On My Wishlist (#2) - An Accidental Water Theme

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday through Friday. It's where we list all the books we want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. I figure it's a great way to make me go through my ever-expanding wishlist and really look at some of the things on there.

It's also an event that you can join in with by linking your own OMW post with Mr. Linky at Book Chick City. If you want to know more click here.

I didn't notice that all of my books had a water theme until I was adding pictures to the post.

The first book seems like the normal outgoing-twin-died-quieter-twin-still-lives-in-her-shadow type book. But it's not. The shy twin dies and the previously outgoing twin closes in on herself, growing into a quiet and lonely life. And the cover is really cool.

The Last Will of Moira Leahy: A Novel by Therese Walsh

Goodreads Summary:

A LOST SHADOWMoira Leahy struggled growing up in her prodigious twin’s shadow; Maeve was always more talented, more daring, more fun. In the autumn of the girls’ sixteenth year, a secret love tempted Moira, allowing her to have her own taste of adventure, but it also damaged the intimate, intuitive relationship she’d always shared with her sister. Though Moira’s adolescent struggles came to a tragic end nearly a decade ago, her brief flirtation with independence will haunt her sister for years to come.

A LONE WOMAN
When Maeve Leahy lost her twin, she left home and buried her fun-loving spirit to become a workaholic professor of languages at a small college in upstate New York. She lives a solitary life now, controlling what she can and ignoring the rest–the recurring nightmares, hallucinations about a child with red hair, the unquiet sounds in her mind, her reflection in the mirror. It doesn’t help that her mother avoids her, her best friend questions her sanity, and her not-quite boyfriend has left the country. But at least her life is ordered. Exactly how she wants it.

A SHARED PAST
Until one night at an auction when Maeve wins a keris, a Javanese dagger that reminds her of her lost youth and happier days playing pirates with Moira in their father’s boat. Days later, a book on weaponry is nailed to her office door, followed by the arrival of anonymous notes, including one that invites her to Rome to learn more about the blade and its legendary properties. Opening her heart and mind to possibility, Maeve accepts the invitation and, with it, also opens a window into her past.

Ultimately, she will revisit the tragic November night that shaped her and Moira’s destinies–and learn that nothing can be taken at face value–as one sister emerges whole and the other’s score is finally settled.

The Last Will of Moira Leahy is a mesmerizing and romantic consideration of the bonds of family, the impossibility of forgetting, and the value of forgiveness.

This next books seems to be popping up all over the place lately. I first heard about it on Twitter, but cannot remember who had mentioned it. but I checked it out, it sounded cool and I put it on my wishlist. It too comes with a pretty rad cover.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Goodreads Summary:

Mara Dyer believes life can’t get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been
through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.

Last on my list is is a YA historical fiction/ romance set during the Johnstown Flood. My father grew up in Portage, just outside of Johnstown, so I've grown up hearing flood stories. My family has visited the Johnstown Flood museum several times, and if you live in the area I highly recommend it. Since I grew up hearing about the flood, I wanted to share a little bit of information about it.

Fourteen miles above Johnstown was the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, a prestigious club which counted people like Andrew Carnegie as members. The club had created a pleasure lake by building an earthen dam (that was not well maintained). In an area was prone to flooding, that's a careless and dangerous attitude to take towards a dam. On May 31, 1889, when water levels started to rise, nobody thought much of it. When the water kept rising, the club feared the dam would fail and worked frantically to strengthen it. Unfortunately it didn't work. (It's estimated that the dam held back 20 million tons of water before finally giving way.) When the earthen dam broke, a great wave swept downhill and made it's way toward Johnstown. "Within the hour, a body of water which engineers at the time estimated moved into the valley with the force of Niagara Falls, rolled into Johnstown with 14 miles of accumulated debris, which included houses, barns, animals and people..." (The Johnstown Flood Museum). The debris then got stopped by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's Stone Bridge, where it caught on fire.

All in all, the Johnstown flood killed 2,209 people. The courts declared the dam break an act of God, and the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was not held responsible for not properly building or maintaining their dam.

Three rivers Rising: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood by Jame Richards

Goodreads Summary:

Sixteen-Year-Old Celstia spends every summer with her family at the elite resort at Lake Conemaugh, a shimmering Allegheny Mountain reservoir held in place by an earthen dam. Tired of the society crowd, Celestia prefers to swim and fish with Peter, the hotel’s hired boy. It’s a friendship she must keep secret, and when companionship turns to romance, it’s a love that could get Celestia disowned. These affairs of the heart become all the more wrenching on a single, tragic day in May, 1889. After days of heavy rain, the dam fails, unleashing 20 million tons of water onto Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the valley below. The town where Peter lives with his father. The town where Celestia has just arrived to join him. This searing novel in poems explores a cross-class romance—and a tragic event in U. S. history.