Whatcha Reading Wednesday - Midnight on the Celestial

Midnight on the Celestial

by Julia Alexandra

What they say: Roe Damarcus has never been afraid of the dead. Her power to summon spirits has awed the guests of her esteemed family’s galas for as long as she can remember. Her future is certain, and her gift will be another shining jewel in the Damarcus legacy.

But when she fails her realm’s trial to keep her magic and is deemed too dangerous for society, she faces a harrowing choice: give up her gift or serve a punishment sentence aboard the Celestial, a luxurious magical cruise ship where staff members compete for guest votes to earn a coveted retrial.

As a concierge, Roe juggles the demands of affluent guests, cruel bosses, and the suspicion that an infuriatingly handsome silks performer, Ivander, is determined to keep her from a retrial.

But the true dangers surface after her shift ends when the Celestial transforms into halls of nightmares that kill staff members after dark. Faced with the reality of serving aboard, Roe begins to question the ship, trials, and the system that put her there. But the moment Roe sinks into the ship's dark history, she's wrongly framed for a guest's murder. Vowing to conjure her own second chance, Roe will use whatever power she has to uncover the secrets of the ship, her family, and their entwined bloody past... before she becomes the Celestial’s next victim.

More info

Whatcha Reading Wednesday - What We Did to Survive

What We Did to Survive

by Megan Lally

What they say: Hannah is having an incredible spring break. A week at a resort in Mexico with her best friend Emmy and her family is perfect for de-stressing from senior year, even if it’s awkward being around Emmy's older brother, Jackson, who she’s had a crush on for as long as she can remember.

Still, the beach is gorgeous. So is the guy they meet in the surf. Except Hannah is now the third wheel in Emmy’s vacation romance.

Eager to impress Emmy, her wealthy new boyfriend charters a private sailboat to make the most of their last day in paradise, and Hannah and Jackson are invited along. As the clouds roll in and the skies darken, their boat is the only one leaving the marina. And the further they get into open water, the more unsettled Hannah becomes. A storm is brewing onboard that’s as deadly as the one racing toward them. Forget surviving graduation. Who will make it back to land alive?

More info

Whatcha Reading Wednesday - Every Last Liar

Every Last Liar

by Kate Francis

What they say: On the first anniversary of a tragic fire at their high school, seven teenagers jump at the chance of a luxury desert retreat. But when they're left at a ramshackle motel and a sinister text message accuses them of complicity in the fire, they realize someone is playing a deadly game of revenge.

The rules? Every hour, one of them must sacrifice themselves, leaving the motel grounds to be killed, until only one survivor remains. Otherwise, they all die.

As the countdown begins, the stranded students confront the trauma of the previous year and decide who among them deserves to live, and who to die.

With time running out, can they work together to uncover who's running the game before the bodies pile up? Or will it be survival of the fittest?

More info

Whatcha Reading Wednesday - A Scar like a River

A Scar like a River

by Lisa Graff

What they say: Everyone assumes that the day Fallon got the awful scar across her face must have been the worst day of her life. But when Uncle Geebie dies, his funeral starts a cascade of events that force Fallon to confront the big and small tragedies she has lived through, all of which feel worse than Scar Day. Her best friends Trent and Darcy are crushing on each other and feel more distant than ever, the school play in which Fallon is cast as the lead is spiraling out of control, and her Mom’s grief has her in despair. Still, none of these things compare to the worst day of her life—not even close.

Through unflinching prose and with a pitch-perfect voice, Lisa Graff explores the power of confronting the past as a way to heal in the present.

More info

Whatcha Reading Wednesday - Queen of Faces

Queen of Faces

by Petra Lord

What they say: A desperate girl at a cutthroat magical academy faces a choice between life and death: become an assassin for the enchanted elite or watch her decaying body draw its last breath.

Anabelle Gage is trapped in a male body, and it’s rotting from the inside out. In Caimor, where the magical elite buy and swap designer bodies like clothes, Ana can’t afford to escape her tattered form. When she fails the entrance exam to the prestigious Paragon Academy, her last hope of earning a new body implodes. As the clock ticks down to her last breath, she’s forced to use her illusion magic to steal a healthy chassis—before her own kills her. 

But Ana is caught by none other than the headmaster of Paragon Academy, who poses a brutal ultimatum: face execution for her crime or become a mercenary at his command. Revolt brews in Caimor's smog-choked underworld, and the wealthy and powerful will stop at nothing to take down the rebels and the infamous dark witch at their helm, the Black Wraith.

With no choice but to accept, Ana will steal, fight, and kill her way to salvation. But her survival depends on a dangerous band of an impulsive assassin, a brooding bombmaker, and an alluring exile who might just spell her ruin. As Ana is drawn into a tangled web of secrets, the line between villain and hero shatters—and Ana must decide which side is worth dying for.

More info

Whatcha Reading Wednesday - The Danger of Small Things

The Danger of Small Things

by Caryl Lewis

What they say: Imagine a world where honeybees have died out. It’s a patriarchal world where famines are rife. It’s a world without art, without books, without plays. Girls are sent away from home, forced to pollinate crops by hand with brushes and to marry as soon as they can. Inhabiting this world is Jess and her friends Cass, Deva, and Ruth. But even if one fourteen‑year‑old knows that brushes weren’t invented for pollinating, can she really stoke a revolution?

More info