Can’t Wait Wednesday – MURDER ROAD by Simone St. James

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“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 since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll 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 MURDER ROAD by Simone St. James.  I’ve loved everything I’ve read from this author and I honestly wish I had this one to read right now because it sounds like the perfect read for spooky season. If you have read anything from St. James yet, I highly recommend The Sun Down Motel and The Book of Cold Cases.

MURDER ROAD by Simone St. James

by Berkley

Publication Date:  March 5, 2024

 

Goodreads:

A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.

 

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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 – Books on my Fall 2023 TBR

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Top 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 Books on My Fall 2023 TBR.  I always enjoy this topic because I’m curious to see what my fellow book bloggers are planning to read next.  I have a lot of ARCs to read this fall so my focus will primarily be on those, although I do hope to squeeze in a few of the books from my shelves as well.

Books on My Fall 2023 TBR

   

   

 

1. BETTER HATE THAN NEVER by Chloe Liese  –  “Childhood enemies discover the fine line between love and loathing in this heartfelt reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.”

2. A DEMON’S GUIDE TO WOOING A WITCH by Sarah Hawley  – “Calladia Cunnington curses the day she met Astaroth the demon, but when he shows up memoryless, why does she find him so helpless . . . and sort of hot?”

3. THE FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER by V.E. Schwab – “From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and set in the world of A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab opens a new door into perilous adventure and tangled schemes with The Fragile Threads of Power.”

4. THE FAKE MATE by Lana Ferguson  – “Two wolf shifters agree to be fake mates but unexpectedly find something real in this steamy paranormal romantic comedy by Lana Ferguson.“

5. STARLING HOUSE by Alix E. Harrow – “A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can’t stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.”

6. IRIS KELLY DOESN’T DATE by Ashley Herring Blake – “To get her mind off everything and overcome her writer’s block, Iris tries out for a local play, but comes face-to-face with Stefania—or, Stevie, her real name. When Stevie desperately asks Iris to play along as her girlfriend, Iris is shocked, but goes along with it because maybe this fake relationship will actually get her creative juices flowing and she can get her book written. As the two women play the part of a couple, they turn into a constant state of hot-and-bothered and soon it just comes down to who will make the real first move…”

7. MIDNIGHT IS THE DARKEST HOUR by Ashley Winstead  –  “From the critically acclaimed author of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife and The Last Housewife comes a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two outcasts—the preacher’s daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks—hold the key to uncovering the truth.“

8. WRECK THE HALLS by Tessa Bailey – “A sexy, hilarious standalone holiday rom-com about the adult children of two former rock stars who team up to convince their estranged mothers to play a Christmas Eve concert.”

9. THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by Adrienne Young  –  “A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Spells for Forgetting.”

10. A WINTER IN NEW YORK by Josie Silver  –  “A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel.”

 

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Question:  Have you read any of these or are you planning to read any of them?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – HUNT ON DARK WATERS by Katee Robert

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“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 since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll 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 HUNT ON DARK WATERS by Katee Robert.  This one honestly wasn’t on my radar until I heard Katee talk about it at a recent fall preview event.  As soon as she described it as having pirates and witches, I was sold!

HUNT ON DARK WATERS by Katee Robert

by Berkley

Publication Date:  November 7, 2023

 

Goodreads:

Sail the magical high seas with this first book in a new sexy fantasy romance series from Katee Robert, the New York Times bestselling author of the TikTok smash-hit Neon Gods.

Evelyn is a witch with a perfect storm of impulses: terrible taste in bed partners, sticky fingers, and a lust for danger. After she steals from her vampire ex and falls through a portal to another realm, she’s fished out of the waters by a band of seafarers and their telekinetic captain. She’s immediately given a choice—join their group or die.

Bowen has no memory of his life before he became one of the Cŵn Annwn. He and his pirate crew are bound by vow to patrol through Threshold, the magical sea in between realms, keeping the portals to other worlds safe. When he rescues Evelyn, he doesn’t expect to be attracted to the unflappably brassy pickpocket. The longer he spends in her presence, the more he begins to question if his heart is the next thing she’ll steal.

But as tension heats up between Bowen and Evelyn, danger escalates as well. Because Evelyn has no intention of keeping her vows to the Cŵn Annwn, and if she betrays the crew, both she and Bowen will pay the ultimate price….

 

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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 – Some of My Favorite Friendships in Books

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Top 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 Favorite Character Relationships (These can be platonic or not. Romantic relationships, parent/child, siblings, family bonds, friendships, found families, pet/human, etc.).  I decided it would be fun to share some of my favorite friendships in books that I’ve read.  I love friendships that feel like family and I think most of these fit that bill. They might tease and give each other hell, but when it comes down to it, they always have each other’s back.

 

Some of My Favorite Friendships in Books

 

THE BOYS FROM THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB SERIES

FINLAY & VERO FROM THE FINLAY DONOVAN SERIES

RYLAND & ROCKY FROM PROJECT HAIL MARY

HARRY & RON FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES

STEPHANIE & LULA FROM THE STEPHANIE PLUM SERIES

KAZ BREKKER’S CREW IN THE SIX OF CROWS DUOLOGY

THE BAT BOYS FROM THE ACOTAR SERIES (ALSO, MOR & FEYRE)

ELOISE & PENELOPE FROM THE BRIDGERTON SERIES

THE REN FAIRE FAMILY FROM THE WELL MET SERIES

THE RAVEN BOYS FROM THE RAVEN CYCLE SERIES

 

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Have you read any of these?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER by V.E. Schwab

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“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 since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll 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 FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER by V.E. Schwab. Shades of Magic is one of my all time favorite fantasy series so I’m beyond excited that V.E. Schwab is taking us back to that world for another adventure and that we’ll be meeting a new Antari!

THE FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER by V.E. Schwab

by Tor Books

 

Goodreads:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and set in the world of A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab opens a new door into perilous adventure and tangled schemes with The Fragile Threads of Power.

Once, there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power, and connected by a single city: London. Until the magic grew too fast, and forced the worlds to seal the doors between them in a desperate gamble to protect their own. The few magicians who could still open the doors grew more rare as time passed and now, only three Antari are known in recent memory―Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Grey London, and Holland Vosijk, of White London.

But barely a glimpse of them have been seen in the last seven years―and a new Antari named Kosika has appeared in White London, taking the throne in Holland’s absence. The young queen is willing to feed her city with blood, including her own―but her growing religious fervor has the potential to drown them instead.

And back in Red London, King Rhy Maresh is threatened by a rising rebellion, one determined to correct the balance of power by razing the throne entirely.

Amidst this tapestry of old friends and new enemies, a girl with an unusual magical ability comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds.

Her name is Tes, and she’s the only one who can bring them together―or unravel it all.

 

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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 – Sea You Later: 10 Books with “Sea” in the Title

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Top 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 Water (This can be covers with water on them, books with bodies of water in them, titles with bodies of water in them, etc.).  I looked over at my shelves, saw a few books with Sea in the title and decided to go for it and see if I could think of ten titles.  Then after I found ten titles, I realized I had already done this topic before and so I started over again to see if I could find ten more I hadn’t already used, haha.  Below is what I came up with and you can click on the links below to read the synopsis of each of these books.

 

 

   

10 Books with “Sea” in the Title

 

THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune

THE MAGIC OF SEA GLASS by Jenny Hale

COTTAGE BY THE SEA by Debbie Macomber

THE STARLESS SEA by Erin Morgenstern

SUNRISE BY THE SEA by Jenny Colgan

TO SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS by Christopher Paolini

A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA by Isabel Allende

SEA SWEPT by Nora Roberts

SKIN OF THE SEA by Natasha Bowen

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway

 

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Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Holiday Books I’m Planning to Read This Year

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Top 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 Genre Freebie (Pick a genre and build a list around it.).  Since I recently shared my spooky season TBR, I thought it would be fun to go ahead and share my holiday TBR since I have already started looking ahead to see what books I want to read this holiday season.  If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I love a good holiday read, particularly if it gives off Hallmark Christmas movie vibes, so that’s mostly what you can expect here.  There are books from some of my favorites like Kerry Winfrey, Tessa Bailey, and Mary Kay Andrews, as well as some new-to-me authors I’m looking forward to trying like Ginny Baird and Zoe Allison.

You can click on the links below to read synopsis of each of these books.  Some of them also already have giveaways up on Goodreads, so be sure to enter those if any sound good to you. 🙂

 

 

10 Holiday Books I’m Planning to Read This Year

 

FAKING CHRISTMAS by Kerry Winfrey

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CHRISTMAS by Mary Kay Andrews

LOVE, HOLLY by Emily Stone

THREE HOLIDAYS AND A WEDDING by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley

WRECK THE HALLS by Tessa Bailey

THE BOOK CLUB HOTEL by Sarah Morgan

A WINTER IN NEW YORK by Josie Silver

THE HOLIDAY MIX-UP by Ginny Baird

EMERGENCY CONTACT by Lauren Layne & Anthony Ledonne

THE EX-MAS HOLIDAYS by Zoe Allison

 

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Are you planning to read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Books I’m Planning to Read During Spooky Season This Year

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Top 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 supposed to be Characters from Different Books Who Should Team Up (or date, be friends with, etc.) (Submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext).  I unfortunately blanked out and couldn’t think of anyone so I decided to go rogue this week and share some books I’m planning to read during spooky season this year. I know it’s only August, but these books are already calling to me, thanks in part to a virtual event I attended recently where several of Berkley’s wonderful authors gave presentations to tease their upcoming releases.  It was such a fun event and I’m now even more excited than I already was about their new books.

You can click on the links below to read synopsis of each of these books.

 

10 Books I’m Planning to Read During Spooky Season This Year

 

VAMPIRES OF EL NORTE by Isabel Cañas

MY ROOMMATE IS A VAMPIRE by Jenna Levine

BLACK SHEEP by Rachel Harrison

IN CHARM’S WAY by Lana Harper

THE FAKE MATE by Lana Ferguson

A DEMON’S GUIDE TO WOOING A WITCH by Sarah Hawley

GOOD BAD GIRL by Alice Feeney

HUNT ON DARK WATERS by Katee Robert

THE ONLY ONE LEFT by Riley Sager

THE SEPTEMBER HOUSE by Carissa Orlando

 

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Are you planning to read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Books I Was Influenced to Read because of Top Ten Tuesday

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Top 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 Books I’ve Read/Want to Read Because of Top Ten Tuesday (books you discovered through Top Ten Tuesday, or they kept appearing in top tens and you got intrigued). This is a great topic because there are so many books I probably never would have read if not for seeing them on other bloggers’ Top Ten Tuesday lists that have since gone on to become favorite reads of mine. Here are a few that immediately came to mind.

 

 

10 Books I Was Influenced to Read because of Top Ten Tuesday

 

IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover

A MAN CALLED OVE by Fredrik Backman

THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus

THE UNDERTAKING OF HART AND MERCY by Megan Bannen

THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller

BEFORE I LET GO by Kennedy Ryan

THE SIMPLE WILD by K.A. Tucker

THINGS WE NEVER GOT OVER by Lucy Score

THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE by Katherine Center

 

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Have you read any of these?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE MYSTERY GUEST by Nita Prose

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“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 since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll 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 MYSTERY GUEST by Nita Prose.  The Maid is one of those books I raved nonstop about and recommended to anyone and everyone for months after I read it, so you can imagine how excited I was to hear that there’s actually going to be another book featuring the quirky and lovable Molly the Maid!

THE MYSTERY GUEST by Nita Prose

by Ballantine Books

 

Goodreads:

When an acclaimed author dies at the Regency Grand Hotel, it’s up to a fastidious maid to uncover the truth, no matter how dirty—in a standalone novel featuring Molly Gray, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid, a Good Morning America Book Club Pick.

Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J.D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead— very dead —on the hotel’s tea room floor.

When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. Suspects abound, and everyone wants to who killed J.D. Grimthorpe? Was it Lily, the new Maid-in-Training? Or was it Serena, the author’s secretary? Could Mr. Preston, the hotel’s beloved doorman, be hiding something? And is Molly really as innocent as she seems?

As the case threatens the hotel’s pristine reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past—because long ago, she knew J.D. Grimthorpe. Molly begins to comb her memory for clues, revisiting her childhood and the mysterious Grimthorpe mansion where she and her dearly departed Gran once worked side by side. With the entire hotel under investigation, Molly must solve the mystery post-haste. If there’s one thing Molly knows for sure, it’s that dirty secrets don’t stay buried forever…

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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. 🙂