Tuesday Tomorrow
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!
Post a Comment