Bookshelf Roundup 08/29/20: 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!
Just two physical books added to the to-be-reviewed pile this week. As you might have heard, the postal service is currently backlogged and I know I have a couple books coming to me that are currently trapped in limbo, and hopefully they’ll get to me one day! But for now, I am grateful for this copy of The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 1 edited by Jonathan Strahan that I received, with thanks to Saga Press. There’s a great line-up of authors featured in this anthology, including Ken Liu, N.K. Jemisin, Elizabeth Bear, and many, many more! Also with thanks to Blink and the kind folks at Wunderkind for this surprise arrival of Devastation Class by Glen Zipper and Elaine Mongeon. I have recently been made aware of this YA publisher and am looking forward to checking out more of their titles, so this sci-fi adventure about an alien invasion might just be next.
On to the digital pile, I’m still all about the audiobooks these days, but I did snag one eARC from NetGalley. I saw Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer and just knew I had to request this Christmas horror read. It’s never too early to plan your holiday reading, with thanks to Quirk Books! Courtesy of Random House Audio, I also received a listening copy of The Somebody People by Bob Proehl. The first book was an X-Men style superhero story, and even though I had mixed feelings about it, seeing as this is a duology, I might just finish it off and see if things end with a bang.
Reviews
He Started It by Samantha Downing (4 of 5 stars)
Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne (4 of 5 stars)
Ignite the Sun by Hanna C. Howard (4 of 5 stars)
Final Cut by S.J. Watson (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 
I’ve been SO curious about Secret Santa, so I’m looking forward to seeing what you think. I’m always into Christmas reads, but my usual picks skew cozier. Definitely would be into the right kind of Christmas horror, though!
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Haha, yes, if I do Christmas books, it’d definitely be the dark and scary kind 😀
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Devastation Class sounds like a book where everyone dies at the end. Lemme know, okay? Happy reading!
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Hahaha! You know, that didn’t cross my mind, but I do wonder if that will happen now!
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Page 1: “And then everyone died. The End.”
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I‘m envious for your arc of Strahan‘s Best of. Netgalley didn’t want to give me this one. But I‘ve read a couple of the stories in it already and the selection sounds legit.
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I’m not big into anthologies, but there are quite a few authors in here that I love, so I’ll probably check out there storeis!
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OOh nice new reads! Those are all new to me ones! I hope you enjoy each and every one of them!
My StS will be up tomorrow, so stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
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Thanks! Happy reading!
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Definitely keen to see how Secret Santa works out.
And looking forward to your review of Final Cut.
Lynn 😀
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Thanks, I hope Secret Santa will be good! I love the concept!
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Christmas horror? Already? At least let me get the skeletons hung and bats draped off the eaves first. LOL
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Haha, yes, Christmas stuff seems to come earlier each year. I 2020, I kind of welcome it though! 😀
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I just requested Secret Santa, I thought it sounded like a fun change of pace!
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Yeah, when I saw it, I couldn’t resist!
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I love the best of year anthologies, and yet I have many unread ones sitting on my shelves. Sometimes I feel more like a collector of them than a reader. 🙂
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I have a lot of these “best of” anthologies sitting on my shelf too – most of them unread, unfortunately. Alas, I am just not as into short stories! 😛
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Happy reading!
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Really curious about the Strahan anthology. Hope you enjoy some of these!
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