strange and random happenstance

What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Flavia is doing what she does best, rattling around Buckshaw and Bishop's Lacey on her trusty steed Gladys looking for anything she can investigate. Who knows, with any luck there might be a murder. Sometimes though it's dangerous to get what you wish for. Major Greyleigh is a retired civil servant who is a bit of a recluse. Flavia doesn't know that her beloved housekeeper, Mrs. Mullet, has been checking up on the Major and making sure he's well fed. Which is how Mrs. Mullet ends up the prime suspect in his apparent murder. His final meal consisted of some rather poisonous mushrooms, a type of poisoning Flavia has longed to investigate for years. Flavia knows that there's no way Mrs. Mullet would kill a man on purpose, which means it's time to investigate. Which, unfortunately, is exactly what her annoying cousin Undine wants to help Flavia with. Thinking she's ditched the nefarious nuisance Flavia breaks into the Major's house and makes quite a few startling discoveries. The first is that while yes, he was a civil servant, that's an umbrella term that can cover a multitude of sins, because he was actually a hangman. A hangman that kept little trophies of all his victims. Fetishes of the departed. Talk about squick. Although Undine, who Flavia didn't lose, thinks they're rather fascinating. Though Flavia, having far more experience than the ubiquitous Undine, finds this to be only one line of questioning. Undine doesn't understand that after years of experience Flavia knows not to put all of her eggs in one basket. Especially once Mrs. Mullett is cleared Flavia has the distinct feeling that the Major and his death is being hushed up from on high. Someone wants all of this to go away, which is what makes Flavia even more interested. Why else would the police cede the case to the military? There are still Americans stationed at the local air base, Leathcote, and Flavia plies what wiles she has to get a little help in sneaking onto the base. What she finds there changes everything. Her life is upended, her future looks different, and if there's one thing she realizes it's that maybe it's time to grow up. Maybe it's time to reconsider her priorities and forge her own path. Though obviously if that path is strewn with dead bodies that would be brilliant.

I have been a fan of Flavia de Luce since day one. Just look to my signed first edition for my bona fides. Which means that I have strong opinions on this series. Of course you're wondering, when haven't I had strong opinions, which is valid, but this is a series with a cast of characters I've been living with for fifteen years, which if I'm right on the aging, means I've been reading these books for longer than Flavia's been alive... So when something doesn't sit right with me I obsess over it. And while I've had smaller issues crop up over the years with regard to this series, like why send Flavia to Canada at all if she'd return so quickly or what happened to her tutor or why is Undine so insufferable, there are two that have really stuck in my craw. The first is why did the series end after the tenth volume? Yes, ten is a nice number to end on and a wedding is always a nice stopping point, but with Flavia and Dogger setting up their own detective agency at the end of The Grave's a Fine and Private Place to have it really go nowhere with no resolution in The Golden Tresses of the Dead made for a lackluster finish. It just seemed like the series called time and this was what we were left with, an unplanned ending. But more importantly the way Flavia's father, Colonel Haviland de Luce, died of pneumonia offstage in Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd, has always pissed me off. It just didn't work on any level. I mean, why even kill him? If it was to provide an emotional punch or to set Flavia adrift, well, I'm sorry, but Dogger was more a dad to her than the Colonel ever was. He was always too busy with his stamps and his possibly performative mourning to even bother raising his children. And you might say I'm being harsh on the man, but, given what I now know, maybe I'm not being harsh enough. So to recap, my issues are why end on a book that didn't feel like the end and why kill of Colonel de Luce. This book so wonderfully addresses these issues just by its existence. Because here it is, an eleventh book with a twelfth on the way and this FEELS like the finale Flavia deserves. She breaks with the secretive spycraft of the past and decides to embrace what the future has to offer. And as for those secrets? Whoa boy, spoiler alert, her father isn't dead. I KNEW that pneumonia seemed overly convenient! And it was! A ruse to put him into hiding which makes me hate him more for putting his family through that grief but also, I feel redeemed for flagging his death as being too convenient. I was right! And yes, you might think that I get great joy over shouting this from the rooftops. But it's not because I'm right it's because I knew these characters and this world so well that I could sense a disturbance in the force. A disturbance that has since been fixed and it has put my heart at ease. I feel whole. I don't point to this series and say, I love it but... I can now point to this series and simply say I love it. Because I do. Now unreservedly. Murdered hangman and all.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alan Bradley, Bishop's Lacey, Colonel De Luce, Dogger, Flavia De Luce, Gladys, Hangman, Mrs. Mullet, Mushrooms, Mystery, Poisoning, Series, Spycraft, The Nide, Undine De Luce, What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust

Affinity by Sarah Waters
Published by: Riverhead
Publication Date: June 5th, 2000
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

There are secrets in everyone's lives. Everyone knows that Margaret Prior hasn't been the same since the death of her father. Only a few know that she tried to kill herself. And only one other knows that the death of her father was only the first domino to fall. His death confined Margaret to Cheyne Walk. Her dreams of Italy and a life with Helen were crushed. Helen subsequently married Margaret's brother and bore him a child. Helen, Italy, her father, all of it lost forever. Her future being nothing more than her mother's dogsbody will eventually break her. But first a kind friend of her father's tries to help. Mr. Shillitoe has asked Margaret if she would be interested in becoming a "Lady Visitor" to Millbank Prison. The scheme is that Margaret, being from a well-respected upper-class family, will be a good influence on the female prisoners. Her manners and comportment will encourage the women to emulate her. During her first visit she's uncertain if she will ever return. The despair and drudgery. The claustrophobic air. Everything combines to sap the will to live out of you. But then she sees one prisoner remarkably holding a flower. In this is a place where nothing grows. It is a mystery. One that will take over Margaret's life. Because the prisoner is none other than the famous, some may say infamous, medium Selina Dawes. Selina is in prison because her patroness died after Selina conducted a private session with a young American, Miss Madeleine Silvester, who went into a fit after Selina's spirit guide, Peter Quick, manifested himself and was rough with the her. All of this Margaret learns over time. Some from her too short visits with Selina, some from the matrons, and some from the outside world. Because that's what has happened to Margaret. She believes that her world is the prison. That she is there with Selina. And yet she cannot show how desperate she is to see Selina. Her mother has already threatened to stop her visiting the prisoners. She thinks Margaret just gets too worked up. Also Margaret cannot let the matrons suspect her partiality for the medium or they too could stop her visits. She must spread her "good work" to other inmates, hiding her true feelings and desires. But Selina understands all. Selina has manifested miracles for Margaret, flowers in the bleakest of nights. Now it is up to Margaret to get ready for another miracle, Selina's escape. The two of them will forge a new life together. The spirits just have to be willing.

Until now I didn't know that Sarah Waters had reached her full potential and written a perfect book. I should have known given how beloved she is, but of her six books I've only read half of them so I only had half the picture. I felt that The Little Stranger left much to be desired despite having a lasting influence on me and Fingersmith overstayed its welcome. So much like Goldilocks it took until I read Affinity to find something just right. The problems I had with Fingersmith in particular highlight why this book is perfection. With the story of Sue Trinder and Maud Lilly we essentially had two novels. The first half was Sue's story and the second half was Maud's story, or, if I'm being honest, just the entire story of Sue rehashed once the "twist" was revealed. The book should have ended at the twist. Leave your audience wanting more with shock and awe, with a visceral gut punch that they will never recover from. Which, ironically, is exactly what Sarah Waters did with Affinity, the book she wrote before Fingersmith. I wonder if it's because this book left questions and in some places was open to interpretation that there were critics out there who said she should work on that and then she did and it made her work less than. I would rather be left wanting more than grow to dislike a novel. Sarah Waters does an amazing job with worldbuilding. People have rightfully compared her to Dickens. She brings Victorian London to life. You feel the oppression of the air on your skin, the din of the streets in your ears. But what I found astonishing here is that she brought an overlooked part of Victorian London to life in Margaret's visits to Millbank Prison. I felt like I was there, in Millbank. The chalky walls, the confining routines, the itchy clothes, the loneliness, the dark, I was there. I was a prisoner in Millbank. And oh how it mirrors the prison of Margaret's own life. She has her own jailor in the form of her mother, her own torment in seeing her lover married to her brother, her prison is just far more luxurious. And every time I picked up this book I was taken away from my world and lived in theirs. I was there with Margaret, I was there with Selina. I WAS THERE. For a little less than a week I lived in another world. A world where a skilled Spiritualist made a desperate and lonely woman believe in supernatural powers. Believe that there was a life they could make together. A world that was someone else's. And I so believed. As George R.R. Martin said "[a] reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." But not every book gives you that lived in experience. Affinity did. Sarah Waters let me live another life. A truly unforgettable one.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Affinity, Charles Dickens, Fingersmith, Gothic, Lady Visitor, Margaret Prior, Mediums, Millbank Prison, Peter Quick, Prison, Sarah Waters, Selina Dawes, Spiritualism, Suicide, The Little Stranger, Victorian London

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"There's power in a book...

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they're sent to Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There's Rose, a hippie who insists she's going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby's father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they're allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what's best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it's never given freely. There's always a price to be paid...and it's usually paid in blood."

Hopefully the blood of their oppressors! 

Clever Little Thing by Helena Echlin
Published by: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A taut, powerful psychological thriller following a mother who must confront a sudden and terrifying change in her daughter after the abrupt death of their babysitter.

Charlotte's daughter Stella is sensitive and brilliant, perhaps even a genius, but a recent change in her behavior has alarmed her mother. Following the sudden death of Stella's babysitter, Blanka, the once disruptive and anti-social child has become docile and agreeable. But what's unsettling is that she has begun to mirror Blanka's personality, from Blanka's repetitive phrases to her accent, to fierce cravings for Armenian meat stew after being raised a vegetarian.

Charlotte is pregnant with her second child, and depleted and sick with the pregnancy. She is convinced that Blanka herself is somehow responsible for Stella's transformation. But how could Blanka, dead, still be entwined in their lives? Has Blanka somehow possessed Stella? Has Stella become Blanka? As Charlotte becomes increasingly obsessed, she is sure that only she can save her daughter...even though it's soon clear that her husband believes this is all in Charlotte's head.

Helena Echlin's singular, chilling voice holds light to the blurred lines of diagnosis in children and to the vital power of maternal instinct. Kaleidoscopic and tense, pulse-pounding and genuinely creepy, and infused with shades of the supernatural, Clever Little Thing is an ode to motherhood and a nuanced critique of the caretaking industry, a page-turner that will haunt readers long after its epic, surprising finale."

Seriously, when a kid's behavior changes, be suspicious. Be very suspicious. 

Honeysuckle and Bone by Trisha Tobias
Published by: Zando - Sweet July Books
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"On the run from her own dark secrets, a teen girl becomes the nanny for a prestigious family on their Jamaican estate, where she quickly discovers even paradise may be haunted.

Carina Marshall is looking to reinvent herself, and what better place to do it than Jamaica, her mother's alluring homeland where she conveniently has access to an au pair gig for the wealthy and powerful Hall family. After months of being the target of vicious rumors and hate online, Carina might have found everything she wants at the luxurious Blackbead House: a world of mango trees, tropical breezes, and glamorous parties - and a place to disappear.

Once there, Carina finds herself settling right into her busy, but comfortable, new life. Yes, the family runs a tight ship, and yes, there is some tension between the Halls, but Carina is content flying under the radar and hanging out with her new friends - not least, the handsome and charming Aaron. But when inexplicable things start happening to her in the house, only getting worse each night, Carina realizes that someone, or something, is out to get her. Is it the Halls? The house itself? Or is her own past catching up with her? With Aaron's help, she must figure out what is haunting her, and fast, before she's forced out of Blackbead House for good.

Honeysuckle and Bone is a deliciously atmospheric and utterly spooky young adult novel following an imperfect yet courageous teen as she seeks to remake herself in the homeland she always idealized, discovering that new beginnings don't always come easy."

A Wide Sargasso Sea vibe that's even more Gothic.

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this exhilarating tale by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrative - a surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human. This is a story unlike anything you've read before.

The future of storytelling is here.

Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister's lavish Caribbean wedding, she's unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It's a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it Rusted Robots.

When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey - one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu's novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next.

A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it."

And how once out in the world, an author's words are no longer theirs to control.

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical quest when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel.

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones - those who are lost - will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop's new owner to find it ransacked, the shop's most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana's father and the stolen choice - by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds. But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own - and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back."

Why can't I ever inherit a mystical shop or for that matter just stumble upon one...

The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds by Jennifer Moorman
Published by: Harper Muse
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Can one thoughtless wish erase a life?

Widowed at thirty-five, Josephine Reynolds wishes she could disappear, but her concerned sister convinces her to buy their ancestral home, a Craftsman bungalow in disrepair and foreclosure. It's a welcome distraction, and Josephine can't believe her luck when she finds the home's original door in a salvage yard.

When she installs the door and steps through it, Josephine is transported into 1927, where she meets her great-grandmother Alma, a vivacious and daring woman running an illegal speakeasy in the bungalow's basement. Immersed in the vibrant Jazz Age, Josephine forms a profound bond with Alma, only to discover upon her return to the present that history has been altered. Alma's life was tragically cut short in a speakeasy raid just a week after their fateful meeting.

Josephine has a chilling revelation - her own existence is unraveling/vanishing - and she must race against time to rewrite history. Josephine is desperate to not only save Alma but save her own future in a time-bending journey where past and present intertwine in a desperate battle for survival."

Always be careful to not Marty McFly yourself!

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.

Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother's throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a certainty: the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.

Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather's name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life - which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver's invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes's father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter.

Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora's investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life - discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.

Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp mystery packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless."

A true crime podcast, a family mystery, and Iceland? Sold!

The Last Room on the Left by Leah Konen
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Kerry's life is in shambles: Her husband has left her, her drinking habit has officially become a problem, and though the deadline for her big book deal - the one that was supposed to change everything - is looming, she can't write a word. When she sees an ad for a caretaker position at a revitalized roadside motel in the Catskills, she jumps at the chance. It's the perfect getaway to finish her book and start fresh.

But as she hunkers down in a blizzard, she spots something through the window: a pale arm peeking out from a heap of snow. Trapped in the mountains and alone with a dead, frozen body, Kerry must keep her head and make it out before the killer comes for her too. But is the deadly game of cat-and-mouse all in her mind? The body count begs to differ..."

I mean, everyone wants a nice read alike to The Shining right? It can't JUST be me.

Vantage Point by Sara Sligar
Published by: MCD
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Succession meets Megan Abbott in this seductive, technological suspense about the dramatic downfall of one of America's most affluent families.

The old-money Wieland family has it all - wealth, status, power. They're also famously cursed.

Clara and her brother, Teddy, grew up on a small island in Maine in the shadow of their parents' tragic deaths, haunted by rumors and paparazzi. Fourteen years later, they've mostly put their turbulent past to rest. Teddy has married Clara's best friend, Jess, and the three of them have moved back home to take over the sprawling, remote family mansion known as Vantage Point.

Then Teddy decides to run for the Senate - an unnerving prospect made much worse when intimate videos of Clara are leaked online. The most frightening part is that she doesn't remember filming any of them. Are the videos real? Or are they deepfakes? Is someone trying to take down the Wielands once and for all?

Everyone thinks Clara is losing her grasp on reality. But she knows the truth: the videos are only the beginning. Years ago, the curse destroyed her parents. Now, it's coming for her.

Sara Sligar, the critically acclaimed author of Take Me Apart, returns with a shocking family drama full of suspense. Brimming with palpable tension, Vantage Point carefully unravels a twisted web of family secrets and political ambition that raises questions about the nature of "truth" in our digital age."

First mistake, trying to run for office. That right there will activate a curse every time.

The New Rector by Rebecca Shaw
Published by: George Weidenfeld and Nicholson
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When Peter Harris arrives in Turnham Malpas as the new rector, he finds the village people welcoming but set in their ways. Yet despite his own weaknesses, and a deeply felt sadness his wife keeps hidden, he comforts and advises his new parishioners, growing more and more involved with the rural way of life.

Then the whole village is rocked by spiteful trick that goes terribly wrong, and a gruesome murder that points to a killer in its midst. Now, more than ever, Peter's pastoral role is crucial - and yet he is wrestling with his own private hell that may still wreck his own life."

Is his own private hell the secret that he's a killer? Because that could be a fun twist...

Frankie by Graham Norton
Published by: Harpervia
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the internationally bestselling author and host of The Graham Norton Show, a dazzling and decades-sweeping story about love, bravery, and what it means to live a significant life.

Always on the periphery, looking on, young Frankie Howe was never quite sure enough of herself to take center stage - after all, life had already judged her harshly. Now old, Frankie finds it easier to forget the life that came before.

Then Damian, a young Irish caretaker, arrives at her London flat, there to keep an eye on her as she recovers from a fall. A memory is sparked, and the past crackles into life as Damian listens to the story Frankie has kept stored away all these years.

Traveling from post-war Ireland to 1960s New York - a city full of art, larger-than-life characters and turmoil - Frankie shares a world in which friendship and chance encounters collide. A place where, for a while, life blazes with an intensity that can't last but will perhaps live on in other ways and in other people."

As someone in entertainment I find it odd that Graham named his character Frankie Howe which is so close to Frankie Howerd... 

Unromance by Erin Connor
Published by: Forever
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A recently dumped TV heartthrob enlists a jaded romance novelist to ruin romance for him - one rom-com trope at a time - so he never gets swept off his feet again...

Sawyer Greene knows romance. She's a bestselling author of the genre - or she was, until her ex left her with nothing but writer's block and a broken heart. But when she gets stuck in the elevator with a handsome stranger, she sees their meet cute for what it is: just a one-night stand. It might have worked, too, if they could stop running into each other.

Actor Mason West sees Sawyer's reappearance in his life as a sign. Obviously, they're meant to cure each other. Him of the hopeless romanticism that only ends in heartbreak - and tabloid trainwrecks - and Sawyer of her writer's block. Their agreement is simple: 1. No (more) sex, and 2. No matter how swoony the circumstances, absolutely no falling in love.

It's a foolproof plan - until Sawyer and Mason find that, once set in motion, some plots can't be stopped - and that they might be hurtling towards a happy ending..."

I mean, how can you NOT fall for all the rom-com tropes? They're tropes for a reason.

1986: Stories by Will Stepp
Published by: Bookbaby
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 164 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ten interconnected stories about a boy growing up in a small town in Georgia, set against the backdrop of the 1980s. From a secret pond nestled in the woods to the fog-shrouded rooftop of an interstate truck stop, to the shadowy corridors of a YMCA basement, familiar landscapes transform into realms of childhood wonder and discovery. Together, these dreamlike and often surreal tales weave a nostalgic meditation on family, home, memory, and time."

You can't get more 80s than a YMCA basement. 

Everything Is Poison by Joy McCullough
Published by: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A Blood Water Paint-style historical YA in prose and verse from New York Times bestselling author Joy McCullough.

Early Seventeenth-Century Rome.

For as long as she can remember, Carmela Tofana has desperately wanted one thing: to be a part of La Tofana's, her mother's apothecary in Campo Marzio, Rome. When she finally turns sixteen, she's allowed into the inner sanctum: the workroom where her mother and two assistants craft renowned remedies for their customers. But for every sweet-smelling flower extract in the workroom, there's another potion requiring darker ingredients. And then there's Aqua Tofana, the apothecary's remedy of last resort. In all Carmela's years of wishing to follow in her mother's footsteps, she never realized one tiny vial could be the death of them all.

Everything Is Poison is a story of a deadly secret hiding in plain sight and of the women who risk everything to provide care for those with nowhere else to turn."

Oh, feminist and deadly!

Queen of Diamonds by Beezy Marsh
Published by: William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Peaky Blinders - but with women! In the thrilling final installment of Beezy Marsh's riveting crime trilogy about a real-life London gang that began with Queen of Thieves, we go back to crime queen Alice Diamond's bold beginnings in 1920s Soho.

London, 1922. Orphan girl Alice dreams of more than toiling long hours in Pink's jam factory. Inspired by stories about the legendary Queen of Thieves, Mary Carr, who terrorized the streets of Victorian London, Alice decides to set up her own gang: the Forty Thieves. She has an accomplice too: sly seamstress Kate Felix from Whitechapel persuades Alice they'd make the perfect team. Before long, the pair are making headlines in the glitzy world of 1920s Soho, known for their daring heists and for the row of heavy diamond rings that Alice uses like brass knuckles in her frequent brawls.

What Alice soon discovers is that a life of crime makes her powerful enemies, including some who are closer to home than they'd like. Alice must sacrifice more than she ever imagined - but the toughest and most beautiful diamonds are formed under pressure.

From squalid slums and the grim confines of Holloway Prison to the glittering nightclubs of London in the roaring twenties, Queen of Diamonds is a fast-paced, gritty story of love, loss, and loyalty to the gang. Women's fiction with brass knuckles on!"

You know how a few years back now Ada Lovelace was everywhere? Well, replace Ada with Alice Diamond. She's the star of the moment.

A Treasury of XXth Century Murder Compendium II by Rick Geary
Published by: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"400 pages of real murder cases from the 20th century! From the famous Sacco and Vanzetti story through the ever-intriguing renowned Black Dahlia murder of a striking aspiring actress in Los Angeles, the mysterious murder of silent movie director William Desmond Taylor in early Hollywood to that of a preacher and his lover found murdered in a park, here is a collection of scandalous murders which were never solved or marked the century. Meticulously researched, they are presented in Geary's inimitable tongue-in-cheek style."

As someone who's read everything that Rick Geary has written in the true crime genre I have to say this reissued collection contains easily his best work. Especially Lovers' Lane!

Marvel Studios' She-Hulk: Attorney at Law - The Art of the Series by Jess Harrold
Published by: Marvel Universe
Publication Date: January 14th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Jennifer Walters is a talented, ambitious lawyer trying to balance her work life and personal life just like anyone else...except hers is complicated by Hulk-like super-powers that she never asked for, gained from her cousin Bruce Banner! Now six feet tall, super-strong and emerald green, Jen has just landed her dream job at a prestigious law firm...but her first big case is representing Emil Blonsky, better known as Bruce's archnemesis the Abomination! Continuing their popular Art Of series of tie-in books, Marvel Studios presents another blockbuster achievement! Featuring exclusive concept artwork and in-depth interviews with the creative team, this deluxe volume provides insider details about the making of the highly anticipated series!"

And maybe we'll get a second season? Pretty please!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Erin Connor, Grady Hendrix, Graham Norton, Helena Echlin, Jennifer Moorman, Leah Konen, Melissa Larsen, Nnedi Okorafor, Rebecca Shaw, Rick Geary, Sara Sligar, She-Hulk, Trisha Tobias, Will Stepp

Where the Body Was by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Jacob Phillips
Published by: Image Comics
Publication Date: January 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 144 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

It's summer 1984 on Pelican Road. Right where the street ends there's a boarding house. It's mostly filled with junkies and the neighbors eye it with suspicion. Everything kicks off one day when Tommy Brandt stands up for Karina Lane. Tommy's been in love with Karina for awhile and seeing her with an abusive prick like Sid, something inside him snaps. And if their neighbor Palmer Sneed hadn't stepped in waving his badge something inside of Tommy really would have snapped. A rib most likely. Palmer's intervention catches the eye of lonely housewife Toni Melville. Her husband is a well regarded clinical psychiatrist but he's apparently more concerned with his patients than his own wife. Well, two can play that game and she's happy to welcome Palmer into her bed. But the real hero of the neighborhood is eleven year old Lila Nguyen, AKA The Roller Derby Kid. Earlier in the summer Tommy was clearing out the garage of the boarding house and gave Lila a box of comics. Ever since that day she has been obsessed with being a superhero. Cape, domino mask, roller skates, the works. She's the eyes and ears of Pelican Road. And she's the first to see the private eye. She's doing her rounds before going to her lookout when she sees him. And she knows he brings trouble. She immediately goes to the homeless vet Ranko who she's befriended. She brings him food while he's been living rough behind the 7-11 while seeing Dr. Melville. Lila is worried he could get in trouble. She's worried a lot of people could get in trouble, especially Tommy and Karina. They've been robbing the houses in the neighborhood for drug money while also taking a dip in the houses' pools. Lila even confronts Tommy that he needs to cut it out. But Tommy knows that he's not the reason the PI is in the neighborhood. Jack Foster is there for Karina. He's been sent by her family to find her. She skipped out on court ordered rehab and needs to go home. But Tommy doesn't want her to go home. He wants this imperfect but somehow perfect summer to never end. Though that's impossible. While Palmer waving his badge at Sid might have been the start of things, the match that lit the fire, it's the PI's arrival that is the fuel. Because everyone has secrets, the affairs and the petty larceny are nothing when you learn that Palmer isn't even a cop, he's just waving his father's badge around. And the PI knows it. The PI knows all. And then Lila finds the body. A body that isn't there once the police arrive and shatter the taut atmosphere of Pelican Road, a place where murder lurks just below the surface.

When I was younger I read the expected comics, Archie, Richie Rich, The Family Circus, and once I developed taste, Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes. Then there was the darkages, and yes, that is a Philomena Cunk reference. I didn't pick up any comics. For years and years I went to Westfield Comics to buy my Red Dwarf magazines and trading cards. Because you can never have enough Red Dwarf or trading cards in your life she says as she tries to offload a whole bunch of trading cards to anyone who wants to buy them. What got me back into comics was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Firstly, because they had tie-in editions, and eventually because that's how the series continued. But being exposed to comics again meant I started to pay attention and started picking up series that other people recommended. And if I ever remember who told me to read The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen I'm coming for you! Thanks to my library, which has a stunning collection, I started to find creators I really connected to, Bill Willingham, Marjorie M. Liu, Sana Takeda, Cullen Bunn, Tyler Crook, James Tynion IV, and Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. A decade ago I picked up Fatale, Book 1: Death Chases Me and I was hooked. It's noir, it's eldritch, it's got amazing art! I devoured the whole series in a matter of days, actually having to go to Westfield Comics to buy the final arc because the wait at the library was too long. After that I was an acolyte. The writing and the art just can't be beat. Though I do like the stories that tend to veer towards the supernatural, like Fatale and Kill or be Killed, but you can't fault their Noir Old Hollywood vibe either. In 2018 though an interesting thing happened. They released My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, an original graphic novel instead of issues on an approximately monthly basis. This was so successful, along with the expanded arc from Criminal, Bad Weekend, that starting in 2020 with the first Ethan Reckless book all their joint projects are now graphic novels. Continuous stories that aren't serialized. Though Covid did also play into this decision with supply chain issues. There have been five Ethan Reckless books to date, and other deservedly lauded books like Pulp and Night Fever. But for me it's all about Where the Body Was. This 2024 release was the hit of nostalgia that I'd been craving. Focusing on a dead end road in the summer of 1984 it tracks an intersecting cast of characters over what ends up being a rather momentous summer. I mean there's a dead body, and then there isn't! One of my favorite films of all time is The 'Burbs and this tapped into the same suburban vibe that tilts to the ominous. But there's also a fluid narration that gives us past and present. And most importantly of all, it namechecks one of the greatest episode of The Twilight Zone ever, so says my Dad, "Walking Distance." For those sentimentalists among us who love intrigue and art and human connections, even if you've never picked up a graphic novel, let me say, try this one. It really is for you.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Comics, Ed Brubaker, Ethan Reckless, Graphic Novels, Jacob Phillips, Night Fever, Pelican Road, Pulp, Sean Phillips, The 'Burbs, The Twilight Zone, Walking Distance, Where the Body Was

Auld Acquaintance by Sofia Slater
Published by: Swift Press
Publication Date: November 3rd, 2022
Format: Kindle, 229 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Millie Partridge just can't catch a break. Going into the holidays single and unemployed makes her do something reckless. When her ex Nick sends her an invitation to a luxurious New Year's Eve party at a Downtonesque manor in the Outer Hebrides, Fairweather House, she uses the last of her money to get there. She is desperate for her life to turn around and this might be just what she needs, to ring in the New Year with an auld acquaintance that shouldn't be forgot. Though if she were looking for an omen, the scene of the fatal car crash she passes on the way to the ferry should have made her reconsider her plans. The island is so remote that the ferry only stops by when it feels like it and there's a storm moving in off the Atlantic, so the guests for the party are either on board with her or already ensconced in holiday merrymaking on the island. Which means Nick must have got there ahead of her. When she finally arrives at the supposedly stately home it's nothing like she imagined. This is more haunted house than manor house. And then there's Mrs. Flyte. The chatelaine who won't answer questions. Even the person who booked the venue is verboten. And as for the guests? Millie is crestfallen that despite inviting her Nick is nowhere to be seen. And what's more, these can't be his friends can they? There's an off-putting and enigmatic lawyer, Winston, a rather glamorous influencer Bella, and her partner Ravi, and James. James seems too normal to be there and like Millie he is rather out of place, which is making Millie ill at ease. Like she's fallen into a trap. But the biggest shock is that there is a guest that Millie does know. A person she hoped to never see again, her ex-colleague, Penny Maybury. What happened between them at their previous place of employment should never be thought of and Penny being here in the middle of nowhere is an unwelcome reminder. And if Millie thought that the party was off to a rocky start, well, it's nothing to what's in store. As they sit down for dinner it is revealed that the final two guests that were expected were none other than her and Penny's ex-employer and his wife and they were the fatalities in the crash that Millie passed that morning. This is a shock to the system. But not the first and certainly not the last. Come morning Penny is missing. Her coat out on the cliffedge the only sign of her. Was this deliberate or an accident? They have no way to call for help and soon it becomes all to apparent that this was no accident. Nothing was. They've all be brought here and not all will leave.

You can't talk about Auld Acquaintance without talking about And Then There Were None. And Then There Were None is the bestselling mystery of all time, which, OK, maybe that did surprise me, but at the same time, I get it. And it did bring us Aidan Turner in a towel. Of course this means that there have been many adaptations and reinterpretations, hello Aidan! Hell, even Agatha Christie changed the ending of her book for theatregoers thinking that her original ending was a little too bleak, which personally is why I like it. Auld Acquaintance is a retelling of this tale, and sadly a lot of people seem to hold that against it. Firstly, while Agatha Christie might be the best in the business, that doesn't mean that she somehow has the right to hold all the intellectual property rights over people going to an island and being killed off one by one. Yes, she did it spectacularly, but that doesn't mean that no one else can now use that trope in perpetuity. Because I personally found Auld Acquaintance to a complete and utter delight. Yes, it's derivative, but guess what? It has fun with the trope. This book brought me nothing but glee. Because while it takes from And Then There Were None it also takes from The Haunting of Hill House, making it this wonderfully Gothic melange that kept you guessing and wondering if, in fact, we did indeed possibly have something supernaturally Scotch. The "attacks" on the residents of Fairweather House really had the Shirley Jackson vibe of questioning your reality that I just can't seem to get enough of. And yes, even if you do figure out what is going on, which I did, it was still fun. This was the first book I read in 2024, in fact I started it on New Year's Eve 2023, and I would encourage everyone to do so. In fact I'm kind of wondering why I didn't reread it to ring in 2025... Because it is literally that fun. For me, the holidays mean murder, and if it can have a dash of Gothic dread, that just makes it all the more enjoyable. But most importantly, for me this book has given me a new author to look out for. While Sofia Slater's second book, The Serpent Dance, isn't available stateside yet, I couldn't wait to read it being as it sounds like it's heavily influenced by The Wicker Man and so I ordered it from Waterstones. Because once you find an author you love, you can never get enough.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, Aidan Turner, And Then There Were None, Auld Acquaintance, Gothic, New Year's Eve, Retelling, Shirley Jackson, Sofia Slater, The Haunting of Hill House, The Serpent Dance, The Wicker Man

The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Two teen girls fall in love and fight for survival in an abandoned bookstore weeks before another cataclysmic storm threatens to bring about the end of the world in this unforgettable YA debut. Perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Last of Us.

The world is about to end. Again.

Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It's the one place left that feels safe to her.

Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming...and everything changes.

Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs - the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes - and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.

As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve's secrets and Liz's inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them."

No, don't trade the books! Well, unless they're shitty books...

Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Inheritance Games meets Hotel Magnifique in this genre splicing YA fantastical mystery.

The only thing sixteen-year-old Mullory Prudence has left of her mom is a warning: "Run if the strange finds you." But mysterious warnings don't pay the bills or help take care of her sick Gran. And they certainly don't make her miserable after-school job any more bearable. When unexpected letters start appearing in peculiar places - sealed in bags of dog food and hidden in the refrigerator - Mullory knows she should avoid them to heed her mother's warning, but her curiosity thinks otherwise. She uncovers an invitation from Stoutmire Estate to compete in a game of Mystery Royale for the chance at a sizable inheritance.

Dizzy with the prospect of billions, Mullory enters the game only to unearth the true prize - the illusionary magical properties of Xavier Stoutmire, a recluse without an heir. A recluse who was expected to keep his magic in the family, especially when there isn't enough for each member. With a prize worth killing for, the game is simple: be the first to solve the mystery - who killed Xavier Stoutmire? One week full of lavish parties dripping with enchantments, in a mansion brimming with clues of the past, and everyone's a suspect. To win, Mullory will need to untangle a twisted family web and decide who she can trust...

Whitaker Stoutmire, the golden boy who's harboring deadly secrets?

Ellison Stoutmire, his closed off twin, who saw something she shouldn't have?

Lyric Stoutmire the youngest sibling, exiled by the family and burning with resentment?

Or Mateo Maldonado, the only other outsider whose reserved manner allows him to hide in the shadows... At least at first.

But most of all, Mullory must ask herself, why? Why her? A question most strange, indeed."

Yes, I have reached the part in my Jennifer Lynn Barnes addiction that I'm reading readalikes... But this one has magic!

The Afterdark by E. Latimer
Published by: Tundra Books (NY)
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Queer horror at a boarding school with a Lovecraftian twist in this new YA novel from E. Latimer, author of the acclaimed The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray.

Northcroft is an elite boarding school with a deadly secret. Each night as the bell tolls and the shutters slam down, cutting off the outside world, the Afterdark descends, turning the surrounding old growth forest into a macabre copy of itself. A negative photograph crawling with horrors.

Evie Laurent is certain of one thing from the moment she sees Holland Morgan on the front steps of Northcroft: she wants to know everything there is to know about her. But there are some things about Evie herself that are better kept secret. Especially the fact that she let her sister drown. And that it's getting harder to ignore her dark impulses...

Holland Morgan knows falling for Evie is just one more terrible choice in her long history of terrible choices. The problem is, she's not sure she cares.

As attraction turns slowly to obsession, they find themselves playing a dangerous game. Something out there is calling to each of them. Beckoning to the shadows within.

Do they fight the call and protect one another, or answer and embrace the darkness?"

Can't they be villains together?

The Haunting Between Us by Paul Michael Winters
Published by: Maelstrom Press
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 378 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Heartstopper meets The Haunting of Hill House in this queer coming-of-age romance and ghost story.

Cameron can't believe the boy of his dreams just moved into the house of his nightmares.

Sixteen-year-old Cameron Walsh dreads the haunted Victorian mansion across the street, where the ghost of the White Lady roams the halls. When he sees her through the bay window, his ghost-hunting friend Abby wants to investigate. But then the new owners pull up, and Cameron is captivated by the brooding, handsome boy moving in. He longs for a boyfriend, but years of bullying have shattered his self-esteem.

Sixteen-year-old Hugo Cruz and his father flip old houses, moving often, fleeing from the grief at the loss of Hugo's mother. They unknowingly move into the most haunted house in Port Townsend, Washington. From day one, Hugo encounters shadows that move by themselves, locked doors without keys, and hidden rooms. He hides the mysteries from his superstitious father, not wanting to uproot their lives.

When the White Lady becomes impossible to ignore, Hugo turns to Cameron to help uncover the house's dark history. They soon form a bond that goes beyond friendship, but as their feelings deepen, the White Lady's wrath intensifies. Entangled in a web of sinister secrets, they risk not only their love but their very existence."

I think everyone who knows ghosts knows to avoid White Ladies...

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 160 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Giant turtles, impossible ships, and tidal rivers ridden by a Drowned girl in search of a family in the latest in the bestselling Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire.

Nadya had three mothers: the one who bore her, the country that poisoned her, and the one who adopted her.

Nadya never considered herself less than whole, not until her adoptive parents fitted her with a prosthetic arm against her will, seeking to replace the one she'd been missing from birth.

It was cumbersome; it was uncomfortable; it was wrong.

It wasn't her.

Frustrated and unable to express why, Nadya began to wander, until the day she fell through a door into Belyrreka, the Land Beneath the Lake - and found herself in a world of water, filled with child-eating amphibians, majestic giant turtles, and impossible ships that sailed as happily beneath the surface as on top. In Belyyreka, she found herself understood for who she was: a Drowned Girl, who had made her way to her real home, accepted by the river and its people.

But even in Belyyreka, there are dangers, and trials, and Nadya would soon find herself fighting to keep hold of everything she had come to treasure."

I know I joke that no one publishes as many books a year as Seanan McGuire, but it's because damn, I admire that. Also, it's the first Tuesday of the year and look, a book...

The Spirit Circle by Tara Calaby
Published by: Text Publishing
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Kindle, 383 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For Ellen Whitfield, the betrothal of her dear friend Harriet to Ellen's brother has brought both loss and solace. But when Harriet suddenly breaks off the engagement, ostensibly at the insistence of her deceased mother, Ellen is bewildered. And when she learns that Harriet is involved with a spiritualist group led by the charismatic Caroline McLeod, she fears losing her friend altogether.

So it is that practical, sceptical Ellen moves into the gloomy East Melbourne mansion where Caroline, along with her enigmatic daughter Grace, has assembled a motley court of the bereaved. Ellen's intention is to expose the simple trickery - the hidden cabinets and rigged seances, the levers and wires - that must surely lie behind these visits from the departed.

What she discovers is altogether more complicated.

Tara Calaby weaves a compelling and richly detailed narrative around the romance of old Melbourne in this intriguing, possibly supernatural, historical mystery."

I mean, spiritualist possible cult leader? Sign me up. To read about it, not to join.

The Capital of Dreams by Heather O'Neill
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the hugely acclaimed author beloved by literary lights, including Emily St. John Mandel, Kelly Link, and Mona Awad, a dark dystopian fairy tale about an idyllic country ravaged by war - and a girl torn between safety and loyalty.

Sofia Bottom lives in Elysia, a small country forgotten by Europe. But inside its borders, the old myths of trees that come alive and faeries who live among their roots have given way to an explosion of the arts and the consolations of philosophy. From the clarinetists to the cabaret singers, no artist is as revered as Sofia's brilliant mother, the writer Clara Bottom. How can fourteen-year-old Sofia, with her tin ear and enduring love of ancient myths, ever hope to win her mother's love?

When the country's greatest enemy invades, and the Capital is under threat, Clara turns to her daughter to smuggle her new manuscript to safety on the last train evacuating children from the city. But when the train draws to a suspicious halt in the middle of a forest, Sofia is forced to run for her life and loses her mother's most prized possession. Frightened and alone in a country at war, Sofia must find a way to reclaim what she has lost. On an epic journey through woods and razed towns, colliding with soldiers, survivors, and other lost children, Sofia must make the choice between kindness and her own survival.

In this stunning novel set in an imaginative world yet reflective of our own times, Heather O'Neill delivers a vivid, breathtaking dark fairytale of life, death, and betrayal."

Just saying, losing that manuscript might be a dealbreaker in getting her mother's affections... Which means she deserves a better mother.

A Traitorous Heart by Erin Cotter
Published by: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A noblewoman in the scandalous French court finds herself under the dangerous and watchful eye of the Parisian royalty when she falls in love with the handsome king who is betrothed to her former lover in this bisexual The Three Musketeers by way of Bridgerton and F.T. Lukens.

Paris, 1572. Seventeen-year-old Jacqueline "Jac" d'Argenson-Aunis is lady-in-waiting to her best friend and former lover, the French Princess Marguerite "Margot" de Valois, but she dreams of more. If Jac plays her cards right, one day, she'll become a full member of the Societas Solis, a secret society of spies - just like her uncle and guardian, Viscount Gabriel d'Argenson-Aunis.

But it's hard to think about her own ambitions while France is on the brink of war, and the only thing that might save the country is an alliance - a marriage between the Catholic Princess Margot and Henry, the awful son of the Huguenot queen. Who would be the perfect person to play matchmaker? Jac, of course.

Jac resents lying to her best friend almost as much as she resents the brazen and arrogant King Henry, but it's her one chance to prove to the Societas Solis that she belongs among their ranks before her uncle can marry her off or worse. The more time Jac spends in the French Court's clandestine corners, though, the more she starts to wonder if Henry is...not as terrible as she once believed. And the Societas Solis may not be what they seem.

Politics. Spies. Chaos in the French court. Perhaps even witchcraft? Everything's more dangerous when love is involved."

I needed something to fill the void left by finished rewatching The Musketeers... 

The Empress by Kristin Cast
Published by: Bloom Books
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"He's a ruthless, battle-scarred warrior with a dark past, and she's stuck pretending to be his wife to save a fantasy kingdom.

From New York Times bestselling author Kristin Cast comes a new tarot-inspired fantasy series. Scarlett St. Clair meets Outlander in the seductive and spellbinding world of Towerfall, starting with The Empress, a high-heat, fake marriage romantasy with a swoon-worthy, morally-gray love interest.

The Arcana aren't just figures in a tarot deck - they're real. Terrifyingly real. That's what I learned when I found a tarot card in the snow and was yanked from my world and into Towerfall. The first thing the people of this harsh, cruel realm did was try to kill me, and they probably would have succeeded if Kane hadn't taken me to his hideout in the woods and nursed me back to health.

I don't know if I can trust him. He's too hot to be good news, he's definitely hiding secrets, and I've already seen him kill two people to protect me. If I hadn't just been helplessly dumped into his world, the blood on his sword and his dark, brooding mood would have me running in the opposite direction.

But right now, convincing the Kingdom of Pentacles that Kane and I are married is my best chance of getting into the palace, and back to my own world.

Because there's something wrong with Towerfall. Something deeply, deadly wrong. And if anyone finds out Kane and I aren't really husband and wife?

Well, then both of us are dead."

A book a recently read did a bait and switch with being tarot themed. Thankfully this isn't the case here.

Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A young warrior dreams of proving his worth in the elite Guardian Tournament, fighting not only for himself but the fate of everything he loves.

Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of proving his worth as a warrior in the elite Guardian's Tournament, held every six years to entrust the magical Scroll of Heaven to a new protector. Eager to prove his skills, Jun hopes that a win will restore his father's pride - righting a horrible mistake that caused their banishment from his home, mother, and twin brother.

But Jun's father strictly forbids him from participating. He believes there is no future in Jun honing his skills as a warrior, especially considering Jun is not breathmarked, born with a patch of dragon scales and blessed with special abilities like his twin. Determined to be the next Guardian, Jun stows away in the wagon of Chang and his daughter, Ren, performers on their way to the capital where the tournament will take place.

As Jun competes, he quickly realizes he may be fighting for not just a better life, but the fate of the country itself and the very survival of everyone he cares about."

I don't know, a patch of dragon scales doesn't sound very comfortable...

A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In an alternate London in 1923, one girl accidentally breaks the tenuous truce between dragons and humans in this sweeping debut and epic retelling of Bletchley Park steeped in language, class, and forbidden romance. Perfect for teen fans of Fourth Wing and Babel.

Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivien Featherswallow isn't worried. She's going to follow the rules, get a summer internship studying dragon languages, be smart, be sweet, and make sure her little sister never, ever has to risk growing up Third Class. She just has to free one dragon.

By midnight, Viv has started a civil war.

With her parents and cousin arrested and her sister missing, Viv is brought to Bletchley Park as a codebreaker - if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn't, they'll all die.

As Viv begins to discover the secrets of a hidden dragon language, she realizes that the fragile peace treaty that holds human and dragon societies together is corrupt, and the dangerous work Viv is doing could be the thread that unravels it."

I love that while an alternate London it's set in a time period were rarely see fantasy set in.

The Lost Ones by Johan Rundberg
Published by: Amazon Crossing Kids
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 222 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mika will do what it takes to make sure there are no more lost ones - and to bring the infamous killer, the Dark Angel, out into the light.

It's summer in 1880 Stockholm, and the city bakes in the heat - but the heat on twelve-year-old Mika is lifting. After lying low following the dramatic blast at the jail, Mika's relieved to learn her name is finally cleared. And it's not a moment too soon - because Detective Hoff has a perplexing case involving the disappearance of a local teen. The girl's wealthy family wants to make sure things stay quiet. Why would a girl who has everything want to run away? And why is her family so afraid to go public?

Then Tekla reaches out to Mika with a truly chilling discovery at a construction site in the city - a discovery that might hit a little too close to home for Mika. Could it be the work of the Dark Angel?

As the summer heats up, Mika will make some tough choices as she works to uncover these mysteries, including the biggest mystery of all: her own family. Join Mika and Detective Hoff in this thrilling new installment of the Moonwind Mysteries series!"

I mean... There's an Enola Holmes shaped hole in all our lives and this seems to be a nice read-alike.

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City's most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. That is until an unbearable tragedy strikes.

New York City, 1978: Nineteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who's in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the "party of the year."

Meanwhile, Charlotte is now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met's celebrated Department of Egyptian Art. She's consumed by her research on Hathorkare - a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

The night of the gala: One of the Egyptian art collection's most valuable artifacts goes missing, and there are signs Hathorkare's legendary curse might be reawakening. Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, and a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she'd never return: Egypt. But if they have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past - which may mean leading them both directly into danger."

You know Egyptomania? Yeah. I have it. Big time.

The Naming of the Birds by Paraic O'Donnell
Published by: Tin House Books
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Something is troubling Inspector Henry Cutter. Sergeant Gideon Bliss is accustomed to his ill-tempered outbursts, but lately the inspector has grown silent and withdrawn.

Then, the murders begin. The first to die is the elderly Sir Aneurin Considine, a decorated but obscure civil servant who long ago retired to tend his orchids. If the motive for his killing is a mystery, the manner of his death is more bewildering still. The victims that follow suffer similar fates, their deaths gruesome but immaculately orchestrated. The murderer comes and goes like a ghost, leaving only carefully considered traces. As the hunt for this implacable adversary mounts, the inspector's gloom deepens, and to Sergeant Bliss, his methods seem as mystifying as the crimes themselves.

Why is he digging through dusty archives while the murderer stalks further victims? And as hints of past wrongdoing emerge - and with them the faint promise of a motive - why does Cutter seem haunted by some long-ago failing of his own?

To find the answers, the meek and hapless sergeant must step out of the inspector's shadow. Aided by Octavia Hillingdon, a steely and resourceful journalist, Bliss will uncover truths that test his deepest beliefs.

Hypnotic and twisty, Paraic O'Donnell's The Naming of the Birds will ensnare you until the final pages and leave you questioning what matters most - solving a case or serving justice."

People who wonder about solving a case or serving justice are often on the vigilante spectrum.

The Sinners All Bow by Kate Winkler Dawson
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Acclaimed journalist, podcaster, and true-crime historian Kate Winkler Dawson tells the true story of the scandalous murder investigation that became the inspiration for both Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and the first true-crime book published in America.

On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead in a quiet farmyard in a small New England town. When her troubled past and a secret correspondence with charismatic Methodist minister Reverend Ephraim Avery was uncovered, more questions emerged. Was Sarah's death a suicide...or something much darker? Determined to uncover the real story, Victorian writer Catharine Read Arnold Williams threw herself into the investigation as the trial was unfolding and wrote what many claim to be the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River. The murder divided the country and inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter - but the reverend was not convicted, and questions linger to this day about what really led to Sarah Cornell's death. Until now.

In The Sinners All Bow, acclaimed true-crime historian Kate Winkler Dawson travels back in time to nineteenth-century small-town America, emboldened to finish the work Williams started nearly two centuries before. Using modern investigative advancements - including "forensic knot analysis" and criminal profiling (which was invented fifty-five years later with Jack the Ripper) - Dawson fills in the gaps of Williams's research to find the truth and bring justice to an unsettling mystery that speaks to our past as well as our present, anchored by three women who subverted the script they were given."

Does she really travel back in time? Because that's often been a dream of mine, to travel back in time and catch the killers. Or, you know, at least know whodunnit. 

Holmes is Missing by James Patterson and Brian Sitts
Published by: Little Brown and Company
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In Holmes is Missing, PI Brendan Holmes has committed the perfect crime - he's made himself disappear.

Success has come quickly to Holmes, Marple and Poe Investigations. The New York City agency led by three detectives - Brendan Holmes, "the brain," Margaret Marple, "the eyes," and Auguste Poe, the "muscle" - with famous names and mysterious pasts is one major case away from cementing its professional reputation.

But as a series of child abductions tests the PIs' legendary skills, the cerebral Holmes's absence leaves a gaping hole in the agency roster.

Only by closing ranks and solving the mystery within can they recover all that's been lost."

Speaking of another author that releases books at a breakneck pace...

The Three Lives of Cate Kat by Kate Fagan
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she's one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn't really exist. She's never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.

As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she'll be a whole person again."

I LOVE authors who have a secret past! LOVE!

Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: January 7th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Her mission: find the Lost City of the Moon in the Amazon rainforest.

His mission: protect the holy temple...and his heart.

While her mentor may be the world's most badass archaeologist, the only thing bad about Dr. Miriam Jacobs are her corny jokes. But when Miri is charged with leading an unmapped expedition through the Amazon for the fabled Lost City of the Moon, she finally has her chance to prove to her colleagues that she's capable - and hopefully prove it to herself, too.

Journalist Rafael Monfils has joined the archaeological team to chronicle their search for the lost city. Or at least, that's what they think he's doing. Rafa's real goal? Make sure the team does not reach the Cidade da Lua, stopping the desecration of the holy city and protecting his mother's legacy. All he needs to do is keep them on the wrong path.

If only the endearingly quirky Dr. Jacobs wasn't so damn tenacious - each of Rafa's tricks and purposeful wrong turns only seem to fuel her determination. Even worse, he's charmed by her goofy attempts to channel Lara Croft as they traverse the dangerous Brazilian rainforest. But they're not the only crew hunting for the lost city, and soon the untamed jungle - and their untamed hearts - might be the least of their worries..."

I mean, the title and the cover alone make this must buy! Indiana Jones meets Romancing the Stone!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Brian Sitts, E. Latimer, Fiona Davis, Heather O'Neill, James Patterson, Jo Segura, Johan Rundberg, Kaitlyn Cavalancia, Kristin Cast, Lily Braun-Arnold, Paraic O'Donnell, Paul Michael Winters, Seanan McGuire