Monday, January 7, 2013

Tuesday Tomorrow

Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: January 8th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, a beautifully atmospheric novel about an English country house and the people who inhabit it, upstairs and downstairs, over the course of 240 years.

“The house contains time. Its walls hold stories. Births and deaths, comings and goings, people and events passing through. For now, however, it lies suspended in a kind of emptiness, as if it has fallen asleep or someone has put it under a spell. This silence won’t last: can’t last. Something will have to be done.”

When brother and sister Charlie and Ros discover that they have inherited their aunt’s much-loved house, they must decide if they should sell it. Moving back in time, in an interwoven narrative spanning two and a half centuries, we meet those who have built the house, lived in it and loved it, worked in it, and those who would subvert it to their own ends, including the original architect as he directs the building of the house, the big Victorian family who happily live there for forty years, the maid who thinks her problems will be solved if she steals a small bibelot, the soldiers who are billeted there during World War I, the speculator who holds a treasure hunt there during the Roaring Twenties, the young couple who restores it during the 1950s, and the house’s final owner. A novel about people, architecture, and living history, Ashenden is an evocative portrait of a house that becomes a character as compelling as the people who inhabit it."

Apparently, all you have to say is Downton Abbey to get me interested in a book!

The Painted Girls  by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Published by: Riverhead
Publication Date: January 8th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A heartrending, gripping novel about two sisters in Belle Époque Paris.

1878 Paris. Following their father’s sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir.

Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. There she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde.

Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.” In the end, each will come to realize that her salvation, if not survival, lies with the other. "

Well, first there's the art, then there's the Belle Époque... so I think I'm fully sold on this.

The Bughouse Affair by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini
Published by: Forge
Publication Date: January 8th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In The Bughouse Affair, this first of a new series of lighthearted historical mysteries set in 1890s San Francisco, former Pinkerton operative Sabina Carpenter and her detective partner, ex-Secret Service agent John Quincannon, undertake what initially appear to be two unrelated investigations.

Sabina’s case involves the hunt for a ruthless lady “dip” who uses fiendish means to relieve her victims of their valuables at Chutes Amusement Park and other crowded places. Quincannon, meanwhile, is after a slippery housebreaker who targets the homes of wealthy residents, following a trail that leads him from the infamous Barbary Coast to an oyster pirate’s lair to a Tenderloin parlor house known as the Fiddle Dee Dee.

The two cases eventually connect in surprising fashion, but not before two murders and assorted other felonies complicate matters even further. And not before the two sleuths are hindered, assisted, and exasperated by the bughouse Sherlock Holmes.

Fans of Marcia’s Muller’s bestselling Sharon McCone novels and Bill Pronzini’s Nameless Detective series will applaud this and future exploits from the annals of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services."

I am a sucker for anything set in San Francisco, no, truly I am! Add in the fact it's a period piece AND has a former Pinkerton operative, and I can't wait to read this new book!

Paper Valentine by Breanna Yovanoff
Published by: Razorbill
Publication Date: January 8th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between."

Personally, this one is all about the cover lust. Look at that cut paper look... wish they hadn't added a photo, takes away from the graphic awesomeness.

Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman and Adam Rex
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: January 8th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 32 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Chu is a little panda with a big sneeze.

When Chu sneezes, bad things happen.

Will Chu sneeze today?"

Seeing as this is Neil Gaiman, it's an automatic buy. But I'm excited by the cover, which looks like those old Golden Books, and knowing Neil, it's subversive in some way, so I'm very excited about that. Plus, who doesn't love pandas?

4 comments:

It's the first time I hear about The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan. It sounds incredible!
The cover of Chu's Day is soooo lovely! And, in June, The Ocean at the End of the Lane will be out. It's going to be a fantastic year for the fans of Neil Gaiman. :D

Indeed it's going to be an awesome Neil Gaiman year! I adore the cover for The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I hope (fingers crossed) that I can finally go to a Neil book signing... he only lives like 4 hours from me...

Keep me posted If you decide to go. I want to know every detail of the book signing! >_<
I have never been to one and I'm pretty curious about a *Neil Gaiman* book signing. He's such a quirky person! >_<

I totally will! I've heard that the Neil Gaiman signings can get quite long and out of control. And seeing as he's booking this as his last ever US tour... let the insanity begin!

I was lucky enough to see Neil talk once, at the North American Discworld Convention, and that was pretty darn awesome.

Book signings are always interesting, you could have hundreds and hundreds show up, or you could be the only one there.

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