The Pittsburgh Writer There’s a promise I made myself years ago when it comes to this blog (and life in general): that I’ll always, always be honest with my readers. I hate finding out about someone I may have trusted in the past with reviews who turned out dishonest, or didn’t disclose how they got a particular book. I also don’t trust GLOWING five star reviews, because if they got it from, say, NetGalley, then how can we expect a completely unbiased thought process?
This is why I always try to remember to put a disclaimer at the end of my reviews for books from NetGalley. There are other similar sites, but I know I’ll overwhelm myself if I sign up for anyplace else. Getting my books from local booksellers, Amazon and NetGalley is quite enough for my little brain!
So I thought this might be a fun blog idea: showcase books I’m reading that are coming out in 2023. I may not have my own review up for them yet, but that’s also part of the fun, right? It’s all about pacing oneself and figuring out what books might be a good fit or not. We’ve all been here: we pick up a book we thought we were going to enjoy, but ended up adding it to our DNF pile because it really wasn’t our cup of tea.
I am sad to say that I DNFd (did not finish) seven books in one week. I think I was just in some kind of reading funk. Nothing was what I wanted to read. Or I found some excuse just to not read it at all. Thank God for Kindle Unlimited, am I right? Some of those books ended up being ARCS gifted from NetGalley. So regardless of where the book came from, it will forever be my promise to you that this will never be a cause for concern on your end. If I didn’t like a book, I’ll not finish it. Simple as that. But if I enjoyed a book on any level, then its review will appear over on my reviews page. All this to say: let’s take a look at my upcoming reads gifted via NetGalley!
The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency
Author: Peter Oxley
Publisher: Burning Chair Limited
Release Date: 2 March 2023
Length: 254 pages
Synopsis: London, 1868. The streets are haunted by thieves, murderers… and demons from beyond the Aether.
Spencer and Bart are the city’s most incompetent crooks, and they are in deep trouble. Hunted by both police and their fellow criminals, they are forced to consider the unthinkable —going straight. Forming The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency, they thought their troubles were behind them, but they soon find themselves caught up in a web far more dangerous than they could ever imagine, pitched against demons, criminals and evil magicians.
Why are there so many demons roaming the London streets, and can Spencer and Bart stop them before it’s too late? Who are the mysterious Tappers, and what are they doing with the women they abduct from the streets? Can Spencer and Bart change the habits of a lifetime and not only stay on the right side of the law, but also save the day?
The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency is the new novel from Peter Oxley, the author of the Infernal Aether series. If you like dark gothic adventures with a light-hearted twist, then you’ll love The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency.
The Ghost in Her
Author: Anika Savoy
Publisher: Inkspell Publishing
Release Date: 3 January 2023
Length: 299 pages
Synopsis: Life is hard enough without having to deal with ghosts following you around every day. Maggie O’Connor wishes that she did not have psychic gifts but coming from a long line of Irish female seers, she never had a choice.
Faced with having to care for her departed sister’s orphaned baby, Maggie struggles to pay the rent while working for pennies at a local Bowery sweatshop. Her life goes from bad to worse when a wicked neighbor steals the baby.
Things look up when the handsome son of Maggie’s employer falls for her. Gershom understands that having psychic gifts does not necessarily make a woman crazy. If only the local judge agreed. When Maggie ends up at the New York City Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island, she must find a way to escape and return to Gershom’s loving arms.
Will Maggie be stuck in a madhouse forever? Even if she escapes, can she and Gershom rescue the lost baby? The obstacles seem insurmountable, but anything is possible with the assistance of ghostly helpers and Andrew Carnegie, one of America’s richest men.
The Seeing Garden
Author: Ginny Kubitz Moyer
Publisher: She Writees Press
Release Date: 9 May 2023
Length: 376 pages
Synopsis: It’s 1910, and Catherine Ogden is aching to live a creative and meaningful life. That’s not easy to do when her aunt and uncle—and all of New York society—consider a good marriage to be the pinnacle of feminine achievement. But when Catherine visits Oakview, the Northern California estate of handsome bachelor William Brandt, she thinks that it might be possible to satisfy her family’s hopes as well as her own. In that beautiful place, she finds the promise of a new start and the opportunity to use her artistic gifts in designing the garden. But as Catherine is drawn into William’s hidden life, as well as the secrets of his estate staff, she discovers that Oakview holds both more opportunity and more risk than she ever imagined. It will take all her courage—and the lessons of some shocking revelations from the past—to choose the path that leads to real freedom.
Between the Sky and the Sea
Author: Lisa Williams Kline
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing
Release Date: 1 February 2023
Length: 338 pages
Synopsis: Lavinia Onslow, who delights in the freedom of managing her father’s millinery shop in the heart of Savannah, Georgia, has decided she may defy convention and not marry after all. Yet, in the summer of 1838, on board the elegant steamship Pulaski, bound from Savannah to Baltimore, she exchanges glances with an intriguing young man. What can ensue from a mere glance? Quite a lot, as legend has it. That very night, the boiler of the Pulaski explodes and the ship sinks, drowning most of its wealthy passengers. As Lavinia struggles in the water in her heavy dress, calling out for her father and thinking she will surely perish, someone dives in to rescue her, pulling her up next to him on a makeshift raft made of two deck settees. When she composes herself, she recognizes the intriguing man. There they float, alone but together, surrounded by ocean, thirty miles off the coast of North Carolina, desperate for a life-saving miracle.
I know that there will be many more titles to come, but I didn’t want to overwhelm anyone with so much bookish content. I have been reading an awful lot as of late, and hardly any of it’s been anything history related. So I hope to dive into some more local history after Easter, when the world begins to warm and I can get out to explore some more of the ‘burgh. For now, those are some upcoming releases to look forward to in 2023!
