We are into the second month of 2018 and Wildaboutthewrittenword's wonderful post got me thinking - it's time I posted about my most anticipated books of this year. In fact, for the last few months, I've been scouring Amazon and Goodreads for the books I want to get my hands on this year, because let's face it - every true book lover has an inherent acquisitive streak and lives by the unwritten code - grab those hot new books immediately on their release and hoard them, no matter how many unread books you already have lying around!
So here's my list of most eagerly awaited books of 2018 (new releases from February onwards), in no particular order, complete with curated summaries and comments by yours truly to whet the discerning reader's appetite :):
1. Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley (Expected release date - April 24):
Some houses don't want to give up their secrets - Wilde House on Long Island in America is one such house. Wilde House now houses a museum and Charley is its new curator. She comes to believe that the eerie atmosphere of the house is somehow linked to the legend of a pair of lovers connected to the Wilde family in the 18th Century.
Did the doomed romance of Lydia and her French-Canadian lieutenant really happen or was it just a ghost story invented by the family and passed down from generation to generation? Who is the ghost that haunts Wilde House now? Will the truth ever come out?
My thoughts: Which lover of gothic novels can truly resist the lure of an old house full of secrets and legends of doomed lovers? :) This book sounds like one of Susanna's patented past-present novels, but maybe with a real ghost this time, if I'm lucky enough!
2. Her Mother's Secret by Rosanna Ley (Expected release date - May 15):
Colette has been estranged from her mother Thea for many years and has been avoiding returning to her homeland in Southern Brittany. But when she hears about her mother's failing health, she is forced to return to the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer and confront the past she had left behind.
What happened all those years ago and how did it cause the rift between mother and daughter? Even as Thea opens up to her daughter and Colette takes over the running of her mother's flower shop, it becomes clear that Colette is still unaware of a devastating family secret. Will unravelling it change the course of her life?
My thoughts: Rosanna Ley's books captivate me more because of their exotic settings than their plots - this one seems to be no exception. Looking forward to reading more about the beauty and customs of this island in Brittany, France.
3. Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb (Expected release date - November 1):
It's time for the lake to give up its secrets.
Kate Granger moves into her parent's home in Lake Superior to recover from the breakup of her marriage, only to discover the body of a murdered woman washed ashore. Tucked in the folds of the woman’s curiously vintage gown is a dead infant, as cold as its mother. No one can identify the woman, except for Kate. She’s seen her before in her dreams.
Kate begins to have more dreams of the drowned woman - is she trying to convey something to Kate? How is the woman's story linked to the tragic love story and mysterious murder that is said to have taken place one hundred years back? Is all this somehow connected to the haunting folktale that has been whispered about for generations?
My thoughts: Be still, my beating heart! Spirits of dead women reaching out through dreams, bodies floating in the lake, haunting folklore and centuries-old murders left unsolved - perchance this will turn out be one of the best reads of this year!
4. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James (Expected release date - March 20):
5. Untitled Book 6 by Kate Morton (Expected release date - September 20):
6. A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Numerous Authors, compiled by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman (Expected release date - June 26):
A mountain loses her heart. Two sisters transform into birds to escape captivity. A young man learns the true meaning of sacrifice. A young woman takes up her mother’s mantle and leads the dead to their final resting place.
Star-crossed lovers, meddling immortals, feigned identities, battles of wits, and dire warnings. Fifteen bestselling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore, legends and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are mystical, enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate.
My thoughts: Folklore, legends, fairy tale, mythology - can hardly wait!!
7. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (Release date pending):
8. Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews (August 28):
This is the much hyped 10th and penultimate book of the thrilling and addictive Kate Daniels Urban Fantasy series. Kate has come a long way from her origins as a loner taking care of paranormal problems in post-Shift Atlanta. She's made friends and enemies. She's found love and started a family with Curran Lennart, the former Beast Lord. She even has a son now to take care of. But her magic is too strong for the power players of the world to let her be.
Kate and her enormously powerful father, Roland, currently have an uneasy truce, but when he starts testing her defenses again, she knows that sooner or later, a confrontation is inevitable. The Witch Oracle has begun seeing visions of blood, fire, and human bones. And when a mysterious box is delivered to Kate's doorstep, a threat of war from the ancient enemy who nearly destroyed her family, she knows their time is up.
Kate Daniels sees no other choice but to combine forces with the unlikeliest of allies. She knows betrayal is inevitable. But she has to try. Will she survive the battle? Will her family and Atlanta survive?
My thoughts: Having been a squeal-y fan girl of the snarky Kate, the not-so-beastly Curran and the entertaining clans of werewolf shapeshifters for a long time, I am waiting with bated breath for this exciting conclusion to a long but never boring series. The author duo has been tantalising fans with snippets from the upcoming book on their blog and I am simply dying to know if Kate's all-powerful father Roland is truly evil or will there be a reconciliation in the end. I also can't get enough of Kate's cute baby who will debut in this book.
So here's my list of most eagerly awaited books of 2018 (new releases from February onwards), in no particular order, complete with curated summaries and comments by yours truly to whet the discerning reader's appetite :):
1. Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley (Expected release date - April 24):
Some houses don't want to give up their secrets - Wilde House on Long Island in America is one such house. Wilde House now houses a museum and Charley is its new curator. She comes to believe that the eerie atmosphere of the house is somehow linked to the legend of a pair of lovers connected to the Wilde family in the 18th Century.
Did the doomed romance of Lydia and her French-Canadian lieutenant really happen or was it just a ghost story invented by the family and passed down from generation to generation? Who is the ghost that haunts Wilde House now? Will the truth ever come out?
My thoughts: Which lover of gothic novels can truly resist the lure of an old house full of secrets and legends of doomed lovers? :) This book sounds like one of Susanna's patented past-present novels, but maybe with a real ghost this time, if I'm lucky enough!
2. Her Mother's Secret by Rosanna Ley (Expected release date - May 15):
Colette has been estranged from her mother Thea for many years and has been avoiding returning to her homeland in Southern Brittany. But when she hears about her mother's failing health, she is forced to return to the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer and confront the past she had left behind.
What happened all those years ago and how did it cause the rift between mother and daughter? Even as Thea opens up to her daughter and Colette takes over the running of her mother's flower shop, it becomes clear that Colette is still unaware of a devastating family secret. Will unravelling it change the course of her life?
My thoughts: Rosanna Ley's books captivate me more because of their exotic settings than their plots - this one seems to be no exception. Looking forward to reading more about the beauty and customs of this island in Brittany, France.
3. Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb (Expected release date - November 1):
It's time for the lake to give up its secrets.
Kate Granger moves into her parent's home in Lake Superior to recover from the breakup of her marriage, only to discover the body of a murdered woman washed ashore. Tucked in the folds of the woman’s curiously vintage gown is a dead infant, as cold as its mother. No one can identify the woman, except for Kate. She’s seen her before in her dreams.
Kate begins to have more dreams of the drowned woman - is she trying to convey something to Kate? How is the woman's story linked to the tragic love story and mysterious murder that is said to have taken place one hundred years back? Is all this somehow connected to the haunting folktale that has been whispered about for generations?
My thoughts: Be still, my beating heart! Spirits of dead women reaching out through dreams, bodies floating in the lake, haunting folklore and centuries-old murders left unsolved - perchance this will turn out be one of the best reads of this year!
4. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James (Expected release date - March 20):
This novel is about an abandoned boarding school for "troubled" girls in Vermont - Idlewild Hall. There are rumours about something sinister in the shut-down school - ghosts, hidden bodies and long buried secrets. When journalist Fiona Sheridan learns that Idlewild Hall is being restored, she is determined to find out more, because she has a vested interest in Idlewild - it was the spot where her murdered sister's body was found 20 years back. Her sister's boyfriend was convicted of the murder and imprisoned but he always maintained that he was innocent of the crime. Fiona can't let her sister's case go because she has a feeling that something isn't adding up. As she delves deeper into the boarding school's past, she finds out that a girl named Sonia had mysteriously gone missing from the school in the fifties and was never found.
The story goes back and forth between the lives of four girls who are students of the school in 1950 (Sonia is one of them) and Fiona's present-day quest. Is the murder of her sister somehow linked to the missing girl Sonia way back in the fifties? What is the secret that lies buried in Idlewild Hall? Because of Fiona's search, the ghosts of the past are about to rise again. Here's a rather creepy excerpt:
"Mary Hand, Mary Hand,
Dead and buried under land...
Faster, faster. Don't let het catch you.
She'll say she wants to be your friend...
Do not let her in again!"
My thoughts: Sounds like a perfect goosebumps-inducing mystery to be read with all the lights on :)
The story goes back and forth between the lives of four girls who are students of the school in 1950 (Sonia is one of them) and Fiona's present-day quest. Is the murder of her sister somehow linked to the missing girl Sonia way back in the fifties? What is the secret that lies buried in Idlewild Hall? Because of Fiona's search, the ghosts of the past are about to rise again. Here's a rather creepy excerpt:
"Mary Hand, Mary Hand,
Dead and buried under land...
Faster, faster. Don't let het catch you.
She'll say she wants to be your friend...
Do not let her in again!"
My thoughts: Sounds like a perfect goosebumps-inducing mystery to be read with all the lights on :)
Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items - a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist's sketchbook including the drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river. The sketched image of the house is immediately familiar to Elodie as the house from a bedtime story her mother used to tell when she was small. But the only person who might be able to shed light on why that might be, Elodie's Uncle Tip, falls firmly silent upon seeing the photograph of the beautiful Victorian woman. Meanwhile, in its quiet bend of the Upper Thames, the twin-gabled house is waiting. For the house wants the truth of what happened over hundred and fifty years earlier to be revealed.
In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists, led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe, descends upon the house in rural Oxfordshire to spend the next few months in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time summer is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared, a priceless heirloom - the Radcliffe Blue Diamond - is missing, and Edward Radcliffe's life is in ruins.
What really happened all those years back? Who is the mysterious beautiful woman whose name history has forgotten? Will Elodie be able to uncover the long-kept secrets of the house?
My thoughts: Promises to be vintage Kate Morton - complete with mysterious house, skeletons in the cupboard (pun intended) and sepia photographs of beautiful women (there are always a few of these lying around in gothic novels)!
What really happened all those years back? Who is the mysterious beautiful woman whose name history has forgotten? Will Elodie be able to uncover the long-kept secrets of the house?
My thoughts: Promises to be vintage Kate Morton - complete with mysterious house, skeletons in the cupboard (pun intended) and sepia photographs of beautiful women (there are always a few of these lying around in gothic novels)!
A mountain loses her heart. Two sisters transform into birds to escape captivity. A young man learns the true meaning of sacrifice. A young woman takes up her mother’s mantle and leads the dead to their final resting place.
Star-crossed lovers, meddling immortals, feigned identities, battles of wits, and dire warnings. Fifteen bestselling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore, legends and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are mystical, enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate.
My thoughts: Folklore, legends, fairy tale, mythology - can hardly wait!!
7. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (Release date pending):
Set in a darkly glamorous Paris, the book follows the cursed but charismatic heir of a massive fortune as he plots to steal three ancient and powerful artifacts of fate. He and his crew will have to navigate the elite gatherings of secret occult societies, traveling through Paris' catacombs where they must confront their worst secrets as well as a destiny they never imagined.
My thoughts: Roshani Chokshi had me at "curse" and "occult" :)
This is the much hyped 10th and penultimate book of the thrilling and addictive Kate Daniels Urban Fantasy series. Kate has come a long way from her origins as a loner taking care of paranormal problems in post-Shift Atlanta. She's made friends and enemies. She's found love and started a family with Curran Lennart, the former Beast Lord. She even has a son now to take care of. But her magic is too strong for the power players of the world to let her be.
Kate and her enormously powerful father, Roland, currently have an uneasy truce, but when he starts testing her defenses again, she knows that sooner or later, a confrontation is inevitable. The Witch Oracle has begun seeing visions of blood, fire, and human bones. And when a mysterious box is delivered to Kate's doorstep, a threat of war from the ancient enemy who nearly destroyed her family, she knows their time is up.
Kate Daniels sees no other choice but to combine forces with the unlikeliest of allies. She knows betrayal is inevitable. But she has to try. Will she survive the battle? Will her family and Atlanta survive?
My thoughts: Having been a squeal-y fan girl of the snarky Kate, the not-so-beastly Curran and the entertaining clans of werewolf shapeshifters for a long time, I am waiting with bated breath for this exciting conclusion to a long but never boring series. The author duo has been tantalising fans with snippets from the upcoming book on their blog and I am simply dying to know if Kate's all-powerful father Roland is truly evil or will there be a reconciliation in the end. I also can't get enough of Kate's cute baby who will debut in this book.
9. Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh (Expected release date - June 5):
The highly anticipated ending to the 'Flame in the Mist' duology is due for release soon. Following the capture of Okami and his band of rebels at the end of the first book (reviewed by me here), Mariko has no choice but to return to Inako and face the dangers that have been waiting for her in the Heian Castle. She tricks her brother, Kenshin, and betrothed, Raiden, into thinking she was being held in the Jukai Forest by the Black Clan against her will, playing the part of the dutiful bride-to-be to infiltrate the emperor's ranks and uncover the truth behind the betrayal that almost left her dead.
As Mariko beings to peel back the layers of lies and deception surrounding the imperial court while trying to free Okami, she gets ensnared in a political scheme that threatens her honor, her love and the very safety of the empire. Who is on her side and who is plotting against her? Can she right the wrong that was done against Okami's father all those years back and save the empire too?
My thoughts: I really liked Book 1 and Mariko's growth arc there. I hope this one will take it further and successfully wrap up all the plotlines (thankfully, this is only a duology!)
My thoughts: I really liked Book 1 and Mariko's growth arc there. I hope this one will take it further and successfully wrap up all the plotlines (thankfully, this is only a duology!)
10. The Sapphire Trader's Secret by Dinah Jeffries (Expected release date - February 22):
My thoughts: I like Dinah Jeffries' historical fiction novels because of her ability to transport the reader to exotic settings of the bygone era - be it vivid descriptions of India under the British rule in Before the Rains, Ceylon in the 1920s in the lushly written The Tea Planter's Wife or Vietnam under the French rule in The Silk Merchant's Daughter. The latest by this author appears to be another intriguing one set in bygone Ceylon.
I just noticed that most of the books on this list appear to be about "secrets"!! Hmmm...what does that say about my reading preferences, I wonder! Maybe I'm a person who really likes ferreting out secrets :)
With such a long TBR list, one thing that's no secret is that my plan for most weekends spent at home this year will look something like this - no matter what the weather, I'll be curled up with a book!!
It is the year 1935 in Ceylon. Louisa Reeve, the daughter of a successful British gem trader, and her husband Elliot, a charming, thrill-seeking businessman, seem like the couple who have it all. Except what they long for more than anything: a child. While Louisa struggles with miscarriages, Elliot is increasingly absent, spending much of his time at a nearby cinnamon plantation, overlooking the Indian ocean. After his sudden death, Louisa is left alone to solve the mystery he left behind. Revisiting the plantation at Cinnamon Hills, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn towards the owner Leo, a rugged outdoors man with a chequered past. All is not as it seems in the plantation on Cinnamon Hills and soon a shocking betrayal is revealed. Is Leo somehow connected with Elliot's death? What is the secret that Elliot was trying to hide from Louisa before his death?
I just noticed that most of the books on this list appear to be about "secrets"!! Hmmm...what does that say about my reading preferences, I wonder! Maybe I'm a person who really likes ferreting out secrets :)
With such a long TBR list, one thing that's no secret is that my plan for most weekends spent at home this year will look something like this - no matter what the weather, I'll be curled up with a book!!
