Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Passengers

Can't-Wait Wednesday is hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings and helps us spotlight upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating!

The Passengers
John Marrs
Expected publication date: April 1, 2019

Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide.

The new gripping page-turning thriller from the bestselling author of THE ONE - soon to be a major Netflix series.

When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course.

The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife - and parents of two - who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem? - from Goodreads

John Marrs' The One was one of my favorite books from last year, and this upcoming book sounds just as clever, thrilling, and unique!

Down The TBR Hole #1

Down the TBR Hole is a feature created by Lost in a Story.  I've seen it on a few other blogs and thought I would try it out myself!  It seems like a really good way to cull your TBR of those books you're no longer interested in.  So how does it work?

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

Here are the books I'm looking at this time:

Royals by Rachel Hawkins

Daisy's sister is dating the Prince of Scotland, so Daisy joins her at the castle, where she meets the Prince's younger brother.

I'm obsessed with anything royal, so even though this isn't the most unique premise, it's on my TBR for a reading challenge and I'm still interested in it.  Keeping this one!

The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Cheyanne Young

A teenage girl is surprised to find out her best friend, who recently passed away, planned a scavenger hunt for her.

This one sounds so emotional, and I love a book that can make me cry.  Keeping this one!

The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher

Historical fiction novel focusing on the life and loves of Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy.

I'm fascinated by the Kennedy family, and I love historical fiction.  Keeping this one!

The Last Hours by Minette Walters

When the Black Death starts to spread across England, Lady Anne brings her serfs and family inside the manor estate and closes off the outside world.

For some reason, this one just isn't grabbing my attention anymore.  It's 500+ page length also gives me pause!  Passing on this one!

The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

The teenage daughter in a very religious family with its own reality show becomes pregnant.

I love anything reality tv-related, plus I've read so many good reviews - keeping this one!

Have you read any of these?

Review: The Dead Queens Club

The Dead Queens Club
Hannah Capin
Published January 29, 2019

Mean Girls meets The Tudors in Hannah Capin’s The Dead Queens Club, a clever contemporary YA retelling of Henry VIII and his wives (or, in this case, his high school girlfriends). Told from the perspective of Annie Marck (“Cleves”), a 17-year-old aspiring journalist from Cleveland who meets Henry at summer camp, The Dead Queens Club is a fun, snarky read that provides great historical detail in an accessible way for teens while giving the infamous tale of Henry VIII its own unique spin.

What do a future ambassador, an overly ambitious Francophile, a hospital-volunteering Girl Scout, the new girl from Cleveland, the junior cheer captain, and the vice president of the debate club have in common? It sounds like the ridiculously long lead-up to an astoundingly absurd punchline, right? Except it’s not. Well, unless my life is the joke, which is kind of starting to look like a possibility given how beyond soap opera it’s been since I moved to Lancaster. But anyway, here’s your answer: we’ve all had the questionable privilege of going out with Lancaster High School’s de facto king. Otherwise known as my best friend. Otherwise known as the reason I’ve already helped steal a car, a jet ski, and one hundred spray-painted water bottles when it’s not even Christmas break yet. Otherwise known as Henry. Jersey number 8.

Meet Cleves. Girlfriend number four and the narrator of The Dead Queens Club, a young adult retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives. Cleves is the only girlfriend to come out of her relationship with Henry unscathed—but most breakups are messy, right? And sometimes tragic accidents happen…twice… - from Goodreads

The Tudor era is one of my favorite historical eras to read about, both fiction and nonfiction, so when I heard about a modern retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives, set in high school, I knew I had to read it.  In The Dead Queens Club, Hannah Capin has captured the spirits of the original historical figures with a whole new dose of drama.

Undoubtedly, the reign of Henry VIII was marked by personal, political, and religious upheaval, but turning him into a high school golden boy who can't keep a relationship is kind of ingenious (not to make light of history, particularly since he had two of his wives executed).  The Henry of this story is athletic, smart, and charming - everyone loves him.  He's not perfect, though.  He has a wicked temper, and he can't stand the thought of any of his girlfriends cheating on him; it's almost instant grounds for a break-up (but he can cheat on them - hypocrite).  But now that two of his exes have died, is it impossible to believe that he had something to do with it?

Our narrator is Annie/girlfriend #4/"Cleves," who is Henry's best friend.  Although she loves to write and has grand ideas for the school paper, she's not very ambitious and has no idea what she's going to do when she graduates.  She could be frustrating because she obviously still has feelings for Henry and defends him almost to a fault - she never wants to believe anything bad about him.

Running through the story is the mystery of what happened to Anna Boleyn, who died in a fiery explosion on prom night.  Did she really set it all up?  Was she trying to kill Henry?  There were so many rumors and stories, it was hard to know who and what to believe.

The writing and dialogue are snappy and keep the story moving, although the pacing wasn't always the best.  I don't know if it's my age, but at times the writing felt a little too clever and full of slang; there were parts I had to read a couple times just to understand what the characters were saying.  Also, there is A LOT of slut-shaming, with Anna Boleyn and Katie Howard taking the brunt of it.  Such unnecessary malice, although I liked the way Cleves took a stand against it.

4 stars

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Mother-In-Law

Can't-Wait Wednesday is hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings and helps us spotlight upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating!

The Mother-in-Law
Sally Hepworth
Expected publication date: April 23, 2019

Someone once told me that you have two families in your life - the one you are born into and the one you choose. Yes, you may get to choose your partner, but you don't choose your mother-in-law. The cackling mercenaries of fate determine it all.

From the moment Lucy met Diana, she was kept at arm's length. Diana is exquisitely polite, but Lucy knows, even after marrying Oliver, that they'll never have the closeness she'd been hoping for.

But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice, the matriarch of a loving family. Lucy had wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.

That was ten years ago. Now, Diana has been found dead, leaving a suicide note. But the autopsy reveals evidence of suffocation. And everyone in the family is hiding something...

From the bestselling author of The Family Next Door comes a new page-turner about that trickiest of relationships. - from Goodreads

Although Sally Hepworth's novels have been hit-or-miss for me, I'm really looking forward to this one - the MIL/DIL relationship can be such a tough one!

Out Of This World Recommendations

While I personally would never want to go to space, I'm still fascinated by it and love books that are set there.  Here are my recommendations for some awesome fiction books that take place at least partially in space and two nonfiction books about space!

 

These Broken Stars // Good Morning, Midnight // The Martian

 Obscura // The Loneliest Girl in the Universe

 

  

Ask An Astronaut // Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

What are some of your favorite books set in space?

 

Month in Review: February 2019

February was actually a fairly busy month around here!  We got our taxes done, which may not sound exciting, but it's one of the few times I can see my sister during tax season.  She's a CPA, so she is super-busy right now, but she graciously takes time to help us prepare our return.

For Valentine's Day, Tom and I did a paint and sip class - it was a "date night" class, so it had two canvases making up one picture.  I'm not sure how I got him to agree to it!  He did a great job, though, and I think he even had some fun!

We celebrated my mom's birthday with a dinner out at a new-to-us restaurant.  It was a fun night, capped off by a delicious ice cream cake made by my sister!

For the first time in my adult life, I had actually had President's Day off from work, so Tom and I used the day to look for new furniture.  There were some pretty great sales going on, and we were able to get some nice stuff at a price I actually wanted to pay.  I can't wait for it to be delivered!  This is what constitutes "exciting" when you're a homeowner!

The Books

Pancakes in Paris (review to come) // The Royal Runaway (review to come) // A Royal Match // The Gown (review to come)

The Titan's Curse (audio) // The Uncertain Season // The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes // The Secret Wife

Thank you to my stepmom Linda for the recommendation of The Secret Wife!

I Owe You One // The Perfect Storm (review to come) // 40 Love // The Dead Queens Club (review to come)

Under a Dark Summer Sky (review to come) // The Assistants (reread) // Rebel of the Sands // Miller's Valley

The Battle of the Labyrinth (audio)

The Posts and Reviews

Backlist Mini-Reviews: Retellings of My Favorite Classic Novels
The Greek Gods Book Tag 
Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Library of Lost and Found 
Review: Uncharted 
Quotables #12: The Love Edition 
Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Girl He Used to Know 
Review: The Huntress 
Book Haul #3 
Top Ten Tuesday: Underrated Books I've Enjoyed 
Can't-Wait Wednesday: A Palm Beach Wife 
Backlist Mini-Reviews: A Retelling and a Romance
What Makes You DNF a Book? 
Can't-Wait Wednesday: Serious Moonlight

The Posts I Loved

Erica at Erica Robyn Reads gives her thoughts on labeling children's books

Tasya at the Literary Huntress discusses the problematic trope of enemies-to-lovers 

Clo at Bookwyrming Thoughts talks about three love cliches she wishes would disappear 

Rita at View From the Books writes about what love looks like to her (have a tissue handy!)

How was your February?  Did you do anything fun to celebrate any of the holidays?

Royal Mini-Reviews

The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory (2018)

Princess Theodora is shocked when her fiance doesn't show up on their wedding day, but a visit from his brother (who just happens to be a spy) leads Thea to wonder if this was more than just a case of cold feet.

I thought this book was a fun spin on the books about royalty I normally read - instead of getting her happily-ever-after, Thea's wedding day is ruined and she gets drawn into a web of lies and intrigue (both political and romantic).  The story was well-paced, and there were a few twists I didn't see coming - I didn't know who to trust!

I did have some issues with this book, though.  I felt like there were a lot of inconsistencies - even after it becomes obvious that something nefarious was going on, Thea still kept saying that Christian dumped her - I mean, the man hasn't been seen in 4 months, no one thought that was weird?  Also, there were several instances where other characters described Thea as prone to running away, when actually she seemed the most duty-bound of her whole family.  3.5 stars

The Gown by Jennifer Robson (2018)

Ok, historical fiction, dual timelines, a connection to Queen Elizabeth - this book sounds like it has everything for me.  While I didn't expect that there would be a ton of action in a story about the creation of Queen Elizabeth's wedding dress, I also didn't think it would be so... bland.  Unfortunately, this one was a let-down.

In 1947, Ann and Miriam are embroiderers working for the designer that would create Queen (then Princess) Elizabeth's wedding dress.  In 2016, Heather is going through her late grandmother Ann's possessions when she finds pieces of embroidery that match the Queen's dress, and she sets off on a quest to find out more about her grandmother's life before she emigrated to Canada.

Normally I love dual timelines, but the present-day timeline was almost completely unnecessary.  It just served to show how little Ann's family knew about her.  The past storyline was... okay, for lack of a better word.  There is one unsettling and traumatic event that ends up defining Ann's life, and while I sympathize, I still didn't understand why she had to cut off her friends in England completely and never tell her family about her life in England.  I was just frustrated.  I wanted better character development, I wanted more of the royal family.  There were hints about how the wedding was affecting the country as a whole (was it right to have a lavish wedding so soon after the war, when people were still struggling?  or would it be a great reason to have everyone come together and celebrate?), and that I enjoyed.  2.5 stars