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 Simulated, the second book of the Calculated series. With its complicated mathematics, the first book blew me away but in this followup, Jo has lost her gift. It’s a different story, but no less compelling.
From Young-Adult author Nova McBee comes the second book in the gritty, action-filled Calculated series.
Jo Rivers, safely back in Seattle, asks the same question daily—how does a math genius go from taking down international criminals and saving the world economy to living a normal teenage life? The only answer she can come up with is—she doesn’t.
With an overprotective father on her back and Kai on the other side of the world, Jo accepts an offer from Prodigy Stealth Solutions (PSS), who may have found a way to get her gift back. Using a newly developed technology, PSS tries a simulation process on Jo to restore her abilities, but during the attempt, PSS is hacked and a blacklist file containing some of PSS’s most sensitive secrets is stolen. Meanwhile, a mysterious caller who seems to know more than he should delivers a warning to Jo about Kai, who then goes missing.
Despite her father’s concerns, Jo sets off on a risky trip to Tunisia with a PSS team of teen prodigies to find an urgently needed solution for PSS and locate Kai. All the while, Jo has to trust the mysterious informant who, frighteningly, is like no one she has ever met before.
I recently finished Curse of the Specter Queen. If you enjoyed Indiana Jones or The Mummy, this book will appeal to you. Sam is such a relatable MC – intelligent, determined, not afraid to take chances – and she talks to the books she repairs as if they were people. How can you not like that? I’m hoping the author makes this a series.
MAY THE HAZEL BRING YOU WISDOM AND THE ASPEN GUIDE AND PROTECT YOU…
Samantha Knox put away her childish fantasies of archaeological adventure the day her father didn’t return home from the Great War, retreating to the safety of the antique bookshop where she works. But when a mysterious package arrives with a damaged diary inside, Sam’s peaceful life is obliterated. Ruthless men intent on reclaiming the diary are after Sam, setting her and her best friend, along with her childhood crush, on a high-stakes adventure that lands them in the green hills outside Dublin, Ireland. Here they discover an ancient order with a dark purpose – to perform an occult ritual that will raise the Specter Queen, the Celtic goddess of vengeance and death, to bring about a war unlike any the world has ever seen. To stop them, Sam must solve a deviously complex cipher – one that will lead her on a treasure hunt to discover the ancient relic at the heart of the ritual: a bowl carved from the tree of life. Will she find the bowl and stop the curse of the Specter Queen, or will the ancient order bring about the end of the world?
Indiana Jones gets a refresh with this female-driven mystery adventure, set in the 1920s, full of ciphers, ancient relics, and heart-stopping action – the first in a brand-new series!
I’m not familiar with the Rabbits podcast, but an alternate reality game? I jumped to request this from NetGalley. It appeals to every cell of my sci-fi-loving brain.
Conspiracies abound in this surreal and yet all-too-real technothriller in which a deadly underground alternate reality game might just be altering reality itself, set in the same world as the popular Rabbits podcast.
It’s an average work day. You’ve been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come up for air–4:44 pm. You go to check your email, and 44 unread messages have built up. With a shock, you realize it is April 4th–4/4. And when you get in your car to drive home, your odometer reads 44,444. Coincidence? Or have you just seen the edge of a rabbit hole?
Rabbits is a mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses our global reality as its canvas. Since the game first started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. Their identities are unknown. So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, vast wealth, immortality, or perhaps even the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe itself. But the deeper you get, the more deadly the game becomes. Players have died in the past–and the body count is rising.
And now the eleventh round is about to begin. Enter K–a Rabbits obsessive who has been trying to find a way into the game for years. That path opens when K is approached by billionaire Alan Scarpio, the alleged winner of the sixth iteration. Scarpio says that something has gone wrong with the game and that K needs to fix it before Eleven starts or the whole world will pay the price.
Five days later, Scarpio is declared missing. Two weeks after that, K blows the deadline and Eleven begins. And suddenly, the fate of the entire universe is at stake.
Books and Such 
These look like great reads. Thanks for sharing, Teri 🙂
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Two of them sure are – and I have high hopes for Rabbits. Thanks for visiting, Harmony!
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Ooooo! I love the sound of Rabbits! That blurb really hooked me!
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Twisty alternate reality games grabbed me right away, Mae. I’ve seem some good reviews for it.
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Rabbits sounds interesting. Hope you end up enjoying it. I’ve seen excellent reviews for Curse of the Specter Queen. Looking forward to that one. Enjoy the rest of your week, Teri. 😃
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I hope it lives up to the reviews. The Specter Queen was a such a fun book, and the 20s setting was perfect. I think you’ll like that one, Jenn.
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If I make it through the day without buying Curse of the Specter Queen I think I deserve an award….perhaps a new book? That review has me obsessed!!
Have a great week!
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A new book sounds like a perfect reward, lol.
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I am curious about Rabbits! Thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.
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Right? I can’t say I’ve come across a premise quite like this one.
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I saw your IG post on The Curse of the Specter Queen yesterday and thought I need to look at that one. Now, I think I need to read that one ❤️. Looks like a good reading week! Enjoy 😊
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Great suspense, a perfect 20s setting, and a girl who loves books and puzzles – it was a nice break from some heavy fantasy I’ve been reading lately.
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Interesting choices, Teri. I think I have already picked up “Curse of the Scepter Queen,” but will have to check. I just finished reading the Erskine Caldwell classic, “God’s Little Acre.” Wow! There is NO way that book would get published in today’s social climate. I’m now trying to decide how to post a review. 🙂 Thanks for sharing these reads!
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I just looked it up and saw it was originally published in the 30s and have to agree. I can only imagine how it would read now. Thanks for dropping by, Jan!
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That last one sounds really good.
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I thought that one might appeal to you, Craig.
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Yep, Rabbits does sound right up your alley. I look forward to your eventual review.
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Getting ready to start that one later today!
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These sound interesting…particularly Rabbits. Thanks for sharing, Teri!
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It sounds like a mindbender, doesn’t it? Looking forward to starting it.
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I think Rabbits sounds like a made-for-Teri Polen tale. Thanks for sharing.
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You know me well, John, lol.
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Hahahaha
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Curse of the Specter Queen sounds really good. I liked Indiana Jones and Mummy. I don’t see physical format available right now Amazon so will keep an eye on this one.
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Then this would be a good one for you, Yesha. Think it comes out next month?
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That’s an exciting group of books, Teri. The “Queen” description is a real grabber. Stay happy and sassy. Hugs on the wing.
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It was a fun one, Teagan. Some of the scenes I pictured with the same look of Indiana Jones. Hugs!
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Some great reads, Teri. I always like reading the comments and comparing other peoples favourite to my own. I fancy the middle book the most.
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And that’s the one I would have chosen for you, Robbie, lol.
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What variety, Teri! All three sound good to me, though Rabbits is particularly intriguing. I look forward to your review.
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Rabbits is blowing my mind, Diana. I’m about 70% in and have no idea where I’ll wind up by the end.
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That sounds awesome. I love mind-blowing books!
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