Bookshelf Roundup 04/11/20: 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!
With most publishers halting their physical book mailings at the moment, I was really surprised to find Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik landing on my doorstep earlier this week, courtesy of Harper Voyager. This is the third standalone installment in the Consortium Rebellion series, featuring Catarina, the youngest sister of House von Hasenberg. With thanks to Ace Books, I also received this gorgeous finished copy of The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence! And thank you also to Titan Books for this surprise arrival of Gears of War: Bloodlines by Jason M. Hough. It is the follow-up to Gears of War: Ascendance, the prequel to the Gears 5 video game which I read last year.
In the digital pile, I downloaded a couple of e-galleys from Edelweiss, including The Cabin on Souder Hill by Lonnie Busch, a mystery with paranormal elements which I first heard about from Tammy at Books, Bones & Buffy. Next, I grabbed The End of Her by Shari Lapena because I’ve enjoyed the author’s books so much in the past, at this point I would read anything new she writes. My thanks to Blackstone Publishing and Pamela Dorman Books, respectively.
This week I also received a bunch of new listening copies from audiobook publishers, first with thanks to Macmillan Audio for The House on the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. From Harper Audio I also received Something She’s Not Telling Us by Darcey Bell, an intriguing psychological thriller. From Random House Audio, I received a sci-fi humor title called Bubblegum by Adam Levin. And finally, from Hachette Audio, I received Sword in the Stars by Amy Rose Capetta & Cori McCarthy, the sequel to Once & Future, a YA space opera retelling of the King Arthur legend.
Reviews
Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa (5 of 5 stars)
Otaku by Chris Kluwe (2 of 5 stars)
Roundup Highlights:
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 
I just finished The Book of Koli and – unsurprisingly – I loved it. Waiting for book 2 will be hard… 🙂
LikeLike
Glad to hear you enjoyed Koli! I sadly did not have as much luck with it. I didn’t love it, but I wouldn’t say I disliked it either…still trying to figure out my thoughts!
LikeLike
Ooh nice! I still need to start Jessie’s books! They sound like fun though and I know I have at least the first one in my TBR pile! Lol. Hope you enjoy all the new reads!
My StS will be up tomorrow, so stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
LikeLike
I love the Consortium Rebellion books! I’m not one for romance fiction, but some of it to break up the monotony is good! Jessie’s are really fun!
LikeLike
I love the cover of The Girl and the Stars. Sometimes that’s all it takes for me to try a book. 🙂
LikeLike
Absolutely! I’m a total sucker for pretty covers too 🙂
LikeLike
I’m getting a UPS from Random Penguin next week, which surprises me, so a few publishers are still sending out mail. Although I think it’s the Ace books I requested for April that are finally showing up.
LikeLike
Yeah, I read that some warehouses are still open and shipping books, but not all. My mailbox has definitely taken a hit!
LikeLike
Nice haul! With the halt in physical book mailings, I was surprised to get a copy of Tim Lebbon’s Eden in the mail this week. Kind of feel it may be the last for a while, which bums me out.
LikeLike
I’m still waiting for my copy of Eden! 😦
LikeLike
The Cerulean Sea just totally got me! Hope you enjoy.
LikeLike
Looking forward to starting that one! The cover is utterly charming!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A rather quiet week for you, eh? Haven’t had my Gears of War fix lately. I miss the Gears books and games, but I think I made the right call on switching to the PS4. But feel free to correct me 😉
LikeLike
Yep, it’s been quiet ever since the quarantine and a lot of the publisher’s warehouses are closed or publicists working from home can’t send out ARCs. Any, re: the Xbox vs. Playstation discussion, I have both consoles but we’re now mostly gaming exclusively on the PS4. I don’t regret the decision either, they’ve always had better RPG exclusives, which is more my thing. In related news, I cannot wait for The Last of Us 2!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ditto! But honestly I’m more stoked for Cyberpunk!
LikeLike
Oh man, finally diving in on Legacy of Ash? Looking forward to your thoughts! The House in the Cerulean Sea seems to be taking the community by storm, I may have to pick that up….
LikeLike
Yep, I finally finished that monster! And oof, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped. I mean, it wasn’t bad, but it had a lot of bloat issues and I couldn’t connect to ANYONE.
LikeLiked by 1 person
THANK YOU. I enjoyed parts of it fine, but I couldn’t give it four stars because, like you, I just couldn’t really connect with anyone.
LikeLike
Wow, you have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that…I’ve been feeling like the only one who didn’t fall in love with the book, and I’m like WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME!!! LOL
LikeLiked by 1 person
ahahaha, I feel the same way, I’ve just kind of been ducking my head with this one lo.
LikeLike
The new MIhaliK!
LikeLike
Yes, the youngest sister!
LikeLike
If the GoW books hold up their own i might be tempted into getting them myself, havent played GoW past the third game tho
LikeLike
I enjoyed the first book in this new series, the Gears 5 prequel. Kinda looking forward to this one because of how enjoyable that was 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m about 3/4 of the way through The Book of Koli, and thoroughly enjoying it. I thought post-apocalypse might be a bit too close to the bone these days, but it’s an enjoyable daft (but not silly) different take on things. Got an ARC of The Girl and the Stars, and soooo looking forward to it! 🙂
LikeLike
I’ve heard great things about the new Klune book, hope you enjoy if you get to that one!
LikeLike
I’m currently reading Koli, about 20% in, so early days.
Lynn 😀
LikeLike