Pub Day Picks // October 6, 2020

Well, today is the day I’ve been waiting all quarantine for (since we’ve been indoors for pretty much the entire year). While I’m so excited about one book that I legit don’t want to talk about anything else, there are some other great reads coming out today that I wanted to highlight. I promise, I will only bring up Addie LaRue a couple of times…

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

LOL, it’s the first book I’m highlighting here because I’ve already read it and I absolutely loved it. Seriously, this is VE Schwab’s best work to date and maybe that’s biased because I’m already a huge fan of VE Schwab, but I think this will be the fantasy book that everyone will definitely want to read. It’ll be the fantasy book that non-fantasy readers will absolutely enjoy or at least in my opinion.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo

I’m a huge Leigh Bardugo fan and the closer we get to the premiere of Shadow and Bone on Netflix, the more I want to explore the universe she’s created. The Lives of Saints is a perfect way to read some appendix style writing on the world Leigh Bardugo’s created. If you’re intrigued by the world she’s created, then this book of stories about the saints within the Grishaverse may just be for you. It’s complete with illustrated photos as well!

Dive into the epic world of international bestselling author Leigh Bardugo with this beautifully illustrated replica of The Lives of Saints, the Istorii Sankt’ya, featuring tales of saints drawn from the beloved novels and beyond. Out of the pages of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, from the hands of Alina Starkov to yours, the Istorii Sankt’ya is a magical keepsake from the Grishaverse.

These tales include miracles and martyrdoms from familiar saints like Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses and Sankt Ilya in Chains, to the strange and obscure stories of Sankta Ursula, Sankta Maradi, and the Starless Saint.

This beautiful collection includes stunning full-color illustrations of each story.

Over the Woodward Wall by A Deborah Baker

Have you read Middlegame by Seanan McGuire? If so, there was a book mentioned within the book called Over the Woodward Wall. It wasn’t just a casual mention of the book either. No, this book was essential to the big ideas Seanan McGuire was writing about throughout the story. And the book gods decided to bless us with an actual copy of the book within the book. I don’t know how better to describe it, but you don’t have to read Middlegame to read this one. In fact, enjoy it as a standalone supplement. I can’t wait to read it!

Writing as A. Deborah Baker, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to a world of talking trees and sarcastic owls, of dangerous mermaids and captivating queens in Over the Woodward Wall, an exceptional tale for readers who are young at heart.

If you trust her you’ll never make it home…
Avery is an exceptional child. Everything he does is precise, from the way he washes his face in the morning, to the way he completes his homework – without complaint, without fuss, without prompt.

Zib is also an exceptional child, because all children are, in their own way. But where everything Avery does and is can be measured, nothing Zib does can possibly be predicted, except for the fact that she can always be relied upon to be unpredictable.

They live on the same street.
They live in different worlds.

On an unplanned detour from home to school one morning, Avery and Zib find themselves climbing over a stone wall into the Up and Under – an impossible land filled with mystery, adventure and the strangest creatures.

And they must find themselves and each other if they are to also find their way out and back to their own lives.

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

I absolutely loved Practical Magic. Something about the earthiness of the story; the rich belief in magic and the love for nature is really

In an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic.

Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she’s abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Unnamed Arts.” Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.

When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.

Magic Lessons is a celebration of life and love and a showcase of Alice Hoffman’s masterful storytelling.

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

I recently picked up a copy of this one and it looks so good I’m trying not to destroy my entire TBR to read it. I’ll be patient and wait to read it next month with a couple of buddies, but it’ll be such a nice little read!

Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV, Gods of the Gates, he’s known to fanfiction readers as Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous and popular poster.  Marcus is able to get out his own frustrations with his character through his stories, especially the ones that feature the internet’s favorite couple to ship, Aeneas and Lavinia. But if anyone ever found out about his online persona, he’d be fired. Immediately.

April Whittier has secrets of her own. A hardcore Lavinia fan, she’s hidden her fanfiction and cosplay hobby from her “real life” for years—but not anymore. When she decides to post her latest Lavinia creation on Twitter, her photo goes viral. Trolls and supporters alike are commenting on her plus-size take, but when Marcus, one half of her OTP, sees her pic and asks her out on a date to spite her critics, she realizes life is really stranger than fanfiction.

Even though their first date is a disaster, Marcus quickly realizes that he wants much more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. And when he discovers she’s actually Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend, he has one more huge secret to hide from her.

With love and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?

Hush by Dylan Farrow

Something about this book is so intriguing. It might be the fact it’s a fantasy with a few hints of thriller to it. I’m not a huge fan of thrillers, but if it’s got some fantasy elements to it, I always want to investigate it further.

Seventeen-year-old Shae has led a seemingly quiet life, joking with her best friend Fiona, and chatting with Mads, the neighborhood boy who always knows how to make her smile. All while secretly keeping her fears at bay… Of the disease that took her brother’s life. Of how her dreams seem to bleed into reality around her. Of a group of justice seekers called the Bards who claim to use the magic of Telling to keep her community safe.

When her mother is murdered, she can no longer pretend.

Not knowing who to trust, Shae journeys to unlock the truth, instead finding a new enemy keen to destroy her, a brooding boy with dark secrets, and an untold power she never thought possible.

Kingdom of Sea and Stone by Mara Rutherford

Seriously, I’m so drawn to this series because of its ocean themes and now that the second book is out, I’m wondering if I should start picking it up soon.

Ever since Nor was forced to go to a nearby kingdom in her sister’s place, she’s wanted nothing more than to return to the place and people she loves. But when her wish comes true, she soon finds herself cast out from both worlds, with a war on the horizon.

As an old enemy resurfaces more powerful than ever, Nor will have to keep the kingdom from falling apart with the help of Prince Talin and Nor’s twin sister, Zadie. There are forces within the world more mysterious than any of them ever guessed—and they’ll need to stay alive long enough to conquer them…