I can’t get the song from Camelot out of my head. “Tra-la, it’s May, the lusty month of May...” Also the somewhat blustery month of May as it’s felt a bit like monsoon season here in Atlanta this week. And Mother’s Day is tomorrow – which is always a sign of spring, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere.’

As always, there are some absolutely fascinating books in the stack – like the next Hawthorne and Horowitz mystery, A Line to Kill. I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed the first book in the series, The Word is Murder, it just didn’t read like something that made sense to become a series. But it did and they are loads of fun if you like twisty mysteries with unlikeable genius detectives – which I do.

Payback’s a Witch, on the other hand, looks like a completely different kind of fun. So many books to look forward to – and not nearly enough time to read them all!

For Review:
2034 by Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis
Alien: Into Charybdis by Alex White
The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw
The Devil Comes Courting (Worth Saga #3) by Courtney Milan
The Eagle’s Claw by Jeff Shaara
Falling by T.J. Newman
Forget Me Not by Alexandra Oliva
The Halo Conspiracy (Lucas Nash #1) by Michael Murphy
Hostage by Clare Mackintosh
Lightning Strike (Cork O’Connor #18) by William Kent Krueger
A Line to Kill (Hawthorne and Horowitz #3) by Anthony Horowitz
The Lords of Time (White City #3) by Eva Garcia Sáenz
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas
Miss Lattimore’s Letter by Suzanne Allain
The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton by Eleanor Ray
Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1) by Katee Robert
On Harrow Hill (Dave Gurney #7) by John Verdon
The Others by Sarah Blau
Payback’s A Witch by Lana Harper
Send for Me by Lauren Fox
The Stranger in the Mirror by Liv Constantine
Super Host by Kate Russo
Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan
This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
The Unheard by Nicci French
We Know You Remember (High Coast #1) by Tove Alsterdal

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Kickstarter:
The Year of the Cat: A Cat of Feral Instincts edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch &
Dean Wesley Smith (Kickstarter)

I just finished After the Crown and it was utterly awesome, particularly on audio. Last week I beat myself with the clue-by-four and realized that I could use my sleep headphones, the ones I wear to play white noise when I’m going to sleep, could ALSO be used to play audiobooks while I’m up and playing games on my iPad. This is NOT conducive to getting more sleep – more like the reverse – but it’s great for getting more time with a good book. After the Crown was excellent so I’m looking forward to starting Beyond the Empire over the weekend!

For Review:
Bath Haus by P.J. Vernon
The Between by Ryan Leslie
Beyond (Founding of Valdemar #1) by Mercedes Lackey
Dare to Know by James Kennedy
Destroyer of Light by Jennifer Marie Brissett
Getaway by Zoje Stage
A Girl Made of Air by Nydia Hetherington
The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
The Hobgoblin of Little Minds by Mark Matthews
The Last Guest by Tess Little
The Librarian of Saint-Malo by Mario Escobar
Long Division by Kiese Laymon
Mango, Mambo, and Murder (Caribbean Kitchen Mystery #1) by Raquel V. Reyes
The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer
The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin
Night Music by Jojo Moyes
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Out of Love by Hazel Hayes
The Queen’s Men (Agents of the Crown #2) by Oliver Clements
The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer
Revelator by Daryl Gregory
Screams from the Void by Anne Tibbets
Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson
The Social Graces by Renee Rosen
Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey
When the Goddess Wakes (Ring-Sworn Trilogy #3) by Howard Andrew Jones
A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe
The Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
After the Crown (Indranan War #2) by K.B. Waters (audio)
Beyond the Empire (Indranan War #3) by K.B. Waters (audio)

Borrowed from the Library:
A Court of Mist and Fury (Court of Thorns and Roses #2) by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Wings and Ruin (Court of Thorns and Roses #3) by Sarah J. Maas

The size of the stacks in recent weeks reminds me of the videogame I’ve been playing. You’re probably wondering how that works. Recent stacks, between committee assignments and other commitments have turned into book hauls. I’m playing Diablo III while I wait for the Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster to arrive. Diablo III is the kind of game that is sometimes referred to as a “Monty Haul” or “Monty Hall” after the late game show host. In other words, it’s a game where the player accumulates a LOT of loot. The mantra is “Stay awhile, and loot the place.” An instruction I’m generally happy to follow in game.

IRL, books make the BEST loot.

For Review:
Basil’s War by Stephen Hunter
The Bodyguard (Norcross Security #4) by Anna Hackett
The Bright and Breaking Sea (Captain Kit Brightling #1) by Chloe Neill
The Charmed Wife by Olga Grushin
Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill
The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu
Eternal by Lisa Scottoline
Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy
Hang the Moon by Alexandria Bellefleur
The Heiress Gets a Duke (Gilded Age Heiresses #1) by Harper St. George
Her Scottish Scoundrel (Diamonds in the Rough #7) by Sophie Barnes
How to Survive a Scandal (Rebels With a Cause #1) by Samara Parish
The Last Guard (Psy-Changeling Trinity #5) by Nalini Singh
Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford
A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames
Maybe One Day by Debbie Johnson
Mrs. Wiggins by Mary Monroe
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano by Donna Freitas
The Ninth Metal (Comet Cycle #1) by Benjamin Percy
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
The Return of the Pharaoh by Nicholas Meyer
Sleeping Bear by Connor Sullivan
So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park
Thirty-One Bones by Morgan Cry
We Hear Voices by Evie Green
What a Happy Family by Saumya Dave

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
Gray Hair Don’t Care (Never Too Late #1) by Karen Booth
Paladin’s Strength (Saint of Steel #2) by T. Kingfisher
Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers
The Year of the Cat: A Cat of Artistic Sensibilities edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Wesley Smith

Borrowed from the Library:
A Court of Frost and Starlight (Court of Thorns and Roses #4) by Sarah J. Maas
The Law of Innocence (Mickey Haller #6) by Michael Connelly

For this reader, new book covers always give me “bright shiny object” syndrome – the only logical response to which is “grabby hands”. They all look SO PRETTY and I want to read them all RIGHT NOW. Which just isn’t possible – dammitall!

For Review:
Anchored Hearts (Keys to Love #2) by Priscilla Oliveras
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen
The Clover Girls by Viola Shipman
The Collector’s Daughter by Gill Paul
The Corpse Flower by Anne Mette Hancock
Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
The Devil’s Dictionary by Steven Kotler
The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird
Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest
Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian
Havoc (Miranda Chase NTSB #7) by M.L. Buchman
How to Kidnap the Rich by Rahul Raina
An Invincible Summer (Wyndham Beach #1) by Mariah Stewart
Lady Sunshine by Amy Mason Doan
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica
Lola on Fire by Rio Youers
The Mismatch by Sara Jafari
The Moon, the Stars, and Madame Burova by Ruth Hogan
The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton
Near the Bone by Christina Henry
Not Your Average Hot Guy by Gwenda Bond
The People We Keep by Allison Larkin
The Queen of the Cicadas by V. Castro
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
The Sorceress Queen and the Pirate Rogue (Heirs of Magic #2) by Jeffe Kennedy
Slewfoot by Brom
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
The Summer Seekers by Sarah Morgan
The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue
Ten Things I Hate About the Duke (Difficult Dukes #2) by Loretta Chase

And here we are, back for another edition of “as the TBR pile grows taller”. Or perhaps multiplies. I suspect that if my TBR pile were physical and actually in a pile it would reach the MOON! At least it would until George knocked it over…

For Review:
Among Thieves by M.J. Kuhn
Black Widows by Cate Quinn
Cast in Conflict (Chronicles of Elantra #16) by Michelle Sagara
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Cover Wife by Dan Fesperman
Defending Britta Stein (Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart #6) by Ronald H. Balson
Forgotten in Death (In Death #53) by J.D. Robb
The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian
The Godmothers by Camille Aubray
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam
A Heart Divided (Legends of the Condor Heroes #4) by Jin Yong
The House of Dust by Noah Broyles
In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
Matrix by Lauren Groff
The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville
The Missing Hours by Julia Dahl
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
No Gods, No Monsters (Convergence Saga #1) by Cadwell Turnbull
Rhapsody by Mitchell James Kaplan
Rise and Shine by Patrick Allington
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
Split Shift (Night Shift #2) by TA Moore
Suburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza
Tenderness by Alison Macleod
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting
While We Were Dating (Wedding Date #6) by Jasmine Guillory
Witch Please (Fix-It Witches #1) by Ann Aguirre
Yours Cheerfully (Emmeline Lake Chronicles #2) by AJ Pearce

On this epic weekend, it’s another epic Stacking the Shelves post. I think it’s going to be like this until well into May at the rate things are going.

But there’s no other weekend quite like this one, as Reading Reality’s 10th Blogoversary is tomorrow, my birthday is Monday, tomorrow is both the last day of Passover AND Easter Sunday, and National Library Week begins. It’s a lot.

I still have no idea either what I want FOR my birthday or what I want to DO for my birthday. Some of that is the year of COVID, as going out to celebrate still feels unsafe and wanting anything bigger than a breadbox feels both ridiculous and superfluous. I suspect I’ll have much bigger and better ideas next year!

For Review:
Are We There Yet? by Kathleen West
The Blade Between by Sam J. Miller
The Bookseller’s Boyfriend by Heidi Cullinan
The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor
Castle Shade (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #17) by Laurie R. King
A Duchess a Day (Awakened by a Kiss #1) by Charis Michaels
Felonious Monk by William Kotzwinkle
Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton
The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles
Goblin by Josh Malerman
The Godstone by Violette Malan
Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman
Heartbreak for Hire by Sonia Hartl
A Lethal Lesson (Lane Winslow #8) by Iona Whishaw
The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore
Mrs. March by Virginia Feito
On Hampstead Heath by Marika Cobbold
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
Scorpion by Christian Cantrell
The Second Mrs. Astor by Shana Abe
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins
The Taxidermist’s Lover by Polly Hall
To Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne
Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
Transient Desires (Commissario Guido Brunetti #30) by Donna Leon
The Truth and Other Hidden Things by Lea Geller
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
We Shall Sing a Song into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart (review)
What’s Done in Darkness by Laura McHugh
Wild Rain (Women Who Dare #2) by Beverly Jenkins
The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
Game of Hearts (Fandom Hearts #3) by Cathy Yardley (review)
The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions (Phryne Fisher) by Kerry Greenwood (audio)

Another rather tall stack for you to peruse – and for me to shake my head a bit over. As fascinating as EVERYTHING looks, the one I’m really excited for is the audio of The House of Always. Some things just work better on audio, and A Chorus of Dragons series by Jenn Lyons is one of them. Not that I don’t get impatient somewhere in the middle and switch to the ebook, because I most certainly do. This is a series that I cannot recommend highly enough – although I keep trying!

For Review:
Adulting by Liz Talley
All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter
Black Ice by Carin Gerhardsen
The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
A Deadly Twist (Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis #11) by Jeffrey Siger
The Drummers (Josie Gray #6) by Tricia Fields
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing
Fresh Brewed Murder (Ground Rules #1) by Emmeline Duncan
The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson
A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram #2) by Darynda Jones
The Hiding Place (Mercy Carr #3) by Paula Munier
Inside Man (Prospero’s Demon #2) by K.J. Parker
Island Queen by Vanessa Riley
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
It Takes Two to Mango (Trouble in Paradise #1) by Carrie Doyle
The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis
M. King’s Bodyguard by Niall Leonard
Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap
The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Malkranz
Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy
Sons of Valor (Tier One Shared-World #1) by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson
The Specialist (Norcross #3) by Anna Hackett
Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge
The Swimmers by Marian Womack
Too Good to Be Real by Melonie Johnson
Wayward by Dana Spiotta
We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen
When We Were Young by Richard Roper

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
The House of Always (Chorus of Dragons #4) by Jenn Lyons (audio)

Yesterday – as I prepped this post – was World Sleep Day. It was SO, SO tempting to give in, as it was pretty gloomy outside, just perfect for an afternoon nap with the cats. On my other hand – or should that be my other arm – YAY I’m getting my first “Fauci Ouchie” Saturday afternoon. While I can’t say I’m looking forward to being jabbed, I am looking forward to being better protected against the virus. (Galen’s first jab is this coming week.)

For Review:
Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler
Bombay Prince (Perveen Mistry #3) by Sujata Massey
Breakout by Paul Herron
Call It Horses by Jessie van Eerden
Coward (Quest for Heroes #1) by Stephen Aryan
Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood
Dead Dead Girls (Harlem Renaissance Mystery #1) by Nekesa Afia
Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Final Dawn (Atrophy #5) by Jess Anastasi
The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee
The Hellion’s Waltz (Feminine Pursuits #3) by Olivia Waite
The Layover by Lacie Waldon
The Library of the Dead (Edinburgh Nights #1) by T.L. Huchu
A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa Williams
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Nice Girls by Catherine Dang
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
The Playwright’s House by Dariel Suarez
Rabbits by Terry Miles
The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell
Spin by Peter Zheutlin
The Story of Silence by Alex Myers
The Summer of No Attachments by Lori Foster
Survive the Night by Riley Sager
Two Storm Wood by Philip Gray
An Unlikely Spy by Rebecca Starford
The Vixen by Francine Prose
What to Do When Someone Dies by Nicci French
Wings of Fury (Wings of Fury #1) by Emily R. King
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

This stack is actually just a touch shorter – or maybe that should be less tall – than the last couple. The tide may be ebbing, just a bit. I’m in the middle of listening to Junkyard Bargain right now, and it’s every bit as awesome as the first book, Junkyard Cats. Yes, the cats are still part of the story, in fact, the bargain of the title is one that Shining makes WITH the cats. I love them, but I’m glad that telepathic cats are not an actual thing because ours are already a bit too smart and intuitive for our own good!

For Review:
After Alice Fell by Kim Taylor Blakemore
After Francesco by Brian Malloy
Angel of the Overpass (Ghost Roads #3) by Seanan McGuire
The Album of Dr. Moreau by Daryl Gregory
The Apocalypse Seven by Gene Doucette
Bottle Demon (Eric Carter #6) by Stephen Blackmoore
The Butterfly House (Korner and Werner #2) by Katrine Engberg
China by Edward Rutherfurd
City on the Edge by David Swinson
Dead of Winter (August Snow #3) by Stephen Mack Jones
The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes (Lillys #1) by Xio Axelrod
Hard Reboot by Django Wexler
Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick
Hemingway’s Cats by Lindsey Hooper
Hold Fast by J.H. Gelernter
Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian
The Hunting Wives by May Cobb
The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley
The Mystic’s Accomplice by Mary Miley
The Newcomer by Mary Kay Andrews
Playing the Palace by Paul Rudnick
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake (Winner Bakes All #1) by Alexis Hall
A Special Place for Women by Laura Hankin
The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent
Summer on the Bluffs (Oak Bluffs #1) by Sunny Hostin
Version Zero by David Yoon
We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
Junkyard Bargain (Shining Smith #2) by Faith Hunter (audio)
Turning the Tied edited by Jonathan Maberry et al

Borrowed from the Library:
Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent

By the time I got finished putting this together I almost left the ‘XXX’ placeholder line in instead of actually typing something. It’s a very tall stack! So many fascinating books to choose from! However will I pick just one at a time?

For Review:
The Ack Ack Girl (Love and War #1) by Chris Karlsen
All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis
Becoming Leidah by Michell Grierson
The Best Thing You Can Steal (Gideon Sable #1) by Simon R. Green
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Henry
The Elephant of Belfast by S. Kirk Walsh
The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade
The Future is Yours by Dan Frey
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers #4) by Becky Chambers
Gone Missing in Harlem by Karla FC Holloway
Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth
Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin
The House of Styx (Venus Ascendant #1) by Derek Kunsken
Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer
In a Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo
In the Company of Killers by Bryan Christy
Infinite by Brian Freeman
The Infinity Courts (Infinity Courts #1) by Akemi Dawn Bowman
The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Little Pieces of Me by Alison Hammer
Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey
Meet Me in Paradise by Libby Hubscher
The Nightborn (Stormbringer #2) by Isabel Cooper
Northern Spy by Flynn Berry
Revelations by Mary Sharratt
A River Called Time by Courttia Newland
Shift Work (Night Shift #1) by TA Moore
Situation Normal by Leonard Richardson
Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle
The Unkindness of Ravens by M.E. Hilliard
When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain
The Widow Queen (Bold #1) by Elzbieta Cherezinska
Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
You Love Me (You #3) by Caroline Kepnes