Welcome to this week's, and the first edition of Bibliophile's Wish List of 2014! There are so many, many books coming out this week, it was hard to choose from those that I wanted to showcase this week. There is one that was mandatory for me to showcase because it will be the second book in a series that I've already read, and will be rereading so I am once again refreshed with the first book.
Without further adieu, I present to you the books that are gracing my wish list this week.
Who doesn't love it when people dabble with creation? Seriously? Nothing bad EVER happens when people start playing with genetics and things like that right? Jurassic Park, that was all just a big misunderstanding right? Well, in this new novel by Jessica Khoury, the scientists are at it again, dabbling with things that are best left alone.
On a remote island in the Pacific, Corpus scientists have taken test tube embryos and given them life. These beings - the Vitros - have knowledge and abilities most humans can only dream of. But they also have one enormous flaw.
Sophie Crue is determined to get to Skin Island and find her mother, a scientist who left Sophie behind years ago. She enlists hunky charter pilot Jim Julien to take her there. But once on the island, Sophie and Jim encounter more than they bargained for, including a charming, brilliant Vitro named Nicholas and an innocent, newly awoken one named Lux.
In a race for their lives, Sophie and Jim are about to discover what happens when science stretches too far beyond its reach.
This is a new series by Brian Staveley, and it is one that I am looking forward to getting my hands on. It seems rather interesting and the world that has been crafted is definitely one that is rich in complexities.
The emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life-path on which their father set them, destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods.
Kaden, the heir to the Unhewn Throne, has spent eight years sequestered in a remote mountain monastery, learning the enigmatic discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. Their rituals hold the key to an ancient power he must master before it's too late.
An ocean away, Valyn endures the brutal training of the Kettral, elite soldiers who fly into battle on gigantic black hawks. But before he can set out to save Kaden, Valyn must survive one horrific final test.
At the heart of the empire, Minister Adare, elevated to her station by one of the emperor's final acts, is determined to prove herself to her people. But Adare also believes she knows who murdered her father, and will stop at nothing - and risk everything - to see that justice is meted out.
Historical fiction can be done right, or it can end up like the drivel that Hannity writes with Lincoln showing up in a car...I'm hoping that this story by Jennifer Chiaverini proves its worth, and I will have to find the other book she's written Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and see just how well she knows her history.
Kate Chase Sprague was born in 1840 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the second daughter to the second wife of a devout but ambitious lawyer. Her father, Salmon P. Chase, rose to prominence in the antebellum years and was appointed secretary of the treasury in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet, while aspiring to even greater heights.
Beautiful, intelligent, regal, and entrancing, young Kate Chase stepped into the role of establishing her thrice-widowed father in Washington society as a future presidential candidate. Her efforts were successful enough that The Washington Star declared her "the most brilliant woman of her day. None outshone her."
None, that is, but Mary Todd Lincoln. Though Mrs. Lincoln and her young rival held much in common - political acumen, love of country, and a resolute determination to help the men they loved achieve greatness - they could never be friends, for the success of one could only come at the expense of the other. When Kate Chase married William Sprague, the wealthy young governor of Rhode Island, it was widely regarded as the pinnacle of Washington society weddings. President Lincoln was in attendance. The First Lady was not.
This one...what can I say, I'm a sucker for an interesting cover and I love the concept of this one. I really, really do. I am guilty of more than once judging a book by it's cover and usually I'm right on par with the book and the cover art. Imagine if there was another serial killer on the loose, but one that lacks the emotion known to Jack the Ripper....
When a rotting torso is discovered in the vault of New Scotland Yard, it doesn't take Dr. Thomas Bond, Police Surgeon, long to realize that there is a second killer at work in the city where, only a few days before, Jack the Ripper brutally murdered two women in one night.
Though just as gruesome, this is the hand of a colder killer, one who lacks Jack's emotion.
And, as more headless and limbless torsos find their way into the Thames, Dr. Bond becomes obsessed with finding the killer. As his investigations lead him into an unholy alliance, he starts to wonder: is it a man who has brought mayhem to the streets of London, or a monster?
SQUEE! Yes, I did squee like a fangirl, because I am a fangirl of this series. I am greatly looking forward to the release of this book. Second book, I'm hoping will not disappoint, though I already have a feeling I am going to be quite pleased with the playing out of the story. I am also looking forward to seeing what new vintage photographs will show up in this book.
The second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine's island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises.
Complete with dozens of newly discovered (and thoroughly mesmerizing) vintage photographs, this new adventure will delight readers of all ages.
What new books are you looking forward to getting your hands on this week?
