Skip to main content

Winding Pretties

I love the complimentary and contrasting elements between these two. In fact, I love pretty much everything about both of these covers, from the way the spiral staircase entwines with the scarlet folds of the rose on the one to the colorful spine of a vintage airmail envelope on the other. They make me happy. And very curious.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Okay, so this one had me at Beauty & the Beast retelling meets Greek mythology. Yespleasethankyou. Raised to kill her betrothed, Nyx vows to break the curse he laid on her people. Of course, appearances can be deceiving, and . . . well . . . the whole thing looks terribly awesome.
Due out January 28th

That Part Was True by Deborah McKinlay
This one is being compared to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book I loved so much I still think about it on a regular basis. Two strangers bond through a shared correspondence and a love of food. They eventually plan to meet up in Paris, but will it happen? And can they possibly each live up to their letters?
Due out February 4th

Comments

  1. OK, Beauty and the Beast, yes done, I want it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought as much. I love that you love it the way I do.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous11:44 AM

    Beauty and the Beast retelling? Okay, adding it to the wishlist.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those both sound good!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right? I'm really looking forward to them.

      Delete
  4. Did I hear something about a Guernsey and Literary Potato Peel Society read alike? I'm so there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That bit caught my attention nicely.

      Delete
  5. Cruel Beauty = gigantic thumbs up. WANT.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cruel Beauty is a gorgeous cover, but I am amused by the idea of it being "a Greek mythology BatB retelling" since Beauty and the Beast is actually a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth. So it comes full circle?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha. I was going to say exactly the same thing. It is a beautiful cover and I will certainly read it as B&B is my favorite fairy tale and Cupid and Psyche my favorite myth-because of their connection.

      Delete
    2. That's SO true. I love both. I love all. All BatB is awesome.

      Delete
    3. I haven't seen any details on how it's all coming together, but it should be interesting.

      Delete
  7. I also am seduced by the color palette of Cruel Beauty's cover.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seductive is exactly what it is. I love how she looks descending the stairs.

      Delete
  8. This is actually the first that I've heard of Cruel Beauty, though it sounds so good. And that cover. It's beautiful! Thanks for sharing. :)
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous11:31 AM

    You had me at Beauty and the Beast. *adds to TBR* Also IT'S SO PRETTY!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So very pretty. I never met a B&B retelling I didn't want to give a shot.

      Delete
  10. I got a copy of THAT PART WAS TRUE from Book Expo, for pretty much the same reason. I love the epistolary format! I picked it up the same day as DEAR MR KNIGHTLY - another letter-romance, this time influenced by Jane Austen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you?? You'll have to let me know how it is. I'm very curious.

      Delete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Bibliocrack Review | You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I've done a shamefully poor job of addressing my love for Cat Sebastian 's books around these parts. I've certainly noted each time her beautiful stories have appeared on my end-of-the-year best of lists, see:  The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes ,  basically every book in  The Cabots series , and of course  We Could Be So Good .  And the pull is, quite simply, this: nobody is as kind and gentle with their characters and with their hearts than Cat Sebastian. Nobody. I haven't always been one for the gentler stories, but I cannot overstate the absolute gift it is sinking into one of Sebastian's exquisitely crafted historicals knowing that I get to spend the next however many pages watching two idiots pine and deny that feelings exist and just  take care of each other  as they fall in love. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Not this one or any other.  Only two things in the world people count by months. H

Review | The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vols. 1 & 2 by Beth Brower

I feel a bit giddy finally talking to you all about this series. If you'll remember, I fell madly in love with The Q  when it came out a few years ago. Now, Beth Brower is writing The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion — a series of novellas set in London in 1883. Each volume is an excerpt from the incorrigible Emma's journals, and the first two volumes are already available with the third on the way soon. I think they'd make rather perfect pandemic reading. Humorous and charming down to their bones, they're just what the doctor ordered to lift your spirits in this uncertain time that just proves to be too much some days. If you're experiencing one of those days, I suggest giving Volume 1   a go (it's only 99 cents on Kindle, $4.99 for a trade paperback copy). It will surprise exactly none of you that I own print and digital editions of both volumes.  Miss Emma M. Lion has waited long enough. Come hell or high water (and really, given her track record,  both a

The Year Fic Saved Me

Once upon a time, January came for us and proclaimed itself supremely uninterested in taking prisoners. Under the sustained assault, there were simply too many avenues of stress tearing into my brain. On one side of the field stood so many books (as they have always been there for me) ready to be read—to help. And on the other side loomed a distressing number of chasms inside me desperate to find solace and reprieve. But the two could not meet. No matter how many peace talks I attempted to broker.  In February, in a move so unprecedented that I can only describe it as a lifeline thrown down into the deepest of the chasms, my exhausted mind decided it would be a good idea to finally give fanfiction a whirl. Now, there's no getting around the fact that for someone who has read as many novels that involve fic in some way or another as I have—seriously, novels that began as fic, novels written by authors who got their start writing fic, novels about characters who write/illustrate/love