Happy last Wednesday of the month, and welcome to another WWW Wednesday! I enjoyed doing this challenge from Taking on a World of Words a handful of times last year, and thought it might be fun to partake once a month in 2024. I didn’t think it was possible, but I have surpassed the total number of books read in January. I revisited a bestselling fantasy series, started a long-awaited new release, and delved into some important life topics. Hope you enjoy!
WWW Wednesday
WWW Wednesday is a weekly challenge or tag for bookish bloggers. It’s used to share:
- What you’ve just finished reading
- What you’re currently reading
- What you plan to read next
What I just finished reading
We Could Be Heroes – Mike Chen
I absolutely loved this book! My MMC read it first, and he enjoyed it but found some minor issues and plot holes. Those don’t bother me so much lol, and I really enjoyed the premise and the fact that this ISN’T an enemies-to-lovers storyline! The world needs more books like this one.
An extraordinary and emotional adventure about unlikely friends and the power of choosing who you want to be.
Jamie woke up in an empty apartment with no memory and only a few clues to his identity, but with the ability to read and erase other people’s memories—a power he uses to hold up banks to buy coffee, cat food and books.
Zoe is also searching for her past, and using her abilities of speed and strength…to deliver fast food. And she’ll occasionally put on a cool suit and beat up bad guys, if she feels like it.
When the archrivals meet in a memory-loss support group, they realize the only way to reveal their hidden pasts might be through each other. As they uncover an ongoing threat, suddenly much more is at stake than their fragile friendship. With countless people at risk, Zoe and Jamie will have to recognize that sometimes being a hero starts with trusting someone else—and yourself.
The Maze Runner books 1-2
I read the first two books of the Maze Runner series with the intent to finish it so I could finally read the SEQUEL I didn’t know existed… and the third book is still on hold at the Library!! I have now gone to my local Half Price Books and purchased the entire series. Problem solved!
If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Everything is going to change.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
Remember. Survive. Run.
Talking Back to Purity Culture – Rachel Joy Welcher
I discovered this book while I was out of town and finished the whole thing in a couple of days! I think I grew up in the tail end of the Purity Culture movement, but the things this author has to say were still very relevant to me. Highly recommend! She has a very compassionate and balanced point of view on the matter.
It’s time to talk back. The generation born into evangelical purity culture has grown up, and many have started families of their own. But as time goes on, it’s becoming more evident that many still struggle with purity culture’s complicated legacy–its idolization of virginity, its mixed messages about modesty and lust, and its promise of a healthy marriage and great sex for those who follow the rules. In Talking Back to Purity Culture, Rachel Joy Welcher reviews the movement carefully, examining its teachings through the lens of Scripture. Compassionate, faithful, and wise, she charts a path forward for evangelicals in the ongoing debates about sexuality–one that rejects legalism and license alike, steering us back instead to the good news of Jesus. It’s time to talk back to purity culture–and this book is ready to jump-start the conversation.
Threads That Bind & Hearts That Cut – Kika Hatzopoulou
The first of these books was on my summer TBR list for the longest time! Checked it out from the library, then ended up listening to the audiobook. I was thrilled to discover that there was a sequel, and have now finished that audiobook too! Such a good series, compelling sci-fi fantasy with a touch of real-world social commentary. Highly recommend!
In a world where the children of the gods inherit their powers, a descendant of the Greek Fates must solve a series of impossible murders to save her sisters, her soulmate, and her city.
Descendants of the Fates are always born in threes: one to weave, one to draw, and one to cut the threads that connect people to the things they love and to life itself. The Ora sisters are no exception. Io, the youngest, uses her Fate-born abilities as a private investigator in the half-sunken city of Alante.
But her latest job leads her to a horrific discovery: somebody is abducting women, maiming their life-threads, and setting the resulting wraiths loose in the city to kill. To find the culprit, she must work alongside Edei Rhuna, the right hand of the infamous Mob Queen—and the boy with whom she shares a rare fate-thread linking them as soul mates before they’ve even met.
But the investigation turns personal when Io’s estranged oldest sister turns up on the arm of her best suspect. Amid unveiled secrets from her past and her growing feelings for Edei, Io must follow clues through the city’s darkest corners and unearth a conspiracy that involves some of the city’s most powerful players—before destruction comes to her own doorstep.
What I’m currently reading
So Let Them Burn – Kamilah Cole
Whip-smart and immersive, this Jamaican-inspired fantasy follows a gods-blessed heroine who’s forced to choose between saving her sister or protecting her homeland.
Faron Vincent can channel the power of the gods. Five years ago, she used her divine magic to liberate her island from its enemies, the dragon-riding Langley Empire. But now, at seventeen, Faron is all powered up with no wars to fight. She’s a legend to her people and a nuisance to her neighbors.
When she’s forced to attend an international peace summit, Faron expects that she will perform tricks like a trained pet and then go home. She doesn’t expect her older sister, Elara, forming an unprecedented bond with an enemy dragon—or the gods claiming the only way to break that bond is to kill her sister.
As Faron’s desperation to find another solution takes her down a dark path, and Elara discovers the shocking secrets at the heart of the Langley Empire, both must make difficult choices that will shape each other’s lives, as well as the fate of their world.
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn – Mark Lawrence
A boy has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities.
A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.
The world has never even noticed them. That’s about to change.
Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.
What I want to read next
The Book That Broke the World – Mark Lawrence
We fight for the people we love. We fight for the ideas we want to be true.
Evar and Livira stand side by side and yet far beyond each other’s reach. Evar is forced to flee the library, driven before an implacable foe. Livira, trapped in a ghost world, has to recover her book if she’s to return to her life. While Evar’s journey leads him outside into the vastness of a world he’s never seen, Livira’s destination lies deep inside her own writing, where she must wrestle with her stories in order to reclaim the volume in which they were written.
And all the while, the library quietly weaves thread to thread, bringing the scattered elements of Livira’s old life – friends and foe alike – back together beneath new skies.
Long ago, a lie was told, and with the passing years it has grown and spread, a small push leading to a chain of desperate consequences. Now, as one edifice topples into the next with ever-growing violence, it threatens to break the world. The secret war that defines the library has chosen its champions and set them on the board. The time has come when they must fight for what they believe, or lose everything.
The Library Trilogy is about many things: adventure, discovery, and romance, but it’s also a love letter to books and the places where they live. The focus is on one vast and timeless library, but the love expands to encompass smaller more personal collections, and bookshops of all shades too.
The Kill Order – James Dashner
It’s the end of the line.
WICKED has taken everything from Thomas: his life, his memories, and now his only friends—the Gladers. But it’s finally over. The trials are complete, after one final test.
Will anyone survive?
What WICKED doesn’t know is that Thomas remembers far more than they think. And it’s enough to prove that he can’t believe a word of what they say.
The truth will be terrifying.
Thomas beat the Maze. He survived the Scorch. He’ll risk anything to save his friends. But the truth might be what ends it all.
The time for lies is over.
c /
;’///////////////////////////////////////////] Tigris says hi lol
How Harry Cast His Spell – John Granger
Found this one at HPB while I was hunting for Maze Runner books and I’m super excited about it; this guy does what I do here, but in a whole book! So cool!
More than any other book of the last fifty years (and perhaps ever), the Harry Potter novels have captured the imagination of children and adults around the world. Yet no one has ever been able to unlock the secret of Harry’s wild popularity . . . until now. Updated and expanded since its original publication as Looking for God in Harry Potter (and now containing final conclusions based on the entire series), How Harry Cast His Spell explains why the books meet our longing to experience the truths of life, love, and death; help us better understand life and our role in the universe; and encourage us to discover and develop our own gifts and abilities.
Goodreads
Storm Runner – J. C. Cervantes
Zane has always enjoyed exploring the dormant volcano near his home in New Mexico, even though hiking it is challenging. He’d much rather hang out there with his dog, Rosie, than go to middle school, where kids call him Sir Limps a Lot, McGimpster, or Uno — for his one good leg. What Zane doesn’t know is that the volcano is a gateway to another world and he is at the center of a powerful prophecy.
A new girl at school, Brooks, informs him that he’s destined to release an evil god from the ancient Maya relic he is imprisoned in — unless she can find and remove it first. Together they return to the volcano, where all kinds of crazy happens. Brooks turns into a hawk, a demon attacks them in a cave, and Rosie gives her all while trying to protect Zane. When Zane decides to save his dog no matter the cost, he is thrust into an adventure full of surprising discoveries, dangerous secrets, and an all-out war between the gods, one of whom happens to be his father. To survive, Zane will have to become the Storm Runner. But how can he run when he can’t even walk well without a cane?
Feisty heroes, tricky gods, murderous demons, and spirited giants are just some of the pleasures that await in this fresh and funny take on Maya mythology, as rich and delicious as a mug of authentic hot chocolate.
Give Me A Sign – Anna Sortino
Lilah is stuck in the middle. At least, that’s what having a hearing loss seems like sometimes—when you don’t feel “deaf enough” to identify as Deaf or hearing enough to meet the world’s expectations. But this summer, Lilah is ready for a change.
When Lilah becomes a counselor at a summer camp for the deaf and blind, her plan is to brush up on her ASL. Once there, she also finds a community. There are cute British lifeguards who break hearts but not rules, a YouTuber who’s just a bit desperate for clout, the campers Lilah’s responsible for (and overwhelmed by)—and then there’s Isaac, the dreamy Deaf counselor who volunteers to help Lilah with her signing.
Romance was never on the agenda, and Lilah’s not positive Isaac likes her that way. But all signs seem to point to love. Unless she’s reading them wrong? One thing’s for sure: Lilah wanted change, and things here are certainly different than what she’s used to.
In her sweet and swoony debut, Anna Sortino delivers a poignant coming-of-age story and a revelatory exploration of Deaf culture, its vastness, and its beautiful complexities.
The Story of With
I was recommended this book by one of the Christian authors I follow on Instagram, and I really, really want to read it!
We go through the day without much much hope, without dreams being realized, without deep friendships, and without experiencing the active presence of God. We’re told to run faster, do more, chase success. But we know deep down that isn’t the answer.
There is a better way to live, love, and create.
You don’t need to downsize your dreams. You don’t need more lessons. You need an awakened heart. And that starts by realizing the very things you’re most passionate about are actually your invitation into a life of deeper identity, intimacy, and imagination with God. As you discover who you were created to be, you’ll join a growing bohemian fellowship pursuing their heart and art in new ways.
The Story of With is your roadmap for understanding your story (it’s far more mythic than you might think) and dreaming bigger dreams. It’s a fantastical allegory fused with practical application that offers fresh perspective, restored hope, and a rebirth of creativity. It’s a journey into greater freedom, bigger dreams, and truer success.
Conclusion
I hope you’ve enjoyed this two-month combined WWW Wednesday post. What are you currently reading? Have any recommendations for me? I’d love to add to my mental TBR pile!
Happy reading!
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