Waiting On Wednesday #154 - Labyrinth Lost

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week's choice is -

Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1) - Zoraida Cordova

ISBN - 9781492620945

Publisher - Sourcebooks Fire

Release date - September 6 2016

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.

I fall to my knees. Shattered glass, melted candles and the outline of scorched feathers are all that surround me. Every single person who was in my house – my entire family — is gone.

Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange markings on his skin.

The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…

Beautiful Creatures meets Daughter of Smoke and Bone with an infusion of Latin American tradition in this highly original fantasy adventure.

I must admit to not reading anything by Cordova prior to this, although I do have The Vicious Deep on my TBR pile, but I was seeing this everywhere so had to check it out. I absolutely love the cover and the synopsis makes it sound like something I would love. Ignoring the comparison to Beautiful Creatures (which I liked but didn't love) this one will definitely be on the wishlist! 

The Hawley Book of The Dead - Chrysler Szarlan

In the tradition of The Night Circus and A Discovery of Witches, The Hawley Book of the Dead is the kind of novel that makes you believe that magic really exists.

An old house surrounded by acres of forest.

A place of secrets, mysteries and magic.

This is where Revelation Dyer hopes to keep herself and her children safe.

But a mysterious figure has haunted Reve for over a decade. And now Reve knows that this person is on her trail again.

In Hawley, where the magic of her ancestors reigns, Reve must unlock the secrets of the Hawley Book of the Dead before it’s too late…

I have a confession to make about The Hawley Book Of The Dead. I borrowed it from the library seven months ago. It has taken me 7 months to pick up this book, read it and then kick myself for taking so long to read it. I've renewed it about 4 times and almost sent it back twice thinking that maybe it wasn't for me. I'm so glad I didn't as it turned out to be one of those books that I utterly adored and I'm really annoyed I can't go out and buy a copy to keep.

Revelation and Jeremy are the Amazing Maskelynes, a magic act in Vegas but for them, the magic is real. It's in their family and their children, the twins Grace & Fai and youngest Caleigh. After a deeply shocking tragedy Reve finds past memories coming back to her, of being hunted by someone known only as the Fetch. It's time to withdraw and pull back to where the family can be safest, Reve's childhood home in Hawley Five Corners. This is dangerous in itself as it was the site of a mass disappearance in the 1920's and the only person who reappeared was Reve's own grandmother.

The Hawley Book Of The Dead is an eclectic mix of fantasy, horror, historical, conspiracy and mystery which add up to my favorite sort of read. I was intrigued by the introduction of the Tuatha De Danaan and the idea that Reve is descended from this mysterious Irish race. Much was made of the fact they weren't fairies but more a people who had strange, unexplained powers - much like our heroine herself, along with the red hair of course. I also liked the introduction of the four treasures of the Tuatha, the first of which is found by Reve. I loved Reve as a character although she was far from perfect. At times she would be completely floundering and other times pigheaded and stubborn to the point of stupidity. The children were all great, Grace and Fai (Faith) the twins and their younger sister Caleigh were beautifully portrayed, down to the extraordinarily close bond of identical twins, shown through the text messages between sisters. A host of supporting characters were just as well written as the main, Falcon Eddy and Nan being particular favorites along with cousin Nathan, living with the family and homeschooling the children.

The book wasn't perfect in every way, there were a couple of things that niggled but they were in no way distracting from the overall story. It was the introduction of former childhood sweetheart Jolon as love interest that irked me most. Considering the tragedy at the beginning of the story it annoyed me the way Reve treated Jolon in a situation that takes up much of the last third of the book and the other niggle was the predictable whereabouts of Grace and Fai when they go missing, there was a lot of build-up to this but not much tension thanks to a little bit too much forewarning.

The Hawley Book of the Dead appears to be the first in a quartet called The Revelation Chronicles and apart from an excerpt of the second book, Dreamland, on Chrysler's blog there's no information as to when we can expect the next instalment apart from sometime in the future. If it's as good as Hawley then I can't wait, this was one of the most magical books I've read for a while, one of those that you just have to keep turning the pages until you're finished!

The Hawley Book Of The Dead - Chrysler Szarlan

ISBN - 9780099584780

Publisher - Arrow Books

Release date - March 26 2015

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

Waiting On Wednesday #24

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week's choice is -

Oksa Pollock: The Last Hope - Anne Plichota & Cendrine Wolf
ISBN  - 9781782690009
Publisher - Pushkin Children's Books
Expected release date - June 4th 2013
Find - Book Depository

'Oksa Pollock is a thirteen-year-old girl, moving with her family from Paris to a new life in London. Along with her best friend Gus, she is ready to settle into their new lives. But bizarre things start happening around Oksa. When she finds she has magical powers, the truth emerges: her family are not from this world, but from Edefia, having fled their magical, hidden homeland years ago, in fear of all their lives. And Oksa is their queen. Between her loving, powerful grandmother, her wicked new physics teacher, her mysterious uncles and Gus, plus a whole host of fantastical Edefian creatures, Oksa will be thrown into a wilder adventure that she could ever have. And Oksa knows she must triumph over her enemies. The whole of Edefia is counting on her.'

A thrilling supernatural adventure that fuses the excitement, action and extraordinary worlds of Harry Potter, I Am Number Four and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with an inspirational heroine and role model full of appeal for tweens and teens. Oksa's journey explores friendship, young love, destiny and identity.

I first heard about Oksa Pollock two years ago and have been waiting for it to be translated into English ever since! I have the first book in the series in its original language (French) but my reading comprehension is a bit rusty - it's been a long time since A Level French! I can't wait to read this in English and discover other Pollockmaniaks! It's also worth pointing out that shareholders in Summit Entertainment (who we all know for a certain vampire movie franchise *cough* Twilight *cough* ) have bought the movie rights. Look out for this one at the beginning of June.

What's your WoW this week?