Can't-Wait Wednesday: Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine & The Faint of Heart by Kerilynn Wilson

     

 Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlights are: 

Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine
Publication: June 13th, 2023
Flatiron Books
Hardcover. 304 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"A novel set in 18th-century Venice at a prestigious music school, about two girls drawn together by a dangerous wager

Venice, 1717. Fifteen-year-old Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. As a student at the Ospedale della Pietà, she hopes to join the highest ranks of its illustrious girls’ orchestra and become a protégé of the great Antonio Vivaldi. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena.

After a scandal threatens her noble family’s reputation, Maddalena is sent to the Pietà to preserve her marriage prospects. When she meets Luisa, Maddalena feels the stirrings of a friendship unlike anything she has known. But Maddalena has a secret: she has hatched a dangerous plot to rescue her future her own way. When she invites Luisa into her plans, promising to make her dreams come true, Luisa doesn’t hesitate. But every wager has its price, and as the girls are drawn into the decadent world outside the Pietà’s walls, they must decide what it is they truly want—and what they will do to pay for it.."

I've been holding onto an ARC of this for months now and I can't wait to start reading it! I love a dark like this and can't wait to see how it goes.

The Faint of Heart by Kerilynn Wilson
Publication: June 13th, 2023
Greenwillow Books
Hardcover. 304 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"Not that long ago, the Scientist discovered that all sadness, anxiety, and anger disappeared when you removed your heart. And that's all it took. Soon enough, the hospital had lines out the door—even though the procedure numbed the good feelings, too.

Everyone did it. Everyone except high school student June. But now the pressure, loneliness, and heartache are mounting, and it’s becoming harder and harder to be the only one with a heart.

One day, June comes across an abandoned heart in a jar. The heart in the jar intrigues her, it baffles her, and it brings her hope. But the heart also brings her Max, a classmate with a secret of his own.

And it may rip June’s own heart in two.

Part speculative fiction and part cautionary tale, The Faint of Heart is a moving and ethereal debut that questions morality and the feelings that seem too big to contain."

I've been sorely lacking in the graphic novel genre lately and this seems like it'll be a really thought-provoking read. 

What books are you looking forward to?

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard, The Upstairs House by Julia Fine, & The Girl from Shadow Springs by Ellie Cypher

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlights are: 

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard
Publication: February 9th, 2021

Tor

Paperback. 96 pages.

Pre-order: Amazon | IndieBound

From Goodreads:

"Fire burns bright and has a long memory…. 

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace. 

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions. 

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate—and her own?"

I still haven't read anything by Aliette de Bodard despite my intentions to, and this novella sounds particularly exciting! I'm not sure how everything in that premise will fit into 96 pages, but I'm ready to find out!

and...

The Upstairs House by Julia Fine

Publication: February 23rd, 2021

Harper

Hardcover. 304 pages.

Pre-order: Amazon | IndieBound

From Goodreads:

"There’s a madwoman upstairs, and only Megan Weiler can see her. 

Ravaged and sore from giving birth to her first child, Megan is mostly raising her newborn alone while her husband travels for work. Physically exhausted and mentally drained, she’s also wracked with guilt over her unfinished dissertation—a thesis on mid-century children’s literature. 

Enter a new upstairs neighbor: the ghost of quixotic children’s book writer Margaret Wise Brown—author of the beloved classic Goodnight Moon—whose existence no one else will acknowledge. It seems Margaret has unfinished business with her former lover, the once-famous socialite and actress Michael Strange, and is determined to draw Megan into the fray. As Michael joins the haunting, Megan finds herself caught in the wake of a supernatural power struggle—and until she can find a way to quiet these spirits, she and her newborn daughter are in terrible danger."

I love that the ghost is Margaret Wise Brown!? This book sounds like all kinda of weird and I am here for it!

and...

The Girl from Shadow Springs by Ellie Cypher

Publication: February 9th, 2021

Simon Schuster

Hardcover. 320 pages.

Pre-order: Amazon | IndieBound

From Goodreads:

"Everyone in Shadow Springs knows that no one survives crossing the Flats. But the threat of a frozen death has never deterred the steady stream of treasure hunters searching for a legendary prize hidden somewhere in the vast expanse of ice. Jorie thinks they’re all fools, which makes scavenging their possessions easier. It’s how she and her sister, Brenna, survive. 

Then Jorie scavenges off the wrong body. When the dead man’s enemy believes Jorie took something valuable from the body, he kidnaps Brenna as collateral. He tells Jorie that if she wants her sister back, she’ll have to trade her for the item he thinks she stole. But how can Jorie make a trade when she doesn’t even know what she’s looking for? 

Her only source of information is Cody, the dead man’s nephew and a scholar from the South who’s never been hardened by the harsh conditions of the North. Though Jorie’s reluctant to bring a city boy out onto the Flats with her, she’ll do whatever it takes to save her sister. But anything can happen out on the ice, and soon Jorie and Cody find they need one another more than they ever imagined—and they’ll have to trust each other to survive threats beyond their darkest nightmares."

This sounds like a really promising setting and I enjoy the sort of scavenger/Western/treasure hunter vibes I'm getting from it. 

What do you think about these upcoming releases? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

Waiting on Wednesday: What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released!

This week's upcoming book spotlight is:

What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine
Publication Date: May 8th, 2018

Harper
368 pages
Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository 

From Goodreads:

"Cursed. Maisie Cothay has never known the feel of human flesh: born with the power to kill or resurrect at her slightest touch, she has spent her childhood sequestered in her family’s manor at the edge of a mysterious forest. Maisie’s father, an anthropologist who sees her as more experiment than daughter, has warned Maisie not to venture into the wood. Locals talk of men disappearing within, emerging with addled minds and strange stories. What he does not tell Maisie is that for over a millennium her female ancestors have also vanished into the wood, never to emerge—for she is descended from a long line of cursed women. 

But one day Maisie’s father disappears, and Maisie must venture beyond the walls of her carefully constructed life to find him. Away from her home and the wood for the very first time, she encounters a strange world filled with wonder and deception. Yet the farther she strays, the more the wood calls her home. For only there can Maisie finally reckon with her power and come to understand the wildest parts of herself."

Curses, a manor, and a mysterious forest? Say no more, I'm ready to read this book.
I think this book sounds so intriguing and I haven't heard much about it so I am really curious to find out more!

What do you think about this upcoming release? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

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