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 Sweet Saints by Cassandra Khaw!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Cosy Fantasy
Published on: 30th March 2027
Goodreads
A cozy fantasy in which a bounty hunter, hired by enchanted creatures whose sisters have been kidnapped by human hunters and kept as wives, finds a strange baby left on her doorstep—and raises it until two selkies lay competing claims to the child.
As a bounty hunter for animal wives, Sister Hound makes her living rescuing selkies, fox-brides, and other enchanted creatures who have been kidnapped by human men and kept, often against their wills, as wives. Hired by their kin, she hunts down the men who keep them and brings the stolen sisters home.
One morning, someone leaves a baby on her doorstep. Reluctantly, Sister Hound takes the child in, and begins raising it as her own—until she meets a former selkie, now a human woman, who offers to take the baby off her hands. When another selkie shows up, unannounced, and demands the baby return to the sea, Sister Hound must make an impossible decision: to whom does this singular/peculiar, occasionally skinless baby belong to?
I have been trying VERY HARD to focus these Can’t-Wait posts on books that are arriving in the near future – like within the next few months of when I post – BUT I CANNOT NOT-FEATURE THIS ONE IMMEDIATELY! Even if we have to wait until March for it!
We are getting COSY FANTASY from CASSANDRA KHAW.
WHAT.
WHAT.
CASSANDRA KHAW.
COSY FANTASY.
FOUR WORDS I NEVER IMAGINED COULD GO TOGETHER!!!
Because, if you don’t know, Khaw writes REALLY HARDCORE HORROR. Like, really. I adore their writing – their sci fi All-Consuming World is one of my all-time favourites, mostly because of the swoonworthy prose. But I haven’t been able to read many of their other books, because I am kind of a horror-wimp! (Though I did love, and recommend, their book The Salt Grows Heavy.)
The idea of a horror author pivoting to cosy fantasy is such a whimsical type of whiplash that I am utterly delighted by it ANYWAY. But CASSANDRA KHAW specifically? THIS MEANS A BOOK OF THEIRS I AM DEFINITELY GOING TO BE ABLE TO READ!!!
I’d be delighted no matter WHAT the book was about – but this is such an objectively awesome premise!!! It’s about someone who RESCUES ANIMAL-WIVES! And receives a RANDOM DOORSTEP-BABY! There are SELKIES!!!
And since this is Khaw we’re talking about, I would be genuinely shocked if this isn’t queer. Everything of theirs I’ve read or tried to read has been queer AF, so the odds are excellent that this will be too!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
It might even be the start of a series??? The Edelweiss listing claims it belongs to a series called Singularity, but I couldn’t find out anything about that. Is it a series Khaw will be writing, or one that multiple authors might contribute to? No idea. But excited to find out!
I have already smashed the preorder button, OBVIOUSLY. I strongly suggest you do the same!
Huh, I also never would have thought Khaw would put out a cozy book, but I’m already starting to load up their backlog after loving The Salt Grows Heavy. I’m curious if their prose style will change significantly for this. Cozy typically doesn’t feature a big vocabulary in its writing
I hope their prose style DOESN’T change, that would be heartbreaking! For me, anyway. I think that’s part of why I’m so excited, what you said about cosy fantasy usuallyyyyyy not having a huge vocabulary. My hope is that one by Khaw would not follow that rule :D
Now that you mention it, the upcoming novella by Hadeer Elsbai, You Just Have to Ask Me, is also in the “Singularity” series. I wonder if this is a new novella series commissioned to involve various authors?
I really don’t know WHAT made me think it might be a multi-author thing, but SOMETHING is giving me that vibe? And I guess the Elsbai novella COULD be a coincidence – series with the same names must happen! But. I’m definitely thinking this is more likely to be a multi-author series now! TIME WILL TELL!