Me on Waiting on Wednesday (317)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Hearts & Other Body Parts
Author: Ira Bloom
Release Date: March 28, 2017
Publisher: Scholastic Press

From Goodreads:

A novel of love and monsters. 

Sisters Esme, Katy, and Ronnie are smart, talented, and gorgeous, and better yet . . . all three are witches. They have high school wired until the arrival of two new students. The first is Norman, who is almost eight feet tall and appears to be constructed of bolts and mismatched body parts. Despite his intimidating looks, Esme finds herself strangely -- almost romantically -- drawn to both his oversized brain and oversized heart.

The second new arrival is Zack, an impossibly handsome late transfer from the UK who has the girls at school instantly mesmerized. Soon even sensible Esme has forgotten Norman, and all three sisters are in a flat-out hex war to win Zack. But while the magic is flying, only Norman seems to notice that students who wander off alone with Zack end up with crushed bones and memory loss. Or worse, missing entirely.

Hearts & Other Body Parts is a wickedly addictive novel about love, monsters, and loyalty. And oh yeah, a Japanese corpse-eating demon cat.

How interesting does this sound?! Like a witchy version of Frankenstein.

Me on The Last of August

Title: The Last of August
Author: Brittany Cavallaro
Release Date: February 14, 2017
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins imprint)

Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are looking for a winter break reprieve in Sussex after a fall semester that almost got them killed. But nothing about their time off is proving simple, including Holmes and Watson's growing feelings for each other. When Charlotte's beloved uncle Leander goes missing from the Holmes estate—after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring—the game is afoot once again, and Charlotte throws herself into a search for answers. So begins a dangerous race through the gritty underground scene in Berlin and glittering art houses in Prague, where Holmes and Watson discover that this complicated case might change everything they know about their families, themselves, and each other.

The Last of August is a mystery wrapped in complication, a race across Europe and a search for answers. A coming together of old friends and old foes, a maze of motives and reasons.

Jamie is still struggling to understand Charlotte Holmes. Sometimes he thinks he has her figured out, but then she does something, says something, and he's left confused. He wants things to go back the way they were. He wants to know how to fix things, how to fix Holmes, but it's not going to happen. She needs to be who she is. Not everything can be fixed. But can he leave? He's in pretty deep now. And after all he's seen, does he want to leave?

Under the genius of Charlotte Holmes is a complicated, bruised young woman. Trying to navigate her life around someone who wants her dead, around her distant parents and her controlling brother. Around her own demons that appeared after she was raped. She wants Watson close, she knows she needs him around, but she worries if she can give him what he wants. The brief chapters told her point of view are a gold mine for this train of thought.

I was so curious as to where this book was going to go, what trouble Holmes and Watson would get themselves into. But because so much is layered in doublespeak and mystery, I do wonder how much I missed while reading. How much I missed of the mystery, of the moments when Holmes would piece it together. After that ending, after everything that was said and revealed in this book, I'm certainly looking forward to the third one.

(I downloaded an e-galley of this title from HarperCollins through Edelweiss.)

Me on This Week's Book Week (244)

This Week's Book Week is rather similar to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews only with far more rambling and a less witty title. ;)

Nooooo. The snow came back. And of course it was so much more than the forecast had predicted. *hides under blankets and heating pads, has all the naps*

Reviews going up this week will feature The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro (Tuesday) and The Valiant by Lesley Livingston (Friday). :)

Bought/borrowed/received:

Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken (borrowed from library)
Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller (e-galley from Sourcebooks through NetGalley)

Me on The Mesmerist

Title: The Mesmerist
Author: Ronald L. Smith
Release Date: February 7, 2017
Publisher: Clarion Books (HMH imprint)

Thirteen-year-old Jessamine Grace and her mother make a living as sham spiritualists—until they discover that Jess is a mesmerist and that she really can talk to the dead. Soon she is plunged into the dark world of Victorian London's supernatural underbelly and learns that the city is under attack by ghouls, monsters, and spirit summoners. Can Jess fight these powerful forces? And will the group of strange children with mysterious powers she befriends be able to help? As shy, proper Jess transforms into a brave warrior, she uncovers terrifying truths about the hidden battle between good and evil, about her family, and about herself.

The Mesmerist is haunting, the story of a young girl's journey into the darkness of London and the monsters that hide there.

Jess has an important mission given to her almost immediately. Taken to London by her mother, she's told that she's a mesmerist, someone who can read thoughts and dream of the future. With this revelation, she's introduced to the group her mother once associated with, a group of those with mysterious abilities who fought against ghouls and necromancers. She's confused, worried to be sure, but there's a part of her that always wanted to have an adventure. To save those she cares about from evil-doers and monsters. But this kind of evil was unexpected. And it isn't long until her new guardian, a mysterious man with a curious nature, reveals to her the work that is to be done.

I found this to be a rather quick read, time seems to pass almost too quickly, but the moments are there for Jess to learn and investigate, for her to wonder and explore. For her to hear the truth about her deceased father. And it's nice that she's not alone, that there are others like her in Emily and Gabriel to stand alongside her. I would definitely recommend this to fans of spooky and mysterious middle grade books.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (316)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Flame in the Mist
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers (Penguin imprint)

From Goodreads:

The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long known her place—she may be an accomplished alchemist, whose cunning rivals that of her brother Kenshin, but because she is not a boy, her future has always been out of her hands. At just seventeen years old, Mariko is promised to Minamoto Raiden, the son of the emperor's favorite consort—a political marriage that will elevate her family's standing. But en route to the imperial city of Inako, Mariko narrowly escapes a bloody ambush by a dangerous gang of bandits known as the Black Clan, who she learns has been hired to kill her before she reaches the palace.

Dressed as a peasant boy, Mariko sets out to infiltrate the ranks of the Black Clan, determined to track down the person responsible for the target on her back. But she's quickly captured and taken to the Black Clan’s secret hideout, where she meets their leader, the rebel ronin Takeda Ranmaru, and his second-in-command, his best friend Okami. Still believing her to be a boy, Ranmaru and Okami eventually warm to Mariko, impressed by her intellect and ingenuity. As Mariko gets closer to the Black Clan, she uncovers a dark history of secrets, of betrayal and murder, which will force her to question everything she's ever known.

This definitely sounds Japanese-inspired, which is awesome (the names sound like Japanese names!), and it sounds dangerously political and mysterious, so I'm basically sold on this book. I'm torn on the cover, what the golden peacock/possible phoenix(?) means in terms of Mariko hiding and infiltrating, but the plot sound like something I'd devour.