Tuesday Tomorrow
Grave Mercy by Robin (RL) LaFevers
Published by: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 560 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?
Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?"
One of the best books I've read all year. Robin is one of my favorite authors and despite being very different than her other books, it was amazing. I can't wait a year for book two... I just can't. In fact, if you ever pay attention, I always list books in order of favorite to least on my Tuesday Tomorrow posts, and this is a busy week, so busy I omitted several books, and if you notice this is even before that literary titan, Alexander McCall Smith. Just go buy it k?
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith
Published by: Pantheon
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In this latest episode in the beloved, best-selling series, the kindest and best detective in Botswana faces a tricky situation when her personal and professional lives become entangled.
Precious Ramotswe is haunted by a repeated dream: a vision of a tall, strange man who waits for her beneath an acacia tree. Odd as this is, she’s far too busy to worry about it. The best apprentice at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors is in trouble with the law and stuck with the worst lawyer in Gaborone. Grace Makutsi and Phuti Radiphuti are building the house of their dreams, but their builder is not completely on the up and up. And, most shockingly, Mma Potokwane, defender of Botswana’s weak and downtrodden, has been dismissed from her post as matron at the orphan farm. Can the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency help restore the beloved matron to her rightful position?
As wealthy and powerful influences at the orphan farm become allied against their friend, help arrives from an unexpected visitor: the tall stranger from Mma Ramotswe’s dreams, who turns out to be none other than the estimable Clovis Andersen, author of the No. 1 Ladies’ prized manual, The Principles of Private Detection. Together, Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi, and their teacher-turned-colleague help right this injustice and in the process discover something new about being a good detective."
Hmmm, a new Alexander McCall Smith book... will I be buying it? Do we need water to survive?
Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"It is the color of the Virgin Mary's cloak, a dazzling pigment desired by artists, an exquisite hue infused with danger, adventure, and perhaps even the supernatural. It is . . . Sacre Bleu
In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh went into a cornfield and shot himself. Or did he? Why would an artist at the height of his creative powers attempt to take his own life . . . and then walk a mile to a doctor's house for help? Who was the crooked little "color man" Vincent had claimed was stalking him across France? And why had the painter recently become deathly afraid of a certain shade of blue?
These are just a few of the questions confronting Vincent's friends—baker-turned-painter Lucien Lessard and bon vivant Henri Toulouse-Lautrec—who vow to discover the truth about van Gogh's untimely death. Their quest will lead them on a surreal odyssey and brothel-crawl deep into the art world of late nineteenth-century Paris.
Oh la la, quelle surprise, and zut alors! A delectable confection of intrigue, passion, and art history—with cancan girls, baguettes, and fine French cognac thrown in for good measure—Sacre Bleu is another masterpiece of wit and wonder from the one, the only, Christopher Moore."
It's about Vincent Van Gogh and includes a bit about his "suicide." I'm sold. Ever since that one Doctor Who episode, Van Gogh somehow seems even more amazing and real to me.
Paris in Love by Eloisa James
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).
Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a most enchanting family, framed by la ville de l’amour."
I wish a was a well known writer that could go to Paris for a year and then write a book about it that will become a best seller... sigh, my dreams.
The Shape of Desire by Sharon Shinn
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"For fifteen years Maria Devane has been desperately, passionately in love with Dante Romano. But despite loving him with all of her heart and soul, Maria knows that Dante can never give all of himself back-at least not all the time.
Every month, Dante shifts shape, becoming a wild animal. During those times, he wanders far and wide, leaving Maria alone. He can't choose when he shifts, the transition is often abrupt and, as he gets older, the time he spends in human form is gradually decreasing. But Maria, who loves him without hesitation, wouldn't trade their unusual relationship for anything.
Since the beginning, she has kept his secret, knowing that their love is worth the danger. But when a string of brutal attacks occur in local parks during the times when Dante is in animal form, Maria is forced to consider whether the lies she's been telling about her life have turned into lies she's telling herself..."
A perfect birthday present for my friend Matt... maybe I shouldn't have posted it then... ah, he nevers reads my blog much.
The Flower Reader by Elizabeth Loupas
Published by: NAL
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Paperback, 448 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Rinette Leslie of Granmuir has the ancient gift of divining the future in flowers, but her gift cannot prepare her for the turmoil that comes when the dying queen regent entrusts her with a casket full of Scotland's darkest secrets. On the very day she means to deliver it to newly crowned Mary, Queen of Scots, Rinette's husband is brutally assassinated.
Devastated, Rinette demands justice before she will surrender the casket, but she is surrounded by ruthless men who will do anything to possess it. In the end, the flowers are all she can trust-and only the flowers will lead her safely home to Granmuir."
Elizabeth Loupas' first book got great acclaim last year, luckily she had another one up her sleeve.
Imperial Scandal by Teresa Grant
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Amid the treachery of war and the whirl of revelry, no one is what they seem. . .
Nights filled with lavish balls. . .lush, bucolic afternoons. . .. Removed to glamorous Brussels in the wake of Napoleon's escape from Elba, Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch and his wife, Suzanne, warily partake in the country's pleasures. But with the Congress of Vienna in chaos and the Duke of Wellington preparing for battle, the festivities are cut short when Malcolm is sent on a perilous mission that unravels a murderous world of espionage. . .
No one knows what the demure and respectable Lady Julia Ashton was doing at the château where Malcolm and a fellow British spy were ambushed. But now her enigmatic life has been ended by an equally mysterious death. And as the conflict with Napoleon marches toward Waterloo, and Brussels surrenders to bedlam, Suzanne and Malcolm will be plunged into the search for the truth--revealing an intricate labyrinth of sinister secrets and betrayal within which no one can be trusted."
Tracy Grant, I mean Teresa Grant's, newest book, yeah Regency!
A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont
Published by: KTEEN
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A scholarship student at an exclusive prep school, Emma Townsend feels like an outsider. Her stepmother doesn't come close to filling the void left by her mother's death. And her only romantic prospect - apart from a crush on her English teacher - is Gray Newman, a long-time friend who just adds to Emma's confusion. "Escape" comes in the old leather-bound copy of Jane Eyre that Emma receives as a gift. Then a lightning storm catapults Emma right into Jane's body and her nineteenth-century world. As governess at Thornfield, Emma experiences a sense of belonging she's never felt before, and a growing attraction to the brooding Mr. Rochester. Now, moving between two realities and uncovering secrets in both, Emma must decide whether her destiny lies in the pages of Jane's story, or in the unwritten chapters of her own..."
I have been "patiently" waiting for this book to come out for awhile now... yes, "patiently." What?
Heads You Lose by Lisa Luta and David Hayward
Published by: Berkley Trade
Publication Date: April 3rd, 2012
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"New York Times-bestselling author Lisa Lutz conspires with-or should we say against?- coauthor David Hayward to write an original and hilarious tag-team crime novel.
Meet Paul and Lacey Hansen: orphaned, pot-growing twentysomething siblings eking out a living in rural Northern California. When a headless corpse appears on their property, they can't exactly dial 911, so they move the body and wait for the police to find it. Instead, the corpse reappears, a few days riper . . . and an amateur sleuth is born. Make that two.
When collaborators Lutz and Hayward (former romantic partners) start to disagree about how the story should unfold, the body count rises, victims and suspects alike develop surprising characteristics (meet Brandy Chester, the stripper with the Mensa IQ), and sibling rivalry reaches homicidal intensity. Think Adaptation crossed with Weeds. Will the authors solve the mystery without killing each other first?"
Hilarous book where what happens in the "real world" is just as funny as the book world. Check out my review from last year!
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