Bookshelf Roundup 02/22/20: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I summarize what I’ve finished reading in the last week and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.
Received for Review
My thanks to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!
Kicking us off, a big thank you to the awesome folks at 47North for Ballistic by Marko Kloos, the sequel to Aftershocks, which was a fantastic read. It ended on a nail-biter of a cliffhanger too, so definitely eager to dive into book two. Also thank you to Simon Pulse for When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey, which was a surprise but a welcome one because this book has been on my radar for a while. And speaking of surprises, cheers to Del Rey for an ARC of Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie. It’s new to me, but from the synopsis it looks to be a promising start to a new coming-of-age science fiction trilogy.
Up next, courtesy of Tor Books, I also received The Queen of Raiders by Sarah Kozloff, the second installment of her four-book series The Nine Realms. As promised, these are coming out fast and furious, and I have plans to read this later in the month so I don’t fall behind. From Tor as well, I received this exciting ARC of The Sin in the Steel by Ryan Van Loan. I actually featured this book on a past Waiting on Wednesday, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when it showed up. And also thanks to Harper Voyager for this beautiful finished copy of Crush the King by Jennifer Estep. I’m looking forward to reading this conclusion to the Crown of Shards trilogy.
Thanks also to Minotaur books for the following mystery/thriller arrivals: Hard Cash Valley by Brian Panowich is described as a tale of “southern noir” featuring a race against time to solve a brutal murder in a Jacksonville, Florida motel room and to find a missing boy with Asperger’s Syndrome before the killer finds him first. Then there’s this this adorable looking doggy mystery called The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton, the first book of a series featuring the heroic team of a golden retriever cadaver dog and her handler. Finally, my thanks to the team at Gallery Books for sending along this sweet hardcover of Star Trek: Picard: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack. I actually haven’t started the new show yet, but maybe I’ll just wait to watch once I finish this prequel novel.
About a month ago, I also discovered a new indie bookstore in my town which holds a lot of cool bookish events and also accepts book donations. Anyway, I was there earlier this week dropping off a couple boxes of books and was checking out their local crafts section and saw they had these adorable Harry Potter earrings which I thought would be perfect for my daughter, as well as this awesome Star Wars book sleeve which I just had to get, of course! The store owner is also incredibly nice and when she found out I review books, she gave me this ARC of Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova to review for them as well as some extra swag from promotions of Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the upcoming Hunger Games prequel. They’re an amazing little community-driven store called Caprichos Books and if you’re ever in the area, you should definitely give them a visit.
In the digital pile, just one audiobook for review this week. From Listening Library, I received The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte. I enjoyed her debut Four Dead Queens so I’m pretty excited to listen to this one.
Reviews
Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough (4 of 5 stars)
Heart of Flames by Nikki Pau Preto (4 of 5 stars)
Terminus by Peter Clines (3.5 of 5 stars)
This Week’s Reads
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read! Let me know what you plan on checking out. Until next time, see you next Roundup!
The BiblioSanctum 
Again, I’ve not heard of any of these! Maybe I’ll pick one of them up when I crawl out from under my own TBR pile! I did notice that you only scored ONE digital book. Congratulations!
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I know! I was good this week…resisted a lot of temptation 😀
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Nice books!
Also, you read the unspoken names! I have been curious about that one
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Yep, review is up now. It was…okay. I loved the start, but I felt mixed about the rest. Had the usual debut problems.
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The Unspoken Name looks really interesting!
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The ideas in it were really cool – and it starred an orc protagonist! Didn’t fall in love with the book, but I think as a series, it has potential.
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I LOVE the look of the Marko Kloos series – I’ve heard of him, but never got around to picking up his books. Many thanks for the recommendation. And I LOVE the book sleeve and earrings – how lovely you have such a friendly, pro-active bookshop so close:))
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I loved the first book of that series by Marko Kloos! But if you do end up picking up Aftershocks, be sure to also have Ballistic on hand because it ends on a pretty serious cliffhanger 😀
And yes, I was so happy to find that book shop…it’s high time my town got its own indie bookstore!
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Having an indie bookstore in town is awesome:)). I will be looking out for the Marko Kloos – and thank you for the tip, because I get very wound up over cliffhangers…
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I can’t take my eyes away from the cover for The Finders – I have a huge soft spot for Golden Retrievers and that alone would be reason enough to read that book… 🙂
And I’m one third in with Picard: the last best hope and enjoying very much – I’m usually wary of tie-in books, but this one is solid, well-characterized and enormously intriguing!
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Haha, same here, I love goldens. I’m not even big on pure crime mystery novels, but when I saw that cover with the pup I had to check it out, lol 😛
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Incendiary is one of my most anticipated!! Super excited to know your thoughts about it. I hope you enjoy all these books ❤️✨
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Thanks, happy reading to you too! Crossing my fingers Incendiary will be amazing!
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Ballistic is waiting for me to get to it, I was stunned at the way the last book finished so I was stoked to get approved on NetGalley.
You have some amazing books in there, I look forward to reading your thoughts.
Also I’m so insanely jealous of your local bookstore. The owner sounds like a sweetheart.
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I know, that cliffy in Aftershocks was unbearable! I was like, ARE YOU KIDDING ME when it ended. So pumped to tackle Ballistic 😀
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Same. I keep going to start it, but I have a few I REALLY need to finish first.
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Oooh very nice! Some new to me ones there! Great find on the new indie store and how cool that they had book sleeves?! And gave you an arc! That’s is sooo cool! I hope you enjoy the new reads!
My StS will be up tomorrow, so stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
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Yeah, I was really happy to discover that bookstore – I found it while researching places to donate books! And they had really cool book sleeves and other nifty craft. This one was better than the one I got online through one of the bigger book accessory companies 😛
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Aaah, I want When We Were Magic! I hope it’s good.
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I was pleasantly surprised when that one showed up, now I can satisfy my curiosity…I hope it’ll be good too!
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I’m excited about The Finders, although that cute pup does not say “cadaver dog” to me, lol.
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Haha, it doesn’t to me either – honestly it looks like a feel good read to me 😀
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Oh that book sleeve is awesome!
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Right? I knew as soon as I saw it I had to buy it, lol! 😀
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Wow! You get a lot of books to review lol. I’m looking forward to The Vanishing Deep!
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I really enjoyed her first book, so I hope Vanishing Deep will be good too!
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I was wondering if those were earrings. I need to get me some Harry Potter earrings too. Love those!
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Yeah, they had Ron and Hermione and other Harry designs too – I was so torn! Hard to pick just one pair 😛
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I bet it was hard to decide!
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So many amazing books!!! The Sin in the Steel sounds so intriguing though. I do hope you enjoy these when you get around to them! 😀
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Thanks! I hope Sin in the Steel will be good too 🙂
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I’m looking forward to your review of the final in series by Jennifer Estep. That’s a series I’ve definitely had my eye on.
Happy reading.
Lynn 😀
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Hope the finale will be as fun as the other two!
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OK, I want to hear more about The Finders! 🙂
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I’ll definitely be reviewing it! 😀
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If you live where I think you live then I know the bookstore! (Is it really small inside?) If it’s the one then the owner also sets up at Balticon in the dealers room iirc. Also, if you do live where I think you live then Justina probably lives pretty close to you. 🙂
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Haha, I was waiting for you to chime in because I’m guessing you’ve probably been there, as you seem to know all the bookstores in the Baltimore and surrounding areas. Yes, it’s likely the same one you’re thinking because I know Justina is local (found out from the owner) 🙂
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Oh, I haven’t been to ALL of them LOL. I’m pretty sure that’s the one that Sarah Pinsker had one of her book launches at so that’s the only reason I know about it, because I went up there for it and Justina was there so Sarah introduced us (like I’m somebody lol).
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Oooh I love the book sleeve!! Great pick up 🙂
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