Showing posts with label kell woods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kell woods. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Black Orb by Ewhan Kim, Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods, & The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein

 

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! 


The Black Orb by Ewhan Kim
Publication: February 4th, 2025

MIRA
Hardcover. 304 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"One evening in downtown Seoul, Jeong-su is smoking a cigarette outside when he sees something impossible: a huge black orb appears out of nowhere and sucks his neighbor inside. Jeong-su manages to get away, but the terrifying sphere can move through walls, so he’s sure he won’t be able to hide for long.

The orb soon begins consuming every person caught in its path, and no one knows how to stop it. Impervious to bullets and tanks, the orb splits and multiplies, chasing the hapless residents of Seoul out into the country and sparking a global crisis with widespread violence and looting. Jeong-su must rely on his wits as he makes the arduous journey in search of his elderly parents. But the strangest phases of this ever-expanding disaster are yet to come and Jeong-su will be forced to question everything he has taken for granted.

Dryly funny, propulsive and absurd, The Black Orb is terrifyingly prescient about the fragility of human civilization.
"

This sounds so weird and I'm totally here for it.


Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods
Publication: February 18th, 2025

Tor 
Hardcover. 432 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1758.
For Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of one of Saint-Malo's wealthiest ship-owners, the high walls of the city are more hindrance than haven. While her sisters are interested in securing advantageous marriages, Luce dreams of escaping her elegant but stifling home and joining a ship's crew. Only Samuel—Luce's best friend and an English smuggler—understands her longing for the sea, secretly teaching her to sail whenever she can sneak away. For Luce, the stolen time on the water with Samuel is precious.

One stormy morning, Luce's plans are blown off course when she rescues Morgan de Chatelaine, the youngest son of the most powerful ship-owner in Saint-Malo, from the sea. Immediately drawn to his charm and sense of adventure, she longs to attend the glittering ball held in honor of his safe return and begins to contemplate a different kind of future for herself.

But it is not only Luce's hopes at stake—the local fae are leaving Brittany and taking their magic with them, while the long-standing war with the English means Saint-Malo is always at risk of attack. As Luce is plunged into a world of magic, brutality, and seduction, secrets that have long been lost in the shadowy depths of the ocean begin to rise to the surface. The truth of her own power is growing brighter and brighter, shining like a sea-glass slipper.

Or the scales of a sea-maid's tail.
"

I enjoyed Woods' After the Forest and I'm really intrigued by the general setup of this one, so I'm looking forward to checking it out.


The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein
Publication: February 11th, 2025

William Morrow
Paperback. 288 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"There’s something wrong in Renfield County.

It’s in the water, the soil, the wood. But worst of all, it’s in the minds of the residents, slowly driving them mad. When Lawrence Renfield massacred his family and drew The Giant in his farmhouse with their blood, no one imagined the repercussions. At the very least, the bloodstained wood should have been set aflame, not chopped down and repurposed as furniture, décor, and heirlooms across the county. But that’s exactly what happened. Now regular people—like you and me—are sitting on… eating with… admiring… the cursed wood and reaping the consequences.

These are their stories.

In “My Name Is Ellie” a young girl uncovers disturbing secrets hiding in the walls of her beloved grandmother’s home. An unassuming box, built with reclaimed wood, connects a grieving widower with his late wife’s lingering spirit in “Hector Brim.” In “Detour” a father, desperate to return home, finds himself trapped in a dizzying maze, haunted by stories of lurking monsters that live off the remains of weary travelers.

Playing with the uncanny to explore themes of loneliness and grief, Sam Rebelein returns upstate to unravel the mysteries of Renfield. But regardless of what started the trouble, there’s one thing of which we can be for those living here, the nightmare is far from over.
"

I haven't read anything from this author yet so I'm unfamiliar with the setting of this book, but I'm hoping that's okay because this sounds so good! 

Monday, September 18, 2023

Mini-Review: After the Forest by Kell Woods

    

After the Forest by Kell Woods
Tor Books
Publication Date: September 26th, 2023
Hardcover. 375 pages.

About After the Forest:

"Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.

Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Greta has a secret, the witch's grimoire, secreted away and whispering in Greta's ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you've ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.

But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.

And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's magic—magic she is still trying to understand—may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn't kill her first."

After the Forest is a stunning new fairy tale inspired by Hansel and Gretel, and it's a must-read for your fall TBRs. We follow Greta and Hans as adults still struggling with the trauma from their past experiences as children at the hands of the witch. Although their struggles manifest in different ways, they both have to learn how to survive and make ends meet despite them. We follow Greta as our protagonist as she slowly uncovers things about herself–with the help of a certain talking grimoire that has given her company throughout her years. 

What I liked: I loved the premise of following Greta and Hans years after their ordeal with the witch in the woods and seeing how that has affected their lives both mentally and with judgments from others in the town. I thought that Woods also executed the fairy tale atmosphere really well and really made this feel like a magical fantasy world where there are indeed things such as talking grimoires and plenty of unexpected magical things to discover. I think the first half of this book was really strong and I loved getting to know Greta and her baking (I'm not usually a huge gingerbread fan, but I could make an exception for Greta's!) and seeing how the magic would be working in this world. Woods has lovely prose that flows in a smooth manner, and since I read this as an audiobook I thought the narration really highlighted this.

What I didn't like: As much as I wanted to love this book, there was something that just didn't quite connect for me in the way that I'd hoped it would. I should have loved this book, but there was something missing that prevented me from fully immersing myself in the story. I think this was partially due to the fact that the characters and plot all felt very one note. There wasn't as much depth as I was initially expecting, and this made it hard to feel the emotions and occasional sense of urgency that the author was trying to evoke. I also wish that more had been done with so many of the magical elements in this book; there was so much potential, but I don't think it was explored or expanded as fully as it could have been. 

Overall, I've given After the Forest 3.75 stars! Kell Woods does a fantastic job of creating an atmospheric, compelling story that will be sure to keep you flipping the pages.

*I received a copy of After the Forest courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Friday, August 18, 2023

The Friday Face-Off: Current Read #13

      Friday Face Off New

 Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme at Books by Proxy. Join us every Friday as we pit cover against cover, and publisher against publisher, to find the best artwork in our literary universe.  You can find a list of upcoming topics at Lynn's Books.


This week's topic is:
Current Read #13

This week I'm working my way through an ARC of Kell Woods' upcoming September release After the Forest and it has been a delightful reading experience so far! I was also pleased to see that there are already three different cover variations in existence for this book, so I figured we could have a look at some of those for this week's face-off. 

2023 US Hardcover

2023 Australian Paperback

2023 UK Hardcover

My choice(s):
These covers are all so gorgeous! I think I am probably most drawn to the Australian edition because of the colors and the general style of artwork, but I do think the US edition is also wonderful and captures the fairy tale aspect of the story perfectly. The UK cover is also gorgeous, but I do feel like that general setup of a girl in a dress walking away from us is a little overdone–although it does still look lovely! Which cover makes you want to read this book the most? I also think Owlcrate and Illumicrate (?) might be making special editions of this book as well, so I'm curious to see what those covers may look like.