My most-eagerly-awaited books of 2018

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): 

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 :)

5. Untitled Book 6 by Kate Morton (Expected release date - September 20): 

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)! 

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): 

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" :)

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.

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!)

10. The Sapphire Trader's Secret by Dinah Jeffries (Expected release date - February 22): 

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?

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!!

Forest of secrets

Book review: Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

A heady rush in the blood, a faster beat of the heart, every nerve on high alert - any book-lover will recognize this feeling - of unexpectedly discovering a few pages into a book that this is a rare treasure one can't let go of till the last chapter, come what may. Forget sleep, food, office work, test preparation, grocery, guests - everything. One is so sucked into the world created by the author that the world outside ceases to exist. Such authors have that extra genius - every chapter they write becomes progressively more enthralling. Such books are extra awesome - one cannot not review them. So here I am - eight months after my last novel review - driven to review this clever, clever book, "Flame in the Mist" by Renee Ahdieh. This was the last book of my 2017 half-yearly target book list and after having finished all the books on that list, I can honestly say that none of the other books came even close to this one.

I had found the author's debut novel, "The Wrath and the Dawn" enchanting, with its fiery heroine, Shazi and its slowly developing romance and Arabian Nights setting. Its sequel "The Rose and the Dagger"was good, but not as brilliant. "The Flame in the Mist"is completely different from the previous duology - with a feudal Japan setting, more historical overtones than fantasy and a lot more political intrigue. It is also less romantic, though the romance, when it comes late in the book, is breathtaking. The book does have elements of Mulan and 47 Ronin, but in the end, has an unique plotline.

The heroine of the book is Mariko, the young daughter of a wealthy samurai clan, Hattori. She has always been the odd one in the family - a cerebral person who thinks deeply before she acts, is able to read people and predict their motivations and is an aspiring inventor. Being a woman in feudal Japan, she has far less freedom of choice than her twin brother, Kenshin, though she constantly wants to learn more about the world.

Curious had been the word most often ascribed to her when she was younger. She’d been the watchful sort of child. The one conscious of every mistake. When Mariko had erred, it had usually been intentional. An attempt to push barriers. Or a desire to learn. Usually it was that. A wish to know more.
As she grew from a curious child into an even more curious young woman, the word she most often overheard at her back was odd. Much too odd. Far too prone to asking questions.
Far too apt to linger in places she wasn’t meant to be.

Source: pininterest

When the book begins, Mariko is journeying through the creepy Jukai forest (forest of demons) with her entourage, on her way to the imperial city of Inako, be married to the emperor's son, Prince Raiden. It is part of a political arrangement that is designed to elevate the status of her family. On the way, her attendants and guards are suddenly attacked and murdered, apparently by the infamous Black Clan of deadly warriors who are said to frequent the forest. Mariko overhears that the Black Clan wants to kill her and escapes into the surrounding forest. She devises a plan to track the Black Clan and infiltrate them - to find out why they intend to kill her and to plot her revenge.

Follow orders. Engender trust. Strike when they least expect it.

She is also motivated by the freedom to act as she pleases - she knows that the moment she gets back to her family, they will resume the preparations for her arranged marriage. As Mariko disguises herself as a boy and meets up with the Black Clan, she comes across as much more cautious than Ahdieh's previous heroine Shazi - Mariko is more of a planner and strategist who has to constantly motivate herself to be brave and take action. Her growth arc throughout the book from an intellectual to a warrior is a treat to watch.

We choose what we are in any situation, be it a word or an idea....

Be as swift as the wind. As silent as the forest. As fierce as the fire. As unshakable as the mountain.

The introduction to the Black Clan and its members led by Ranmaru and his second-in-command Okami is explosive - Mariko and the readers are straight away pulled into the dark forest frequented by the Clan, with its chilly streams, misty cliffs and carnivorous trees called Jubokko. Mariko pretends to be a determined but inexperienced young boy, Sanada Takeo, who has fled from his family. As she undergoes rigorous initiation training as a new Clan recruit, she realizes that the forest spirits and trees actually protect the clan from enemies and her revenge plan will have to be more carefully devised.

Never forget, Sanada Takeo, in this forest, there is no place to hide.

 As the days go by, Mariko tries to win the Clan's trust through her various invented weapons. She also discovers to her surprise that the clan actually is like a Robin Hood type gang - stealing from the rich and redistributing to the poor. As Mariko struggles to reconcile her perceptions of who is good and who is evil while still keeping her true identity hidden, she develops an unexpected friendship with the cook Yoshi and an enigmatic relationship with Okami, the quiet ninja-like warrior with strange fighting abilities. The hate-to-love relationship that slowly unfolds between Okami and Mariko is straightforward and honest, even though both are still guarding their secrets. Mariko knows that this relationship can never be, once the Black Clan knows who she really is. But still she can't force herself to stop or be dishonest about her feelings.

The stars could fall - the moon could crash from the heavens - and Mariko would not care.

Then he kissed her again, and it was a controlled fire on her tongue. The type that threatened to burn into a crashing, thrashing ache. The type of kiss Mariko had thought to avoid at all cost. The unpredictable type. The dangerous type.

Source: wall.alphacoders.com

The story never loses its pace - moving back and forth between Mariko's quest, Kenshin's search for his twin sister and the devious machinations at the imperial palace, Heian Castle in Inako:

Inako.
A city of a hundred arched bridges and a thousand cherry trees. A city of mud and sweat and sewage. A city of golden cranes and amber sunsets.
A city of secrets.

There are plots and counter-plots, family feuds, cunning consorts and enigmatic princes, betrayals and murders. It seems no one is what he or she seems to be on the surface - everyone has a hidden identity or ability. The author wonderfully recreates Japan of the feudal era with its social norms, customs, dresses and hierarchy. Her writing shows the amount of research that must have gone into the preparation of this book.

As the prologue of the book indicates, the present-day events are somehow linked to shogun Takeda Shingen's seppuku or ritual suicide ordered by the emperor ten years' back. But the readers will keep guessing what the link is till the very end. What is the wolf-life beast which follows Mariko in the forest? Who or what is the evil fox spirit? Which of the princes is more evil - Crown Prince Roku or Mariko's betrothed, Prince Raiden? Which of the Emperor of Wa's wives want more power - his wife the empress or his consort Kanako? Will Kenshin and Mariko's increasingly opposing philosophies force the twins to fight on opposite sides? Other than these questions, there are some shocking revelations at the end of the book, which have left me craving for the sequel.

Having said that, this book is still a must-read. Do not wait to buy it - make sure you get your hands on this book and then retire to a cave-like secluded place for the next five hours till you finish this book. After that go into hibernation for one day to reorient yourself with the real world again! This book is that addictive.

My 2017 Bucket List of Books

To end or not to end - that is the question

When a cliffhanger a night keeps death away!

Inspired by my last post about abrupt and incomplete endings in book series, I started researching the origins of the cliffhanger plot device in literature. Guess what I found? What if ending a story with a cliffhanger was the only way to stay alive?

Source: mlp.wikia.com

One of the earliest uses of the cliffhanger as the pivotal plot theme is found in the famous Arabic collection of folk tales, One Thousand and One Nights, believed to have originated in the medieval period. According to this story, King Shahryr, a Persian king of kings, angered by his first wife's betrayal, takes a new wife every night only to execute her the next morning. Scheherazade, a beautiful and clever storyteller and the latest to be chosen as the queen, devises a brilliant plan to survive. 

She tells Shahryr a beguiling story at night but leaves it at a cliffhanger at dawn. Though Shahryr is a ruthless king, like all human beings, he too is enthralled by an intriguing story and curious to know how it ends.  Thus he is compelled to postpone Scheherazade's execution till the next day when the story is complete. This continues night after night, as Scheherazade cleverly weaves a series of strange and intricate stories about morality, till the king finally repents for his behavior and and lets her live.

Can you imagine - 1001 nights of cliffhangers! No wonder the king is forced to concede defeat. I could never have tolerated even a week of that!

Source: www.youtube.com

One thing lead to another, and soon I found that the blogosphere was full of readers going into raptures over a recent retelling of Scheherazade's story, The Wrath and the Dawn, by debut author, Renee Ahdieh. It is a duology, with the second book in this series, The Rose and the Dagger, scheduled for release in May. One of my close friends, who knows her books, has already put this series on her reading list for 2016. Thus inspired, I reasoned that since May is not very far away, I might as well start with the first book in the series.

Book review: The Wrath and the Dawn

The plot:

This is the story of fearless and beautiful Shahrzad of Rey, who weds Khalid, the young Caliph of Khorasan, with the objective of exacting revenge for the murder of her friend, Shiva. Khalid is considered as a mad and ruthless monster by his subjects, because he marries a young girl from Rey each day, only to execute her at dawn. Shiva was just one of his many murdered brides. Shahrzad fiercely vows to win against Khalid at all costs, and not get killed in the process:

I will live to see tomorrow's sunset. Make no mistake. I swear I will live to see as many sunsets as it takes. And I will kill you. With my own hands.

Shahrzad discovers that things are not what they seem, and there are darker forces and political agendas at play inside and outside Khalid's palace. Khalid himself is an enigma, hiding his emotions and desires at all times, even from those close to him. Shahrzad uses her wits to keep Khalid engrossed in her stories, while fully expecting to be executed any morning. 

Thus begins a story built on the foundations of hatred, revenge, hidden agendas and deadly secrets, but it gradually grows into a complex tale of two conflicted individuals who discover that their goals, motivations and desires are slowly changing with time. In the end, they are forced to make difficult choices to reconcile their past with their present, so that they can again hope  for a future. There are some important secondary characters such as Jalal, Khalid's loyal friend and commander, and Despina, Shahrzad's irreverent but caring handmaiden. Tariq, Shahrzad's former betrothed, also plays a vital part (though I found him a bit irritating!).

Source: fiercefragile.com

My thoughts:

I adored the strength, arrogance and gracefulness of Shahrzad, or Shazi, as she is known. She is fierce and brave, yet considerate and willing to understand other perspectives. As Despina once says:

You are the Calipha of Khorasan,....and you are a fearsome thing to behold in your own right.

I really liked the slow building of the utterly romantic relationship between Shazi and Khalid, and the believable transformation of hate-to-love.

And Shahrzad's will fought him, screamed a silent scream, while her heart welcomed the intrusion as a songbird welcomes the dawn. As the dying find grace in an answered prayer..

The author does a marvelous job of portraying an equal relationship in every way. In a situation where all the power is in the hands of Khalid, the Caliph, it could so easily have been a tale of unequal power struggle and coercion. Not only does Khalid grow to admire Shazi's fearlessness, he actively encourages her:

Every day, I think I am going to be surprised by how remarkable you are, but I am not. Because this is what it means to be you. It means knowing no bounds. Being limitless in everything that you do...

You are not weak. You are not indecisive. You are strong. Fierce. Capable beyond measure....

My soul sees its equal in you.

The language is beautiful and flows like soft wine, mellow yet heady. The Arabic setting is evocative, with descriptions of garments, jewelry, weapons, cuisine, and dialects, all perfectly matching the characters and the culture.

The 'terrible secret' is well handled, even though its disclosure could have happened a bit earlier. Kudos to the author for not resorting to the 'big misunderstanding' plot device when Khalid discovers the existence of Tariq. Khalid redeems himself totally in that poignant scene when he rises above circumstances to do what is right. I think he still isn't as fierce as Shazi, but maybe by the next book, he will be.

And what can I say about the ending, which was deliberately incomplete yet satisfying in a way:

Our story may have come to a close, but your story is still yet to be told. Make it a story worthy of you...

So I write it in the sky-
I love you, a thousand times over. And I will never apologize for it. 

The sequel promises to carry on the conflicts and the relationships. The stakes are high and the odds are stacked heavily against Shazi and Khalid. Shazi, at least now, knows whose side she is on in this battle. Khalid too has grown up in terms of character development; the prologue of the next book clearly shows that he is willing to shoulder the responsibilities for his earlier actions. Tariq is definitely going to be there, though I wish we get to see less of his neediness and more of swoon-worthy moments between Khalid and Shahrzad **sigh**. I'm sure we will also see more of the mage Musa, his carpet, Shazi's father, mercenaries, rebel armies and lots of magic!

Now if I could just go to sleep till May 3rd!:)