Books I Am Reading This Week plus Weekly Book Haul – July 19, 2023 #wwwwednesday #ReadersCommunity #BookTwitter #BookLover
Published by
Tessa Anne
on
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
What am I currently reading?
What did I just finish?
What am I reading next?
I’m starting Ghosted today and am very excited about it. I love the paranormal plot and expect that to be a lot of fun. Plus, if you read the description, Ghosted is called a “fresh and funny update on Jane Austin’s Northanger Abbey.” You have to know the mention of Jane Austen definitely catches my attention.
Genre: YA Paranormal
Pages: 380 pages
Publisher: Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press)
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
Never Have I Ever meets The X-Files in Amanda Quain’s Ghosted, a fresh and funny update on the Jane Austen classic, Northanger Abbey.
Hattie Tilney isn’t a believer. Yes, she’s a senior at America’s most (allegedly) haunted high school, Northanger Abbey. But ever since her paranormal-loving dad passed away, she’s hung up her Ghostbusters suit, put away the EMF detectors, and moved on. She has enough to worry about in the land of the living—like taking care of her younger brother, Liam, while their older sister spirals out and their mother, Northanger’s formidable headmistress, buries herself in work. If Hattie just tries hard enough and keeps that overachiever mask on tight through graduation, maybe her mom will finally notice her.
But the mask starts slipping when Hattie’s assigned to be an ambassador to Kit Morland, who’s just transferred to Northanger on—what else—a ghost-hunting scholarship. The two are paired up for an investigative project on the school’s paranormal activity, and Hattie quickly strikes a deal: Kit will present whatever ghostly evidence he can find to prove that the campus is haunted, and Hattie will prove it’s not. But as they explore the abandoned tunnels and foggy graveyards of Northanger, Hattie starts to realize that Kit might be the kind of person who makes her want to believe in something—and someone—for the first time.
With her signature wit and slow-burn romance, Amanda Quain turns another Austen classic on its head in this sparkling retelling that proves sometimes the ghosts are just a metaphor after all.
How Can I Help You by Laura Sims is a true psychological thriller – through and through. At only 252 pages, it was a pretty quick read. And the amount of darkness is overwhelming.
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 252 pages
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
From the author of Looker comes this “compulsive and unforgettable novel” (Mona Awad) of razor-sharp suspense about two local librarians whose lives become dangerously intertwined.
No one knows Margo’s real name. Her colleagues and patrons at a small town public library only know her middle-aged normalcy, congeniality, and charm. They have no reason to suspect that she is, in fact, a former nurse with a trail of countless premature deaths in her wake. She has turned a new page, so to speak, and the library is her sanctuary, a place to quell old urges.
That is, at least, until Patricia, a recent graduate and failed novelist, joins the library staff. Patricia quickly notices Margo’s subtly sinister edge, and watches her carefully. When a patron’s death in the library bathroom gives her a hint of Margo’s mysterious past, Patricia can’t resist digging deeper—even as this new fixation becomes all-consuming.
Taut and compelling, How Can I Help You explores the dark side of human nature and the dangerous pull of artistic obsession as these “transfixing dual female narrators” (Kimberly McCreight) hurtle toward a stunning climax.
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec looks very good. I have both the digital and a physical copy of the book, so I’ll be switching back and forth between the two. “Magic, history, and sworn sisterhood” are definitely descriptors that catch my attention!
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Pages: 432 pages
Publisher: Ace (Berkley)
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
The lives of two women—one desperate only to save her missing sister, the other a witch destined to become queen of Norway—intertwine in this spellbinding, powerful novel of Viking Age history and myth from the acclaimed author of The Witch’s Heart.
Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a visiting wisewoman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to help one another always.
When Oddny’s farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny is set adrift from the life she imagined—but she’s determined to save her sister no matter the cost, even as she finds herself irresistibly drawn to one of the raiders who participated in the attack. And in the far north, Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch, is surprised to find her destiny seems to be linked with that of the formidable King Eirik, heir apparent to the ruler of all Norway.
But the bonds—both enchanted and emotional—that hold the two women together are strong, and when they find their way back to each other, these bonds will be tested in ways they never could have foreseen in this deeply moving novel of magic, history, and sworn sisterhood.
I received two more physical ARCs this week and four digital ARCs from a bunch of different publishers: Bookouture, Random House, Simon and Schuster, and Minotaur (St. Martin’s)
Nice haul, Tessa. I added the Anne Cleeves and Laura Elliot books to my TBR over the last week or so as well. I am listening to Hello Stranger by Katherine Center right now as long a a Christmas book for my Christmas in July.
How Can I Help You sounds interesting, and I love the cover of The Marriage Retreat. There are a few others in your ARC haul that have me curious based on the covers or titles alone!
These all look great, Tessa! I’m curious to hear what you think about Ghosted.. I’ve heard good things but you never know.
Thanks for sharing and Happy reading!
my public library finally got the copy of Gentle Writing Advice by Chuck Wendig that they’ve been promising they were going to get, and since I’ve had a request in for it since I discovered a mention of it on a different blog I follow (I *think* it’s Cait Gordon’s blog), I’ve finally been able to borrow it! I’ve started to read it, and so far I’m totally in love with it!! So much so that I went out and got my own copy when an unexpected rainstorm cooled things down and cleaned the smoke out of the air enough for me to want to go out! For someone who can’t seem to read nonfiction lately, I’m making it remarkably far with this one! I may even manage to finish reading it in a reasonable time frame – assuming I don’t lose all motivation now that I don’t have the pressure of having to finish it before it has to go back to the library! 😛. (Which happens all too often! 🤦♀️)
Welcome to Tessa Talks Books, my cozy bookish corner of the internet dedicated to all things bookish. Here, I invite you to join me on a journey for fiction lovers, featuring honest reviews, book spotlights, and thoughtful reflections on the stories that stay with us.
27 responses to “Books I Am Reading This Week plus Weekly Book Haul – July 19, 2023 #wwwwednesday #ReadersCommunity #BookTwitter #BookLover”
I like the look of ghosted & How can I help you, hope you enjoy all of your new reads 😊
I’ve been enjoying them so far!
Great selection hope you enjoy the new ones when you get to them!
Me too 💕
The Weaver and the Witch Queen sounds really good. Waiting for your review of this. Happy reading!
I’m enjoying it so far!
Nice haul, Tessa💜 Of course, I added the Laura Sims book.
It’s pretty dark but I think you’ll like it.
Nice haul, Tessa. I added the Anne Cleeves and Laura Elliot books to my TBR over the last week or so as well. I am listening to Hello Stranger by Katherine Center right now as long a a Christmas book for my Christmas in July.
I liked Hello Stranger. Hope you’re enjoying it!
I finished it last night and enjoyed it. I was totally surprised by the ending, Tessa.
I was sent an email to grab The Tainted Cup, I just don’t have time to squeeze it in. I’m glad you’re having such a great reading week!
I think I’ll be able to fit it in 🤞
Ghosted looks so good!! I hope you enjoy it and I can’t wait to see what you think of it!
I can’t wait to share it 💕
Unmaking of June Farrow is one I want to read!
Always love an Adrienne Young book!
I’ve also got Ghosted on my NG shelf. Not sure how I missed the newest Adrienne Young book.
I just happened to see it
How Can I Help You sounds interesting, and I love the cover of The Marriage Retreat. There are a few others in your ARC haul that have me curious based on the covers or titles alone!
How Can I Help You is very Poe-like, I think
These all look great, Tessa! I’m curious to hear what you think about Ghosted.. I’ve heard good things but you never know.
Thanks for sharing and Happy reading!
I can’t wait to share about it 😊
I’ll keep an eye out then. 😊
[…] to Tessa @ Tessa Talks Books for the heads up about this new release! She’s warned me of its extreme darkness. But, I was […]
my public library finally got the copy of Gentle Writing Advice by Chuck Wendig that they’ve been promising they were going to get, and since I’ve had a request in for it since I discovered a mention of it on a different blog I follow (I *think* it’s Cait Gordon’s blog), I’ve finally been able to borrow it! I’ve started to read it, and so far I’m totally in love with it!! So much so that I went out and got my own copy when an unexpected rainstorm cooled things down and cleaned the smoke out of the air enough for me to want to go out! For someone who can’t seem to read nonfiction lately, I’m making it remarkably far with this one! I may even manage to finish reading it in a reasonable time frame – assuming I don’t lose all motivation now that I don’t have the pressure of having to finish it before it has to go back to the library! 😛. (Which happens all too often! 🤦♀️)
I love Chuck Wendig’s books! I think The Book of Accidents was my favorite though Wanderers/Wayward (duology) were good too.