Tuesday, July 02, 2024

Can't Wait Wednesday: It's Elementary / The Sky on Fire / The Briar Club / Toured to Death


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

Here are three upcoming releases that caught my attention and immediately ended up on my wish list. I am looking forward to reading all of them! 

It's Elementary
by Elise Bryant

Release Date: 07/09/2024 by Berkley
A fast-paced, completely delightful new mystery about what happens when parents get a little too involved in their kids' schools, from NAACP Image Award nominee Elise Bryant.

Mavis Miller is not a PTA mom. She has enough on her plate with her feisty seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, an exhausting job at a nonprofit, and the complexities of a multigenerational household. So no one is more surprised than Mavis when she caves to Trisha Holbrook, the long-reigning, slightly terrifying PTA president, and finds herself in charge of the school’s brand-new DEI committee.

As one of the few Black parents at this California elementary school, Mavis tries to convince herself this is an opportunity for real change. But things go off the rails at the very first meeting, when the new principal's plans leave Trisha absolutely furious. Later that night, when Mavis spies Trisha in yellow rubber gloves and booties, lugging cleaning supplies and giant black trash bags to her waiting minivan, it’s only natural that her mind jumps to somewhere it surely wouldn’t in the light of day.

Except Principal Smith fails to show up for work the next morning, and has been MIA since the meeting. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Mavis, along with the school psychologist with the great forearms (look, it’s worth noting), launches an investigation that will challenge her views on parenting, friendship, and elementary school politics.

Brilliantly written, It's Elementary is a quick-witted, escapist romp that perfectly captures just how far parents will go to give their kids the very best, all wrapped in a mystery that will leave you guessing to the very end. [Goodreads Summary]

The Sky on Fire
by Jenn Lyons
Release Date: 07/09/2024 by Tor Books
From the acclaimed author of the Chorus of Dragons series, this propulsive new standalone fantasy is Dragonriders of Pern for a modern audience.

Enter a world ruled by dragons…

Anahrod lives only for survival, preferring to thrive in the jungles of the Deep with the titan drake she keeps by her side. When an adventuring party saves her from capture by the local warlord, Sicaryon, she is eager to return to her solitary life, but this is no ordinary rescue. Anahrod's past has caught up with her. And these cunning misfits intend to spirit her away to the cloud cities, where they need her help to steal from a dragon’s hoard.

There’s only one in the cloud cities, dragons rule, and the hoard in question belongs to the current regent, Neveranimas―and she wants Anahrod dead.

Fans of Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and Rebecca Yarros's The Fourth Wing will enjoy this page-turning adventure with conniving dragons, high-stakes intrigue, a daring heist, and a little bit of heat. [Goodreads Summary]

The Briar Club
 by Kate Quinn
Release Date: 07/09/2024 by William Morrow
A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?
[Goodreads Summary]

Do any of these books interest you? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to reading?


The Old(er) 
Carole of Carole's Random Life in Books has given me the perfect excuse to spotlight those unread books on my TBR in her Books from the Backlog feature, reminding me what great books I have waiting for me under my own roof still to read!

These past few months I have been featuring books on the losing end of my TBR List Poll, all books which are on my TBR shelves. This one was one of the options in my March 2017 poll that I have not managed to get to yet.

Toured to Death
(Amy's Travel Mystery #1) by Hy Conrad
(2012)
Book a ticket with this all-new mystery series featuring Amy and Fanny Abel, a spunky mother-and-daughter duo of travel agents who find their mystery tour becoming all too real. . .

while Fanny takes care of the business end of Amy's Travel in New York City, Amy is traipsing around Monte Carlo, managing their first mystery-themed excursion, a road rally in which guests compete to solve a fictional murder along the way. Amy still has reservations about partnering up with her mother. But both women, having lost the men in their lives, need a fresh beginning.

The trip starts off without a hitch. Clues quickly mount, the competition is lively, and just when the suspense is peaking, the writer they hired to script their made-up mystery is found murdered in his New York apartment. Suddenly, on top of running a new venture together, mother and daughter must solve a real-life case of foul play, while trying not to drive each other bonkers. But Amy and Fanny are ready, willing, and Abel to track down a clever killer with some serious emotional baggage, one who will go to any lengths to keep dark secrets from seeing the light of day. . . [Goodreads Summary]

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


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24 comments:

  1. Ooh nice picks! These are all totally new to me ones. I hope you enjoy them once you get to read them!


    Here's my CWW

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  2. The Briar Club! I'm a bit behind on Kate's books but I really want to read it. I'm gonna have to catch up soon.

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    1. Stephanie - I've still only read the one by Kate, but I look forward to reading more. Thank you for visiting!

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  3. The Briar Club sounds like one I'd enjoy. I haven't read anything by Kate Quinn, but have a copy of The Rose Code on my TBR shelf. I hear that one's very good!

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    1. Les - The Rose Code is the one book I have read by her, and I really liked it. I hope you enjoy it too! Thank you for stopping by!

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  4. It's Elementary appeals to me. Maybe because I work at an elementary school. ;D

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    1. Lark - Doesn't that one sound fun? I look forward to reading it. Thank you for visiting!

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  5. I loved The Rose Code and I've just requested The Briar Club, so that's the one I'm particularly keen on checking out. I hope you enjoy all these reads, Wendy:)).

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    1. Sarah - I really enjoyed The Rose Code too. I look forward to reading The Briar Club and hope we both enjoy it! Thank you for stopping by!

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  6. Hmmm that Lyons book looks really goos

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    1. Blodeuedd - I hope it will be a good one. I need more dragons in my life. Thank you for visiting!

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  7. Nice choices though the dragons one not my scene!

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    1. Mystica - Dragons aren't for everyone. :-) Thank you for stopping by!

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  8. I am really looking forward to The Briar Club. Sounds like a good one for sure and I've really enjoyed other books by Kate Quinn. And I'm excited about Linda Castillo's new mystery that comes out next Tuesday - yay!! Hope you guys are having a good week and weekend, Wendy!

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    1. Kay - I saw you mention Linda Castillo's new book. I hope you enjoy it when you read it! I hope you have a good week too. Thank you for visiting!

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  9. I haven't read any of these. A couple of these sound good to me.

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    1. Mary - If you pick any of them up, I hope you like them! Thank you for stopping by!

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  10. All these books look so good. The Briar Club has my attention. I'll have to look for that one.

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  11. I have a review copy of Toured to Death that I really need to get to. It looks fun. The Briar Club is one I'm really looking forward to reading. I've really enjoyed what I've read by Kate Quinn.

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    1. Katherine - It does look fun! I hope we both enjoy it when we read it and The Briar Club. Thank you for visiting!

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  12. All of these books sound so good! I'm very drawn to the dragon book. Thanks for sharing! :D

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