STS: Love Your Bookshop Day + Blind Date With A Book

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme created by Tynga’s Reviews and hosted by Reading Reality.
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!

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Yesterday (Saturday 10 August so I dunno, might still be today for some of you – unless you’re reading this much later in the future, in which case – hello!) was Love Your Bookshop Day.

So after a very busy morning consisting of rushing to return a library book, going to the post office, and taking one of my cats to the vet (she’s fine! Just a checkup.) I managed to drag myself and my disabled husband IN THE FRICKIN RAIN to two different bookshops to buy some books.

By the way this was not me, I was not singing in the frickin rain, it was cold and wet and I was pushing a wheelchair and there were too many people because it was later in the day and we normally try to get to the city much earlier in the morning (but we had a mid-morning vet appointment so whaddaya gonna do?)

First we went to the harder of the two bookshops to get to, where my husband picked out a book but I decided to take a huge risk and go on a Blind Date with a YA Book.

This is a huge deal because last time I did BDWAB it ended up not being YA and also sounded really boring and I don’t even know if I still have it, so I basically spent $30 on a book I had no interest in.

This year, the bookshop labelled the book YA and the three hints were:

• Lies
• Revenge
• Betrayal

Which is great because that is SO WHAT I AM IN TO RIGHT NOW.

So I decided to take this little cutie home, and as soon as I found somewhere to sit, I ripped the brown paper cover off to reveal:

All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick

PRIVATE NUMBER: Wouldn’t you look better without a cheater on your arm?
AMANDA: Who is this?

PRIVATE NUMBER: I’m watching you, Sweetheart.
ROSALIE: Who IS this?

Amanda Kelly and Carter Shaw look like the golden couple – gorgeous, rich, top of their social circle and destined to be together forever if their parents have their way… But Amanda knows that Carter is far from perfect, because behind her back he’s also dating Rosalie.

Rosalie Bell needs Carter to hide the truth from her Christian fundamentalist parents who believe conversion “therapy” has “cured” her sexuality. Keeping safe is Rosalie’s priority, but fighting to remain true to herself and her girlfriend whilst maintaining a fake, straight relationship isn’t proving easy…

Then an anonymous texter starts sending threatening messages, seeming to know exactly what lies are being told and how high the stakes are – and wanting to use the girls to take down Carter. Forced into an unlikely alliance, can Amanda and Rosalie unmask their stalker before their secrets are revealed or someone gets really hurt…?

I was SO EXCITED to receive this book as my blind date because I had already heard about it and really wanted to read it!

Then my cripple and I moseyed on over to the second book shop of the day, where he purchased a few books of his own, and I found two books that really jumped out at me:

Sea Witch Rising (Sea Witch #2) by Sarah Henning

This sequel to THE SEA WITCH is an alternative reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. It’s a heart-wrenching story about the complications of sisterhood, the uncompromising nature of magic and the cost of redemption.

Alia has made a deal with the Sea Witch to give up her life as a mermaid in exchange for a human soul. Now she has only twelve hours left on land to win the prince she loves, or perish.
But Alia’s sister, Runa, knows that the prince isn’t capable of true love, so she makes her own bargain with the Sea Witch – and prepares to bring Alia back to the ocean, whether she likes it or not.
Below the waves, the Sea Witch has a plan to challenge the order of the sea. It’s going to take power – power she doesn’t yet have.
As Runa and the Sea Witch’s fates intertwine, they find themselves caught in the middle of a deadly conflict between land and water. Will they be brave enough to sacrifice their own hearts’ desires for a chance to save their worlds…?

I had no clue there was going to be a sequel to Sea Witch, which I read and enjoyed last year. I remember that although it didn’t blow me away, it was a really solid read, enjoyable, and the worldbuilding in particular was really cool. I’m keen to dive into (get it??) this sequel and discover more about Evie’s world.

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnolley

‘In an ancient city by the sea, three sisters – a maiden, a mother, and a crone – are drawing maps by candlelight. Sombre, with piercing grey eyes, they are the three Fates, and every map is a human life . . .’

Stepsister takes up where Cinderella’s tale ends. We meet Isabelle, the younger of Cinderella’s two stepsisters. Ella is considered beautiful; stepsister Isabelle is not. Isabelle is fearless, brave, and strong-willed. She fences better than any boy, and takes her stallion over jumps that grown men fear to attempt. It doesn’t matter, though; these qualities are not valued in a girl. Others have determined what is beautiful, and Isabelle does not fit their definition. Isabelle must face down the demons that drove her cruel treatment of Ella, challenge her own fate and maybe even redefine the very notion of beauty . . .

Cinderella is about a girl who was bullied; Stepsister is about the bully. We all root for the victims, we want to see them triumph. But what about the bullies? Is there hope for them? Can a mean girl change? Can she find her own happily ever after?

I’ve long been into fairytale retellings, although I feel like they are kind of saturating the market at this point. What I am interested in is retellings from alternate points of view, hence Sea Witch above and now Step Sister by Jenniffer Connolley.

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That was my day at Love Your Bookshop! Did you participate? What books did you pick up? Have you ever gone on a Blind Date With a Book, and was it successful? Let me know in the comments below!

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