Waiting on Wednesday

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we haven't yet 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 folks at Breaking the Spine.

One isolated cabin. One cheating boyfriend. One plan to get even.

When Nora, Ruby, and Cham discover that they've each been dating the same man, what starts as outrage quickly spirals into a plot for revenge. Together they hatch a plan to lure their boyfriend to a romantic getaway in a secluded cabin at the top of a snow-covered mountain.

Only what was meant to be harmless payback soon takes a chilling turn when their not-so-adoring boyfriend is found dead in the cabin. 

Stranded and snowed in, the women begin to look at each other with increasing suspicion. And as tensions rise, hidden motives come to light. To survive, each woman must confront her own demons as they fight to uncover if one of them is the killer, or if something else lurks in the freezing wilderness, waiting to pick them off one by one. 

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

 

SUMMER 1983. A blood-soaked summer camp counselor is found staggering down a country road. The sole survivor of a horrific massacre, Mary tells a nightmare of a masked maniac wielding an old skinning knife. Arriving too late to help, her boyfriend Tom Bailey is plagued by guilt.

SUMMER 1992. The camp reopens as Camp Summer Fun. Now a sheriff’s deputy, Tom doubts this is a good idea, but the camp has been refurbished, the counselors hired, and the little campers are on the way. Responding to reports of a blood-curdling howl near the camp, he again arrives too late to save anyone except a single brutalized teen. The killer nowhere to be found.

Hoping to catch the killer and finally right his mistakes, Tom reconnects with Mary. She's convinced that the killer is not human but instead a rural legend known as the Hungry Hare.

The sheriff wants the case closed, but refuses to believe in folklore. Mary dreams of revenge for her friends. And Tom hunts for any traces of the real or fictional. But the murderer could be closer to home than anyone expects.

HAPPY READING!!

Night Worms Unboxing

June Them: Rotten Lies

Over the weekend, I got my favorite kind of mail. BOOK MAIL! Bonus points that it was Night Worms mail! Both of these books sound interesting, and maybe a little out of my comfort zone. But that's the fun of the Night Worms box. Getting books that I wouldn't normally pick up for myself and giving them a chance. So onto the card they go. At least until my roommate is back and steals at least one, if not both of these. Also, the photo didn't come out well, the cat isn't as much of a helper as he thinks he is, but I've already tried the coffee. It's been a nice little treat in the mornings as I go through my morning.

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 take a closer look at a book. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday, I'll post some of my favorite book covers. Coming soon!

From ancient Rome to the mid-twentieth century, Natasha Tidd takes readers on a global exploration behind the history of the most heinous of crimes – murder.

Including iconic cases such as Liu Pengli, the Han Dynasty Prince who became one of the world’s first-known serial killers; the twisted history of Romanian Ruler, Vlad Draculea, better known as Vlad the Impaler; and the mysterious murders tied to Mary Queen of Scots.

Throughout this book, Tidd charts the evolution in how we view murder, through the rise in criminology from the 1700s and early understanding of criminal psychology and even mental health. Alongside delving into our centuries’ long true crime fascination, this thoroughly explores the impact of front-page stories such as Lizzie Borden and Jack the Ripper on how we view crime today.

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we haven't yet 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 folks at Breaking the Spine.

In Columbia Mansions, secrets don’t stay behind closed doors for long…

It's rare for a room to open up in London’s storied Columbia Mansions, and lonely Gwen is thrilled when an unexpected new subletter, Pixie, turns out to be a friendly breath of fresh air to its stuffy halls. Their unlikely cross-generational bond soon becomes the bright spot in Gwen’s quiet life.

But Gwen can’t help noticing cracks beneath Pixie's cheerful surface—especially when it comes to her questionable financial arrangement with her live-in landlord, Alec. As suspicions mount, Gwen’s protective instincts go into overdrive, triggering a dangerous chain of events no one is prepared for.

The last thing Columbia Mansions wants is a scandal on its hands...

Let alone a murder.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

 

1914, Wendy Darling works by day as a school teacher and by night, she assists soldiers who have returned home from the Western Front. There is one mysterious patient who despite all the care they’ve given him, is in a deep sleep, unable to wake up. One night, when he murmurs the words “Peter Pan,” Wendy is thrown back to a darker time, one that she wishes she could forget.

When one of her students goes missing, it brings back memories of when children went missing and were later found murdered in London many years ago. Wendy believes that Peter Pan, the entity that she believed killed those children, is back. She and her brothers had a close encounter with Peter Pan, after all. But her brothers only remember Peter Pan and Neverland as a fantasy of childhood games.

When another child goes missing and signs start to point to Wendy, Scotland Yard digs into old reports, finding that Wendy knew the names of all the children who had been killed. As Wendy tries to prove her innocence, she also has to find a way to stop Peter Pan once and for all.

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 take a closer look at a book. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday, I'll post some of my favorite book covers. Coming soon!

Picture the scene. It's 1485, the War of the Roses is finally over and England's resolute king, Henry VII has just ascended the throne. What follows is a vibrant time of reformed religion and revitalized culture - of course its lead players wanted to be noticed. Behold Hot a collection of the most obscene glutes, obnoxious outfits, strongest jawlines, and sultriest gazes ever to be captured in paint - there is nothing quite like the portraiture of the this is truly the age of peacocking.

From the author of Hot Victorians, this book celebrates the hottest gents from the Tudor age. Across royalty, statesmen, artists, diplomats, and noblemen, this book will prove that what the Tudors lacked in subtlety, they made up for in sheer exuberance.

HAPPY READING!!

June Spotlight

 

When the Girls accept a very strange invitation to a lavish party on a remote island estate, they find that murder has a way of ruining even the most glamorous of evenings.

The invite delivered to 6151 Richmond Street was short on details, only promising to celebrate “the greatest artist of the century” and accompanied by a jewel-encrusted brooch—the whole package a brand of mysterious opulence that another Saturday night of gin rummy just can’t match.

Blanche Devereaux’s passionate dalliances are as plentiful as hot Southern nights, and surely one can’t be expected to remember all of one’s suitors. But when the Girls disembark the party’s ferry at a small Biscayne Bay island and meet their secretive host, the memories come flooding she a Radio City Rockette in her twenties, he the poor artist who could offer her nothing but his love. Fate drove them apart, but Declan, now a famous artist El Toro, professes that Blanche has always been his muse.

Featured prominently in his artworks and central to El Toro’s return to the apex of the art world, Blanche is thrilled to have been such an inspiring figure to this man. But looking around at a party filled with those who have made their livings off the artist’s fame—his assistant, his art dealer, his greatest critic, and more—Dorothy isn’t so sure they’re welcome on the island after all.

When a tropical storm knocks power out across the island, an optimistic Blanche proclaims that everyone looks better by candlelight anyway. But when Declan is found dead the next morning, all eyes are on her, his supposed muse of thirty-plus years. Trapped at the estate with the other guests—suspects all—the Girls must band together to find the true killer and get back to pleasant evenings of card games and cheesecake.

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we haven't yet 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 folks at Breaking the Spine.

Embark on a guided tour of 30 of the most dangerous and mysterious locations that we simply cannot stay away from.

Have you ever visited a forest or an abandoned building and gotten a bad vibe? There are places that are rife with rumors of hauntings, monsters, and sinister phenomena that can’t be explained. And there are just as many sites that are the confirmed home of disasters, murders, and man-made mistakes. Everyone’s heard about the Bermuda Triangle, but do you know these chilling sites?

There’s a lake tucked high in the frozen Himalayan Mountains . . . and it’s full of skeletons.Mount This mysterious mountain in California inspired the I AM cult and is said to host UFOs, bigfoots, and lizard people.Nahanni National Called the “Valley of the Headless Men,” this national park in northern Canada is famous for legends of a hidden gold mine . . . and a series of decapitated miners.Pine Best known as the home of the Jersey Devil, this desolate pine forest has also hosted pirates, the mafia, and moonshiners.Ciudad This fabled pre-Columbian “Lost City of the Monkey God” in Honduras doesn’t want to be found, and explorers seeking it have met violent ends.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

 

When the Girls accept a very strange invitation to a lavish party on a remote island estate, they find that murder has a way of ruining even the most glamorous of evenings.

The invite delivered to 6151 Richmond Street was short on details, only promising to celebrate “the greatest artist of the century” and accompanied by a jewel-encrusted brooch—the whole package a brand of mysterious opulence that another Saturday night of gin rummy just can’t match.

Blanche Devereaux’s passionate dalliances are as plentiful as hot Southern nights, and surely one can’t be expected to remember all of one’s suitors. But when the Girls disembark the party’s ferry at a small Biscayne Bay island and meet their secretive host, the memories come flooding she a Radio City Rockette in her twenties, he the poor artist who could offer her nothing but his love. Fate drove them apart, but Declan, now a famous artist El Toro, professes that Blanche has always been his muse.

Featured prominently in his artworks and central to El Toro’s return to the apex of the art world, Blanche is thrilled to have been such an inspiring figure to this man. But looking around at a party filled with those who have made their livings off the artist’s fame—his assistant, his art dealer, his greatest critic, and more—Dorothy isn’t so sure they’re welcome on the island after all.

When a tropical storm knocks power out across the island, an optimistic Blanche proclaims that everyone looks better by candlelight anyway. But when Declan is found dead the next morning, all eyes are on her, his supposed muse of thirty-plus years. Trapped at the estate with the other guests—suspects all—the Girls must band together to find the true killer and get back to pleasant evenings of card games and cheesecake.

HAPPY READING!!

May Wrap Up

I think this might be my best reading month, full stop. It is very unlikely that I'll manage this many books again in a single month.  Mostly because I have some bigger books on my Summer TBR, and I'm a pretty slow reader, and this month I had a lot of smaller reads lined up. The upside is that I'm so far ahead on my 2026 goals that if my summer gets busy with this or that, a low reading month might just even me out. Then again, I do have MCR tickets for September that I should be saving up for. So maybe I just read all summer at my apartment pool, in the park, and at other random places. Not the worst plan. 

Anyway, on to the May stats:

Books Read: 11
BINGO Books: 1

Pages Read: 1625

Only one single square knocked off my BINGO board this month. Though it was absolutely adorable, and I'm glad I stumbled upon Papaya Salad thanks to my library. So that's my Set in Thailand square crossed off. I also crossed off another square on my Spooky BINGO. My Novella is finished, thanks to Pale House Devil. 

HAPPY READING!!