Bookshelf Roundup: 07/10/21: 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.

I’m preparing this post ahead of time because we’ll be at the beach this weekend, and I’m looking forward to getting lots of sun and reading time in! If you’re in the US I hope you had a lovely Fourth of July holiday, and to everyone I hope you are all having a lovely summer. I’ve got plenty of posts scheduled but will probably be light with comments in the coming days, though I look forward to catching up on the blogosphere with what everyone’s been reading and reviewing once I get back. In the meantime, let’s see what I’ve added to my bookshelves this week!

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!

Earlier this week, a gorgeous hardcover of The Empire’s Ruin by Brian Staveley arrived with thanks to the amazing folks at Tor Books. It is the start of a new series by the author called Ashes of the Unhewn Throne. It’s based in the same world of his Chronicle of the Unhewn Thrown trilogy, which I adored, so I’m very excited to start this one.

With thanks to Tordotcom I also received an ARC of Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo, a novel described as a Southern Gothic horror combined with “dark academia” and “Appalachian street-racing.” Well, that’s certainly hooked my attention.

Speaking of which, here’s another new-to-me arrival that piqued my curiosity when pitched to me recently: City On Fire by Don Winslow is the first book of an epic saga about the clash of crime syndicates in 80s to 90s America. It’s been catching a lot of buzz lately, and looks like it even got a blurb from Stephen King and some comparisons to The Godfather. It does sound good, but hopefully  it’ll be worth the hype! Huge thanks to William Morrow for the galley.

It’s the first week of the month, which means lots of new audiobook ALCs! With thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio for listening copies of Such A Quiet Place by Megan Miranda and Falling by T.J. Newman, satisfying my unending craving for more thriller and suspense (though I doubt I’ll be going anywhere near Falling if I have any upcoming flights).

But that’s not all, from the amazing team at Penguin Random House Audio I also received We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz and I’m especially excited for For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing. From their YA/Children’s imprint Listening Library I also received a listening copy of Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim. I’ve already heard such great things about this book, and the audio is narrated by Emily Woo Zeller, one of my favorite readers.

With thanks to Hachette Audio, I snagged another YA title this week, It Ends in Fire by Andrew Shvarts, whose Royal Bastards trilogy I so enjoyed. And finally, with thanks to the publisher I also grabbed Rovers by Richard Lange, which sounds like quite an interesting take on vampires.

Reviews

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri (4 of 5 stars)
A Dark and Secret Place by Jen Williams (3.5 of 5 stars)
Darling by K. Ancrum (3.5 of 5 stars)

What I’ve Been Reading

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!