Fables&Wren

01. My Plain Jane by Jodi Meadows, Cynthia Hands and Brodi Ashton
You may think you know the story. After a miserable childhood, penniless orphan Jane Eyre embarks on a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There, she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester. Despite their significant age gap (!) and his uneven temper (!!), they fall in love—and, Reader, she marries him. (!!!)

Prepare for an adventure of Gothic proportions, in which all is not as it seems, a certain gentleman is hiding more than skeletons in his closets, and one orphan Jane Eyre, aspiring author Charlotte Brontë, and supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood are about to be drawn together on the most epic ghost hunt this side of Wuthering Heights.

THIS IS THE BOOK THAT I HAVE LOOKED FORWARD TO SINCE IT WAS ANNOUNCED THERE WOULD BE MORE JANE BOOKS LIKE MY LADY JANE. Literally I am obsessed with this book. I will be reading it once and then listening to it the second time and maybe a third time reading along with the audio. Seriously the audio book is the best audio book I have ever listened to. This series is full of hilariousness and absolutely not correct facts on how events happened or the story was written.

02. Beyond the Darkened Shore by Jessica Leake
The ancient land of Éirinn is mired in war. Ciara, Princess of Mide, has never known a time when Éirinn’s kingdoms were not battling for power, or Northmen were not plundering their shores. The people of Mide have thankfully always been safe because of Ciara’s unearthly ability to control her enemies’ minds and actions. But lately, a mysterious crow has been appearing to Ciara, whispering warnings of an even darker threat. Although her clansmen dismiss her visions as pagan nonsense, Ciara fears this coming evil will destroy not just Éirinn, but the entire world. Then the crow leads Ciara to Leif, a young Northman leader. Leif should be Ciara’s enemy, but when Ciara discovers that he, too, shares her prophetic visions, she knows he’s something more. Leif is mounting an impressive army, and with Ciara’s strength in battle the two might have a chance to save their world. With evil rising around them, they’ll do what it takes to defend the land they love…even if it means making the greatest sacrifice of all.

So this book wasn’t even on my radar until I learned this is possibly the book in a certain book box that I signed up for. It sounds just right up my alley. I absolutely love mythologies of every sort and this one has an assortment of them! And someone who con control minds as the protagonist is going to be really interesting to see. Usually, those are the antagonist so I am anxious to see how this plans out.

03. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
Gorgeous. Popular. Perfect.

Tally has finally become pretty. Now her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are awesome, her boyfriend is totally hot, and she’s completely popular. It’s everything she’s ever wanted. But beneath all the fun — the nonstop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom — is a nagging sense that something’s wrong. Something important. Then a message from Tally’s ugly past arrives. Reading it, Tally remembers what’s wrong with pretty life, and the fun stops cold. Now she has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life — because the authorities don’t intend to let anyone with this information survive.

This will be a reread for me! I read Uglies a few months back and I am just rereading my high-school self’s favorite series. As an adult, rereading it brings back so many memories; but it also shows me how young the book actually is. No matter, this was my favorite dystopian book when I was little and I am so anxious for the spin off series in the fall! Have you heard of that? It’s going to be after the events that took place in Uglies. Tally is famous and she is still there, but it is from someone else’s point of view!

04. Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets… and secrets hide in every shadow.
Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted. Frightened and alone, her only lead is a name: Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and a con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn’t have time to investigate a woman leading a dangerous double life. Enne’s offer of compensation, however, could be the solution to all his problems.
Their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, illicit cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless mafia donna. As Enne unearths an impossible secret about her past, Levi’s enemies catch up to them, ensnaring him in a vicious execution game where the players always lose. To save him, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city… And she’ll need to play.

So this is also coming in a book box, but I was already absolutely so excited for this book. It is like a Sin City mixed with Six of Crows type of feel. Gangs and gambling and mystery.. it is just right up my alley. I hope I am not making this a bigger deal than it already is, but I have it marked on my calendar and it needs to live up to my expectations.

05. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words… And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

I am beyond excited to dive into this book! I *shocker* am a huge Harry Potter fan, and the fact that there is a fan fiction in this, and then the author wrote the fan fiction just makes me wiggle in my seat. I have never read any Rainbow before so this would be my first one! Everyone seems to say she is the queen in the YA Contemporary genre, and even though I am not really a big Contemporary reader, I am still beyond pumped for this.

06. Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
Beyond the Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger. The Blood Shrike, Helene Aquilla, is assailed on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable, while the Commandant capitalizes on his madness to bolster her own power. As Helene searches for a way to hold back the approaching darkness, her sister’s life and the lives of all those in the Empire hang in the balance. Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. But while hunting for a way to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would aid her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she’d have to fight. And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that will stop at nothing to ensure Elias’s devotion—even at the cost of his humanity.

I CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS OH MY GOSH THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENS TO ME THIS SPRING I CANNOT WAIT Series we have waited two years for this book, and the change of cover has such a powerful message behind it that it just makes me want to read and rave about it so much more. And it left on such a cliffhanger! I need everyone to be skipping in daises and holding hands at the end of this series please.

07. Furyborn by Claire Legrand
Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world…or doom it.

When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first. A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined. As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world–and of each other.

Bookstagram has been raving about this book since 2017, so how could I not have this as one of my Top Spring Reads in 2018? Plus I have an obsession with elemental magic. And the seven…? I thought there was only water, earth, fire and air for normal “elemental” magical but apparently there is so much more. And it sounds so dark and STRAIGHT UP my alley.

08. Vicious by Victoria Schwab
Victor and Eli started out as college roommates–brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find–aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge–but who will be left alive at the end? In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.

Don’t shoot me, but I haven’t actually read this book yet. I absolutely love Victoria Schwab and I am excited to dive into another creation of hers. I’m pretty sure this is an anti-hero book, and those are honestly my favorite kinds of books. Schwab is one of my all time favorite authors and I am beyond positive that this series will become something I throw in people’s faces to love.

09. Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian
Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Queen of Flame and Fury, was murdered before her eyes. Ten years later, Theo has learned to survive under the relentless abuse of the Kaiser and his court as the ridiculed “Ash Princess.” Pretending to be empty-headed and naive when she’s not enduring brutal whippings, she pushes down all other thoughts but one: Keep the Kaiser happy and he will keep you safe. When the Kaiser forces her to execute her last hope of rescue, Theo can’t keep her feelings and memories pushed down any longer. She vows revenge, throwing herself into a plot to seduce and murder the Kaiser’s warrior son with the help of a group of magically gifted and volatile rebels. But Theo doesn’t expect to develop feelings for the Prinz. Or for her rebel allies to challenge her friendship with the one person who’s been kind to her throughout the last hopeless decade: her heart’s sister, Cress. Cornered into impossible choices and unable to trust even those who are on her side, Theo will have to decide how far she’s willing to go to save her people and how much of herself she’s willing to sacrifice to become queen.

Another raved about book on Bookstagram and on Goodreads, but I was actually excited about this book long before it became a top release. Princesses and being under the thumb of your enemy and rebel groups.. that’s an equation for a Wren favorite. It sounds so dark and people have special powers and I may or may not already have this one pre-ordered.

10. Legendary by Stephanie Garber
A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name. The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister’s. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice. But now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever. Welcome, welcome to Caraval…the games have only just begun.

Saving one of the most anticipated for last, Legendary! I liked the first book a lot and the beauty of the writing and the mystery and the circus like feel of the book is just right up my alley. Plus, Stephanie is coming to my town on her book tour and I am beyond excited to meet such a wonderful and talented author!