I severely underestimated how long the tail would be for books I saw/heard about/talked to people about at ALA. There are LOTS more in this week’s ginormous stack!

For Review:
Black Wings by Megan Hart
Comics Will Break Your Heart by Faith Erin Hicks
Death in a Darkening Mist (Lane Winslow #2) by Iona Whishaw
A Deceptive Devotion (Lane Winslow #6) by Iona Whishaw
Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
The Good Ones (Happy Ever After #1) by Jenn McKinlay
The Hiding Place by C.J. Tudor
The Homecoming by Andrew Pyper
The Huntress by Kate Quinn
It Begins in Betrayal (Lane Winslow #4) by Iona Whishaw
The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler
A Killer in King’s Cove (Lane Winslow #1) by Iona Whishaw
Lady Derring Takes a Lover (Palace of Rogues #1) by Julie Ann Long
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
The Lost Night by Andrea Bartz
Mission: Her Defense (Team 52 #4) by Anna Hackett
Never Tell by Lisa Gardner
The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald
An Old, Cold Grave (Lane Winslow #3) by Iona Whishaw
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
The One You Fight For (Ones Who Got Away #3) by Roni Loren
A Ring of Truth (Henrietta and Inspector Howard #2) by Michelle Cox
A Sorrowful Sanctuary (Lane Winslow #5) by Iona Whishaw
Stroke of Luck (Sterling’s Montana #1) by B.J. Daniels
An Unconditional Freedom (Loyal League #3) by Alyssa Cole
When You Read This by Mary Adkins

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
Fallen Empire Omnibus by Lindsay Buroker (currently FREE!)
Junkyard (Fractured Stars #0.5) by Lindsay Buroker (currently FREE!)
The Ruin of Kings (Chorus of Dragons #1) by Jenn Lyons (audio)

This is the post-ALA “OMG what have I done” stack. OMG it’s a lot.

Before anyone starts thinking about book hoarding and/or taking ARCs that should be reserved for librarians who are still working in libraries, all of these were eARCs. A few were for books that popped up on NetGalley or Edelweiss after I closed out last week’s Stacking the Shelves in order to go to the conference, but most are books I saw or heard about at the conference that looked and/or sounded like good reads for me. The proof of that will be in the reading, of course.

And for anyone wondering when on Earth I’ll get around to all these books, the answer is that I probably won’t. In the end, for very long definitions of end, I ultimately review about half of what I get, which is one of the reasons I get eARCs. I read about 250 books a year. Some things I try and they just fail me – or I’m just not feeling it at the time and forget to go back. Or life happens. Doesn’t it happen to everyone?

So many books, so little time!

For Review:
Aftershocks (Palladium Wars #1) by Marko Kloos
Aloha Rodeo by David Wolman and Julian Smith
American Moonshot by Douglas Brinkley
American Pop by Snowden Wright
Anything But a Duke (Duke’s Den #2) by Christy Carlyle
The Binding by Bridget Collins
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Dark Star #1) by Marlon James
The Bride Test (Kiss Quotient #2) by Helen Hoang
Cowboy to the Core (Gold Valley #6) by Maisey Yates
Dangerous Waters (First Responders #7) by Radclyffe
The Deepest Blue (Tales of Renthia #1) by Sarah Beth Durst
Glory Road by Lauren K. Denton
It Never Goes Away by Anne L. Koch
No Ordinary Texas Billionaire (Devil’s Rock at Whiskey River #3) by Eve Gaddy
Ransom (Benson Security #4) by Janet E. Henderson
Sentinel of Darkness (Darkness #8) by Katie Reus
Slow Ride (Road to Love #2) by Lori Foster
Spindle’s End by Jessica Marting
The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung
This Heart of Mine by C.C. Hunter
Today We Go Home by Kelli Estes
Traitor’s Codex (Crispin Guest #11) by Jeri Westerson
Where Oblivion Lives (Los Nefilim #1) by T. Frohock

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay
How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin
Minimum Wage Magic (DFZ #1) by Rachel Aaron
Oria’s Enchantment (Sorcerous Moons #5) by Jeffe Kennedy
River of Stars (Under Heaven #2) by Guy Gavriel Kay
Star Crossed: 7 Novels of Space Exploration, Alien Races, Adventure, and Romance by Christine Pope, C. Gockel, Carol Van Natta, Lindsay Buroker, Greta van der Rol, Alexis Glynn Latner, Pauline Baird Jones
Under Heaven (Under Heaven #1) by Guy Gavriel Kay
White Fragility by Robin J. DiAngelo

As you read this, I am at the ALA Midwinter Conference, desperately trying not to pick up “all the things” – as in all the books I see pretty much everywhere. Even though I resist the impulse to grab print ARCS as much as I can, I can usually talk the publishers into sending me a NetGalley or Edelweiss widget. And I always leave with a LONG list of books I want to read!

In the meantime, here’s what I picked up BEFORE we left.

For Review:
The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason
Milady by Laura L. Sullivan
Radicalized by Cory Doctorow
Shadowblade by Anna Kashina

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
Time’s Children by D.B. Jackson (audio)

Free from the publisher:
The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander (Tor.com eBook Club)

It didn’t feel like I was picking much up this week – at least not until Macmillan dumped their latest into Edelweiss. As they include Tor Books, that usually fills up my list quite nicely!

I’m trying to be a bit better about not grabbing so much when I know I won’t get to them all. I don’t feel as guilty because they are all eARCs, but it does make my to-do list look like “dreaming the impossible dream”. But the covers always look so tempting!

For Review:
Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone
Gideon the Ninth (The Ninth House #1) by Tamsyn Muir
The Last Tsar’s Dragons by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
Medusa in the Graveyard (Medusa Cycle #2) by Emily Devenport
Target of One’s Own (Night Stalkers 5E #4) by M.L. Buchman
Triple Jeopardy (Daniel Pitt #2) by Anne Perry
The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell

It does look like things are picking back up, doesn’t it? And I still have two books that aren’t on the list because they don’t have covers yet. On the other hand, one of those listed here (Susan Wiggs’ Oysterville Sewing Circle) won’t be published until August and it DOES have a cover.

No one ever said that the publishing industry makes sense. Actually, there are plenty of people like Kristine Kathryn Rusch who have provided ample evidence that the traditional publishing industry doesn’t make sense!

For Review:
Fatal Inheritance by Rachel Rhys
Fire Season (Eric Carter #4) by Stephen Blackmoore
If This Goes On edited by Cat Rambo
The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs
Phoenix Falling (Wildlands #5) by Laura Bickle
The Pursuits of Lord Kit Cavanaugh (Cavanaughs #2) by Stephanie Laurens
A Touch of Forever (Cowboys of Colorado #3) by Jo Goodman

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
The Last Sun (Tarot Sequence #1) by K.D. Edwards
Medusa Uploaded (Medusa Cycle #1) by Emily Devenport

The stack is still short. Just barely tall enough to make a decent pancake breakfast – and that’s only after a couple of last minute additions. I actually have two other new books, but they are still sans covers, so I’ll wait to post them. It does look like things are picking back up at NetGalley and Edelweiss after the holidays, so next week’s stack should be a bit taller. We’ll see…

For Review:
An Illusion of Thieves (Chimera #1) by Cate Glass
No Country for Old Gnomes (Tales of Pell #2) by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
Touch of Eon (Eon Warriors #2) by Anna Hackett
Titanshade by Dan Stout
Wild Country (World of the Others #2) by Anne Bishop
Zachary’s Christmas (Night Stalkers White House #4) by M.L. Buchman (review)

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
The Glory of the Empress (Evgardian #3) by Sean Danker
The Order War (Saga of Recluce #4) by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (audio)

This was almost the “Empty Shelf” edition of Stacking the Shelves, but…there was a sale. And something popped up on Edelweiss at the last minute. AND I remembered that there was a book on my “anticipated shelf” at Edelweiss that never did have an available eARC. And so on and so forth. And, as always, so many books, so little time.

But this is also the pre-New Years’ edition of Stacking the Shelves, and there is plenty of time to wish you and yours a Happy New Year, one hopefully filled with good luck, good health, much happiness and plenty of great books to read!

For Review:
Templar Silks by Elizabeth Chadwick

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
Alice Payne Arrives (Alice Payne #1) by Kate Heartfield
Ninefox Gambit (Machineries of Empire #1) by Yoon Ha Lee
Raven Stratagem (Machineries of Empire #2) by Yoon Ha Lee
Revenant Gun (Machineries of Empire #3) by Yoon Ha Lee

This would be the pre-holiday edition of Stacking the Shelves – but my holiday has already happened. Hanukkah was a couple of weeks ago, but New Years is still to come. So the mid-holiday edition. Your thoughts on this may vary, depending on exactly which holidays you do or don’t celebrate during this season.

Whatever you celebrate this season, Happy Holidays to you and yours.

For Review:
The Cliff House by RaeAnne Thayne
The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth (Daughter of Sherlock Holmes #3) by Leonard Goldberg
The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams
Invitation to Die (Inspector Redfyre #2) by Barbara Cleverly
Murder in the City of Liberty (Van Buren and DeLuca #2) by Rachel McMillan
Protect the Prince (Crown of Shards #2) by Jennifer Estep
The True Queen (Sorcerer to the Crown #2) by Zen Cho
Tutus and Tinsel (Half Moon Bay #2.5) by Rhys Ford (review)

I didn’t get a lot this week, but what I got was definitely choice!

For Review:
Fifty Things that Aren’t My Fault by Cathy Guisewite
Gather the Fortunes (Crescent City #2) by Bryan Camp
The Hound of Justice (Janet Watson Chronicles #2) by Claire O’Dell
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

Purchased from Amazon/Audible:
The Magic Engineer (Saga of Recluce #3) by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (audio)

What is it about traveling? Probably all the recycled air and recycled germs on the plane and in the airport. We both came back from our Thanksgiving trip with whatever crud is going around, and let me tell you, it’s really nasty crud. There’s been a whole lot of coughing, and sneezing, and coughing around here. I keep expecting to cough up my toenails – from the inside. Horrible stuff.

But I still got a few interesting books this week, as I do every week. Reading is definitely my happy place! And WOOT! I don’t know what made me look, but there’s a Jean Johnson book that I managed to miss. And have now started. WOOT!

For Review:
Edge of Eon (Eon Warriors #1) by Anna Hackett
Flare Up (Boston Fire #6) by Shannon Stacey
The Infamous Duchess (Diamonds in the Rough #4) by Sophie Barnes
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
Mahimata (Asiana #2) by Rati Mehrotra
Terminal Uprising (Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse #2) by Jim C. Hines
The View from Alameda Island by Robyn Carr
Who Slays the Wicked (Sebastian St. Cyr #14) by C.S. Harris

Purchased from Amazon:
The Temple (Guardians of Destiny #4) by Jean Johnson