Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’d Slay a Lion to Get Early

Hello dear friends! I’m still in Switzerland, but I’m coming back tomorrow to answer all your comments and to check all the posts I missed! This week’s TTT theme is interesting, but I don’t really have that many books to list, so let’s say I’d slay a smaller animal for some of these, though I would never, ever, kill an animal. A human I would. Watch out. Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl, and every Tuesday there is a different themed post of top 10 things. Let’s get this party started:

 

1. City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

Expected publication: August 28th 2018

Cassidy Blake’s parents are The Inspectres, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one.

When The Inspectres head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn’t sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn’t belong in her world. Cassidy’s powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.

A middle grade book by Victoria, about ghosts and ghost-hunting and Scotland? Color me interested! I loved her Shades of Magic trilogy, and I know we’ll get a good book here.

 

 

2. Creatures of Want and Ruin by Molly Tanzer

Expected publication: November 13th 2018

Amityville baywoman Ellie West fishes by day and bootlegs moonshine by night. It’s dangerous work under Prohibition–independent operators like her are despised by federal agents and mobsters alike–but Ellie’s brother was accepted to college and Ellie’s desperate to see him go. So desperate that when wealthy strangers ask her to procure libations for an extravagant party Ellie sells them everything she has, including some booze she acquired under unusual circumstances.

What Ellie doesn’t know is that this booze is special. Distilled from foul mushrooms by a cult of diabolists, those who drink it see terrible things–like the destruction of Long Island in fire and flood. The cult is masquerading as a church promising salvation through temperance and a return to “the good old days,” so it’s hard for Ellie to take a stand against them, especially when her father joins, but Ellie loves Long Island, and she loves her family, and she’ll do whatever it takes to ensure neither is torn apart.

Hello there! I loved Tanzer’s last book, Creatures of Will and Temper, and though this is not the sequel, it is in the same vein. A diabolical romp, there’s no other way to describe it. And the gorgeous cover is giving me Alice in Wonderland vibes…which is awesome.

 

3. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Expected publication: February 5th 2019

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

And helloooo there! I didn’t adore Bardugo’s Grisha trilogy, Six of Crows is my kind of thing, but the only character that pulled that trilogy out of the muck is Nikolai Lantsov, and he’s getting his own trilogy! *screams*

4. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Expected publication: June 4th 2019

The new series centers on Alex Stern, a 20-year-old California high school dropout with a criminal past who is mysteriously offered a second chance as a Yale University freshman. Ninth House, the first book, follows Stern’s freshman year, where she is charged with monitoring Yale’s secret societies, who engage in sinister occult activities.

Okay, another book by Bardugo, but I love her writing so much! And she’s proven time and again that she’s taking her writing seriously, and is advancing so much. I’ll read a cookbook if she writes one, but here I spied the word ‘occult’. Enough for me.

*No cover for this one yet. 😦

 

5. Untitled (Untitled Raven Boys Companion Trilogy #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Expected publication: who the hell knows.

Maggie Stiefvater just outlined three books “for a Ronan-centered trilogy”.

If you are wondering why I’m excited for a book that doesn’t even have a title, let alone a description and a cover, then you clearly haven’t read The Raven Boys. So go and fix that ASAP. Maggie has stormed her way into my favorite authors ever list, and my number one YA author (Sorry Leigh) with this series. And now she’s expanding that universe with another trilogy. *gasps for air* *inhuman screams*

 

6. European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #2) by Theodora Goss

Expected publication: July 10th 2018

In the sequel to the critically acclaimed The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Mary Jekyll and the rest of the daughters of literature’s mad scientists embark on a madcap adventure across Europe to rescue another monstrous girl and stop the Alchemical Society’s nefarious plans once and for all.

Mary Jekyll’s life has been peaceful since she helped Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solve the Whitechapel Murders. Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, Justine Frankenstein, and Mary’s sister Diana Hyde have settled into the Jekyll household in London, and although they sometimes quarrel, the members of the Athena Club get along as well as any five young women with very different personalities. At least they can always rely on Mrs. Poole.

But when Mary receives a telegram that Lucinda Van Helsing has been kidnapped, the Athena Club must travel to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to rescue yet another young woman who has been subjected to horrific experimentation. Where is Lucinda, and what has Professor Van Helsing been doing to his daughter? Can Mary, Diana, Beatrice, and Justine reach her in time?

Racing against the clock to save Lucinda from certain doom, the Athena Club embarks on a madcap journey across Europe. From Paris to Vienna to Budapest, Mary and her friends must make new allies, face old enemies, and finally confront the fearsome, secretive Alchemical Society. It’s time for these monstrous gentlewomen to overcome the past and create their own destinies.

Well if you are wondering, yet again, why I’m excited for a sequel to a book I haven’t read yet, I have an answer for you. I just know I’ll love it and there’s no doubt whatsoever about it. My instincts have never failed me in this area. I’ve only read a short story by Goss, Red as Blood and White as Bone, and I loved it. But The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is definitely going to be a perfect read for me, cause the characters involved are: Mary Jekyll, Edward Hyde, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Justine Frankenstein, Catherin Moreau. Nod, nod, nod and nod.

 

 

7. Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey by Mark Dery

Expected publication: November 13th 2018

From The Gashlycrumb Tinies to The Doubtful Guest, Edward Gorey’s wickedly funny and deliciously sinister little books have influenced our culture in innumerable ways, from the works of Tim Burton and Neil Gaiman to Lemony Snicket. Some even call him the Grandfather of Goth.
But who was this man, who lived with over 20,000 books and six cats, who roomed with Frank O’Hara at Harvard, and was known–in the late 1940s, no less–to traipse around in full-length fur coats, clanking bracelets, and an Edwardian beard? An eccentric, a gregarious recluse, an enigmatic auteur of whimsically morbid masterpieces, yes–but who was the real Edward Gorey behind the Oscar Wildean drag?
He published over a hundred books and illustrated works by Samuel Beckett, T.S. Eliot, Edward Lear, John Updike, Charles Dickens, Hilaire Belloc, Muriel Spark, Bram Stoker, Gilbert & Sullivan, and others. At the same time, he was a deeply complicated and conflicted individual, a man whose art reflected his obsessions with the disquieting and the darkly hilarious.
Based on newly uncovered correspondence and interviews with personalities as diverse as John Ashbery, Donald Hall, Lemony Snicket, Neil Gaiman, and Anna Sui, BORN TO BE POSTHUMOUS draws back the curtain on the eccentric genius and mysterious life of Edward Gorey.

If you don’t know who Edward Gorey is, read my post about him ASAP. Then go and read his macabre books. I am yearning to read about his secluded life and his brilliant mind.

 

8. Vengeful (The Villains #2) by V.E. Schwab

Expected publication: September 25th 2018

The sequel to VICIOUS, V.E. Schwab’s first adult novel.

Sydney once had Serena—beloved sister, betrayed enemy, powerful ally. But now she is alone, except for her thrice-dead dog, Dol, and then there’s Victor, who thinks Sydney doesn’t know about his most recent act of vengeance.

Victor himself is under the radar these days—being buried and re-animated can strike concern even if one has superhuman powers. But despite his own worries, his anger remains. And Eli Ever still has yet to pay for the evil he has done.

Another book by Victoria, and another a sequel of the book I haven’t read yet. I love V’s writing, and I know I’ll love Vicious once I get to it. And I will, before the sequel is published. Cross my heart and hope to die.

 

 

9. A Literary Tea Party: Blends and Treats for Alice, Bilbo, Dorothy, Jo, and Book Lovers Everywhere by Alison Walsh

Expected publication: June 5th 2018

Tea and books: the perfect pairing. There’s nothing quite like sitting down to a good book on a lovely afternoon with a steaming cup of tea beside you, as you fall down the rabbit hole into the imaginative worlds of Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit, and Sherlock Holmes . . .

Fire up your literary fancies and nibble your way through delicate sweets and savories with A Literary Afternoon Tea, which brings food from classic books to life with a teatime twist. Featuring fifty-five perfectly portioned recipes for an afternoon getaway, including custom homemade tea blends and beverages, you will have everything you need to plan an elaborate tea party. Cook up and enjoy:
Turkish Delight while sipping on the White Witch’s Hot Chocolate from The Chronicles of Narnia
Drink Me Tea with the Queen of Hearts’s Painted Rose Cupcakes from Alice in Wonderland

Eeyore’s “Hipy Bthuthday” Cake with Hundred Acre Hot Chocolate from Winnie the Pooh
Hannah’s Sweet Potato Bacon Pastries and Jo’s Gingerbread from Little Women
Tom Sawyer’s Whitewashed Jelly Doughnuts from Tom Sawyer
And more!

Accompanied with photographs and book quotes, these recipes, inspired by the great works of literature, will complement any good book for teatime reading and eating.

Okay, so this is a cookbook actually haha, but the title says it’s made for me. I love tea. I love Alice. I love Bilbo. I love Dorothy. I love Jo March. I will love this book. I guess this is a perfect book for people who recognize the characters from the title without googling. 😉

An image depicting a rare species in its natural habitat – a nonexistent book, in Nowhere, New Mexico.

10. The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire #6) by George R.R. Martin

Expected publication: 2020 (Who are you even kidding dudeee)

The Winds of Winter is the forthcoming sixth novel in the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin.

The previous installment, A Dance with Dragons, covered less story than Martin intended, omitting at least one planned large battle sequence and leaving several character threads ending in cliffhangers. Martin intends to resolve these cliffhangers “very early” in The Winds of Winter, saying “I’m going to open with the two big battles that I was building up to, the battle in the ice and the battle at Meereen—the battle of Slaver’s Bay. And then take it from there.”

AHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHHAHAAAAAAAAA.

-Is that…Is that the sound of Marina going crazy?

-Yes. Yes it is. 😥

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So there you go book lovers! Which titles are you excited to read, or, you know, never read if you observe that last entry closely? Have I missed some? I know I did, so let me know!