Bookshelf Roundup 04/18/20: 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!
This week, a couple of new books from the awesome folks at Subterranean Press! I received The Kraken’s Tooth by Anthony Ryan, which is the follow up to A Pilgrimage of Swords (which I still need to read), as well as Dancers in the Dark & Layla Steps Up by Charlaine Harris, featuring two intertwined stories from the world of Sookie Stackhouse.
Also thanks to Tachyon Publications for an ARC of Driftwood by Marie Brennan! I had picked up an eARC of this one a few weeks back, but it was a nice surprise to get a hard copy in the mail!
In the digital pile, it’s a colorful assortment of books this week. From Simon & Schuster Audio, I picked up If It Bleeds by Stephen King, a collection of four previously unpublished novellas including the title story, which revisits Holly Gibney after The Outsider. And because it’s looking unlikely that a hard copy will be coming my way soon with the country still locked down, I also picked up The Cerulean Queen by Sarah Kozloff, the final book of the Nine Realms quartet, with thanks to Macmillan Audio. I’ve also been craving more thriller/mystery lately, so thanks to Penguin Random House Audio I grabbed a couple of new titles including In Her Shadow by Kristin Miller and The Closer You Get by Mary Torjussen.
I still hope to pick up the paperback when it releases because it’s such a gorgeous book, but at this time I finally hit the button over on Edelweiss for Dragon Unleashed by Grace Draven just to have it on hand in case I get a hankering for some fantasy-romance. I was also thrilled to be approved for Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse, which I just featured for Waiting on Wednesday this week! My thanks to Ace Books and Saga Press, respectively.
Reviews
Crush the King by Jennifer Estep (4 of 5 stars)
The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James (4 of 5 stars)
The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold (3.5 of 5 stars)
A Broken Queen by Sarah Kozloff (3 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 
I hope you get around to Kraken’s Tooth! Pilgrimage of Swords was actually pretty good. First thing by him I’ve liked that didn’t involve Vaelin al Sorna. Also I’ve heard good things about Driftwood; I hope you like it! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Shorefall! I’m really far behind and probably won’t get to it until after it’s out.
LikeLike
Yes, I need to dig up my copy of Pilgrimage of Swords and read it! It looked like a really short novella so I’m sure I can get that one knocked out quick 😀
LikeLike
Black Sun is firmly centered on my radar (I loved Trail of Lightning) and I’m very curious about the collection of King novellas: the title sound very promising! 😀
LikeLike
Indeed! I don’t even mind too much that it’s a collection 😀
LikeLike
Oooh, thanks for the tip! Just popped over to Edelweiss and downloaded a copy of Black Sun. Preapproval is so nice! 🙂
I’m dying to read King’s new collection but am hoping there will be copies at Shoppers or Walmart so I can grab it and start reading on Tuesday.
LikeLike
It is, isn’t it! Of course all those pre approval temptations can also be very dangerous for the tbr, lol!
LikeLike
I believe I told my wife to request drift wood as we both love Brennan’s History of Drangons series, the rest do not grab me as my cup of whiskey…
LikeLike
I hope we’ll all love the new Brennan! It does seem a bit different from her dragons series though 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was surprised to see Black Sun up for request already. I usually wait for Saga books to hit NetGalley but I couldn’t resist requesting when I saw it😁
LikeLike
Saga’s gone on overdrive lately with the ARC uploading! Coronavirus shutdown related, I’m sure, but I’m not complaining about the new shiny books 😀
LikeLike
OOh nice new reads! I have to say that these are all new to me ones! Though that cover of In Her Shadow looks really familiar. Though I am seeing a lot of covers getting reused these days! Which I always find so weird for some reason! Lol.
Hope you enjoy all the new lovelies!
My StS will be up tomorrow, so stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
LikeLike
Especially thriller/mystery covers, they all seem to use the same font, haha!
LikeLike
I was just looking through my shelves today realizing it’s been a while since I’ve read anything by Stephen King, so If It Bleeds caught my eye. And I really like the sound of Black Sun. I look forward to your review of Shorefall. I’d like to read that series one day.
LikeLike
I went a few years without reading anything by Stephen King until The Outsider recently, so I’m also trying to keep up with his work 😀
LikeLike
I’m curious about Dragon Unleash because of its cover.
LikeLike
Right?! It’s soooo beautiful!
LikeLike
I’m so excited for Black Sun, I squealed when I got approved!
LikeLike
Hooray! Black Sun’s definitely squeal worthy 😀
LikeLike
I need to get to Driftwood. ❤ I'm excited!
LikeLike
I hope we’ll both enjoy it! Love Brennan!
LikeLike
I got an ARC of Driftwood as well, but haven’t gotten to it yet 😀
LikeLike
Me neither, I think I’ll be hitting it up closer to release date, but I hope we’ll both enjoy it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do have Driftwood and I’m very much looking forward to it.
Happy reading.
Lynn 😀
LikeLike
Yep, I’m so excited! We’ll definitely compare notes once we both read it 😀
LikeLike
I’m always surprised when I see there’s a new Stephen King book, like I should know already – haven’t been a huge fan in about 20 years, so where that comes from..?! lol!
LikeLike
Haha, same – he seems to put out one every few months, it feels like I can barely keep up with what’s coming out or they just kinda blend together 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have Driftwood as well and am really excited for it. I will get the King book for sure but feel I need to read the Bill Hodges books first since there is a Holly story in it. Maybe not though, it didn’t stop me with The Outsider. I didn’t know Charlaine Harris had more Sookie tales coming out! Exciting!
LikeLike
I haven’t read the Bill Hodges books yet either, though I think the novella in If It Bleeds is more a follow up to The Outsider. Nothing stopped me from reading that either, lol! So I think we should be fine 😀
LikeLike
Eeek Draven and Brennan!
LikeLike
Both oh so highly anticipated!
LikeLike
Oooh, Black Sun! Oooh, the new Marie Brennan!
We’re going to have Rebecca for a couple of panels coming up for our virtual convention–I’m super excited about that. 😀
LikeLike
That’s awesome! Sorry I can’t attend the virtual con (too busy) but I’ll be sure to check out the highlights after!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The good thing is it’s all text based so the conversations are archived. 🙂
LikeLike