Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE HUNTRESS by Kate Quinn
/32 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in for over a year now, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll just be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is THE HUNTRESS by Kate Quinn. Quinn’s The Alice Network was one of my favorite reads last year, so I was so excited to hear that she has another book coming out next year. And this one just sounds incredible. Nina, Ian, and Jordan all sound like characters that I’m going to fall in love with, and the idea that they’re hunting Nazis, especially the infamous “Huntress” has me on the edge of my seat waiting to get my hands on a copy of this book!
THE HUNTRESS by Kate Quinn
Publication Date: February 26, 2019
From Goodreads
From the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel, The Alice Network, comes another fascinating historical novel about a battle-haunted English journalist and a Russian female bomber pilot who join forces to track the Huntress, a Nazi war criminal gone to ground in America.
In the aftermath of war, the hunter becomes the hunted…
Bold, reckless Nina Markova grows up on the icy edge of Soviet Russia, dreaming of flight and fearing nothing. When the tide of war sweeps over her homeland, she gambles everything to join the infamous Night Witches, an all-female night bomber regiment wreaking havoc on Hitler’s eastern front. But when she is downed behind enemy lines and thrown across the path of a lethal Nazi murderess known as the Huntress, Nina must use all her wits to survive.
British war correspondent Ian Graham has witnessed the horrors of war from Omaha Beach to the Nuremberg Trials. He abandons journalism after the war to become a Nazi hunter, yet one target eludes him: the Huntress. Fierce, disciplined Ian must join forces with brazen, cocksure Nina, the only witness to escape the Huntress alive. But a shared secret could derail their mission, unless Ian and Nina force themselves to confront it.
Seventeen-year-old Jordan McBride grows up in post WWII Boston, determined despite family opposition to become a photographer. At first delighted when her long-widowed father brings home a fiancée, Jordan grows increasingly disquieted by the soft-spoken German widow who seems to be hiding something. Armed only with her camera and her wits, Jordan delves into her new stepmother’s past and slowly realizes there are mysteries buried deep in her family. But Jordan’s search for the truth may threaten all she holds dear.
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂
Top Ten Tuesday: My Bookstore Bucket List -10 Bookstores I’ve Always Wanted to Visit
/48 Comments/by SuzanneTop Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Bookstores/Libraries I’ve Always Wanted to Visit. I could only think of one library, the New York Public Library, so I decided to go with bookstores. I’ve pretty much never met a bookstore that I didn’t want to wander through, but the bookshops below are what I would call my Bookstore Bucket List. I’d really love to visit all of these some day.
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10 Bookstores I’ve Always Wanted to Visit
1. SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY, PARIS
Isn’t this the cutest shop? I really blew this one too because I was in Paris
just a couple of years ago and forgot all about this gem. Oh well, it’s an excuse to go back some day, right?
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2. THE STRAND, NEW YORK CITY
I actually have visited The Strand before but it was a rushed shopping excursion, so I’d love to go back.
Why? 18 MILES OF BOOKS! Oh and lots of fabulous author events.
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3. THE LAST BOOKSTORE, LOS ANGELES
Another fail on my part because I’ve been to L.A. twice and didn’t know this bookstore existed until after my trips.
They sell new and used books and they also sell vinyl records. And how amazing is that book arch?!
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4. POLITICS AND PROSE, WASHINGTON D.C.
This one is actually pretty doable since I live in Virginia, but what appeals to me about this bookstore is that it has a great mix of literary and political events. Alan Greenspan, for example, is speaking there on October 16th and Tahereh Mafi has an event there the next evening. Plus, you just never know who you might run into while you’re browsing. You might turn the corner one day and find one of the Obamas shopping for a new read.
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5. LIBRERIA ACQUA ALTA – VENICE
So much failing on my part because, again, I have traveled to Venice, Italy but because we were only there for a day, bookstore visiting was just not in the cards. If I ever make it back to this incredible city, I will make time to visit this shop. The store’s name means “Book Store of High Water” and, accordingly, they store many of their books in bathtubs, boats, and other waterproof basins.
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6. LIVRARIA LELLO E IRMAO, PORTUGAL
How beautiful is that? This is a bookstore where I could actually see myself wandering around
and gawking at the beautiful building rather than browsing the book offerings.
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7. BART’S BOOKS, OJAI, CALIFORNIA
I don’t even know exactly where in California this bookstore is, but it advertises itself as the largest outdoor bookstore in the world.
The idea of an outdoor bookstore intrigues me so I’d definitely be interested in visiting if my California travels happened to take me anywhere near it.
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8. BARTER BOOKS, UK
This is another shop where I just think the architecture is so cool. Barter Books is also supposed to be one of the
largest secondhand bookshops in Britain so I bet a bookworm could score some pretty great deals here.
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9. THREE LIVES & CO., NEW YORK CITY
Three Lives & Co. is a neighborhood bookstore located in Greenwich Village.
It has been around since 1968 and I just love how wonderfully old fashioned it looks.
If I ever visited, I could see myself not wanting to leave.
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10. THE BOOK ESCAPE, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
This is one I’ve been meaning to visit since Baltimore is only a couple of hours away from me, but I just haven’t quite made it yet.
It just looks like such a cute shop and I hear they have a great selection of used and rare books.
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Question: What are some shops on your Bookstore Bucket List?
Backlist Briefs: Mini Reviews for BONE GAP & GIRL OUT OF WATER
/26 Comments/by SuzannePublished by Balzer + Bray on March 3, 2015
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 345
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised. After all, it wasn’t the first time that someone had slipped away and left Finn and Sean O’Sullivan on their own. Just a few years before, their mother had high-tailed it to Oregon for a brand new guy, a brand new life. That’s just how things go, the people said. Who are you going to blame?
Finn knows that’s not what happened with Roza. He knows she was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember. But the searches turned up nothing, and no one believes him anymore. Not even Sean, who has more reason to find Roza than anyone, and every reason to blame Finn for letting her go.
As we follow the stories of Finn, Roza, and the people of Bone Gap—their melancholy pasts, their terrifying presents, their uncertain futures—acclaimed author Laura Ruby weaves a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness—a story about how the face the world sees is never the sum of who we are.
Review:
I purchased Laura Ruby’s Bone Gap on a whim last year at a local bookfair. I had no idea what it was about but the cover with its bee and honeycomb just really drew me in. I finally sat down and read it recently and, wow, what a gem of a book it turned out to be! It’s also one of those books that it’s hard to say much about without giving away its secrets, and because those secrets are really the heart and soul of Bone Gap, I’m going to keep my remarks brief and vague. I’ll just say that what starts out as a straightforward mystery about a young woman who goes missing in a rural town takes a major turn for the unexpected.
Because I grew up in a similar environment, I had tremendous sympathy for the characters in this story. It’s hard to have secrets when you live in a tiny town where everyone makes it their business to know your business, and where the gossip/rumor mill always runs rampant. Clearly the underdog of the story, Finn O’Sullivan captured my heart immediately. He and his brother Sean were abandoned by their mother and are trying to live on their own. Both brothers are beloved by those in their town, but everyone thinks Finn is an odd duck so when he comes forward one day to say that he saw a young woman named Roza kidnapped, no one believes him. Finn knows Roza’s life is on the line and my heart just broke for him as he tried and tried to get people to believe him with no luck. And it’s when Finn takes matters into his own hands that the story takes a walk on the wild and unexpected side. I don’t want to say anything more, so I’ll just say think Neil Gaiman, or maybe even Maggie Stiefvater or Alice Hoffman and you’ll have a feel for the truly magical direction this small town tale takes.
I loved Finn’s brother Sean too, who has had to put his dreams of working in the medical field on hold to be the head of the household since their mom left them. Sean is a great big brother and a good friend to all. Petey, one of Finn’s female friends, is a hilarious addition to the cast. She’s tough and sassy and gives every guy in town a run for their money, and I just loved every scene she was in. Lastly, there’s Roza, the young woman who has gone missing. Roza has a very painful past that she is running away from, but her arrival on the scene just after Finn and Sean’s mom left them, fills a void in both boys’ hearts. When she then goes missing, both boys are heartbroken all over again, which is another reason why Finn so desperately wants to find her.
My only real complaint about the story is that the ending felt a little rushed, but I still wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Bone Gap to anyone who is looking for an unpredictable tale filled with endearing characters and also to anyone who is a fan of magical realism. 4 STARS
Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman
Also by this author: You Asked for Perfect
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on May 2, 2017
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 350
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Anise Sawyer plans to spend every minute of summer with her friends: surfing, chowing down on fish tacos drizzled with wasabi balsamic vinegar, and throwing bonfires that blaze until dawn. But when a serious car wreck leaves her aunt, a single mother of three, with two broken legs, it forces Anise to say goodbye for the first time to Santa Cruz, the waves, her friends, and even a kindling romance, and fly with her dad to Nebraska for the entire summer. Living in Nebraska isn’t easy. Anise spends her days caring for her three younger cousins in the childhood home of her runaway mom, a wild figure who’s been flickering in and out of her life since birth, appearing for weeks at a time and then disappearing again for months, or even years, without a word.
Complicating matters is Lincoln, a one-armed, charismatic skater who pushes Anise to trade her surfboard for a skateboard. As Anise draws closer to Lincoln and takes on the full burden and joy of her cousins, she loses touch with her friends back home – leading her to one terrifying question: will she turn out just like her mom and spend her life leaving behind the ones she loves?
Review:
Laura Silverman’s Girl out of Water is an engaging coming of age story about family, friendship, love, and sacrifice. It follows teen Anise Sawyer, the quintessential California girl who loves the ocean and spends every free moment surfing with her friends. When the novel opens, Anise is busy planning her last summer with most of her friends who are going off to college soon. All of her plans come crashing down around her, however, when her aunt is nearly killed in a car accident, and Anise and her dad have to travel to Nebraska to care for Anise’s young cousins until her aunt is well enough to do so herself. Anise is torn: California and the ocean are her happy place and she can’t think of anything worse than being separated from her friends and stuck in Nebraska all summer. At the same time, however, having lost her own mother, who abandoned her years ago, Anise knows how important family is and knows that going to Nebraska is the right thing to do. But, boy is it going to be the longest summer ever…
This book worked well for me on a lot of levels. I loved the focus on family and seeing Anise bond with and take care of her cousins. In many ways, Anise needed them just as much as they needed her and it was nice to watch them all interact. Anise is terrified that she’s going to somehow end up just like her mother and leave all her loved ones behind one day. Having Anise work through those fears about her mother and abandonment really gave what could have been just a light summer read some added depth that I very much enjoyed. The friendship dynamic also really kept me turning the pages. Anise’s friends are all so fantastic and I loved that they were constantly trying to maintain contact with her even though she was halfway across the country. She also makes a great friend/maybe more than friend named Lincoln while she’s in Nebraska and he was just too precious for words. Lastly, I loved Silverman’s vivid descriptions of the ocean. She makes it such a full sensory experience that I felt like I was on the beach watching the waves crash and smelling the salty air.
If you’re looking for a beautiful story about the importance of family and friendship and a young woman’s journey to find herself, I’d definitely recommend Girl out of Water. 4 STARS
About Laura Ruby
Raised in the wilds of suburban New Jersey, Laura Ruby now lives in Chicago with her family. Her short fiction for adults has appeared in various literary magazines, including Other Voices, The Florida Review, Sycamore Review and Nimrod. A collection of these stories, I’M NOT JULIA ROBERTS, was published by Warner Books in January 2007. Called “hilarious and heart-wrenching” by People and “a knowing look at the costs and rewards of remaking a family,” by the Hartford-Courant, the book was also featured in Redbook, Working Mother , and USA Today among others.
Ruby is also the author of the Edgar-nominated children’s mystery LILY’S GHOSTS (8/03), the children’s fantasy THE WALL AND THE WING (3/06) and a sequel, THE CHAOS KING (5/07) all from Harpercollins. She writes for older teens as well, and her debut young adult novel, GOOD GIRLS (9/06), also from Harpercollins, was a Book Sense Pick for fall 2006 and an ALA Quick Pick for 2007. A new young adult novel, PLAY ME, is slated for publication in fall of 2008. Her books have sold in England, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Serbia and Montenegro. THE WALL AND THE WING is currently in development with Laika Studios for release as an animated feature.
Ms. Ruby has been a featured speaker at BookExpo, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual convention, the Miami Book Festival, the Florida Association of Media Educators (FAME) convention, the Midwest Literary Festival, the International Reading Association’s annual convention, and Illinois Reading Council annual conference, among other venues, and she has presented programs and workshops for both adults and children at numerous schools and libraries.
Currently, she is working on several thousand projects, drinking way too much coffee, and searching for new tunes for her iPod.
About Laura Silverman
Laura Silverman currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a writer and freelance editor, and spends way too much time hugging dogs instead of working.
Silverman’s debut novel, GIRL OUT OF WATER, is a summery coming-of-age story about a California surfer girl sent to landlocked Nebraska for the entire summer. It debuted in May 2017. Her second novel, YOU ASKED FOR PERFECT, is about the effects of intense academic pressure on a teenage Valedictorian-to-be. It comes out March 2019.
Silverman has degrees in English and Advertising from the University of Georgia, and an MFA in Writing for Children from the New School. While she lived in NYC, she interned at Penguin and two different literary agencies. In addition to writing, Silverman also freelance edits manuscripts and query letters.