Waiting on Wednesday (18): How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

Waiting on Wednesday's is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. *It appears that Breaking the Spine hasn't been active since 2016, but I still want to credit them as the creators.

For this week's Waiting on Wednesday I'm spotlighting How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin 

Publisher:  PENGUIN GROUP Dutton

Expected publication date:  March 26, 2024

Goodreads synopsis

FRANCES ALWAYS SAID SHE'D BE MURDERED...
SHE WAS RIGHT.

In 1965, when Frances Adams was seventeen, a fortune teller told her that one day she'd be murdered. Thus began a lifetime of trying to prevent the crime that would be her eventual demise.

No one took Frances seriously for sixty years - until, of course, she was murdered. But for Frances, being the village busybody was a form of insurance. She'd spent a lifetime compiling dirt on every person she met, just in case they might turn out to be her killer. In the heart of her sprawling country estate lies an eccentric library of detective work, where the right person could step in and use her findings to solve her murder.

When her great-niece Annie arrives from London and discovers that Frances' worst fear has come true, Annie is thrust into her great-aunt's last act of revenge against her sceptical friends and family. Frances' will stipulates that the person who solves her murder inherits her millions, and she's challenged a group that includes Annie to prove to the world that Frances was right all along about her future.

Can Annie unravel the mystery and find justice for Frances, or will digging up the past lead her into the path of the killer?

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I love love love a murder mystery. And I've seen this one be compared to Agatha Christie and Knives Out, so if it comes even close to the likes of those works, I know I'll be obsessed the second it releases. If you're looking for a new murder mystery like me, you can add How to Solve Your Own Murder to your Goodreads TBR here!

Teaser Tuesday (23): All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology

 Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Anyone can participate in Teaser Tuesdays. Just do the following:• Grab your read

• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

For this week's Teaser Tuesday, I'm sharing teasers from All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology

Goodreads synopsis

The stories in All These Sunken Souls explore horror through a blend of genres—from the thoughtful to the terrifying—as the reader wanders farther and farther from reality. By delivering a multitude of profound nightmares, this YA horror anthology by established and debut authors contains something for every horror fan—and for anyone who dares to open these pages.

From haunted Victorian mansions, temporal monster-infested asylums, ravaging zombie apocalypses, to southern gothic hoodoo practitioners, the anthology features stories from Kalynn Bayron, Donyae Coles, Ryan Douglass, Sami Ellis, Brent Lambert, Ashia Monet, Circe Moskowitz, Joel Rochester, Liselle Sambury, and Joelle Wellington.

All These Sunken Souls tackles a genre that historically has tokenized and exploited Black characters and opens discussion on how horror translates into the current time we live in.

My teasers

    Her hug tightens. "This house isn't good for you."

    "What do you mean?" Vienna whispers.

    "It rubs you raw. You'll start peeling, and I do not think you'll like the new skin."

    I think I was haunted as a child, Vienna thinks. There was a monster when I was a child.

Page 147.

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All These Sunken Souls is expected to be released on October 17, 2023, and you can add it to your Goodreads TBR here! 

First Line Friday (19): All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology

First Line Friday is a bookish tag hosted over at Abstract Books that is used to showcase your favourite first lines of books.

There really is something to be said about a good first line, and I'm going to be using this tag from now on to showcase my current read's first lines.

My current read this week is All These Sunken Souls by Kalynn Bayron; Ashia Monet; Liselle Sambury; Sami Ellis; Joel Rochester; Joelle Wellington; Brent C. Lambert; Donyae Coles; Ryan Douglass.

What is the punishment for murder? I guess it depends on who you are and how much money you have.

Goodreads synopsis

The stories in All These Sunken Souls explore horror through a blend of genres—from the thoughtful to the terrifying—as the reader wanders farther and farther from reality. By delivering a multitude of profound nightmares, this YA horror anthology by established and debut authors contains something for every horror fan—and for anyone who dares to open these pages.

From haunted Victorian mansions, temporal monster-infested asylums, ravaging zombie apocalypses, to southern gothic hoodoo practitioners, the anthology features stories from Kalynn Bayron, Donyae Coles, Ryan Douglass, Sami Ellis, Brent Lambert, Ashia Monet, Circe Moskowitz, Joel Rochester, Liselle Sambury, and Joelle Wellington.

All These Sunken Souls tackles a genre that historically has tokenized and exploited Black characters and opens discussion on how horror translates into the current time we live in.

--

All These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology will be available on October 17, 2023. You can add it to your Goodreads TBR here!

Waiting on Wednesday (17): Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

Waiting on Wednesday's is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. *It appears that Breaking the Spine hasn't been active since 2016, but I still want to credit them as the creators.

For this week's Waiting on Wednesday I'm spotlighting Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison.

Publisher: Berkley

Expected publication date: September 19, 2023

Goodreads synopsis

A cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle.

Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly...something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.

Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.

When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.

--

As always I am on the look out for new horror novels to sink my teeth into, especially as autumn starts to loom over us. If you're also looking for horror to add to your autumn TBR, you can add Black Sheep to your TBR here.

Waiting on Wednesday (16): Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham

Waiting on Wednesday's is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. *It appears that Breaking the Spine hasn't been active since 2016, but I still want to credit them as the creators.

For this week's Waiting on Wednesday I'm spotlighting Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham.

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Expected publication date: January 16, 2024

Goodreads synopsis

A sharp and twisty exploration of female friendship from the New York Times bestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things.

Lucy Sharpe is larger than life. Magnetic, addictive. Bold and dangerous. Especially for Margot, who meets Lucy at the end of their freshman year at a liberal arts college in South Carolina. Margot is the shy one, the careful one, always the sidekick and never the center of attention. But when Lucy singles her out at the end of the year, a year Margot spent studying and playing it safe, and asks her to room together, something in Margot can't say no—something daring, or starved, or maybe even envious.

And so Margot finds herself living in an off-campus house with three other girls, Lucy, the ringleader; Sloane, the sarcastic one; and Nicole, the nice one, the three of them opposites but also deeply intertwined. It's a year that finds Margot finally coming out of the shell she's been in since the end of high school, when her best friend Eliza died three weeks after graduation. Margot and Lucy have become the closest of friends, but by the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered... and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.

From the author of A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things comes a tantalizing thriller about the nature of friendship and belonging, about loyalty, envy, and betrayal—another gripping novel from an author quickly becoming the gold standard in psychological suspense.

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I am always on the look out for new thrillers so I'm very excited for this release and I'll be eagerly awaiting getting my hands on it when it releases in 2024. You can add it to your Goodreads TBR here!

Teaser Tuesday (22): The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke Dale

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Anyone can participate in Teaser Tuesdays. Just do the following:• Grab your read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

For this week's Teaser Tuesday, I'm sharing teasers from The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale.

Goodreads synopsis

Middle-class Rosie Macalister has worked for years to fit in with her wealthy friends on the Yale equestrian team. But when she comes back from her junior year abroad with newfound confidence, she finds that the group has been infiltrated by a mysterious Annelise Tattinger.

A talented tarot reader and a brilliant rider, the enigmatic Annelise is unlike anyone Rosie has ever met. But when one of their friends notices money disappearing from her bank account, Annelise's place in the circle is thrown into question. As the girls turn against each other, the group’s unspoken tensions and assumptions lead to devastating consequences.

It's only after graduation, when Rosie begins a job at a Manhattan hedge fund, that she begins to uncover Annelise's true identity––and how her place in their elite Yale set was no accident. Is it too late for Rosie to put right what went wrong, or does everyone's luck run out at some point? Set in the heady days of the early aughts, The Fortune Seller is a haunting examination of class, ambition, and the desires that shape our lives.

My teasers

"I just want things to go back to the way they were.

I wanted it, too. I wanted it for her, and I wanted it for myself."

"The dynamics of the house had changed forever, and the only thing I could think was: we’ve got to get out of here."

--

The Fortune Seller is expected to release on February 13, 2024, and you can add it to your Goodreads TBR here!

First Line Friday (18): The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke Dale

First Line Friday is a bookish tag hosted over at Abstract Books that is used to showcase your favourite first lines of books.

There really is something to be said about a good first line, and I'm going to be using this tag from now on to showcase my current read's first lines.

My current read this week is The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale.

The thing about the Fool? He’s excited. But he’s also scared. It’s like . . . he knows there’s an adventure in front of him. But he doesn’t know what it will bring. And he doesn’t know if he’s ready.

Goodreads synopsis

Middle-class Rosie Macalister has worked for years to fit in with her wealthy friends on the Yale equestrian team. But when she comes back from her junior year abroad with newfound confidence, she finds that the group has been infiltrated by a mysterious Annelise Tattinger.

A talented tarot reader and a brilliant rider, the enigmatic Annelise is unlike anyone Rosie has ever met. But when one of their friends notices money disappearing from her bank account, Annelise's place in the circle is thrown into question. As the girls turn against each other, the group’s unspoken tensions and assumptions lead to devastating consequences.

It's only after graduation, when Rosie begins a job at a Manhattan hedge fund, that she begins to uncover Annelise's true identity––and how her place in their elite Yale set was no accident. Is it too late for Rosie to put right what went wrong, or does everyone's luck run out at some point? Set in the heady days of the early aughts, The Fortune Seller is a haunting examination of class, ambition, and the desires that shape our lives.

--

The Fortune Seller will be available on February 13, 2024, and you can add it to your TBR here

Waiting on Wednesday (15) The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

Waiting on Wednesday's is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. *It appears that Breaking the Spine hasn't been active since 2016, but I still want to credit them as the creators.

For this week's Waiting on Wednesday I'm spotlighting The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

Release date: February 13 2024

Goodreads Synopsis

Middle-class Rosie Macalister has worked for years to fit in with her wealthy friends on the Yale equestrian team. But when she comes back from her junior year abroad with newfound confidence, she finds that the group has been infiltrated by a mysterious Annelise Tattinger.

A talented tarot reader and a brilliant rider, the enigmatic Annelise is unlike anyone Rosie has ever met. But when one of their friends notices money disappearing from her bank account, Annelise's place in the circle is thrown into question. As the girls turn against each other, the group’s unspoken tensions and assumptions lead to devastating consequences.

It's only after graduation, when Rosie begins a job at a Manhattan hedge fund, that she begins to uncover Annelise's true identity––and how her place in their elite Yale set was no accident. Is it too late for Rosie to put right what went wrong, or does everyone's luck run out at some point? Set in the heady days of the early aughts, The Fortune Seller is a haunting examination of class, ambition, and the desires that shape our lives.

--

Since reading The Ballerinas in 2021 I have been obsessed with Rachel Kapelke-Dale's writing, and have eagerly awaited each release, so I am beyond excited to get my hands on the Fortune Seller.

You can add The Fortune Seller to your TBR here!