Waiting to Read Wednesday: The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry / The Broken Spine / Unwept

The New

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by the marvelous Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss upcoming release we are excited about that we have yet to read.

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner
Release Date: January 12, 2021 by Ace

A charming historical fantasy with a tender love story at its core, from the author of Unnatural Magic.

Hard-drinking petty thief Dellaria Wells is down on her luck in the city of Leiscourt—again. Then she sees a want ad for a female bodyguard, and she fast-talks her way into the high-paying job. Along with a team of other women, she’s meant to protect a rich young lady from mysterious assassins.

At first Delly thinks the danger is exaggerated, but a series of attacks shows there’s much to fear. Then she begins to fall for Winn, one of the other bodyguards, and the women team up against a mysterious, magical foe who seems to have allies everywhere. [Goodreads Summary]

Why I want to read this: The title alone was enough to make me want to read this one. I love the premise: female bodyguards, magic and romance. I look forward to reading The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry!

The Broken Spine (Beloved Bookroom Mystery #1)  by Dorothy St. James
Release Date: January 19, 2021 by Berkley

The first in an exciting new series featuring Trudell Becket, a spunky librarian who will stop at nothing to save her beloved books and catch a killer! 

Trudell Becket, book-loving librarian, finds herself in a bind when the library where she works is turned into a state-of-the-art bookless library. In a rare move of rebellion, Trudell rescues hundreds of her library's beloved books slated for the recycle center. She sets up a secret book room in the library's basement and opens it to anyone who shares her love of the printed book. 

When the town councilman, who was the vocal proponent of the library's transformation into a "futuristic technological center," is crushed under an overturned shelf of DVDs, Trudell becomes the police's prime suspect for his murder. She was the only person in the library at the time of his death, or so the police believe. But that's not true. For the past month, Trudell had been letting a few dozen residents into the building through the basement entrance so they could read and check out the printed books. 

But if she tells the police about the backdoor patrons who were in the library at the time of the murder, she'd have to explain about the secret book room and risk losing the books. In order to protect herself from being arrested for a murder she didn't commit, Trudell--with the help of a group of dedicated readers--decides to investigate. She quickly discovers you can't always judge a book by its cover.  [Goodreads Summary]

Why I want to read this: I might be tempted to rescue all those library books too! What cozy mystery reader love a cozy with a librarian protagonist? I can't wait to give this series a try.

Do The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry and The Broken Spine interest you? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to reading?

 

The Old(er) 

I have an embarrassing number of unread books sitting on the shelves in my personal library. Carole of Carole's Random Life in Books has given me the perfect excuse to spotlight and discuss those neglected books in her Books from the Backlog feature. After all, even those older books need a bit of love! Not to mention it is reminding me what great books I have waiting for me under my own roof still to read!

Unwept (The Nightbirds #1) by Tracy Hickman & Laura Hickman (Tor, 2014)

Gamin, Maine, is a remote seaside town where everyone seems to know Ellis Harkington better than she knows herself—but she doesn’t remember any of them. 

Unknown events have robbed Ellis of her memory. Concerned individuals, who purport to be her friends and loved ones, insist that she simply needs to recuperate, that her memories may return in time, but refuse to divulge what has brought her to this state. For her own sake, so they say. 

Ellis finds herself adrift in a town of ominous mysteries, cryptic hints, and disturbingly familiar strangers. The Nightbirds, a clique of fashionable young men and women, claim her as one of their own, but who among them can she truly trust? And what of the phantom suitor who visits her in her dreams? Is he a memory, a figment of her imagination, or a living nightmare beyond rational explanation? 

Only her lost past hold the answers she seeks—if she can uncover its secrets before she fall prey to an unearthly killer. [Goodreads Summary]

Why I want to read this: I do not remember when this landed on my TBR pile, but it has been there quite a while now. It sounds like a good pick for this time of year. 

Have you read Unwept? Does this book sound like something you would like to read?  

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