Bookshelf Roundup: 03/06/21: 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 one is new to me, but my thanks to 47North and the awesome team at Wunderkind PR for an ARC of Bacchanal by Veronica Henry, described a Depression-era historical fantasy about a mysterious traveling carnival. Now that it has officially caught my attention, I hope I’ll have time this spring to get to it!
With thanks also to Subterranean Press for an ARC of Collectibles edited by Lawrence Block which is a collection…about collecting! We all know how obsessive some collectors can get about their collections, and this one’s described as an anthology of stories about the darker side of an impulse we all share.
I’d also like to thank Titan Books for this gorgeous finished copy of All the Murmuring Bones by Angela Slatter, a magical novel of the Mer. I’ll be reading this one soon and featuring a review later this month, so keep an eye out for that.
Up next, it’s a parade of new arrivals from the kind folks at Orbit! I was very excited to receive an ARC of The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne, the first novel of the author’s new series called The Bloodsworn Saga. I also received a finished copy of The Unbroken by C.L. Clark, which I’m planning to read soon. I’ve been seeing lots of great reviews for it already, so I’m eager to get started. And finally, earlier this week I also received an ARC of Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa, a West-African inspired fantasy of magic and political intrigue. I’m very curious to try it!
And wow, I guess I really went to town on the audio review copies this week. With thanks to Brilliance Audio, I received listening copies of The Councillor by E.J. Beaton and Heartbreak Bay by Rachel Caine. The latter is the final book of the Stillhouse Lake series as well as the last book the author completed before she passed, so I imagine it’ll be a bittersweet experience.
From Blackstone Audio, I also received The Conductors by Nicole Glover, a fantasy mystery set in post-Civil War Philadelphia. I knew very little about this book at first, but I knew the moment I read the synopsis there was no way I could resist snagging a review copy.
Also huge thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio for a listening copy of Later by Stephen King, a brand new novel of terror and secrets from the master of modern horror. I’ve already heard the story described as having echoes of his other books like IT or The Outsider, so boy I am just itching to get started.
My thanks also to Macmillan Audio for ALCs of The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth, a mystery thriller about twin sisters who share a very big secret, as well as Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas, an dark, haunting retelling of Peter Pan.
And finally, thank you to Random House Audio for a listening copy of Star Wars: Victor’s Price by Alexander Freed, the third book of the Alphabet Squadron series. I still need to get to the second book, but my goal is to read all the new Star Wars canon novels at some point, so I’ll be catching up soon.
Reviews
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones (4 of 5 stars)
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey (4 of 5 stars)
The Strange Case of Eliza Doolittle by Timothy Miller (4 of 5 stars)
Guest Posts
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 sadly DNF’ed The Conductors. It def has potential, but there were faults in every department (characters, pacing, intrigue, magic system, world building…). On their own they would have been okay, but all the errors together were just too much for me.
You hauled loads of books that look interesting though, and Ill look forward to your reviews. Lost in the Never Woods already made in on to my TBR 😁
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That’s too bad! Now I’m nervous about starting it…I may just skip it all together. After reading your review, it doesn’t sound like an easy read. I do like mysteries a lot more, but it just sounds too confusing.
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Yeah, it def has potential but needs a lot of work still (at least the arc I read did). I believe Captain gave it 3*, but on GR there are plenty of people giving it 5*. Just don’t get your hopes up too high 😋
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I’ve already heard mixed things about the Councilllor, so I’m curious to see what you think of it. That and Son of the Storm. His first book was a mixed bag, interesting but inconsistent and confusing. I got the new Gwynne book too~
Huh. I pretty much can’t wait to see how much you like everything 😅 Could you just let me know now how much you’re going to everything 😂
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I heard mixed things about The Councillor too, I hope it’ll work for me! It was one of my Waiting on Wednesday picks. I wish I knew beforehand whether a book would work for me, it would save me so much time from a lot of disappointing reads 😛
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OOh nice new reads! These are new to me ones. I hope you enjoy them all!
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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I also got Bacchanal, and I’ve never heard of it until now! I keep reading really good reviews of All the Murmuring Bones, so I’m looking forward to that one.
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Yeah, it was new to me too but I might check it out – I do like stories about circuses and carnivals 😀 And I’m hoping to start Murmuring Bones soon!
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Shadow of the Gods is indeed Gwynne in very fine form: prepare yourself for a breath-taking journey! 😉
And I’m very curious about that new one from Stephen King: “echoes of IT and The Outsider”? Count me in!
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Fabulous, glad to know it’s good from someone who has already read it! 😀 And I’m very excited to start Later as well, maybe my next listen 🙂
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Collectibles could certainly be interesting. And I’m curious to see what you think of Later. In the mean time I’ve added it to my TBR. I’m slowly getting back into King.
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Same here. I’m not picking up every new King book these days, but if they sound good and are getting positive buzz, I’ll check them out 😀
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I’ve seen Bacchanal in a few hauls this week. Now I’m curious!
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I don’t know much about it, but if it’s about a carnival/circus, I’m in!
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I’m not familiar with any of these writers. I wish no one would write anything for at least a year to give us all a chance to catch up with the best books!
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Haha, I feel that way all the time. Need to stop putting out movies and TV shows and video games too because I need to catch up with those as well 😛
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I’ve also got a copy of Bacchanal, I have to say I’m pretty curious about that one. It sounds like it has a lot of potential.
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It does! And as soon as I saw that it was about a carnival, I was like HELLLOOOOO 😀
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I’m just getting into the Councillor, it was a bit of a slow start. And I remember the days when I would have known about a new Stephen King book. Feels a bit 😦 to be so unexcited about them now, my teenage self would be so disappointed in me! 😉
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Can’t wait to hear what you think of The Councillor. I’ve been hearing mixed things so I’m curious! And I know exactly what you mean about King. I don’t read everything new thing by him these days, I tend to sit back and wait for reviews. Much of his newer stuff has been hit or miss for me!
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I’m about 100 pages into The Unbroken, and it’s definitely got me hooked! I keep petting my copy of The Shadow of the Gods, it’s so pretty….
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I’m so glad to hear that about The Unbroken! It’s one of the books I’m hoping to get to later this month.
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The new Gwynne! Jealous
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I really need to catch up with his older stuff…but I’ll probably jump into this one 😀
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Nice haul! I’ll be waiting for your reviews 😀
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Hope I can get to most of these in due time 😛
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I look forward to your thoughts on The Conductors. I read it in January and thought some stuff were interesting but needed to be developed a bit more. I wouldn’t mind reading something else by the author, so I might read the sequel, which comes out later this year, I believe.
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Yeah, the reviews I’ve been seeing for The Conductors have been mixed. I still might try to check it out, and hope it’ll work for me if I do!
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I like the sound of Bacchanal – and that’s the first time I’ve heard of that one but carnivals/circuses – oh yes please.
Lynn 😀
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