Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlight is:

The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau
 Publication Date: December 3rd, 2018

Endeavor Quill
430 pages

Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository 

From Goodreads: 

"In eighteenth century London, porcelain is the most seductive of commodities; fortunes are made and lost upon it. Kings do battle with knights and knaves for possession of the finest pieces and the secrets of their manufacture. 

For Genevieve Planché, an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, porcelain holds far less allure; she wants to be an artist, a painter of international repute, but nobody takes the idea of a female artist seriously in London. If only she could reach Venice. 

When Genevieve meets the charming Sir Gabriel Courtenay, he offers her an opportunity she can’t refuse; if she learns the secrets of porcelain, he will send her to Venice. But in particular, she must learn the secrets of the colour blue… 

The ensuing events take Genevieve deep into England’s emerging industrial heartlands, where not only does she learn about porcelain, but also about the art of industrial espionage. 

With the heart and spirit of her Huguenot ancestors, Genevieve faces her challenges head on, but how much is she willing to suffer in pursuit and protection of the colour blue?"

This sounds so interesting to me! This sounds like an exceptionally inventive historical fiction and I'm curious to find out what exactly these "secrets of the color blue are." Plus, blue does happen to be one of my favorite colors so I'm in!

What do you think about this upcoming release? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

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Middle Grade Review: The Thorn Queen by Elisa Holland

The Thorn Queen by Elise Holland

SparkPress, 2018

256 pages. Ebook.

About The Thorn Queen:

"Welcome to Glendoch! 

Hidden to most, this glacial world once crackled with alchemy. Now it waits for war—divided and bound by strict rules. So when twelve-year-old Meylyne falls from a tree onto Glendoch’s sickly prince, she must flee or face imprisonment in the Shadow-Cellars. The only way she may return home is with a cure for the prince’s peculiar disease. 

Convinced she will perish, Meylyne and her companions embark on their journey—and before they know it, they are knee-deep in a plot to sink Glendoch into shadow, like other worlds before it. Poisoned guardians, cursed wizards, and cunning witch-spirits bound into wands are just some of the dangers that dot the way of their travels. 

And behind it all is the Thorn Queen. Mysteriously magnetic (or murderously vengeful, depending on whose side you’re on), she is always one step ahead of them . . ."

The Thorn Queen is a delightful middle grade fantasy adventure novel filled with imaginative characters, magic, and world-building.

Our protagonist is Meylyne, a young girl who is suddenly thrust into a much larger role in her world than she ever anticipated--or wanted. Meylyne is a bold, endearing girl who is not so great at performing her Alchemy magic and is also shunned by most of society for being half human/half garsyle, while they are all full garsyle. Meylyne is a great character, full of her own ideas and the penchant for being strong-willed, but she also has many insecurities and struggles with trying be a normal kid.

We meet many other characters along the way that made this book a true delight: Grimorex, an unexpected ogre; Blue, an accidentally one-foot tall boy; Hope, a stallynx; and so many more! I found Holland's characters to be wonderfully developed and each had a really interesting personality that always seemed to surprise me. I would say that characters are one of Holland's strong points in writing, as she managed to mostly stray from stereotypes--besides one villain-type character--and create her own roles for them.

Another area that Holland does really well is her physical world-building. Glendoch is a world that I would love to see because of how beautiful it sounds. This is one of those books where I would love to have more illustrations and artwork of some of the locations featured, particularly some of the castles. As much as I loved the descriptions of the world itself, I did have some issues with the intricacies of how the world itself was organized--mainly that there wasn't enough explanation. I understood the basics of how the world was set up (the 'Above-World,' etc.), but I didn't understand the why or how the places were developed in the first place.

This leads me to one of my biggest issues with this book which was simply how complex the politics and secrets were. There were a lot of info-dumping conversations between characters that were actually a little difficult to keep up with at times, which isn't something that normally pops up in middle grade books.

Overall, I enjoyed The Thorn Queen a lot and found it really inventive, so I've given it four stars! I am unsure whether or not there will be more books, but if there are then I will certainly read them and see what adventures Meylyne is up to next.

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

*I received an ARC of The Thorn Queen courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating of the novel.*

You might also like:

Impyrium by Henry H. Neff

The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse by Brian Farrey

The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart

Can't-Wait Wednesday: A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlight is:

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos, translated by Hildegarde Serle
 Publication Date: September 25th, 2018

Europa Editions
468 pages

Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository 

From Goodreads: 

"Where once there was unity, vastly different worlds now exist. Over each, the spirit of an omnipotent and immortal ancestor abides. 

Long ago, following a cataclysm called the Rupture, the world was shattered into many floating celestial islands, known now as arks. Ophelia lives on Anima, where inhabitants can read the pasts of objects. What’s more, she is also a “mirror-traveler,” possessing an ability that has been passed down to her through generations. Her idyllic existence on Anima is disrupted when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, an influential member of a distant clan. Still only a girl, Ophelia must leave her family and follow her fiancé to Citaceleste, the capital of a cold and icy ark called Pole. But there, her future husband seems indifferent to her and she slowly realizes that her presence on Pole is part of a much bigger plot and has far-reaching ramifications not only for her but for her entire world. 

An unforgettable heroine, an insightful study of relationships, a rich and bountiful universe, intrigue and suspense, A Winter’s Promise is perfect for readers of Margaret Rogerson, Scott Westerfeld, Melissa Albert, and N.K. Jemisin."

So this technically came out yesterday, but I've been so excited for it for months and I have no idea when I'll actually read it because it's still pretty expensive.... so long story short, I still can't wait for it! It sounds like a really unique and inventive idea, plus I can't stop looking at that cover.

What do you think about this upcoming release? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

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Can't-Wait Wednesday: Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlight is:

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
Publication Date: October 9th, 2018

Knopf
704 pages

Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository 

From Goodreads: 

"The epic new novel from the internationally acclaimed and best-selling author of 1Q84 

In Killing Commendatore, a thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo is abandoned by his wife and finds himself holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist, Tomohiko Amada. When he discovers a previously unseen painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist’s home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors. A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art—as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby—Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers."

Haruki Murakami is one of my all-time favorite authors. Every book he writes is an auto-buy for me and I've probably read all but one or two of his books. I just cannot get enough and often consider his books a 'palette cleanser' when I'm feeling overwhelmed by life or other books. All that being said--I'm beyond thrilled for this book! My boyfriend went to Japan last summer and brought me back the Japanese edition of this book (since it came out in Japanese last year), so it's been a cruel irony to have the book in my possession but not be able to read it. But our turn is almost here!

What do you think about this upcoming release? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

Never miss a post by subscribing to Forever Lost in Literature!

Planning to purchase a book or two? Consider purchasing on Book Depository through my affiliate link! Book Depository has worldwide free shipping and millions of titles to choose from.

I am also an Amazon affiliate, so if you'd prefer to shop through Amazon, just click the banner on the upper right hand side of my blog! (above the 'Follow by email' box, you may need to pause adblock to see it!)