Waiting on Wednesday: Tris & Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Words do not fully encompass the desire that I harbor for the October 11th release of Mette Ivie Harrison's Tris & Izzie. This book is one that I absolutely must buy to go on the shelf with my other "modern retellings." Of all the love stories ever written, I truly think this one to be one of my favorites. Close behind it is A Midsummer Night's Dream, but Tristan and Isolde is such a mesmerizing tale, along the lines of Arthur & Guinevere, that I am helpless to resist.

A modern retelling of the German fairytale "Tristan and Isolde", Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until -- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school.

From Goodreads

I believe another drool-factor to be the cover. I could definitely see this posted up on my wall. There are very few book covers I could look at day after day, but this is definitely one of the ones I would choose to look at all the time. Let's hope it lives up to my desires! What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: Tris & Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison

Waiting on Wednesday: Sweetly (Sisters Red #2) by Jackson Pearce

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

I am so ready for the August 23rd release of Sweetly (Sisters Red #2) by Jackson Pearce. This loosely related series are re-imagined folk tales of stories we all know & most of us love. Sisters Red was a twist on Little Red Riding Hood where "Little Red" became the hunter. In Sweetly we start anew with 2 new characters, with a tie-in Reynolds character that is a re-imagining of Hansel & Gretel. The Fenris are still snatching girls, but this time there is an accomplice.

Twelve years ago, Gretchen, her twin sister, and her brother went looking for a witch in the forest. They found something. Maybe it was a witch, maybe a monster, they aren’t sure—they were running too fast to tell. Either way, Gretchen’s twin sister was never seen again.

Years later, after being thrown out of their house, Gretchen and Ansel find themselves in Live Oak, South Carolina, a place on the verge of becoming a ghost town. They move in with Sophia Kelly, a young and beautiful chocolatier owner who opens not only her home, but her heart to Gretchen and Ansel.

Yet the witch isn’t gone—it’s here, lurking in the forests of Live Oak, preying on Live Oak girls every year after Sophia Kelly’s infamous chocolate festival. But Gretchen is determined to stop running from witches in the forest, and start fighting back. Alongside Samuel Reynolds, a boy as quick with a gun as he is a sarcastic remark, Gretchen digs deeper into the mystery of not only what the witch is, but how it chooses its victims. Yet the further she investigates, the more she finds herself wondering who the real monster is, and if love can be as deadly as it is beautiful.

I really enjoyed both of these books & you can find the links to my reviews above. I hope to one day meet Jackson Pearce so that I can get the books signed. :) What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: Sweetly (Sisters Red #2) by Jackson Pearce

13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison

Tanya has seen the fairies her whole life and they've never been very kind to her. They have teased her and tormented her because she is the only person, that she knows of, who can see them and they don't take kindly to being exposed. After months of questionable incidents that have caused injuries to Tanya, and that she has had to explain away, her mother has had enough. Tanya is sent to her grandmother's estate to work out her "issues" while her mother takes a break in their home in London.

Not in the least thrilled about being banished to the boring countryside with her stand-offish grandmother, Tanya is determined to make the best of her situation for as long as she can. The estate has fallen into disrepair as time has gone on. Very little of the house is used anymore as there are only four human inhabitants that live there. Florence (Tanya's grandmother), Warwick (the current groundskeeper), Warwick's father Amos (the now insane, former groundskeeper) and Warwick's son Fabian all share the space, unknowingly with several fairie creatures who love to cause mischief. As Tanya is the only one who can see these creatures, she does her best not to anger them and stay out of their way. Unfortunately it's not enough.

As Fabian and Tanya begin to explore the more closed off portions of the estate, they make some interesting finds: secret passageways (and not just the servant kind), blocked off rooms, and forgotten promises. The house isn't the only thing hiding secrets though. When the two become lost in the woods while chasing Tanya's dog Oberon, they stumble upon a young girl with her own secrets. And her secrets are the dangerous sort that people never recover from.

This was a classical fairy tale, complete with English backdrop, in which a girl can see fairies, but other cannot and she must work within her bounds to make it through whatever crisis crops up. The descriptions of the creatures were so detailed, without being boring, that I could actually imagine them climbing off the page! Most of the characters were well-defined as well. The reader catches glimpses of each character throughout the story that start to put them in context and round them out, again without being over-detailed and dragging on.

The plot was intriguing enough to move the story along, but not so in-depth and convoluted that it was hard to follow. I'll admit that many "mysteries" were quite obvious to the reader and I really had to suspend my belief that anyone could be that dim-witted, but for the most part it was fascinating to watch the kids put the pieces together. There was only one character who made sense in the end, but when she's first introduced seems very mismatched with the surroundings. I let the explanation for her existence go and just enjoyed the story.

This was a fun, fast read with just enough mystery and intrigue to keep the reader engaged throughout the whole story. If you prefer more traditional fairies to the urban fey of current popularity, then this book is just right for you. I think everyone should at least give it a shot!

13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

Cloverhands must help to control the fey. Too bad Deirdre Monaghan didn't know she was one of them. The gifted harpist meets a dashing young man named Luke at a local music competition and is wooed by his amazing flute talents. Deirdre knows that there is something different about Luke, but she just puts it off until he confesses the truth to her. Luke is a faerie assassin entrapped by the Faerie Queen due to the fact that she possesses his soul in a cage. Lamentably, Deirdre has been targeted as Luke's next victim.

Sixteen year old Deirdre finds herself out of her element as she is truly a realist. She bases her existence around tangible, provable facts. Since Luke entered her life, her certainty of the world has been in question. Naturally she turns to her fellow music geek, and quite hot, best friend James. While he accepts the seriousness of the situation, he is a solid ground to the real world. His pragmatism comes in handy when another faerie assassin named Aodhan takes an interest in Deirdre and tries to complete the job that Luke seems incapable of.

The ultimate showdown between the Faerie Queen herself and Deirdre if Luke is ever to relieved of his duties. This task is not as easy to complete as it sounds when complication arise surrounding Deirdre and she must make choices that could have dire consequences for many, if not all.

While I am very picky about the faerie books I read, this one struck home with me. Maggie Stiefvater's writing is just so captivating to me. I have tried quite a few other faerie series and find that they are either too cruel for my tastes or too innocent. There has to be a balance between mischievous and out right evil. This author have found that harmonic balance and it creates an enjoyable story. I also enjoyed the callbacks to tales told to children as a warning. Many adults forget that as children we were warned, through story and song, about the nature of the faeries. This book brought those stories and song back to life for me in a thoroughly delectable fashion. I can't wait to read Ballad, the next installment!

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater