Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #555: God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines

 

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 New York Times bestselling author Peter Clines, God’s Junk Drawer is a mind-bending tale of mystery and adventure set at the dawn of time.  

Welcome to the valley… 

Forty years ago, the Gather family—James, his daughter Beau, and his son Billy—vanished during a whitewater rafting trip and were presumed dead. 

Five years later, Billy reappeared on the far side of the world, telling an impossible tale of a primordial valley populated by dinosaurs, aliens, Neanderthals, and androids. Little Billy became the punchline of so very many jokes, until he finally faded from the public eye. 

Now, a group of graduate astronomy students follow their professor, Noah Barnes, up a mountain for what they believe is a simple stargazing trip. But they’re about to travel a lot farther than they planned… 

Noah—the now grown Billy Gather—has finally figured out how to get back to the valley. Accidentally bringing his students along with him, he’s confident he can get everyone back home, safe and sound. 

But the valley is a puzzle—one it turns out Noah hasn’t figured out—and they’ll need to solve it together if there’s any chance of making it out alive.  

Pulling from Earth’s past, future, and beyond, Peter Clines has created a complex, dangerous world, navigated by a dynamic ensemble cast, and a story that is thrilling as it is funny and heartfelt. 

God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines is due out November 11, 2025 from Blackstone Publishing.

Why am I waiting on this book: I love the title. It sounds like a good adventure story.  And it promises to be funny and heartfelt. I love humor in books. I'm wondering how they will conclude that everything got there and how they will get out or if they will.

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!

Book Review: Fever Beach by Carl Hiaasen

 

From the publisher:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Another instant classic from Carl Hiaasen—laugh-out-loud funny, tackling the current chaotic and polarized American culture (following in the path of Squeeze Me), with two wonderful Hiaasen heroes

“The afternoon of September first, dishwater-gray and rainy, a man named Dale Figgo picked up a hitchhiker on Gus Grissom Boulevard in Tangelo Shores, Florida. The hitchhiker, who reminded Figgo of Danny DeVito, asked for a lift to the interstate. Figgo said he’d take him there after finishing an errand.”

Thus begins Fever Beach, with an errand that leads—in pure Hiaasen-style—into the depths of Florida at its most Floridian: a sun-soaked bastion of right-wing extremism, white power, greed, and corruption. Figgo, it turns out, is the only hate-monger ever to be kicked out of the Proud Boys for being too dumb and incompetent. On January 6, 2021 he thought he was defacing a statue of Ulysses S. Grant, but he wound up spreading feces all over a statue of James Zacharia George, a Civil War Confederate war leader.

Figgo's already messy life is about to get more complicated, thanks to two formidable adversaries. Viva Morales is a newly transplanted Floridian, a clever woman recently taken to the cleaners by her ex-husband, now working at the Mink Foundation, a supposedly philanthropic organization, and renting a room in Figgo’s apartment because there’s no place else she can afford. Twilly Spree has an anger management problem, especially when it comes to those who deface the environment, and way too many inherited millions of dollars. He's living alone a year after his dog died, two years after he sank a city councilman’s party barge, and three years after his divorce.

Viva and Twilly are plunged into a mystery—involving dark money and darker motives—they are determined to solve, and become entangled in a world populated by some of Hiaasen’s most outrageous characters: Claude and Electra Mink—billionaire philanthropists with way too much plastic surgery and a secret right-wing agenda—and Congressman Clure Boyette—who dreams of being Florida’s (and maybe America’s) most important politician. The only things standing in his way are his love for hookers and young girls, and his total lack of intelligence. We meet Noel Kristianson—a Scandinavian agnostic injured when Figgo thinks he’s a Jewish threat to humanity and runs him over with his car; Jonas Onus—Figgo’s partner in white power idiocy; and many, many more. Hiaasen ties them all together and delivers them to their appropriate fates, in his wildest and most entertaining novel to date.

My Thoughts: Like all of Hiaasen's books, Fever Beach is somewhat off the wall. Up to a point, you can picture things happening. Then, it goes one step beyond. It's funny and it's satire.

My favorite characters were Viva, Twilly, and Moe. Galaxy was interesting- more so when she went on sabbatical. Least favorite characters included Dale Figgo and Jonus Onus. But I don't think we are totally meant to dislike them most of the time. Maybe feel a little sorry for them at times. Another least favorite character is the congressman. If I tell you why I did and didn't like the characters, we'd be into spoilers territory. Suffice it to say that the good guys follow Mae West's quote: "When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better." The not so good guys had fewer good moments and more just plain stupid ones.

The book moves along at a good pace. It's not all action, but it does all propel the book forward. I did not see everything that happened coming, but that's part of the fun with a Hiaasen book. 

I gave the book 5 out of 5 stars. It's well-written. The characters and events are interesting. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy satire and humor with one foot in the political world and the other foot straining to be out of this world. And if you like Hiaasen, don't miss this one.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This did not affect my opinions nor my review. 

Fever Beach by Carl Hiaasen was released May 13, 2025 from Knopf.

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #554: Lies and Dolls by Nev Fountain

 

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 pacy, laugh-out-loud funny whodunnit set in the world of cult sci-fi fandom, this novel sees the return of neurodiverse sleuth Kit Pelham as she investigates the destruction of rare vintage action figures and an actual murder at a rare toy museum. Perfect for fans of Richard Osman, J. M. Hall, Ian Moore and Andrew Cartmel.

Professional cult sci-fi fan Kit Pelham returns in this laugh-out-loud-funny follow-up to The Fan Who Knew Too Much. 

When Kit and her best friend Binfire head to a stately home in Lincolnshire to view five ultra-rare Vixens from the Void action figures – the main exhibit at the opening of a new toy museum – they come across more than just nerds and toy-collectors. The figures are stolen from their glass case and, just as Kit and Binfire begin to get their heads around this mystery, they start to reappear, broken into pieces, left for their distraught owners to discover.

And that’s when the real killings start.

Lies and Dolls by Nev Fountain is expected out July 22, 2025 from Titan Books. It's book two of The Kit Pelham Mysteries.

Why am I waiting on this book: It sounds like a fun mystery read. I like the idea that the main character is neurodiverse. And while I hope to read book one at some point, I am hoping it can be read as a standalone.

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 #553: Sheepdogs by Elliot Ackerman

 

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 sly, funny, action-packed thriller introducing an instantly iconic spy duo, from the author of New York Times bestseller 2034

Skwerl and Cheese are down on their luck. Skwerl, who is resourceful like a squirrel (Marines win battles, not spelling bees), used to work for the CIA’s elite paramilitary wing. He was fired after a raid went bad in Afghanistan. Big Cheese Aziz, a legendary pilot—his country’s Maverick—is equally hard up. The fall of Kabul has left him working the nightshift at a gas station. Skwerl recruits Cheese into an anonymous network of so-called sheepdogs, who operate in the shadowy space between predator and prey.

Their mission, which Skwerl convinces a reluctant Cheese to accept, is to repossess a private jet stranded on a remote African airfield. Their fee: a commission on the jet’s $5 million value. But nothing about the job adds up. Their contact goes missing. Their handler is as mysterious as the real source of the money. And when the women in their lives get involved—one pregnant wife and one dominatrix—the stakes skyrocket.

From the jungles of Kampala to a glamorous hotel in Marseille, from a veteran-run pizzeria in Kyiv to a Panera in northern Virginia, Skwerl and Cheese and the players around them navigate an increasingly tangled set of loyalties. They join forces with an eccentric bomb technician turned off-the-grid survivalist, a lapsed Amish adventurer, a used car dealer elected to Congress, even a case officer known as the White Russian. Globe-trotting and page-turning, full of heart and humor, Sheepdogs is a uniquely perceptive, wild ride through the underbelly of modern war and intelligence.

Sheepdogs by Elliot Ackerman is expected out August 5th, 2025 from Knopf.

Why am I waiting on this book: It sounds interesting, adventurous, and potentially funny. 

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!

Happy Book Birthday to Salvacion by Sandra Proudman

 

From the publisher:

In this Latinx YA fantasy inspired by El Zorro, Lola de La Peña becomes the masked heroine Salvación in order to save her family and town from a man who would destroy it for the magic it contains...if she doesn't fall in love with a boy in his company first.

Lola de La Peña yearns to be free from the societal expectations of a young Mexican lady of her station. She spends her days pretending to be delicate and proper while watching her mamá cure the sick and injured with sal negra (black salt), a recently discovered magic that heals even the most mortal of sicknesses and wounds. But by night, she is Salvación, the free-spirit lady vigilante protecting the town of Coloma from those who threaten its peace and safety among the rising tension in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

But one night, a woman races into Coloma, barely alive, to tell the horrifying tale of how her town was obliterated by sal roja (red salt), a potent, deadly magic capable of obliterating anything it comes into contact with, and about the man who wields it: Damien Hernández. So when Hernández arrives the next day with a party of fifty strong and promises of returning Alta California to México, Lola knows it’s only a matter of time before he brings the region under his rule—all Hernández needs is the next full moon and the stolen, ancient amulet he carries to mine enough sal roja to conquer the land. Determined to protect everything she loves, Lola races against time as Salvación to stop his plans. What she didn’t count on was the distracting and infuriating Alejandro, who travels with Hernández but doesn't seem to share his ambitions. With the stakes higher than ever and Hernández getting closer to his goals, Lola will do anything to foil his plans, even teaming up with Alejandro—who she doesn’t fully trust but can’t help but fall in love with.

Salvacion by Sandra Proudman was released today from Wednesday Books.

I've started reading the book. I am about 25% through. I've been enjoying the blend of a Zorro type character and magical realism. Review to follow.

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #552: Witches of Dubious Origin by Jenn McKinlay

 

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: When a librarian discovers she’s descended from a long line of powerful witches, she’ll need all of her bookish knowledge to harness her family’s magic, in this enchanting cozy fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay.

Zoe Ziakas enjoys a quiet life, working as a librarian in her quaint New England town. When a mysterious black book with an unbreakable latch is delivered to the library, Zoe has a strange feeling the tome is somehow calling to her. She decides to consult the Museum of Literature, home to volumes of indecipherable secrets, some possessing dark magic that must be guarded.

Here, among their most dangerous collection, the Books of Dubious Origin, Zoe discovers that she is the last descendant of a family of witches and this little black book is their grimoire. Zoe knows she must decode the family’s spell book and solve the mystery of what happened to her mother and her grandmother. However, the book’s potential power draws all things magical to it, and Zoe finds herself under the constant watch of a pesky raven, while being chased by undead Vikings, ghost pirates, and assorted ghouls.

With assistance from the eccentric staff of the Books of Dubious Origin department—including their annoyingly smart and handsome containment specialist, Jasper Griffin—Zoe must confront her past and the legacy of her family. But as their adventure unfolds, she’ll have to decide whether or not she’s ready to embrace her destiny.

Witches of Dubious Origin by Jenn McKinlay is expected to be released October 28th, 2025 from Ace.

Why am I waiting on this book: I love books that have to do with librarians or booksellers. That she is a witch is an added bonus.

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 #551: My Wife, the Serial Killer by H.J. Garbett

 

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: Fran Donoghue has just killed her neighbour. Don’t worry, you’ll agree, he deserved it.

Detective Gareth Donoghue has a terrible feeling about his missing neighbour.

By the time this is over, that will be the least of his worries…

A dark, sharp and hilarious novel about love, marriage, and murder, with an ending you won’t see coming… Gareth certainly didn’t. Perfect for fans of How to Kill Your Family, Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone and Killing Eve.

My Wife, the Serial Killer by H.J. Garbett is expected out June 17th, 2025 from Storm Publishing.

Why am I waiting on this book: The blurb is short, but it sounds like it will be an interesting read. It promises to be "a dark, sharp and hilarious novel." And of the three novels listed to compare it to, I've read two. It seems promising. 

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!