Waiting on Wednesday (103)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that you are eagerly anticipating.

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Genre: Middle Grade/Fantasy
Page Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Disney/Rick Riordan Presents
Publication Date: March 27, 2018

About Aru Shah and the End of Time (via Goodreads):

Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from their latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru's doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don't believe her claim that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.

But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it's up to Aru to save them.

The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?

Waiting on Wednesday (102)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that you are eagerly anticipating.

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce
Series: The Numair Chronicles #1, Tortall #8
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Page Length: 480 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: February 6, 2018

About Tempests and Slaughter (via Goodreads):

Arram. Varice. Ozorne. In the first book in the Numair Chronicles, three student mages are bound by fate . . . fated for trouble. Arram Draper is a boy on the path to becoming one of the realm’s most powerful mages. The youngest student in his class at the Imperial University of Carthak, he has a Gift with unlimited potential for greatness–and for attracting danger. At his side are his two best friends: Varice, a clever girl with an often-overlooked talent, and Ozorne, the “leftover prince” with secret ambitions. Together, these three friends forge a bond that will one day shape kingdoms. And as Ozorne gets closer to the throne and Varice gets closer to Arram’s heart, Arram begins to realize that one day soon he will have to decide where his loyalties truly lie. In the Numair Chronicles, readers will be rewarded with the never-before-told story of how Numair Salmalín came to Tortall. Newcomers will discover an unforgettable fantasy adventure where a kingdom’s future rests on the shoulders of a talented young man with a knack for making vicious enemies.

Waiting on Wednesday (101)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that you are eagerly anticipating.

Sightwitch by Susan Dennard
Series: The Witchlands #0.5
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Page Length: 208 pages
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: February 13, 2018

About Sightwitch (via Susan Dennard):

Before Safi and Iseult battled a Bloodwitch…

Before Merik returned from the dead…

Ryber Fortiza was a Sightwitch Sister at a secluded convent, waiting to be called by her goddess into the depths of the mountain. There she would receive the gift of foretelling. But when that call never comes, Ryber finds herself the only Sister without the Sight.

Years pass and Ryber’s misfit pain becomes a dull ache, until one day, Sisters who already possess the Sight are summoned into the mountain, never to return. Soon enough, Ryber is the only Sister left. Now, it is up to her to save her Sisters, though she does not have the Sight—and though she does not know what might await her inside the mountain.

On her journey underground, she encounters a young captain named Kullen Ikray, who has no memory of who he is or how he got there. Together, the two journey ever deeper in search of answers, their road filled with horrors, and what they find at the end of that road will alter the fate of the Witchlands forever.

Sightwitch—available February 13—is an illustrated tale set in the Witchlands and told through Ryber’s journal entries and sketches.

I AM SO SO SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK. I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THE WITCHLANDS SERIES SO FAR AND CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR MORE ABOUT RYBER. AND THE EXCERPT WAS SO AMAZING AND I KNOW THE WHOLE BOOK WILL BE TOO.

Waiting on Wednesday (100)

Interlude by Chantele Sedgwick
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary
Page Length: 272 pages
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Publication Date: February 13, 2018

About Interlude (via Goodreads):

When eighteen-year-old Mia Cox finds out she's not a match to donate a kidney to save her younger sister's life, she jumps on a plane to New York, convinced she can talk their estranged birth mother into donating hers instead. After an embarrassing conversation with the cute boy sitting next to her for the flight, she realizes he's the one and only Jaxton Scott, the troubled lead singer of a famous rock band she hates--and he's running away from his rock star life. As the hours pass and they get to know each other, she finds herself opening up to him like she never has to anyone, even though he's a total stranger. Which is fine, since she'll never see him again. But when her trip to New York doesn't go as planned, and a phone call from her sister changes everything she had planned, Mia knows she must put her trust in fate and her new friend, even though she's lost all reason to hope.

2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge

The Beat the Backlist Challenge was created by Novel Knight to encourage us to read books that were released in past years. As someone who is always behind on my reading, I still want to read all those incredible books I've missed out on in the past without feeling bad about skipping books that are coming out. I feel like there's kind of a pressure with that as a blogger/person in the bookish community to stay on top of all the new releases and that isn't always possible? I don't know (but side note: a great video kind of about that is by Ariel Bissett!)

I don't really have a set goal in mind in terms of number, but I was thinking maybe proportionally, at least 1/3 of my reading this coming year be backlist?

Waiting on Wednesday (99)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that you are eagerly anticipating.

The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary/LGBTQIA+
Page Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: January 30, 2018

About The Dangerous Art of Blending In (via Goodreads):

Seventeen-year-old Evan Panos doesn’t know where he fits in. His strict Greek mother refuses to see him as anything but a disappointment. His quiet, workaholic father is a staunch believer in avoiding any kind of conflict. And his best friend Henry has somehow become distractingly attractive over the summer.

Tired, isolated, scared—Evan’s only escape is drawing in an abandoned church that feels as lonely as he is. And, yes, he kissed one guy over the summer. But it’s his best friend Henry who’s now proving to be irresistible. It’s Henry who suddenly seems interested in being more than friends. And it’s Henry who makes him believe that he’s more than his mother’s harsh words and terrifying abuse. But as things with Henry heat up, and his mother’s abuse escalates, Evan has to decide how to find his voice in a world where he has survived so long by avoiding attention at all costs.