Waiting on Wednesday #178: Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee and Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson

Hello everyone! "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, that is hosted by Breaking the Spine and the purpose of this event is that we spotlight upcoming releases of books that we are excited for!  This will also tie into Wishful Ending's Can't Wait Wednesday post!

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selections are:

    

Forest of Souls

By: Lori M. Lee

Expected Publication Date: June 23rd, 2020

Buy on:   Book Depository 

A novelette:

Cori has always been a bit on the strange side, but when a gate to Hell—literally—pops up in her backyard, she tumbles down, down, down in to a place filled with beasts waiting to reap her soul for the Devil himself.

Lucky for Cori, she meets Rigel and his gang of misfits who have been trapped for quite a bit. Together, they must formulate a plan to escape, or risk remaining down below for all eternity and burning forevermore.A novelette:

Cori has always been a bit on the strange side, but when a gate to Hell—literally—pops up in her backyard, she tumbles down, down, down in to a place filled with beasts waiting to reap her soul for the Devil himself.

Lucky for Cori, she meets Rigel and his gang of misfits who have been trapped for quite a bit. Together, they must formulate a plan to escape, or risk remaining down below for all eternity and burning forevermore.A novelette:

Cori has always been a bit on the strange side, but when a gate to Hell—literally—pops up in her backyard, she tumbles down, down, down in to a place filled with beasts waiting to reap her soul for the Devil himself.

Lucky for Cori, she meets Rigel and his gang of misfits who have been trapped for quite a bit. Together, they must formulate a plan to escape, or risk remaining down below for all eternity and burning forevermore.A novelette:

Cori has always been a bit on the strange side, but when a gate to Hell—literally—pops up in her backyard, she tumbles down, down, down in to a place filled with beasts waiting to reap her soul for the Devil himself.

Lucky for Cori, she meets Rigel and his gang of misfits who have been trapped for quite a bit. Together, they must formulate a plan to escape, or risk remaining down below for all eternity and burning forevermore.

A fresh, irresistible rom-com from debut author Emma Lord about the chances we take, the paths life can lead us on, and how love can be found in the opposite place you expected.

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming ― mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

All’s fair in love and cheese ― that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life ― on an anonymous chat app Jack built.

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate ― people on the internet are shipping them?? ― their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.

New York Times bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed have crafted a resonant, funny, and memorable story about the power of love and resistance.

YES
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate—as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.

NO
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing—with some awkward dude she hardly knows—is beyond her.

MAYBE SO
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybeit’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.

WHEN STARS ARE BRIGHT is a historical Thumbelina retelling with a touch of magic.

For Lina Holt, a Dutch seventeen-year-old with a flair for singing, 1930 is going to be her year. Her long-time boyfriend is about to propose and her mother will finally realize their relationship isn’t a passing phase. But when a stranger snatches her from her backyard, everything changes.

Lina is thrust into the spotlight of a New York vaudeville show where she’s paired with Nik, a mysterious pianist. The two bond during rehearsals and it doesn’t take long before Nik puts himself at risk to confess a hidden truth. Without Lina, the show is in its last season and there’s no way she’ll be allowed to slip through the owner’s fingers. Not when she carries fairy magic in her blood—an gift that turns her song into a dangerously addictive drug.

If Lina ever wants to return home, she must learn who to trust before she’s forced to remain a prisoner on stage forever.

WHEN STARS ARE BRIGHT is a historical Thumbelina retelling with a touch of magic.

A novelette:

Cori has always been a bit on the strange side, but when a gate to Hell—literally—pops up in her backyard, she tumbles down, down, down in to a place filled with beasts waiting to reap her soul for the Devil himself.

Lucky for Cori, she meets Rigel and his gang of misfits who have been trapped for quite a bit. Together, they must formulate a plan to escape, or risk remaining down below for all eternity and burning forevermore.

Sirscha Ashwyn comes from nothing, but she’s intent on becoming something. After years of training to become the queen’s next royal spy, her plans are derailed when shamans attack and kill her best friend Saengo. 

And then Sirscha, somehow, restores Saengo to life. 

Unveiled as the first soulguide in living memory, Sirscha is summoned to the domain of the Spider King. For centuries, he has used his influence over the Dead Wood—an ancient forest possessed by souls—to enforce peace between the kingdoms. Now, with the trees growing wild and untamed, only a soulguide can restrain them. As war looms, Sirscha must master her newly awakened abilities before the trees shatter the brittle peace, or worse, claim Saengo, the friend she would die for. 

Danger lurks within the roots of Forest of Souls, an epic, unrelenting tale of destiny and sisterhood, perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and Susan Dennard.
On a planet at odds with its moon, two enemies struggle to find their place and fulfill their destiny.

Saytera's never been good with magic. She can quench, but not make fire. And what use is that?

In search for answers about her destiny and who she is, she leaves her island for the first time--and almost gets killed. On the run and with no way to return home, she finds refuge in a military academy. Problem is, pistols just won't work when she tries to fire them. And nobody can know where she's from and who she is. How can she find her place and her worth in this reality where none of her talents matter?

Dess lost everything when his entire family was killed many years ago. Hiding his identity and seen as a worthless orphan, he beat the odds and became the best cadet in his program. But that wasn't enough. Forced on a dangerous job, he'll go down to the planet and risk his life in the hopes of bringing peace to his moon.

But he can feel the starfire running through him. He knows there's more, there's magic, and there are Terens, legendary beings who can manipulate fire. And destiny might just make him meet one. Problem is, she's his enemy.

Oooh!  A book that involves a Spider King!  I would love to see how this book turns out!

New York Times bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed have crafted a resonant, funny, and memorable story about the power of love and resistance.

YES
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate—as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.

NO
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing—with some awkward dude she hardly knows—is beyond her.

MAYBE SO
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.New York Times bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed have crafted a resonant, funny, and memorable story about the power of love and resistance.

YES
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate—as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.

NO
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing—with some awkward dude she hardly knows—is beyond her.

MAYBE SO
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybeit’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.

 

Goddess in the Machine

By: Lora Beth Johnson

Expected Publication Date: June 30th, 2020

Buy on:  Book Depository

 When Andra wakes up, she’s drowning. 

Not only that, but she’s in a hot, dirty cave, it’s the year 3102, and everyone keeps calling her Goddess. When Andra went into a cryonic sleep for a trip across the galaxy, she expected to wake up in a hundred years, not a thousand. Worst of all, the rest of the colonists–including her family and friends–are dead. They died centuries ago, and for some reason, their descendants think Andra’s a deity. She knows she’s nothing special, but she’ll play along if it means she can figure out why she was left in stasis and how to get back to Earth. 

Zhade, the exiled bastard prince of Eerensed, has other plans. Four years ago, the sleeping Goddess’s glass coffin disappeared from the palace, and Zhade devoted himself to finding it. Now he’s hoping the Goddess will be the key to taking his rightful place on the throne–if he can get her to play her part, that is. Because if his people realize she doesn’t actually have the power to save their dying planet, they’ll kill her. 

With a vicious monarch on the throne and a city tearing apart at the seams, Zhade and Andra might never be able to unlock the mystery of her fate, let alone find a way to unseat the king, especially since Zhade hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with Andra. And a thousand years from home, is there any way of knowing that Earth is better than the planet she’s woken to?

Oooh!  A book about a goddess!  I can't wait to see where this is going!

So, what upcoming books are you looking forward to?  Please respond below!

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