Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is Misery’s Wife by Joan Tierney!

Misery's Wife by Joan Tierney
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Portuguese cast, trans sapphic MC, F/F
Published on: 14th July 2026
Goodreads

A queer and cli-fi reimagining of a Portuguese folktale about a young trans woman who must save her elder sisters from the King of the Air, the King of the Sea, and the King of Misery

Elixane lives in a village ravaged by waves, storms, and the encroaching forest. When she was too young to remember, her elder sisters each picked a flower and were whisked away: Borboleta to marry the King of the Air, Adelina to marry the King of the Sea, and her favorite sister Dores to marry the King of Misery, who promised: No one will ever love you as I will.

So when Elixane receives a mysterious message from a toad, she sets out to rescue Dores from the Kingdom of Misery. She is aided by the jester-like Marquês of Luck and his sister Jinx, the contrary and beautiful Marquesa of Misfortune. On the way, she’ll have to reunite with her sisters and their magical husbands, break several unbreakable curses—and, perhaps, find a magical love of her own.

I don’t often use these Wednesday posts to feature books that are on my Unmissable list, because, well – you can see my Unmissable list any time you like.

BUT THIS IS OUT NEXT WEEK!!! And what if you somehow HAVEN’T heard of it yet??? Clearly it’s my responsibility to yell at my fellow readers about it!

This is a ridiculously beautiful book. I know; I got to read it early. It was one of my most anticipated books of this year, and it lived up to ALL MY HOPES. It’s written much like a fairytale, but it’s actually set a bit in our future, after climate collapse has wiped out most of humanity and nature has gotten Strange – all the beasties are bigger than they used to be, and lots of them talk. Trees are often people. Humans no longer believe themselves to be at the top of the food-chain and work hard to live in balance with the nature around them.

It’s lyrical, gorgeous. Our (trans and sapphic!) main character goes on a quest to find her long-lost sisters: the READER knows, at that point, what’s happened to them, but she doesn’t. And there are magical objects won by being good to animals; fantasy realms under the sea and deep within the woods; good luck and bad luck are characters, who spend a lot of the book in human form. It’s this fantastic blend of whimsy and something – primal, feral? It feels so incredibly true, even with all the extremely magical magic everywhere. The way all the best fairytales do.

A small but important chunk of it is about depression; a much bigger arc revolves around an endless war where none of the sides know what started it. Which means a lot of the book is about…different kinds of strength, and moving past angers and hates that only hurt you. And love! Lots of love! Lots of KINDS of love, including sisterly, for sisters you’ve never met. Which is an odd and interesting dynamic all by itself.

I call it fairytale-esque, but in the older sense, ie, it’s not all pastel and toothless. The writing is often wry; Tierney is constantly inviting the reader to share in the joke she’s playing on her characters. You could give Misery’s Wife to a teenager without worry, but there’s an undercurrent, a layer, that is just for the more worldly-wise. If that makes any sense. It’s something about the tone, and something about the snark, and something about how ridiculous all the husbands are.

I adore it utterly and plan on re-reading it come release day!

You can read an excerpt here, where it says Read Excerpt beneath the book cover!

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