So I nearly forgot to write up my Book Haul for February. I didn't get rid of any (unless you count samples, which I don't) in January, so there is no real need for an Unhaul. Let's move on with the haul!!!
I bought/received/found/acquired 18 books so far in February.
Book #1: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock's genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar. From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.
Everybody who knows me knows how I feel about Holmes and Watson. I didn't even want to actually buy it. That was right up until I read the sample that I got from Amazon. I immediately turned around and bought it. Maybe one day I will pick up a physical copy. I live for stories like this. I'm blazing my way through it and can't wait to post my review up on Goodreads.
Book #2: Other by Karen Kincy
Shapeshifting can be a beautiful and deadly secret. Gwen craves the forbidden rush of leaping from her bedroom window and transforming into an owl, but she could lose it all if anyone caught her. Most Americans don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for Others. In the small town of Klikamuks, Washington, coming out as a person with paranormal abilities means staring down the barrel of a shotgun. Gwen hasn’t even told the truth to her boyfriend, Zack, who she hopes will be the boy to take her virginity. When a pack of werewolves claims the national forest behind Gwen’s house as their territory, the tensions in Klikamuks escalate—into murder. Prejudice slows the police investigation. It doesn’t take Gwen long to realize a serial killer is targeting Others. On the hunt for clues, she meets Tavian, a sexy Japanese fox-spirit who rivals Zack and challenges her to embrace her shapeshifting. Can she find the killer before he finds her, or will her secrets be the death of her?
I didn't remember at first why I bought this. Then I was like "Oh yeah, it reminded me of that series by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. I knew that." I don't think we needed the tidbit about her virginity in the synopsis, but I guess that just goes to how much she loves Zack. I don't see how that information is pertinent to the story. It looks really good for a YA series about shifters and the struggles they could go through. I'm so used to seeing stories where they are just about deified that this is a refreshing change of pace.
Book #3: The Third Girl by Nell Goddin
Meet Molly Sutton, 38 years old and out of work, who moves to a village in France to recover from the end of her marriage. She’s looking for peace, beautiful gardens, and pastry—a slower, safer life than the one she’d been living outside of Boston. But you know what they say about the best intentions...Molly has barely gotten over jet-lag before she hears about a local student’s disappearance. In between getting her old ramshackle house in order and reveling in French food, Molly ends up embroiled in the case, along with the gendarmes of Castillac. And unlike the Nancy Drews she loved as a child, this mystery stirs up emotions she thought had been put to rest..and terrifies the residents of her beloved village.
I can't decide if I like this one because its a mystery, or because it makes me think of Mystery Woman from television. I miss those TV-movies. It's really creepy sounding and I've been getting out of my sci-fi/fantasy comfort zone lately. I think this book will be just up my alley as far as genres go.
Book #4: The Bookmaker by Chris Fraser
You were right to be suspicious...It wasn’t Oswald in the book depository. It wasn’t Sirhan Sirhan in the Ambassador kitchen. It wasn’t a massive conspiracy or government cover-up. It was one man with one agenda. For small-time Huntington Beach bookmaker and wanna-be writer Trent Oster, it all started with a chance to collect a debt. Instead he’s offered an opportunity of a lifetime. Days later he finds himself on a sprawling southern estate in Oxford Mississippi, balancing the roles of house guest and biographer for town legend Preston Walker—the man responsible for the most controversial murders in American history; and he’s finally ready to talk.
One day I will remember to actually put these books up on the blog when I buy them and know why I'm buying them. I have forgotten exactly why I grabbed this. Beyond the fact that the word "book" is in the title. That was only part of it. It sounds neat. Also, who names their kid (or themselves) Sirhan Sirhan? That's a great name. This sounds really similar to last month's first listing in the Book Haul, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, only this time the characters are males instead of females. Also the biographer is a writer, not a bookseller. That and the person having the biography written in the other book isn't a murderer that I know of.
Book #5: Dragon of Ash & Stars by H. Leighton Dickson
Stormfall is a dragon born with a coat the color of a starry night. When a violent storm strikes his island aerie, he is carried on hurricane winds into the complicated and sometimes cruel world of men. There, his journey takes him from fisher dragon to farmer, pit-fighting dragon to warrior, each step leading him closer to a remarkable destiny. But war is coming to the land of Remus and with it, a crossroads for the Night Dragon and the young soul-boy he allows on his back. How far is Stormfall willing to go in a war that is not his own?
This almost made me think How to Train Your Dragon as told by the dragon. I love dragons, they are my favorite mythical creature in the world. I can't wait to get to this on the list and find out how exactly Stormfall deals with a war that is none of his concern really. Also I want to know what a soul-boy is. This looked like it was going to be very good. Excited!
Book #6: The Daemoniac by Kat Ross
It's August of 1888, just three weeks before Jack the Ripper will begin his grisly spree in the London slum of Whitechapel, and another serial murderer is stalking the gas-lit streets of New York. With taunting messages in backwards Latin left at the crime scenes and even more inexplicable clues like the fingerprints that appear to have been burned into one victim's throat, his handiwork bears all the hallmarks of a demonic possession. But consulting detective Harrison Fearing Pell is convinced her quarry is a man of flesh and blood. Encouraged by her uncle, Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry hopes to make her reputation by solving the bizarre case before the man the press has dubbed Mr. Hyde strikes again. From the squalor of the Five Points to the high-class gambling dens of the Tenderloin and the glittering mansions of Fifth Avenue, Harry and her best friend, John Weston, follow the trail of a remorseless killer, uncovering a few embarrassing secrets of New York's richest High Society families along the way. Are the murders a case of black magic—or simple blackmail? And will the trail lead them closer to home than they ever imagined?
Okay, so when I finished watching Sherlock for the fourth (maybe fifth? I lost count) time, I was flicking through Netflix and found a show I fell in love with, called Ripper Street. Okay, so I might have liked it mostly because Matthew MacFadyen (Mr. Darcy) was in it as the main detective......so you can imagine my delight when I found a book that is basically Sherlock meets Ripper Street. I hope this is as good as I think it will be. Also, I really like how Harry is a girl. Girl power!
Book #7: Sumotori by G.P. Hutchinson
Strong, agile, and disciplined, Tatsuyama has everything it takes to be a legendary sumo wrestler. In fact, he is the only remaining Japanese “yokozuna,” sharing the highest possible ranking in his own country’s national sport with two foreign wrestlers. Despite his celebrity status, he is known as quite the humble hero, winning over plenty of fans with his affable personality and down-to-earth charm. Everything is about to change for the sumo champion, however, when his beautiful girlfriend Naoko begs him to come along to a J-Pop concert. A popular all-girl band is playing a promotional show at a trendy Tokyo department store, but once the couple arrives, it becomes apparent that a belligerent drunk won’t leave one of the performers alone. When security and police fail to solve the problem, Tatsuyama decides to step in and take care of business himself. The creep from the concert presses charges for assault, setting off a chain of events that threatens the yokozuna’s career—as well as the lives of the people closest to him. It seems that certain high-ranking individuals are determined to exact control over the world of sumo, and they will stop at nothing to drag Tatsuyama out of the ring. In the struggle to clear his own name and protect those he cares for, the champion fighter finds himself at odds with an audacious crime boss who will resort to just about anything to bring Tatsuyama down.
Literally because Japanese. I love the culture, history, facts....really anything. This poor guy gets into deep shit (yes, I swear, get over it) that he has a hard time getting out of. I can't wait to read it and find out if he successfully beats the assault charges. I'm surprised that the guy charged in the first place. Seeing as he's the one that started the problem. Okay. That's entirely not how the justice system ought to work, but hey, who am I to argue?
Book #8: The Buried Symbol by Jeffery L. Kohanek
Without a rune marking his role in society, Brock is doomed to an existence below the lowest rung of the social ladder. Unwilling to accept his fate, the teen risks his life to obtain a fake rune that marks him as a member of the Empire's ruling class. He then embarks on a quest to join an institution where the Empire’s future leaders are trained. As a student of the Academy, he soon uncovers a chain of secrets kept hidden for centuries, secrets that expose cracks in the foundation of Empire society. Among his discoveries is a powerful magic, long buried and forgotten. Brock’s compassion and sense of justice are seeds that sprout tight friendships and a blossoming romance. An unwillingness to be bullied earns him a dangerous enemy, becoming a feud that escalates to a climactic showdown.
Mystery....intrigue....magic....how could I not want to read this? Plus the main character's name makes me giggle. I can't not think of the Pewter City Gym Leader when I hear Brock. Another thing that really piqued my interest is that the fact he doesn't have a rune. Something that appears to be very important in the book. I am curious to know how exactly a lack of rune will affect his journey.
Book #9: How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is a truly extraordinary Viking hero known throughout Vikingdom as "the Dragon Whisperer"...but it wasn't always so. Travel back to the days when the mighty warrior was just a boy, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans. Can Hiccup capture a dragon and train it without being torn limb from limb? Join the adventure as the small boy finds a better way to train his dragon and become a hero!
So I have both DVDs.
How to Train Your Dragon and
How to Train Your Dragon 2. This is the original book that those two movies were (vaguely) based on. I flipped through it and was startled to find that it is actually nothing at all like the movies. I can't wait to start it and hopefully some time or other find the rest of the books in the series. I'm a little disappointed already that the way he finds Toothless is different. Oh well.
Book #10: Song of the Sea Spirit by K.C. May
Jora Lanseri hopes to marry and bear sons, as her duty to Serocia requires, but she possesses an uncommon skill—the ability to enter the Mindstream to witness any event in the present or past. Her plans are interrupted when two men arrive in her hometown and insist she accompany them to the capitol to serve Serocia with her Mindstreaming skill. After being inducted into the Order of Justice Officials and beginning her training as a Truth Sayer, she witnesses a shocking crime, jeopardizing the lives of everyone she cares about—including her own. But Jora has a secret. With the aid of a friendly dolphin, she's been slowly unraveling the mystery of the Spirit Stones, the ancient, singing sculptures that are at the very heart of the crime. Will the sculptures' unfolding mysteries help her bring justice to the perpetrator, or will they lead Jora down a path of destruction that threatens everything—and everyone—she has worked to protect?
This sounded very me. I love the fantasy books where people have strangely simple powers. She can just see things. She can't actually affect anything in the past or present, just witness it. I had to grab it when I saw it come up in my Freebooksy for that day. It looks really good.
Book #11: This Too Shall Pass by Milena Busquets
Blanca is forty years old and motherless. Shaken by the unexpected death of the most important person in her life, she suddenly realizes that she has no idea what her future will look like. To ease her dizzying grief and confusion, Blanca turns to her dearest friends, her closest family, and a change of scenery. Leaving Barcelona behind, she returns to Cadaqués, on the coast, accompanied by her two sons, two ex-husbands, and two best friends, and makes a plan to meet her married lover for a few stolen moments as well. Surrounded by those she loves most, she spends the summer in an impossibly beautiful place, finding ways to reconnect and understand what it means to truly, happily live on her own terms, just as her mother would have wanted.
I got this free from Blogging for Books and I've already finished it. I didn't like it. I really really didn't. I have it up in both my February Wrap-Up and it has it's own review. I did get for review. This girl is just....I don't know. I spent more than 3/4 of the book trying to figure out why she's so hung up on sex and the sexual prowess of pretty but damaged men. She actively ran from having to deal with her mother's death. I would not suggest it.
Book #12: Wild Raspberries by Connie Chappell
When Callie MacCallum sews her first quilt after the death of her lover Jack Sebring, she doesn’t realize she’ll be drawn into a Sebring family battle between wife and daughter-in-law. She simply wants to fulfill her promise to Jack to visit their cabin in the West Virginia mountains, where their long love affair was safely hidden. Instead, her emotionally reminiscent trip becomes crowded with the two Sebring women, a grief counselor, and the massive role Callie assumes. She must speak for Jack in order to protect his four-year old grandson Chad from his stubbornly manipulative and blame-passing grandmother and his recently widowed and power-usurping mother. Callie understands both women grieve the loss of Chad’s father. He died when a raging storm split the tree that crushed him. Grief isn’t the only common thread running between the four women. One by one, their secrets are revealed on the West Virginia mountaintop.
This was literally because I wanted a cozy mystery to read. It was supposed to get stupidly cold over the weekend of the 25th, but then it didn't. I saw this on my list from Freebooksy or BookBub (I forget which) and it was free, so I thought "My Kindle battery will last definitely long enough for me to get a good old cozy read and hang out through the coldness." Yeah, it only got down to the mid fifties. Not even cold. I am glad I picked up this book though, it will help me break out of my comfort zone a little I think.
Book: #13: To the Letter by Simon Garfield
Few things are as exciting—and potentially life-changing—as discovering an old letter. And while etiquette books still extol the practice, letter writing seems to be disappearing amid a flurry of e-mails, texting, and tweeting. The recent decline in letter writing marks a cultural shift so vast that in the future historians may divide time not between BC and AD but between the eras when people wrote letters and when they did not. So New York Times bestselling author Simon Garfield asks: Can anything be done to revive a practice that has dictated and tracked the progress of civilization for more than five hundred years? In To the Letter, Garfield traces the fascinating history of letter writing from the love letter and the business letter to the chain letter and the letter of recommendation. He provides a tender critique of early letter-writing manuals and analyzes celebrated correspondence from Erasmus to Princess Diana. He also considers the role that letters have played as a literary device from Shakespeare to the epistolary novel, all the rage in the eighteenth century and alive and well today with bestsellers like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. At a time when the decline of letter writing appears to be irreversible, Garfield is the perfect candidate to inspire bibliophiles to put pen to paper and create “a form of expression, emotion, and tactile delight we may clasp to our heart.”
When I first picked this up, I didn't bother to read the inner flap. I thought it was going to be a fiction novel along the lines of the one movie series on Lifetime (Hallmark?) that chronicles the life of the people who work in the dead letter office. Nope. It's a non-fiction book about the dying art of letter writing. How did it begin? Who wrote the first letters? What will happen to letter writing? It's already sparked a bit of interest in a friend and I sending each other letters. I've started it (and am roughly 10% through at the writing of this), and it's very interesting so far.
Book #14: Circle of Stones by Catherine Fisher
TODAY: Sulis, a teenage girl with a mysterious past, arrives in Bath, England, with a new identity. She feels safe at the King’s Circus, a ring of old, strange stone houses where she lives with her foster family—until she spots the one person she’s been trying to outrun.
THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO: Zac is apprenticed to a mad architect who plans to create the world’s first circular street, King’s Circus. Zac probes the mysticism surrounding the structure, but he has his own secret agenda.
THE ANCIENT PAST: The mythical first builder of the city of Bath, a leprous druid king, discovers its healing waters . . . but to what end?
In each voice, unexpected mysteries entwine, linking together three haunting stories as they hurtle toward a smart and brilliantly intriguing climax.
Yeah, this was a cover buy. Totally. I didn't even read it. I didn't care. It just looked really pretty and I had to own it. Now that I've found out (two days later) what it's actually about, I'm very excited to read it. I might read it in tandem with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell because it sounds very similar? But also not, so you never know. It appears to deal with magic of some sort...and England. Two of my favorite things in the world.
Book #15: The House of Journalists by Tim Finch
Welcome to the House of Journalists. Who are you and what is your story? These are the questions that confront newcomers to the House of Journalists, the internationally renowned refuge for writers in exile at the center of this haunting Orwellian novel. Home to a select group of fellows, the House is located in a fashionable London terrace. But just how stable is this hallowed institution? Julian Snowman, the obsessive founder and chair, sees the threat of dissolution at every turn. Perhaps this explains why petty rules and restrictions abide: men live in one wing, women in the other; smoking is restricted to the central courtyard; tea is optional, but everyone attends. As the fellows strive to remake their lives, they are urged to share their tales. Epic and intimate by turns, these stories—of courage, tragedy, and shame—become a mesmerizing chorus of voices in search of home. Among the fellows are Mustapha, who yearns for the family he tore himself from when he resisted a coup; Agnes, a photojournalist implicated in a brutal civil war; Sonny, a slight figure with don't-mess-with-me hair, who describes a harrowing escape across continents; Edson, who perilously confides his story to his writing mentor; and Mr. Stan, who draws on the noxious cigarettes of his home island, despite having been tortured there. Only one man manages to guard his past: the mysterious new fellow AA, whose secrecy ratchets up Julian's paranoia. Julian suspects that AA is conspiring with a celebrated visiting writer to bring down the House. In fact, AA is planning something else entirely.
So my uncle handed this to me, probably because the word "journalist" appears on the cover, and I read the flap. Looks like a really good mystery. I want to know what AA (and any Homestuck who by chance stumbles across this blog will laugh like I did and immediately finish reading it with a Captor lisp) is actually planning. What? I need to know! Why was the house set up? I need to know!
Book #16: Dark Aemilia by Sally O'Reilly
The daughter of a Venetian musician, Aemilia Bassano came of age in Queen Elizabeth's royal court. The Queen's favorite, she develops a love of poetry and learning, maturing into a young woman known not only for her beauty but also her sharp mind and quick tongue. Aemilia becomes the mistress of Lord Hunsdon, but her position is precarious. Then she crosses paths with an impetuous playwright named William Shakespeare and begins an impassioned but ill-fated affair. A decade later, the Queen is dead, and Aemilia Bassano is now Aemilia Lanyer, fallen from favor and married to a fool. Like the rest of London, she fears the plague. And when her young son Henry takes ill, Aemilia resolves to do anything to save him, even if it means seeking help from her estranged lover, Will—or worse, making a pact with the Devil himself.
I might not like contemporary romance, but I do like historical romance. Go figure. I have odd tastes. I picked this up because I like Shakespeare's plays and this is a glimpse into the life of the man who wrote some of the most well known and well loved characters in all the world. I don't think any poet is more known. I don't think this one is going immediately onto the TBR, this is one that will be on the auxiliary TBR.
Book #17: Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over. But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner. Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.
Yeah. Eventually the craze does find me. I had exactly enough money to buy this the other day at Walmart. How could I say no with all of the hype it's been getting all over the internet? Now the first time I heard someone talk about it, they said that Scarlett's sister was sick. That she had to win the carnival or whatever in order to get a wish to save her sister from dying. According to the synopsis, her sister has been taken. Well that's a completely different story from the one that I heard. I hope to pick this one up soon(ish) and find out if I like it.
Book #18: Death of a Dyer by Eleanor Kuhns
Will Rees feels at home. It’s been a long time since he last felt this way—not since before his wife died years ago and he took to the road as a traveling weaver. Now, in 1796, Rees is back on his Maine farm, living with his teenaged son, David, and his housekeeper, Lydia—whose presence contributes more towards his happiness than he’s ready to admit. But his domestic bliss is shattered the morning a visitor brings news of an old friend’s murder. Nate Bowditch and Rees hadn't spoken in many long years, but as children they were closer than brothers, and Rees feels his loss acutely. Asked to look into the circumstances surrounding Nate’s death, Rees simply can’t refuse. At the Bowditch farmstead, Rees quickly discovers that everyone—from Nate’s frosty wife to his missing son to the shy serving girl—is hiding something. But are any of them actually capable of murder? Or does the answer lie elsewhere, behind stones no one even knew needed unturning?
So I recognized this author's name while I was browsing the book section of the Dollar Tree the other day. I remembered picking up a book by her and thinking "Oh that's cool. More than one by the same author!" Come to find out that the book of hers I already own was the first volume in the William Rees series and that this one is the second. My only complaint (currently) is that this is a hard cover and the first I have is soft cover. Wah wah wah.....oh well. Hopefully when I read
A Simple Murder I will like it enough to want to continue.
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Well, so much for the 10 book limit for February. Starting over again in March. Here's hoping we can actually stick to the....never mind. I have 16 books coming from a friend. That's just one goal we will never be able to keep. Hope to see you next time!
