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Book Spotlight: The Secret of Vesalius by Jordi Llobregat (Upcoming release)

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 3 Comments

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Title: The Secret of Vesalius by Jordi Llobregat

Expected publication: November 2017

Publisher: Riverrun

Page count: 582 (hardback)

Daniel Amat has left Spain and all that happened there behind him. Having just achieved a brilliant role in Ancient Languages at Oxford University and an even more advantageous engagement, the arrival of a letter – a demand – stamped Barcelona comes like a cold hand from behind.

He arrives back in that old, labyrinthine and near-mythic city a few days before the great 1888 World Fair, amid dread whispers of murders – the injuries reminiscent of an ancient curse, and bearing signs of the genius 16th century anatomist, Vesalius. Daniel is soon pulled into the depths of the crime, and eventually into the tunnels below Barcelona, where his own dark past and the future of science are joined in a terrible venture – to bring the secret of Vesalius to life.

Gothic and gripping, this historical thriller makes of Barcelona a diabolical character – emerging out of the dark into a new electrical age, aflame with spirit, superstition and science. Published in eighteen countries, Jordi Llobregat’s bestselling first novel mixes a passionate setting and cryptic mystery into a genre-crossing phenomenon.

First off, I would like to note that this book initially was released in 2015 but only in Spanish. This will be its first round in the English speaking market so I’m still going to count it as an upcoming release.

This book sounds like it has everything that appeals to me. Historical fiction? Check. World’s Fair? Always a fascination. Murder, mayhem, and mystery? Sign me up. If this title interests you as much as it does me, it can currently be found as an eARC on Netgalley. Sadly, it is not open to the American audience (only Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom) so I’ll have to wait for official publication.

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Jordi has a passion for cities, and in particular their historical evolutions and transformations. His mother’s side of the family hails from Barcelona, and his great grandfather worked in the forge that produced Pere Falqués’ famous modernist lampposts found on the Paseo de Gracia. Jordi began writing at the age of twelve after watching the film The Man from Acapulco with Jean Paul Belmondo and Jacqueline Bisset.

He currently combines writing with his work as head of a company that works on community development in cities. His work has been included in several short story anthologies.

He is director of the noir fiction festival, Valencia Negra. (from Goodreads)

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Find this book on

Goodreads | Amazon UK | Book Depository | NetGalley

Mask of Shadows (Untitled #1) by Linsey Miller

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 4 Comments

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“I would remember them forever–their names, my reasons, the way their bodies slumped in death and their eyes stared through me. If I stopped, if I let their deaths weigh me down and keep me from being Opal, it was all for nothing. There was no going back. I was what I was, and they were a part of me now.”

How long has it been since I have done a full length book review? Legitimately it has probably been about two months.  Yikes! I haven’t necessarily been in a reading slump but I haven’t felt that need to talk about what I’ve read, do you know what I mean? If a book leaves me with a “meh” feeling I just don’t have anything to say about it. I’ve been reading a lot of “meh” books. However, Linsey Miller’s Mask of Shadows left me with a different feeling.  Continue reading →

WWW Wednesday – September 19th

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 12 Comments

WWWWednesday

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words and was formerly hosted by A Daily Rhythm. It is open for anyone to participate, even without a blog you can comment on Sam’s post with your own answers. It is a great way to share what you’ve been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

The three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Continue reading →

Book Spotlight – The Queen’s Rising (Untitled Trilogy #1) by Rebecca Ross

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 1 Comment

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Title: The Queen’s Rising (Untitled Trilogy #1) by Rebecca Ross

Expected publication: February 6th, 2018

Publisher: Harper Teen

When her seventeenth summer solstice arrives, Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron.

Growing up in the southern Kingdom of Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her for such a life. While some are born with an innate talent for one of the five passions—art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge—Brienna struggled to find hers until she belatedly chose to study knowledge. However, despite all her preparations, Brienna’s greatest fear comes true—the solstice does not go according to plan and she is left without a patron.

Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, and with no other choices, she accepts. But there is much more to his story, and Brienna soon discovers that he has sought her out for his own vengeful gain. For there is a dangerous plot being planned to overthrow the king of Maevana—the archrival kingdom of Valenia—and restore the rightful queen, and her magic, to the northern throne. And others are involved—some closer to Brienna than she realizes.

With war brewing between the two lands, Brienna must choose whose side she will remain loyal to—passion or blood. Because a queen is destined to rise and lead the battle to reclaim the crown. The ultimate decision Brienna must determine is: Who will be that queen?

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Rebecca Ross grew up in Georgia, where she continues to reside with her husband, lively dog and endless piles of books. She received her bachelor’s degree in English from UGA. In the past she has worked at a Colorado dude ranch, as a school librarian, and as a live-time captionist for a college.

Rebecca writes fantasy for young adult readers. Her debut novel, THE QUEEN’S RISING, will be out winter 2018 from HarperTeen.

THE QUEEN’S RISING is set to be translated into Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Dutch, German, Hebrew and will be available in the UK. (from Goodreads)

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Find this book on

Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Book Depository

The Fall Book Tag

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 7 Comments

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As I sat here this chilly Saturday, sipping my pumpkin spice flavored coffee, I spotted this tag over at Bionic Book Worm (who created it) and at Thrice Read. Sure, I wasn’t tagged, but when does that ever stop me? There is a cool breeze blowing in my open windows and fuzzy socks on my feet. It may not actually be fall but it sure feels like it here. That makes it a perfect day to tackle The Fall Book Tag!

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Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody  – I loved this book. It has a spooky magic circus theme which felt really different from most of the books that I read.

 

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Golden Son by Pierce Brown – To say my jaw hit the floor at the end of this one would be an understatement. Holy moly! It has been one of my favorite reads of 2017. fall-tag-5

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A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2) by V.E. Schwab – Prince Rhy and Alucard. Do I really need to say anything more than that? Warm fuzzies all over the place for those two. fall-tag-6

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A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4) by George R.R. Martin – How about a cover with read, orange, AND yellow? Huh? Pretty good, right? Those colors just shout fall leaves. fall-tag-3

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The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon – So much happens to our characters in this book. They are constantly getting in some kind of trouble and trying to conquer the bad guys. Can’t wait to see what kind of mayhem Paige gets into in the next book. fall-tag-4

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Iron Gold (Iron Gold #1) by Pierce Brown – I absolutely cannot wait to read more of the world Brown created in his Red Rising series. The details, the character development, everything was just amazing.

 

 

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I tag anyone who wants to do this tag! It was pretty fun and I enjoyed hunting down the right books for each answer. If you do it, put your link in the comments. I would love to see your answers!

Follow me on

Twitter | Goodreads

WWW Wednesday – September 6th

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 1 Comment

WWWWednesday

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words and was formerly hosted by A Daily Rhythm. It is open for anyone to participate, even without a blog you can comment on Sam’s post with your own answers. It is a great way to share what you’ve been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

The three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next? Continue reading →

Top Ten Tuesday – Books That Were A Chore To Read

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 20 Comments

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Hello and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! This week’s topic is Ten Books I Struggled to Get Into But Ended Up Loving or Ten Books That Were A Chore To Get Through or Ten Books I’ve Most Recently Put Down (the theme is…books you had a hard time with…tweak it how ever you need) which is, of course, brought to us by The Broke and the Bookish. We all have those books that we open up, expecting to enjoy, and then they turn into a chore to read. Some of them we get through, some of them we don’t. Today I’ll give you the books that became a chore for me to read, whether I finished them or not.

Continue reading →

September Reading Releases!

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 10 Comments

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September is here and that cooler, crisp, refreshing air is just the thing I needed to recharge my batteries. I’m sitting here with my windows open, listening to the breeze, and watching the squirrels scamper around looking for nuts to hide away for winter. I think I’m going to have to make a pumpkin spice latte run here soon. Another thing amazing about this fall are the upcoming book releases! There are some fantastic book releases for September that I would love to share with you. (All release dates noted are for the US and title links lead to their Goodreads page)

Continue reading →