This Week in Books – 18-03-26

This Week in Books is a feature hosted by Lipsy at Lipsyy Lost and Found that allows bloggers to share:

• What they’ve recently finished reading
• What they are currently reading
• What they are planning to read next

A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words.

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I’m still struggling to find time to sit and write a review, but I’ve read all the books!

I finished reading Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and then read Wild Animal by Joël Dicker (translated by Robert Bononno), followed by Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer.

They looked into darkness. The darkness looked back…

An expedition to a distant star system discovers a pitch-black moon alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is deadly to human life, but ripe for exploitation.

They name the moon Shroud. But they never mean to go there… until a catastrophic accident forces Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne to crash-land on its inhospitable surface in a barely adequate escape vehicle. Alone, and fighting to survive, the two women embark on a gruelling journey in search of salvation. But Juna and Mai’s tenuous existence is threatened by Shroud’s extraordinary alien species. If they can escape, they’ll have to explain the impossible and translate the incredible…

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On July 2, 2022, two criminals set out to rob a jewelry shop in Geneva. But even with a foolproof plan, their “perfect” heist will prove far from uneventful…

Twenty days earlier, on a luxurious estate along the shores of Lake Geneva, Sophie Braun prepares to celebrate her fortieth birthday. Her life seems perfect: she has a fairytale marriage, two perfect children, and lives in a stylish modern mansion surrounded by lush forest. But her idyllic world is about to crumble. Her husband is becoming embroiled in petty schemes. Her neighbor, a policeman with a spotless reputation, is obsessed with her and spies on the most intimate moments of her life. Then, on her birthday, she receives a gift from a mysterious prowler that endangers her life.

It will take many journeys into the past, far from Geneva, to unravel the origins of this diabolical plot from which no one will emerge unscathed, including readers. Told at a breathtaking pace, filled with nerve-jangling suspense, Wild Animal demonstrates once again why Joël Dicker – since the publication of The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair – reigns supreme as one of the most beloved contemporary mystery writers in the world today.

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Every trad wife needs a baby. Camille will get one – no matter the cost.

Camille lives to embody the perfect traditional wife – cooking, cleaning, homesteading, and documenting it all for her followers. But without a baby, her image – and her following – feels incomplete. As Camille’s husband begins to withdraw and his attention in her waning, Camille’s desperation deepens.

When Camille discovers a crumbling well hidden in the wheat field behind her new house, she is drawn to it, despite its proximity to an intimidating local forest. Unsure of what else to do, she makes a wish.

Soon, she’s haunted by vivid dreams she believes are divine. Then something visits her – something not quite angelic. Her belly swells unnaturally fast. Her cravings turn raw. And yet, her announcement goes viral.

But as Camille’s influence grows, so does the horror inside her. The life she always wanted is finally within reach… if it doesn’t consume her first.

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I’m currently reading Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.

FRIENDS. ENEMIES. LOVERS . . .
EVERYONE HAS AN AGENDA

Violet Sorrengail expected to live a quiet life surrounded by books, until she was forced onto the world’s deadliest training ground. Now she must fight to join the army’s elite: dragon riders. But dragons don’t choose fragile riders, they incinerate them, and when your body breaks as easily as Violet’s does – death is only a heartbeat away.

EVERY NIGHT COULD BE YOUR LAST

Many cadets would kill Violet to better their own chances of success; the rest would kill her just because of her last name… including the ruthless Xaden Riorson, her family’s greatest enemy. With the odds stacked against her, Violet must use every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise, because once you enter Basgiath War College, there are only two ways out:

GRADUATE OR DIE

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Next up might be The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer.

A summer’s evening in 1926, and six-year-old Celie Shepherd is hungry, desperate and dangling from a cliff, as she stretches out to steal something impossible. The bold theft will change Celie’s life, and the lives of many others.

One hundred years later, a remote home is ransacked by masked men. The only thing taken: a dusty box containing that same impossible thing. What could be so unique – and so valuable – that it is stolen again and again… and again?

So begins this extraordinary mystery from award-winning Belinda Bauer. The Impossible Thing brims with skulduggery at every turn, and is a blazing testament to Belinda Bauer’s status as one of our greatest living crime writers.

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And that’s my week in books! What are you reading this week? Let me know in the comments! 😎