What We’re Reading Wednesday- Snow Day Edition

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are but it has felt like early Fall for months. Now it’s the end of the January and we are finally getting snow. I worked from home today which meant that I was able to take Winston out for a few minutes to watch him frolick. Now we are snuggled up under a blanket while I finish work and then get ready for a cozy evening at home.

Read Recently

The Push by Ashley Audrain

The Push by Ashley Audrain
Published by Pamela Dorman Books on January 1, 2021
Pages: 320
Goodreads

A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family–and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for–and everything she feared.
Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had.
But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter–she doesn’t behave like most children do.
Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.
Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.
The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and what it feels like when women are not believed.

This book! I won’t spend too much time on it because it’s everywhere, but I finished it and absolutely loved it. As someone who has no human children, I was definitely grateful for that fact after finishing this one. If you love books about motherhood and stories where you aren’t sure what’s real, you need to pick this one up.

The Return by Rachel Harrison

The Return by Rachel Harrison
on March 24, 2020
Goodreads

An edgy and haunting debut novel about a group of friends who reunite after one of them has returned from a mysterious two-year disappearance.
Julie is missing, and the missing don't often return. But Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and she feels in her bones that her best friend is out there, and that one day she'll come back. She's right. Two years to the day that Julie went missing, she reappears with no memory of where she's been or what happened to her.

I know this one is divisive but I absolutely adored it. It’s a slow burn horror novel full of body horror, bumps in the nights and shadows in the corner. It was so atmospheric and I loved how the hauntings were kind of a personification of grief. I love how emotional and intense it was and recommend it to anyone who likes quieter horror.

Currently Reading

What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo

What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo
on February 2, 2021
Pages: 400
Goodreads

Rose Szabo's thrilling debut What Big Teeth is a dark, gothic fantasy YA novel about a teen girl who returns home to her strange, wild family after years of estrangement, perfect for fans of Wilder Girls...Eleanor Zarrin has been distanceed from her wild family for years. When she returns home after a violent incident at boarding school, trying to fit back into the space she left is harder than she thought. Eleanor is left to fend for herself within her family of monsters. But when a mysterious figure arrives at their family estate, she must find a way to overcome the monster invading her home or risk becoming a monster herself.
Exquisitely terrifying, beautiful, and savage, What Big Teeth is a genre-defying story from an exciting new literary voice.

I started this one last night thinking if I could just read a few pages done to start working through it for an upcoming blog tour and I devoured the first 100 pages without realizing it. It’s weird and eerie and features a family of werewolves (and maybe witches?) I’m not sure but I will follow wherever this book leads. If you enjoy dark fantasy or werewolves, you want to pick this one up.

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer
Published by Feiwel & Friends on November 3, 2020
Pages: 390
Goodreads

Chronic overachiever Prudence Daniels is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her.
Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner. Quint is annoyingly cute and impressively noble, especially when it comes to his work with the rescue center for local sea animals.
When Pru resigns herself to working at the rescue center for extra credit, she begins to uncover truths about baby otters, environmental upheaval, and romantic crossed signals—not necessarily in that order. Her newfound karmic insights reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed, love and hate . . . and fate.

I started this one yesterday as well and I love Pru’s voice. I am only about 90 minutes into the audiobook. I feels like the perfect pallete cleanser as I get ready to dive into some heavier/slower stories down the line.

Reading Next

Providence by Caroline Kepnes

Providence by Caroline Kepnes
Published by Random House Trade on June 11, 2019
Pages: 384
Goodreads

"Part love story, part supernatural thriller and completely engrossing" (People)--from the acclaimed author of You, now a hit Netflix series
"A dark beauty of a book, Providence kept me up at night with characters that made my heart a little bigger."--Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive

Best friends in small-town New Hampshire, Jon and Chloe share an intense, near-mystical bond. But before Jon can declare his love for his soul mate, he is kidnapped, and his plans for a normal life are permanently dashed. Four years later, Jon reappears. He is different now: bigger, stronger, and with no memory of the time he was gone. Jon wants to pick up where he and Chloe left off--until the horrifying instant he realizes he possesses strange powers that pose a grave threat to everyone he cares for. Afraid of hurting Chloe, Jon runs away, embarking on a journey for answers.
Meanwhile, in Providence, Rhode Island, healthy college students and townies with no connection to one another are inexplicably dropping dead. A troubled detective prone to unexplainable hunches, Charles "Eggs" DeBenedictus suspects there's a serial killer at work. But when he starts asking questions, Eggs is plunged into a shocking whodunit he never could have predicted.
With an intense, mesmerizing voice, Caroline Kepnes makes keen and powerful observations about human connection and how love and identity can dangerously blur together.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY REAL SIMPLE
"Providence is a novel that doesn't fit into one box--it's tender and dark, eerie and cool, heartbreaking but also an affirmation of the power of love. Kepnes perfectly captures each character's struggle and pain in such a unique, unconventional way that every page--every sentence--is a delightful surprise."--Sara Shepard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars
"Caroline Kepnes is cool right this minute. . . . [Providence is] terrifically conceived and executed. . . . Kepnes has an exhilarating, poppy, unexpected voice."--The New York Times Book Review
"An addictive horror-tinged romance that'll keep you guessing."--Entertainment Weekly

I love Caroline Kepnes and her You novels are some of my favorites. Providence is a departure from You but I have high hopes for it regardless. It honestly sounds kind of like The Return, with the disappearance and subsequent return of a character.

Flamefall by Rosaria Munda

Flamefall (The Aurelian Cycle, #2) by Rosaria Munda
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on March 23, 2021
Pages: 336
Goodreads

Revolutionary flames ignite around Annie, Lee, and a brand new POV character in the second book of the Fireborne trilogy.
After fleeing the revolution and settling into the craggy cliffs of New Pythos, the Dragonlords are eager to punish their usurpers--and reclaim their city. Their first order of business was destroying the Callipolan food supply. Now they're coming for the Dragonriders.
Annie is Callipolis's new Firstrider, and while her goal has always been to protect the people, being the government's enforcer has turned her into public enemy number one.
Lee struggles to find his place after killing kin to prove himself to a leader who betrayed him. He can support Annie and the other Guardians . . . or join the radicals who look to topple the new regime.
Griff, a lowborn dragonrider who serves New Pythos, knows he has no future. And now that Julia, the Firstrider who had protected him, is dead, he is called on to sacrifice everything for the lords that oppress his people--or to forge a new path with the Callipolan Firstrider seeking his help.
With famine tearing Callipolis apart and the Pythians determined to take back what they lost, it will be up to Annie, Lee, and Griff to decide what to fight for--and who to love.

I loved Fireborne and am so excited to not only have the sequel early but also to welcome Rosaria back for a Q&A in March. Flamefall picks up right where Fireborne left off and I can hardly wait.

What About You?

What have you been reading recently? Have you read any of the books I mentioned? Share your thoughts in the comments!