Books I'm Squeeing About in December

Another year almost done, and one last month of bookish releases before the 2019 beauties start arriving. It's been a truly excellent year for books, but it's not over yet!
Here are some of the December releases I'm really excited about, including quite a few fresh discoveries that I know almost nothing about, but just look super intriguing!

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare
December 4th 2018
What if damnation is the price of true love?
Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the blight that is destroying the race of warlocks. 

Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love. 

I realise that the fact that I haven't read the first two books in this series yet is a slight hinderance... But I'm looking forward to getting the final book in my hands and then just binge reading the entire series. Sometimes I like the suspense waiting for the next book, sometimes I just need a good binge.

Fire & Heist by Sarah Beth Durst
December 4th 2018
In Sky Hawkins's family, leading your first heist is a major milestone--even more so than learning to talk, walk, or do long division. It's a chance to gain power and acceptance within your family, and within society. But stealing your first treasure can be complicated, especially when you're a wyvern--a human capable of turning into a dragon.
Embarking on a life of crime is never easy, and Sky discovers secrets about her mother, who recently went missing, the real reason her boyfriend broke up with her, and a valuable jewel that could restore her family's wealth and rank in their community

With a handpicked crew by her side, Sky knows she has everything she needs to complete her first heist, and get her boyfriend and mother back in the process. But then she uncovers a dark truth about were-dragon society--a truth more valuable and dangerous than gold or jewels could ever be. 

Now I love a good heist book. I'm a little bit thrown by the fact that she's a wyvern... But I'm imagining something akin to Abraxos, so WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? I'll report back when I've read it.

Strange Days by Constantine J Singer
December 4th 2018
Alex Mata doesn’t want to worry about rumors of alien incursions – he’d rather just skate and tag and play guitar. But when he comes home to find an alien has murdered his parents, he’s forced to confront a new reality: Aliens are real, his parents are dead, and nobody will believe him if he says what he saw. On the run, Alex finds himself led to the compound of tech guru Jeffrey Sabazios, the only public figure who stands firm in his belief that aliens are coming.
At Sabazios’ invitation, Alex becomes a “Witness”—one of a special group of teens gifted with an ability that could save the Earth: they can glide through time and witness futures. When a Witness sees a future it guarantees that it will happen the way it’s been seen, making their work humanity’s best hope for controlling what happens next and stopping the alien threat. Guided by Sabazios, befriended by his fellow time travelers, and maybe even falling in love, Alex begins to find a new home at the compound -- until a rogue glide shows him the dangerous truth about his new situation. 

Now in a race against time, Alex must make a terrible choice: save the people he loves or save the world instead.

I'll admit, I nearly was put off by the alien incursions (I'm not a big fan of aliens) BUT the rest of the blurb is super weird and crazy awesome sounding. Intrigued? Definitely.

An Assassin's Guide to Love & Treason by Virginia Boecker
December 6th 2018

When Lady Katharine's father is killed for being a practicing Catholic, she discovers that wasn't the only secret he'd been hiding. He'd also been involved in a plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth. With nothing left to lose, Katherine disguises herself as a boy and travels to London to fulfill her father's mission, and take it one step further--she'll kill the queen herself.Katherine's opportunity comes in the form of William Shakespeare's newest play, Twelfth Night, which is to be specially performed in front of Her Majesty. But what she doesn't know is that the play is not just a play. It's a plot to root out Catholic insurrectionists and destroy the rebellion once and for all.The mastermind behind this ruse is Toby Ellis, a young spy for the queen with secrets of his own. When Toby and Katharine are cast opposite each other as the play's leads, they find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another. But the closer they grow, the more precarious their positions become. And soon they learn that star-crossed love, mistaken identity, and betrayal are far more dangerous off the stage than on.

Intriguing title? Check. Intriguing blurb? Check. I am very much on board for this one, despite knowing next to nothing about it. This looks like it's going to tick a lot of my favourite bookish boxes.

The Cursed Sea by Lauren DeStefano
December 18th 2018
Wilhemina Heidle, the exiled princess of Northern Arrod, the girl thought dead by her family and friends, must return home. The only way to save Loom, the cursed prince of the Southern Isles, is to revisit the castle and discover the origins of her own curse.
But home is very different from how she left it—Wil’s unstable elder brother is now king, leading a war against the Southern Isles. And the rest of her family must reckon with the truth of what happened to lead to Wil’s exile. With time running out, Wil must navigate the dangerous secrets within her family if she’s going to find the truth and save the boy she loves.
When she’s finally able to reach Pahn, nothing goes as planned, and suddenly Wil and her allies are fighting for their lives, again and again, as the Southern King is out to punish his children for all they’ve done. Traveling across cursed seas and treacherous kingdoms, Wil, Loom—and his ruthless sister Espel—have to work to make peace with their own struggles if they hope to secure the future of their kingdoms.
But when their plans lead them right back to evil marveler Pahn, and to Baren—who is more dangerous than ever—can Wil and her friends outsmart their enemies, this time, for good?

Yes, yes, this is for the kindle version, the physical copy doesn't come out until next year, but I want this book so badly that I just don't care. Expect much shrieking when I get the physical copy as well though because I adore that cover. Basically anything by Lauren is a guaranteed buy for me, and also a guaranteed brilliant read.

So those are my last few books of the year, what are some of yours? Have any of these made it onto your wishlist?

Review: A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano

Publication Date: September 1^st 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Length: 240 pages

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

Pram Bellamy is special—she can talk to ghosts. She doesn’t have too many friends amongst the living, but that’s all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix.
Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram’s power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

Lauren DeStefano’s writing is incredible. She writes brilliant, stunningly beautiful, unique stories and her writing just gets better and better with each published novel. So I knew that regardless of the age range this book was being pitched towards, I was going to love it. And I was right.

A Curious Tale of the In-Between is like nothing you will ever have read before, or indeed anything you will ever read again. The prose is haunting and lyrical, filled with unexpected pieces of beauty and my copy is littered with highlighted quotes that I fell in love with.

“She knew that the dead hid pieces of themselves in the world. They buried organs in the living. They stuffed memories into trees and clouds and other innocuous things.”

It tackles difficult subjects, most pre-dominantly that of death with a deft and gentle hand. The story is at times creepy and downright terrifying, but it is pitched just right for middle grade readers. It offers a piece of solace for anyone who has suffered a loss, and offers a window for younger readers to talk about it and see it depicted in fiction. It is a unique book in that regard, and one that handles the subject extraordinarily well. It’s particularly poignant after reading the authors note about how this book came about.

I devoured this book in one go, falling in love with Pram and her little space in the world. The writing is, as I’ve said, stunning. 

“To lose one’s mother was to lose the beginning of one’s life story.”

The characters are fascinating and vividly drawn. I found myself being moved by this books in ways I wasn’t expecting, drawn in by the quiet and melancholy moments, the terrifying elements and the heart-warming relationships. It is an unexpected book, but utterly beautiful, and anyone who has ever suffered a loss (or indeed loves great writing) should pick this up. Do not be fooled by the middle grade age tag, this is a gem of a book that anyone will love.

Books I'm Squeeing About in March

It's been a long time since I've posted about books I'm squeeing about, but with some of my favourite authors giving us new and exciting books this month I couldn't resist. So without further ado, here are the three books I am particularly excited to get my mitts on this month! There are so many that it is incredibly hard to choose, but these three have really snagged my attention!

(All release dates are for the UK editions)

12th - Burning Kingdoms by Lauren DeStefano (Internment Chronicles Book 2)

After escaping the city of Internment, Morgan and her fellow fugitives land on the ground to finally learn about the world beneath their floating island home.
The ground is a strange place where water falls from the sky as snow, and people watch moving pictures and visit speakeasies. A place where families can have as many children as they want, bury their dead in vast gardens of bodies, and where Internment is the feature of an amusement park.It is also a land at war.Everyone who fled Internment had their own reasons to escape their corrupt haven, but now they’re caught under the watchful eye of another ruler who wants to dominate his world. They may have made it to the ground, but have they dragged Internment with them?

Lauren DeStefano can do no wrong. Her debut series ' The Chemical Garden Trilogy' was incredible. Beautifully written, heartbreaking yet full of hope and with such fresh and exciting ideas, I adored the series, and 'Perfect Ruin' the first book in the Internment Chronicles showed that she was a writer to be reckoned with. It was a fantastic book and left me desperate for more, and I cannot wait to see what happens in book two!

You can pre-order this book on Amazon here

12th - The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski (The Winner's Trilogy Book 2)

Lady Kestrel's engagement to Valoria's crown prince calls for great celebration: balls and performances, fireworks and revelry. But to Kestrel it means a cage of her own making. Embedded in the imperial court as a spy, she lives and breathes deceit and cannot confide in the one person she really longs to trust ...
While Arin fights to keep his country's freedom from the hands of his enemy, he suspects that Kestrel knows more than she shows. As Kestrel comes closer to uncovering a shocking secret, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth.Lies will come undone, and Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them in this second book in the breathtaking Winner's trilogy.

I came late to this series and only caught up last week when I stormed through both book 1 and 2 in a couple of days. I love this series, it is fantastic. Full of beautiful prose and evocative imagery and brutal moves in this cut throat world of spying and politics. This book more than lives up to the high bar set by the first and I cannot wait to be able to talk about this book more! Keep an eye out for my review in a couple of days!

You can pre-order this book on Amazon here

19th - Prudence by Gail Carriger (Book 1 in the Custard Protocol Series)

When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar circumstances - names it the Spotted Crumpetand floats to India in pursuit of the perfect cup of tea.
But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier's wife and some awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis and an embarrassing lack of bloomers, what else is a young lady of good breeding to do but turn metanatural and find out everyone's secrets, even thousand-year-old fuzzy ones?

I adore Gail Carriger's books. They are witty, biting and so incredibly inventive. She is my favourite steampunk author and I am so excited to go back to the world of her debut series with an all grown up Prudence. Ever since the very first announcement I have been desperate to read this, and I am counting down the days this month until I can sink into it!

You can pre-order this book on Amazon here

So those are the top three books that I can't wait for this month, what books are you desperate to get your hands on?

Review: The Jewel by Amy Ewing

The Jewel means wealth. The Jewel means beauty. The Jewel means royalty. But for girls like Violet, the Jewel means servitude. Not just any kind of servitude. Violet, born and raised in the Marsh, has been trained as a surrogate for the royalty—because in the Jewel the only thing more important than opulence is offspring.
Purchased at the surrogacy auction by the Duchess of the Lake and greeted with a slap to the face, Violet (now known only as #197) quickly learns of the brutal truths that lie beneath the Jewel’s glittering facade: the cruelty, backstabbing, and hidden violence that have become the royal way of life.
Violet must accept the ugly realities of her existence... and try to stay alive. But then a forbidden romance erupts between Violet and a handsome gentleman hired as a companion to the Duchess’s petulant niece. Though his presence makes life in the Jewel a bit brighter, the consequences of their illicit relationship will cost them both more than they bargained for.

This book was intriguing, with a brilliant premise, but unfortunately the execution was lacking and turned the concept into something more problematic.

With such a brilliant and horrifying idea at the heart, it was incredibly frustrating that half way through a love interest was brought in for Violet which then became the focus. The love interest itself was problematic – there was no build up of the relationship, no real relationship to speak of that the reader can see develop. Just a few stolen moments and then suddenly, ‘we’re in love!’ which has been done to death in fiction, particularly at the moment. It then provides a truly ridiculous springboard for a climactic end to the book, another cliff hanger for the sake of trying to keep readers hooked rather than a natural end to the book with a lead into the next one. The romance really slows down the story and takes away from the focus of the story which could be brilliant with a bit of work.

The premise is horrifying, twisted and dark, but also has the opportunity to handle a lot of issues that most books shy away from. It gives an opening to look at agency, consent and a lot of the issues that come with that. Instead it cotton coats those things with a light fluffy romance that ultimately takes away from the main story and everything that it could become.

As with so many books, there is so much potential, and it just isn’t fully realised. Instead making it more marketable with a romance. I really hope that with the following books the romance is pushed to one side and the social system and problematic issues with the Surrogates is addressed. Before the romance comes in the book is fantastic. It’s engrossing and horrifying, but also incredibly compelling with some wonderful characters. The class system and the way the Jewel is made up is fascinating and I loved the expansion of the world as Violet was trotted out and put on show – I wanted more of that!

It’s a light and quick read and shares a lot of similarities with so many other books in the Young Adult market at the moment – The Selction by Keira Cass and Wither by Lauren DeStefano with shades of The Hunger Games creeping in with other elements. You can see the Capitol creeping in once Violet reaches the Jewel and is repackaged and sold.

Definitely an intriguing read, but not without its problems. Fans of the three series mentioned above would probably enjoy most of the elements, but be warned about ridiculous romance subplots and frustrating cliffhangers.

Author Q & A with Lauren deStefano

Today is the day a lot of people have been eagerly awaiting - the release of the second book in 'The Chemical Garden' trilogy 'Fever' in the UK.
To celebrate, Lauren was kind enough to do a quick interview with us about the book, her writing, and what we can anticipate from her next.

“Today is the release for the second book in the 'Chemical Garden' trilogy 'Fever' - can you tell us a little bit about it?”

If I had to re-write the jacket blurb for Fever, it would say, "Rhine and Gabriel have escaped. But they shouldn't be too smug about it." And then there would be a photo of me grinning maniacally, and when you turned the first page, an evil cackling would fill the room, and you'd have no idea where it came from. It would be me, though.

“How did you find going back to the characters for a second book, was it harder or easier than the first book?”

It was infinitely harder. When I wrote Wither, there was no promise that it would sell, and I had fun with it, not expecting any sort of reaction. By the time I got to writing Fever, I was well aware of my audience. It took some adapting. I also had the difficult task of answering the question readers had at the end of Wither: So now what?

“Which has been your favourite character or relationship to write? (if you can pick one!)”

Cecily or Vaughn. They've both been very challenging and not at all what I would have expected. At the start, I thought Cecily would be more of a villain and that Vaughn would be relatively benign. But
they had other ideas.

“What has been your favourite part of the writing and publishing process?”

The reader responses!

“Has writing always been something you wanted to do? And how did you make the jump from wanting to write and writing for yourself to becoming a full time writer?”

I've always loved to tell stories, and I began writing them down when I was very young. It would be several years before I realized the people around me didn't all do the same thing. I still can't imagine what it's like for people who don't have characters running amok in their skulls. Mine are rather fond of breaking my fancy valuables and the like. By the time I was in middle school, it became abundantly clear that I'm not really good at anything, so the plan became to get published or die trying. I never expected the overwhelming good fortune that's been brought to me by my agent and my publisher here in the US, and all of my publishers overseas. I still feel like maybe I'm actually in a coma somewhere dreaming it all up.

“Do you have a specific routine or writing process? Times of day or music that help you to write?” 

I am victim to the whims and fancies of my brain. I never set a schedule because then writing begins to feel like a chore. It must be done arbitrarily. I'll be watching TV or trying to sleep or clicking about on the computer, and I'll be stricken with the need to DO something. That's when I start writing furiously, and it's glorious and angels are singing and the trees are alive with the sunlight and birds, and the whole universe makes sense. That, or I'll write when I get an email from my agent in all caps demanding to know where my next project is. Actually, it's usually that last thing I said.

“Do you have some favourite books or authors that have inspired you?”

It's hard to pinpoint a favorite book, but I'd say my biggest inspirations are T.S. Eliot, Nabokov and Eugenidies.

“Do you secretly have a favourite book in the trilogy?”

Oh, it's no secret. My favorite is the third. I say the third book because it really ties the entire series together, and by the time I got to writing it, I knew my characters inside and out. I hope the readers will love it as much as I do.

“What are you working on at the moment?”

Secrets and scandals.

“Will you be doing any tours or signings in the US and UK in the future?”

Things are still being worked out! My tours for Fever so far are in the US.

You can purchase 'Fever' and the first in the series 'Wither' from Amazon and book stores today!