February 2018 Releases

Hello everybody and welcome back to another edition of The CW Torch. With the first month of the new year behind us, it is time to look ahead at my most anticipated, upcoming book releases of February 2018. Even though February is the shortest month of the year, there are still plenty of book releases to be excited about this month. Here are just a few of those titles that I can’t wait to read!

The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

Release Date: 02/06/2018

Synopsis:

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never, ever show you. Into her hiding places - the bookstore where she works - comes a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries. Someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets?

Why I Want to Read:

To be honest, I haven’t heard much about this book, until I saw this list of upcoming book releases of 2018. The title and synopsis both intrigued me, as it seems the perfect read for book lovers. It also sounds like a very quirky love story, perfect to read for Valentine’s Day.

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

Release Date: 02/06/2018

Synopsis:

Camellia Beauregard is a Belle, in the opulent world of Orleans. Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orleans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful. But it’s not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite — The Belle chosen by the Queen of Orleans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land. But, once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie — that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined.

Why I Want to Read:

The Belles has been extremely hyped up on Booktube, and for good reason. Not only is the cover absolutely stunning, but the world sounds just as beautiful and interesting as the cover. This novel seems like a very interesting take on beauty and ugliness, and what it truly means to be beautiful.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Release Date: 02/06/2018

Synopsis:

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like a 41 year old, but owing to a rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history — performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

So Tom moves back to his London, his old home, to become a high school teacher — the perfect job for someone who has witnessed the city’s history first hand. Better yet, a captivating French teacher at his school seems fascinated by him. But the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society’s watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance. The one thing he can’t have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.

Why I Want to Read:

Again, How to Stop Time is another book I have heard very little about, but intrigues me so. When reading the synopsis, the first thing that gripped me was this concept of time, and having the ability to live through the ages. It reminds me a bit of Benjamin Button, and I absolutely loved that movie. It’s also a very different POV that I’m not used to reading from, since I mostly read Young Adult novels. Seems like February is all about romance and historical fiction fantasies, I wonder why…

Paris Adrift by E.L. Swift

Release Date: 02/06/2018

Synopsis:

The Time Machine meets Midnight in Paris. Determined to escape her old life, misfit and student geologist Hallie packs up her life in England and heads to Paris. She falls in with the eclectic expat community as a bartender at the notorious Millie’s located next to the Moulin Rouge. Here she meets Gabriela, a bartender who guides her through this strange nocturnal world, and begins to find a new family. But Millie’s is not all that it seems; a bird warns Hallie to get her feathers in order, a mysterious woman shows up claiming to be a chronometrist, and Gabriela is inexplicably unable to leave Paris. Then Hallie discovers a time portal located in the king room. Over the next nine months, irate customers will be the least of her concerns, as she navigates time-faring through the city’s turbulent past and future, feeling in love, and coming to terms with her own precarious sense of self.

Why I Want to Read:

The synopsis is hard to understand, but I think that’s what intrigues me the most about this novel... and it's gorgeous cover. It seems like a magical realism type of book, set in Paris, which is honestly what hooked me the most. This book seems very weird and different, which are two things I love the most, within the YA genre.

Ink, Iron, and Glass by Gwendolyn Clare

Release Date: 02/20/2018

Synopsis:

Can she write a world gone wrong? A certain pen, a certain book, and a certain person can craft entirely new worlds through a branch of science called scriptology. Elsa comes from one such world that was written into creation by her mother— a noted scriptologist. But when her home is attacked, and her mother is abducted, Elsa must cross into the real world and use her own scriptology gifts to find her. In an alternative 19th-century Italy, Elsa finds a secret society of pazzerellones —young people with a gift for mechanics, alchemy, or scriptology— and meets Leo, a gorgeous mechanist with a smart mouth and a tragic past. She recruits these fellow geniuses just as an assassin arrives on their doorstep.

Why I Want to Read:

I love it when author’s write novels that discuss how words have enough power to change the world, and that is basically the essence of this book. The concept of Scriptology sounds really interesting to me, and very real, even though it is set in a fantasy-alternate world. Also, anything set in 19th-century Italy, always catches my eye.

While there are a ton of books coming out in February, these five novels are the one’s that peak my interest the most. I hope you all enjoyed this post, and find some new reading material from it. Most of these books are outside of my usual genres, but their creative concepts are what drew me in. It’s always good to grow outside your comfort zone, because you might not know what you're missing out on!

TTFN and Happy Reading!

-Chynna Williams @TheCWTorch

P.S.

Hey everybody, it’s Chynna, again, from The CW Torch, with some news on my blog. After this blogpost, I will be doing something a little bit differently here, that I hope all of you will enjoy. I have found that I’ve been more excited about writing posts on books, rather than television. As you know, this blog has been a platform for me to talk about all of my favorite books and television series. But, I’ve found that I’ve been lacking in the television department, and there has been a good reason for that. I’ve noticed that it’s been hard for me to write about my favorite shows, because I watch so many, and it’s hard to keep up with all of them. So, I’ve decided to dedicate this blog strictly to book-blogging. Of course, I will still keep you up-to-date on what I’ve been watching, and what my favorite shows of the year are. But, it won’t be as frequent as I have been in the past, meaning that I won’t do anymore recaps of my favorite TV shows. I’ve realized, it’s extremely difficult for me to remember everything that’s happened with all my shows, to be able to do a full recap on them. I hope that you all still continue to read my blog, for those of you who still do, because I am really excited in the direction that I’m going in. Books and reading are something that I am extremely passionate about right now, and I want to continue to share that passion with all of you guys. With this new direction I am going in, I hope to put some more creative posts on this blog as well. To make it more fun for the readers, because I realize that not everyone reads the same books as I do. But, I hope that I can recommend a great few, and help you branch out of your comfort zones. As I have done myself. Along with this Bookish blog, I hope to start up my Youtube channel soon. It will mainly be a vlog-based Youtube channel, to keep you updated on what I have been reading and such. I will keep you updated on my Youtube channel, throughout my blog posts.

I am really excited about this new venture I am taking with this blog, and hope that you all continue to enjoy my writing!