Can't Wait Wednesday #250

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Prepare for a deliciously dark standalone, set in the same world as Of Flame and Fury, where star-crossed enemies gamble with their hearts, their empires, and the fate of a lost god.

On an island ruled by pageantry and pain, power comes at an impossible price.

Inna is the perfect heiress to the Pallo crime family: poised, cunning, untouchable. Behind this glamorous facade, she hunts for the sinister truth behind her older sister's death. Despite the cover-up she’s been led to believe, Inna can feel an enemy lurking in the shadows, or perhaps even hiding in plain sight.

Rylan has sculpted himself into a talented thief. His heart may be guarded, but his purpose is clear: retribution for his family, murdered by Inna's mother. Armed with illusion magic, Rylan plans to steal an ancient riddle from the Pallo vault, one that leads to a sleeping god. Whoever wakes the Serpent King will be granted any wish they desire. Rylan means to claim this power, and with it, Inna's ruin.

But when Inna catches Rylan sneaking past her family’s security, he proposes a deadly alliance that each desperately needs but neither intends to keep – even as bitter attraction threatens to unravel into something more.

I still need to read Mikayla's first book but with this stunning and maybe creepy cover, I couldn't help but add it to my list!

TITLE: Of Venom and Vengeance
AUTHOR: Mikayla Bridge
PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (BYR)
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2026 

The second adult novel from New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw, in which a woman rediscovers the mythical island she stumbled upon as a child—and the man she once met who apparently hasn’t aged—and must choose between the life she’s built and a love that defies the laws of time and nature.

The night Clay Lockhart’s wife dies, a violent storm tears their home—and the eight hectares of land beneath it—away from the Scottish coast, sending it adrift into the Atlantic. Thirty years later, twelve-year-old Ellie Mills discovers the fabled floating island off the coast of Nova Scotia and finds Clay still living in the weatherworn farmhouse perched on its highest hill.

When the island vanishes overnight, Ellie is left questioning whether it ever existed at all. But decades later, now in her thirties, the island resurfaces—and Ellie returns, determined to uncover the truth. What she finds is even Clay hasn’t aged a single day.

Faced with the impossible, Ellie learns that some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved—and that a life shaped by wonder may hold more promise than one bound by certainty.

Spanning centuries and coastlines, Habits of the Sea is a haunting, romantic journey through time, memory, and the invisible tides that pull us home.

Still want to read Shea's first adult novel as well, but yet another mysterious sounding read that made me want to add it to my list anyway! Lol.

TITLE: Habits of the Sea
AUTHOR: Shea Ernshaw
PUBLISHER: Atria Books
GENRE: Mystery
RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2026