Waiting on Wednesday:The goldfinch
"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Book: The Goldfinch

From: Donna Tartt

Release date: October 22, 2013

From goodreads:

Composed with the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity. It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art. As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle. The Goldfinch is a novel of shocking narrative energy and power. It combines unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is a beautiful, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

Waiting on Wednesday: Thornhill
"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Book: Thornhill

Author: Kathleen Peacock

Release Date: September 10, 2013

From goodreads:

Mac can’t lose another friend. Even if he doesn’t want to be found.

The ripple effect caused by Mac’s best friend Amy’s murder has driven Mac’s new love, Kyle, to leave Hemlock and disappear from her life forever. But Mac knows that Kyle plans to enroll in a rehabilitation camp, where he can live with other werewolves. She refuses to accept his decision, especially since the camps are rumored to be tortuous. So she sets out in search of Kyle with a barely sober Jason—and Amy’s all-seeing ghost—in tow.

Clues lead Mac to find Kyle in a werewolf den in Colorado—but their reunion is cut short by a Tracker raid. Now Mac and Kyle are trapped inside the electric fences of Thornhill, a camp for young werewolves. As she devises an escape plan, Mac uncovers dangerous secrets buried within the walls of Thornhill—and realizes that the risk to the people she loves is greater than ever before

brought to you by: the broke and the bookish

Top Ten Tuesday: Things that make our life as reader/blogger easier

brought to you by: the broke and the bookish

Jeni's Picks:

1. Goodreads: Makes finding new books so much easier. People tend to be more honest on their reviews here to. 

2. Best Friends: I love when people recommend a book they love. Most of my friends know what I like too so I'm sure to love their choices. 

3. Library: I spend way to much on books as it is so its nice to read books for free sometimes. 

4. Kindle: I love love love that I can just shop for a book wherever I am. Its just so easy that sometimes I spend a little to much. .

5. Book Club: This gets me to read books I might not pick up on my own.

Emily's Picks

6. My Dad: I trust his recommendations and usually they are pretty good.

7. Sister: Jeni has a great home library, plus she is usually current on what is new in the publishing world, and I am not.  She has lead me to some great reads.

8. Amazon Your Recommendation List: I have found some great reads on this list. 

9. The last pages of books: You know on the back of some books the publishers put books they have published that are similar to the one you have just read?  I don't know what it's called, but I have actually found some good books by reading that list.

10. The Broke and the Bookish: reading the top ten Tuesday lists!  :)

Waiting on Wednesday: Night Film

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Book: Night Film

Author: Marisha Pessel

Release Date: August 20th, 2013

From goodreads:

     On a damp October night, the body of young, beautiful Ashley Cordova is found in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. By all appearances her death is a suicide--but investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. Though much has been written about the dark and unsettling films of Ashley's father, Stanislas Cordova, very little is known about the man himself. As McGrath pieces together the mystery of Ashley's death, he is drawn deeper and deeper into the dark underbelly of New York City and the twisted world of Stanislas Cordova, and he begins to wonder--is he the next victim? In this novel, the dazzlingly inventive writer Marisha Pessl offers a breathtaking mystery that will hold you in suspense until the last page is turned

brought to you by: the broke and the bookish

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with X Setting

brought to you by: the broke and the bookish

Jeni's picks 

1. Paranormal High Schools: I loved the Hex Hall and Born at Midnight series. 

2. Early 1800's (Regency): I love so many authors that write in this time period. Julie Klassen, Sarah M. Eden, Melanie Dickerson, Carla Kelly and Julianne Donaldson.

3. Any place I've visited: Chicago, New York, Seattle, Colorado, London etc. It's fun reading about places you've seen in person. I liked Divergent and how she saw futuristic Chicago. 

4. Cornwall, England: One of my favorite authors Rosamunde Pilcher writes a lot of her books from this area. Susanna Kearsley does too.

5. Present/Past: I love time travel novels or books that have a point of few from the present and someones from the past. Some of my favorites are A Vintage Affair, The Forgotten Garden, The Rose Garden and The Light Between Oceans.  

                                                      Emily's Picks
6. 1940's-1950's. I love this time period. Agatha Christie mysteries are one of the best written, and I also love any book written about WWII. Plus if you haven't read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, well then you are missing out.  Or historical accounts of this time period  like The Hiding Place, or Night, or fictional accounts like Number the Stars, Summer of My German Solider.

7. Magical Kingdoms. I'm a sucker for world building, and fantasy worlds are my favorite. Terry Brooks does a great, if not long winded job of creating his world, and Tadd Williams. But I also love Raymond E. Feist, Robin McKinley, David Eddings, Cynthia Voigt Kingdom series, (and the list could go on)

8. Hauntings. Give me a ghost story, and I will devour it. I like classics and well as the new stuff out there.  But I do not like horror.  There is a fine line. I loved The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and I love Barbara Michaels.  That lady knows how to write a ghost story.

9. Greek Mythos in modern times: Who doesn't love a little Greek in their day? No? I like the idea of putting some Greek mythology into modern times.  Sometimes it works, other times, not so much.  but I will give them a try.  Of Poseidon,  Everneath, Percy Jackson, The Goddess Test

10. Victorian Crime: I read these a lot. The Alienist, The Carter Street Hangman, The Face of Stranger, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, The Agency: A Spy in the House

Stacking the Shelves: #1

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! Hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Kindle Buys:

Chain Reaction

Wildfire

Infinity Glass

Nook Buys: 

FREE

Distant Dreams

Solitary Envoy

A Daughter's Inheritance

Waiting on Wednesday:Hero

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating

Book: Hero

Author: Alethea Kontis

Release Date: October 1, 2013

From Goodreads:

Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.

Why I'm waiting:

I didn't know Alethea Kontis was coming out with a sequel to Enchanted. It will be interesting to see which fairy tales will be included in this story. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I wish Could Have Had Sequels

Brought to you by the Broke and the Bookish

Jeni's Picks:

1. Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken: I remember finishing this book and just wishing there was a sequel. I wasn't ready to let the characters go.  

2. The Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Nielson:  This is my favorite mermaid story. I wish the ending would've been longer. A sequel to this would be awesome. I heard through the grapevine that she is writing another book. I can't wait!!

3. Flecks of Gold by Alicia Buck: This story really surprised me. I bought this at a local author book signing and I wasn't sure I would enjoy it. I loved it and everyone I've lent it to raves about it. I would love for her to write another book in this world. 

4. Warped by Maurissa Guibord: I felt like she left the story a little opened at the end and I would love to see what the Fate's have in store. 

5. Enchanted by Alethea Kontis: When I was going through my books I saw this one and thought I wish she had done a sequel like Jessica Day George did for Princess of the Midnight Ball. Just pick a sibling and tell their story. I didn't realize at the time that she does have a sequel coming out in October named Hero. Which will be about Sunday's sister Saturday.

Emily's Picks

6. The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding. I loved this book, and the author did such an amazing job on world building that I wouldn't mind delving into his London again.

7.  Lament: The Fairy Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater.  So there is a second book, but it's about the friend, James.  And honestly, I want to read more about Deirdre and Luke. I know I need to read the second book, but I really want another book all about Luke and Deirdre, not James.  He wasn't my favorite sidekick.

8. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. This book was interesting and I loved the idea of a whole different life under a city, one with magic and strange beings under foot.  If Mr. Gaiman ever revisited this area, i would be all for another romp in the underground.

9. The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King.  I have only read two of Mr. King's novels.  This is one. I liked it, and thought he could write a series on this book.  He wrote it for his daughter, and he should do it again.  I know he has writen the Dark Tower series, but I have not tried reading those.

10. The Hob's Bargain by Patrica Briggs.  I love Patrica Briggs.  Her Mercy Thompson series is the best werewolve series out there, in my opinion, but I really liked her fantasy novel as well.  I know she has several other novels out there, some I have read.  But I really liked this one, and wouldn't mind another one with the Hob.