Waiting on Wednesday | The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

This post is being shared as part of Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday.

I am on a roll with fantasy reads right now so I'm really looking forward to reading The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Expected publication: April 23rd 2013 by Harper

Helene Wecker's dazzling debut novel tells the story of two supernatural creatures who appear mysteriously in 1899 New York. Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a strange man who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York Harbor. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian Desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop.

Struggling to make their way in this strange new place, the Golem and the Jinni try to fit in with their neighbors while masking their true natures. Surrounding them is a community of immigrants: the coffeehouse owner Maryam Faddoul, a pillar of wisdom and support for her Syrian neighbors; the solitary ice cream maker Saleh, a damaged man cursed by tragedy; the kind and caring Rabbi Meyer and his beleaguered nephew, Michael, whose Sheltering House receives newly arrived Jewish men; the adventurous young socialite Sophia Winston; and the enigmatic Joseph Schall, a dangerous man driven by ferocious ambition and esoteric wisdom.

Meeting by chance, the two creatures become unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures, until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful menace will soon bring the Golem and the Jinni together again, threatening their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.

Marvelous and compulsively readable, The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of folk mythology, historical fiction, and magical fable into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.

Do you have the Golem and the Jinni on your wishlist? What are you anxiously awaiting this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

Currently Reading | Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

My Currently Reading posts are shared as part of Book Journey's It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Last week I gave up on The Lords of Salem. After about 70% or so I decided I just couldn't take it any longer. I didn't care about the characters nor what was happening to them, but mostly I was ticked because every time something interesting would happen, it would end with "It was only a dream" or "She woke up suddenly" and I had had enough of all that.

I finally finished reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series.

I just started reading William Kent Krueger's Ordinary Grace. I'm not far enough in to have an opinion yet, but I'm hoping the novel lives up to the feeling of wonder and tragedy I get from reading the book's description.

From New York Times bestselling author William Kent Krueger comes a brilliant new novel about a young man, a small town, and murder in the summer of 1961.

New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were at the ready at Halderson’s Drug Store soda counter, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a summer in which death assumed many forms.

When tragedy unexpectedly comes to call on his family, which includes his Methodist minister father, his passionate, artistic mother, Juilliard-bound older sister, and wise-beyond-his years kid brother, Frank finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal.

On the surface, Ordinary Grace is the story of the murder of a beautiful young woman, a beloved daughter and sister. At heart, it’s the story of what that tragedy does to a boy, his family, and ultimately the fabric of the small town in which he lives. Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, it is a moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.

I'm in one of those reading moods where I panic every time I think about what I want to read next. There are so many amazing books I want to read right now. Does that ever happen to you? Do you panic when you realize you simply won't have time to read them all?

Notable New Book Releases | March 17 - March 23

I hope you guys had an excellent week. This week's new release post is a small one but a great one. Don't forget to enter the giveaway for Lee Thompson's Gossamer!

These are the books that caught my eye this past week:

Six Years by Harlan Coben
March 19th 2013

Six years have passed since Jake Sanders watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new husband, Todd.

But six years haven’t come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jake comes across Todd’s obituary, he can’t keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the glimpse of Todd’s wife he’s hoping for . . . but she is not Natalie. Whoever the mourning widow is, she’s been married to Todd for more than a decade, and with that fact everything Jake thought he knew about the best time of his life—a time he has never gotten over—is turned completely inside out.

As Jake searches for the truth, his picture-perfect memories of Natalie begin to unravel. Mutual friends of the couple either can’t be found or don’t remember Jake. No one has seen Natalie in years. Jake’s search for the woman who broke his heart—and who lied to him—soon puts his very life at risk as it dawns on him that the man he has become may be based on carefully constructed fiction.

Harlan Coben once again delivers a shocking page-turner that deftly explores the power of past love and the secrets and lies that such love can hide.

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Gossamer: A Story of Love and Tragedy
March 19th 2013

An ancient witch, Dorothy Good, has lost everything to the vampire who has blown in on the hot desert wind and lain waste to her soul and her town. When a young family arrives at the end of a two week battle, she sees a chance to end the bloodshed and possibly regain a portion of what was stolen.

But they're heavily outnumbered and night is falling...

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Did either of these books make it on to your shelf or your wishlist? What books were you excited about past week?

Giveaway | Gossamer by Lee Thompson

 

If you don't know this by now, I'm a huge fan of Lee Thompson. He's a master at all of that dark, imaginative stuff I rave about around here. I'll post a list of review links at the bottom of this post in case you need to witness an obscene amount of fangirling.

But for today - I have an awesome giveaway.

Gossamer: A Story of Love and Tragedy was released this week, and Lee has offered to give away an ecopy to FIVE of you. Be sure to enter the rafflecopter below!

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Gossamer by Lee Thompson
Publication Date: March 19, 2013
Amazon | Smashwords | Goodreads

An ancient witch, Dorothy Good, has lost everything to the vampire who has blown in on the hot desert wind and lain waste to her soul and her town. When a young family arrives at the end of a two week battle, she sees a chance to end the bloodshed and possibly regain a portion of what was stolen.

But they're heavily outnumbered and night is falling...

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Reviews of Lee Thompson's Books:
Review: Crooked Stick Figures by Lee Thompson

Review: Before Leonora Wakes by Lee Thompson
Book Review: Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children by Lee Thompson
Review: Iron Butterflies Rust by Lee Thompson
Book Review: The Dampness of Mourning by Lee Thompson
Review | Down Here in the Dark by Lee Thompson
Review | When We Join Jesus in Hell by Lee Thompson

Waiting on Wednesday | Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman

This post is being shared as part of Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday.

Sweet merciful heavens I want to be a Sky Jumper! I cannot get past this cover and how awesome it would be to cliff dive into the Bomb's Breath like these badass cover kids are doing.

Sky Jumpers (Sky Jumpers #1)
by Peggy Eddleman
September 24th 2013 by Random House Books for Young Readers

12 year old Hope lives in White Rock, a town struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. The bombs destroyed almost everything that came before, so the skill that matters most in White Rock—sometimes it feels like the only thing that matters—is the ability to invent so that the world can regain some of what it’s lost.

But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb's Breath— the deadly band of air that covers the crater the town lives in— than fail at yet another invention.

When bandits discover that White Rock has invented priceless antibiotics, they invade. The town must choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from disease in the coming months or to die fighting the bandits now. Hope and her friends, Aaren and Brock, might be the only ones who can escape through the Bomb’s Breath and make the dangerous trek over the snow-covered mountain to get help. For once, inventing isn't the answer, but the daring and risk-taking that usually gets Hope into trouble might just save them all.

OK, so the dying from disease or at the hands of bandits doesn't sound as insanely awesome as the cliff diving, but I am totally joining Hope, Aaren, and Brock on their trek for help!!

What about you? Would you jump into a deadly band of air like these kids are doing? I cannot wait to read all about it.

Discussion:
Do you read Middle Grade books? What are you anxiously awaiting this week? Be sure to let me know in the comments or leave me a link!