Waiting on Wednesday: The Assassin's Curse and Lucid

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and features books that we just can't wait to get our hands on!

This week's picks:


The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

"Ananna of the Tanarau is the eldest daughter of a highly-ranked family in the loose assortment of cutthroats and thieves in the Pirate's Confederation. When she runs away from the marriage her parents have arranged for her, they hire Naji the assassin to murder her.

When a mysterious woman in a dress shop offers her magical assistance for dealing with the assassin, Ananna accepts. She never went in much for magic herself -- she lacks the talent for it -- but she's not quite ready to die yet, either. Unfortunately, the woman's magic fails.

Fortunately, Ananna inadvertently saves the assassin's life in the skirmish, thus activating a curse that had been placed on him a few years earlier. Now, whenever her life is in danger, he must protect her -- or else he experiences tremendous physical pain. Neither Ananna nor the assassin, Naji, are pleased about this development.

Follow Annana and Naji as they sail across the globe, visiting such mysterious places as the Court of Salt and Waves, in their desperate effort to lift the curse. Soon they will discover that only by completing three impossible tasks will they be able to set themselves free."

I just saw the cover for this one today! It's elegant and slightly mystical and puts me in mind of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Love the idea that Naji, hired to kill Ananna, becomes bound to protect her! And didn't I say that assassins and thieves were becoming a trend?


Lucid by Adrienne Stoltz & Ron Bass

Goodreads' description:

"What if you could dream your way into a different life? What if you could choose to live that life forever?

Sloane and Maggie have never met. Sloane is a straight-A student with a big and loving family. Maggie lives a glamorously independent life as an up-and-coming actress in New York. The two girls couldn't be more different--except for one thing. They share a secret that they can't tell a soul. At night, they dream that they're each other.

The deeper they're pulled into the promise of their own lives, the more their worlds begin to blur dangerously together. Before long, Sloane and Maggie can no longer tell which life is real and which is just a dream. They realize that eventually they will have to choose one life to wake up to, or risk spiraling into insanity. But that means giving up one world, one love, and one self, forever.

This is a dazzling debut that will steal readers' hearts."


I don't tend to like paranormal stories involving a heavy dream component — as in, girl dreams of boy in her future or vice versa — but this one sounds really different. Two girls dreaming they are each other until it gets to the point where they can't tell the dreams from reality? Now, that is an awesome premise. Plus, the cover is cool, too — the fact that she is lying down upside-down kind of boggles the mind, which works perfectly with the idea of this story.


What books are you waiting for?