strange and random happenstance

Skywatchers by Carrie Arcos
Published by: Philomel Books
Publication Date: August 18th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From National Book Award Finalist Carrie Arcos comes a thrilling, genre-bending mystery about the history of the Cold War and the UFO phenomenon. Perfect for fans of In the Woods by Tana French and Netflix's Stranger Things.

The year is 1952. The threat of invasion from the Soviet Union has people in a panic. The government has issued a call to civilians to act as radar - and Teddy, John, Caroline, Eleanor, Bunny, Frank, and Oscar eagerly answer. As members of their high school's "Operation Skywatch" club, they, along with others across the country, look to the sky in an effort to protect the country from attack.

But they're not prepared for the strange green light they see when on duty, which looks like nothing they've been trained to look out for. So when the mysterious object lands in the forest, Teddy, John, Caroline, and Bunny go in to investigate. Then, they disappear.

In this thrill of a novel inspired by real events, one group of teens will come face to face with the UFO phenomenon and the vastness of the unknown as they try to save one another, and possibly, the world. A powerful exploration of what if."

YA Project Blue Book!

Strange Skies of East Berlin by Jeff Loveness and Lisandro Estherren
Published by: BOOM! Studios
Publication Date: August 18th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 112 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A chilling and intense thriller about an American spy who encounters a terrifying inhuman threat at the heart of the Cold War.

East Berlin, 1973. Herring, a disillusioned American spy, has spent the entire Cold War infiltrating the inner circles of East German intelligence for a cause he barely believes in anymore. He’s seen everything and done anything his government asked, but his latest mission pits the brilliant, embittered operative against an enemy force so vast it could obliterate all of humanity.

The Space Race had greater consequences than even the Soviets could have guessed, and when they sent the first human ever to the stars, something not quite human followed them back. When a mysterious alien probe lands outside East Berlin and into Soviet control, the Americans send their top spy in to investigate. But as Herring gets ever closer to the truth at the heart of the conspiracy, he may find that the power he so desperately seeks is too dangerous for anyone to control or contain.

Writer Jeff Loveness (Judas) and artist Lisandro Estherren (Redneck) present a chilling and intense thriller about a terrifying inhuman threat at the heart of the Cold War - and the one American spy who can save the world...if he can save himself first."

Because aliens and the Cold War go hand in hand! 

Cruel Summer by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Published by: Image Comics
Publication Date: August 18th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Brubaker and Phillips' Criminal epic, collected in a gorgeous hardback edition.

In the summer of '88, Teeg Lawless comes home to plan the biggest heist of his career. But Teeg's son Ricky and his friends are starting down the same dark path their fathers are on, and this is about to become the worst summer of their lives.

An epic tale of tragedy handed down from generation to generation, Cruel Summer is a crime comic masterpiece from the most celebrated noir masters in the industry, creators of Criminal, Fatale, Kill or Be Killed, and The Fade Out.

Collects Criminal #1 and #5-12 in a beautiful new hardback edition with additional behind-the-scenes material."

While this arc of Criminal had high and low points I guarantee you you'll be kicking yourself if you don't pick this edition up before it goes out of print.

Vicious Spirits by Kat Cho
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 18th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New romance and dangers abound in this companion to the crowd-pleasing Wicked Fox.

After the events of Wicked Fox, Somin is ready to help her friends pick up the pieces of their broken lives and heal. But Jihoon is still grieving the loss of his grandmother, and Miyoung is distant as she grieves over her mother's death and learns to live without her fox bead. The only one who seems ready to move forward is their not-so-favorite dokkaebi, Junu.

Somin and Junu didn't exactly hit it off when they first met. Somin thought he was an arrogant self-serving, conman. Junu was, at first, amused by her hostility toward him until he found himself inexplicably drawn to her. Somin couldn't deny the heat of their attraction. But as the two try to figure out what could be between them, they discover their troubles aren't over after all. The loss of Miyoung's fox bead has caused a tear between the world of the living and the world of the dead, and ghosts are suddenly flooding the streets of Seoul. The only way to repair the breach is to find the missing fox bead or for Miyoung to pay with her life. With few options remaining, Junu has an idea but it might require the ultimate sacrifice. In usual fashion, Somin may have a thing or two to say about that.

In Vicious Spirits, Kat Cho delivers another beguiling and addictive read full of otherworldly dangers and romance."

Sometimes I wish authors didn't get books out so fast because I have yet to read Wicked Fox! Also GRRM doesn't apply to this theory. At. All. Neither does Patrick Rothfuss.

Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: August 18th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Death at High Tide is the delightful first installment in the Island Sisters series by Hannah Dennison, featuring two sisters who inherit an old hotel in the remote Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall and find it full of intrigue, danger, and romance.

When Evie Mead’s husband, Robert, suddenly drops dead of a heart attack, a mysterious note is found among his possessions. It indicates that Evie may own the rights to an old hotel on Tregarrick Rock, one of the Isles of Scilly.

Still grieving, Evie is inclined to leave the matter to the accountant to sort out. Her sister Margot, however, flown in from her glamorous career in LA, has other plans. Envisioning a luxurious weekend getaway, she goes right ahead and buys two tickets - one way - to Tregarrick.

Once at the hotel - used in its heyday to house detective novelists, and more fixer-upper than spa resort, after all - Evie and Margot attempt to get to the bottom of things. But the foul-tempered hotel owner claims he's never met the late Robert, even after Evie finds framed photos of them - alongside Robert's first wife - in his office. The rest of the island inhabitants, ranging from an ex-con receptionist to a vicar who communicates with cats, aren't any easier to read.

But when a murder occurs at the hotel, and then another soon follows, frustration turns to desperation. There’s no getting off the island at high tide. And Evie and Margot, the only current visitors to Tregarrick, are suspects one and two. It falls to them to unravel secrets spanning generations - and several of their own - if they want to make it back alive."

I was sold at the mention of "remote Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall."

An Old Money Murder in Mayfair by Sara Rosett
Published by: McGuffin Ink
Publication Date: August 18th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 282 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Midnight treasure hunts, fancy-dress parties, and a blue-blooded murder...

November, 1923. Olive's school chum, Gigi, invites Olive to London because Gigi's dotty grandmother fears for her life - or so she's said to Gigi. However Olive is surprised to find that the dowager is far from muddled. The sharp and imperious matriarch refuses to admit to her worries and sends Olive on her way.

Without a client or case, Olive is swept into the glittering lifestyle of the "fast set," and their decadent excess. But then among the cocktails and champagne, a murderer strikes during a frivolous party game, and Olive realizes the dowager's fears were well-founded.

Can Olive unmask the upper crust culprit before the party's over for a Bright Young Person?

An Old Money Murder in Mayfair is the fifth installment in the popular High Society Lady Detective series from USA Today bestselling author Sara Rosett. Join Olive and her dapper sleuthing partner, Jasper, as they navigate the extravagant parties of the Bright Young People as well as their own budding relationship..."

Because right now I literally can not get enough of the 1920s!

Who's That Earl by Susanna Craig
Published by: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: August 18th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 204 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Will scandalous secrets stand in the way of a second chance at love?

Miss Jane Quayle excels at invention. How else could the sheltered daughter of an English gentleman create lurid gothic novels so infamous someone wants their author silenced forever? Fortunately, Jane has taken steps to protect herself, first by assuming a pen name, and second, by taking up residence at remote Dunnock Castle, surrounded by rugged scenery that might have been ripped from the pages of one of her books. Her true identity remains a secret, until one dark and stormy night...

After years of spying for the British army, Thomas Sutherland doubts the Highlands will ever feel like home again. Nevertheless, thanks to a quirk of Scottish inheritance law, he's now the Earl of Magnus, complete with a crumbling castle currently inhabited by a notorious novelist. When the writer turns out to be the woman Thomas once wooed, suspicions rise even as mutual sparks reignite. As danger closes in, can Jane and Thomas overcome their pasts to forge a future together?"

Anyone else rewriting a certain Eurythmics song in their head to fit with the plot of this book? It can't be only me! 

Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth
Published by: Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: August 18th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Fleabag meets Conversations with Friends in this brutally honest, observant, original novel about a woman going through a breakup...but really having more of a breakdown.

Jenny McLaine’s life is falling apart. Her friendships are flagging. Her body has failed her. She’s just lost her column at The Foof because she isn’t the fierce voice new feminism needs. Her ex has gotten together with another woman. And worst of all: Jenny’s mother is about to move in. Having left home at eighteen to remake herself as a self-sufficient millennial, Jenny is now in her thirties and nothing is as she thought it would be. Least of all adulthood.

Told in live-wire prose, texts, emails, script dialogue, and social media messages, Grown Ups is a neurotic dramedy of 21st-century manners for the digital age. It reckons with what it means to exist in a woman’s body: to sing and dance and work and mother and sparkle and equalize and not complain and be beautiful and love your imperfections and stay strong and show your vulnerability and bake and box...

But, despite our impossible expectations of women, Emma Jane Unsworth never lets Jenny off the hook. Jenny’s life is falling apart at her own hands and whether or not she has help from her mother or her friends, Jenny is the only one who will be able to pick up the pieces and learn how to, more or less, grow up. Or will she?"

I was intrigued by the Fleabag comparison and sold on the different prose style.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 1920s, Aliens, Carrie Arcos, Cold War, Cornwall, Cruel Summer, Ed Brubaker, Emma Jane Unsworth, Fleabag, Hannah Dennison, Jeff Loveness, Kat Cho, Project Blue Book, Sara Rosett, Sean Phillips, Susanna Craig

Season of Darkness by Cora Harrison
Published by: Severn House Publishers
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When Inspector Field shows his friend Charles Dickens the body of a young woman dragged from the River Thames, he cannot have foreseen that the famous author would immediately recognize the victim as Isabella Gordon, a housemaid he had tried to help through his charity. Nor that Dickens and his fellow writer Wilkie Collins would determine to find out who killed her. Who was Isabella blackmailing, and why? Led on by fragments of a journal discovered by Isabella’s friend Sesina, the two men track the murdered girl’s journeys from Greenwich to Snow Hill, from Smithfield Market to St Bartholomews, and put their wits to work on uncovering her past. But what does Sesina know that she’s choosing not to tell them? And is she doomed to follow in the footsteps of the unfortunate Isabella...?"

Dickens and dead bodies? Through in Wilkie Collins and this is a must read mystery for me.

The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Howe
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Katherine Howe returns to the world of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane with a bewitching story of a New England history professor who must race against time to free her family from a curse.

Connie Goodwin is an expert on America’s fractured past with witchcraft. A young, tenure-track professor in Boston, she’s earned career success by studying the history of magic in colonial America - especially women’s home recipes and medicines - and by exposing society's threats against women fluent in those skills. But beyond her studies, Connie harbors a secret: She is the direct descendant of a woman tried as a witch in Salem, an ancestor whose abilities were far more magical than the historical record shows.

When a hint from her mother and clues from her research lead Connie to the shocking realization that her partner’s life is in danger, she must race to solve the mystery behind a hundreds’-years-long deadly curse.

Flashing back through American history to the lives of certain supernaturally gifted women, The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs affectingly reveals not only the special bond that unites one particular matriarchal line, but also explores the many challenges to women’s survival across the decades―and the risks some women are forced to take to protect what they love most."

Witches and history and Salem oh my!

Bewitched and Betrothed by Juliet Blackwell
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A supernatural force on the loose in San Francisco and a family reunion keeps witch and vintage storeowner Lily Ivory on her toes as she prepares to walk down the aisle...

When Lily Ivory stumbles on the uniform of a former prisoner from Alcatraz and SFPD inspector Carlos Romero’s cousin is kidnapped, Lily suspects something dangerous has been unleashed on the ghost-ridden island of Alcatraz. She'll have to sleuth out the culprit - when she’s not busy entertaining her visiting relatives and resolving romantic conflicts as her wedding date approaches. Could recent omens be pointing to the magical threat in her adopted city? If so, she'll have to line up her allies to change the fate of the Bay Area. Because no matter what, Lily's determined to celebrate her marriage with her friends by her side - even if it means battling a demonic foe before she can make it to the altar."

If you haven't yet picked up this delightful series, what's wrong with you? 

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins
Published by: Gallery Books
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins crafts an unforgettable story about a sleepy Southern town, two fiercely independent women, and a truly magical friendship.

Sarah Dove is no ordinary bookworm. To her, books have always been more than just objects: they live, they breathe, and sometimes they even speak. When Sarah grows up to become the librarian in her quaint Southern town of Dove Pond, her gift helps place every book in the hands of the perfect reader. Recently, however, the books have been whispering about something out of the ordinary: the arrival of a displaced city girl named Grace Wheeler.

If the books are right, Grace could be the savior that Dove Pond desperately needs. The problem is, Grace wants little to do with the town or its quirky residents—Sarah chief among them. It takes a bit of urging, and the help of an especially wise book, but Grace ultimately embraces the challenge to rescue her charmed new community. In her quest, she discovers the tantalizing promise of new love, the deep strength that comes from having a true friend, and the power of finding just the right book.

“A mesmerizing fusion of the mystical and the everyday” (Susan Andersen, New York Times bestselling author), The Book Charmer is a heartwarming story about the magic of books that feels more than a little magical itself. Prepare to fall under its spell."

Books ARE magic people!

Golden Pavements by Pamela Brown
Published by: Pushkin Children's Books
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The third book in the Blue Door series, which starts with The Swish of the Curtain, the classic story which inspired actors from Maggie Smith to Eileen Atkins.

'How do you think you'll like the Academy?'
'Like it!' cried Lyn. 'I love it already. I'd not have missed it for the world. This has been the happiest day of my life.'

At the Actors' Guild in London, the Blue Door Theatre Company are throwing themselves into anything that will bring the dreams of their own theatre to life - touring the country with the Guild's summer productions, working behind the scenes at local theatrical companies, even taking walk-on parts between classes.

But just as plans for their own beloved Blue Door seem almost within their grasp, a disaster threatens to destroy one career for good..."

I love that this old British books are being re-released! 

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul.

Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret - she's a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.

But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead - her gumiho soul - in the process.

Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl - he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to men. He's drawn to her anyway.

With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous and reignite a generations-old feud...forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon's."

I can not wait for this modern meets fable YA book! And yes, one yes is because of my love of foxen.

In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant
Published by: Subterranean
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 200 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Nature abhors a straight line. The natural world is a place of curves and softened edges, of gentle mists and welcoming spirals. Nature remembers deviation; nature does not forgive. For Harlowe Upton-Jones, life has never been a straight line. Shipped off to live with her paternal grandparents after a mysterious cult killed her mother and father, she has grown up chasing the question behind the curve, becoming part of a tight-knit teen detective agency. But “teen” is a limited time offer, and when her friends start looking for adult professions, it's up to Harlowe to find them one last case so that they can go out in a blaze of glory. Welcome to Spindrift House. The stories and legends surrounding the decrepit property are countless and contradictory, but one thing is clear: there are people willing to pay a great deal to determine the legal ownership of the house. When Harlowe and her friends agree to investigate the mystery behind the manor, they do so on the assumption that they'll be going down in history as the ones who determined who built Spindrift House - and why. The house has secrets. They have the skills. They have a plan. They have everything they need to solve the mystery. Everything they need except for time. Because Spindrift House keeps its secrets for a reason, and it has no intention of letting them go. Nature abhors a straight line. Here's where the story bends."

Subterranean Press at it again with a spooky house to boot!

The Dry Heat by Natalia Ginzburg
Published by: New Directions
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 96 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Finally back in print, a frighteningly lucid feminist horror story about marriage.

The Dry Heart begins and ends with the matter-of-fact pronouncement: “I shot him between the eyes.” As the tale - a plunge into the chilly waters of loneliness, desperation, and bitterness - proceeds, the narrator's murder of her flighty husband takes on a certain logical inevitability. Stripped of any preciousness or sentimentality, Natalia Ginzburg's writing here is white-hot, tempered by rage. She transforms the unhappy tale of an ordinary dull marriage into a rich psychological thriller that seems to beg the question: why don't more wives kill their husbands?"

Because summer and murder just go together like bacon and eggs.

Murder in the Fens by Clare Chase
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Kindle, 341 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When the body of twenty-year-old Julie Cooper is found - her pockets stuffed full of wilting flowers - in an iron-age hill fort on the edge of the fens, Detective Tara Thorpe and her team are called in to investigate. The evidence points to an illicit affair gone wrong...but is there more to the story?

As always at the Cambridge constabulary, the case turns personal. Detective Blake is exhausted after the arrival of a new baby with wayward wife Babette, and Tara is keen to put as much distance between herself and Blake as she can - both at the station and on the hunt for the killer. Charming rookie officer Jez is the perfect distraction...but is he a little too good to be true?

Then Tara makes a startling breakthrough when she finds an unsettling family heirloom hidden in the late victim’s bedroom - a golden statue of a sinister-looking cat with emerald eyes. As she traces its origins, Tara begins to realise that Julie’s murder is no one-off crime, but a sinister plot with its roots in a terrible secret that was covered up decades earlier."

A delicious Midsomer Murders meets Lynley vibe. 

The Snakes by Sadie Jones
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A chilling page-turner and impossible to put down, The Snakes is Sadie Jones at her best: breathtakingly powerful, brilliantly incisive, and utterly devastating.

Recently married, psychologist Bea and Dan, a mixed-race artist, rent out their tiny flat to escape London for a few precious months. Driving through France they visit Bea's dropout brother Alex at the hotel he runs in Burgundy. Disturbingly, they find him all alone and the ramshackle hotel deserted, apart from the nest of snakes in the attic.

When Alex and Bea's parents make a surprise visit, Dan can't understand why Bea is so appalled, or why she's never wanted him to know them; Liv and Griff Adamson are charming and rich. They are the richest people he has ever met. Maybe Bea's ashamed of him, or maybe she regrets the secrets she's been keeping.

Tragedy strikes suddenly, brutally, and in its aftermath the family is stripped back to its heart, and then its rotten core, and even Bea with all her strength and goodness can't escape."

At first I was drawn to this book by the Leigh Bardugo reminiscent cover, then I read the blurb and saw it was Sadie Jones and was sold. 

Watchers of the Dead by Simon Beaufort
Published by: Severn House Publishers
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""All Londoners will see what the Watchers are capable of on Christmas Eve..." December 1882. Attending the opening of the new Natural History Museum, Pall Mall Gazette reporter Alec Lonsdale and his colleague Hulda Friederichs are shocked to discover a body in the basement, hacked to death. Suspicion immediately falls on a trio of cannibals, brought over from the Congo as museum exhibits, who have disappeared without trace. Alec however has his doubts - especially when he discovers that three other influential London men have been similarly murdered. When he and Hulda discover a letter in the victim’s home warning of a catastrophic event planned for Christmas Eve, the pair find themselves in a race against time to discover who exactly the Watchers are and what it is they want..."

Christmas is also another great time to commit a crime...

Lucifer Vol. 1: The Infernal Comedy by Dan Watters
Published by: Vertigo
Publication Date: June 25th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 200 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Prince of Darkness is missing, and from the look of things he's not coming back. Blind, crippled, and without a penny to his name, the onetime ruler of Hell is now a wizened, unkempt old man trapped in a small town where sinister forces torment him at every turn and nothing is as it seems. He has no memory of how he got here, no hope of escape, and no way to track down his child - the only entity capable of preventing the end of the world.

At the same time, a police officer in Lucifer's adopted hometown of Los Angeles is about to lose everything he holds dear. Desperate to find a reason for his suffering, Detective John Decker is drawn into a shadowy conspiracy whose widely varied members share a single common purpose: to kill Lucifer Morningstar.

With monsters and magicians from every plane of reality set against him, can the Lightbringer heal his broken mind and body and regain his wrongful place in the cosmos?

Acclaimed author Dan Watters (The Shadow, Deep Roots) and the incredible art team of Max and Sebastian Fiumara (All-Star Batman, The Amazing Spider-Man, Abe Sapien) begin an all-new chapter in the saga of one of the Sandman Universe's most mesmerizing characters in Lucifer Vol. 1: The Infernal Comedy - from the mind of New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman!"

I'm a major Luci-fan since Lucifer first came on screen... now I can't get enough and have to go back to where he first appeared, comics!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blue Door, Clare Chase, Cora Harrison, Foxen, Juliet Blackwell, Karen Hawkins, Kat Cho, Katherine Howe, Lucifer, Mira Grant, Natalia Ginzburg, Neil Gaiman, Pamela Brown, Sadie Jones, Simon Beaufort