Category Archives: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

Jul29

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 29th July, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Posted on July 29, 2020 by sjhigbee

#dystopian science fiction #family relationships

BLURB: They’ll call her a bad mother.
Cole can live with that. Because when she breaks her son Miles out of the Male Protection Facility – designed to prevent him joining the 99% of men wiped off the face of the Earth – she’s not just taking him back.
She’s setting him free.
Leaving Miles in America would leave him as a lab experiment; a pawn in the hands of people who now see him as a treasure to be guarded, traded, and used. What kind of mother would stand by and watch her child suffer? But as their journey to freedom takes them across a hostile and changed country, freedom seems ever more impossible.
It’s time for Cole to prove just how far she’ll go to protect her son.

What caught my eye was that this is a story about a mother trying to save her son in a world where the majority of men have died off. I have enjoyed Beukes writing – see my review of Zoo City and Moxyland – so I am intrigued to see what she is proposing to do with this scenario…

Jul22

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 22nd July, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Posted on July 22, 2020 by sjhigbee

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BLURB: Princess Sun has finally come of age.
Growing up in the shadow of her mother, Eirene, has been no easy task. The legendary queen-marshal did what everyone thought impossible: expel the invaders and build Chaonia into a magnificent republic, one to be respected—and feared. But the cutthroat ambassador corps and conniving noble houses have never ceased to scheme—and they have plans that need Sun to be removed as heir, or better yet, dead. To survive, the princess must rely on her wits and companions: her biggest rival, her secret lover, and a dangerous prisoner of war.

Take the brilliance and cunning courage of Princess Leia—add in a dazzling futuristic setting where pop culture and propaganda are one and the same—and hold on tight:

This is the space opera you’ve been waiting for.

The great Kate Elliott writing space opera! AND retelling the amazing story of Alexander the Great, but set in space – with a heroine… *bouncing on my seat with excitement* AND I’ve been approved for a Netgalley arc!!

Annddd… I need to calm down a bit. Picking up a book with toooo much anticipation is a sure-fire way for massive disappointment. But – that will be something of a struggle regarding this one! Fingers crossed that it’s as awesome a read as I’m hoping for.

Jul15

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 15th July, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Posted on July 15, 2020 by sjhigbee

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BLURB: Al MacBharrais is both blessed and cursed. He is blessed with an extraordinary white moustache, an appreciation for craft cocktails–and a most unique magical talent. He can cast spells with magically enchanted ink and he uses his gifts to protect our world from rogue minions of various pantheons, especially the Fae.

But when his latest apprentice, Gordie, turns up dead in his Glasgow flat, Al discovers evidence that Gordie was living a secret life of crime. Now Al is forced to play detective–while avoiding actual detectives who are wondering why death seems to always follow Al. Investigating his apprentice’s death will take him through Scotland’s magical underworld, and he’ll need the help of a mischievous hobgoblin if he’s to survive.

This is a spin-off from the hugely popular Iron Druid series, which I loved – see my review of Hounded – so I’m looking forward to this one with a great deal of anticipation. There should be some enjoyable knockabout humour, and I’m also pleased to see a protagonist in his sixties, so not in the first flush of youth. As he’s in the throes of a magical curse that means he can only speak at cost of his life, I’m intrigued to see how that plays out without compromising the flow and pace of the story. But this is Kevin Hearne, people! So it should be awesome.

Jul8

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 8th July, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Posted on July 8, 2020 by sjhigbee

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Sanda and Tomas are fleeing for their lives after letting the most dangerous smartship in the universe run free. Now, unsure of who to trust, Sanda knows only one thing for certain — to be able to save herself from becoming a pawn of greater powers, she needs to discover the secret of the coordinates hidden in her skull.

But getting to those coordinates is a problem she can’t solve alone. They exist beyond a dead gate — a Casimir gate that opened up into a dead-end system without resources worth colonizing, and was sealed off. To get through the dead gate, she needs the help of the enemy Nazca. But some Nazca are only interested in the chip in her head — and they’ll crack her open to get to it.

I haven’t yet read anything by this author, although I’m aware she is an established writer with a strong reputation. But space opera is my favourite genre – and the opportunity of reading a cracking tale set in space by a good writer made this one irresistible. And for once – no… I’m NOT going to crash mid-way into this series, I’m hoping in the coming week to read the first book, Velocity Weapon. Has anyone else got Chaos Vector on their TBR?

Jul1

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 1st July, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Posted on July 1, 2020 by sjhigbee

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By contrast to many of my recent Can’t-Wait-Wednesday offerings, this is revisiting an author whose work I fell in love with some 20 years ago – see my reviews of Turn Coat, Ghost Story, and Skin Game.

And nope. I’m NOT going to join in the chorus of readers stamping their feet and yelling at the Moon because Jim Butcher didn’t deliver this one when expected. I’m sure he wasn’t happy about it, either. But Life happened in a major way to him and one of the first things that happens to writers when things like divorce, losing a much-loved pet and moving happens – they lose the ability to write. There is only so much headspace available for processing stories and when you are stressed and overwhelmed, your writing mojo is one of the first things to disappear – and the last to resurface, again. Which has always seemed the height of unfairness to me, but there it is…

So I’m just celebrating that he has now got things under sufficient control that he is once more able to write. And I’m looking forward to diving back into this world that defines a part of my life I look back on with great affection. I nearly didn’t get this one for that very reason, but that’s cowardly even for me. So looking forward to this one with some trepidation… Anyone else waiting for Peace Talks?

Jun24

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 24th June, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Posted on June 24, 2020 by sjhigbee

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BLURB: Magic is women’s work; war is men’s. But in the coming battle, none of that will matter.

Men do not become mystics. They become warriors. But eighteen-year-old Salo has never been good at conforming to his tribe’s expectations. For as long as he can remember, he has loved books and magic in a culture where such things are considered unmanly. Despite it being sacrilege, Salo has worked on a magical device in secret that will awaken his latent magical powers. And when his village is attacked by a cruel enchantress, Salo knows that it is time to take action.

Salo’s queen is surprisingly accepting of his desire to be a mystic, but she will not allow him to stay in the tribe. Instead, she sends Salo on a quest. The quest will take him thousands of miles north to the Jungle City, the political heart of the continent. There he must gather information on a growing threat to his tribe.

On the way to the city, he is joined by three fellow outcasts: a shunned female warrior, a mysterious nomad, and a deadly assassin. But they’re being hunted by the same enchantress who attacked Salo’s village. She may hold the key to Salo’s awakening—and his redemption.

Someone strongly recommended this one to me, to extent that I’ve got it on pre-order. Though having the memory of a concussed jellyfish, I cannot recall who it was… if you remember our conversation – do please feel free to mention it in the Comments and I’ll namecheck you! I’m really looking forward to tucking into this one and hope I will enjoy it. Have you got this one on your TBR?

Jun17

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 17th June, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Posted on June 17, 2020 by sjhigbee

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Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week’s Can’t-Wait offering – Entangled Secrets – Book 3 of the Northern Circle Coven series by Pat Esden – release date, 7th July, 2020

#fantasy series #witchcraft #feisty heroine

BLURB: Pregnant and alone at twenty-one, Chandler Parrish sought refuge within the Northern Circle coven’s secluded complex. Never revealing the identity of her child’s father, Chandler has raised her now eight-year-old son, Peregrine, in peace, and used her talent as an artist and welder to become a renowned metal sculptor. But her world is shaken to the core when Peregrine shows signs of natural faerie sight—a rare and dangerous gift to see through faerie glamour and disguises that could only have come from his father’s genes. Worse yet, the boy has seen a monstrous faerie creature trailing Lionel Parker, a magic-obsessed journalist determined to expose the witching world.

But the very man who threatens the witches’ anonymity may also be key to healing Chandler’s long broken heart. As dangerous desires and shocking secrets entangle, new faerie threats and demonic foes close in on the coven and High Council. Loyalties will be tested. Fierce magics will be called upon. And Chandler will have to face her past to save all she holds dear: her coven, her child—and perhaps even her own soul.

It wasn’t the cover that attracted me this time – to be honest, I don’t like it all that much. It was the fact that a mother is at the heart of this story. Young, unattached heroines are ten a penny in fantasy fiction, mothers looking out for their children are far less common. Though I appear to have once again crashed midway into a series. Let’s hope this time I fare better than I did with the Daevabad trilogy, where I had to backtrack to fully appreciate the full scope of the unfolding story! Have you got this one on your TBR?

Jun10

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 10th June, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Posted on June 10, 2020 by sjhigbee

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**Isn’t this to die for? No wonder I buckled!**

BLURB: For the crime of stealing bread, fourteen-year-old May receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned woman, brutally marked, whose fate is to hear the final confessions of the dying, eat ritual foods symbolizing their sins as a funeral rite, and thereby shoulder their transgressions to grant their souls access to heaven.

Orphaned and friendless, apprenticed to an older Sin Eater who cannot speak to her, May must make her way in a dangerous and cruel world she barely understands. When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why.

Having the depth of a pavement puddle, I cannot deny it – this gorgeous cover bewitched me. Though I was also intrigued by the premise – it sounds both original and plausible in a twisted way. After all, there was a thriving trade in selling pardons to frightened sinners throughout the Middle Ages. So I’m really looking forward to tucking into this one.

Jun3

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 3rd June, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Posted on June 3, 2020 by sjhigbee

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40276268 – vintage old pocket watch and book

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week’s Can’t-Wait offering – The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson – release date, 4th August, 2020

#science fiction #multiverse adventure #feisty heroine

BLURB: The multiverse business is booming, but there’s just one catch: no one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive.

Enter Cara. Of the 382 realities that have been unlocked, Cara is dead in all but eight

But on this earth, she survived. Born in the wastelands where if a basic lack of resources didn’t kill you, violence would, Cara is happy to reap the benefits of a job and a safe place in the city to call home.

But when one of her eight remaining doppelgangers dies under mysterious circumstances, Cara is plunged into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and future in ways she never could have imagined – and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.

I love multiverse adventures and this one looks as if it has taken a different approach to the whole subject. I’m really looking forward to tucking into this one as the premise sounds both intriguing and gripping. It doesn’t hurt that the cover is also really cool, too. And the big bonus is – this one couldn’t be further from our current difficulties if it tried…

May27

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 27th May, 20202 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW #WyrdandWonder2020

Posted on May 27, 2020 by sjhigbee

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Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.
I’m linking this week’s fantasy offering with Wyrd and Wonder 2020.

This week’s Can’t-Wait offering – Grave Secrets: the Lavington Windsor Mysteries – Book 1 by Alice James – release date, 1st September, 2020

#English urban fantasy #mystery #vampires

BLURB: Toni Windsor is trying to live a quiet life in the green and pleasant county of Staffordshire. She’d love to finally master the rules of croquet, acquire a decent boyfriend and make some commission as an estate agent.

All that might have to wait, though, because there are zombies rising from their graves, vampires sneaking out of their coffins and a murder to solve. And it’s all made rather more complicated by the fact that she’s the one raising all the zombies.

Oh, and she’s dating one of the vampires too. It can’t be the best decision she’s ever made, but he’s so pretty.

Really, what’s a girl meant to do?

I love the look of this one – and the idea of an urban fantasy murder mystery set in the English countryside meant I had to have it! I’m looking forward to tucking into this one, which looks like it is going to be an enjoyable, suitably frothy read. And I’m yearning for froth, right now…

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