This week’s stack is short but very, very sweetly anticipated. Court of Wanderers and The Twilight Queen are both second books in series that I hoped really hard would be series but couldn’t be certain until just this week when these two books popped up on NetGalley and Edelweiss.

And then there’s What Cannot Be Said, the 19th book in my much-loved Sebastian St. Cyr series. I’m so happy to have this one, and so tempted to just READ IT NOW, but then I’ll have an even longer wait for book 20. I’m on the horns of a very sharp dilemma over this one.

And last but not least, today is the last day of Banned Books Week. A host of organizations that support writers and artists, including the Writers Guild Initiative, PEN America and Unite Against Book Bans, have banded together to make today 2023 Banned Books Week Day of Action to bring attention to the urgent crisis around book banning in the United States. The American Library Association has declared today to be Let Freedom Read Day. My own small action to support both of those efforts is my purchase of the audiobook of the much praised but frequently banned The 1619 Project, so that I can listen to it in time to review it as part of 2024’s Banned Books Week.

For Review:
Court of Wanderers (Silver Under Nightfall #2) by Rin Chupeco
A Duke’s Lesson in Charm (Gentlemen Authors #3) by Sophie Barnes
Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and SJ Rozan
The Twilight Queen (King’s Fool #2) by Jeri Westerson
What Cannot Be Said (Sebastian St. Cyr #19) by C.S. Harris

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones (audio)
Pets in Space 8 edited by Carol Van Natta

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There are two books in this stack that I picked up just for the titles. Or rather, I picked up the first book in the trilogy, That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon, just for the title, so I couldn’t resist getting books 2 and 3, That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf and That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human because I couldn’t resist them either. I’m expecting a good time without having to get drunk for it myself!

The book I’m honestly the MOST curious about is Jim Butcher’s new novella in his Cinder Spires series, Warriorborn. It’s been EIGHT WHOLE YEARS since the first book in the series, The Aeronaut’s Windlass. I remember liking it at the time, but thinking that it could have used an editor. It was A LOT. I have an eARC of The Olympian Affair, the second full book in the series, so I’m really hoping that Warriorborn will be enough to get me back in and caught up before I tackle that book to the ground. We’ll see.

For Review:
The Bitter Crown (Eidyn Saga #2) by Justin Lee Anderson
The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks
Daughter of Calamity by Rosalie M. Lin
The Dead Take the A Train (Carrion City #1) by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw (audio)
From the Forest (Saga of Recluce #23) by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Necrobane (Warden #2) by Daniel M. Ford
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human (Mead Mishaps #3) by Kimberly Lemming
That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf (Mead Mishaps #2) by Kimberly Lemming
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
Warriorborn (Cinder Spires #1.5) by Jim Butcher (ebook and audio)

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This isn’t really a ‘pretty’ stack. It’s interesting. It’s thought provoking. Or at least I hope so on both counts. But pretty doesn’t seem to be in its wheelhouse AT ALL. Howsomever, titles like Parasol Against the Axe conjure up all sorts of images, don’t they? My curiosity bump itches something fierce over that one.

For Review:
A Flame in the North (Black Land’s Bane #1) by Lilith Saintcrow
Denison Avenue by Daniel Inness and Christina Wong
The End of August by Yū Miri
A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan
First Family by Cassandra A. Good
The Lady in Glass and Other Stories by Anne Bishop
Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi
Saevus Corax Gets Away With Murder (Corax Trilogy #3) by K. J. Parker
Serving Herself by Ashley Brown
We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian
Web of Angels by John M. Ford
Wolves of Winter (Essex Dogs #2) by Dan Jones

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I think the book I’m most looking forward to in this stack is The Missing Witness by Allison Brennan. It’s the 5th book in the Quinn & Costa series and so far they’ve all been terrific. So we’ll see if that streak continues. The one I’m most curious about is At First Spite by Olivia Dade. I adored her Spoiler Alert series, so I’m hoping that her new series continues in that fine tradition even as I wonder if she can capture the lightning in the bottle again without the added attraction of the nerdy, fanfiction-based, ripped from the complaints about the ‘real’ series to match the fake one, vibe of Spoiler Alert. We’ll see.

The one bringing the biggest smile to my face is the  Into the Riverlands audio by Nghi Vo, read by Cindy Kay. I finished listening to it Friday afternoon by driving around the neighborhood for ten minutes so I could just get that last bit. I loved the story in text and loved it even more in audio, as you’ll see from my review early this coming week.

For Review:
At First Spite (Harlot’s Bay #1) by Olivia Dade
The Book of Love by Kelly Link
A Duke’s Introduction to Courtship (Gentlemen Authors #2) by Sophie Barnes
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
The Missing Witness (Quinn & Costa #5) by Allison Brennan
Shadow Speaker (Desert Magician’s Duology #1) by Nnedi Okorafor (audio)
The Weavers of Alamaxa (Alamaxa Duology #2) by Hadeer Elsbai
Wicked Problems (Craft Wars #2) by Max Gladstone
Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
The Blighted Stars (Devoured Worlds #1) by Megan E. O’Keefe (audio)
Into the Riverlands (Singing Hills Cycle #3) by Nghi Vo (audio)

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

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It’s kind of a short stack this week, which is making me think WAY too much of pancakes. Mmmmm, maybe breakfast for dinner would be a good idea…

Back to books, always a delicious topic.

The Meiji Guillotine Murders is officially the furthest out book I have, not just on this list but AT ALL at the moment. It won’t be published until June, 2024. Seriously. I found out about this book through a review in First Clue, a terrific blog/newsletter specializing in reviews of new mystery and crime fiction.

I picked up the Star Trek books after yesterday’s review, because I know I’ll get around to them sooner or later. Now that they are on my radar, more likely sooner but we’ll see.

There’s not much to choose from in this stack, but the prettiest cover looks to be To Slip the Bonds of Earth, which from the description isn’t half as ethereal as either the title or the cover might lead one to believe. It’s the first book in a historical mystery series featuring Kathryn Wright, the younger sister of Wilbur and Orville, as an amateur detective in the early years of the 20th century. Potentially a LOT of fun!

For Review:
The Fraud by Zadie Smith (audio)
The Meiji Guillotine Murders by Futaro Yamada
River Mumma by Zalika Reid-Benta
To Slip the Bonds of Earth (Kathryn Wright #1) by Amanda Flower

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
The Collectors (Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations #3) by Christopher L. Bennett
Shield of the Gods (Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations #5) by Christopher L. Bennett
Time Lock (Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations #4) by Christopher L. Bennett

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On the one hand, this list is still the result of my recent epic book flail. I loved the first books in the Forensic Instincts series, but somehow it dropped off my book radar. When I realized I was coming to an end of my St. Cyr catch up read and needed a new comfort read series, I happened to see a mention of At Any Cost and ‘Bob’ as they say, ‘is your uncle’.

On my second hand, there’s that 50th anniversary edition of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. I read that when it first came out 50(!) years ago and it’s one of those books, along with the author’s Riddle-Master of Hed Trilogy, that I’ve carted to seven different states over those 50 years. It’s time to get it out again.

And then there’s my third hand, or perhaps a foot perched on a library-style kickstep, with two books about the power of books and the desire to run away from responsibility and open a bookstore, which made me think of Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and The Cat Who Saved Books and I couldn’t resist!

For Review:
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld: 50th Anniversary Special Edition by Patricia A. McKillip
Fury (Fury Brothers #1) by Anna Hackett
Tales of the Celestial Kingdom (Celestial Kingdom #3) by Sue Lynn Tan
Three Kinds of Lucky (Shadow Age #1) by Kim Harrison
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
At Any Cost (Forensic Instincts #9) by Andrea Kane
Dead in a Week (Forensic Instincts #7) by Andrea Kane
A Dragon for William (Night’s Edge #2.5) by Julie E. Czerneda
A Face to Die For (Forensic Instincts #6) by Andrea Kane
The Murder That Never Was (Forensic Instincts #5) by Andrea Kane
No Stone Unturned (Forensic Instincts #8) by Andrea Kane
A Play of Shadow (Night’s Edge #2) by Julie E. Czerneda

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I was having a bit of an epic book flail at the end of the week, Audible was having a sale, Tor Books was very, very kind about an advanced listening copy of Starter Villain as I’d already read and reviewed the book, AND I received a review assignment for book 6 in a series where I’d only read book 2. The result – well, most of the result as this list got really long – is the stack you see before you. Some reading weeks are just like that.

The best title on this list, is clearly, and without a doubt, That Time I got Drunk and Saved a Demon. If it even half lives up to its Legends & Lattes, Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea vibe it’s going to be awesome.

For Review:
The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller
A Haunting at Linley (Henrietta and Inspector Howard #7) by Michelle Cox
Nuts and Bolts by Roma Agrawal
The Riders Come Out at Night by Ali Winston and Darwin Bondgraham
A Spying Eye (Henrietta and Inspector Howard #6) by Michelle Cox
The Stars Turned Inside Out by Nova Jacobs
Stolen by Ann-Helen Laestadius
Starter Villain by John Scalzi (audio)
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon (Mead Mishaps #1) by Kimberly Lemming

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
A Child Lost (Henrietta and Inspector Howard #5) by Michelle Cox
A Girl Like You (Henrietta and Inspector Howard #1) by Michelle Cox
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (audio)
The Hunter’s Apprentice (Adventures of Keltin Moore #4) by Lindsay Schopfer
A Promise Given (Henrietta and Inspector Howard #3) by Michelle Cox
Stephen Leeds: Death & Faxes (Legion #1.5) by Brandon Sanderson (audio)
A Veil Removed (Henrietta and Inspector Howard #4) by Michelle Cox

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I am head over heels in love with both the cover of The Kamogawa Food Detectives as well as the premise of the story. I don’t know about you, but there are certainly meals from my childhood that I would love to recreate, meals that my grandma cooked and of course never wrote down any of the recipes. She also made the BEST chocolate chip cookies in the universe. She swore she got the recipe off the back of the Nestle’s semi-sweet chips bag just like everyone else, but I’ve never been able to recreate it and I’ve tried and Tried and TRIED! If I think back I can STILL see the cookie jar she kept them in and taste them and it’s been 50 years. Don’t think my mom wasn’t a good cook, because she was, but she just wasn’t quite as good as my grandma, something that my dad could not resist reminding her of just a bit too often.

For Review:
The 272 by Rachel L. Swarns
American Vikings by Martyn Whittock
The Good, the Bad, & the Uncanny edited by Jonathan Maberry
Hidden in Plain Sight by Rachel Stephens
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai,translated by Jesse Kirkwood
The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens by Helena Kelly
The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller
A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen
Tali Girls by Siamak Herawi, translated by Sara Khalili
The Times That Try Men’s Souls by Joyce Lee Malcolm
The Tory’s Wife by Cynthia A. Kierner
The Truth of the Aleke (Forever Desert #2) by Moses Ose Utomi
Untold Power by Rebecca Boggs Roberts

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
Magical Midlife Madness (Leveling Up #1) by K.F. Breene

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Without a doubt, the book on this list I’m most looking forward to reading is Terry Pratchett’s A Stroke of the Pen. Because more of Sir Terry is always a treat. The supply, as we all know, is terminally limited, so anything that adds even a mote to the canon is to be celebrated. I’m still hanging onto NOT reading the final Discworld book, Raising Steam, because even ten years later I’m just not ready for it to be over.

Other notable titles in this list; Anything with Nothing just edges out The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch because the Bennet Sisters have been play with before – The Other Bennet Sister for example, not to mention Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – while the Valdemar anthologies are always fun and the inside-out snarkasm of “anything with nothing” tickles my funny bone.

And there are two books in this stack that I’ve already finished, Shark Heart and Wild Spaces. I reviewed Shark Heart yesterday, and the Wild Spaces review will be posted on Tuesday. I’m still a bit weirded out that I went from a story about a man who turns into a shark to one about a teenaged boy who turns into a sea monster. I know testosterone is one hell of a drug – but I never thought it was quite that potent!

For Review:
Anything with Nothing (Tales of Valdemar #17) edited by Mercedes Lackey
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 edited by R.F. Kuang and John Joseph Adams
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
The Cost of Free Land by Rebecca Claren
Daughter by Claudia Dey
Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson
First Gen by Alejandra Campoverdi
The Girl Prince by Danell Jones
He/She/They by Schuyler Bailar
Heartsong (Green Creek #3) by TJ Klune
Kinning (Everfair #2) by Nisi Shawl
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck (eARC and audio) (REVIEW!)
A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke
A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett
Sun House by David James Duncan
Valiant Women by Lena S. Andrews
Wannabe by Aisha Harris
Wild Spaces by S.L. Coney (book and audio)
The Wolfe at the Door by Gene Wolfe

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Because I seem to be in the midst of an epic, multi-week book flail, I’m particularly susceptible to any book that looks shiny and interesting and different from the literally hundred that are already on the virtually towering TBR pile. Which quite possibly explains why I bought a copy of Heather Graham’s Secrets in the Dark. I liked the first book in the Blackbird Trilogy, Whispers at Dusk, more than enough to want to complete the set but wasn’t able to get an eARC for the middle book (HORRORS!) and suddenly didn’t have the patience to wait for my library hold to come in. That probably also explains The Book Club Hotel, because the idea of a vacation purely for the purpose of discussing books with like-minded friends sounds terribly appealing! As, come to think of it, does that pretty winter scene depicted on the cover – at least it does NOW, in the midst of this epic heat wave!

For Review:
The Bezzle (Martin Hench #2) by Cory Doctorow
The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan
Cascade Failure (Ambit’s Run #1) by L.M. Sagas
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
A Duke’s Guide to Romance (Gentlemen Authors #1) by Sophie Barnes
Fall (Detective Harriet Foster #2) by Tracy Clark
A Feast for Starving Stone (Chefs of the Five Gods #2) by Beth Cato
A Fire Born of Exile (Xuya Universe Romances #2) by Aliette de Bodard
Kinauvit? by Norma Dunning (eARC and Audio)
Searching for Savanna by Mona Gable
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (audio)
There Should Have Been Eight by Nalini Singh
Uncanny Vows (Huntsmen #2) by Laura Anne Gilman

Purchased from Amazon/Audible/Etc.:
Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher
The Red Scholar’s Wake (Xuya Universe Romances #1) by Aliette de Bodard
Secrets in the Dark (Blackbird Trilogy #2) by Heather Graham (REVIEW!!!)
The Starfish Sisters by Barbara O’Neal

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

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