debut fantasy novel from “a remarkable young writer” (Neil Gaiman).

What would you sacrifice in the name of success? How much does an artist need to give up to create great art?

Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her life would become one of these tragic fairy tales because she couldn’t imagine how a stepmother could be worse than her mother now. As adults, Imogen and her sister Marin are accepted to an elite post-grad arts program—Imogen as a writer and Marin as a dancer. Soon enough, though, they realize that there’s more to the school than meets the eye. Imogen might be living in the fairy tale she’s dreamed about as a child, but it’s one that will pit her against Marin if she decides to escape her past to find her heart’s desire.

Why am I waiting on this book? Well, the fairy tale theme is a big part of why I'm waiting on it. I love fairy tales and retellings. I like the idea of this one. Sounds a little like "Be careful what you wish for" too. And then there is the fact that Neil Gaiman thinks that the writer is a "remarkable young writer." I like his writing and if he likes their writing, there is a good chance I will too.

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 ever-growing TBR lists. Thanks for coming by!