We’re having a SNOW DAY here in Atlanta on Friday as I write this. An actual, honest to goodness snow day. So far there’s been 2 inches of wet stuff, enough to coat everything. It will probably ice over and then melt, but right now we’re living in a winter wonderland. All the better to stay in, curl up with a warm cat and a cup of hot cocoa, and READ!

The two prettiest covers this week are Last Dance Before Dawn and The Library at Hellebore, with a honorable – or, considering the series, dishonorable – mention for Red Seas Under Red Skies. After all, that’s book 2 in the Gentleman Bastards series, so calling anything about it ‘honorable’ is most likely a stretch.

Although that is one of the two books I’m most curious about this week. I picked up Red Seas because the series it’s part of, which begins with the oft recommended The Lies of Locke Lamora, is mentioned as a readalike for The Silverblood Promise, which I finally started in audio and am absolutely loving so far. The other book I’m curious about is The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy, the first book in the Dearly Beloathed duology. I fully admit that I grabbed that one for the SERIES title, and I’m really curious to see how it goes.

I’d have said that the book I’m most looking forward to was The Hero She Loves, but I finished that yesterday and it was terrific and I need to get the review written . The other book I’m really looking forward to I believe might be ITS series ender, and that’s Last Dance Before Dawn.

I should have plenty of time to make a dent in SOMETHING this weekend! What about you? What’s in your stack?

Version 1.0.0

For Review:
The Hero She Loves (Unbroken Heroes #5) by Anna Hackett
Holmes & Moriarty by Gareth Rubin
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed #1) by Brigitte Knightley
Last Dance Before Dawn (Nightingale Mysteries #4) by Katharine Schellman
The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon

Borrowed from the Library:
Red Seas Under Red Skies (Gentleman Bastards #2) by Scott Lynch

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

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Happy New Year!

I thought the stacks might get back to normal after the holidays but I didn’t expect it to be quite this instantaneous!

If you like SF/F you might want to check out Tachyon Publications 30th anniversary celebration. They’re giving away an ebook every month to newsletter subscribers. This month’s book is Jane Yolen’s The Transfigured Hart. And there’s plenty more where that came from!

The Transfigured Hart is also a contender for this week’s prettiest cover, along with Alchemy and a Cup of Tea and Weyward. The books I’m most curious about in this stack are A Case of Mice and Murder, a historical mystery I picked up on a recommendation from First Clue Reviews, and Death on the Caldera because I love SF mysteries.

The title I’m most looking forward to in this stack is Pearl City, to absolutely no one’s surprise at all after last week’s review of Blood Jade.

What about you? Has your stack recovered from the holidays? Have you?

For Review:
Alchemy and a Cup of Tea (Tomes & Tea #4) by Rebecca Thorne
A Case of Mice and Murder (Trials of Gabriel Ward #1) by Sally Smith
The Conjurer’s Wife by Sarah Penner
Death on the Caldera by Emily Paxman
The Folded Sky (White Space #3) by Elizabeth Bear
Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
Pearl City (Phoenix Hoard #3) by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle
The Second Chance Convenience Store by Ho-Yeon Kim, translated by Janet Hong
The Transfigured Hart by Jane Yolen

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
Ancestral Night (White Space #1) by Elizabeth Bear
Shadow of the Smoking Mountain (Chronicles of Hanuvar #3) by Howard Andrew Jones (ebook and audio)
Weyward by Emilia Hart (ebook and audio)

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

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This is OMG the last and final Stacking the Shelves for 2024. It’s a bit on the puny side, isn’t it? That’s the way things go at the end of the year. Not much new is being published – like, not at all – and not many people are feeding new content into NetGalley and Edelweiss. I’m not expecting much for next week’s stack either because holiday recovery/post-holiday doldrums. But I expect the stack after that to be at least a bit bigger.

This week’s covers, few as they are, all elicit one sort of feels or another. The prettiest covers, IMHO, although they are absolutely NOT pretty in the same ways, are Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me (also awards for BEST TITLE and book I’m most eagerly anticipating this week!) and Small Town Hero.

Very much on the other hand, the cover of Engines of War is kind of ‘meh’. I keep confusing this one with the previous books in the series, Engines of Empire and Engines of Chaos, and the COVERS are ALL very ‘meh’ and all ‘meh’ in the same way. The books, however, well, Engines of Empire drove me bananas but it was never ‘meh’. We’ll see about books 2 and 3.

The remaining books, I Think I’m in Love with an Alien, Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil and The Last Vigilant, well, I’m terribly curious about all of them but not in the same way. Alien seems like it might be a LOT like I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming which is coming out in February. The COVER of Alien, however, reminds me more than a bit of one of the romances in Mass Effect. (#IYKYK). We’ll see.

Isabella Nagg has a black cat on the cover, which plucked my heartstrings, and its blurb reads like a cozy fantasy. Also it’s on the short side and sometimes those are just right. The Last Vigilant has simply grabbed me by the cover and won’t let go. That picture, of the young knight and the old wizard riding off to war hints at so many fascinating stories and I NEED to find out what happened!

Did you get any good books as presents? What’s been added to your stack this week?

For Review:
Engines of War (Age of Uprising #3) by R.S. Ford
Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me (Dark Lord Davi #2) by Django Wexler
I Think I’m in Love with an Alien by Ann Aguirre
Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire
The Last Vigilant (Kingdom of Oak and Steel #1) by Mark A. Latham
Small Town Hero by Linda Lael Miller and Maisey Yates

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

I have a new category for judging book covers this week, because The cover of The Baby Dragon Café goes beyond pretty and straight into ADORABLE. I also can’t wait to read it so I’m really happy that it comes out in January – at least in ebook – so I don’t need to. To compare, Faithbreaker‘s cover is MERELY pretty, perhaps even verging on beautiful, but it is NOT adorable.

The other books I’m most looking forward to, besides that cute Baby Dragon, are The Cat Who Saved the Library and Chaos. Although, come to think of it, a cat attempting to save a library probably would result in chaos. Both books are parts of series where I loved the first books (The Cat Who Saved Books and Calamity, respectively) so I’m happy to see more of both.

The books I’m most curious about are by process of elimination but both truly so in different ways, The Final Stand and Twice as Dead. The Final Stand because I do enjoy the occasional military space opera type SF and I’ve never read either this author nor, I believe anything from this publisher, so I’m intrigued on both counts. I’m seriously curious about Twice as Dead because the cover looks SO “old school” urban fantasy, while the author is best known for his well researched alternate history, so I had to check to make sure this was a new book and not a reprint. It’s new, it’s different for this author, and I’m terribly curious. I also happen to love “old school” urban fantasy so I have hopes this will bring readers – and perhaps even publishers – back to that genre.

For Review:
The Baby Dragon Café (Baby Dragon #1) by A.T. Qureshi
The Cat Who Saved the Library by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
Chaos (Uncharted Hearts #3) by Constance Fay
Faithbreaker (Fallen Gods #3) by Hannah Kaner
The Final Stand (Nexus House #1) by Rick Campbell
Twice as Dead (City of Shadows #1) by Harry Turtledove

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

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A really short stack this time around, and ALL coincidentally at the end of the alphabet. My stacks tend to get short at the end of the year because they’re usually all eARCs that I get from NetGalley and Edelweiss. I’ve always assumed that the publishing folks take a bit of time off at the end of the year just like the rest of us, because not much gets added from now until after New Year’s.

Of course, is you happen to be someone who RECEIVES books for the holidays, your stack could get blissfully huge.

In spite of ONLY having FOUR books this time around, I’ve actually got something to say about each of them. The ‘pretty cover’ award is split evenly between The Sirens and Tideborn. Shadow of the Solstice is the book I’m most looking forward to because I’ve been looking forward to the next book in the Leaphorn, Chee and now Manuelito series, and the next and the next and the next, for decades at this point.

And the book that has me intensely curious is Six Wild Crowns because its based, I suspect loosely based but we’ll see, on the court of Henry VIII and I can’t wait to learn how THAT’s going to work!

For Review:
Shadow of the Solstice (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito #28) by Anne Hillerman
The Sirens by Emilia Hart (eARC and audio)
Six Wild Crowns (Queens of Elben #1) by Holly Race
Tideborn (Drowned World #2) by Eliza Chan

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

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As the year winds – or perhaps that should be dribbles – to a close, the stacks are definitely getting smaller. Which is probably a good thing. This week’s stack is fun in that I think they’re all pretty – although, as usual, they are pretty in pretty different ways.

The title I’m really, really curious about is Christopher Moore’s Anima Rising. One of my friends loves his work, so I’ve tried to get into it multiple times and bounced off. But this one looks like it might work for me. We’ll see. The cover is certainly gorgeous.

The book I’m particularly looking forward to, or at least to one story in it, is Love in Other Worlds. One of my favorite authors, M.L. Buchman, has a story in the collection titled, “The Hanukkah Pretzel Prophecy” and I’m both curious and looking forward to reading it. Because, well, what could pretzels have to do with Hanukkah? Inquiring minds REALLY want to know!

For Review:
Anima Rising by Christopher Moore
The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida, translated by Bruno Navasky
Heavenly Tyrant (Iron Widow #2) by Xiran Jay Zhao (ebook and audio)
A Line You Have Traced by Roisin Dunnett
One Way Witch (She Who Knows #2) by Nnedi Okorafor
A Ruthless Angel Weeps (House of Croft #3) by Sophie Barnes

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
Love in Other Worlds (Christmas Romance Digest #2) edited by Tracy Cooper Posey

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

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I hope that everyone had a terrific Turkey Day and has awakened from their tryptophan coma without too much difficulty!

I’ve got a bit of an eclectic stack this time around. The two books in the Vintage Cookbook Mystery series are the result of reading Bayou Book Thief, which was a fun cozy mystery and will be reviewed later in December. Wedgetail and The Hero She Deserves are the latest entries from two authors I follow religiously. Or relentlessly, take your pick.

Orbital just won The Booker Prize, and seems to be up for just about every other year-end prize. It’s SF, which made me curious. It’s actually literary SF, which explains a lot, at least so far. (I’m in the middle of the audio right now. We’ll see this coming week when I finish.)

The prettiest covers this time around are The Gentleman and His Vowsmith, and Orbital. The two that REALLY have my curiosity bump itching are American Hippo and If Wishes Were Retail.

Did you find much to add to your stack this week?

For Review:
The Gentleman and His Vowsmith by Rebecca Ide
The Hero She Deserves (Unbroken Heroes #4) by Anna Hackett
If Wishes Were Retail by Auston Habershaw
The Last Wizards’ Ball (Gunnie Rose #6) by Charlaine Harris
The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay
Wedgetail (Miranda Chase NTSB #15) by M.L. Buchman

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
American Hippo (River of Teeth #1-2) by Sarah Gailey
French Quarter Fright Night (Vintage Cookbook Mystery #3) by Ellen Byron
Wined and Died in New Orleans (Vintage Cookbook Mystery #2) by Ellen Byron

Borrowed from the Library:
Orbital by Samantha Harvey (ebook and audio)

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

A fairly sizable stack for the Saturday before Thanksgiving, isn’t it? Maybe I’ll even have a chance to read a couple of extra over the holidays?

Also an interesting batch of books in more than one way. The cover/book combo that feels like the biggest conundrum to this reader is An Excellent Thing in a Woman, the next book in the Sparks & Bainbridge series. I absolutely ADORE the series, I’m really looking forward to reading this latest entry, but damn if that isn’t the meh-est cover that ever meh-ed. Please don’t judge this series by the cover of this entry in it. Because meh. Seriously just meh. But the series is not meh at ALL.

Very much OTOH, the covers of the Under the Mistletoe collection, Cruel Winter with You etc., totally fit their books. They’re light, fluffy covers for light, fluffy holiday romances. A perfect match. Also each really short if you’re looking for a reading pick-me-up.

I think the prettiest covers are A Drop of Corruption, Idolfire and The Witch Roads, although as per usual they are not pretty in remotely the same way. A Drop of Corruption, along with The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses, are the two books I’m most looking forward to in this batch, while Their Monstrous Hearts is the one I’m most curious about as a friend asked me to read it to see if our opinions align. They probably will but we’ll see.

What did you put in your stack – and or throw on the top of your towering TBR pile – this week?

For Review:
A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett
An Excellent Thing in a Woman (Sparks & Bainbridge #7) by Allison Montclair
Idolfire by Grace Curtis
It Takes a Psychic (Harmony #18) by Jayne Castle
A Palace Near the Wind (Natural Engines #1) by Ai Jiang
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses (Mossa and Pleiti #3) by Malka Older
Their Monstrous Hearts by Yiğit Turhan
The Witch Roads (Witch Roads #1) by Kate Elliott

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
Cruel Winter with You (Under the Mistletoe #1) by Ali Hazelwood (ebook and audio)
Merriment and Mayhem (Under the Mistletoe #3) by Alexandria Bellefleur (ebook and audio)
Merry Ever After (Under the Mistletoe #2) by Tessa Bailey (ebook and audio)
Only Santas in the Building (Under the Mistletoe #5) by Alexis Daria (ebook and audio)

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

Lots of pretty amid not so many covers this week. It’s November, and publishing looks like its already headed into the holiday doldrums. Not that the holidays themselves are doldrum-y, but rather that not much comes out or gets promoted over the holidays because no one is paying attention to anything EXCEPT the holidays!

I almost said that there isn’t an ugly cover in the bunch, but I  have to admit that the beady eye of whatever that insect is pictured on the cover of Esperance is definitely giving me the creeps. I’m curious as hell because I loved the author’s Braking Day. But still, that cover is really kind of creepy – and potentially crawly as well.

The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin, however, gets my nod for both prettiest cover and most eye-catching title, but your reading mileage may vary. We’ll have to see in the months ahead.

For Review:
The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji
The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin (Ill-Mannered Ladies #2) by Alison Goodman
Murder at Gulls Nest (Nora Breen Investigates #1) by Jess Kidd
A Shipwreck in Fiji (Sergeant Akal Singh #2) by Nilima Rao

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
All by My Elf (Under the Mistletoe #3) by Olivia Dade (ebook + audio)
Bayou Book Thief (Vintage Cookbook Mystery #1) by Ellen Byron

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

This has been a difficult week for many, and I’m certainly among them. This is going to be a bit of a self-care weekend, and I know I’m far from alone in that feeling.

My search for comfort reads led me to Bonnie MacBird’s Sherlock Holmes Adventure series. After finishing the first book in the series, Art in the Blood, I grabbed the whole set so the later books in the series will be reviewed in the months ahead. I’ll probably include What Child is This? in my Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon posts.

Out of this week’s stack, IMHO Behooved has the prettiest cover – and the story sounds pretty as well. Admittedly, this stack is chock full of pretty covers, but Behooved just stands out from the rest. The books I’m most looking forward to are Anji Kills a King as it’s being billed as a readalike for The Blacktongue Thief and The Orb of Cairado as its a short story set in the universe of The Goblin Emperor.

The one I’m most curious about is Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff. I loved her Blood series as well as her Smoke series (back in the day), AND her Valor series is one of my fave SF series. But it’s been awhile, and this one is billed as horror, so my curiosity bump itches all the way around.

For Review:
Anji Kills a King (Rising Tide #1) by Evan Leikam
Behooved by M. Stevenson
The Book That Held Her Heart (Library Trilogy #3) by Mark Lawrence
Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang
Direct Descendant by Tanya Huff
A Far Better Thing by H.G. Parry
Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison
The Serpent Under (Sherlock Holmes Adventure #6) by Bonnie MacBird

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
The Devil’s Due (Sherlock Holmes Adventure #3) by Bonnie MacBird
The Three Locks (Sherlock Holmes Adventure #4) by Bonnie MacBird
Unquiet Spirits (Sherlock Holmes Adventure #2) by Bonnie MacBird
What Child is This? (Sherlock Holmes Adventure #5) by Bonnie MacBird

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page

Please link your STS post in the linky below: