You have something of the book about you…
You ever have one of those moments where things just work out wonderfully? They don’t happen terribly often for me, but I recently had one of those moments with The Beckoning Shadow. But first, let me tell you about this awesome sounding book…
Read MoreI don’t even know what to put in this preamble. I just want this book so darn bad.
Beyond the Black Door
Author: A. M. Strickland
Publisher: Imprint
Release Date: October 29, 2019
Synopsis: Everyone has a soul. Some are beautiful gardens, others are frightening dungeons. Soulwalkers―like Kamai and her mother―can journey into other people’s souls while they sleep.
But no matter where Kamai visits, she sees the black door. It follows her into every soul, and her mother has told her to never, ever open it.
When Kamai touches the door, it is warm and beating, like it has a pulse. When she puts her ear to it, she hears her own name whispered from the other side. And when tragedy strikes, Kamai does the unthinkable: she opens the door.
A.M. Strickland’s imaginative dark fantasy features court intrigue and romance, a main character coming to terms with her asexuality, and twists and turns as a seductive mystery unfolds that endangers not just Kamai’s own soul, but the entire kingdom …
This is one of those times when I am thankful for twitter because I stumbled upon this book randomly in my feed. And I damn near lost my mind. I loved Strickland’s book Shadow Call (which she wrote with Michael Miller. GO READ IT! It is criminally underrated!) and I was beyond stoked to see that she had a new book coming out.
The whole concept of this book sounds so intriguing. Soulwalkers, ominous black doors, COURT INTRIGUE, and a seductive mystery? All under the banner of dark fantasy? SIGN ME THE HECK UP!
October 29th can’t get here soon enough! Pre-order links can be found at the publisher’s website.
If I had to choose one thing I love about Stranger Things, besides the bitchin’ soundtrack, it’d be Chief Hopper. Nothing can shake my love of that character, so you can only imagine how much I want to have the following book in my eager little hands.
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Author: Adam Christopher
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: May 28, 2019
Synopsis: Chief Jim Hopper reveals long-awaited secrets to Eleven about his old life as a police detective in New York City, confronting his past before the events of the hit show Stranger Things.
Christmas, Hawkins, 1984. All Chief Jim Hopper wants is to enjoy a quiet first Christmas with Eleven, but his adopted daughter has other plans. Over Hopper’s protests, she pulls a cardboard box marked “New York” out of the basement—and the tough questions begin. Why did Hopper leave Hawkins all those years ago? What does “Vietnam” mean? And why has he never talked about New York?
Although he’d rather face a horde of demogorgons than talk about his own past, Hopper knows that he can’t deny the truth any longer. And so begins the story of the incident in New York—the last big case before everything changed. . . .
Summer, New York City, 1977. Hopper is starting over after returning home from Vietnam. A young daughter, a caring wife, and a new beat as an NYPD detective make it easy to slip back into life as a civilian. But after shadowy federal agents suddenly show up and seize the files about a series of brutal, unsolved murders, Hopper takes matters into his own hands, risking everything to discover the truth.
Soon Hopper is undercover among New York’s notorious street gangs. But just as he’s about to crack the case, a blackout rolls across the boroughs, plunging Hopper into a darkness deeper than any he’s faced before.
I’m not sure I can properly express my excitement over this book. Not only is the story about Hopper, it’s about the MYSTERIES OF HOPPER’S PAST! I love character mysteries but I’m also impatient about finding answers and I NEED THIS BOOK!
From the moment I first watched Season 1 of Stranger Things back in December of 2016, I have been obsessed. I love damn near everything about the show (*side eyes Nancy*) and when I found out there would be books expanding on the world I was ecstatic. I cannot wait to dive into this book in May!
Pre-order links can be found at the publisher’s website.
This week’s choice isn’t simply a want. IT IS A NEED.
The Never Tilting World
Author: Rin Chupeco
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: October 15, 2019
Synopsis: Generations of twin goddesses have long ruled Aeon. But seventeen years ago, one sister’s betrayal defied an ancient prophecy and split their world in two. The planet ceased to spin, and a Great Abyss now divides two realms: one cloaked in perpetual night, the other scorched by an unrelenting sun.
While one sister rules Aranth—a frozen city surrounded by a storm-wracked sea —her twin inhabits the sand-locked Golden City. Each goddess has raised a daughter, and each keeps her own secrets about her sister’s betrayal.
But when shadowy forces begin to call their daughters, Odessa and Haidee, back to the site of the Breaking, the two young goddesses —along with a powerful healer from Aranth, and a mouthy desert scavenger —set out on separate journeys across treacherous wastelands, desperate to heal their broken world. No matter the sacrifice it demands.
I stumbled across this book late last year and thought it sounded pretty darn intriguing. Then, I saw the following phrase on the author’s twitter: “grumpy trigger-happy Hufflepuff boy”. At this point, I was just looking for where I sign my soul over to this book.
Then, I saw the cover. Like, y’all…look. at. that. cover. Hot damn.
THEN, I saw this from the author on Goodreads:
“+ Haidee, goddess-mechanic with free-spirited Moana vibes
+ Odessa, bookish chaotic lesbian goddess energy
+ Arjun, sarcastic fire-wielding amputee and secret cinnaman
+ Lan, healer/ranger and fierce bodyguard in love with her charge”
Also, she mentions sand dolphins and this is something I didn’t know I needed, but now I don’t know how I will live without.
Basically, I’m deceased until I get this book in my eager little hands. I’ve pre-ordered the heck out of this one, but HOW am I supposed to live without this book until OCTOBER? I just don’t know.
Pre-order links can be found at the publisher’s website. I can be found kneeling at my book alter, making sacrifices to the book gods in hopes they will transport me directly to October 15, 2019.
Have you ever seen a cover reveal and it literally makes you gasp? Yeah, that’s what happened to me when the cover was recently revealed for this week’s Want Now Wednesday feature.
Kingdom of Souls
Author: Rena Barron
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Release Date: September 10, 2019
Synopsis: Magic has a price—if you’re willing to pay.
The lush world building of Children of Blood and Bone meets the sweeping scale of Strange the Dreamer in this captivating epic YA fantasy debut.
Born into a family of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. But each year she fails to call forth her ancestral powers, while her ambitious mother watches with growing disapproval.
There’s only one thing Arrah hasn’t tried, a deadly last resort: trading years of her own life for scraps of magic. Until the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, and Arrah is desperate to find the culprit.
She uncovers something worse. The long-imprisoned Demon King is stirring. And if he rises, his hunger for souls will bring the world to its knees… unless Arrah pays the price for the magic to stop him.
Yes, hi, I’ll take five copies. Basically any fantasy book that involves uncovering something worse is catnip to me. Throw in a Demon King and I am sold. The cover and synopsis have already started building a world in my head and I can’t wait for the whole thing.
All I know right now is September 10th can’t get here fast enough. Pre-order links can be found at the publisher’s website.
Happy Wednesday my wonderful bookish peoples! I could have sworn I had a Want Now Wednesday pre-written and scheduled for today, but alas, I was wrong. But it works out well because a cover reveal dropped today for a book I most certainly WANT NOW!
Ninth House
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Release Date: October 1, 2019
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Synopsis: Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL PEOPLE! Queen Bardugo is dropping a dark academia adult novel and I AM HERE FOR IT! I worship at the alter of Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom, so I am beyond stoked about this first foray into the adult realm from Bardugo. I don’t think I’ve read any “dark academia” books, but the concept makes my brain feel some sort of good.
Unsolved murders, mysterious benefactors, secret societies, and sinister occult activities? SIGN ME THE F*CK UP! AND it’s a series! So, we get more than one book of dark adulty goodness from Queen Bardugo. I can’t wait to read this while drinking bitter black coffee, flicking my imaginary clove cigarette (cause I don’t smoke anymore, but damned if I don’t still hold imaginary smokes sometimes), and tugging at the neck of my fashionably over sized chunky knit sweater.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo comes out on October 1, 2019. Pre-order links can be found at the publisher’s website.
Happy Wednesday my dear bookish people! This week for Want Now Wednesday I’m screaming about a HIGHLY ANTICIPATED sequel for me! Since it is a sequel, I wanted to put up a spoiler warning for those who haven’t read Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa yet (and if you haven’t, you really should! It’s an awesome book!). So consider yourself thusly warned.
Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Release Date: June 18th, 2019
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Synopsis: One thousand years ago, a wish was made to the Harbinger of Change and a sword of rage and lightning was forged. Kamigoroshi. The Godslayer. It had one task: to seal away the powerful demon Hakaimono.
Now he has broken free.
Kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko has one task: to take her piece of the ancient and powerful scroll to the Steel Feather temple in order to prevent the summoning of the Harbinger of Change, the great Kami Dragon who will grant one wish to whomever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. But she has a new enemy now. The demon Hakaimono, who for centuries was trapped in a cursed sword, has escaped and possessed the boy she thought would protect her, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan.
Hakaimono has done the unthinkable and joined forces with the Master of Demons in order to break the curse of the sword and set himself free. To overthrow the empire and cover the land in darkness, they need one thing: the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. As the paths of Yumeko and the possessed Tatsumi cross once again, the entire empire will be thrown into chaos.
I need this book, like, yesterday! Shadow of the Fox was one of my favorite reads of 2019 (check out my review here) and it ended on one heck of a cliffhanger! I am dying to continue the journeys of Yumeko and Tatsumi! I wanted to try and say what I’m hoping for from the book, but this story is so unique that I can’t predict what this new book will bring. I also very much miss Okame and need that ronin back in my reading life!
June 18th cannot come soon enough! Pre-order links can be found at the publisher’s website.
Happy Wednesday, y’all! I’m mixing it up with the title on “Waiting on Wednesday” because most of the time I feel stronger for the books I feature than just “waiting on”. I want them NOW! And this week’s book is a huge want for me…
The Beautiful
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Release Date: October 8th, 2019
Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with a sumptuous, sultry and romantic new series set in 19th century New Orleans where vampires hide in plain sight.
In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as Le Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of Le Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.
At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful
I cannot begin to describe how much I want this. I’ve always been a huge fan of vampires, through good times and bad, and this book seems very promising. Decadence, horrible secrets, enigmatic love interest who just might be the villain of the story? SIGN ME UP RIGHT THE HECK NOW!
I also love that this story is going to be set in 1872 New Orleans. It gives me Interview with the Vampire vibes and I am so here for that. I can just picture reading this book with a glass of dark red wine in my hand.
Is it October 8th yet????
Pre-order links can be found at the publisher’s website.
Magic for Liars
Author: Sarah Gailey
Release Date: June 4, 2019
Publisher: Tor
Synopsis: Ivy Gamble has never wanted to be magic. She is perfectly happy with her life—she has an almost-sustainable career as a private investigator, and an empty apartment, and a slight drinking problem. It’s a great life and she doesn’t wish she was like her estranged sister, the magically gifted professor Tabitha.
But when Ivy is hired to investigate the gruesome murder of a faculty member at Tabitha’s private academy, the stalwart detective starts to lose herself in the case, the life she could have had, and the answer to the mystery that seems just out of her reach.
So, to be honest, this is really a “Waiting on my own damn self to read this book Wednesday”, but that doesn’t work very well for a succinct blog post title. I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this book from Goodreads (I’m still happy dancing over it!). I am desperately hoping to get a chance to read this one either March or April. But enough about me, let’s talk about this phenomenal sounding book.
Private investigator with a slight drinking problem and an aversion to magic? Hello, is it me you’re looking for? Private magical academy with a murder problem? You’re all I’ve ever wanted. The stalwart detective losing herself in the case and the life she could have had? My arms are open wide. MYSTERY THAT SEEMS JUST OUT OF REACH? I want to tell you so much, I love you. (And now I’m going to have Hello by Lionel Richie stuck in my head all day…)
This book sounds so right up my alley I don’t even know what to do. What I do know though, is that you should probably get this book pre-ordered like I have. Pre-order links are here at the publisher’s website.
Side note: huge, massive, unending thanks to the publisher and Goodreads for hosting the giveaway in which I won this ARC.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Author: Alix E. Harrow
Publisher: Redhook (Hachette Book Group)
Release Date: September 10, 2019
Synopsis: In the early 1900s, a young woman searches for her place in the world and the mystery behind a magical door in this captivating debut.
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.
Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
Um, hi, I need this book. NOW.
I stumbled upon this one while browsing Goodreads giveaways and I full stopped and just started at this cover with that intriguing title. Then I read the synopsis and I was done. Dead. Deceased.
Peculiar treasures? The wealthy (and hopefully grumpy) Mr. Locke? Strange books? LOVE, ADVENTURE, DANGER? Sign me up, post haste.
Pre-order links can be found at the publisher’s website.