This week's picks:
Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth
Goodreads' description:
"I'm sitting on my couch, watching the local news. There's Chloe's parents, the mayor, the hangers on, all grouped round the pond for the ceremony. It's ten years since Chloe and Carl drowned, and they've finally chosen a memorial - a stupid summerhouse. The mayor has a spade decked out in pink and white ribbon, and he's started to dig.
You can tell from their faces that something has gone wrong. But I'm the one who knows straightaway that the mayor has found a body. And I know who it is.
This is the tale of three fourteen-year-old girls and a volatile combination of lies, jealousy and perversion that ends in tragedy. Except the tragedy is even darker and more tangled than their tight-knit community has been persuaded to believe.
Blackly funny and with a surreal edge to its portrait of a northern English town, Jenn Ashworth's gripping novel captures the intensity of girls' friendships and the dangers they face in a predatory adult world they think they can handle. And it shows just how far that world is willing to let sentiment get in the way of the truth."
Not sure if the dark humor will be my style but it does sound like a bit of a twisty psychological mystery/thriller type, and those always keep me flipping the pages... The cover isn't really showy but I think the subtle dark tone probably suits the story, and I like that her head is turned away so we don't see her face.
Queen of Hearts by Martha Brooks
"Coming of age in a hospital bed—a deeply affecting portrait of a teen's journey through a TB sanatorium in the 1940s
On the prairies of Canada during World War II, a girl and her two young siblings begin a war of their own. Stricken with tuberculosis, they are admitted to a nearby sanatorium. Teenager Marie Claire is headstrong, angry, and full of stubborn pride. In a new strange land of TB exiles she must “chase the cure,” seek privacy where there is none, and witness the slow wasting decline of others. But in this moving novel about fighting a way back to normal life, it is the thing that sets back Marie Claire the most—the demise of her little brother—that also connects her with the person who will be instrumental in helping her recover."
Yay, a novel set in Canada! Such a rare breed. I don't know that much about the sanatoriums and TB patients back in the 1940s, so I'm interested to find out more. I'm not crazy about the cover, but I do think it evokes the time period very well. (Although the poor author's name is so small you can barely make it out!)
What books are you waiting on?
Thanks for sharing. I love waiting on Wednesday, I always find so many more books that I want to read.
ReplyDeleteJules
http://thegreatthegoodandthebad.blogspot.com/
I've never heard of either of these before now. I really like the sound of Cold Light, I think I'll add it to my goodreads ^-^
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These sound great and I haven't even heard of them. Thanks for sharing, I added them to my tbr list. Here's my WOW:
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I haven't heard of either of these before. I like how the second book cover is designed like a playing card! Very cool :)
ReplyDeleteThat's really awesome that you were in JET! I don't know if you subscribed to the comment response, but I mentioned that I also had to take a picture with Hachi-ko at Shibuya! It was a MUST!
Where in Japan did you live? I was in Nagasaki from 2006-2008.
I actually love my dark reads so this one sounds right up my ally :)
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