Tag: waiting on wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday: A Deadly Education – Naomi Novik

Waiting on Wednesday: A Deadly Education – Naomi Novik

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 2 Comments

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Synopsis

Lesson One of the Scholomance

Learning has never been this deadly

A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) — until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets. There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere. El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students.

Thoughts

Copy of book cover (1)A Deadly Education is the first in a new series from fantasy author Naomi Novik and it sounds INCREDIBLE. I love a magic school setting and everything about this book just sounds like my perfect kind of read. I’ve actually never read a Naomi Novik book, but I have Spinning Silver and Uprooted on my TBR. I’ve heard amazing things about her books so I’m really interested in trying A Deadly Education. It’s been pitched as ‘a dark feminist Harry Potter’ and I was pretty much sold from that alone. I’ve seen a few early reviews and they’ve all been extremely positive so that gives me really high hopes for this one. I also completely adore that cover! A Deadly Education is definitely one of my most anticipated releases and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. There’s not too much longer to wait, A Deadly Education is publishing September 29th from Del Rey Books.

Waiting on Wednesday: Harrow Lake – Kat Ellis

Waiting on Wednesday: Harrow Lake – Kat Ellis

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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Synopsis

Welcome to Harrow Lake. Someone’s expecting you . . .

Lola Nox is the daughter of a celebrated horror filmmaker – she thinks nothing can scare her.

But when her father is brutally attacked in their New York apartment, she’s swiftly packed off to live with a grandmother she’s never met in Harrow Lake, the eerie town where her father’s most iconic horror movie was shot.

The locals are weirdly obsessed with the film that put their town on the map – and there are strange disappearances, which the police seem determined to explain away.

And there’s someone – or something – stalking her every move.

The more Lola discovers about the town, the more terrifying it becomes. Because Lola’s got secrets of her own. And if she can’t find a way out of Harrow Lake, they might just be the death of her.

Thoughts

Copy of book cover (21)Harrow Lake is a book I’ve seen going around quite a lot on social media and lots of people have been absolutely loving it. It sounds like a perfect creepy thriller and I am honestly do excited to pick this one up. I love old horror movies and I think this is going to be the perfect book to binge in an afternoon. I haven’t yet had the chance to pick up any of Kat Ellis’ other books but I am definitely intrigued. The synopsis kind of gives me Night Film vibes, with the father who is a horror filmmaker and the creepy locations the films were set. I absolutely adored Night Film so I’m really hoping Harrow Lake has similar vibes. I’ve seen a fair few early reviews that have been five stars so this is giving me hope for the intense creepy thriller I’m craving. If like me you’re dying to read this one, you don’t have too much longer to wait – Harrow Lake is publishing July 9th 2020 from Penguin Books. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Even If We Break – Marieke Nijkamp

Waiting on Wednesday: Even If We Break – Marieke Nijkamp

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 2 Comments

July 23, 2019 (11)

Synopsis

“Immersive and captivating. Thrilling in every sense of the word.”—KAREN M. MCMANUS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us is Lying and One of Us is Next

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp comes a shocking new thriller about a group of friends tied together by a game and the deadly weekend that tears them apart.

FIVE friends go to a cabin.
FOUR of them are hiding secrets.
THREE years of history bind them.
TWO are doomed from the start.
ONE person wants to end this.
NO ONE IS SAFE.

Are you ready to play?

 

Thoughts

Copy of book cover (12)Welcome to another Waiting on Wednesday! This week I’m excited to talk about the upcoming new book from Marieke Nijkamp – Even If We Break. I read Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. It ended up being on my favourite books of 2018 list and I’ve been meaning to go back and read This Is Where It Ends. When I heard that she was releasing a new book I was so intrigued and that vague synopsis definitely piqued my interest. It sounds like it’s going to be an intense, twisty thriller which is exactly what I’m hoping for. I definitely have quite high expectations for this one. The cover is also so eye catching and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. I have requested a copy of this on Netgalley so fingers crossed I get approved because I’m just dying to read this one. Even If We Break is publishing September 15th 2020 from Sourcebooks Fire.  

Waiting on Wednesday: The Curator – M. W. Craven

Waiting on Wednesday: The Curator – M. W. Craven

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

July 23, 2019

Synopsis:

It’s Christmas and a serial killer is leaving displayed body parts all over Cumbria. A strange message is left at each scene: #BSC6. Called in to investigate, the National Crime Agency’s Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are faced with a case that makes no sense. Why were some victims anaesthetized, while others died in appalling agony? Why is their only suspect denying what they can irrefutably prove but admitting to things they weren’t even aware of? And why did the victims all take the same two weeks off work three years earlier?

And when a disgraced FBI agent gets in touch things take an even darker turn. Because she doesn’t think Poe is dealing with a serial killer at all; she thinks he’s dealing with someone far, far worse – a man who calls himself the Curator.

And nothing will ever be the same again…

Thoughts:

Copy of book coverThe Curator is the third instalment in the Washington Poe series by M. W. Craven. This series has become one of my all time favourite crime thriller series and I am eagerly awaiting this release. The series follows detective Washington Poe and analyst Tilly as they attempt to solve some of the grisly murders going on in Cumbria. The first two books in the series – The Puppet Show and Black Summer were five star reads for me, each one having me on the edge of my seat and staying up way past my bedtime. If you haven’t had a chance to check this series out yet I’d highly recommend it. They both had twists I absolutely would not have seen coming and they were unputdownable. I have no doubt The Curator is going to be exactly the same and luckily there isn’t too much longer to wait – The Curator is publishing June 4th from Constable.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Left Handed Booksellers of London – Garth Nix

Waiting on Wednesday: The Left Handed Booksellers of London – Garth Nix

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 1 Comment

July 23, 2019 (28)

Synopsis

In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesn’t get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin.

Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones). With the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), he belongs to an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.

Susan’s search for her father begins with her mother’s possibly misremembered or misspelled surnames, a reading-room ticket, and a silver cigarette case engraved with something that might be a coat of arms.

Merlin has a quest of his own: to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals to kill his mother. As he and his sister, a right-handed bookseller named Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police investigation from years past, they find their quest strangely overlaps with Susan’s. Who or what was her father? Susan, Merlin, and Vivien must find out, as the Old World erupts dangerously into the New.

Thoughts

Copy of book cover - 2020-04-27T210138.925Garth Nix has been one of my favourite authors since I was a little girl. My dad bought me a copy of Sabriel, and then pretty much every birthday/Christmas after that I asked for one of his books. Shade’s Children is one of my all time favourites, and I just fell in love with his newest release Angel Mage. When he announced this new title I almost squealed with excitement because not only is it a new Garth Nix book, but it sounds incredible. The title really drew me in and I love the blend of fantasy and historical fiction. Nix always creates these really imaginative worlds and I have no doubt that this one is going to suck me in just like all the others. I cannot wait to get my hands on this book, and I patiently praying that it might end up on Netgalley sometime soon. If like me you’re desperate to get your hands on this, you don’t have too much longer to wait – The Left-Handed Booksellers of London is publishing September 22nd from Katherine Tegen Books.

Waiting on Wednesday: Aurora Burning – Ami Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Waiting on Wednesday: Aurora Burning – Ami Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

July 23, 2019 (20)

Synopsis

Our heroes are back… kind of. From the bestselling co-authors of the Illuminae Files comes the second book in the epic series about a squad of misfits, losers, and discipline cases who just might be the galaxy’s best hope for survival.

First, the bad news: an ancient evil—you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal—is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They’ve just got to take care of a few small distractions first.

Like the clan of gremps who’d like to rearrange their favorite faces.

And the cadre of illegit GIA agents with creepy flowers where their eyes used to be, who’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on Auri.

Then there’s Kal’s long-lost sister, who’s not exactly happy to see her baby brother, and has a Syldrathi army at her back. With half the known galaxy on their tails, Squad 312 has never felt so wanted.

When they learn the Hadfield has been found, it’s time to come out of hiding. Two centuries ago, the colony ship vanished, leaving Auri as its sole survivor. Now, its black box might be what saves them. But time is short, and if Auri can’t learn to master her powers as a Trigger, the squad and all their admirers are going to be deader than the Great Ultrasaur of Abraaxis IV.

Shocking revelations, bank heists, mysterious gifts, inappropriately tight bodysuits, and an epic firefight will determine the fate of the Aurora Legion’s most unforgettable heroes—and maybe the rest of the galaxy as well.

Thoughts

Copy of book cover - 2020-04-20T121652.203This has definitely got to be one of my most anticipated releases for 2020. Aurora Burning is the second instalment in the Aurora Cycle, and book one was one of my favourite books of last year. We’re back following the same characters in Aurora Rising, and this time the stakes are even higher. I completely adored the first book as well as the Illuminae files by these authors, so I’m absolutely dying to get my hands on this book. The story so far has been full of action and banter and I couldn’t put it down. I think this is a highly anticipated release for loads of people, and I’m so excited for it to be released next month. If you haven’t had the chance to check out book one in the series I’d highly recommend it. I currently have a request in for an E-ARC via Netgalley, so if it gets accepted I’ll be abandoning everything to read this one. It’s the perfect story to get lost in, especially if like me you’re stuck at home during quarantine. Aurora Burning is released May 5th by Rock the Boat.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Girl and the Stars – Mark Lawrence

Waiting on Wednesday: The Girl and the Stars – Mark Lawrence

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 1 Comment

July 23, 2019 (3)

Synopsis

In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown.

On Abeth the vastness of the ice holds no room for individuals. Survival together is barely possible. No one survives alone.

To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal. And Yaz is not the same.

Yaz is torn from the only life she’s ever known, away from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her days with, and has to carve out a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of difference and mystery and danger.

Yaz learns that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined. She learns that her weaknesses are another kind of strength. And she learns to challenge the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people.

Only when it’s darkest you can see the stars.

Thoughts

Copy of book cover - 2020-03-04T191405.408Mark Lawrence is one of my all time favourite authors so The Girl and the Stars is definitely one of my most anticipated releases of 2020. I don’t think I’ve ever given one of his books anything less than four stars so I have some really high expectations for this new book. The synopsis sounds so intriguing, Lawrence always creates really interesting magic systems and the icy setting of this story sounds brilliant. I really like the cover too and I’m so interested to see where Lawrence takes this all new series – I’m honestly still reeling from the Red Sister trilogy. If you haven’t had a chance to pick up any of his books yet I’d highly recommend them, he has a brilliant back catalogue of series for you to try. The Girl and the Stars is publishing April 30th 2020 from HarperVoyager.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Deep – Alma Katsu

Waiting on Wednesday: The Deep – Alma Katsu

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 11 Comments

Synopsis

Someone, or something, is haunting the Titanic.

This is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the passengers of the ship from the moment they set sail: mysterious disappearances, sudden deaths. Now suspended in an eerie, unsettling twilight zone during the four days of the liner’s illustrious maiden voyage, a number of the passengers – including millionaires Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, the maid Annie Hebbley and Mark Fletcher – are convinced that something sinister is going on . . . And then, as the world knows, disaster strikes.

Years later and the world is at war. And a survivor of that fateful night, Annie, is working as a nurse on the sixth voyage of the Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic, now refitted as a hospital ship. Plagued by the demons of her doomed first and near fatal journey across the Atlantic, Annie comes across an unconscious soldier she recognises while doing her rounds. It is the young man Mark. And she is convinced that he did not – could not – have survived the sinking of the Titanic . . .

Brilliantly combining fact and fiction, the historical and the horrific, The Deep reveals a chilling truth in an unputdownable narrative full of unnerving moments and with a growing, inexorable sense of foreboding.

Thoughts

Copy of book cover - 2020-01-15T230757.374I am so excited for this book. Growing up I was obsessed with the movie Titanic and I find the history absolutely fascinating so when I heard Alma Katsu was bringing out a book based on the infamous voyage I was so intrigued. On finding out it was a mixture of historical fiction and horror it pretty much jumped to the top of my want to read list. It sounds like such a fascinating twist on the well known story and I’m already completely in love with the cover. I haven’t read anything by Alma Katsu before but I’ve heard amazing things about her previous novels and I have no doubts this is going to be an addictive read. I’m hoping it has a really strong sense of atmosphere and I’m definitely predicting a five star read. The Deep is publishing March 10th 2020 from Transworld Books.

Waiting on Wednesday: One of Us Is Next – Karen M. McManus

Waiting on Wednesday: One of Us Is Next – Karen M. McManus

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 2 Comments

BOOK REVIEW - 2020-01-07T222031.961
Synopsis

Come on, Bayview, you know you’ve missed this.

A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.

Until now.

This time it’s not an app, though—it’s a game.

Truth or Dare.

Phoebe’s the first target. If you choose not to play, it’s a truth. And hers is dark.

Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare.

But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection.

Simon’s gone, but someone’s determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there’s a whole new set of rules.

Thoughts

Copy of book cover - 2020-01-07T221455.371Welcome to another Waiting on Wednesday! This week I’m talking about the newest release by Karen M. McManus. One of Us Is Next is the sequel to One of Us Is Lying, the YA thriller that so many people loved. I’ve read both One of Us Is Lying and her other thriller Two Can Keep A Secret and while they weren’t my favourite reads of all time, I found them both to be quite addictive page turners. One of Us Is Lying isn’t the sort of book I would have thought would have a sequel, so I’m quite looking forward to reading it and finding out what direction she takes the story in. If you enjoy twisty turny stories with big shock endings, her books are definitely worth a read. One of Us Is Next was actually published yesterday on January 7th, so the book is out now from Penguin Books!

Waiting on Wednesday: Dispel Illusion – Mark Lawrence

Waiting on Wednesday: Dispel Illusion – Mark Lawrence

by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 2 Comments

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Synopsis

Sometimes being wrong is the right answer.

Nick Hayes’s genius is in wringing out the universe’s secrets. It’s a talent that’s allowed him to carve paths through time. But the worst part is that he knows how his story will end. He’s seen it with his own eyes. And every year that passes, every breakthrough he makes, brings him a step closer. Mia’s accident is waiting for them both in 2011. If it happens then he’s out of choices.

Then a chance 1992 discovery reveals that this seeker of truth has been lying to himself. But why? It’s a question that haunts him for years. A straw he clings to as his long-awaited fate draws near.

Time travel turns out not to be the biggest problem Nick has to work on. He needs to find out how he can stay on his path but change the destination. Failure has never been an option, and neither has survival. But Nick’s hoping to roll the dice one more time. And this new truth begins with a lie.

Thoughts

Copy of book cover (86)Today’s waiting on Wednesday is for Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence. This is the third and final instalment in the Impossible Times trilogy, and I am honestly dying to read this so I can know how it all ends. This action packed series has had me on the edge of my seat quite a few times and I honestly have no idea what direction the final book is going to take. Lawrence has delivered some shock twists in this tale and I’m sure the final instalment will be just as brilliant. The story features a group of Dungeon’s and Dragons playing teenagers (think Stranger Things) as they end up on a crazy time travelling mission to save the world. It’s brilliant fun and the first two books have been quite short fast paced reads. If you haven’t had a chance to pick this series up yet, I’d highly recommend them, they’re definitely the kind of books you could curl up and binge read on a snowy weekend. Dispel Illusion is publishing in ebook on November 14th, and then later on in December in hardback. I was planning to wait on the hardback release to match my copies of One Word Kill and Limited Wish, but I’m not sure I can hold off that long!