Wednesday, October 31, 2018

October 2018 - Book Haul and Review



This is something I thought would be fun to do. A bit of a haul on this blog. I have seen these floating around the interwebs and decided to give it ago. Today I have a massive haul for you!  Check out previous book haul. 

This Months Preorders: 


A Very Large Expanse of Sea by 

It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.

Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.






But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.


Elevation by Stephen King



The latest from legendary master storyteller Stephen King, a riveting, extraordinarily eerie, and moving story about a man whose mysterious affliction brings a small town together—a timely, upbeat tale about finding common ground despite deep-rooted differences.

Although Scott Carey doesn’t look any different, he’s been steadily losing weight. There are a couple of other odd things, too. He weighs the same in his clothes and out of them, no matter how heavy they are. Scott doesn’t want to be poked and prodded. He mostly just wants someone else to know, and he trusts Doctor Bob Ellis.

In the small town of Castle Rock, the setting of many of King’s most iconic stories, Scott is engaged in a low grade—but escalating—battle with the lesbians next door whose dog regularly drops his business on Scott’s lawn. One of the women is friendly; the other, cold as ice. Both are trying to launch a new restaurant, but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple, and the place is in trouble. When Scott finally understands the prejudices they face–including his own—he tries to help. Unlikely alliances, the annual foot race, and the mystery of Scott’s affliction bring out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others. 


The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dab Gemeinhart

Henry Holt has acquired a contemporary middle-grade novel by author Dan Gemeinhart. Coyote follows the titular character, who has lived with her father on a school bus, driving around the country, ever since her mother and sisters died five years prior. When Coyote learns that the park near her former home is going to be demolished—along with a treasured family memory—she, her father, her new kitten, and a group of fellow drifters must race across the country to save it. Publication is scheduled for winter 2019. 


Emily Windsnap and the Falls of Forgotten Island (Emily Windsnap #7) by 




While on vacation, Emily Windsnap finds herself swept up in an ancient prophecy as the New York Times best-selling series continues.

Emily is headed to a tropical island for a relaxing vacation with friends and family. And this time, Emily promises her best friend, Shona, there will be absolutely no adventure — just plenty of fun. But somehow excitement always seems to find Emily, and before she knows it, she ends up on the other side of a powerful waterfall on a forgotten island no one else can get to. Well, no one that isn't a half-mer like Emily and her boyfriend, Aaron. The people who live on the island believe in a prophecy that foretells how they can be saved from an imminent, devastating earthquake — and this prophecy seems to revolve around Emily and Aaron, as well as a mysterious, mythic giant. Will they be able to find the giant — and fulfill the prophecy — before it's too late?



The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot #1) by 

When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. Why is she there? Where did she come from? And, most important, how will she survive in her harsh surroundings? Roz's only hope is to learn from the island's hostile animal inhabitants. When she tries to care for an orphaned gosling, the other animals finally decide to help, and the island starts to feel like home. Until one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her....

Angel and Bavar by 

Taking inspiration from “Beauty and the Beast,” Amy Wilson’s second middle grade novel is a stunning modern fairy tale of magic, friendship, and finding the courage to fight for what matters most.

After the death of her parents, Angel has a lot to get used to: a new home, a new family, a new school. The last thing she’s interested in is making new friends. Until she meets Bavar, a strange boy who slips through the shadows, a boy who might understand her nightmares.

But Bavar doesn’t want to let anyone in. Everyone—and everything—in his enchanted house is already urging him to step up and protect the world from a magical rift and the fearsome monsters traveling through it, a responsibility he wishes he could ignore.

Then Bavar discovers that the monsters are the same ones that killed Angel’s parents. Determined to stop the creatures for good, he reluctantly accepts Angel’s help. Together, Angel and Bavar must find the courage to stand up for each other and themselves to repair the rift between worlds…before it’s too late.


Winterhouse (Winterhouse #1) by

An enchanting urban fantasy middle-grade debut―the first book in a trilogy―set in a magical hotel full of secrets.

Orphan Elizabeth Somers’s malevolent aunt and uncle ship her off to the ominous Winterhouse Hotel, owned by the peculiar Norbridge Falls. Upon arrival, Elizabeth quickly discovers that Winterhouse has many charms―most notably its massive library. It’s not long before she locates a magical book of puzzles that will unlock a mystery involving Norbridge and his sinister family. But the deeper she delves into the hotel’s secrets, the more Elizabeth starts to realize that she is somehow connected to Winterhouse. As fate would have it, Elizabeth is the only person who can break the hotel’s curse and solve the mystery. But will it be at the cost of losing the people she has come to care for, and even Winterhouse itself?

Mystery, adventure, and beautiful writing combine in this exciting debut richly set in a hotel full of secrets. 


My Dearest Julia: The Wartime Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Wife (Library of America) by Ulysses S. Grant (Author), Ron Chernow (Introduction)


The Civil War's greatest general as you've never seen him before, in a revealing collection of letters to his wife Julia introduced by Ron Chernow.

Ulysses S. Grant is justly celebrated as the author of one of the finest military autobiographies ever written, yet many readers of his Personal Memoirs are unaware that during his army years Grant wrote hundreds of intimate and revealing letters to his wife, Julia Dent Grant. Presented with an introduction by acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow, My Dearest Julia collects more than eighty of these letters, beginning with their engagement in 1844 and ending with the Union victory in 1865. They record Grant's first experience under fire in Mexico ("There is no great sport in having bullets flying about one in evry direction but I find they have less horror when among them than when in anticipation"), the aching homesickness that led him to resign from the peacetime army, and his rapid rise to high command during the Civil War. Often written in haste, sometimes within the sound of gunfire, his wartime letters vividly capture the immediacy and uncertainty of the conflict. Grant initially hoped for an early conclusion to the fighting, but then came to accept that the war would have no easy end. "The world has never seen so bloody or so protracted a battle as the one being fought," he wrote from Spotsylvania in 1864, "and I hope never will again."

This Months New Releases: 


Broken Things by 


It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods. Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. That driven by their obsession with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn the three girls had imagined themselves into the magical world where their fantasies became twisted, even deadly. 


The only thing is: they didn’t do it. 


On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as the lines begin to blur between past and present and fiction and reality, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago—no matter how monstrous.


Louisiana's Way Home by 


From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo comes a story of discovering who you are — and deciding who you want to be.

When Louisiana Elefante’s granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to tell her that the day of reckoning has arrived and they have to leave home immediately, Louisiana isn’t overly worried. After all, Granny has many middle-of-the-night ideas. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return. Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to oppose the winds of fate (and Granny) and find a way home. But as Louisiana’s life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town — including a surly motel owner, a walrus-like minister, and a mysterious boy with a crow on his shoulder — she starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes. (Which could be due to the curse on Louisiana’s and Granny’s heads. But that is a story for another time.)

Called “one of DiCamillo’s most singular and arresting creations” by The New York Times Book Review, the heartbreakingly irresistible Louisiana Elefante was introduced to readers in Raymie Nightingale — and now, with humor and tenderness, Kate DiCamillo returns to tell her story.

Books Acquired at a Library Book Sale: 




                            Previously posted in October on my blog in case you missed it:

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Book Blitz: Witching Hour


Witching Hour: Sinister Legends
Witching Hour Anthologies
Publication date: October 23rd 2018
Genres: Adult, Horror, Paranormal, Thriller
Bloody Mary…
Bloody Mary…
Bloody…maybe we shouldn’t test that just yet. 
Urban legends, fact or fiction, at the end of the day they’re all stories. We know not to spin around the room in the dark whispering her name. We’ve heard about the man with the hook and the terror that stalks the babysitter while she’s home alone. 
But there are other tales told around the fire at night. The man finding the steps into hell and sanity flickering away. Mind control experiments by governments, big and small. The woman married to the man of peculiar tastes. There are the haunted hospitals, sleep trials in Russia and more. 
Slenderman and Bigfoot are nowhere within these stories; these are only the unusual and dark ones, slanted into truth.
In every legend, there is a seed of truth. Welcome to the Witching Hour.
—
SNEAK PEEKS:
What Sleep Hid By J.M. Butler
“I’m fine.” Kaya paused, seeing Janis staring intently into the chamber. He didn’t appear to be looking at anyone. His gaze instead was transfixed on a point on the wall.
“Is everything all right?” Kaya peered inside as well.
Janis slipped in front of the speaker. Not moving his eyes, he held down the switch. “We’ve passed day six, and you’re all doing quite well. All your vitals check out. Good breathing. Good focus.” He sounded as if he intended to read a bedtime story. Yet his body language was sharp and tight. “Now I want you to take a moment and look around the room. Look at the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Do you see anything new or unusual?”
Kaya saw nothing. Darryl and the others looked around. They appeared more confused than disturbed.
Darryl scratched his head. “Should we be worried?”
“Are there creatures coming in?” Jeremy dropped his book, looking around wildly.
“What are we supposed to be looking for?” Brenda asked.
“Just anything that seems unusual,” Janis said, his voice as measured and calm as before.
Dr. Nem slapped Janis’s hand. “Stop.” He shoved Janis away and pressed the switch. “Please pay no attention to that. Nothing is different. Everything’s fine.”
Kaya glanced back at Janis. Though he had backed away, his gaze remained fixed on that point. Goosebumps prickled along Kaya’s arms. “What do you see?”
“Possibly nothing.” Janis forced a smile, but a tremor of fear passed through his face.
“Possibly?” Kaya echoed.
The doctor sighed. “Enough, Mr. Janis.”
Janis’s brow furrowed. He opened his mouth to speak, then left.
Kaya followed. She quickened her pace as he passed through the doors. “Wait! What did you see?” The doors thudded shut behind her.
Janis turned on the water fountain and splashed cool water on his face.
Kaya’s heart raced faster. “What did you see?”
Janis wiped his face on his sleeve. “There’s now a fissure in our dimension.”
“A fissure?” Kaya echoed. “Could it be something else? A crack in the glass or the wall?” She hadn’t seen anything though. Maybe he’d imagined it.
“Perhaps.”
“Can you sound more convincing?”
“I’m going to reiterate my first point. This experiment ends in death. You should go.”
“I’m not leaving Darryl here!” Kaya snapped.
“Then you and he will die, and there’s probably nothing I can do to stop it!” Janis thrust his hands into his hair and ripped them out. Fine strands of pale blond hair clung to his fingers. He trembled, closing his eyes. “I’ll do everything I can to keep everyone alive. I will. I promised that.” Though his hands still shook, he strode away.
Kaya watched him, afraid to follow but afraid to return. The terror in his voice, the trembling…that didn’t seem false. Maybe he was only crazy. But her gut warned he wasn’t as wrong as she hoped.
—
The Noise Above Us By Alyssa Brocker
The quiet ticking of Sapphire’s watch is the only sound in the bakery. She’d worked alone many times, but this Saturday morning is different. The slight warmth of the oven, once comforting, now seems too hot, as if it could burn her at any second. The knives, sitting innocently in their correct place, appear almost menacing. She can’t explain it, Sapphire just knows something’s wrong, something’s off.
What happened yesterday is only part of it. This is a gut feeling that something bad is about to happen. Is she being paranoid? Or are her instincts telling her something her mind hasn’t yet figured out. What would her mom say to her if she were here? Sapphire pauses, a soapy spatula still in her hand.
She suddenly feels as though someone is watching her, studying her every movement. Slowly she turns, afraid to look, but knowing she must take the chance.
“Hello… Quinn?” Sapphire calls out for her coworker she knows won’t be here for another half an hour. She audibly gasps when the timer for her cookies alarms. With shaking hands, she reaches in her pocket, quieting the annoying buzzing. Shaking her head, she breathes deeply. She’s being overly suspicious.
The quiet footsteps interrupt her moment of relief. She’s rooted to her place in front of the sink, absolute fear paralyzing her. Suddenly it sounds like someone’s running at her. Remaining still, afraid to even look away from the sink, she’s frozen.
As quickly as they start, they stop. It was as if Sapphire had imagined the entire thing.  “Mom… help me.” She pleads for someone who isn’t there, someone who could never be there for her again. Minutes click by, as she remains motionless, too terrified to move. With her hands gripping the edge of the sink, she realizes she has to do something, anything. It’s nearly been a twenty minutes of her staring at the soapy water.
“Uh, I think your cookies are burnt.” Quinn says behind her. Sapphire jumps in surprise. “You okay, Sapphire?” Her small blonde head tilts as she takes in Sapphires state of shock.
“No, Quinn, I’m not.” Sapphire’s voice cracks. “I feel like someone’s here, Quinn. I don’t know if it’s human, a ghost, or even my dead mother. I just know that I’m not alone. I heard footsteps sprinting at me, and I didn’t do anything! I just stood here.” Quinn stays silent through Sapphire’s breakdown. At the end of it, she seems frightened and relieved at the same time.
“You hear the footsteps, too?”


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Saturday, October 27, 2018

Book Blitz: If She Were Blind by Laney Wylde


If She Were Blind
Laney Wylde
(The After Twelve, #1)
Published by: Crimson Tree Publishing
Publication date: October 22nd 2018
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance, Thriller
Not everyone can get justice the traditional way—that’s where Estlyn Collins comes in. A young lawyer in Santa Monica, her “legal” service, After Twelve, works outside the courtroom to tip the scales when the justice system has failed.
For a price.
Thanks to her powerful underground network, Estlyn’s success rate is stellar, and her inbox stays filled with inquires from the desperate and vengeful. But when one of those names is a ghost from her past seeking vengeance against her, she’s shaken to her core. Off balance and scared to be alone, she makes an impulsive move for a guy. He’s a complication she doesn’t have time for, but it turns out he may also be an unlikely—if unwitting—asset.
Treading the rapidly thinning line between personal and professional, Estlyn pursues her target while outrunning the one on her own back—only to find she may be running into a lot more than she bargained for.
IF SHE WERE BLIND is the first book in the engaging New Adult series AFTER TWELVE by author Laney Wylde. Perfect for fans of the television shows REVENGE, SCANDAL, and VERONICA MARS, the AFTER TWELVE Series is a gritty social-issue drama that delivers steamy romance, intrigue, and the most bittersweet revenge plots. Estlyn’s determination to right every wrong is sure to quench your thirst for justice, yet leave you wanting more.
—
EXCERPT:
I glance past Dean’s shoulder as a man close to my dad’s age takes nervous steps closer and closer to Dean. Once he’s in his space, he taps his back. Dean whips around to face him. “Excuse me, are you Dean Martinez?”
His eyes are full of suspicion as he studies the stranger. “Um, why?”
“It’s Dwayne. We’ve been chatting on Match.com and are supposed to meet up here at seven.”
Dean’s shoulders slouch and his expression turns sympathetic. “Sweetie, you’ve been catfished.”
“Been what?”
“I’m Dean, but I’m not on any dating site.”
“Really? Because,” the older gentleman displays Dean’s dating profile on his phone for him, “you’re right here.”
Dean grabs the phone and starts scrolling through the profile. “‘Male seeking male, any race or religion, age fifty-five and older.’ Seriously? ‘I love me a sweaty old gay with that curly salt-and-pepper chest hair. The longer and curlier the better. I want it poking above those top shirt buttons. Oh, yeah, let it blow in the wind while we drive down PCH in your Lincoln sedan with the windows cracked. In search of someone I can raise a family of hypoallergenic, small breed dogs with, someone who doesn’t have all their original joints. I’m so over all these sexy twinks who just want me for my hot bod. Looking for a real man to settle down with, preferably in a gay-friendly, fifty-five and older community.’”
I can’t help but give Dean’s blind date a once over. The poor guy is buttoning the second to top button over his ungroomed, grey chest hair as Dean reads. His upper lip looks like the outside of a cold drink on a summer day. Dean gives him back the phone and drops his forehead into his hand. “Cal, did you let Estlyn go to the library?”
“Um…”
He glares at me then chastises, “Cal?”
“Yes?” How was I supposed to know she’d use a computer to catfish unsuspecting old gays?
He turns to the humiliated older gentleman with confident compassion. “Sorry, hon. My friend set you up. Best of luck to finding a man half your age to raise that family of dogs with.”



Author Bio:
Laney Wylde is enamored with all things southern California--the traffic, smog, surprise earthquakes, and nonindigenous palm trees. Consequently, it's the landscape her strong and sometimes lovable female leads paint their stories on. Her New Adult novels Never Touched and the After Twelve series are bright with provocative themes, steamy romance, and inappropriately timed humor.
When Laney isn't writing, she's singing Taylor Swift with her little boy or asking her husband not to tell her about his work as a surgical resident while she's eating. She daydreams about using her math degree to get into law school, then realizes that would be too much work and that she should just play pretend court on paper instead. While she loves a good book, nothing beats 30 Rock with a bag of popcorn and M&Ms.

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Friday, October 26, 2018

Book Blitz: I Know You Like a Murder by Amy L. Sauder


I Know You Like a Murder
Amy L. Sauder
Publication date: October 23rd 2018
Genres: Adult, Mystery
A narrator always gets to know the reader before spilling their deepest secret.
I am a murderer.
She was just a silly nothing of a girl until I made her rise to fame. A pennything.
So, reader: sit down, cozy up. I’d offer a cup of tea, but you may worry it’s poisoned, and you may be correct.
But I can’t just tell you how she died. That’s too easy. Too quick. Buckle up: you’re in for a villainous monologue.
—
EXCERPT:

The 5 W’s of Murder

A narrator always gets to know the reader before spilling their deepest secret.
I am a murderer.
She was just a silly nothing of a girl until I made her rise to fame. A pennything.
I imagine a dreary donut-glaze day at the station before I dropped murder in their laps. I’d like to say the coppers pounded down my door in their cliché little way, but really it was a nice rap-tap-tap. Like the children’s ditty: Skunk in the barnyard, pee-yew. Murder in the theater…for you…
Clueless buffoons, more accustomed to traffic control rather than detective work. I wasn’t considered suspect; for all intents and purposes, I was victim.
“Tell us what happened.” “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?” “Any odd or unusual behavior?” and the kicker: “Is there anyone who would have motive?”
“Don’t we all,” I said. “Don’t we all hold a reason to kill.”
I wasn’t much help. Why would I be? I divulged a dozen motives, to bait their sniffers a million directions, all but mine.
I don’t think they liked me all that much. Whatever. I wasn’t looking to impress. I was looking to distract. Once their curiosities turned elsewhere, I could move on to tell you, my now-avid readers, the story.
My story.
Our story.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears, does it make a sound? If a person is murdered and the tale is not told, did it happen?
And so, I have found my audience. Yes, you. Won’t you read my story, sleuth it out? I take the role of murderer, now you fancy yourself a detective.
Sit down, cozy up. I’d offer you a cup of tea, but you may worry it’s been poisoned, and you may be correct. But hold it, dear reader, don’t twist your shirt in a bundle before I give you all the pieces.
What: death, cold and sudden
Where: the most dramatic place for murder, the theater
When: the top of Act III, naturally
Who: Too many names, there are too many names in the world. I only remember the one girl. Don’t be indignant when you struggle to recall names, too.
No matter. I will choose some form of name to distinguish the lot. Let’s call them:
Madame Director,
Homeless Hag,
Facilities Hawk,
Villains 1 & 2,
Shy Boy,
Makeup Artist,
and Cami’s BFF.
But the one you’re waiting for: Camille. Or Cami now, to be more relatable, more likeable. Hear the sounds roll off your tongue: the name Cami skips playfully from your mouth, while the nasal sound of Camille bodes aloof, unapproachable. The name change is product branding or whatever.
She’s a washed up writer. Now scriptwriter and also, get this, leading lady. She scooped that right up, and Madame Director allowed it even though Cami has never performed on stage.
Why: Cami got one of the useless English degrees and expected it was worth something. Interned at a publishing company, but they wouldn’t look at her manuscript without an agent; and she couldn’t interest an agent though she had an in with a publisher.
She’d tell that sob story, then with a twinkle in her eye promise that this theatrical production would put us all on the map.
Hopeful.
Deluded.
But I would make her keep that promise.
Alibis are useless in this investigation, because all of us, of course, were at the theater when it happened. As for motive, don’t we all have something worth killing for?
If you were a Criminal Psychologist maybe you’d have this case wrapped up by now. Tell me, which of the listed characters am I, the murderer?
But statistically speaking, you likely aren’t a Criminal Psychologist, so here you are. Still reading. So many questions.
You know, you could hand this over to a Criminal Psychologist to solve. But I don’t think you will. Not now.
It’s not real, you say. It’s a book. And you’ll pore through this story looking for answers, intrigued by the tale, fascinated by death.
Okay, detectivize. Draw up a grid, write up characters and clues, cross off cleared suspects. Or whatever you crime buffs do. Maybe you have the cliché marker board to track your clues, or maybe you have the string linking ideas throughout a crime-solving room. You sure get off on this stuff, don’t you?
So let’s get to it. What I haven’t told you yet is How. But I can’t just tell you how she died. That’s too easy. Too quick. Buckle up: you’re in for a villainous monologue.


Author Bio:
Amy L. Sauder is a writer, educator, and creative. She has been called quirky meta mystery and walking fairytale. In her not-so-spare time, Amy coaches other writers and sells artistic fashion finds. While she has a degree in English, that has yet to land her amidst a murderous plot. Hopefully that doesn't change.

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