Tagged: new books
Look What Just Arrived! (#14)
Yesterday I spent Christmas with my family and consequently got a lot of books as presents. (We’re a pretty bookish family—my father got more books than I did!) The only book I didn’t get for Christmas was The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson. That was recommended to me a while back and I picked it up as I did my last-minute Christmas shopping on the 23rd.
Anyway, here are my new books:
- Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout
- Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
- The Devil’s Concubine by Jill Braden
- The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson
- Ingenue by Jillian Larkin
- Earth Bound by Aprilynne Pike
- Song of the Nile by Stephanie Dray
Frankly, I’m really excited to read all of these. So excited, in fact, that last night I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning to finish Bitterblue. The review is to follow shortly.
The Devil’s Concubine is a book I reviewed for Wayzgoose press and I asked for it for Christmas because I had only an ebook copy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happier with ebooks now than before when I didn’t have a Kindle, but I still prefer paperbacks. Ingenue is the second book in the Flappers books by Jillian Larkin and I’m really interested to see where the stories of the girls go. The same goes for Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout because of the cliffhanger at the end of Obsidian, the first book.
Song of the Nile is yet another second book and this time it encompasses a period of time that’s very rarely written about: after Cleopatra Selene married King Juba. I’m interested to see how Stephanie Dray fills in the gaps in the historical record and I’m hoping that she does as good a job as she did in Lily of the Nile.
The only book that I really know nothing about was Earth Bound, a gift from a friend. It’s not the sort of thing I would normally pick up on my own time because there’s going to be a love triangle (it’s mentioned right in the blurb), but I’ll try my best to read it with an open mind.
If you celebrate Christmas, did you get any books as presents? Which ones? Do you see anything you like here?
Look What Just Arrived! (#13)
Yes, it’s that time again: book buying time. I’m not even going to try to justify my addiction at this point. Basically I have lots of reading to get done over the holidays and I can’t wait!
Here are my new books:
- The Stone of Light: Nefer the Silent by Christian Jacq
- The Stone of Light: The Wise Woman by Christian Jacq
- The Stone of Light: The Place of Truth by Christian Jacq
- Accursed Women by Luciana Cavallaro
- A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
- The Sorcerer: The Fort at River’s Bend by Jack Whyte
- Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser
The reason why I have so many books this time around is that the owners of the local bookstore I frequent sometimes set books aside for me. When I saw they had set aside 3/5 books of The Stone of Light series (gently used) I couldn’t help but buy them. They look like excellent novels and I’ve actually heard of Christian Jacq before, so for $4 each I figured why not give them a try?
Accursed Women is a collection of 5 short stories by Luciana Cavallaro. She sent it to me partly so I could review her latest short story about Medusa, but also as a way of saying thank you for your reviews. (After all, I did review 4 ebook copies of her first four short stories.) I really appreciate when authors do that so I was quite happy to receive this book in the mail.
As you guys know I’m a fan of Game of Thrones, both the books and the television show. Yet I was too cheap to buy A Dance with Dragons when it was still in hardcover, so on the day the paperback edition was released I bought myself one. Yes, I know I’m a horrible cheapskate. The same goes for when I was browsing the used section of the bookstore and saw one of the books in Jack Whyte’s amazing A Dream of Eagles series. Who could resist?
Marie Antoinette: The Journey was meant as a gift for someone until I realized that it was nonfiction. From the blurb it had sounded like fiction, but that just goes to show that one should always read carefully when they’re unsure of a book’s genre. So I decided to read the book myself and so far, so good. Antonia Fraser has a decent writing style for a nonfiction writer.
These are what I’m reading/will be reading soon. What are you reading now? See anything you like here?
The Fire by John Heldt Releases Today!
When Kevin Johnson, 22, goes to Wallace, Idaho, days after his college graduation, he expects to find rest and relaxation as his family prepares his deceased grandfather’s house for sale. Then he discovers a hidden diary and a time portal that can take him to 1910, the year of Halley’s comet and the largest wildfire in U.S. history. Within hours, Kevin finds himself in the era of horse-drawn wagons, straw hats, and ankle-length dresses. Returning to the same time and place, he decides to travel again and again and make the portal his gateway to summer fun. The adventure takes a more serious turn, however, when the luckless-in-love science major falls for pretty English teacher Sarah Thompson and integrates himself in a community headed for tragedy. Filled with humor, romance, and heartbreak, THE FIRE, the sequel to THE JOURNEY, follows a conflicted soul through a life-changing journey as he makes his mark on a world he was never meant to see.
John Heldt was kind enough to give me an ARC of The Fire so you’ll be reading my review of it tomorrow, but for now I just want to let you know that his fourth book in the Northwest Passage series is now available! If you’ve read my reviews of his first three books, you’ll know that I’m super excited to sink my teeth into this one. I don’t want to give too much away when I say that Kevin’s story is not at all like the previous ones in that the main character travels back and forth in time deliberately multiple times. But will this lead to tragedy? It’s hard to tell.
Now available on Amazon for $3.99.
Look What Just Arrived! (#10)
Yes, I admit it: I have a problem with buying books!
So obviously by the title of this entry (and the melodramatic hook), I bought more books and want to share them with you. Some of these I bought and others I received via mail from authors looking for a review. Here they are:
- Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones
- The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart
- Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George
- A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
- Firelight by Sophie Jordan
- Starlet’s Run by Carla J. Hanna
- Fun to be Russian by Theodor Rasputin
- Black Crow White Lie by Candi Sary
The first three books were bought used either because a) I read and liked the author or b) the owner of the bookstore was really, really trying to free up space because he’s getting so many used books. Only Cathedral of the Sea is really the latter, but The Wicked Day and Mary are by authors I know and/or have enjoyed.
Of course A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in A Song of Ice and Fire and I really just had to get my hands on it after the third book. I’ve already started it and so far, it’s amazing. Firelight is one I picked out because there was quite a bit of hype about it a couple of years ago and the blurb sounded intriguing. I had a passing interest in it when it came out in 2010, but by now my curiosity has gotten the better of me and I bought it.
The last three books I was sent by authors. Starlet’s Run was part of the giveaway prize pack that Carla J. Hanna awarded to everyone who participated in my giveaway (which included myself for hosting it). The other book she sent me, Starlet’s Light is not pictured because I left it at work where I was last reading it. Fun to be Russian sounds like it could be ridiculously funny, so I’m actually quite anxious to read it. White Crow Black Lie also arrived from Candi Sary and it’s one of those books that I’ve had my eye on for a bit, but never got around to buying. That’s why it’s awesome that the author contacted me first.
But it’s not only books that arrived this week! Yesterday evening I got something in the mail that made me tear up just a bit:
It’s kind of hard to tell from the admittedly terrible picture, but that is a ‘Get Better’ card sent to me by my blogger-friend Savindi of The Streetlight Reader. How she got my mailing address, I really don’t care, but what I do care about is that she went through the trouble to obtain it, write out a really thoughtful message and send a physical card, not just an email! So yes, I did tear up just a bit when I received it and read the message. That’s why it now sits in a place of honour next to my late grandmother’s portrait on my desk.
So thank you for caring, Savindi. And thanks to everyone else who has offered their sympathies and get better wishes. It really does mean a lot to me.
Look What Just Arrived! (#9)
As you guys know, I was travelling. As you also know, that means only one thing: new books. The only real question is: what did I buy? So here we go:
- Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
- The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
- The Singing Sword by Jack Whyte
- The Courtesan’s Lover by Gabrielle Kimm
- Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
- Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion by Brandon Mull
To be fair, I’ve already read and scheduled my review for The Singing Sword because I took it with me to read on the plane. So I’m not as far behind on buying, reading and reviewing as it seems like.
I picked up Prince of Thorns because Savindi from The Streetlight Reader has been raving about Prince of Thorns for a while now, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Grave Mercy both appealed to me when I read the blurb on Amazon a while back and because it was the talk of the YA blogosphere for a fair bit of time. We’ll see if it’s worth the hype.
I picked up Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion by Brandon Mull because although I absolutely hated Fablehaven, I enjoyed the first book in his new Beyonders series. Also, I needed a new book at the airport in case I finished The Singing Sword on the way back. The Courtesan’s Lover had both an intriguing blurb and was on sale, so I picked that up as well at the bookstore. The Ghost Brigades is the second part of John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series. I figure that since the first book was so funny I cried from laughing at some parts that if nothing else, the second book will be an entertaining read. Knowing John Scalzi, though, I’m pretty sure it will be far more than that.
So what books are you guys reading this month? See any books here that you loved/hated/need to read?