Welcome to Modest Musings!
This is were we will tell you what books we have acquired this week. Whether it is through purchases, NetGalley or one of our many book list emails. Please feel free to tell us what you think and if there is a particular book you are interested in seeing a review of. Hope you enjoy!
Jessica’s Modest Musings
Queen of Hearts 2 – The Wonder by Colleen Oakes – An Exiled Princess. An Ancient Tribe. A Dangerous Stranger with Unknown Loyalties.
Dinah, the former Princess of Wonderland Palace, has been chased into the wilds of Wonderland after the brutal murder of her brother and the ruin of her impending crown. Now, as her half-sister Vittiore sits on the throne beside her Father, the brutal King of Hearts, Dinah finds herself alone in the forbidding Twisted Wood with only Morte, a homicidal beast, for company.
Hunted by the King and his army of Cards, Dinah struggles to evade those who long for her head, including Cheshire, the King’s clever advisor, who is slowly tightening his grasp around her. Spurred on by her rising terror, the former Princess finds herself at the center of a web of conspiracy reaching far beyond the Palace and deep into the mysterious Yurkei mountain tribes.
Even with the balance of an entire Kingdom at stake, Dinah knows something that her allies and enemies do not: that the most dangerous conflict of all has already begun as she battles the rage that beckons her ever closer as love slips further from her grasp.
The second book in the bestselling and award-winning Queen of Hearts Saga, The Wonder takes readers back to the most wondrous and curious places in Wonderland, and continues this darkly addictive tale featuring one of the most infamous villains of all time.
But be warned…not every fairy tale has a happy ending.
This is the story of a princess who became a villain.
Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell – Lucy Aimes has always been practical. But try as she might, she can’t come up with a logical explanation for the recurring dreams that have always haunted her. Dark dreams. Dreams of a long-ago place filled with people she shouldn’t know…but does.
When her family moves to a New Orleans plantation, Lucy’s dreams become more intense, and her search for answers draws her reluctantly into the old city’s world of Voodoo and mysticism. There, Lucy finds Alex, a mysterious boy who behaves as if they’ve known each other forever. Lucy knows Alex is hiding something, and her rational side doesn’t want to be drawn to him. But she is.
As she tries to uncover Alex’s secrets, a killer strikes close to home, and Lucy finds herself ensnared in a century-old vendetta. With the lives of everyone she loves in danger, Lucy will have to unravel the mystery of her dreams before it all comes to a deadly finish.
The Shadow and the Rose by Amanda DeWess – In the breathtaking Blue Ridge Mountains, Ash Grove High School for the Performing Arts draws the brightest and most talented teens. But beneath the peaceful surface, supernatural forces are at work…
When ordinary high-school junior Joy Sumner visits a graveyard at midnight on a dare, she doesn’t expect to end up sharing a kiss with brooding teen model Tanner Lindsey. And she definitely doesn’t expect to make an enemy of Tanner’s seductive, sinister mentor, the ageless supermodel Melisande—who may not be entirely human—or to find that her sleepy little corner of North Carolina is buzzing with supernatural energy.
While Joy fights to free Tanner from Melisande’s grasp—and from his own self-doubt—she finds that she’s pregnant. And when Tanner’s love for her puts his life in danger, will she be able to rescue him and save their future together?
Night Swim by Jessica Keener – “Sixteen-year-old Sarah Kunitz lives in a posh, suburban world of 1970 Boston. From the outside, her parents’ lifestyle appears enviable–a world defined by cocktail parties, expensive cars, and live-in maids to care for their children–but inside their five-bedroom house, all is not well for the Kunitz family. Coming home from school, Sarah finds her well-dressed, pill popping mother lying disheveled on their living room couch. At night, to escape their parents’ arguments, Sarah and her oldest brother, Peter, find solace in music, while her two younger brothers retreat to their rooms and imaginary lives. Any vestige of decorum and stability drains away when their mother dies in a car crash one terrible winter day. Soon after, their father, a self-absorbed, bombastic professor begins an affair with a younger colleague. Sarah, aggrieved, dives into two summer romances that lead to unforeseen consequences. In a story that will make you laugh and cry, Night Swim shows how a family, bound by heartache, learns to love again.”
Lost (Cinderella’s Secret Diaries) by Ron Vitale – What happened to Cinderella after she married the Prince? Set in the late 1700s as Napoleon is rising to power, Cinderella embarks on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to come to terms with her failed marriage and her inability to have a child. Torn between the Queen’s insistence that she try all means necessary to conceive and her own desires, she agrees to travel to Paris to consult with a witch to help her become pregnant. Her journey leads her to find her long lost Fairy Godmother and aids her to solve the mystery behind her mother’s death. Yet the Fey Lord, the Silver Fox, also takes notice in her and her world is suddenly turned upside down…
Lynn’s Modest Musings
Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich – Catch a professional assassin: top priority. Find a failure-to-appear and collect big bucks: top score. How she’ll pull it all off: top secret.
Trenton, New Jersey’s favorite used-car dealer, Jimmy Poletti, was caught selling a lot more than used cars out of his dealerships. Now he’s out on bail and has missed his date in court, and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is looking to bring him in. Leads are quickly turning into dead ends, and all too frequently into dead bodies. Even Joe Morelli, the city’s hottest cop, is struggling to find a clue to the suspected killer’s whereabouts. These are desperate times, and they call for desperate measures. So Stephanie is going to have to do something she really doesn’t want to do: protect former hospital security guard and general pain in her behind Randy Briggs. Briggs was picking up quick cash as Poletti’s bookkeeper and knows all his boss’s dirty secrets. Now Briggs is next on Poletti’s list of people to put six feet under.
To top things off, Ranger—resident security expert and Stephanie’s greatest temptation—has been the target of an assassination plot. He’s dodged the bullet this time, but if Ranger wants to survive the next attempt on his life, he’ll have to enlist Stephanie’s help and reveal a bit more of his mysterious past.
Death threats, highly trained assassins, highly untrained assassins, and Stark Street being overrun by a pack of feral Chihuahuas are all in a day’s work for Stephanie Plum. The real challenge is dealing with her Grandma Mazur’s wild bucket list. A boob job and getting revenge on Joe Morelli’s Grandma Bella can barely hold a candle to what’s number one on the list—but that’s top secret
Chance of Rain by Laurel Veil – Ashley’s dad moved out and now she’s stuck dealing with her overprotective mother. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, her dad’s friend seems to have a newfound interest in her mom.
Ashley’s dad is working undercover, like he’s done a million times before, but Ashley can’t shake the feeling that he’s hiding something. She enlists her best friend, Brianne, to help her spy on her father.
While out with Brianne, Ashley meets Trent. She falls for him, but soon learns that he, like her father, has something to hide, and it’s not long before Brianne and Ashley are spying on Trent, as well. And they don’t like what they see.
It isn’t until Ashley’s life is on the line that she finds out what her dad is hiding, and, in the process, discovers his mysterious connection to Trent and learns the ultimate truth—that things aren’t always what they seem.
RecruitZ by Karice Bolton – Scientists are the new rock stars. The infection has been contained for nearly three months, and the world is celebrating. But humans are still dying. Rebekah Taylor has seen it firsthand. Her husband was killed right in front of her by the very creatures that humans were told they no longer had to fear.
Rebekah is determined to find out who is responsible for the death of her husband and the obvious cover-up. Fueled with revenge, she begins to find answers that lead to one frightening conclusion. The apocalypse might be over, but the battles are just beginning.
The Young Clementina by D. E. Stevenson – Charlotte Dean enjoys nothing more than the solitude of her London flat and the monotonous days of her work at a travel bookshop. But when her younger sister unceremoniously bursts into her quiet life one afternoon, Charlotte’s world turns topsy-turvy.
Beloved author D.E. Stevenson captures the intricacies of post-World War I England with a light, comic touch that perfectly embodies the spirit of the time. Alternatively heartbreaking and witty, The Young Clementina is a touch tale of love, loss, and redemption through friendship.
The Policeman (The Dead Planet Series) by Drew Avera – It is 2400 years in the future and Serus Blackwell is a policeman. His job, though, is not to uphold the law, but to kill political targets within the Syndicate, the centralized government on Mars.
Follow Serus in this short story that sparks the beginning of the end, for a future that is darker than you think.
THE MODEST VERGE 