[Waiting on Wednesday] Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

March 11, 2020March 10, 2020 ~ Harker @ The Hermit Librarian ~ 3 Comments

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event created by Breaking the Spine in which an anticipated title is highlighted. You can find their website here.

How could I not be excited by the announcement of Seanan McGuire’s next Wayward Children series? It is something I look forward to every year, the reveal of the next book: title, synopsis, cover. While we only have two of the three at the moment, I’m still quite giddy. 🤗

The link to Tor’s article is here.

As it is the sixth book, it’s time for another prequel/origin story if the previous books’ pattern holds. Regan is unfamiliar to me, so that makes me very interested in how this book will go. All previous entries have had someone we’ve at least met or heard of, so a completely unknown entity is intriguing.

It’s going to be a long wait, but we can go this together, my fellow Wayward fans! 😭🥰

Goodreads | Tor.com

Published: January 2021

Publisher: Tor

Age Group: Adult

Genre(s): Fantasy

In book six of McGuire’s multi-award-winning portal fantasy series we meet Regan. She loves horses. And when she suddenly finds herself thrust through a doorway that asks her to “Be Sure” before swallowing her whole, Regan must learn to live in a world filled with centaurs, kelpies, and other magical equines—a world that expects its human visitors to step up and be heroes.

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[Top Ten Tuesday] Authors Who Have a Fun Social Media Presence

March 10, 2020April 24, 2020 ~ Harker @ The Hermit Librarian ~ 2 Comments

Social media can be a fun and mildly terrifying way to interact with the world at large. Through it, we as readers can connect with our favorite authors. The authors on my list today are authors that I find both fun, informative, and just overall enjoyable to come across when I’ve engaged with their prescences on Twitter (my primary social media).

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. Upcoming & past topics can be found here.

1. Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire)

2. Victoria/V.E. Schwab (@veschwab)

3. Danika Stone (@danika_stone)

4. Elle Maruska (@ellle_em)

5. Paul Kreuger (@NotLikeFreddy)

6. Tara Sim (@EachStarAWorld)

7. Angie Thomas (@angiecthomas)

8. N.K. Jemisin (@nkjemisin)

9. Tiffany D. Jackson (@WriteinBK)

10. Claribel Ortega (@Claribel_Ortega)

Are any of these authors on your Top Ten list? What are your favorite books of theirs that you think I should have read (if I haven’t already)? Let me know in the comments below. 🤗

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[Readathon] Animal Crossing Readathon Signup Post

March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 ~ Harker @ The Hermit Librarian ~ Leave a comment

Who doesn’t love a nice, relaxing game where you catch bugs to pay off the bank loan you have for a $400 house and stuff it full of a myriad of furniture & wild knick knacks? 😂 All while accomplishing tasks for your neighbors, visiting the beach, and whatever else you might desire in your New Town.

With Animal Crossing: New Horizons releasing in about two weeks, fellow Animal Crossing fans and I are celebrating by, what else, a readathon with cool AC themed challenges. 😊

Thank you to the hosts @ambooklife, @medusareads, and @paperbackjedi for creating such a fun readathon. This is one of my favorite games and I’d forgotten how much I was looking forward to it until this readathon reminded me. 🥰 Now, onto the tbr and countdown until game day!

Resetti: read a book of your choice while using a bookmark

Published: 4 June 2019

Publisher: Tor Books

Genre(s): Fantasy/Mystery

Sharp, mainstream fantasy meets compelling thrills of investigative noir in this fantasy debut by rising star Sarah Gailey.

Ivy Gamble has never wanted to be magic. She is perfectly happy with her life—she has an almost-sustainable career as a private investigator, and an empty apartment, and a slight drinking problem. It’s a great life and she doesn’t wish she was like her estranged sister, the magically gifted professor Tabitha.

But when Ivy is hired to investigate the gruesome murder of a faculty member at Tabitha’s private academy, the stalwart detective starts to lose herself in the case, the life she could have had, and the answer to the mystery that seems just out of her reach.

K.K. Slider: listen to an audiobook or a book with musical elements

Published: 24 March 2020

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Genre(s): Nonfiction/Memoir/LGBTQ+

From standup comic Cameron Esposito, a memoir that tackles sexuality, gender and equality–and how her Catholic upbringing prepared her for a career as an outspoken lesbian comedian in ways the Pope never could have imagined.
Cameron Esposito wanted to be a priest and ended up a standup comic. She would like to tell the whole, freaking queer as hell story. Her story. Not the sidebar to a straight person’s rebirth-she doesn’t give a makeover or plan a wedding or get a couple back together. This isn’t a queer tragedy. She doesn’t die at the end of this book, having finally decided to kiss the girl. It’s the sexy, honest, bumpy and triumphant dyke’s tale her younger, theology major self needed to read. Because there was a long time when she thought she wouldn’t make it. Not as a comic, but as a human.

SAVE YOURSELF is full of funny and insightful recollections about everything from coming out (at a Catholic college where being gay can get you expelled) to how joining the circus can help you become a better comic (so much nudity) to accepting yourself for who you are–even if you’re an awkward tween with an eyepatch (which Cameron was). Packed with heart, humor, and cringe-worthy stories anyone who has gone through puberty can relate to, Cameron’s memoir is for that timid, fenced-in kid in all of us–and the fearless standup yearning to break free.

Able Sisters: Read a book with strong family themes

Published: 5 November 2019

Publisher: Avon

Genre(s): Romance/Contemporary

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?

• Enjoy a drunken night out.
• Ride a motorcycle.
• Go camping.
• Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
• Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
• And… do something bad.

But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.

Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.

But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…

Tom Nook: Read a book you have recently purchased or checked out from the library.

Amazon | Goodreads

Published: 24 February 2020

Publisher: Independently Published

Genre(s): Romance

Since college, bookish and quiet Alyse Fox has longed for more. Stuck at the crossroads of change she finally sees her chance for an escape. She just wasn’t expecting her one night stand to be an executive at her new job.

Co-founder of a publishing house, Sawyer has it all, a great apartment, loving family, and a job he spends a little too much time at. He just doesn’t know he’s missing something until Alyse walked back into his life.

A chance encounter at a party, turned one night stand is all either of them thought their story would be. Fate had another plan. Together, they must figure out if their relationship is worth risking all they’ve worked for.

When Can I See You Again is a fun second chance, romantic comedy with a sexy CEO type who loves his family, a girl trying to change her luck, a whole lot of misunderstandings, and both going after what they want, set against the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. It stands alone with no cheating or cliffhangers at about 55,000 words.

Animal Crossing Gamecube: Read a book that has been on your TBR the longest or re-read an old favorite.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads | Indiebound

Published: 4 October 2016

Publisher: Sky Pony Press

Genre(s): Fantasy/Historical Fiction

Witch’s apprentice Bridey Corkill has hated the ocean ever since she watched her granddad dive in and drown with a smile on his face. So when a dead girl rolls in with the tide in the summer of 1913, sixteen-year-old Bridey suspects that whatever compelled her granddad to leap into the sea has made its return to the Isle of Man.

Soon, villagers are vanishing in the night, but no one shares Bridey’s suspicions about the sea. No one but the island’s witch, who isn’t as frightening as she first appears, and the handsome dark-haired lad Bridey rescues from a grim and watery fate. The cause of the deep gashes in Fynn’s stomach and his lost memories are, like the recent disappearances, a mystery well-guarded by the sea. In exchange for saving his life, Fynn teaches Bridey to master her fear of the water — stealing her heart in the process.

Now, Bridey must work with the Isle’s eccentric witch and the boy she isn’t sure she can trust — because if she can’t uncover the truth about the ancient evil in the water, everyone she loves will walk into the sea, never to return.

BONUS: Isabelle: Read one of the hosts’ choices

(I picked Diana @paperbackjedi’s selection)

Published: 7 February 2019 (UK)

Publisher: Simon Schuster Children’s UK

Genre(s): Fantasy

Three sisters trapped by an ancient curse.

Three magical objects with the power to change their fate.

Will they be enough to break the curse?

Or will they lead the sisters even deeper into danger? …

The enchanting new story from Michelle Harrison, author of the bestselling Thirteen Treasures Trilogy

All media belongs to the respective owners and is used here solely for the purpose of review and commentary.

[Top Ten Tuesday] Books With One Word Titles

March 3, 2020March 10, 2020 ~ Harker @ The Hermit Librarian ~ 2 Comments

As a fan of fantasy and sci-fi novels, I’m used to some fairly long titles, especially if they’re part of a series because then that becomes part of the mouthful. 😂 This week’s TTT topic is interesting because it poses the question, what about one word title books? I had to have a good think after the first couple that sprang to mind, which was fun because the digging led me down some rabbit warrens of adding books to my tbr. 👍

Thank you to Kitty from Kitty Marie’s Reading Corner for suggesting this week’s topic. 🙂

TTT

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. Upcoming topics and past TTT topics can be found here.

1-2. Vicious & Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

I’ve read both of these books. Both of them are two of my favorite books because of the idea of near death experiences possibly producing ExtraOrdinary individuals, the murkiness of morality, the questions we have to ask ourselves about who is the hero and who is a villain. There is so much depth to both of them that they get richer the more you read them.

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Published: 29 May 2018 (originally published 24 September 2013)

Publisher: Titan Books

Genre(s): Fantasy/Science Fiction

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates–brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find–aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge–but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.

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Published: 25 September 2018

Publisher: Titan Books

Genre(s): Fantasy/Science Fiction

A super-powered collision of extraordinary minds and vengeful intentions—#1 New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab returns with the thrilling follow-up to Vicious.

Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.

But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought—and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other.

With Marcella’s rise, new enmities create opportunity–and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.

3. Slay by Brittney Morris

I recently check this out from the library. It’s a fascinating book that, as far as I’ve gotten, has touched on cultural appropriation, gaming, and the busyness of high school life. It’s getting exciting and I’m curious to see where it’ll go next.

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Published: 24 September 2019

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Genre(s): Contemporary/Fiction/Young Adult

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the “downfall of the Black man.”

But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for “anti-white discrimination.”

Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?

4. Jackpot by Nic Stone

I was gifted a copy of this recently and from the peak I took into the first chapter, it looks so, so good. The tone is sarcastic & hilarious, just my kind of thing. 🙂

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Published: 15 October 2019

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers

Genre(s): Young Adult/Contemporary

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Dear Martin–comes a pitch-perfect romance that examines class, privilege, and how a stroke of good luck can change an entire life.

Meet Rico: high school senior and afternoon-shift cashier at the Gas ‘n’ Go, who after school and work races home to take care of her younger brother. Every. Single. Day. When Rico sells a jackpot-winning lotto ticket, she thinks maybe her luck will finally change, but only if she–with some assistance from her popular and wildly rich classmate Zan–can find the ticket holder who hasn’t claimed the prize. But what happens when have and have-nots collide? Will this investigative duo unite…or divide?

Nic Stone, the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out, creates two unforgettable characters in one hard-hitting story about class, money–both too little and too much–and how you make your own luck in the world.

5. You by Caroline Kepnes, Narrated by Santiago Fontana

Recommended by a close friend, this has been one of the most conflicting books I’ve read in recent memory. It’s told from the perspective of a stalker and in a way where you’re not entirely sure that he’s a bad guy (spoiler: oh, yeah, he totally is). It’s such a well crafted novel and the audio book is a fabulous performance (Santiago Fontana also played Hans in Frozen, which seems so *chefs kiss* 😂).

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Published: 20 September 2014

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Genre(s): Thriller/Mystery

When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the bookstore where Joe works, he is instantly smitten.

But there’s more to Joe than Beck realises and much more to Beck than her perfect facade. And the obsessive relationship quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences…

6-7. Slayer & Chosen by Kiersten White

I grew up watching the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When I heard that Kiersten White, author of my personal favorite The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, was writing a new in-universe series, I got very excited. These books look and sound amazing, I think y’all will agree. 😁

Published: 8 January 2019

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Genre(s): Young Adult/Fantasy (Paranormal)

Into every generation a Slayer is born…

Nina and her twin sister, Artemis, are far from normal. It’s hard to be when you grow up at the Watcher’s Academy, which is a bit different from your average boarding school. Here teens are trained as guides for Slayers—girls gifted with supernatural strength to fight the forces of darkness. But while Nina’s mother is a prominent member of the Watcher’s Council, Nina has never embraced the violent Watcher lifestyle. Instead she follows her instincts to heal, carving out a place for herself as the school medic.

Until the day Nina’s life changes forever.

Thanks to Buffy, the famous (and infamous) Slayer that Nina’s father died protecting, Nina is not only the newest Chosen One—she’s the last Slayer, ever. Period.

As Nina hones her skills with her Watcher-in-training, Leo, there’s plenty to keep her occupied: a monster fighting ring, a demon who eats happiness, a shadowy figure that keeps popping up in Nina’s dreams…

But it’s not until bodies start turning up that Nina’s new powers will truly be tested—because someone she loves might be next.

One thing is clear: Being Chosen is easy. Making choices is hard.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads | Indiebound

Published: 7 January 2020

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Genre(s): Young Adult/Fantasy (Paranormal)

Nina continues to learn how to use her slayer powers against enemies old and new in this second novel in the New York Times bestselling series from Kiersten White, set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Now that Nina has turned the Watcher’s Castle into a utopia for hurt and lonely demons, she’s still waiting for the utopia part to kick in. With her sister Artemis gone and only a few people remaining at the castle—including her still-distant mother—Nina has her hands full. Plus, though she gained back her Slayer powers from Leo, they’re not feeling quite right after being held by the seriously evil succubus Eve, a.k.a. fake Watcher’s Council member and Leo’s mom.

And while Nina is dealing with the darkness inside, there’s also a new threat on the outside, portended by an odd triangle symbol that seems to be popping up everywhere, in connection with Sean’s demon drug ring as well as someone a bit closer to home. Because one near-apocalypse just isn’t enough, right?

The darkness always finds you. And once again, it’s coming for the Slayer.

8. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The trailer for the film based on this graphic novel has played on a couple of preview reels in my DVD collection & I keep meaning to pick it up.

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Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads | Indiebound

Published: 1 June 2004

Publisher: Pantheon

Genre(s): Nonfiction/Autobiography

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.

9. Starless by Jacqueline Carey

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Carey book (Kushiel’s Dart in high school, I think?), but this one sound neato. 👀 Gods schmods, the humans are gonna take the wheel in this story.

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Published: 12 June 2018

Publisher: Tor Books

Genre(s): Fantasy/Fiction/LGBTQ+

Jacqueline Carey is back with an amazing adventure not seen since her New York Times bestselling Kushiel’s Legacy series. Lush and sensual, Starless introduces us to an epic world where exiled gods live among us, and a hero whose journey will resonate long after the last page is turned.

Let your mind be like the eye of the hawk…Destined from birth to serve as protector of the princess Zariya, Khai is trained in the arts of killing and stealth by a warrior sect in the deep desert; yet there is one profound truth that has been withheld from him.

In the court of the Sun-Blessed, Khai must learn to navigate deadly intrigue and his own conflicted identity…but in the far reaches of the western seas, the dark god Miasmus is rising, intent on nothing less than wholesale destruction.

If Khai is to keep his soul’s twin Zariya alive, their only hope lies with an unlikely crew of prophecy-seekers on a journey that will take them farther beneath the starless skies than anyone can imagine.

10. Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beloved has been on my periphery for a long time. Hopefully I can get to it this year.

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Published: 16 September 1987

Publisher: Vintage

Genre(s): Historical Fiction/Classics

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby.

Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Her new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.