WWW Wednesdays: What Am I Reading? #amreading

On By Teri PolenIn WWW Wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a meme from Sam at Taking On A World Of Words

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m currently reading The Red Labyrinth by Meredith Tate.  The cover grabbed me first, and I just started yesterday, but the world-building is intriguing and creative.

The massive labyrinth was built to protect Zadie Kalver’s isolated desert town. Unfortunately, living in the maze’s shadow makes her feel anything but safe. Even without its enchanted deathtraps and illusions, a mysterious killer named Dex lurks in its corridors, terrorizing anyone in his path.

But when Zadie’s best friend vanishes into the labyrinth-and everyone mysteriously forgets he exists- completing the maze becomes her only hope of saving him. In desperation, Zadie bribes the only person who knows the safe path through-Dex-into forming a tenuous alliance.

Navigating a deadly garden, a lethal blood-filled hourglass, and other traps-with an untrustworthy murderer for her guide-Zadie’s one wrong step from certain death. But with time running out before her friend (and secret crush) is lost forever, Zadie must reach the exit and find him. If Dex and the labyrinth don’t kill her first. 

I just finished I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal.  I had mixed feelings about this one.  It’s certainly a timely story, with conflict we read about far too often, but some of the characters’ actions seemed random and illogical.

Lena and Campbell aren’t friends.

Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she’s going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school.

When both girls attend the Friday-night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together.

They aren’t friends. They hardly understand the other’s point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they’re going to survive the night. 

Coming up is Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.  This has been in my TBR for waaaayyy too long, but it fits May’s book club category, so now’s my chance to finally read this book I’ve heard so much about.  The cover for the next in the series was released a couple of weeks ago, and it’s stunning.

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.

Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy. 

43 thoughts on “WWW Wednesdays: What Am I Reading? #amreading”

    1. I’m not very far in, but the world-building is really drawing me in. What the blurb doesn’t mention is that most people in Zadie’s world are ‘Skilled’ and have some kind of power. She’s a ‘Blank’ because she doesn’t.

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    1. Thanks, Laurel-Rain! The characters voices in I’m Not Dying With You Tonight were done incredibly well, and they made the book for me. It comes out in October, if you’re interested.

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  5. What a creative premise to Red Labyrinth. It sounds great.

    I am reading When Danger Calls, an action-suspense novel by Terry Odell, not my usual reading genre, and I love it. It’s so fun when you stretch yourself to read something different and end up enjoying it.

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    1. You’re the first person I’ve heard say that, Jina – but all books aren’t for all people. I’ve heard mixed reviews about King of Scars – and that’s coming from some die-hard Bardugo fans.

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      1. Well, to be fair, there wasn’t anything wrong with the story, I just wasn’t into it. I stopped reading somewhere around the time the father was drowning and the brother dove in to get him? It was really early on in the story and I’d planned to get back to it but sadly, that never happened.

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  13. I’m Not Dying With You Tonight looked interesting, but I had mixed feelings about picking it up.

    I hope you enjoy CoBaB. A lot of people do. You said you haven’t heard anyone say they don’t like it, but … I didn’t really? I mean, it wasn’t bad. It was just okay. A lot less than I expected, given the extreme hype. It felt like a Zutara fic set in a fantasy Nigeria and very much felt like Avatar: The Last Airbender, except with Katara being the chosen one instead of Aang. I am obviously waaaay in the minority here, though. xD

    Here’s my WWW post.

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    1. Well, now I know you and Jina who didn’t care for it as much, lol. I’m kind of familiar with The Last Airbender – my sons were fans, and probably still are. I’m hoping it’s a thumbs up for me.

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      1. I hope you like it, too. I think it’s a better read if you’re not as familiar with AtLA (I knew a lot of the major plot points, basically, because of that). Also, maybe if you don’t have grandiose expectations. I’m familiar with the Orisha and really thought the book would feature the gods more, so that lent a little bit to my disappointment.

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