Wish List Wednesday

The Castle Behind Thorns by Merrie Haskell, May 27, 2014. Published by Katherine Tegan Books.

When Sand wakes up alone in a long-abandoned castle, he has no idea how he got there. The stories all said the place was ruined by an earthquake, and Sand did not expect to find everything inside-from dishes to candles to apples-torn in half or slashed to bits. Nothing lives here and nothing grows, except the vicious, thorny bramble that prevents Sand from leaving. Why wasn't this in the stories?

To survive, Sand does what he knows best-he fires up the castle's forge to mend what he needs to live. But the things he fixes work somehow better than they ought to. Is there magic in the mending, granted by the saints who once guarded this place?

Unexpectedly, Sand finds the lost heir, Perrotte, a girl who shares the castle's astonishing secrets and dark history. Putting together the pieces-of stone and iron, and of a broken life-is harder than Sand ever imagined, but it's the only way to gain their freedom, even with the help of the guardian saints.

Why: I have two very short reasons for wanting to read The Castle Behind Thorns.

1. I really enjoyed The Handbook for Dragon Slayers and am ready to try more of her writing. With her last book, I loved the characters and the story, which put her on my "author's to watch list".
2. It sounds like an interesting read and I must know what happens and how things came about. In short, I'm very curious and intrigued.