The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-12-25

Posted on January 12, 2025January 11, 2025 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

Last week’s picture was of Hecate as the “Girl Cat with a Pearl Earring”, although I didn’t catch the resemblance to the famous painting until a few days later. This week’s cat picture is either Hecate surveying HER domain, or Hecate’s Winter Wonderland. After all, it’s always HERS, even if it’s seldom covered in snow.

We only got about 2 inches of snow here in Atlanta, but it was the heavy wet stuff and it stuck. (There’s a better picture of just how much snow and what it looked like fresh in yesterday’s Stacking the Shelves.) The whole of the ATL shut down in anticipation – which turned out to be a good thing as it doesn’t snow often enough here for there to be any plows or for people to get used to driving in it. (As I write this on Saturday the streets and driveways have already melted but the grass is still snow-covered.)

In the meantime, Hecate is keeping an eye on things just to make certain that the snow doesn’t do anything that she hasn’t given it permission for.

Stacking the Shelves (635)

Posted on January 11, 2025January 10, 2025 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Stacking the Shelves

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?

last dance before dawn by katharine schellman

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

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-5-25

Posted on January 5, 2025January 4, 2025 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

I don’t know about you, but I woke up on January 2 and it felt like someone flipped a switch somewhere, because suddenly after the holiday ‘twilight zone’ life snapped right back to normal. OTOH, I stayed up New Year’s Eve playing videogames instead of partying. There’s still a bit of a hangover, but it’s not nearly as debilitating late the next morning!

Howsomever, Hecate is still looking back wondering WTF at 2024 in her little rearview. Or over her cute but not so little kitty butt. I ask you, is that a face or is that a face? (I wonder if in her little brain, she’s looking back at Tuna’s look from last week and commiserating?)

But the show must go on! After all, there are new and more books to read in 2025, which is always a YAY regardless of what else happens. Although speaking of things happening, it looks like Amazon woke up one morning, remembered that they actually OWNED Goodreads, and decided to start playing with things. I know that Amazon sees all and knows all, but if you’ve linked your Amazon account and your Goodreads account they started combining stuff regarding challenges and display of books read that tells a little too much all in ways that may or may not work for you. They certainly didn’t for me and I had to fix a couple of things to make their ‘fixes’ go away. Hopefully that’s not the shape of things to come for the coming year but I’m not holding my breath. Or as I sometimes say, I wouldn’t bet my own money.

Still and all, HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to 2025!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Books in the Winter 2024-2025 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the New Year New You Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Dashing December Giveaway Hop is Lisa B.

Blog Recap:

Grade A #BookReview: Unquiet Spirits by Bonnie MacBird
C #AudioBookReview: Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
New Year, New You Giveaway Hop
Most Anticipated Books of 2025
A- #BookReview: Shattering Dawn by Jayne Ann Krentz
Stacking the Shelves (634)

Coming This Week:

Holmes is Missing by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (#BookReview)
Rebellious Grace by Jeri Westerson (#BookReview)
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis (#BookReview)
Blood is Blood by Will Thomas (#BookReview)
Free as a Bird by Hailey Edwards (#AudioBookReview)

Stacking the Shelves (634)

Posted on January 4, 2025January 3, 2025 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Stacking the Shelves

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?

shadow of the smoking mountain by howard andrew jones

alchemy and a cup of tea by rebecca thorne

of monsters and mainframes by barbara truelove

second chance convenience store by ho yeon kim

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

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 12-29-24

Posted on December 29, 2024December 28, 2024 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

The very last Sunday Post of 2024. Wednesday starts a new year, 2025. And OMG what a year it’s been and what a year it’s shaping up to be!

Fittingly, today’s cat picture is of someone peering out from safety, looking a bit scared and very concerned, wondering what this coming year is going to bring. The surprising thing about this picture is that the small, adorable, kittenish face actually hides a whole lotta Tuna behind it. (If you’re wondering, we’ll always know it’s Tuna because of the feets. Luna has little white toe shoes on her front feets and white boots on the back. Tuna has all black feets. It’s Tuna – and he’s clearly terribly worried about something. Just look at how big his eyes are!

But it is time to look ahead, even if those looks contain more than a bit of trepidation. This time last year, I was preparing, also with some trepidation, to start posting on Instagram where I’m @reading_reality. This year, it’s time to switch, at least mostly, from Twitter/X to Bluesky and Threads, and posts have already commenced although that endeavor is likely to be a work in progress as I switch from one set of ‘@’ to another. It helps that Bluesky and Threads will both post automagically – a feature that X, well, x-ed out some time ago.

I’m @readingreality.bsky.social on Bluesky and @reading_reality on Threads. And the widgets in the sidebar will be edited to reflect the additions. I’m honestly not sure what to do about Twitter/X, but then again, that’s true of a LOT of people right now.

I didn’t have many reviews this week, but the two I did have were for books that were among the best of the best this year – so that’s all to the good. I confess that I waited to finalize my Best Books post because I was sure that one or the other of this week’s books – if not both as turned out to be the case! – would make that list. I’ll let you in on which books I’m most looking forward to this year later this week.

In the meantime, I hope your holidays have been and continue to be happy ones! Hopefully we’ll be able to put at least Tuna’s worries to rest in the days ahead.