Waiting on Wednesday--The Winner's Curse, by Marie Rutkoski

There just isn't enough time in the day to read quietly, in part because it's been too cold to take the bus (each bus trip = 45 minutes of reading), and the other problem with cold weather is that everyone, including me, wants to be in the same room as the woodstove, and the happy chatter can get awfully, horribly happy.  I try hard to be glad the dear children are so happy.

But in any event, I failed to finish my Timeslip Tuesday pick in time to review it yesterday, and this morning I must fall back on a Waiting on Wednesday post.  Happily, while indulging in a nice little round of adding forthcoming books with star reviews from Kirkus to my wants list,  I found a book I can wait for with a truly willing heart earlier today (though it strikes me that "a book I'm happy to wait for" is not even faint praise),

In any event.

Marie Rutkoski (she of  the Kronos Chronicles, the first book of which, The Cabinet of Wonders, is especially excellent) has a new book coming out that sounds most interesting.

The Winner's Curse (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, March 2014)

From Amazon:  "As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart."

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.