Weekly Wrap-Up – December 19, 2015

 

Welcome to my weekly wrap-up! Here is where you can see my books read during the past week, books I have added to my shelves, any bookish happenings and the like. I have linked to Stacking the Shelves, the Saturday Situation, the Saturday Review of Books, Talk of the TownBought, Borrowed & Bagged, The Sunday Salon, the Sunday Showcase, Caffeinated Book Reviewer’s Sunday Wrap-Up and Mailbox Monday. So check out what I’ve been up to this past week.

 

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Books Added This Week

From NetGalley

 

innocents

Innocents and Others by Dana Spiotta. A very unique sounding synopsis, set in LA in the 80’s. – Meadow and Carrie have everything in common—except their views on sex, power, movie-making, and morality. Their lives collide with Jelly, a loner whose most intimate experience is on the phone. Jelly is older, erotic, and mysterious.

From Edelweiss

 

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HarperCollins released a crap-ton of YA books this past week. I couldn’t help myself and was granted all eight that I requested. I justify this as they are all Spring and Summer of 2016 releases so I have plenty of time to read them.

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger. Demon fighting bartenders? Sign me up. – College grad Bailey Chen has a few demons: no job, no parental support, and a rocky relationship with Zane, the only friend who’s around when she moves back home. But when Zane introduces Bailey to his cadre of monster-fighting bartenders, her demons get a lot more literal. Like, soul-sucking hell-beast literal.

The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye. A debut I am very excited to read. – Vika Andreyev can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side. And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, a duel of magical skill. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Even If the Sky Falls by Mia Garcia. This sounds so cute, a romance set over the course of one day. – One midsummer night. Two strangers. Three rules: No real names. No baggage. No phones. A whirlwind twenty-four-hour romance about discovering what it means to feel alive in the face of one of life’s greatest dangers: love. Who would you be if you had one night to be anyone you want?

Frannie and Tru by Karen Hattrup. this one is advertised as being perfect for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and as that is one of my favorite books I had to request it. – Frannie has always idolized her cousin Tru. At seventeen, Tru is charismatic, rich, charming—everything fifteen-year-old Frannie wants to be, and everything she’s not. So when Frannie overhears her parents saying that after a bad coming-out experience Tru will be staying with them in Baltimore for the summer, Frannie is excited and desperate to impress him. But as Frannie gets swept up in Tru’s worldly way of life, she starts to worry that it may all be a mask Tru wears to hide a dark secret. And if Tru isn’t the person Frannie thought he was, what does that mean for the new life she has built with him?

Ruined by Amy Tintera. This is the first in a new YA fantasy trilogy, and it sounds very promising.  – Emelina Flores has nothing. Her home in Ruina has been ravaged by war; her parents were killed and her sister was kidnapped. Even though Em is only a useless Ruined—completely lacking any magic—she is determined to get revenge. Her plan is simple: She will infiltrate the enemy’s kingdom, posing as the crown prince’s betrothed. She will lead an ambush. She will kill the king and everything he holds dear, including his son.

The Marked Girl by Lindsey Klingele. Another debut I am excited for. The realm traveling is either going to be amazing or ridiculous s0 we shall see which side it lands on. – When Cedric, crowned prince of Caelum, and his fellow royal friends (including his betrothed, Kat) find themselves stranded in modern-day LA via a magical portal and an evil traitor named Malquin, all they want to do is get home to Caelum—soon. Then they meet Liv, a filmmaker foster girl who just wants to get out of the system and on with her life. As she and Cedric bond, they’ll discover that she’s more connected to his world than they ever could’ve imagined…and that finding home is no easy task.

True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan. So I totally cheated and read this last night. I couldn’t help it, it just sounded so good. It doesn’t come out till June 2016 and when it does you all need to read it! It was phenomenal. – If you asked anyone in his small Vermont town, they’d tell you the facts: James Liddell, star athlete, decent student, and sort-of boyfriend to cute, peppy Theresa is a happy, funny, carefree guy. But whenever James sits down at his desk to write, he tells a different story. As he fills his drawers with letters to the people in his world—letters he never intends to send—he spills the truth: he’s trying hard but just isn’t into Theresa. It’s his friend, a boy, who lingers in his thoughts. James’s secret letters are his safe space—until someone leaks them, and words he never meant to share are being broadcast all over school. Will he come clean to his parents, his teammates, and himself or is he destined to live a life of fiction?

The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight. This is the start of a new series focusing on intrigue and betrayal. I can say I am intrigued by the premise. – It all starts with a text: Please, Wylie, I need your help. Wylie hasn’t heard from Cassie in over a week, not since their last fight. But that doesn’t matter. Cassie’s in trouble, so Wylie decides to do what she has done so many times before: save her best friend from herself. This time it’s different, though. Instead of telling Wylie where she is, Cassie sends cryptic clues. And instead of having Wylie come by herself, Jasper shows  up saying Cassie sent him to help. Trusting the guy who sent Cassie off the rails doesn’t feel right, but Wylie has no choice but to ignore her gut instinct and go with him.

The Last Time We Were Us by Leah Konen. Sometimes you just need a good love story and I hope this is one of them. – A passionate summer love story about a girl, her childhood best friend, and the small town lies that have kept them apart.

From Penguin First To Read

 

13 ways
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad. I have had this book on my radar for months and am so glad I got it. – Growing up in the suburban hell of Misery Saga (a.k.a. Mississauga), Lizzie has never liked the way she looks—even though her best friend Mel says she’s the pretty one. She starts dating guys online, but she’s afraid to send pictures, even when her skinny friend China does her makeup: she knows no one would want her if they could really see her. So she starts to lose. With punishing drive, she counts almonds consumed, miles logged, pounds dropped. She fights her way into coveted dresses. She grows up and gets thin, navigating double-edged validation from her mother, her friends, her husband, her reflection in the mirror. But no matter how much she loses, will she ever see herself as anything other than a fat girl? 

 


Books Read This Week

 

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True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan.

This Was Not the Plan by Cristina Alger

The Case of Lisandra P. by Hélène Grémillon

The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth

Inked by Eric Smith


Bookish Happenings

Same crazy, different week. Work is still nuts but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. I worked over sixty hours this week and got a lot caught up so hopefully soon I will be able to relax and enjoy life and do stuff like respond to comments and visit the sites I love and subscribe to.

I do have my big announcement coming this Monday (I was a week off) and am excited for that project. I will also be participating in the Guest of the Month Club hosted by Emily over at Emily Reads Everything. This month Jamie over at Books and Ladders will be my guest on December 27th. My The Broke and the Bookish Secret Santa gift has gone out and hopefully someone in Florida will love their package.

 

 

Up Next for Author Tuesday – December 22, 2015 – Lene Fogelberg author of Beautiful Affliction will be the feature and a copy of her amazing memoir will be given away (US shipping only).


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So how was your bookish week?

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Posted December 19, 2015 by Laura in Stacking The Shelves, Weekly Wrap-Up / 14 Comments


14 responses to “Weekly Wrap-Up – December 19, 2015

  1. I got The Outliers and The Last Time We Were. Some of the others you got from EW I wanted but I am *trying* to cut back on ARCs because I have so many and I don’t read fast enough to keep up. Ugh book problems! Hope work slows down and can’t wait to see your announcement! Have a great week!
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