Stacking the Shelves (241)

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 Reading Reality to find more great books!

---

Purchased

Stolen by Raze (Grabbed #4) by Lolita Lopez.

Captured in a government raid, Ella is thrown into a prison transport bound for the mountain labor camps. She never expects her rescue to come at the hands of Raze, the handsome sky warrior who all but stole her heart after Dizzy’s wedding. Considered a high-value asset by the Shadow Force, Ella is given to an arrogant brute of a pilot for safekeeping—and collaring.

After his disastrous first marriage, Raze swore off women, but Ella tempts him to break that vow. When he sees her being treated roughly by an unworthy man, his control shatters. One sucker punch later, he tosses Ella over his shoulder and steals her away. He wants to keep her, to collar and love her—but there’s a shameful secret in his past that shatters any chance of a happy future.

But Raze isn’t the only one with a complicated past. Ella has secrets of her own—and they’re about to threaten the safety of everyone she loves. She’ll have to go back to where it all started, risking her life and her future with Raze—to end it once and for all.

This is NOT YA. This is a very adult book addressing some very adult themes. However, I have loved and re-read the first three books in this series, so when I searched my Kindle for ‘Grabbed’ wanting to re-read the second one for about the fourth time, and this came up in my Kindle Store, I was in shocked disbelief. It’s been about 5 or so years since I last heard Lopez was doing anything with this series, tangled up in a dispute with her former publisher complicated by health problems, but I am SO GLAD it was published earlier this year and I bought it right away. I’m so glad Lo is writing and publishing this series again.

---

A Good Girls’ Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

My favourite local bookshop’s dedicated YA specialist RAVED about this, so I picked it up. I don’t usually let people dictate what I read like that, but I am getting into YA mysteries a lot, and let’s face it, I love a story about a good girl. Or a bad girl. Any girl, really.

---

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

A princess with two futures. A destiny all her own.

Between her cruel family and the contempt she faces at court, Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life. But when she’s betrothed to the powerful prince Kestrin, Alyrra embarks on a journey to his land with little hope for a better future.

When a mysterious and terrifying sorceress robs Alyrra of both her identity and her role as princess, Alyrra seizes the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.

But Alyrra soon finds that Kestrin is not what she expected. The more Alyrra learns of this new kingdom, the pain and suffering its people endure, as well as the danger facing Kestrin from the sorceress herself, the more she knows she can’t remain the goose girl forever.

With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds and ultimately must decide who she is, and what she stands for.

I love a good princess story.

For Review

Thanks to to the author and Wunderkind PR for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

The Tiger at Midnight by Swait Teerdhala

Esha lost everything in the royal coup—and as the legendary rebel known as the Viper, she’s made the guilty pay. Now she’s been tasked with her most important mission to date: taking down the ruthless General Hotha.

Kunal has been a soldier since childhood. His uncle, the general, has ensured that Kunal never strays from the path—even as a part of Kunal longs to join the outside world, which has only been growing more volatile.

When Esha and Kunal’s paths cross one fated night, an impossible chain of events unfolds. Both the Viper and the soldier think they’re calling the shots, but they’re not the only players moving the pieces.

As the bonds that hold their land in order break down and the sins of the past meet the promise of a new future, both the soldier and the rebel must decide where their loyalties lie: with the lives they’ve killed to hold on to or with the love that’s made them dream of something more.

---

Thanks to to the author and Wunderkind PR for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

The Archer at Dawn (The Tiger at Midnight #2) by Swati Teerdhala.

The Sun Mela is many things: a call for peace, a cause for celebration, and, above all, a deadly competition. For Kunal and Esha, finally working together as rebel spies, it provides the perfect guise to infiltrate King Vardaan’s vicious court.

Kunal will return to his role as dedicated Senap soldier, at the Sun Mela to provide extra security for the palace during the peace summit for the divided nations of Jansa and Dharka. Meanwhile, Esha will use her new role as adviser to Prince Harun to keep a pulse on shifting political parties and seek out allies for their rebel cause. A radical plan is underfoot to rescue Jansa’s long-lost Princess Reha—the key to the stolen throne.

But amid the Mela games and glittering festivities, much more dangerous forces lie in wait. With the rebel Blades’ entry into Vardaan’s court, a match has been lit, and long-held secrets will force Kunal and Esha to reconsider their loyalties—to their country and to each other. Getting into the palace was the easy task; coming out together will be a battle for their lives.

---

Borrowed

The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett

An enchanted tale of intrigue where a duke’s daughter is the only survivor of a magical curse.

When Ekata’s brother is finally named heir, there will be nothing to keep her at home in Kylma Above with her murderous family. Not her books or science experiments, not her family’s icy castle atop a frozen lake, not even the tantalizingly close Kylma Below, a mesmerizing underwater kingdom that provides her family with magic. But just as escape is within reach, her parents and twelve siblings fall under a strange sleeping sickness.

In the space of a single night, Ekata inherits the title of duke, her brother’s warrior bride, and ever-encroaching challengers from without—and within—her own ministry. Nothing has prepared Ekata for diplomacy, for war, for love…or for a crown she has never wanted. If Kylma Above is to survive, Ekata must seize her family’s power. And if Ekata is to survive, she must quickly decide how she will wield it.

Part Sleeping Beauty, part Anastasia, with a thrilling political mystery, The Winter Duke is a spellbinding story about choosing what’s right in the face of danger.

I borrowed this from my library on audio, drawn to the use of a woman duke, not a duchess. She inherits her brother’s warrior bride. I’m in love with this already.

---

What books did you get this week? Have you read any of these and what did you think? Share the love in the comments below!

Subscribe to Blog via Email