Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.
It’s all about sharing the books we’ve picked up for the week, whether they are bought, borrowed, gifted, galleys, physical or virtual.
Share your shelves and remember to visit Tynga’s Reviews where it all started to find more great books!

It’s been a while!  I haven’t done one of these in about 6 weeks. Here’s all I picked up during that time.

 (Click on the cover to go to Goodreads)

For Review:

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?

Although I only rated the predecessor, Captivate, 3 stars, I couldn’t stop thinking about the book long after I put it down, and I was very keen to find out what happened next with Miranda and Marko.

 

For the past two months, Kitty Doe’s life has been a lie. Forced to impersonate the Prime Minister’s niece, her frustration grows as her trust in her fake fiancé cracks, her real boyfriend is forbidden and the Blackcoats keep her in the dark more than ever.

But in the midst of discovering that her role in the Hart family may not be as coincidental as she thought, she’s accused of treason and is forced to face her greatest fear: Elsewhere. A prison where no one can escape.

As one shocking revelation leads to the next, Kitty learns the hard way that she can trust no one, not even the people she thought were on her side. With her back against the wall, Kitty wants to believe she’ll do whatever it takes to support the rebellion she believes in—but is she prepared to pay the ultimate price?

I enjoyed Aimee Carter’s The Goddess Test for the most part (except the infuriating bits), and I think she’s a very talented author and I am really keen to see what she can do in another genre.

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.)

I love fairy tale retellings, and I don’t remember why I didn’t read Cruel Beauty… I think I was planning on buying it and never got around to doing it. Anyway, this one’s not related to Cruel Beauty (even though both titles use C B) and I’m very interested in reading this one.

From the author of Entwined, a brilliantly conceived adventure through an alternate London. This sweeping, cinematic tale of an apprentice scientist desperate to save his family—and his world—is The Night Circus meets Pixar.

Through richly developed parallel worlds, vivid action, a healthy dose of humor, and gorgeous writing, Heather Dixon spins a story that is breathtaking and wholly original.

I don’t even care what it’s about. Heather Dixon wrote my favouirte book ever (Entwined). Thanks so much to Greenwillow for giving me this, and I should probably apologise for the mass of links I sent them convincing them how much I loved Entwined and Dixon…

Lady Kestrel’s engagement to Valoria’s crown prince calls for great celebration: balls and performances, fireworks and revelry. But to Kestrel it means a cage of her own making. Embedded in the imperial court as a spy, she lives and breathes deceit and cannot confide in the one person she really longs to trust …

While Arin fights to keep his country’s freedom from the hands of his enemy, he suspects that Kestrel knows more than she shows. As Kestrel comes closer to uncovering a shocking secret, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth.

Lies will come undone, and Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them in this second book in the breathtaking Winner’s trilogy.

This is one of the reasons I have too many books to review. I get caught up in the hype. I only rated The Winner’s Curse 2 stars and wasn’t even sure if I wanted to read The Winner’s Crime. I think the romance was icky, and I’m pretty sure the romance is the only reason why so many people like this… so oops, but I’ll read it anyway. I do love Rutkoski’s writing though.

Purchased:

 

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl’s journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Since I got Crimson Bound as an ARC (even though they’re not a part of the same universe, despite the similarities in title, cover design, and artwork) I pounced on Cruel Beauty when it went on sale for only $2.

Downloaded:

In this short-story prequel to Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant’sEve and Adam, fifteen-year-old E.V. (Evening) doesn’t know where she fits in to the universe. After a particularly disastrous school dance experience, she’s begins to wonder if she fits in at all. She did bloody the school heartthrob’s nose and all because he tried to kiss her. Having been accused of being a “frigid bitch,” E.V. begins to question her place in the cosmic world of relationships and dating to little avail; her CEO mother is emotionally unavailable, her dad is dead, and her best friend thinks true love exists in the back seat of a used Honda. But then E.V. spots someone, a blip on her otherwise indifferent radar that suggests there just might be someone out there for her . . .

Katherine Applegate, yes please.

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