Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

How Victorian male doctors used false science to argue that women were unfit for anything but motherhood—and the brilliant doctor who defied them

After Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate from medical school, more women demanded a chance to study medicine. Barred entrance to universities like Harvard, women built their own first-rate medical schools and hospitals. Their success spurred a chilling backlash from elite, white male physicians who were obsessed with eugenics and the propagation of the white race. Distorting Darwin’s evolution theory, these haughty physicians proclaimed in bestselling books that women should never be allowed to attend college or enter a profession because their menstrual cycles made them perpetually sick. Motherhood was their constitution and duty.

Into the midst of this turmoil marched tiny, dynamic Mary Putnam Jacobi, daughter of New York publisher George Palmer Putnam and the first woman to be accepted into the world-renowned Sorbonne medical school in Paris. As one of the best-educated doctors in the world, she returned to New York for the fight of her life. Aided by other prominent women physicians and suffragists, Jacobi conducted the first-ever data-backed, scientific research on women's reproductive biology. The results of her studies shook the foundations of medical science and higher education. Full of larger than life characters and cinematically written, The Cure for Women documents the birth of a sexist science still haunting us today as the fight for control of women’s bodies and lives continues.

Why I'm Waiting: I like it when my nonfiction has a side of rage. This is going to be a wild ride.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

Using suspenseful podcast clips to weave a twisty tale of a missing student and her sister who is desperate for answers, The Lake of Lost Girls is perfect for fans of I Have Some Questions for You.

It's 1998, and female students are going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina. But freshman Jessica Fadley, once a bright and responsible student, is going through her own struggles. Just as her life seems to be careening dangerously out of control, she suddenly disappears.

Twenty-four years later, Jessica's sister Lindsey is desperately searching for answers and uses the momentum of a new chart-topping true crime podcast, Ten Seconds to Vanish, that focuses on the cold cases, to guide her own investigation. Soon, interest reaches fever pitch when the bodies of the long-missing women begin turning up at a local lake, which leads Lindsey down a disturbing road of discovery.

In the present, one sister seeks to untangle a complicated web of lies.
In the past, the other descends ever deeper into a darkness that will lead to her ultimate fate.

This propulsive and chilling suspense is a sharp examination of sisterhood and the culture of true crime.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

   

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon!

The only thing sixteen-year-old Mullory Prudence has left of her mom is a warning: "Run if the strange finds you." But mysterious warnings don’t pay the bills or help take care of her sick Gran. And they certainly don’t make her miserable after-school job any more bearable. When unexpected letters start appearing in peculiar places––sealed in bags of dog food and hidden in the refrigerator––Mullory knows she should avoid them to heed her mother’s warning, but her curiosity thinks otherwise. She uncovers an invitation from Stoutmire Estate to compete in a game of Mystery Royale for the chance at a sizable inheritance.


Dizzy with the prospect of billions, Mullory enters the game only to unearth the true prize––the illusionary magical properties of Xavier Stoutmire, a recluse without an heir. A recluse who was expected to keep his magic in the family, especially when there isn’t enough for each member. With a prize worth killing for, the game is simple: be the first to solve the mystery––who killed Xavier Stoutmire? One week full of lavish parties dripping with enchantments, in a mansion brimming with clues of the past, and everyone’s a suspect. To win, Mullory will need to untangle a twisted family web and decide who she can trust…


Whitaker Stoutmire, the golden boy who’s harboring deadly secrets?

Ellison Stoutmire, his closed off twin, who saw something she shouldn’t have?

Lyric Stoutmire the youngest sibling, exiled by the family and burning with resentment?

Or Mateo Cruz, the only other outsider whose reserved manner allows him to hide in the shadows... At least at first.


But most of all, Mullory must ask herself, why? Why her? A question most strange, indeed.

HAPPY READING!!

November Spotlight Read

 

I love animals of all shapes and sizes, except spiders, they are devil with their legs and their mandibles.  I've read books on the creatures we've lost before I could see them with my eyes, but this isn't that book. This is about the amazing creatures that are almost extinct, are weird, and have been doing weird things to keep themselves alive. It's fully illustrated and I'm so excited to get my hands on this one!

The world is more astonishing, more miraculous, and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings. In this brilliant and passionately persuasive book, Katherine Rundell takes us on a globe-spanning tour of the world's most awe-inspiring animals currently facing extinction.

Consider the seahorse: couples mate for life and meet each morning for a dance, pirouetting and changing colors before going their separate ways, to dance again the next day. The American wood frog survives winter by allowing itself to freeze solid, its heartbeat slowing until it stops altogether. Come spring, the heart kick-starts itself spontaneously back to life. As for the lemur, it lives in matriarchal troops led by an alpha female (it’s not unusual for female ring-tailed lemurs to slap males across the face when they become aggressive). Whenever they are cold or frightened, they group together in what’s known as a lemur ball, paws, and tails intertwined, to form a furry mass as big as a bicycle wheel.

But each of these extraordinary animals is endangered or holds a sub-species that is endangered. This urgent, inspiring book of essays dedicated to 23 unusual and underappreciated creatures is a clarion call insisting that we look at the world around us with new eyes—to see the magic of the animals we live among, their unknown histories and capabilities, and above all how lucky we are to tread the same ground as such vanishing treasures.

Beautifully illustrated, and full of inimitable wit and intellect, Vanishing Treasures is a chance to be awestruck and lovestruck, to reckon with the beauty of the world, its fragility, and its strangeness.

HAPPY READING!!

October Wrap Up

READING GOAL MET! Seventy books read and everything from here on out is a bonus. Honesty, despite how busy I got this was a great reading month for me. I only DNFed one book, and everything else I read was perfect. It was a lot of small reads, but that's okay. Reading is reading, I met myself where I needed to. I won't force myself to read a long book when I don't have an attention span.

Sometimes when I'm busy I just want to read something short so I feel like I'm doing more than just going to work. So, short reads for the win! 

Also, did you know you could put more than one library card on your Libby account? I did not know this until I was talking to my sister-in-law last week. So we swapped cards, and while I haven't taken super advantage of her library yet. She wasted no time loading up on audiobooks, which I'm totally here for!

Now, on to my October Stats: 

Books Read: 10
BINGO Books: 2

A to Z Challenge: 1

Pages Read: 1160

Currently Reading: Weyward

Only one book for my A to Z Challenge because I've had so many library books. Like so many. Not only did a whole bunch of holds come in, but then I had time to wander around. So no it's a stack. I haven't had a stack of library books in a minute. Good thing it's been rainy and cold. Perfect weather to read all day.

I'm telling you this year's BINGO card is crazy. I only managed one square there too, and okay it was a double BINGO. These last few squares though, I don't know if I'll manage to knock them off. 

HAPPY READING!!

Happy Halloween!

 

I somehow managed to squirrel away the whole day off. My plans are to read the afternoon away (probably some laundry because that's my life). In the evening our town throws a pretty fun little street party. Since I don't have to work I'm going to go do that. Walk around, and have some fun. Then go home, watch a couple of spooky movies then call it a night! 

Hope everyone else has a fun and safe Spooky Day!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Waiting on Wednesday

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

We Called Them Giants is a story of communication across a chasm at the end of the world.

Lori wakes to find the streets empty. Everyone has gone. Or at least, nearly everyone. She’s thrown into a world where she has to scrape by in the ruins of civilization, nearly starving, hiding from gangs when …

They arrive.

Why I'm Waiting: There's something about this that keeps drawing me in, I need to get my hands on it.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him.

Protect him. Lie for him. Kill for him.

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.

But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won’t say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork—whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew’s wicked stories.

Desperate to figure out what’s wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster—Thomas’s drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator…

 

HAPPY READING!!

Mini Reviews.

I finished A Dowry of Blood and then immediately jumped into An Encore of Roses. This was just okay. I liked the idea of Alexi having his own story because he was so full of spit and vinegar, but something about time and being separate from the ladies he lost a bit of his shine. While this was still good, I loved the idea behind this book, I was a bit disappointed with this one compared to A Dowry of Blood. This was a just because you should, doesn't mean should for me. It's nice we have it, but I prefer the oringal ending of the series.

I discovered this gem last year thanks to my local library and fell in absolute love with the character of squire. The plot itself is a lot of fun, I love bumbling knight who only survives because is squire is smarter than him. This one hit all my favorite things about fantasy books growing up. I re-read it this year because the second volume just came out, and I couldn't remember much about this story. Now I'm excited to jump into Squire & Knight: Wayward Travelers!

HAPPY READING!!

 

Cover Runway Sunday

  

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon!

Noah Fairchild has been losing his formerly polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the “Great Reawakening” is here, he assumes it’s related to one of the many conspiracy theories she believes in. But when his own phone calls go unanswered, Noah makes the long drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia. There, he discovers his childhood home in shambles, a fridge full of spoiled food, and his parents locked in a terrifying trance-like state in front of the TV. Panicked, Noah attempts to snap them out of it and get medical help.

Then Noah’s mother brutally attacks him.

But Noah isn’t the only person to be attacked by a loved one. Families across the country are tearing each other apart-–literally-–as people succumb to a form of possession that gets worse the more time they spend watching particular channels, using certain apps, or visiting certain websites. In Noah’s Richmond-based family, only he and his young nephew Marcus are unaffected. Together, they must race back to the safe haven of Brooklyn–-but can they make it before they fall prey to the violent hordes?

This ambitious, searing novel from "one of horror's modern masters" holds a mirror to our divided nation, and will shake readers to the core.

HAPPY READING!!

Dowry of Blood - Review

Author: A Dowry of Blood

Genre: Horror 

Format: eBook

Pages: 292

First, a huge thank you to a friend of mine who recommended me this book. I  don't think I would have picked this one up otherwise. Despite the amazing cover and cool concept, I wasn't sure this one was for me. And, while it wasn't my usual go-to read, thank you so much for talking into giving it a chance. Because I adored this book.

The concept of this book is something I think appeals to a lot of lovers of Dracula. The story is told through the eyes of one of the wives. We know Dracula is the villain of the story, but he wasn't always the villain to everyone, always. 

It was such a unique take on an old classic, but the prose was beautiful. You can see just how much Constanta loves Dracula. It exists throughout the entire story, but by the time she's writing this letter, she finally understands the truth of everything. So while there's love, there is also sadness, but I don't think there is any regret. Not for how things started or finished.

For me this book was hard to put down. The way this book was written just blew me away and sucked me right in, but I stayed for the plot, to see how it all unfolded. Because I had to know. So quickly I became attached to all three of the lovers and I wanted them to find happiness.

But, I was a little afraid not all of them would make it.

My only thing is the climax feels a bit rushed, but I almost think that was the point. It wouldn't be something Constanta would want to think about, let alone write about. I do love how it all built together and led to the infamous night. I loved that we got a small little flashforward of everyone going out looking for happiness.

A happy ending, for now, kind of ending. Because who knows the future, especially as long as there's one, will bring.

Two last things to note. I do love that the Hawkers got a small mention, even if it is mostly a footnote. It was a fun little easter egg, but I'm glad this didn't follow the book shot for shot. It is its own beast. Lastly, I love that we never get Dracula by name, instead, he's referred to as my lord, my love, husband, etc. Constanta even says she'll never repeat his name. I loved that because this story wasn't his, it was her and it deserved to be told.

HAPPY READING!!