Teaser Tuesday: Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
To play along just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith.

Wild Awake -
Katherine Tegen Books

But there’s a crazy little hope-squirrel running around inside my head, chattering, What if it’s real? What if it’s important? and it won’t shut up no matter what I do.
-- Page 39

I play the first and second movements of the Italian Concerto, a thirty-page baroque extravaganza that Bach apparently wrote to amuse himself while waiting in line to buy a Wiener schnitzel.
-- Page 108

I started reading Wild Awake a few days ago and I think, the title fits perfectly. Kiri Byrd is a very wild girl, getting stoned with her best friend, playing piano until she falls off the bench and meeting up a with a complete stranger to get her dead sister's things back. And all this time she won't sleep. She's on a mission to find out, how her sister lived and died. Falling in love might be the least crazy thing for Kiri at this time. I like her quirkiness and her unusual toughts and just hope for a non-fairytale ending.

Which books are you currently reading? Tease us in the comments.

Waiting on Wednesday: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s can’t wait to read selection is
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas.
Publication Dates: UK – August 15th 2013, US – August 27th 2013

Crown of Midnight –
Bloomsbury Childrens

An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt. But her heart never wavers.

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king’s contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade – while pretending to do the king’s bidding – will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she’s given a task that could jeopardize everything she’s come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon – forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

Synopsis from goodreads.com

Chances are I’m cheering for the “wrong” team in this one. Again. I’m putting that in quotation marks since I firmly believe that there is no really wrong team in a book. At least as long as the author knows what they’re doing and the characters are not just page-fodder. This is no concern with this book. At all. I loved Celaena from the very start in Throne of Glass and I’m really looking forward to reading how her story continues.

Which character’s story can’t you wait to dive (back) in again? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
To play along just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo.

Shadow and Bone –
Henry Holt BYR

I was so furious I wanted to smack him on the back of his head. And if I hadn’t seen him cut a man in half, I might have done just that. I settled for glaring at the space between his shoulder blades as I followed him up the hill.
— Chapter 5

And there’s nothing wrong with being a lizard either. Unless you were born to be a hawk.
— Chapter 12

So, why am I teasing from this book when the sequel, Siege and Storm, has just been published? Firstly, because I have not yet read enough of it to pick any page in the book without potentially spoiling myself. And secondly, because I really enjoyed the first book and on the off-chance that you haven’t heard of it yet, I wanted to introduce you to the trilogy without sending you right towards the synopsis of book two, which is highly spoilery in itself. You can get a look at the writing style and the general mood of this setting by reading this tale, which is set in the same universe but not directly related to the main plot. And a confession: I’m really glad that I’ll only have to wait between book 2 and book 3 now. The end of book 1 is not a nasty cliffhanger per se, but there are just so many (even kind of) cliffs a girl can hang from.

Share your teasers in the comments and let us know what you’re reading this week.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Night Itself by Zoë Marriott

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s can’t wait to read selection is
The Night Itself by Zoë Marriott.
Publication Date: July 4th 2013

The Night Itself - Walker Books

When fifteen year old Mio Yamato furtively sneaks the katana - an ancestral Japanese sword - out of its hiding place in her parent's attic to help liven up her Christmas party costume, she has no idea of the darkness she is about to unleash on modern day London, or the family secrets that she is going to uncover.

The paralysing paranoia that descends on her before she gets to her friend's party is her first clue. The vivid and terrifying visions that nearly get her killed are a pretty good warning too.

The giant nine-tailed cat demon that comes after the sword and tries to rip her throat out? Overkill.

Seconds away from becoming kitty-food, Mio is saved by Shinobu, a mysterious warrior boy. But it's already too late. Mio has ruptured the veil between the mortal realm and the Underworld, and now the gods and monsters of ancient Japan stalk the streets of London, searching for her and the sword. 

With the help of her best friend Jack, a fox spirit named Hikaru - and the devoted protection of the betwitchingly familiar Shinobu - Mio attempts to discover the true nature of the sword and its connection to the Yamato family. Because if she doesn't learn how to control the katana's incredible powers, she's in danger of being overwhelmed by them. And if she can't keep the sword safe from the terrible creatures who want it for their own, she'll lose not only her own life... but the love of a lifetime.

Synopsis from goodreads.com.

I'm not very familiar with Japanese stories outside of a manga or anime, so this book will be new territory for me and I'm so very, very curious. The synopsis sounds promising: ancient Japanese monsters prowling the modern world, a sword with incredible power and a love story. Moreover I like the mix of ancient history and a modern setting. The setting being London is just the icing on the cake.

Do you like a mix of ancient and modern in your books as well? Leave us a comment with what you're waiting on this week.

Teaser Tuesday: Goddess by Josephine Angelini

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
To play along just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Goddess by Josephine Angelini.

Goddess –
Macmillan Children’s Books

She’d been married to the guy once, and from the snippets that Helen could vaguely recall, neither of them had been too happy about that fact even though they had tried their best to make it work. Sort of like being permanently handcuffed to someone that you love, but who also really annoys you.
— Chapter 5

“You brought yourself here. I can’t make you come here; all I can do is leave the door open for you.”
— Chapter 11

I just realised that I internally referred to 2012 as “the year of sequels”. Consequently, this year deserves a similar moniker, but somehow “the year of final books in trilogies” doesn’t have the same ring to it. (I’m open for suggestions). And I finally managed to complete a trilogy with all three books in the same format/size/cover design. This doesn’t seem like much of an achievement, but I somehow managed to collect the oddest mixtures in all my other series. So ... minor yay. Notice how I’m not talking about the book? Final book in trilogy and therefore spoiler minefield mindset. I think the end is on par with the rest of the series and provides a great source of entertainment. Maybe not if you asked Homer or Sophocles ... but the opinion of long-dead Greeks is often overrated anyway.

Are you finishing up a series this week? Share your teasers in the comments.