strange and random happenstance

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and folklore, #1 New York Times-bestselling author Leigh Bardugo has crafted a deliciously atmospheric collection of short stories filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love.

Enter the Grishaverse...

Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.

Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid's voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy's bidding but only for a terrible price.

Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans, the tales in The Language of Thorns will transport you to lands both familiar and strange―to a fully realized world of dangerous magic that millions have visited through the novels of the Grishaverse.

This collection of six stories includes three brand-new tales, each of them lavishly illustrated and culminating in stunning full-spread illustrations as rich in detail as the stories themselves."

The second book Bardugo has out in as many months and the one I'm REALLY looking forward to, Grishaverse!

The Wonderling by Mira Bartók
Published by: Candlewick
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this extraordinary debut novel with its deft nod to Dickensian heroes and rogues, Mira Bartók tells the story of Arthur, a shy, fox-like foundling with only one ear and a desperate desire to belong, as he seeks his destiny.

Have you been unexpectedly burdened by a recently orphaned or unclaimed creature? Worry not! We have just the solution for you!

Welcome to the Home for Wayward and Misbegotten Creatures, an institution run by evil Miss Carbunkle, a cunning villainess who believes her terrified young charges exist only to serve and suffer. Part animal and part human, the groundlings toil in classroom and factory, forbidden to enjoy anything regular children have, most particularly singing and music. For the Wonderling, an innocent-hearted, one-eared, fox-like eleven-year-old with only a number rather than a proper name — a 13 etched on a medallion around his neck — it is the only home he has ever known. But unexpected courage leads him to acquire the loyalty of a young bird groundling named Trinket, who gives the Home’s loneliest inhabitant two incredible gifts: a real name — Arthur, like the good king in the old stories — and a best friend. Using Trinket’s ingenious invention, the pair escape over the wall and embark on an adventure that will take them out into the wider world and ultimately down the path of sweet Arthur’s true destiny. Richly imagined, with shimmering language, steampunk motifs, and gripping, magical plot twists, this high adventure fantasy is the debut novel of award-winning memoirist Mira Bartók and has already been put into development for a major motion picture."

Foxen! Dickensian Foxen!?! Even better!

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
Published by: Profile Books Ltd
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye."

That cover is just as inviting as a good book on a cold day!

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King
Published by: Scribner
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 720 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this spectacular father/son collaboration, Stephen King and Owen King tell the highest of high-stakes stories: what might happen if women disappeared from the world of men?

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep: they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent. And while they sleep they go to another place, a better place, where harmony prevails and conflict is rare.

One woman, the mysterious “Eve Black,” is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Eve a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain? Abandoned, left to their increasingly primal urges, the men divide into warring factions, some wanting to kill Eve, some to save her. Others exploit the chaos to wreak their own vengeance on new enemies. All turn to violence in a suddenly all-male world.

Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women’s prison, Sleeping Beauties is a wildly provocative, gloriously dramatic father-son collaboration that feels particularly urgent and relevant today."

So this could go really well or really bad... should be interesting either way.

Sleep Like a Baby by Charlaine Harris
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In Sleep Like a Baby, the latest installment of the #1 New York Times Bestselling Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series, Robin and Aurora have finally begun their adventure in parenting. With newborn Sophie proving to be quite a handful, Roe’s mother pays for a partially trained nurse, Virginia Mitchell, to come help the new parents for a few weeks. Virginia proves to be especially helpful when Robin has to leave town for work and Roe is struck with a bad case of the flu.

One particularly stormy night, Roe wakes to hear her daughter crying and Virginia nowhere to be found. Roe's brother Philip helps her search the house and they happen upon a body outside… but it isn’t Virginia’s. Now, not only does she have a newborn to care for and a vulnerable new marriage to nurture, Roe also has to contend with a new puzzle -- who is this mystery woman dead in their backyard, and what happened to Virginia? This heart-pounding and exciting next installment of the Aurora Teagarden series will leave fans happy and hungry for more."

It's always a good day when there's a new Charlaine Harris book!

The Hunt by Chloe Neill
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of the Chicagoland Vampires Novels—the hunter becomes the hunted in a New Orleans devastated by a Paranormal war....

When bounty hunter Liam Quinn discovered that Claire Connolly was a Sensitive and infected with magic, he should have turned her in to be locked up in the prison district known as Devil’s Isle. Instead, he helped her learn to control her power and introduced her to an underground group of Paranormals and humans who know the truth about the war and those who fought it.

Now the weight of Liam’s own secrets has forced him into hiding. When a government agent is killed and Claire discovers that Liam is the prime suspect, she races to find him before the government can. But she’ll discover proving his innocence is no simple matter. Their enemies are drawing closer, and time is running out...."

Lost meets Urban Fantasy! Sign me up!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aurora Teagarden, Charlaine Harris, Chloe Neill, Grishaverse, Leigh Bardugo, Mira Bartok, Owen King, Shaun Bythell, Stephen King, The Diary of a Bookseller, The Language of Thorns, The Wonderling

All the Little Liars by Charlaine Harris
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 4th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Aurora Teagarden is basking in the news of her pregnancy when disaster strikes her small Georgia town: four kids vanish from the school soccer field in an afternoon. Aurora’s 15-year-old brother Phillip is one of them. Also gone are two of his friends, and an 11-year-old girl who was just hoping to get a ride home from soccer practice. And then there’s an even worse discovery―at the kids’ last known destination, a dead body.

While the local police and sheriff’s department comb the county for the missing kids and interview everyone even remotely involved, Aurora and her new husband, true crime writer Robin Crusoe, begin their own investigation. Could the death and kidnappings have anything to do with a group of bullies at the middle school? Is Phillip’s disappearance related to Aurora’s father’s gambling debts? Or is Phillip himself, new to town and an unknown quantity, responsible for taking the other children? But regardless of the reason, as the days go by, the most important questions remain. Are the kids still alive? Who could be concealing them? Where could they be?

With Christmas approaching, Aurora is determined to find her brother…if he’s still alive.

After more than a decade, #1 New York Times bestseller Charlaine Harris finally returns to her fan-favorite Aurora Teagarden series with All the Little Liars, a fabulously fun new mystery."

Well, I'll obviously buy and read anything by Charlaine Harris, but I'm VERY excited that she's going to be at the Wisconsin Book Festival this year. So therefore by extension I'm VERY excited about this book!

Teetotaled by Maia Chance
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 4th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"After her philandering husband died and left her penniless in Prohibition-era New York, Lola Woodby escaped with her Swedish cook to the only place she could―her deceased husband’s secret love nest in the middle of Manhattan. Her only comforts were chocolate cake, dime store detective novels, and the occasional highball (okay, maybe not so occasional). But rent came due and Lola and Berta were forced to accept the first job that came their way, leading them to set up shop as private detectives operating out of Alfie’s cramped love nest.

Now Lola and Berta are in danger of losing the business they’ve barely gotten off the ground―work is sparse and money is running out. So when a society matron offers them a job, they take it―even if it means sneaking into a slimming and exercise facility and consuming only water and health food until they can steal a diary from Grace Whiddle, a resident at the “health farm.” But barely a day in, Grace and her diary escape from the facility―and Grace’s future mother-in-law is found murdered on the premises. Lola and Berta are promptly fired. But before they can climb into Lola’s brown and white Duesenberg Model A and whiz off the health farm property, they find themselves with a new client and a new charge: to solve the murder of Grace’s future mother-in-law.

Teetotaled, Maia Chance's sparkling new mystery will delight readers with its clever plotting, larger-than-life characters, and rich 1920s atmosphere."

I stumbled on the first book in this series at Frugal Muse recently and it looks like such a delightful new period cozy series!

The Hammett Hex by Victoria Abbot
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: October 4th, 2016
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The national bestselling author of The Marsh Madness takes rare book collector Jordan Bingham on a trip to San Francisco—home to Dashiell Hammett’s hard-boiled heroes—where nothing is as it seems.

On a getaway to the City by the Bay, book collector Jordan Bingham becomes entangled in a mystery with more twists than Lombard Street...

Jordan has been able to swing a romantic trip to San Francisco with Officer Tyler “Smiley” Dekker on one condition—she must return with a rare copy of Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest for her irascible employer, Vera Van Alst. For his own part, Smiley is full of surprises. He’s a Dashiell devotee himself—excited to be in the city of Hammett’s hard-boiled heroes like Sam Spade and the Continental Op—and also announces he plans to visit his previously unmentioned estranged grandmother, who lives in an old Victorian in Pacific Heights.

But the trip goes downhill fast when Jordan is pushed from a cable car and barely escapes death. And when a dark sedan tries to run the couple down, it’s clear someone’s after them—but who? Just like in Hammett’s world, nothing is quite what is seems..."

Yes, a book several books into a series is not usually likely to catch my eye, but it's San Francisco and Dashiell Hammett people! Though it would be angle of street not speed of cable car that could possibly kill you...

A Most Extraordinary Pursuit by Juliana Gray
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: October 4th, 2016
Format: Paperback, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Known for her original plots, deft characterization, and lyrical voice, Juliana Gray presents an extraordinary novel of an uncommon pursuit…

February, 1906. As the personal secretary of the recently departed Duke of Olympia—and a woman of scrupulous character—Miss Emmeline Rose Truelove never expected her duties to involve steaming through the Mediterranean on a private yacht, under the prodigal eye of one Lord Silverton, the most charmingly corrupt bachelor in London. But here they are, improperly bound on a quest to find the duke’s enigmatic heir, current whereabouts unknown.

An expert on anachronisms, Maximilian Haywood was last seen at an archaeological dig on the island of Crete. And from the moment Truelove and Silverton disembark, they are met with incidents of a suspicious nature: a ransacked flat, a murdered government employee, an assassination attempt. As they travel from port to port on Max’s trail, piecing together the strange events of the days before his disappearance, Truelove will discover the folly of her misconceptions—about the whims of the heart, the motives of men, and the nature of time itself…"

A new Beatriz Williams book! Yep, Juliana Gray is she!

Crosstalk by Connie Willis
Published by: Del Rey
Publication Date: October 4th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 512 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Science fiction icon Connie Willis brilliantly mixes a speculative plot, the wit of Nora Ephron, and the comedic flair of P. G. Wodehouse in Crosstalk—a genre-bending novel that pushes social media, smartphone technology, and twenty-four-hour availability to hilarious and chilling extremes as one young woman abruptly finds herself with way more connectivity than she ever desired.

In the not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. And Briddey Flannigan is delighted when her boyfriend, Trent, suggests undergoing the operation prior to a marriage proposal—to enjoy better emotional connection and a perfect relationship with complete communication and understanding. But things don’t quite work out as planned, and Briddey finds herself connected to someone else entirely—in a way far beyond what she signed up for.

It is almost more than she can handle—especially when the stress of managing her all-too-eager-to-communicate-at-all-times family is already burdening her brain. But that’s only the beginning. As things go from bad to worse, she begins to see the dark side of too much information, and to realize that love—and communication—are far more complicated than she ever imagined."

Huh. This sounds rather interesting from an author who is very savvy when it comes to past and present... also, Wodehouse!

Skunked! Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet by Jacqueline Kelly
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: October 4th, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Newbery honor author Jacqueline Kelly comes a new illustrated chapter book series for younger readers featuring the beloved characters from The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. In Calpurnia Tate, Animal Doctor in Training, Callie Vee, Travis, and Dr. Pritzker help animals big and small.

When soft-hearted Travis discovers an abandoned baby skunk, he can't help but bring him home and take care of him. Stinky, as Travis names him, settles in pretty well. But when Travis discovers Stinky's litter-mate, Winky, who is in need of some help, things get complicated around the Tate house. One skunk is a piece of cake; two is just asking for trouble. Will Travis and Callie be able to keep the critters away from Mother's careful eyes―and nose?"

Um... so seriously, what's with this new direction the Calpurnia Tate books are going in?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aurora Teagarden, Beatriz Williams, Calpurnia Tate, Charlaine Harris, Connie Willis, Cozy, Crosstalk, Dashiell Hammett, Jacqueline Kelly, Juliana Gray, Maia Chance, San Francisco, The Hammett Hex, Victoria Abbot

Back in the fall of 2006 when Charlaine Harris came to Madison to our little mystery themed bookstore she had not become THE NAME she is today. She was very popular for her mystery series, which sadly had only a few of the books remaining in print. Her Sookie books where finally starting to get noticed, with the previous three books making the leap from paperback to hardcover in an indication of the publishers faith in the series. She had also started a new series. The Harper Connelly series, which has taken a lot of criticism for the relationship between the two main characters, was instantly a favorite with me. The first book, Grave Sight, was a nice diversion from the writings of Harris I had previously read, more mystery, less supernatural sex. Plus, the spin the character of Harper puts on a "ghost whisperer" was intriguing. Instead of a sexually abused character who can read minds due to genetics, here we have a psychically handicapped girl who has the power to see the last minutes of the dead due to a lightning strike. Yes, it does sound a little silly, but the first book had me riveted, and when the second book came out I was first at the bookstore that day for the signing. Oddly enough the bookstore had not gotten their shipment of books so the store owners had to run across the street and buy out the stock and Borders. I was one of the few to get stock that wasn't from Borders. Yes, that was a random aside, but it's the odd details that stick with one that should be told.

Charlaine was exactly as she seems in interviews, a sweet Southern lady who really likes her gore. I found it interesting that the one thing she allows herself since her fame is that she can buy any book she wants, being a voracious reader. I totally would also adopt this if I where ever to become famous, but with the caveat, and the shelf space to store and display them. A lot of the talk was about her Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard series, which I had not read (ie, see the note about them being out of print), but I did know who Lily Bard is because of her brief cameo in one of the Sookie books, which was repeated in the most recent installment. So, while fun to site and listen, I was at times a bit lost. But the signing was totally worth it, because when she was signing my books, all of which she personalized (!), I got to talk to her a bit about Sookie. I was saying how I found her books when in a desperate need for Vampire literature due to the end of Buffy, which is how I found out she was such a fan of Buffy. Although she likes the music to Angel far more, though she could never really get into it. I left the bookstore a happy girl clutching my books and went to pick up our new VCR/DVD player at Best Buy. The electronics have long since failed me, but this memory and those signed books are a possession I prize, especially as her signings are hundreds upon hundreds of people now versus the cozy little crowd gathered that fall day.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Angel, Aurora Teagarden, Buffy, Charlaine Harris, Grave Sight, Harper Connelly, Lily Bard, Sookie Stackhouse, Vampire