Waiting on Wednesday: THE FORBIDDEN WISH by Jessica Khoury

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I am excited about the upcoming release of The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury!

I love when my favorite childhood stories are remade into something fantastic and fresh. I cannot wait to see where Jessica takes her book, The Forbidden Wish. It is a retelling of Aladdin and that alone is intriguing enough. This beauty is LIVE on February 23, 2016. Add it to your GOODREADS TBR and pre-order your copy on Amazon today!

She is the most powerful Jinni of all. He is a boy from the streets. Their love will shake the world…

When Aladdin discovers Zahra’s jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn’t seen in hundreds of years — a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra’s very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.

But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of Aladdin from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.

Waiting on Wednesday: REIGN OF SHADOWS (Reign of Shadows #1) by Sophie Jordan

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I am excited about the upcoming release of Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan!

I am falling in love with Young Adult stories lately and this one if high on my TBR list. Sophie Jordan has such a wide range of books and genres under her belt and I am slowly working through them all! This new book and beginning to a new series sounds like a very interesting story I might just love! Reign of Shadows is LIVE on February 9, 2016! So mark your calendars and add it to your TBR list.

Destiny and darkness collide in this romantic, sweeping new fantasy series from New York Timesbestselling author Sophie Jordan.

Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead.

But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized.

With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.

Waiting on Wednesday: BLACKHEARTS by Nicole Castroman

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I am excited about the upcoming release of Blackhearts from Nicole Castroman!

There are some fantastic looking debut novels headed our way in 2016 and I am beyond excited to find some new authors to fangirl over. Blackhearts is the debut novel from Nicole Castroman and I am so excited to read this book.  I love stories reimagined and pirates are always a win for me. This book sounds like it will be a winner and I cannot wait to read it for myself. Blackhearts is LIVE on February 9, 2016! So make sure to mark your calendars. You can pre-order your copy on Amazon today! Check out the synopsis below!

In this stunningly creative debut, Nicole Castroman reimagines the origins of history’s most infamous pirate—Blackbeard—and tells the story of the girl who captured his heart and then broke it, setting him on a path to destruction.

When Edward “Teach” Drummond, son of one of Bristol’s richest merchants, returns home from a year at sea, he finds his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, all Teach wants is to return to the vast ocean he calls home. There’s just one problem: he must convince his father to let him leave and never come back.

Following the death of her parents, Anne Barrett is left penniless. Though she’s barely worked a day in her life, Anne takes a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Lonely days stretch into weeks and Anne longs to escape the confines of her now mundane life. How will she ever achieve her dream of sailing to Curaçao—her mother’s birthplace—when she’s trapped in England?

From the moment Teach and Anne meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn together by a shared desire for freedom, but kept apart by Teach’s father, their love is as passionate as it is forbidden. Faced with an impossible choice, Teach and Anne must decide whether to chase their dreams and leave England forever—or follow their hearts and stay together.

Waiting on Wednesday: NEVER TEAR US APART (Never Tear Us Apart #1) by Monica Murphy

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I am excited about the upcoming release of Never Tear Us Apart by Monica Murphy!

This book sounds gripping and I am excited to see what Monica has in store for us. Check out more about the book and make sure to add it to you Goodreads TBR list. You can pre-order your copy today:

 Amazon US | iBooks | B&N | Kobo | Books-a-Million | Google Play | Penguin/Random House

Perfect for readers of Colleen Hoover, Jay Crownover, and K. A. Tucker, the first novel in this darkly sexy contemporary series from bestselling author Monica Murphy kicks off an emotionally powerful two-part tale of forbidden love.
 
Crazy how eight years can disappear in an instant. One look at Katie Watts, and I’m a fifteen-year-old again—the one who risked everything to save a terrified girl from her twisted kidnapper. She’s grown-up now—beautiful, quiet, composed—and telling her story to the world. A story that involves me in more ways than you can imagine. She used to call me her guardian angel. Sure, I risked my life, but she was worth dying for.

I need to make contact with her. Just to ensure that she’s safe.

Somehow we reconnect. We become friends . . . but I want more. I want to make her mine. And she wants me too. Does she know who I am? Has she figured me out? Not yet. But she will. In the meantime, I need to make sure that whatever hold that animal had on her is gone.

So, yeah, I’m stealing these moments with her. Savoring them. Knowing, dreading, that she’ll soon find out who I really am. And everything will fall apart. All because of that twisted, perverted monster sitting on death row. Her kidnapper. A convicted serial killer.

My father.

Waiting on Wednesday: LETTERS WRITTEN IN WHITE by Kathryn Perez

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I am excited about the upcoming release of Letters Written in White by Kathryn Perez!

When I saw this cover floating around social media, I was intrigued. When I read the synopsis and author note, I was hooked! I cannot wait to read this book and see what happens! Letters Written in White is LIVE on November 30, 2015. You can pre-order on Amazon and see what people are saying about the book on Goodreads!

What’s worse, living when you want to die or dying while you’re fighting to live?

I’m dead.

I’m cold and alone and I’m dead. There’s no air in my lungs. My chest is as cold and hollow as a cave on a snowcapped mountain side. My heart no longer beats there.

Frigid winds whistle through my ribs and the sadness inside me weeps like my favorite tree.

Days ago, I met with death face to face.
The mirror, our meeting place. My two darkened green eyes stared deeply into hers.
I tilted my head to the side. She did too.
“It’s time,” I whispered. “It’s time,” she whispered.

And with that I turned away from her, the woman in the mirror who knew all of my secrets and all of my pain. I walked away from her and yet we’d never been closer than we were in that moment.
The inner struggle was over.
No more arguing with the woman in the mirror.
No more arguing with myself.
The choice was made.
She was the victor. Or was I?

That was the day Riah Winter died.

Dear Readers,

This isn’t a romance novel written to sweep you off of your feet, nor is it a sexually infused fantasy laced with alpha males and six pack abs. You won’t find anything within the pages of this story comforting, at least not on the surface. Matter of fact, you’ll most likely feel uncomfortable during many of the scenes. But I will promise you this, once you delve beneath the surface, you’ll find comfort in many areas of Riah Winter’s layers of life and death. You may even find that you aren’t alone in your daily struggles as a mother, wife, single mom, stay at home mother, working mom or as a woman.

Riah Winter is YOU, YOU are Riah Winter. Beneath the mask we as women wear, is a person we rarely talk about or acknowledge. I’ve decided to bring her to life and say all of the dark and socially unacceptable things so many of us feel, go through, and fear.

We’re all wearing masks and we’re all drowning in something.

Riah has a message for us…she wants us not only to survive but to thrive because she knows what it feels like to die with regret.

I hope you’ll take a chance on a story that’s different from what you’re accustomed to reading. I look forward to sharing it with you.

-Kathryn

*Please be advised that this a 43K word book that may contain content which could possibly be triggering for some.*

Waiting on Wednesday: NUTS (Hudson Valley #1) by Alice Clayton

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I am excited about Nuts, a new book and the beginning of a brand new series from Alice Clayton!

Alice Clayton has a way with humor and romance. I am ready for more from her and a new series is something to get excited about. Nuts sounds like it will be steeped in romance and humor, giving readers exactly what they have come to expect from Alice’s writing. This book is only a few days away releasing on October 20, 2015.

From New York Times bestselling author Alice Clayton, the first in a brand-new romance series telling the humorously sexy tale of Roxie, a private chef who gets a taste of love—but is it to stay, or to go?

After losing almost all of her clients in one fell swoop following an accident involving whipped cream, private chef to Hollywood’s elite Roxie Callahan gets a call from her flighty mother, saying she’s needed home in upstate New York to run the family diner. Once she’s back in the Hudson Valley, local organic farmer Leo delivers Roxie a lovely bunch of walnuts, and soon sparks—and clothing—begin to fly. Leo believes that everything worth doing is worth doing slowly…and how! But will Roxie stay upstate, or will the lure of West Coast redemption tempt her back to Tinseltown?

Waiting on Wednesday: A MADNESS SO DISCREET by Mindy McGinnis

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I am excited about so many new releases over the next few weeks but specifically for A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis!

This books sounds like a wonderful read for October! I love the concept and the blurb (you can read it below). I have never read anything by Minday McGinnis but I am excited to make that statement untrue. What first caught my eye was the cover. It is quite intriguing. After reading the synopsis, I am excited to get my hands on this story! A Madness So Discrete is set to release on October 6, 2015 and you can pre-order your copy today on Amazon!

Mindy McGinnis, the acclaimed author of Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust, combines murder, madness, and mystery in a beautifully twisted gothic historical thriller perfect for fans of novels such as Asylum and The Diviners as well as television’s True Detective and American Horror Story.

Grace Mae is already familiar with madness when family secrets and the bulge in her belly send her to an insane asylum—but it is in the darkness that she finds a new lease on life. When a visiting doctor interested in criminal psychology recognizes Grace’s brilliant mind beneath her rage, he recruits her as his assistant. Continuing to operate under the cloak of madness at crime scenes allows her to gather clues from bystanders who believe her less than human. Now comfortable in an ethical asylum, Grace finds friends—and hope. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who will bring her shaky sanity and the demons in her past dangerously close to the surface.

Waiting on Wednesday: BENEATH THE WANING MOON by Elizabeth Hunter & Grace Draven

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. I am ready to be swept away by Beneath the Waning Moon by Elizabeth Hunter & Grace Draven !

I  cannot remember the last time I read a Gothic romance. I feel like the last Gothic inspired book I read was Ann Radcliffe, which was such a long time ago. But I am a huge Elizabeth Hunter fan and if she writes it, I will read it. I am excited to get this book and dive in in a few weeks! I cannot wait to read these two stories and fall into something magical and dark, captivating at every turn! Beneath The Waning Moon is LIVE on October 1, 2015! Make sure mark your calendars and add it to your Goodreads TBS list! Check out the synopsis below.

Two delightfully dark tales of Gothic romance from Elizabeth Hunter and Grace Draven.

In A VERY PROPER MONSTER, Josephine Shaw spends long nights filling the pages of her Gothic stories with the fantastic and the macabre, unaware that the suitor her father has arranged is one of the dark creatures she’s always dreamed. For Tom Dargin, courting an ailing spinster was only one duty in a long life of service to his sire. But after he meets the curious Miss Shaw, will Tom become the seducer or the seduced? Can a love fated to end in tragedy survive a looming grave?

In GASLIGHT HADES, Nathaniel Gordon walks two worlds—that of the living and the dead. Barely human, he’s earned the reputation of a Bonekeeper, the scourge of grave robbers. He believes his old life over, until one dreary burial he meets the woman he once loved and almost married. Lenore Kenward stands at her father’s grave, begging the protection of the mysterious guardian, not knowing he is her lost love. Resolved to keep his distance, Nathaniel is forced to abandon his plan and accompany Lenore on a journey into the mouth of Hell where sea meets sky, and the abominations that exist beyond its barrier wait to destroy them.

Waiting on Wednesday: ASH & BRAMBLE by Sarah Prineas

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. I am so excited to fall in love with Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas!

I am a sucker for fairy tale retelling. I love seeing the stories I grew up with reimagined! I know it drives some people crazy but for me it makes me fall in love with the characters of my childhood all over again, seeing them in a different light and stronger. I am excited about this new retelling of Cinderella, one of my favorites from my childhood. Ash & Bramble is only a few days away and I am excited to fall into this story! Right now the hardback is actually cheaper than the kindle version so get on that deal!

When the glass slipper just doesn’t fit…

The tale of Cinderella has been retold countless times. But what you know is not the true story.

Pin has no recollection of who she is or how she got to the Godmother’s fortress. She only knows that she is a Seamstress, working day in and out to make ball gowns fit for fairy tales. But she longs to forsake her backbreaking servitude and dares to escape with the brave young Shoemaker.

Pin isn’t free for long before she’s captured again and forced to live the new life the Godmother chooses for her—a fairy tale story, complete with a charming prince—instead of finding her own happily ever after.

Sarah Prineas’s bold fairy tale retelling is a dark and captivating world where swords are more fitting than slippers, young shoemakers are just as striking as princes, and a heroine is more than ready to rescue herself before the clock strikes midnight.

Waiting on Wednesday: DARK WILD NIGHT (Wild Season #3) by Christina Lauren

“Waiting on” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. I am ready to dive back into the Wild Seasons series with the upcoming release Dark Wild Night by the fabulous duo, Christina Lauren!

I love the Wild Seasons series from Christina Lauren. It is sexy, fun, and a wild ride indeed! I am so ready to get my hands on this book and fall in love with Lola and Oliver’s story! This book is set to release in a few short weeks on September 15, 2015. You can pre-order it on Amazon today!

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
But what didn’t happen in Vegas seems to follow them everywhere.

Lola and Oliver like to congratulate themselves on having the good sense to not consummate their drunken Las Vegas wedding. If they’d doubled-down on that mistake, their Just Friends situation might not be half as great as it is now.

… Or so goes the official line.

In reality, Lola’s wanted Oliver since day one—and over time has only fallen harder for his sexy Aussie accent and easygoing ability to take her as she comes. More at home in her studio than in baring herself to people, Lola’s instinctive comfort around Oliver nearly seems too good to be true. So why ruin a good thing?

Even as geek girls fawn over him, Oliver can’t get his mind off what he didn’t do with Lola when he had the chance. He knows what he wants with her now … and it’s far outside the friend zone. When Lola’s graphic novel starts getting national acclaim—and is then fast-tracked for a major motion picture—Oliver steps up to be there for her whenever she needs him. After all, she’s not the kind of girl who likes all that attention, but maybe she’s the kind who’ll eventually like him.

Sometimes seeing what’s right in front of us takes a great leap of faith. And sometimes a dark wild night in Vegas isn’t just the end of a day, but the beginning of a bright new life…