Waiting on...

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

The Disappearances

by Emily Bain Murphy

hitting shelves July 4th, 2017

from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

What if the ordinary things in life suddenly…disappeared?
 
Aila Quinn’s mother, Juliet, has always been a mystery: vibrant yet guarded, she keeps her secrets beyond Aila’s reach. When Juliet dies, Aila and her younger brother Miles are sent to live in Sterling, a rural town far from home--and the place where Juliet grew up.

Sterling is a place with mysteries of its own. A place where the experiences that weave life together--scents of flowers and food, reflections from mirrors and lakes, even the ability to dream--vanish every seven years.

No one knows what caused these “Disappearances,” or what will slip away next. But Sterling always suspected that Juliet Quinn was somehow responsible--and Aila must bear the brunt of their blame while she follows the chain of literary clues her mother left behind. 

As the next Disappearance nears, Aila begins to unravel the dual mystery of why the Disappearances happen and who her mother truly was. One thing is clear: Sterling isn’t going to hold on to anyone's secrets for long before it starts giving them up.

My thoughts:  This sounds like just the kind of wonderfully bizarre type of story I love. Disappearing scents, reflections, and dreams, family mystery, and on top of that, literary clues to follow??? YES. PLEASE.  Who's with me?? :) 

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {172}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)

Posting this a little later than usual but I got such lovely things this week, I didn't want to miss spotlighting them! Here's what dropped on my doorstep this week:

From publishers:

The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst

Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

Metaltown by Kristen Simmons

So excited to have lovely finished copies of these!! 

The Water and the Wild by K.E. Ormsbee

The Doorway and the Deep by K.E. Ormsbee

These look super cute, and though I loved the artsy original cover, these are so pretty, too!

Life if a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos

Curious about this! It's not my usual type but it's got some great ratings! Might have to give it a try!

Huge thanks to Harper Voyager, Simon & Schuster, Tor Teen, Chronicle Books, and Bloomsbury for these!

September Lit Cube:

This gorgeous subscription box was curated by A.G. Howard and I've been wanting to pick up her new book, The Architect of Song, so this buy was a no brainer for me! I'm so glad I ordered it---the heart pendant is gorgeous, the journal is so butter-soft and pretty (plus I just love journals--there's something about the potential of blank pages waiting to be filled :D), the soap smells like fresh gardenias, and ink and quill set are so elegant, and well, chocolate. I'm all ready to curl up for Fall with all this fun stuff. 

September Uppercase YA Box
I am so, so grateful for the amazing customer service from Uppercase Box. I'm not a regular subscriber, but when I saw this box on Twitter, with one of my favorite books of the year (check out my review of The Forgetting here) plus the super cute bag that's just a must-have for any library girl like me, I immediately wrote in to see if I could still nab one. They graciously let me put in a last minute gift subscription order and made sure I got this one instead of next month's. It arrived not even a week later!  Such great customer service, so thanks again Uppercase Box!! ♥♥♥


The Weekly Nutshell
recent posts:

Guest Post with Sarah Beth Durst: All About Renthia
Waiting on Wednesday: The Leaf Reader
Ghostly Echoes Review & Full Series Giveaway!!

Kind of a relaxing week, this past week, so that's been nice! I finished reading Queen of Blood so I'll be reviewing that this coming week. I'm about halfway through Every Hidden Thing and loving it! I know last week I was planning to start Three Dark Crowns but after Queen of Blood I wanted a little break from high fantasy and something a little less dark (because OH MAN the ending of Queen of Blood was pretty brutal lol) and Every Hidden Thing has been just the perfect thing.  Three Dark Crowns soon though! LOL  I've been seeing some pretty mixed feelings about it though, so I'm a little nervous--but we'll see. :) 

Have a great week, everyone! :D

Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter {review + full series giveaway!}

Ghostly Echoes
by William Ritter
♦publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
♦release date: August 23rd, 2016
♦hardcover, 352 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Jackaby, book 3
  review of book 1, Jackaby
  review of book 2, Beastly Bones
♦source: from publisher for honest review

Jenny Cavanaugh, the ghostly lady of 926 Augur Lane, has enlisted the investigative services of her fellow residents to solve a decade-old murder—her own. Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, Detective R. F. Jackaby, dive into the cold case, starting with a search for Jenny’s fiancé, who went missing the night she died. But when a new, gruesome murder closely mirrors the events of ten years prior, Abigail and Jackaby realize that Jenny’s case isn’t so cold after all, and her killer may be far more dangerous than they suspected.

Fantasy and folklore mix with mad science as Abigail’s race to unravel the mystery leads her across the cold cobblestones of nineteenth-century New England, down to the mythical underworld, and deep into her colleagues’ grim histories to battle the most deadly foe she has ever faced.

Review: Another fun adventure with Jackaby and Abigail!  I love that in this installment, Abigail really seems to take center stage, and I love even more that we finally get the story behind of of my favorite characters in these books, Jenny Cavanaugh.  She's the ghost who was the former lady of the house at Jackaby's office. At the end of Beastly Bones, we were definitely left with some burning questions about Jenny and her increasingly erratic behavior, plus I've just loved these stories in general so this read was highly anticipated and did not disappoint!

I really appreciate that each of these stories have felt so different from each other---in Ghostly Echoes, we get kind of a mad scientist, evil corporation thing going on.  They have to race to solve the mystery of Jenny's murder and bring her peace before she completely loses herself to the dark fits of outrage that seem to be taking her over.  The story takes you on an emotional rollercoaster, through fearing the worst, despairing over who might be guilty , terror as the characters brave the unknown, and triumph as Jenny gets to learn her strength and face down her past. Abigail also faces some great challenges as she has to step out on her own to face the Underworld itself with only her bravery and brains to guide her! Jenny's murder converges with another mystery Jackaby is tracking, and suddenly unraveling her past may be even more important than they thought. 

A fourth and final book was recently announced and this makes me very happy! I have my fingers crossed that it will finish out with a little closer look at another favorite character, Charlie Cane, and maybe a few more romantic moments with him and Abigail. :)  All of these books are fast-paced and filled with imaginative twists, interesting folklore, and great adventure. If you haven't picked these up yet, you really need to! 

•ABOUT THE AUTHOR•

Reports of William Ritter’s birthplace are unreliable and varied, placing his hometown either in a series of mysterious Catacombs in Malta or in a quiet town in Oregon. His parents, it can be confirmed, raised him to value intelligence, creativity, and individuality. When reading aloud, they always did the voices.

At the University of Oregon, William made questionable choices, including willfully selecting classes for the interesting stories they promised, rather than for any practical application. When he wasn’t frivolously playing with words, he earned credits in such meaningful courses as Trampoline, Juggling, and Seventeenth Century Italian Longsword. These dubious decisions notwithstanding, he regrets nothing and now holds degrees in English and education with certificates in creative writing and folklore.

He currently teaches high school language arts, including reading and writing, mythology and heroes. He is a proud husband and father. When reading aloud, he always does the voices.

WEBSITE  •  TWITTER  •  GOODREADS

Purchase Ghostly Echoes: Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

GIVEAWAY!

I'm giving away the full series (so far) to one lucky reader!! Winner will get a paperback of Jackaby, a paperback of Beastly Bones, and an ARC of Ghostly Echoes! Good luck, everyone!

•US mailing addresses only (sorry!)

•Ends 10/7/16

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Waiting on...

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

The Leaf Reader

by Emily Arsenault

hitting shelves June 13th, 2017

from Soho Teen

Marnie Wells knows that she creeps people out. It’s not really her fault; her brother is always in trouble, and her grandmother, who’s been their guardian since Mom took off is . . . eccentric. So no one even bats an eye when Marnie finds an old tea-leaf-reading book and starts telling fortunes. The ceremony and symbols are weirdly soothing, but she knows—and hopes everyone else does too—that none of it’s real.

Then basketball star Matt Cotrell asks for a reading. He’s been getting emails from someone claiming to be his best friend, Andrea Quinley, who disappeared and is presumed dead. Rumor has it Matt and Andrea were romantically involved, though they’d always denied it. A faint cloud of suspicion still hangs over Matt. But Marnie sees a kindred spirit: someone who, like her, is damaged by association.

Suddenly the readings seem real. And they’re telling Marnie things about Matt that make him seem increasingly dangerous. But she can’t shake her initial attraction to him. In fact, it’s getting stronger. And that could turn out to be deadly.

My thoughts:  Eccentric family, a murder mystery, and some good old divination---sound like my kind of thing! :)  I'm undecided on the appeal of the cover; it's very pretty but it looks very "adult book" to me and the title font lacks any interest. But it certainly wouldn't keep me from such an interesting sounding story! 

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

Guest Post with Sarah Beth Durst: Facts About Queen of Blood!

Today I have an awesome guest post from one of my favorite authors, Sarah Beth Durst! She's stopping by to introduce us to her newest fantasy novel, Queen of Blood letting us in on some facts about the world it takes place in, Renthia!

Welcome, Sarah!! 

An idealistic young student and a banished warrior become allies in a battle to save their realm in this first book of a mesmerizing epic fantasy series, filled with political intrigue, violent magic, malevolent spirits, and thrilling adventure

Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .

But the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. But queens are still just human, and no matter how strong or good, the threat of danger always looms. 

With the position so precarious, young women are chosen to train as heirs. Daleina, a seemingly quiet academy student, is under no illusions as to her claim to the throne, but simply wants to right the wrongs that have befallen the land. Ven, a disgraced champion, has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. Joining forces, these daring partners embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits’ restlessness—a journey that will test their courage and trust, and force them to stand against both enemies and friends to save their land . . . before it’s bathed in blood.

Facts About Renthia

Here are some need-to-know facts about Renthia, the world of my new book THE QUEEN OF BLOOD (which is the first in a new epic series from Harper Voyager called THE QUEENS OF RENTHIA):

1. Any travel guide to Renthia should mention its beauty.  The land is full of stunning extremes of nature, from the towering Lothlorien-like trees of Aratay where glittering cities perch halfway up the trees, to the endless ice fields of Ehlim and the cloud-piercing mountains of Semo -- all thanks to the work of the nature spirits.

2.  Any travel guide should also mention that those nature spirits want to kill all humans.

3.  But don't worry -- the queens of each land have the power to control them and keep the spirits from slaughtering everyone.  Except when the queens fail.  Or die.

4.  That's why there are so many heirs.  Girls with power are chosen and trained to become heirs, ready to take power if/when... okay, let's face it, it's always "when" (queens don't have an impressive life expectancy)... the current queen dies.  So as long as you survive the transition period, you'll have a very pleasant and peaceful journey through this lovely world.

Hope you'll join me!

I truly loved writing this book.  It was one of the best writing experiences I've ever had, primarily because it was so immersive.  Every day I'd sink into this world and trail along with my characters.  Daleina and Ven -- an idealistic student and a banished warrior -- became so real to me.  I am grateful for the fact that there are two more books after THE QUEEN OF BLOOD, so I didn't have to say goodbye!

For me, that's one of the hardest parts about writing: saying goodbye.  But it's followed by one of the best parts: sending the book out into the world, so others can say hello.

And so, hello!  Welcome to Renthia!  Just watch out for the trees.  They bite.

*        *        *        *       *

Thanks so much, Sarah for giving us a little more insight into this world! 

•ABOUT THE AUTHOR•

Sarah Beth Durst is the author of ten fantasy novels for adults, teens, and kids, including Conjured, Vessel, and Ice. Her latest book for kids, The Girl Who Could Not Dream, came out in November 2015 from HMH/Clarion Books, and her next book for adults, The Queen of Blood, comes out in September 2016 from Harper Voyager. She won the 2013 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for SFWA's Andre Norton Award three times. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she spent four years studying English, writing about dragons, and wondering what the campus gargoyles would say if they could talk. Sarah lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat. 

WEBSITE  •  TWITTER  •  TUMBLR

New Shelf Goodies & The WeeklyNutshell {171}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)

So just one little lovely thing in my mailbox this week...

The Alchemists of Loom by Elisa Kova

This looks like such an epic fantasy! And that cover is so gorgeous and intense. 
Thanks go out to Keymaster Press & San Francisco Book Review for the chance to read this!

The Weekly Nutshell
recent posts:
{Review + Giveaway} The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron
{Waiting on Wednesday} Unearthly Things by Michelle Gagnon
{Review} Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

So after last weeks haul, it was kind of a relief to just get one amazing piece of bookmail! :D  I desperately need more shelf space...maybe it's time for a shelf purge and some giveaways, huh?? I'll see what I can put together in the next few weeks.  It's a shame I don't do a beauty blog, because I did get some great beauty mail this week! :P
Not much reading done this week because I was part of my sisters wedding, which was today and turned out just amazing. So much love. ♥.♥
I'm still reading Queen of Blood and really enjoying. I hope you'll all come by the blog Monday for a guest post with the author (one of my faves!), Sarah Beth Durst!
Next up for me is either Three Dark Crowns or Kingdom of Ash & Briar---so either way I'm sticking with the fantasy streak! :D

Hope you all are out there reading something amazing! :)

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff {review}

Nevernight 
by Jay Kristoff
♦publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
♦release date: August 9th, 2016
♦hardcover, 429 pages
♦intended audience: Adult
♦series: The Nevernight Chronicles, book 1 
♦source: from publisher for honest review

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family. 

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined. 

Now, a sixteen year old Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic — the Red Church. Treachery and trials await her with the Church’s halls, and to fail is to die. But if she survives to initiation, Mia will be inducted among the chosen of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the only thing she desires. 

Revenge.

Review: Do not be fooled by Jay Kristoff's previous body of work---Nevernight is not a young adult book. Nor is it for the faint of heart, the seekers of HEA love stories, or those looking for a fast-paced read. Nevernight is none of those things---however, it is a pretty awesome story.

The story follows Mia Corvere, a seventeen-year-old assassin-in-training.  Mia is out to avenge her family’s murder. She sets out to train under the assassins of the Red Church, always accompanied by her shadow cat, Mr. Kindly. Once there, she forms alliances, hones her skills, and is forced to face a memory that she’s kept deeply hidden.

The storytelling and world-building is rich and incredibly ornate—at times even a little overwrought with purple prose and vulgarity for my taste. For me, it was not a fast read, in fact I struggled to get past the first 50 pages. After that, it drew me in--still not fast-paced until the third part, but I was definitely fascinated by the characters and the ways of the Red Church. So much gore and merciless violence, people...brace yourselves if you're even a little squeamish.  The story is peppered with footnotes, and while some were hilarious tidbits of sarcastic genius, others disrupted the flow of the story with just too much information. It jumps from the present to the past, letting us in on how Mia came to be where she is, the story of her family, and also how she came upon Mr. Kindly. The story is told in three parts, and it was the last of them that really shone. In fact, up until this third book, I was planning to give this a rating of 3, maybe 3.5---but the finale brought it up to a solid 4 for me. It brought everything together in an incredible, heartbreaking, and exciting end, and will no doubt make even those readers that may have, like me, found the first parts a little slow-going desperate for the next book in The Nevernight Chronicles.

(a shorter edited version of this review was featured in San Francisco Book Review)

•ABOUT THE AUTHOR•

Jay Kristoff is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of THE LOTUS WAR, THE ILLUMINAE FILES and THE NEVERNIGHT CHRONICLE. He is the winner of two Aurealis Awards, an ABIA, nominee for the David Gemmell Morningstar and Legend awards, named multiple times in the Kirkus and Amazon Best Teen Books list and published in over twenty-five countries, most of which he has never visited. He is as surprised about all of this as you are. He is 6’7 and has approximately 13030 days to live. He abides in Melbourne with his secret agent kung-fu assassin wife, and the world’s laziest Jack Russell.

He does not believe in happy endings.

WEBSITE  •  TWITTER  •  INSTAGRAM

Purchase the book:  Indiebound  •  BookDepository  •  Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Unearthly Things

by Michelle Gagnon

hitting shelves April 11th, 2017

from Soho Teen

After losing her parents in a tragic accident, surfer girl Janie Mason is forced to trade the sunny beaches of Hawaii for the cold fog of San Francisco. She’s never even met her new guardians, the Rochesters—an old money family who relish being pillars of high society. Janie feels hopelessly out of place in their world of Napa weekends, fancy prep schools, and cotillions. Nicholas is the only Rochester who treats her with anything resembling kindness—but he’s only six. When she strikes up a friendship with Daniel, a fellow surfer, it feels like things might finally be improving.

But something isn’t right in the Rochester mansion. There are noises—screams—coming from the attic nearly every night. Noises everyone else claims they can’t hear. Then John, the black sheep of the family, returns after getting kicked out of yet another boarding school. Soon Janie finds herself torn between this new “brother” and Daniel, who has secrets of his own. Just when she thinks her life can’t get any worse, she learns the truth about the Rochesters: what they’re hiding, what they want from Janie, and how far they’ll go to get it.

My thoughts:  I love these kinds of cultural fish out of water stories, especially when they include a place I've been and loved (Hawaii) and two place I know all two well (SF & Napa) but throw in a haunted creepy mansion and I'm guaranteed to want to read this! Plus it's a Jane Eyre retelling so...obvious addition to my tbr. :)

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron {blog tour review + giveaway!}

Today I'm so incredibly excited to be part of the Rock Star book tour for one of my favorite author's newest book (out tomorrow!)  ---

The Forgetting

by Sharon Cameron

Guys, this book is incredible---definitely a new favorite for me. Check out my full review below and don't forget to scroll all the way down to enter to win one for yourself! :D

The Forgetting
by Sharon Cameron
♦publisher: Scholastic Press
♦release date: September 13th, 2016
♦hardcover, 416 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone (with upcoming companion novel!!)

What isn't written, isn't remembered. Even your crimes.

Nadia lives in the city of Canaan, where life is safe and structured, hemmed in by white stone walls and no memory of what came before. But every twelve years the city descends into the bloody chaos of the Forgetting, a day of no remorse, when each person's memories – of parents, children, love, life, and self – are lost. Unless they have been written.

In Canaan, your book is your truth and your identity, and Nadia knows exactly who hasn't written the truth. Because Nadia is the only person in Canaan who has never forgotten.

But when Nadia begins to use her memories to solve the mysteries of Canaan, she discovers truths about herself and Gray, the handsome glassblower, that will change her world forever. As the anarchy of the Forgetting approaches, Nadia and Gray must stop an unseen enemy that threatens both their city and their own existence – before the people can forget the truth. And before Gray can forget her.

Review: I've read every book by this author, The Forgetting is her fourth---and this, in my opinion, is her best yet.  Not by too far---all of them are quite wonderful---but this one just took my breath away. With strong themes of family, community, and how our memories, our past, and where we come from make us who we are, The Forgetting dares to show us what humanity might become if we don't have that to learn from.  Weave in a romance that is absolutely swoon-worthy, and this is one story not to be missed!

In all of her books, and especially this one, Sharon Cameron creates the most incredible worlds and populates them with characters that just feel completely real. It's the kind of world that completely engulfs you, the kind that when you turn the last page, it feels like you've been spit back out into reality and left with a disoriented feeling. The kind that actually makes you miss the characters like old friends. 

In the city of Canaan, there is a bright light every 12 years that wipes out every person's memory completely. The people keep their own "book of truths" so that they can relearn who they were, who their family was, and what there role is in the community. The ones who lose their books are considered "Lost" and sometimes, there are those who try to change their fates by intentionally changing their books. Nadia remembers everything, though, and she's determined to find out why. 

I loved Nadia's rebellious spirit, her bond with her little sister, and how she is protective of her sister and mother even when they seem to push her away.  She doesn't speak much, especially  when she doesn't want to, but in Gray, she finds someone who makes her want to open up. Their relationship grows slowly as trust builds between them and they work together to find a cure to The Forgetting, especially when she finds a reason to not be forgotten.  

The Forgetting is beautifully told and so surprising at every turn. It's one more novel that makes Sharon Cameron's one of my very favorite authors. 

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sharon Cameron was awarded the 2009 Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for her debut novel, The Dark Unwinding. When not writing Sharon can be found thumbing dusty tomes, shooting her longbow, or indulging in her lifelong search for secret passages. She lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee.

WEBSITE  •  TWITTER  •  YOUTUBE  •  GOODREADS

*        *        *        *        *

GIVEAWAY!

Enter below to win one of three gorgeous finished copies!! 

•US mailing address only please.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to stop by the rest of the tour stops for more about The Forgetting!

 Week One:

9/5/2016- Two Chicks on Books- Interview

9/6/2016- IceyBooks- Review

9/7/2016- Such a Novel Idea- Guest Post

9/8/2016- Jessabella Reads- Review

9/9/2016- Take Me Away To A Great Read- Interview

Week Two:

9/12/2016- Stories & Sweeties- Review

9/13/2016- Novel Novice- Guest Post

9/14/2016- The Book Shire- Review

9/15/2016- Tales of the Ravenous Reader- Interview

9/16/2016- The Best Books Ever - Review

New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {170}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)

Woo, so I haven't done one of these posts for a while. So I'm going to share what I got this month so far, and also a few I got last month during hiatus that I'm especially excited for! :D

Won:

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh...see below

Traded for:

Timekeeper by Tara Sim

Eee, so incredibly excited for this steampunk lgbt adventure!!

Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin

I hear such great things about this series. Now I can read them both together!

Metaltown by Kristin Simmons

Love and friendship..and a steampunk city. I'm in!

Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Miller

Did you check out my tour post and recipe for this one? Here.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Russian folklore and family mystery. Can't wait to read this. 

For Review: 

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

The Book Jumper by Mechthild Gläser

Beautiful Broken Girls by Kim Savage

Hunted by Meagan Spooner

The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi Heilig

The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine

Miss Ellicott's School for the Magically Minded by Sage Blackwood

The Secret of a Heart Not by Stacey Lee

Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer

Long May She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas

Well, all of these above---let's just say I'm ridiculously excited for each and every one. SO so excited. If this selection of titles is any indication, I don't need to tell you how insanely incredibly YA is going to be in 2017. 

Gris Grimly's Tales from the Brother's Grimm 

I had to share this one. I love this collection of stories illustrated in the sort of twisted whimsical style of Gris Grimly (I have the Frankenstein one as well--equally amazing!)  So happy to own this. 

I wanted to share how amazing the full prize pack was for Wintersong. This is one of my most highly anticipated books of next year---I've been stalking it like crazy since I first heard it was a Labyrinth-like fairy tale. :D The prize was from the author's newsletter giveaway, and I was so so lucky to have won it!! Not only was it the ARC (dying!!) but it's also noted throughout by the author---passages are underlined and numbered to coordinate with the Annotations booklet. THEN the other booklet includes her publication story and the sections that were edited out when it went from being an adult title to YA. Peeking out at the top there was a very sweet personal notecard from the author. This whole package was so thoughtfully put together and I love it so much!!! Be sure to sign up for her newsletter here!

Huge gushing amounts of gratitude go out to Harper Collins, Macmillan, S. Jae Jones, and all of my lovely trading partners for the above books!! 

The Weekly Nutshell
recent posts:
What's New September YA Release List & Giveaway
Waiting on Wednesday: The Suffering Tree by Elle Cosimano
Review: The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw

So my plans to jump right back into blogging after my August hiatus has been slower going than I thought. Mostly because my health issues continue, and I've been feeling awful lately. But the trade off of being couched a lot is that I've gotten in lots of reading time. :)  I have lots of reviews to catch up on in the next few weeks: Nevernight, Ghostly Echoes, Everland, and The Forgetting blog tour stops here this Monday for my review. I've just started Queen of Blood and next up after that will be Three Dark Crowns. So excited for both!! 

Hope everyone is having a great September so far! Happy reading! :D