Question

So what is a book or series that you are most looking forward to reading? It could be something that is coming out soon or something that is just on your "To Read" list.

I'm geeked about Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire. It's the last of the his Wicked Years series. You might know the first book of the series, Wicked. There was a small musical based on it. [There should be a heavy tone of sarcasm to those last two sentences.] I'm so happy to be getting back to Oz even if I have to play nice with Dorothy.

So spill it people - what book can you not wait to read?

Those Across the River

Another Early Review from LibraryThing.

When a dead relative leaves you property but also leave you a letter demanding you sell said property and never set foot in town, you should listen. When a town runs perfectly good pigs across a local river during the Depression and those animals are never seen again, you should run. Run fast.

Frank Nichols inherits a house in a small sleepy Georgia town.  He’s down on his luck so he takes up residence and begins working on a book about an ancestor who used to own a plantation in the area. That’s when the world starts going wrong.  The locals are suspicious at best. The surrounds woods are deemed unfriendly. The local traditions are odd to say the least. When those traditions are stopped because of economics bad things start to happen.

I really liked Those Across the River.  It’s a great first novel from Christopher Buehlman.  Actually, it is hard to believe it is his first novel.  It really is wonderful.  It seems like the story proceeds as such a leisurely pace but that is deceptive.  The action is really fast paced and at time shocking.  There is no doubt that this book belongs firmly in the horror section. Those Across the River is a book you should read, but not on a dark stormy night.

This one is a four out of five for me.

Little Black Dress

I received Little Black Dress by Susan McBride as an Early Review book from LibraryThing.  It's out now for purchase and I'd give it three stars out of five.

Little Black Dress is a novel about a grown woman waiting for her love life to start, her relationship with her mother, and a mysterious black dress in their past.  Toni Ashton returns to her hometown after her mother suffers a stroke. She leaves behind her long term boyfriend who just popped a questions and her thriving party planning business. While Evie lingers in a coma, Toni attempts to set her mother’s house to right discovering some long hidden family secrets in the process.  

 It’s a great fun read with a little love, a little mysticism, and a little wine. I love how the story is told from both Toni and Evie’s perspectives.  It allows the reader to continually try to puzzle out the story and leave you slightly stunned when you get to the final resolution.  Once the story grabs your heartstrings it is impossible to put down until you finish it.