Stacking the Shelves [295]

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

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This week I have something old and something new. But maybe they will all be new to you!

Let's find out.

Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair

I'm writing an article for Library Journal about science fiction romance, and it's impossible to talk about SFR without referencing Linnea Sinclair. For so many SFR lovers, she's the first author we found who really did both parts well, terrific science fiction setting with equally marvelous romance. The entire list is in my full stack over at Reading Reality. I just couldn't resist picking up all her books as ebook, even though I already own them in print. I'm thinking of a reread.

Then There Was You by Miranda Liasson

The publisher brought this to my attention, saying that if I liked Robyn Carr's The Summer that Made Us, I'd like this one too. We'll see.

Hexed by Kevin Hearne (audiobook

I listed to Hounded, the first book in the Iron Druid Chronicles, and absolutely loved it. Luke Daniels is such a terrific reader for this series. Now when I think of Atticus, I hear his voice. This series makes the minutes and miles on the treadmill absolutely fly by.

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

Stacking the Shelves [294]

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

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As you can see from some new blog posts, I've been able to read a bit and adding some new fantastic books to my shelves! Here's some new and old books I've been reading or adding to my TBR pile. And, for kicks, I've added some great quotes to some too.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Recently completed.

I loved that this heroine had a bit more sympathy for Anne Brontë than her sisters.

"Men are more interesting in books than they are in real life."

Renegades by Marissa Meyer (#1)

Recently completed.

Blog post coming soon. 

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Recently completed.

This would be loved by any who love grammar and classic English literature for the subtle beauty and observances of prose. Excellent quotes for this book. Here are a few.

"Here, indeed, was a formidable sentence--one, that was on intimate terms with the comma, and that held the period in healthy disregard."

"Poetic concision demands the avoidance of a pair of words when a single word will suffice. . . .With all due respect to poetic concision, the male of the species was endowed with a pair when a single might have sufficed."

"All little girls outgrow their interest in princesses," she said. "In fact, they outgrow their interest in princesses faster than little boys outgrow their interest in clambering about."

"Thus, in the spring of 1928, at the sprightly age of twenty-nine, Anna Urbanova was what the Americans would have called a has-been."
(This was a particularly useful quote. Good to know I've been downgraded at twenty-nine, myself."

(On small children)
"She is no more than thirty pounds; no more than three feet tall; her entire bag of belongings could fit in a single drawer; she rarely speaks unless spoken to; and her heart beats no louder than a bird's. So how is it possible that she takes up so much space?!" 

"Did he remember those days when his children were almost certainly six? When there was a pitter-pat in the hallways an hour before dawn? When every object smaller than an apple was nowhere to be found, until it was right underfoot? When books went unread, letters unanswered, and every train of thought was left incomplete?" (This is my life!)

"There is not, I think, a single country in the civilized world where less attention is paid to philosophy than in the United States. . . The minds of Americans are universally preoccupied with meeting the body's every need and attending to life's little comforts."

"He had said that our lives are steered by uncertainties, many of which are disruptive or even daunting; but that if we persevere and remain generous of heart, we may be granted a moment of supreme lucidity--a moment in which all that has happened to us suddenly comes into focus as a necessary course of events, even as we find ourselves on the threshold of a bold new life that we had been meant to lead all along."

Still Me by Jojo Moyes (Me Before You #3)

Recently completed.

"You shut a library, Louisa, you don't just shut down a building, you shut down hope."

"He was shot through with the American dream--you worked hard, you succeeded, and then you gave back."

"All nonsense about women having it all. We never could and we never shall. Women always have the make the difficult choices."

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Recently completed.

Blogging on my personal blog about this one!

Red Rising by Pierce Brown (#1)

Recently re-read.

Golden Son by Pierce Brown (#2)

Currently re-reading.

Morning Star by Pierce Brown (#3)

To be re-read soon!

Blog post coming soon!

Iron Gold by Pierce Brown 

(Second series, #1)

TBR

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce

Currently reading (and am LOVING it so far!)

What have you been reading lately?

Stacking the Shelves [293]

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

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I'm prepping this post pretty early, because I'm off to the American Library Association Midwinter Conference this weekend in Denver. ALA is kind of like BEA for librarians, just with more meetings.

I haven't picked up many books yet this week, and I'm planning to restrain myself from picking up too many, or at least too many print ARCs at the conference. So my teaser list isn't much shorter than my actual list over at Reading Reality.

So if these teasers aren't enough of a tease, let me direct your attention to the SFR (that's Science Fiction Romance) Galaxy Awards, announced on 1/31. If you like a little rocket fuel in your romance, the SFR Galaxy Award Winners make for terrific reading.

Now about those teasers...

Dark in Death (In Death #46) by J.D. Robb

The Kill Wire (Jamie Sinclair #5) by Nichole Christoff

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

Reign the Earth by A.C. Gaughen

Reign the Earth by A.C. Gaughen

Book Stats:  

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: High Fantasy
Hardback: 448 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release date: January 30, 2018

Series:  Elementae, #1

Source: For review

Reviewed by: Kara

Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Shalia is a proud daughter of the desert, but after years of devastating war with the adjoining kingdom, her people are desperate for an end to the violence that has claimed so many of their loved ones. Willing to trade her freedom to ensure the safety of her family, Shalia becomes Queen of the Bone Lands, a country where magic is outlawed and the Elementae--those that can control earth, air, fire and water--are traitors, subject to torture . . . or worse.
Before she is even crowned, Shalia discovers that she can bend the earth to her will. Trapped between her husband's irrational hatred of the Elementae and a dangerous rebellion led by her own brother, Shalia must harness her power and make an impossible choice: save her family, save the Elementae, or save herself.

I've been waiting on this book for years! A.C. Gaughen wrote the fantastic historical fiction YA series about Will Scarlet, Robin Hood, and Marian, and since then I've been a fan. I started this book without reading any blurbs and had no clue what it was about.

I thought the heart of this book is wonderful. Shalia is a strong girl from the desert who sacrifices her own happiness for the safety of her family and her people by entering into marriage alliance with Calix, the King of the Bone Lands who hates the desert clans and the Elementae, people who have the unique ability to control earth, air, fire and water. In her marriage, she hopes to find love and peace but also faces the reality that this marriage is a sort of death. In fact, members in her family and in her tribe have been murdered by Bone Lands soldiers. The Bone Lands are ruled by the Trifectate, the Three-Faced God made human. Calix is the head of the Trifectate, supposed to embody the most senior of the Three-Faced God, the head of truth and justice. His younger brother Galen is his commander, the face of honor and strength, and Danae, his sister, is the hidden face of the god, binding the two, she says. As Shalia comes to know her new family, she also learns what Calix hopes from their marriage, using her to secure an heir to his throne and thus ensure his rule from being threatened by his nobles.

As Shalia attempts to walk between two very fine lines, one of loyalty to her husband and loyalty to her family, and they both conflict heavily as Shalia's eldest brother Rian is a leader in the Resistance and fighting to subvert Calix's penchant for torture and mayhem of those he deems a threat, namely rebellious desert people and the Elementae. Having expected obedience, Calix does not forgive his wife her conflict of interest but expects to her betray any information that will help him. As Shalia realizes her situation, she embraces her role towards the people and inspires with her kindness. She takes strength from her successes, which she will desperately need when the conflict between blood and marriage erupts into all out war.


Though I read the ARC, the one thing I really missed was how little we actually got to see of Shalia's past and her true relationships as desert girl and with her family. Kairos in particular confused me as a character because what was he? And what odd relationship does he have with the hawk again? Shalia's resilience we got, though I think she's crazy for riding around pell-mell on a horse while pregnant and exhausted, but maybe she didn't get afflicted with the same horrible exhaustion that I did. I certainly couldn't have climbed up a rock wall while pregnant and sick and bone tired.

Despite these few flaws, it was a fun read, and who knows, maybe these few changes will be different in the final edition, released just this week! Fans of YA authors Ahdieh, Maas, and Tahir will probably be addicted to this series starter.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

Stacking the Shelves [292]

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

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My full stack, as always, is over at Reading Reality. But today I have a couple of very special books to tease you with. Well, special to me, anyway. It's not often that not just one but two of the books on my Most Anticipated list show up at once, but that happened this week.

And now they are both burning the proverbial hole in my pocket. I want to sit down and read them both right now. Possibly even simultaneously. Decisions, decisions...

By Fire Above by Robyn Bennis

Head On by John Scalzi

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Book Stats:  

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy, mythology,
Hardcover: 369 pages
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Release date: August 29, 2017

Series:  DC Icons, #1

Source: Library

Reviewed by: Kara

Order: Amazon | Book Depository

She will become one of the world's greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. . . .

Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.

Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn't know she is being hunted. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.

Together, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

Fans of the recent movie will want to know, where does this book fit in? Well, Diana is a "teenager" in years, for a start. It seems to be pre-movie, but is not in any way connected to the movie or the comic series in chronology. (I've never read the comics, so I'm just taking this from Leigh's info about writing the book that she spoke about once.) This tale takes place in the modern era, finding Diana desperate to be worthy of her sisters and her mother's legacy. Diana is much less sure of herself and rather impetuous, choosing to fight her insecurities through action by rescuing Alia and attempting to reverse her Warbringer destiny. Rather than being sure of her superhuman abilities, here Diana does not fly or cause pulse shocks (or whatever you call it) with her armbands. Instead she is constantly trying to show her skills as a warrior, tougher than average because she's been trained by the best of her Amazon sisters. Even without her more flashy superpowers, Diana shines as she single-handedly manages to keep a horde of gun-toting mercenaries in a chase for miles and then leap aboard an ascending aircraft.

In Diana's relationship with and through Alia, we finally get to see how she navigates female friendship, potential romance, and discovers modern customs and humor as she meets Alia's friends Theo and Nim and her brother Jason. Here Diana gets her first dose of human violence, politics and manipulation all the while adapting to the mythical power of the Warbringer and the entropy towards mass destruction. I loved the characters and Nim, Theo, Jason and Alia come to life just as much as larger-than-life Diana.

It's a very clever, fun book, and while I don't want to give too much away, I will say I was laughing out loud at times and impressed by some astute observations on the behavior of humanity. I also learned a shared fact about Wonder Woman - she prefers Shakespeare's Benedick and Beatrice over Romeo and Juliet, a woman after my own heart! This was a fantastic book for fans of Wonder Woman and will grab teens who're new to the fandom. I loved the twists at the end and the spurts of mythology that almost remind readers of the appeal of Rick Riordan's famous Percy Jackson etc. series.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

Jason: "I'm just saying all those things that make our lives so convenient have a price. Think about the way technology has changed modern warfare. How much courage do you need to launch an air strike from behind a computer screen?"

Nim shook her head, "Alia and I have spent half our lives being bullied. If those asshats think they can scare us into not fighting back, they're in for an education."
Nim held up her right pinky and Alia locked her own finger into it. Alia raised her left hand, and after a moment of confusion, Diana hooked her pinky with Alia's, then offered her other pinky to Nim.
"Are you guys forming a coven?" called Theo, the spare slung over his bony shoulder.
"Bubble, bubble," said Nim with a determined grin.
Alia squeezed her pinkies and felt Nim and Diana squeeze back.
They answered together, "Make some trouble."

Read an excerpt.

Watch the book trailer.