Buongiorno booklovers, oggi sono qui per raccontarvi dell'ultimo ARC che ho finito di leggere, e che penso purtroppo rientri tra i peggiori libri letti quest'anno. Si tratta di "Qualcuno in cui fare un nido", di John Wiswell.

SCHEDA TECNICA:

Nome: Qualcuno in cui fare il nido

Autore: John Wiswell

Data: 20 novembre 2024

Genere: Fantasy; Romance, LGBTQ+, Horror

Editore: Ne/oN Libri

TRAMA:

Shesheshen è una mutaforma, che risiede felicemente come un grumo amorfo sul fondo di un maniero in rovina. Quando il suo letargo viene interrotto da cacciatori intenzionati a ucciderla, si costruisce un corpo con gli avanzi dei suoi pasti passati: una catena di metallo come spina dorsale, e una trappola per orsi in mezzo al petto. Ma i cacciatori hanno la meglio: ferita gravemente, Shesheshen viene trovata e curata da Homily, un’umana dal cuore tenero che la scambia per un suo simile. Homily è gentile e premurosa: la persona ideale in cui deporre le uova, assicurando ai futuri piccoli di Shesheshen nutrimento in abbondanza per la crescita. Peccato che Homily si trovi da quelle parti perché sta dando la caccia a un mostro mutaforma che ha maledetto la sua famiglia. Shesheshen, però, non ha maledetto proprio nessuno: perché la famiglia di Homily è convinta invece di sì?

RECENSIONE:

Shesheshen è una mutaforma che dimora nell'antro di una caverna e il cui letargo viene interrotto da un trio di cacciatori, decisi a uccidere una volta per tutte la viverna di Underlook (lei).

Sopravvissuta ma ferita gravemente dal rosmarino (uno dei suoi punti deboli), e non senza aver ucciso l'erede della famiglia più in vista della zona, i Wulfyre, Shesheshen viene recuperata da un'umana, Homily, che si prende cura di lei, scambiandola per una sua simile.

La mutaforma commette un grave errore, si fa intenerire da questa buffa umana, ritenendola la compagna perfetta in cui deporre le uova dei suoi piccoli (si, avete letto bene), che in stile Alien la divoreranno dall'interno (yuck).

Peccato che la signorina Homily di cognome faccia Wulfyre e che stia dando la caccia al mostro che ha ucciso il fratello, il mostro che ha gettato una maledizione sull'intera famiglia (anche se Shesheshen non lo ha fatto).

Paradossalmente, Shesheshen si unisce alla caccia di sé stessa, perorata dalla matriarca Wulfyre, la Baronessa e dalle figlie superstiti (Homily inclusa), l'arrogante Epigram e la tanto folle quanto giovane Ode.

...

Se vi state domandando se io sia sotto l'influsso di qualcosa dopo aver letto il breve riassunto che ho fatto della trama di "Qualcuno in cui fare il nido", mi dispiace deludervi (e deludermi), ma non sto scherzando.

Probabilmente questo è stato il più grande limite nella mia esperienza di lettura, ovvero l'essere un genere follemente diverso da quello a cui sono abituata, oltre a una tripla dose di splatter (leggetelo lontano dai pasti se siete deboli di stomaco), condito con personaggi complessi ma che cadono in uno stereotipo uno dopo l'altro (il mostro che ha un cuoricino tenero ma non si capisce perché, oltre allo splatter simil-Alien; l'umana maltratta e incompresa se non dal reietto; la famiglia ricca e arrogante che bistratta i diversi - compresa la loro figlia, e cacciatori inetti).

Il libro non è esente da intenzioni nobili, come mostrarci la prospettiva capovolta di qualsiasi romanzo fantasy (e lo ho apprezzato), nonché svolgere un'inquisizione sulla diversità e su come essa venga molto spesso repressa.

Purtroppo il mio mal di stomaco ha superato di gran lunga la tentata comprensione dei ragionamenti svolti e dei personaggi.

Non sono purtroppo in grado di aggiungere altro, se non che sono rimasta delusa da una lettura che sarebbe potuta essere un piccolo gioiellino.

...

Ringrazio fortemente Ne/oN libri per la fiducia concessami nell'assegnazione dell'ARC digitale via Netgalley. Specifico che il mio parere non è affiliato né alla casa editrice né a terzi, e in quanto ciò é totalmente basato sulle mie sensazioni e opinioni.

Anais, di The Bookish Scorpio.

Consigliato dai: 16 anni

Rating: una stellina

Hello Autumn + October TBR!

HELLO SALEM! MY NAME'S WINIFRED, WHAT'S YOURS?

Con una citazione di Hocus Pocus, vi do il buongiorno, booklovers! L'autunno è già iniziato e i miei mesi preferiti dell'anno sono alle porte. Ovviamente non posso non fare una TBR spooky per ottobre, il mese più terrificante dell'anno per eccellenza! Volete scoprire che cosa andrò a leggere in questo mese?

1. IF I HAVE TO BE HAUNTED, MIRANDA SUN (YA Fantasy)

TRAMA:

Your first love will always haunt you…

The most haunting, heartwarming debut of 2023. Perfect for fans of strong female leads and supernatural stakes in Buffy, with all the sweetness and romance of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Cara’s just trying to stay on top of all her classes, excel at her extracurriculars, and prepare for college – which means not speaking to the dead, an ability she inherited from her grandmother. Ghosts are trouble, and Cara doesn’t need to add their problems to her own.

But then she stumbles upon the body of Zach – the super popular but very newly dead high school golden boy – in the woods, and guess what? He wants her to resurrect him.

Cue trouble.

2. A STUDY IN DROWNING, AVA REID (Dark Academia)

TRAMA:

Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. She’s had no choice. Since childhood, she’s been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad - author Emrys Myrddin’s beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.

Effy’s tattered, dog-eared copy is all that’s keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at Llyr’s prestigious architecture college. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to design the late author’s house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.

But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn’t the only one who’s made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin’s papers and is determined to prove her favorite author is a fraud.

As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author’s legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house’s foundation isn’t the only thing that can’t be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them - and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

3. HIDDEN PICTURES, JASON REKULAK (Thriller Paranormale)

TRAMA:

A wildly inventive spin on the supernatural thriller, about a woman working as a nanny for a young boy with strange and disturbing secrets.

Mallory Quinn is fresh out of rehab when she takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy.

Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nightly runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.

Then, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force.

Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late.

4. A LESSON IN VENGEANCE, VICTORIA LEE (Dark Academia; LGBTQ+)

TRAMA:

Felicity Morrow is back at Dalloway School.

Perched in the Catskill mountains, the centuries-old, ivy-covered campus was home until the tragic death of her girlfriend. Now, after a year away, she’s returned to graduate. She even has her old room in Godwin House, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of five Dalloway students—girls some say were witches. The Dalloway Five all died mysteriously, one after another, right on Godwin grounds.

Witchcraft is woven into Dalloway’s history. The school doesn’t talk about it, but the students do. In secret rooms and shadowy corners, girls convene. And before her girlfriend died, Felicity was drawn to the dark. She’s determined to leave that behind her now; all Felicity wants is to focus on her senior thesis and graduate. But it’s hard when Dalloway’s occult history is everywhere. And when the new girl won’t let her forget.

It’s Ellis Haley’s first year at Dalloway, and she’s already amassed a loyal following. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is a so-called “method writer.” She’s eccentric and brilliant, and Felicity can’t shake the pull she feels to her. So when Ellis asks Felicity for help researching the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can’t say no. Given her history with the arcane, Felicity is the perfect resource.

And when history begins to repeat itself, Felicity will have to face the darkness in Dalloway–and in herself.

5. THE WOLF & THE WOODSMAN, AVA REID (NA Fantasy)

TRAMA:

In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. The villagers blame her corrupted bloodline—her father was a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king’s blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered.

But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman—he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gáspár fears that his cruelly zealous brother plans to seize the throne and instigate a violent reign that would damn the pagans and the Yehuli alike. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother.

As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they’re on, and what they’re willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all.

6. JUNIPER & THORN, AVA REID (Dark Fantasy/Horror)

TRAMA:

A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites.

Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya’s last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theater, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart.

As Marlinchen’s late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father’s rage and magic. And while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.

7. BARLOW, DEBORA GUZZO (YA Paranormal)

TRAMA:

"Nei libri le eroine non hanno problemi intestinali, e se li hanno non rappresentano un impedimento a qualche avvenimento cruciale. Quanto a me, mio Dio, forse dovevo correre in bagno."

Se Lessie Barlow potesse esprimere tre desideri, il primo fra tutti sarebbe sicuramente poter cambiare cognome.
Il secondo sarebbe Jan Horàk, perché sono ormai due anni che sospira quando lo incrocia tra i corridoi.
Il terzo lo regalerebbe a sua sorella, perché la sua felicità è l'unica cosa che conta.
Purtroppo Lessie non conosce nessun genio della lampada, così è costretta a tenersi tre fratelli odiosi, una nonna-colonnello e una matrigna degna di una principessa Disney. Jan Horàk? Sarebbe più facile trovare un unicorno.
Ma cosa succede quando, di punto in bianco, tutto ciò che ha sempre sognato sembra diventare realtà? Una realtà ben lontana da quella che lei ha sempre immaginato e che più che un sogno, ha l'aspetto di un incubo.
Se Lessie potesse esprimere un solo desiderio, sarebbe quello di far tornare tutto come prima.

8. IL BACIO DELL'INCUBO, NINA TALVI (Paranormal Romance)

TRAMA:

Fin da bambina, Cora soffre di paralisi del sonno che le causano incubi agghiaccianti. Un giorno, sulla spiaggia del Mar Baltico, trova un ciondolo misterioso in grado di attenuare la sua condizione.
Quello che non si aspetta è che il monile richiami a sé il suo vero padrone.

Eric è un essere soprannaturale che si nutre di incubi ed è uno dei tre figli di Caino. Custodisce dentro di sé una parte dell’arma con cui ha condannato il padre all’oblio eterno, che gli scatena una fame di sangue tenuta a bada solo dal prezioso amuleto.
Cora riceve un’offerta che non può rifiutare ma che la catapulta in un mondo di creature che sembrano uscite dalle fiabe… o dagli incubi più terribili.
Mentre i due combattono l’attrazione pericolosa che cresce tra loro, un essere oscuro e antico minaccia il mondo soprannaturale di Helsinki, mettendo a repentaglio i delicati equilibri raggiunti in secoli di pace.

9. IL BACIO DELLA BESTIA, NINA TALVI (Paranormal Romance)

TRAMA:

Gabriel Cavendish ha una sola certezza nella vita: odia le streghe.
Quando però scopre che la tomba di Oberon, occultata nella foresta della Lapponia finlandese, è stata presa di mira dai Berserker, non ha altra scelta che collaborare proprio con una di loro.
Come tutte le Sussurranti, Ava è specializzata nell’erigere barriere di protezione. Quando il più odioso dei figli di Caino le chiede aiuto, è costretta ad accettare. L’odio che prova verso Gabriel, colpevole di aver ucciso centinaia di streghe, è paragonabile solo al terrore che lui la tocchi. Infatti, Ava è anche una Guaritrice Carnale e non può entrare in contatto con la pelle di un uomo senza cadere vittima di strazianti allucinazioni.
Mentre i due lottano contro il tempo per impedire a Caino e ai suoi seguaci di accedere alla tomba, sono costretti a condividere gli stessi spazi. E, per Ava, sarà sempre più difficile portare a termine la missione che, in caso di fallimento, le costerà la vita: uccidere lo Sterminatore Gabriel Cavendish.

10. WILDFIRE, HANNAH GRACE (Romance)

TRAMA:

The latest in the Maple Hills series follows two summer camp counselors who reconnect after a sizzling one-night stand.

Maple Hills students Russ Callaghan and Aurora Roberts cross paths at a party celebrating the end of the academic year, where a drinking game results in them having a passionate one-night stand. Never one to overstay her welcome (or expect much from a man), Aurora slips away before Russ even has the chance to ask for her full name.

Imagine their surprise when they bump into each other on the first day of the summer camp where they are both counselors, hoping to escape their complicated home lives by spending the summer working. Russ hopes if he gets far enough away from Maple Hills, he can avoid dealing with the repercussions of his father’s gambling addiction, while Aurora is tired of craving attention from everyone around her, and wants to go back to the last place she truly felt at home.

Russ knows breaking the camp’s strict “no staff fraternizing” rule will have him heading back to Maple Hills before the summer is over, but unfortunately for him, Aurora has never been very good at caring about the rules. Will the two learn to peacefully coexist? Or did their one night together start a fire they can’t put out?

11. HOPELESS, ELSIE SILVER (Romance)

TRAMA:

Beau Eaton is the town prince, a handsome military hero with a tortured past.
I'm the outcast bartender, a shy girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

He's thirty-five and all man, I'm twenty-two and all . . . virgin. He's also my fiancé. Correction: my fake fiancé.

We start out as a bet. He doesn't believe that anyone holds my last name against me. So he offers me his to prove a point.

It's a win-win. He gets a break from his concerned family's prying, and I get a chance to shed my family's reputation while I save up to ditch this small town.

He says all I have to do is wear his ring, follow his lead, and pretend I can't keep my hands off of him in public.

But it's what happens between us in private that blurs all those carefully drawn lines . . .

It's what transpires behind closed doors that doesn't feel like pretending at all . . .

This engagement was supposed to be for show. This agreement? It has an end date.

He once told me he'd never fall in love.

And yet here I am, head over heels for my fake fiancé.

12. ROUGE, MONA AWAD (Horror Satirico)

TRAMA:

For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.

Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

13 - BONUS: LE NOTTI DI SALEM, STEPHEN KING (Horror)

TRAMA:

Una casa abbandonata, un paesino sperduto, vampiri assetati di sangue. Quando il giovane Stephen King decise di trapiantare Bram Stoker nel New England sapeva che la sua idea, nonostante le apparenze, era buona, ma forse neanche la sua fervida immaginazione avrebbe saputo dire quanto. Era il 1975 e, da allora, il racconto dell'avvento del Male a Jerusalem's Lot, meglio conosciuta come 'salem's Lot, non ha mai cessato di terrorizzare milioni di lettori, consacrando il suo autore come maestro dell'horror. Questo piccolo classico contemporaneo viene ora riproposto in un'edizione illustrata arricchita da una nuova introduzione, due racconti e un sostanzioso apparato che raccoglie le pagine eliminate nella stesura finale.

...

Leggerò anche Cinder con le due Fra (FranceLoveBooks e Dumb.Dumber.Books) per il loro Lunar GDL! Voi invece cosa avete scelto di leggere questo mese?

...

W...W...W...Wednesday #110

  Hey booklovers, bentornati sul blog. Oggi nuovo W...W...W...Wednesday!

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? (Che cosa stai leggendo?)

Sto leggendo Something Strange and Deadly di Susan Dennard... e... rileggendo Throttled di Lauren Asher (Rachel, colpa tua questa!)

 

 

WHAT HAVE YOU FINISHED READING? (Che cosa hai finito di leggere?)

Ho finito di leggere Cursed di KK Allen, un paranormal YA in salsa greca abbastanza blando, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton di Julia Quinn; la novella di Felicia Kingsley, Innamorati Pazzi; Book Lovers, di Emily Henry e infine Storia del nuovo cognome della Ferrante!

 

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO READ NEXT? (Che cosa leggerai dopo?)

    Leggerò To Sir Phillip with Love di Julia Quinn, e probabilmente proseguirò con la rilettura di Collided della Dirty Air, con Liam che è la reincarnazione libresca di Giorgino Russell (NON PIERRE COME DITE TUTTI VOI!)

 

 

March 2023 TBR

 Buongiorno a voi booklovers, ecco la mia TBR di Marzo... 

ROMANCE:

1. PUNK 57, PENELOPE DOUGLAS

TRAMA:

Misha

I can’t help but smile at the words in her letter. She misses me.

In fifth grade, my teacher set us up with pen pals from a different school. Thinking I was a girl, with a name like Misha, the other teacher paired me up with her student, Ryen. My teacher, believing Ryen was a boy like me, agreed.

It didn’t take long for us to figure out the mistake. And in no time at all, we were arguing about everything. The best take-out pizza. Android vs. iPhone. Whether or not Eminem is the greatest rapper ever…

And that was the start. For the next seven years, it was us.

Her letters are always on black paper with silver writing. Sometimes there’s one a week or three in a day, but I need them. She’s the only one who keeps me on track, talks me down, and accepts everything I am.

We only had three rules. No social media, no phone numbers, no pictures. We had a good thing going. Why ruin it?

Until I run across a photo of a girl online. Name’s Ryen, loves Gallo’s pizza, and worships her iPhone. What are the chances?

F*ck it. I need to meet her.

I just don’t expect to hate what I find.

Ryen

He hasn’t written in three months. Something’s wrong. Did he die? Get arrested? Knowing Misha, neither would be a stretch.

Without him around, I’m going crazy. I need to know someone is listening. It’s my own fault. I should've gotten his number or picture or something.

He could be gone forever.

Or right under my nose, and I wouldn’t even know it.

2.BIRTHDAY GIRL, PENELOPE DOUGLAS

TRAMA:

JORDAN

He took me in when I had nowhere else to go. He doesn’t use me, hurt me, or forget about me. He listens to me, protects me, and sees me. I can feel his eyes on me over the breakfast table, and my heart pumps so hard when I hear him pull in the driveway after work.

I have to stop this. It can’t happen.

My sister once told me there are no good men, and if you find one, he’s probably unavailable. Only Pike Lawson isn’t the unavailable one.
I am.

PIKE

I took her in, because I thought I was helping. As the days go by, though, it’s becoming anything but easy. I have to stop my mind from drifting to her and stop holding my breath every time I bump into her in the house. I can’t touch her, and I shouldn’t want to.

But we’re not free to give into this. She’s nineteen, and I’m thirty-eight.

And her boyfriend’s father.

Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.

3. VICIOUS, LJ SHEN

TRAMA:

Quando i suoi genitori accettano di lavorare al servizio degli Spencer, Emilia LeBlanc si ritrova a vivere sotto lo stesso tetto con l'erede della famiglia, Baron "Vicious" Spencer. Vicious è sfrontato, privilegiato, spietato e pieno di rabbia. Ma l'arrivo di Emilia turberà il suo equilibrio e destabilizzerà le sue emozioni, e da quel momento Vicious avrà un unico obiettivo: rendere la vita della figlia della domestica un vero inferno sulla terra. Dieci anni dopo, Baron Spencer è un avvocato brillante, un abile criminale, un bellissimo bugiardo. E ha un piano per vendicarsi. Quando, sulle strade di New York, il suo cammino torna ad incrociarsi con quello di Emilia che si trova in gravi difficoltà, Vicious le offre un lavoro e lei si ritroverà di nuovo intrappolata nella sua ragnatela spietata. Emilia non può immaginare che il ritorno prepotente dell'uomo che è stato insieme il suo tormento e il protagonista dei suoi sogni farà crollare tutte le certezze della sua vita come tessere del domino. Stavolta Vicious non si fermerà, non fino a che lei non sarà sua.

4. FLOCK, KATE STEWART

TRAMA:

Can you keep a secret?
⁣
I grew up sick.⁣
⁣
Let me clarify.⁣
⁣
I grew up believing that real love stories include a martyr or demand great sacrifice to be worthy.⁣
⁣
Because of that, I believed it, because I made myself believe it, and I bred the most masochistic of romantic hearts, which resulted in my illness.⁣
⁣
When I lived this story, my own twisted fairy tale, it was unbeknownst to me at the time because I was young and naïve. I gave into temptation and fed the beating beast, which grew thirstier with every slash, every strike, every blow.⁣
⁣
Triple Falls wasn’t at all what it seemed, nor were the men that swept me under their wing. But in order to keep them, I had to be in on their secrets.⁣
⁣
Secrets that cost us everything to keep.⁣
⁣
That’s the novelty of fiction versus reality. You can’t re-live your own love story, because by the time you’ve realized you’re living it, it’s over. At least that was the case for me and the men I trusted my foolish heart to.⁣
⁣
Looking back, I’m convinced I willed my story into existence due to my illness.⁣
⁣
And all were punished.

FANTASY:

5. THE LAST TALE OF THE FLOWER BRIDE, ROSHANI CHOKSHI

TRAMA:

A sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales—the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.

Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

6. THE ADVENTURES OF AMINA AL-SIRAFI, SHANNON CHAKRABORTY

TRAMA:

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power… and the price might be your very soul.

7. SONG OF SILVER, FLAME LIKE NIGHT, AMELIE WEN ZHAO

TRAMA:

In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to its forgotten past – and the demons that sleep at its heart…
Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and spends her days scavenging for remnants of the past. For anything that might help her understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother, in her last act before she died.

No one can see the mysterious mark, an untranslatable Hin character, except Lan. Until the night a boy appears at the teahouse and saves her life.

Zen is a practitioner – one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom, whose abilities were rumoured to be drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Magic to be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.

Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.

8. THE FOXGLOVE KING, HANNAH WHITTEN

TRAMA:

When Lore was thirteen, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the ten years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city.

Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter, and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Lore fully expects a pyre, but King August has a different plan. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.

Lore is thrust into the Sainted King’s glittering court, where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted. Guarded by Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk, and continually running up against Bastian, August’s ne’er-do-well heir, Lore tangles in politics, religion, and forbidden romance as she attempts to navigate a debauched and opulent society.

But the life she left behind in the catacombs is catching up with her. And even as Lore makes her way through the Sainted court above, they might be drawing closer than she thinks.

9. CITY OF NIGHTMARES, REBECCA SCHAEFFER

TRAMA:

Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town, nineteen-year-old Ness has been terrified—terrified of some other Nightmare murdering her, and terrified of ending up like her sister. Because in Newham, the city that never sleeps and the only other home Ness has known, dreaming means waking up as your worst fear.

Whether that means becoming a Nightmare that is only monstrous in appearance but is otherwise able to live a semi-normal existence, to transforming into a twisted, unrecognizable creature that terrorizes the citizens of Newham, no one is safe. Ness will do anything to avoid becoming another victim, even if that means lying low among the Friends of the Restful Soul, a seedy organization that may or may not be a cult.

But being a member of the Friends of the Restful Soul has a price. In order to prove herself, Ness cons her way into what’s supposed to be a simple job for the organization—only for it to blow up in her face. Literally. Tangled up in the aftermath of an explosive assassination, Ness and the only other survivor—a Nightmare boy who Ness suspects is planning to eat her—must find their way back to Newham and uncover the sinister truth behind the attack.

NON-FICTION:

10. I'M GLAD MY MOM DIED, JENNETTE MCCURDY

TRAMA:

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.

Recensione | Hell Bent di Leigh Bardugo

 Ciao a tutti booklovers, o meglio, corvetti! Oggi vi propongo un sequel, ovvero Hell Bent di Leigh Bardugo!

SCHEMA:

1. Ninth House

2. Hell Bent

SCHEDA TECNICA:

Nome: Hell Bent

Autore: Leigh Bardugo

Genere: Dark Fantasy

Editore: Oscar Mondadori

TRAMA: 

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.

Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.

Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.

RECENSIONE:  

Partiamo dal principio: ho riletto Ninth House in italiano, e oltre a capirci qualcosa mi è pure piaciuto.

Ora, bando alle ciance, spoiler per il primo libro.

Abbiamo lasciato Alex, Dawes e gli altri a gestire la scomparsa di Darlington. Alex è convinta che Darlington sia all'Inferno, ed è decisa a trovare un passaggio per salvare la sua anima.

Ora, mettiamoci un heist alla Six of Crows, demoni, fantasmi (i famosi Grigi che io avevo scambiato per alieni) e... a glowstick wand (you know what I mean... and I'M NOT KIDDING) per avere Hell Bent.

Paradossalmente Alex mi è piaciuta di meno che in Ninth House: ho trovato il suo character arc molto più confuso. Pamela Dawes, il nostro Oracolo, invece si è fatta apprezzare molto di più; e così anche Tripp.

Se avete notato, ho lasciato fuori Darlington: lo ritroviamo demone con un-ehem-luminescente, e questo mi ha fermato da dargli cinque stelle. Ora, capisco che qui vanno tutti matti per lo spicy, (SPOILER: ci sono dichiarazioni strappalacrime tra Daniel e Alex, ma niente spicy) ma che razza di senso ha? Oltre agli orgasmi distruggi-montagne (cortesia della Sarah J. Maas nazionale) ci mancava pure l'organo genitale maschile luminescente.

Ero indecisa se avessi letto male o cosa (SPOILER -ero indecisa tra "mi stavo strozzando dalle risate" oppure "mi strozzo con un panino imbottito").

Comunque ritengo che il trauma di Darlington sia stato stranamente gestito male: insomma, per fare un esempio, io torno dall'inferno e non è tutto rosa e fiori... anzi, chissà cosa devo aver passato... invece per lui sì, tutto apposto. Boh.

Finale shock comunque.

Leigh, necessitiamo dell'ultimo libro.

E datemi la ship endgame Alex x Darlington.

Consigliato dai: 18 anni +

Rating: quattro stelline