Bookworms,

It’s been quite a while since I did one of those, isn’t that right? I think the last one was back in July? So that was last year. Yeah, I am going with it. Anyway, I have had a few eARCs on my Kindle but I have also reduced the number of arcs I request. So there haven’t been a lot of them recently.

I finally have two books I want to talk about because I am super interested in them! So interested, in fact, that I have also pre-ordered a physical copy for one of them. Yeah. It’s weird. I haven’t even read that one yet. Oh well. Let’s just take a look at those, shall we?

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

On Christmas Eve, 1617, the sea around the remote Norwegian island of Vardo is thrown into a reckless storm. As Maren Magnusdatter watches, forty fishermen, including her father and brother, are lost to the waves, the menfolk of Vardo wiped out in an instant.

Now the women must fend for themselves.

Eighteen months later, a sinister figure arrives. Summoned from Scotland to take control of a place at the edge of the civilized world, Absalom Cornet knows what he needs to do to bring the women of Vardo to heel. With him travels his young wife, Ursa. In Vardo, and in Maren, Ursa finds something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God and flooded with a mighty and terrible evil, one he must root out at all costs.

Inspired by the real events of the Vardo storm and the 1621 witch trials, Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s The Mercies is a story about how suspicion can twist its way through a community, and a love that may prove as dangerous as it is powerful.

+++++

It sounded just harrowing enough that I knew I wanted to read it. It sounds so bad but trust me, there are like a few things that reel me in. A story set in an isolated place, or in the north and historical setting and well….a feminist look at it. This one offered all of them in one pretty wrapper. So of course, I requested it and I was so glad when I was approved for this one. I have since then read this one and you can expect the review quite soon.

It’s publishing on February 6th, 2020 by Pan Macmillan, Picador wherever books are sold. Mind you, it’s very likely that some countries *coughIndia/Asiancough* will not be having those as early as February 6th. So do keep that in mind. (I am not bitter, what are you talking about? Psh!)

+++++

The Sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag

The critically acclaimed author of The House at the End of Hope Street combines love, mystery, and magic with her first foray into bewitching fantasy with a dark edge evocative of V.E. Schwab and Neil Gaiman.

Once upon a time, a demon who desired earthly domination fathered an army of dark daughters to help him corrupt humanity . . .

As children, Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea dreamed of a strange otherworld: a nightscape of mists and fog, perpetually falling leaves and hungry ivy, lit by an unwavering moon. Here, in this shadowland of Everwhere, the four girls, half-sisters connected by blood and magic, began to nurture their elemental powers together. But at thirteen, the sisters were ripped from Everwhere and separated. Now, five years later, they search for one another and yearn to rediscover their unique and supernatural strengths. Goldie (earth) manipulates plants and gives life. Liyana (water) controls rivers and rain. Scarlet (fire) has electricity at her fingertips. Bea (air) can fly.

To realize their full potential, the blood sisters must return to the land of their childhood dreams. But Everwhere can only be accessed through certain gates at 3:33 A.M. on the night of a new moon. As Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea are beset with the challenges of their earthly lives, they must prepare for a battle that lies ahead. On their eighteenth birthday, they will be subjected to a gladiatorial fight with their father’s soldiers. If they survive, they will face their father who will let them live only if they turn dark. Which would be fair, if only the sisters knew what was coming.

So, they have thirty-three days to discover who they truly are and what they can truly do, before they must fight to save themselves and those they love.

+++++

It sounds like something I would be very, very interested in, just by the setting alone. I haven’t seen the reviews since then because I don’t want to be influenced by them. I can very easily be influenced and intimidated by reviews/opinions. So I am still waiting to read it. I will probably read it near January end or maybe the beginning of February. I love that there’s a sisterhood, magic and some sense of danger too? I just wanna know what happens.

It’s publishing on February 6th, 2020 by Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press wherever books are sold. (I am not bitter. I am not gonna whine about it. (She says while she does exactly that.))

And those are the books I wanted to talk about today. There are more books I have requested and if I am approved for them, then I will definitely be talking about them soon enough. Or given my history of talking about the eARCs, then, I will need to set a reminder for that. Oops.