Saturday 27 December 2014

Stacking the Shelves: The Christmas Edition




Welcome to Stacking The Shelves: The Christmas Edition! Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga Reviews and is a meme to share those books, both print and e-book, that have been added to your shelves in the last week/s.

Hope everyone has been having a great Christmas/Hanukkah/Holiday season! This week's edition is a combination of the latest review books I have received combined with Christmas presents I have received.  This is has been a great Christmas for getting books both review and christmas presents both in print an e-book format and my already overflowing TBR pile has just had an extraordinarily hefty addition to it :-)  Still I now have a lot of awesome books to look forward to reading in the next 12 months :-)


Ebooks For Review (via Netgalley)



Mind Games by Teri Terry


Luna is a no-hoper with a secret: in a world of illusion, she can see what is real. But can she see the truth before it is too late?

Luna has always been able to exist in virtual and real worlds at the same time, a secret she is warned to keep. She hides her ability by being a Refuser: excluded by choice from the virtual spheres others inhabit. But when she is singled out for testing, she can’t hide any longer.

The safest thing to do would be to fail, to go back to a dead-end life, no future. But Luna is starting to hope for something better, and hope is a dangerous thing.





The Winner's Crime (The Winner's Trilogy #2) by Marie Rutkoski


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Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement…if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.




Impulse (Submerged Sun #2) by Vanessa Garden
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon

When Miranda Sun returns to Marin on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, this time of her own free will, she quickly learns that her worst fears have been realised. The glittering underwater city is not as she had left it, nor too is Marko, the young king who has dominated her thoughts and heart for the last twelve months since leaving Marin.
Miranda, however, has not made the journey to Marin alone, and now must contend with not only Marko’s evil brother Damir but more surprisingly her sister Lauren who has an agenda of her own. Marko’s power begins to wane and with cracks beginning to show in the domed Utopian city, and veiled danger lurking everywhere, she quickly learns that in this dazzling city full of beautiful people she can trust no-one but herself.
If Miranda wants to survive, she must decide between the hardened sensibilities in her head and the hungers of her heart. Will her decision cause more heartache or can she help to save Marko’s throne?





Ebooks For Review (via Edelweiss)



Extremely excited to receive this book to review.  This is probably one of my favourite series from one of my favourite authors so I was so ecstatic when I was approved for this and cannot wait to see how this series finishes! :-)



Vision in Silver (The Other #3) by Anne Bishop


The Others freed the cassandra sangue to protect the blood prophets from exploitation, not realizing their actions would have dire consequences. Now the fragile seers are in greater danger than ever before—both from their own weaknesses and from those who seek to control their divinations for wicked purposes. In desperate need of answers, Simon Wolfgard, a shape-shifter leader among the Others, has no choice but to enlist blood prophet Meg Corbyn’s help, regardless of the risks she faces by aiding him.

Meg is still deep in the throes of her addiction to the euphoria she feels when she cuts and speaks prophecy. She knows each slice of her blade tempts death. But Others and humans alike need answers, and her visions may be Simon’s only hope of ending the conflict.

For the shadows of war are deepening across the Atlantik, and the prejudice of a fanatic faction is threatening to bring the battle right to Meg and Simon’s doorstep…



I loved Joy Preble's Dreaming Anastasia series so I am sure I am going to like her latest book just as much.

Finding Paris by Joy Preble




A page-turning, evocative novel for fans of THIRTEEN REASONS WHY and SPEAK, about a girl who must follow a trail of mysterious clues to discover what happened to her sister.

Sisters Leo and Paris Hollings have only ever had each other to rely on. They can’t trust their mother, who hops from city to city and from guy to guy, or their gambler stepfather, who’s moved them all to Las Vegas. It’s just the two of them: Paris, who’s always been the dreamer, and Leo, who has a real future in mind—going to Stanford, becoming a doctor, falling in love.

But Leo isn’t going anywhere yet… until Paris ditches her at the Heartbreak Hotel Diner, where moments before they had been talking with physics student Max Sullivan. Outside, Leo finds a cryptic note from Paris—a clue. Is it some kind of game? Where is Paris, and why has she disappeared?

When Leo reluctantly accepts Max’s offer of help, the two find themselves following a string of clues through Vegas and beyond. But the search for the truth is a not a straight line. And neither is the path to secrets Leo and Max hold tightly.




Crimson Bound by Rosamunde Hodge
Goodreads | Book Depository

When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless— straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.
Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her find the legendary sword that might save their world. As the two become unexpected allies, they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?
Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Crimson Bound is an exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption.
(This is a standalone novel, not part of the Cruel Beauty Universe.)



Transcendent (Starling #3) by Lesley Livingston
Goodreads | Book Depository

From NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a riveting new series that defies what you think you know about the world of magic.
LOVE CONQUERS
On a storm-swept terrace high above the streets of Manhattan, Mason Starling holds the fate of the world in her hands as her beloved Fennrys lies bleeding at her feet, his life hanging in the balance. The ancient Norse prophecy of Ragnarok stands poised on the knife edge of fulfillment. Mason’s transformation into a Valkyrie—a chooser of the slain and the one who will ultimately bring about the end of the world—is complete. Still, she remains determined to thwart her father’s apocalyptic desires. Whatever is to come, it won’t happen because of what the prophecy foretold, or what Gunnar Starling has planned, or what the fates have already decided. What happens next will be up to Mason and the Fennrys Wolf. The world had better hope they haven’t reached the limits of what their souls and swords can survive.

Perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, and set in the same universe as Lesley Livingston’s much-loved WONDROUS STRANGE trilogy, with roots in Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, and Celtic myths and legends, this thrilling conclusion to the acclaimed Starling trilogy is filled to the hilt with sweeping adventure and soaring romance.





Christmas Presents (Print Books):


This year I participated in Librarything's Santa Thing. This was basically an online secret Santa which involved me nominating and putting in a certain cash amounts of books I wanted to receive.  My user name and nominated book store along with my librarything books lists were given to the person nominated as my Secret Santa and I received the details of some body else and using the wishlist, book list and description of what kind of books we liked reading, books up to the amount we had nominated were chosen for us and then Library thing put in the orders to our respective book stores.  The end result was that for the four days leading up to Christmas I was receiving mystery book parcels in the mail which was awesome fun.  Berlinbibliophile was nominated as my Secret Santa and there were some great picks made as you can see below

The top book is one I have wanted for a while now and actually received from my dad for Christmas.






Trial by Fire (World Walker Trilogy #1) by Josephine Angelini


Good omens  by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Rivers of London (Peter Grant #1) by Ben Aaronovitch

Waistcoats and Weaponry (Finishing School #3) by Gail Carriger

Skulduggery Pleasant (Skulduggery Pleasant #1) by Derek Landy




Christmas Presents (Ebooks)

Technically i purchased  this next group of books but as I did it with a combination of Itunes vouchers from my brother and my partner, I consider them all Christmas presents.  I may have gotten a wee bit carried away with the vouchers but they are all titles I have been looking at reading for a while now.


Isla and the Happily Ever AfterI
Cinder 
The Young Elites
Breaking the Rules
Half Bad
These Broken Stars















Isla and the happily Ever After (Anna and the French Kiss #3 by Stephanie Perkins
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon
Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon
The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1) by Marie Lu
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon
Breaking The Rules (pushing the Limits #1.5)  by Katie McGarry
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon
Half Bad  (Half Bad Trilogy#1) by Sally Green
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon
These broken Stars (Starbound #1)  by Amie Kaufman
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon












Purchased:

I also bought myself a present which arrived about 5 days before Christmas, again that I had been looking at for a while.  I am currently about three quarters of the way through it and currently I am really enjoying it.  Keep an eye for a review in the near future






Blythewood (Blythewood #1) by Carol GoodmanGoodreads | Book Depository | Amazon

Welcome to Blythewood.
At seventeen, Avaline Hall has already buried her mother, survived a horrific factory fire, and escaped from an insane asylum. Now she’s on her way to Blythewood Academy, the elite boarding school in New York’s mist-shrouded Hudson Valley that her mother attended—and was expelled from. Though she’s afraid her high society classmates won’t accept a factory girl in their midst, Ava is desperate to unravel her family’s murky past, discover the identity of the father she’s never known, and perhaps finally understand her mother’s abrupt suicide. She’s also on the hunt for the identity of the mysterious boy who rescued her from the fire. And she suspects the answers she seeks lie at Blythewood.
But nothing could have prepared her for the dark secret of what Blythewood is, and what its students are being trained to do. Haunted by dreams of a winged boy and pursued by visions of a sinister man who breathes smoke, Ava isn’t sure if she’s losing her mind or getting closer to the truth. And the more rigorously Ava digs into the past, the more dangerous her present becomes.
Vivid and atmospheric, full of mystery and magic, this romantic page-turner by bestselling author Carol Goodman tells the story of a world on the brink of change and the girl who is the catalyst for it all.








So what did you add to your shelves this week?








9 comments:

  1. AMAZING haul! I'm currently marathoning the Skulduggery Pleasant series and it's really good! Cinder is also really good!

    Enjoy your new books! :)

    Kyra @ Blog of a Bookaholic
    My STS Post!

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  2. Awesome haul! I can't wait to read Crimson Bound, Breaking the Rules and The Young Elites! The Winner's Crime looks really good, I actually just bought the first book yesterday and I can't wait to read it, I've heard such great things :)

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  3. What a haul! I'm just now reading The Winner's Curse and I have every intention of reading my ARC of The Winner's Crime as soon as I finish. Finding Paris looks great. It's definitely on my wishlist and I have an ARC of Crimson Bound that I'm excited to read.

    Great books! I hope you enjoy them all!

    Check out my StS and 12 Days of Giveaways!

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  4. Wow. You have such an impressive haul this week. I hope you enjoy these books! Here's My Haul

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  5. Great haul! Cinder is a fantastic read, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Also, the cover for Mind Games is beautiful. Have a look at what I got this week! Happy reading.

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  6. Jealousy! I didn't get any books over Christmas at all! Hope you enjoy them all and thanks for visiting my blog!

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  7. Ooh, Mind Games looks interesting! Also, oooh, Good Omens. I love that book!

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  8. Looks like you had a good Christmas filled with books. Crimson Bound sounds interesting. I will have to add that to my tbr list.
    Kristin @ Book Sniffers Anonymous

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