Bookshelf Roundup 06/27/20: 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!
Well, a nice surprise in the mail this week, from the kind folks at Saga Press: The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell! I really enjoyed this book, so it was cool to get a finished copy. You can check out my review here if you missed it.
With thanks also to Tachyon Publications for an ARC of The Midnight Circus by Jane Yolen! A collection of darkly weird and wonderful poems and tales, it’s due out later this fall and seems perfect for the Halloween season.
My weekly digital hauls are getting bigger again, now that books whose release dates were pushed back by the pandemic are slowly but surely trickling in. From Penguin Random House Audio, I picked up quite a few titles, including Star Wars: Shadow Fall by Alexander Freed, the next Alphabet Squadron novel; Malorie by Josh Malerman, the followup to Bird Box (which I haven’t read but I’m hearing this can be enjoyed as a standalone); Shadow Garden by Alexandra Burt, a psychological suspense whose creepy cover intrigued me, and the description sounded pretty awesome too; and finally from their YA imprint I also picked up The Unleashed by Danielle Vega, the sequel to The Haunted which I had originally thought was a standalone, so this should be interesting.
With thanks to Hachette Audio, I also picked up advance listening copies of Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air by Jackson Ford, sequel to The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind, as well as Wonderland by Zoje Stage, which sounds like a different but awesome kind of horror.
My thanks also to Brilliance Audio for a listening copy of The House Guest by Mark Edwards, a suspense-thriller I could hardly resist.
And finally, thank you Sourcebooks Fire for Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards. I had put in a request for this one on NetGalley so long ago I had almost forgotten about it, so that was a nice surprise.
Reviews
Knife Children by Lois McMaster Bujold (4 of 5 stars)
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager (4 of 5 stars)
The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison (3.5 of 5 stars)
Devolution by Max Brooks (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‘ve read the Kingdom of Liars, it’s really good (with some pacing weakness), my review‘s here: https://reiszwolf.wordpress.com/2020/06/07/the-kingdom-of-liars-%e2%80%a2-2020-%e2%80%a2-fantasy-novel-by-nick-martell/
The other books, not so much. I‘m curious for Mexican Gothic.
I don’t understand the business reason to delay all those publishing: during lockdown, people have more time, which translates to more time to read. In the console market, used consoles like PS4 sell automatically nowadays. So why delay books?
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Thanks, gonna check out your Kingdom of Liars review right now!
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I can’t wait to read Mexican Gothic, it sounds incredible 😍
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I loved it! If you enjoy atmospheric reads, I think you’ll like it 😀
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The House Guest sounds like the perfect chilling read that will make me forget summer’s increasing heat 😀
And of course, Mexican Gothic is high on my “wanted” list…
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Yeah, that’s what made the synopsis of The House Guest stand out to me – can’t wait to check it out 😀
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Nice haul! I’m curious about the Yolen collection, especially for Halloween. 🙂
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I think that would set the Halloween mood nicely 😀
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OOh nice I know, I’m really curious what The Unleashed will be like…even if I still need to read The Haunted. Though I haven’t ordered a copy of The Unleashed yet since everyone keeps selling it at full price. I’m guessing this pandemic is effecting everyone, including the dreaded Amazon who is selling all new books at full cover price. Worse comes to worse I can buy in store at B&N and save 10% at least, but I hate having to wait for that! 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 🙂
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Yeah it’s different times now, I think we’ll either see no deals or really good deals on books, haha!
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I very much enjoyed Bird Box so am ever so excited for Malorie. Ive been trying to save it for October though, seeing as it is a close to horror as my reading is ever going to get 😋
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I’ve only watched the Bird Box movie, hopefully that will be enough to enjoy Malorie, lol! 😀
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It is a very good adaptation, no major changes. So im sure you’ll be ok
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I also got a copy of The Kingdom of Liars! I’m so excited to read Random Sh*t, I’m glad it’s a July release. After the book I’ve been slogging through, I need something funny!
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Haha now you’ve got me wondering what you’ve been slogging through lately! Hopefully it’s not something on my tbr 😛
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Love that cover for Shadow Garden!
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I know, it’s so creepy! Totally making me wonder what the book is about!
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I think I also just got a digital copy of the Midnight Circus (but since I got a late copy of Peace Talks yesterday, I haven’t been able to remember anything but that 😅). Love the cover of Shadow Garden; can’t wait to see if you like it!
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I just started listening to the audio of Peace Talks today, and before I knew it, I was already 70% though lol! Ah, love being back in that world – had to rack my brain to remember who all the supporting characters are though 😀 But I think you’ll have a blast!
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Oooh I can’t wait 😁
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I am really curious about the Martell book 🙂
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I enjoyed it 🙂
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oooh many intriguing things there! Happy reading!
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Thanks, you too!
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The House Guest and Five Total Strangers are definitely calling out to me ‘read me’ ‘read me’.
Lynn 😀
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Pingback: Each story in Jane Yolen's THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS is perfect - Tachyon Publications
Jane Yolen’s short fiction is so excellent–hope you find something in there to enjoy. 🙂
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