Waiting On Wednesday (41)

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, in which we highlight an upcoming book release we're eagerly awaiting.

This week I'm waiting on The Springsweet by Saundra Mitchell, the sequel to The Vespertine. The first book was mysterious and alluring, and even with a new main character this time around, I hope it's just as good.

It’s a long way from Baltimore to Oklahoma Territory. But Zora Stewart will go any distance to put the tragic events of her sixteenth summer behind her. So this city girl heads to the tiny frontier town of West Glory to help her young widowed aunt keep her homestead going.

When another Baltimorean shows up in West Glory, Zora couldn’t be more surprised. Theo de la Croix made the long trip out west hoping to court Zora, whom he has long admired from afar.
But Zora has developed an attraction to a rather less respectable fellow: Emerson Birch, a rough-mannered young “sooner” whose fertile land is coveted.

As Zora begins to suspect that there may be more than luck behind Emerson’s good land, she discovers an extraordinary, astonishing power of her own: the ability to sense water under the parched earth. When her aunt hires her out as a “springsweet” to advise other settlers where to dig their wells, Zora feels the burden of holding the key to something so essential to survival in this unforgiving land.

Even more, she finds herself longing for love the way the prairie thirsts for water. Maybe, in the wildness of the territories, Zora can finally move beyond simply surviving and start living.

[Synopsis by Goodreads]

The Springsweet will be released by Houghton Harcout on the 17th of April, 2012.

Feel free to leave a link to your own Waiting On Wednesday post in the comments, and I'll be sure to have a look.

Review of The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

I heard about The Vespertine after it's cover was revealed, due to the hype about it in the YA author community on Twitter. I have www.netgalley.com to thank for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.





The Vespertine is set in 1889 Baltimore, where our protagonist, Amelia, is sent by her brother, August, to find a suitable husband. There, she stays with the Stewards and quickly finds herself friends with Zora Steward.

There, she also develops her inexplicable power to foresee the future. Word of her skill spreads, and soon she's sought after to tell fortunes. But when one of her darkest premonitions comes to pass, people have to wonder, does Amelia see these events, or cause them?

There are also interludes in the story which detail Amelia's life back with her brother. This effectively foreshadows an event that will drive her from Baltimore, which compliments her own power of premonitions: though she never foresees her own future, the story does.

The first thing I noticed about The Vespertine was how the prose is written in the language one would have used in 1889. The setting felt extremely well researched and believable - what I love in historical fiction.

In The Vespertine, also, the paranormal aspect is subtle, and takes a backseat to the romantic aspect. The romance itself added to the believability of the setting, in that it followed the social rules of course of the time.

If there was anything about The Vespertine that I less than loved, it would have been how long it took to get to the complication. But with Saundra Mitchell's beautiful way of storytelling and world building I would be lying if I said the lead up to the complication was at all dull.

The ending, without spoiling it, really hit the spot. It left just enough loose ends to maintain its mystique and tied up just enough to not be open-ended.

I give The Vespertine 5 out of 5, and now go off to add The Springsweet, the upcoming companion, to my already long TBR list.

Teaser Tuesday

. Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.

The point of Teaser Tuesdays is to share teasers (not spoilers) from the book you're currently reading.

So, I'm currently reading The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell, and my teaser is:

"Stop it," Zora scolded.
"I didn't speak!"
"Your pinched little face did." Zora abandoned her punch. "You're lovely tonight, and he would be of the lowest sort to summon you without intent."