strange and random happenstance

In the Shadow of Vesuvius by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In skillfully intertwined storylines from the dawn of the twentieth century and the heyday of the Roman Empire, Tasha Alexander's In the Shadow of Vesuvius, the latest installment to her bestselling series, brings Lady Emily and her husband to Pompeii, where they uncover a recent crime in the ancient city.

Some corpses lie undisturbed longer than others. But when Lady Emily discovers a body hidden in plain sight amongst the ruins of Pompeii, she sets in motion a deadly chain of events that ties her future to the fate of a woman whose story had been lost for nearly two thousand years.

Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves, have accompanied her dear friend Ivy Brandon on a trip to Pompeii. When they uncover a corpse and the police dismiss the murder as the work of local gangsters, Emily launches an investigation of her own. She seems to be aided by the archaeologists excavating the ruins, including a moody painter, the enigmatic site director, and a free-thinking American capable of sparring with even the Duke of Bainbridge. But each of them has secrets hiding among the ruins.

The sudden appearance of a beautiful young woman who claims a shocking relationship to the Hargreaves family throws Emily’s investigation off-course. And as she struggles to face an unsettling truth about Colin’s past, it becomes clear that someone else wants her off the case - for good. Emily’s resolve to unearth the facts is unshakable. But how far below the surface can she dig before she risks burying herself along with the truth?"

Ever since Tasha went to Pompeii I've been desperate to read about Emily's adventures there! Thankfully the wait is FINALLY over! 

The Woman in the Veil by Laura Joh Rowland
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 294 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"London, June 1890.

Sarah Bain and her friends Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O'Reilly are crime scene photographers for the Daily World newspaper. After solving a sensational murder, they're under pressure to deliver another big story. On a foggy summer night, they're called to the bank of the river Thames. The murder victim is an unidentified woman whose face has been slashed. But as Sarah takes photographs, she discovers that the woman is still alive.

The case of "Sleeping Beauty" becomes a public sensation, and three parties quickly come forward to identify her: a rich, sinister artist who claims she's his wife; a mother and her two daughters who co-own a nursing home and claim she's their stepdaughter/sister; and a precocious little girl who claims Sleeping Beauty is her mother. Which party is Sleeping Beauty's rightful kin? Is someone among them her would-be killer?

Then Sleeping Beauty awakens - with a severe case of amnesia. She's forgotten her name and everything else about herself. But she recognizes one of the people who've claimed her. Sarah is delighted to reunite a family and send Sleeping Beauty home - until one of the claimants is murdered. Suddenly, Sarah, her motley crew of friends, and her fiancé Detective Sergeant Barrett are on the wrong side of the law. Now they must identify the killer before they find themselves headed for the gallows."

Even more English sleuthing! It's definitely my week!

A Game of Snakes and Ladders by Doris Langley Moore
Published by: Dean Street Press
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 326 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Fanny Burney would not approve of some of my chapters, but it was my affection for the novels of her school, in which the heroine goes through all kinds of distresses but emerges in a sweeping triumph at the end, that made me long to try my hand at the same theme - treating it, however, in our down-to-earth twentieth-century way.

This brilliant homage to the 19th century novel begins with two young women - Lucy, sturdy and unflappable, and Daisy, charming but self-interested - performing with a theatre company in Egypt after World War I. The show closes, and Daisy stays on with a well-to-do businessman while Lucy eagerly plans her return to England. But then she falls seriously ill, then in debt to Daisy's lover. She finds that Daisy, anxious not to alienate her meal ticket, has rashly promised that Lucy will remain in Egypt and work for him until he's repaid.

Thus in Egypt they remain, over the course of nearly 20 years, while Moore's intricate, lovely plot unfolds. Frivolous Daisy, the cause of Lucy's woes, ascends the ladder of wealth while Lucy, downtrodden but diligent, slaves and toils. Misunderstandings, deceptions, and self-deceptions abound, and finally the stage is set for Lucy's "sweeping triumph", as giddy and satisfying a climax as any a 19th century master could have conceived. A Game of Snakes and Ladders may remind readers of Fanny Burney or George Eliot, or even Jane Austen, but it's always, definitively and incomparably, Doris Langley Moore. This new edition includes an introduction by Sir Roy Strong."

The fact that Fanny Burney wouldn't approve made me smile and want to read this book. 

Wyntertide by Andrew Caldecott
Published by: Jo Fletcher Books
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The town of Rotherweird has been independent from the rest of England for four hundred years, to protect a deadly secret.

Sir Veronal Slickstone is dead, his bid to exploit that secret consigned to dust, leaving Rotherweird to resume its abnormal normality after the travails of the summer...but someone is playing a very long game.

Disturbing omens multiply: a funeral delivers a cryptic warning; an ancient portrait speaks; the Herald disappears - and democracy threatens the uneasy covenant between town and countryside.

Geryon Wynter's intricate plot, centuries in the making, is on the move.

Everything points to one objective: the resurrection of Rotherweird's dark Elizabethan past - and to one date: the Winter Solstice.

Wynter is coming..."

Wait, is "Winter is Coming" allowed to used outside Game of Thrones references and snowpocalypse annoucments now?

Moral Compass by Danielle Steel
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"At an elite private school in Massachusetts, a wide circle of lives will be forever changed by a devastating series of events in Danielle Steel’s riveting new novel.

Saint Ambrose Prep is a place where the wealthy send their children for the best possible education, with teachers and administrators from the Ivy League, and graduates who become future lawyers, politicians, filmmakers, and CEOs. Traditionally a boys-only school, Saint Ambrose has just enrolled one hundred and forty female students for the first time. Even though most of the kids on the campus have all the privilege in the world, some are struggling, wounded by their parents’ bitter divorces, dealing with insecurity and loneliness. In such a heightened environment, even the smallest spark can become a raging fire.

One day after the school’s annual Halloween event, a student lies in the hospital, her system poisoned by dangerous levels of alcohol. Everyone in this sheltered community - parents, teachers, students, police, and the media - are left trying to figure out what actually happened. Only the handful of students who were there when she was attacked truly know the answers and they have vowed to keep one another’s secrets. As details from the evening emerge, powerful families are forced to hire attorneys and less powerful families watch helplessly. Parents’ marriages are jeopardized, and students’ futures are impacted. No one at Saint Ambrose can escape the fallout of a life-altering event.

In this compelling novel, Danielle Steel illuminates the dark side of one drunken night, with its tragic consequences, from every possible point of view. As the drama unfolds, the characters will reach a crossroads where they must choose between truth and lies, between what is easy and what is right, and find the moral compass they will need for the rest of their lives."

It's like Gilmore Girls meets The Secret History with a bit of Gossip Girl. AKA, all things I love! 

The God Game by Danny Tobey
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A technological thriller with an all-too-believable premise, award-winning author Danny Tobey's The God Game follows five teenagers obsessed with an online video game that connects them to their worst impulses and most dangerous desires.

They call themselves the Vindicators. Targeted by bullies and pressured by parents, these geeks and gamers rule the computer lab at Turner High School. Wealthy bad boy Peter makes and breaks rules. Vanhi is a punk bassist at odds with her heritage. Kenny's creativity is stifled by a religious home life. Insecure and temperamental, Alex is an outcast among the outcasts. And Charlie, the leader they all depend on, is reeling from the death of his mother, consumed with reckless fury.

They each receive an invitation to play The God Game. Created by dark-web coders and maintained by underground hackers, the video game is controlled by a mysterious artificial intelligence that believes it is God. Obey the almighty A.I. and be rewarded. Defiance is punished. Through their phone screens and high-tech glasses, Charlie and his friends see and interact with a fantasy world superimposed over reality. The quests they undertake on behalf of "God" seem harmless at first, but soon the tasks have them questioning and sacrificing their own morality.

High school tormentors get their comeuppance. Parents and teachers are exposed a hypocrites. And the Vindicators' behavior becomes more selfish and self-destructive as they compete against one another for prizes each believes will rescue them from their adolescent existence. But everything they do is being recorded. Hooded and masked thugs are stalking and attacking them. "God" threatens to expose their secrets if they attempt to quit the game. And losing the game means losing their lives.

You don't play the Game. The Game plays you...."

 A far more deadly and riveting version of Ready Player One.

The Complete Drive-In by Joe R. Lansdale
Published by: Bookvoice Publishing
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Includes all three Drive-In novels from the Mojo Storyteller in one paperback.

TITLES INCLUDE:

The Drive-In: A B-Movie with Blood and Popcorn, Made in Texas

The Drive-In 2: Not Just One of Them Sequels

The Drive-In 3: The Bus Tour."

Three Lansdale for the price of one! 

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
Published by: Tor.com
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The fifth installment in New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire's award-winning Wayward Children series, Come Tumbling Down picks up the threads left dangling by Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones.

When Jack left Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister - whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice—back to their home on the Moors.

But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleanor West's "No Quests" rule is about to be broken.

Again."

I mean, Seanan McGuire has to have a clone of herself OR perhaps fairies working for her to keep up this output...

Chosen by Kiersten White
Published by: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Nina continues to learn how to use her slayer powers against enemies old and new in this second novel in the New York Times bestselling series from Kiersten White, set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Now that Nina has turned the Watcher’s Castle into a utopia for hurt and lonely demons, she’s still waiting for the utopia part to kick in. With her sister Artemis gone and only a few people remaining at the castle - including her still-distant mother - Nina has her hands full. Plus, though she gained back her Slayer powers from Leo, they’re not feeling quite right after being held by the seriously evil succubus Eve, a.k.a. fake Watcher’s Council member and Leo’s mom.

And while Nina is dealing with the darkness inside, there’s also a new threat on the outside, portended by an odd triangle symbol that seems to be popping up everywhere, in connection with Sean’s demon drug ring as well as someone a bit closer to home. Because one near-apocalypse just isn’t enough, right?

The darkness always finds you. And once again, it’s coming for the Slayer."

MORE BUFFY!!!

Birds of Prey: Huntress by Greg Rucka
Published by: DC Comics
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 152 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In celebration of the feature film Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) comes Birds of Prey: Huntress.

Meet the character that inspired the film in this classic story!

The Huntress is framed for murder! Avoiding the Gotham City police, Huntress must revisit her childhood to discover the true culprit. While she seeks the clues necessary to prove her innocence, Batman and Nightwing are tracking her every move! As the mystery unravels, Huntress will uncover the terrible truth about the death of her parents.

From Eisner Award-winning author Greg Rucka (Gotham Central, Wonder Woman) and the Eisner Award-winning artist Rick Burchett (Batman, Superman), this volume collects Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood #1-6."

Because I'm all about Rucka lately! 

Murder at the Museum by Lena Jones
Published by: HarperCollins Children's Books
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A second mystery for thirteen-year-old Agatha Oddly - a bold, determined heroine, and the star of this stylish new detective series.

Agatha Oddlow's set to become the youngest member of the Gatekeepers' Guild, but before that, she's got a mystery to solve.

There's been a murder at the British Museum and, although the police are investigating, Agatha suspects that they're missing a wider plot going on below London - a plot involving a disused Tube station, a huge fireworks display, and five thousand tonnes of gold bullion..."

Grade school me would have lived for this book, hence now me is all about it too.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Andrew Caldecott, Birds of Prey, Buffy, Danielle Steel, Danny Tobey, Doris Langley Moore, Greg Rucka, Joe R. Lansdale, Kiersten White, Lady Emily, Laura Joh Rowland, Lena Jones, Seanan McGuire, Tasha Alexander

The Summer Country by Lauren Willig
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A brilliant, multigenerational saga in the tradition of The Thorn Birds and North and South, New York Times bestselling historical novelist Lauren Willig delivers her biggest, boldest, and most ambitious novel yet - a sweeping Victorian epic of lost love, lies, jealousy, and rebellion set in colonial Barbados.

Barbados, 1854: Emily Dawson has always been the poor cousin in a prosperous English merchant clan -  merely a vicar’s daughter, and a reform-minded vicar’s daughter, at that. Everyone knows that the family’s lucrative shipping business will go to her cousin, Adam, one day. But when her grandfather dies, Emily receives an unexpected inheritance: Peverills, a sugar plantation in Barbados - a plantation her grandfather never told anyone he owned.

When Emily accompanies her cousin and his new wife to Barbados, she finds Peverills a burnt-out shell, reduced to ruins in 1816, when a rising of enslaved people sent the island up in flames. Rumors swirl around the derelict plantation; people whisper of ghosts.

Why would her practical-minded grandfather leave her a property in ruins? Why are the neighboring plantation owners, the Davenants, so eager to acquire Peverills? The answer lies in the past - a tangled history of lies, greed, clandestine love, heartbreaking betrayal, and a bold bid for freedom.

The Summer Country will beguile readers with its rendering of families, heartbreak, and the endurance of hope against all odds."

Lauren's new book is finally here, which means I can FINALLY talk to people about it! Also, in tour news, Lauren is making her way to Wisconsin for the first time, and I am majorly excited!

The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan
Published by: Crown
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir comes a thrilling new WWII story about a village busybody - the mighty Mrs. Braithwaite - who resolves to find, and then rescue, her missing daughter.

Mrs. Braithwaite, self-appointed queen of her English village, finds herself dethroned, despised, and dismissed following her husband’s selfish divorce petition. Never deterred, the threat of a family secret being revealed sets her hot-foot to London to find the only person she has left - her clever daughter Betty, who took work there at the first rumbles of war.

But when she arrives, Betty’s landlord, the timid Mr. Norris, informs her that Betty hasn’t been home in days - with the chaos of the bombs, there’s no telling what might have befallen her. Aghast, Mrs. Braithwaite sets her bullish determination to the task of finding her only daughter.

Storming into the London Blitz, Mrs. Braithwaite drags the reluctant Mr. Norris along as an unwitting sidekick as they piece together Betty’s unexpectedly chaotic life. As she is thrown into the midst of danger and death, Mrs. Braithwaite is forced to rethink her old-fashioned notions of status, class, and reputation, and to reconsider the question that’s been puzzling her since her world overturned: How do you measure the success of your life?

Readers will be charmed by the unforgettable Mrs. Braithwaite and her plucky, ruthless optimism, and find in The Spies of Shilling Lane a novel with surprising twists and turns, quiet humor, and a poignant examination of mothers and daughters and the secrets we keep."

What draws me to this book is that it's a different fresh take on WWII.

The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montlclair
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"First comes love, then comes murder.

In a London slowly recovering from World War II, two very different women join forces to launch a business venture in the heart of Mayfair - The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. Miss Iris Sparks, quick-witted and impulsive, and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, practical and widowed with a young son, are determined to achieve some independence and do some good in a rapidly changing world.

But the promising start to their marriage bureau is threatened when their newest client, Tillie La Salle, is found murdered and the man arrested for the crime is the prospective husband they matched her with. While the police are convinced they have their man, Miss Sparks and Mrs. Bainbridge are not. To clear his name - and to rescue their fledging operation’s reputation - Sparks and Bainbridge decide to investigate on their own, using the skills and contacts they’ve each acquired through life and their individual adventures during the recent war.

Little do they know that this will put their very lives at risk."

Matchmaking gone awry! 

This Storm by James Ellroy
Published by: Knopf
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 608 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A massive novel of World War II Los Angeles. The crowning work of an American master.

It is January, 1942. Torrential rainstorms hit L.A. A body is unearthed in Griffith Park. The cops rate it a routine dead-man job. They're grievously wrong. It's a summons to misalliance and all the spoils of a brand-new war.

Elmer Jackson is a corrupt Vice cop. He's a flesh peddler and a bagman for the L.A. Chief of Police. Hideo Ashida is a crime-lab whiz, caught up in the maelstrom of the Japanese internment. Dudley Smith is an LAPD hardnose working Army Intelligence. He's gone rogue and gone all-the-way Fascist. Joan Conville was born rogue. She's a defrocked Navy lieutenant and a war profiteer to her core.

They've signed on for the dead-man job. They've got a hot date with History. They will fight their inner wars within The War with unstoppable fury."

I've always been a sucker of James Ellroy's Hollywood Noir, and after devouring Strange Angel on Amazon, I kind of need more of a WWII Hollywood fix. I think this fits the bill!

The L.A. Quartet by James Ellroy
Published by: Everyman's Library
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 1416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Here in one volume is James Ellroy's first great body of work, an epic re-envisioning of postwar Los Angeles - etched in red and black and film-noir grays.

The Black Dahlia depicts the secret infrastructure of L.A.'s most sensational murder case. A young cop morphs into obsessed lover and lust-crazed avenger. The Dahlia claims him. She is the deus ex machina of a boomtown in extremis. The cop's rogue investigation is a one-way ticket to hell.

The Big Nowhere blends the crime novel and the political novel. It is winter, 1950--and the L.A. County Grand Jury is out to slam movieland Reds. It's a reverential shuck--and the three cops assigned to the job are out to grab all the glory they can. A series of brutal sex killings intervenes, and the job goes all-the-way bad.

L.A. Confidential is the great novel of Los Angeles in the 1950s. Political corruption. Scandal-rag journalism. Bad racial juju and gangland wars. Six local stiffs slaughtered in an all-night hash house. The glorious and overreaching LAPD on an unprecedented scale.

White Jazz gives us the tortured confession of a corrupt cop going down for the count. He's a slumlord, a killer, a parasitic exploiter. He's a pawn in a series of police power plays and starting to see that he's being had. He's just met a woman. Thus, he's determined to claw his way out of the horrifying world he's created--and he's determined to tell us everything.

The L.A. Quartet is a groundbreaking work of American popular fiction."

I've been known to complain that there wasn't one book that combined all of James Ellroy's L.A. Quartet... for once someone must have heard me!

We Were Killers Once by Becky Masterman
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In 1959, a family of four were brutally murdered in Holcomb, Kansas. Perry Smith and Dick Hickok were convicted and executed for the crime, and the murders and their investigation and solution became the subject of Truman Capote's masterpiece, In Cold Blood. But what if there was a third killer, who remained unknown? What if there was another family, also murdered, who crossed paths with this band of killers, though their murder remains unsolved? And what if Dick Hickok left a written confession, explaining everything?

Retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn and her husband Carlo, a former priest and university professor, are trying to enjoy each other in this new stage in their lives. But a memento from Carlo's days as a prison chaplain - a handwritten document hidden away undetected in a box of Carlo's old things - has become a target for a man on the run from his past. Jerry Beaufort has just been released from prison after decades behind bars, and though he'd like to get on with living the rest of his life, he knows that somewhere there is a written record of the time he spent with two killers in 1959. Following the path of this letter will bring Jerry into contact with the last person he'll see as a threat: Brigid Quinn.

Becky Masterman's unputdownable thrillers featuring unique heroine Brigid Quinn continue with this fascinating alternative look at one of America's most famous crimes."

If you wanted something more to In Cold Blood, than this book's for you.

The Shallows by Matt Goldman
Published by: Forge Books
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the words of Lee Child on Gone to Dust, “I want more of Nils Shapiro.” New York Times Best Selling author and Emmy Award-winning writer Matt Goldman obliges by bringing the Minneapolis private detective back for another thrilling, stand-alone adventure in The Shallows.

A prominent lawyer is found dead, tied to his own dock by a fishing stringer through his jaw, and everyone wants private detective Nils Shapiro to protect them from suspicion: The unfaithful widow. Her artist boyfriend. The lawyer’s firm. A polarizing congressional candidate. A rudderless suburban police department. Even the FBI.

Nils and his investigative partners illuminate a sticky web of secrets and deceit that draws national attention. But finding the web doesn’t prevent Nils from getting caught in it. Just when his safety is most in peril, his personal life takes an unexpected twist, facing its own snarl of surprise and deception.

In The Shallows, Goldman delves into the threat of dark history repeating itself while delivering another page-turner with his signature pace, humor, and richly drawn characters."

I was lucky enough to meet Matt Goldman when he toured for Gone to Dust, and it makes me very excited for this newest Nils Shapiro book.  

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A modern-day Muslim Pride and Prejudice for a new generation of love.

Ayesha Shamsi has a lot going on. Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her one hundredth marriage proposal. Though Ayesha is lonely, she doesn't want an arranged marriage. Then she meets Khalid, who is just as smart and handsome as he is conservative and judgmental. She is irritatingly attracted to someone who looks down on her choices and who dresses like he belongs in the seventh century.

When a surprise engagement is announced between Khalid and Hafsa, Ayesha is torn between how she feels about the straightforward Khalid and the unsettling new gossip she hears about his family. Looking into the rumors, she finds she has to deal with not only what she discovers about Khalid, but also the truth she realizes about herself."

I love how Pride and Prejudice has a universality that has lead to other cultures adapting it into their country's literary tradition.

Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott
Published by: Jo Fletcher Books
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"1558: Twelve children, gifted far beyond their years, are banished by their Tudor queen to the town of Rotherweird. Some say they are the Golden Generation; some say the devil's spawn. But everyone knows they are to be revered - and feared.

Four and a half centuries later, cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I and still bound by its ancient laws, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: no one, but no one studies the town or its history.

Then an Outsider arrives, a man of unparalleled wealth and power, enough to buy the whole of Rotherweird - deeply buried secrets and all..."

When I book is described by The Guardian as "[T]he love child of Gormenghast and Hogwarts" I am THERE!

Sorcery of Thrones by Margaret Rogerson
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of An Enchantment of Ravens comes an imaginative fantasy about an apprentice at a magical library who must battle a powerful sorcerer to save her kingdom.

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery - magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught - about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined."

Literally THE YA book this summer... also a library!

Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare et al
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 624 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Clare comes an exciting new short story collection that follows Jem Carstairs as he travels through the many Shadow Markets around the world. Ghosts of the Shadow Market is a Shadowhunters novel.

The Shadow Market is a meeting point for faeries, werewolves, warlocks, and vampires. There, the Downworlders buy and sell magical objects, make dark bargains, and whisper secrets they do not want the Nephilim to know. Through two centuries, however, there has been a frequent visitor to the Shadow Market from the City of Bones, the very heart of the Shadowhunters’ world. As a Silent Brother, Brother Zachariah is a sworn keeper of the laws and lore of the Nephilim. But once he was a Shadowhunter called Jem Carstairs, and his love, then and always, is the warlock Tessa Gray. And Jem is searching through the Shadow Markets, in many different cities over long years, for a relic from his past.

Follow Jem and see, against the backdrop of the Shadow Market’s dark dealings and festival, Anna Lightwood’s doomed romance, Matthew Fairchild’s great sin, and Tessa Gray as she is plunged into a world war. Valentine Morgenstern buys a soul at the Market and a young Jace Wayland’s soul finds safe harbor. In the Market is hidden a lost heir and a beloved ghost, and no one can save you once you have traded away your heart. Not even Brother Zachariah."

Because we got to milk the Shadowhunters series for every penny!

The Modern Faerie Tales by Holly Black
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 800 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Holly Black’s acclaimed Modern Faerie Tales series is now available in this special bind-up edition featuring all three books!

Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother’s rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself as an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms—a struggle that could very well mean her death.

This special bind-up edition includes Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside."

Perfect for that someone who had an ice damn form in their window and had their copy of Tithe destroyed by water damage.

The Witchkin Murders by Diana Pharaoh Francis
Published by: Bell Bridge Books
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Kindle, 354 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Four years ago, my world - the world - exploded with wild magic. The cherry on top of that crap cake? The supernatural world declared war on humans, and my life went straight to hell.

I used to be a detective, and a damned good one. Then Magicfall happened, and I changed along with the world. I’m witchkin now - something more than human or not quite human, depending on your perspective. To survive, I’ve become a scavenger, searching abandoned houses and stores for the everyday luxuries in short supply - tampons and peanut butter. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, but anything’s better than risking my secret.

Except, old habits die hard. When I discover a murder scene screaming with signs of black magic ritual, I know my days of hiding are over. Any chance I had of escaping my past with my secret intact is gone. Solving the witchkin murders is going to be the hardest case of my life, and not just because every second will torture me with reminders of how much I miss my old life and my partner, who hates my guts for abandoning the department.

But it’s time to suck it up, because if I screw this up, Portland will be wiped out, and I’m not going to let that happen. Hold on to your butts, Portland. Justice is coming, and I don’t take prisoners.

About the Author: Diana Pharaoh Francis is the acclaimed author of a dozen novels of fantasy and urban fantasy. Her books have been nominated for the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award and RT’s Best Urban Fantasy. The Witchkin Murders is the first book in her exciting new urban fantasy series - Magicfall."

This new Urban Fantasy series sounds right up my magically inclined alley!

Five Midnights by Ann Davila Cardinal
Published by: Tor Teen
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Ann Dávila Cardinal's Five Midnights is a “wickedly thrilling” (William Alexander) and “flat-out unputdownable” (Paul Tremblay) novel based on the el Cuco myth set against the backdrop of modern day Puerto Rico.

Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribución.

If Lupe Dávila and Javier Utierre can survive each other’s company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, they'll have to step into the shadows to see what's lurking there - murderer, or monster?"

Or both!?!

Strangers Things: Runaway Max by Brenna Yovanoff
Published by: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Don't miss this gripping, emotional prequel to the hit Netflix series, Stranger Things! The never-before-told backstory of the beloved Dig Dug maven, Max Mayfield, written by New York Times bestselling author Brenna Yovanoff.

This must-read novel, based on the hit Netflix series, Stranger Things, explores Max's past - the good and the bad - as well as how she came to find her newfound sense of home in Hawkins, Indiana."

Because Max has SO MUCH background needing exploration! 

The Artist Who Loved Cats by Courtenay Fletcher and Susan Schaefer Bernardo
Published by: Inner Flower Child Books
Publication Date: June 4th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 32 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Artist Who Loved Cats is a rhyming picture book biography of artist Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen, the creator of the iconic Le Chat Noir Cabaret posters created in 19th-century Paris.

This story opens in modern-day France, when a little girl named Antoinette notices a little bronze cat in the window of her favorite antique store, and begs the shopkeeper Monsieur Arvieux and his clever cat Noir to tell her all about the artist. She learns that Steinlen moved to Paris in 1881 to pursue his artistic dreams, ultimately creating not just the Chat Noir posters but also more than 700 journal illustrations, famous posters, sculptures, cartoon strips and paintings, and even used his art to make the world a better place. Many of Steinlen's artworks feature cats, his favorite subject.

Delightful rhyming verse, a sweet sprinkling of French vocabulary, and lovely illustrations by the award-winning team of author Susan Schaefer Bernardo and artist Courtenay Fletcher bring art history to life.

More than just a biography, The Artist Who Loved Cats is a celebration of art, inspiration, and following your heart to create a life that you love. It's the perfect book for expanding children's knowledge of real life artists, teaching them to appreciate art and antiques, and supporting their creative spark! It's also a great companion guide for a trip to France or study of French culture."

Cats and art, is there any better combination in the world? 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Allison Montlclair, Andrew Caldecott, Ann Davila Cardinal, Cassandra Clare, Cats, Holly Black, In Cold Blood, James Ellroy, Jennifer Ryan, Lauren Willig, Matt Goldman, Stranger Things, Uzma Jalaluddin