Waiting on Wednesday: Small Game, Sugaring Off, The Switch, and The Lair

        

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. I changed it and added movies as well as books

Small Game by Blair Braverman

Release date: November 1st

What it's about:

A gripping debut novel about a survival reality show gone wrong that leaves a group of strangers stranded in the northern wilds

Four strangers and six weeks: this is all that separates Mara from one life-changing payday. She was surprised when reality TV producers came knocking at Primal Instinct--the survival school where she teaches rich clients not to die during a night outdoors--and even more shocked to be cast in their new show, Civilization. Now she just has to live off the land with her fellow survivors for long enough to get the prize money.

Whisked by helicopter to an undisclosed location, Mara meets her teammates: The grizzled outdoorsman. The Eagle Scout. The white-collar professional. And Ashley, the beautiful but inexperienced one who just wants to be famous. Mara's unusual, rugged childhood has prepared her for the discomforts and hard work ahead. But trusting her fellow survivors? Not part of Mara's skill set.

When the cast wakes one morning to find something has gone horribly wrong, fear ripples through the group. Are the producers giving them an extra challenge? Or are they wrapped up in something more dangerous? Soon Mara and the others face terrifying decisions as "survival" becomes more than a game.

A provocative exploration of the comforts, rituals, and connections we depend upon, Small Game is a gripping page-turner and a poignant story about finding the courage to build a new life from the ground up.

Sugaring Off by Gillian French

Release date: November 1st

What it's about:

A dazzling and evocative novel about love and loss—with a dash of thrilling mystery—for fans of Mindy McGinnis and Courtney Summers.

Left partially deaf by an early childhood tragedy that ended in her father’s incarceration, seventeen-year-old Owl is now a tracker, an explorer, a wildlife enthusiast, and always her freest self while hiking the steep forested acres surrounding her aunt and uncle’s maple sugar farm, now her home. Owl and her aunt and uncle never speak of the brutal attack that brought her to them. On the day she confronts a stranger trespassing among the maples, Owl’s sheltered existence is blown wide open by Cody—the magnetic, dangerous young man hired to help with the sugaring off. Cody seems to see her, the real her, in a way no one else does. Together, they challenge each other, learn to question their preconceptions, and risk a romance their families are desperate to stop.

But when Owl learns that some part of Cody is compelled toward self-destruction, she must make a difficult decision about their relationship at the same time she’s grappling with her father’s recent release from prison. And when a seemingly motiveless local murder draws attention to Cody, Owl realizes that Cody is in far more serious trouble than anyone knows—and it’s followed him to her mountain

The Switch by Roland Smith

Release date: November 1st 

What it's about:

What happens when the power goes out? And doesn't come back for days... weeks... even longer? Master of middle-grade suspense Roland Smith explores the possibilities in this action-packed novel!

Henry lives with his parents and extended family on a 40-acre property they all call the Aunt Farm. Even with dozens of aunts, uncles, cousins, and animals running around, life on the farm has always been comfortable and routine. But that all changes the day a passenger jet drops out of the sky and onto their land. And then all the phones go dead... And the cars won't start... Having spent a lifetime relying on the comfort and convenience of electricity and technology, now Henry and his family have only one hope for survival: each other.

The Lair

Release date: October 28

Where to watch: VOD

What it's about:

On her final combat mission across the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, Royal Air Force fighter pilot Lt. Kate Sinclair’s (Charlotte Kirk) jet is shot down over one of the most dangerous rebel strongholds. When insurgents come after her at the crash site, she finds refuge in a long since abandoned underground bunker. After tracking Sinclair into the depths of the bunker, the insurgents accidentally awaken a man-made deadly biological weapon known as the Ravagers – half human, half alien and hungry for human flesh.