STS #58 – Bought Borrowed & Bagged #8
Stacking The Shelves, hosted by Tynga’s Reviews is all about the latest additions to your library – virtual or actual, with books that are bought, borrowed, won or ARCs you will be reading soon. BB&B is a homage to to Barron’s Books and Baubles from Karen Marie Moning’s amazing Fever series, and is hosted by Braine over at Talk Supe.
Netgalley ARCs:
Can’t Always Get What You Want – Chelsey Krause
Sophie Richards has been looking forward to a much-needed girls’ night out: a Rolling Stones concert, a few drinks, a distraction from her grueling nursing shifts in acute care. But when her best friend bails, Sophie gets stuck with a blind date.
Although Brett Nicholson may be the hottest carpenter alive, and Sophie may technically be single, she isn’t exactly on the market. Six years ago she found The One. He was everything Sophie dreamed a man could be—and then she lost him. In an instant, her whole life changed, and she forgot all about happily ever after.
But as she gets to know Brett, Sophie starts to wonder about the future for the first time. With a broken heart still clouding her mind, jumping into a new relationship feels impossible. When she’s in his arms, walking away feels even harder. Now Sophie faces an impossible choice: living in the past or choosing love in the here and now.
How to Write a Thesis – Umberto Eco
By the time Umberto Eco published his best-selling novel “The Name of the Rose,” he was one of Italy’s most celebrated intellectuals, a distinguished academic and the author of influential works on semiotics. Some years before that, in 1977, Eco published a little book for his students, “How to Write a Thesis,” in which he offered useful advice on all the steps involved in researching and writing a thesis — from choosing a topic to organizing a work schedule to writing the final draft. Now in its twenty-third edition in Italy and translated into seventeen languages, “How to Write a Thesis “has become a classic. Remarkably, this is its first, long overdue publication in English.
Eco’s approach is anything but dry and academic. He not only offers practical advice but also considers larger questions about the value of the thesis-writing exercise. “How to Write a Thesis” is unlike any other writing manual. It reads like a novel. It is opinionated. It is frequently irreverent, sometimes polemical, and often hilarious. Eco advises students how to avoid “thesis neurosis” and he answers the important question “Must You Read Books?” He reminds students “You are not Proust” and “Write everything that comes into your head, but only in the first draft.” Of course, there was no Internet in 1977, but Eco’s index card research system offers important lessons about critical thinking and information curating for students of today who may be burdened by Big Data.
“How to Write a Thesis” belongs on the bookshelves of students, teachers, writers, and Eco fans everywhere. Already a classic, it would fit nicely between two other classics: “Strunk and White” and “The Name of the Rose.”
The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower (The Dukes of War #1) – Erica Ridley
Oliver York returns from war to find his father dead, his finances in arrears, and himself the new Earl of Carlisle. If he doesn’t marry an heiress—and fast!—he and his tenants are going to be pitching tents down by the Thames. He definitely shouldn’t be trading kisses with a penniless debutante… no matter how captivating she is!
Miss Grace Halton is in England just long enough to satisfy the terms of her dowry. But a marriage of convenience isn’t as easy as she’d hoped. Back in America, her ailing mother needs medicine only Grace’s dowry can afford. Which means the dashing earl she can’t get out of her mind is the one man she can’t let into her heart.
The Shape of My Heart (2B Trilogy #3) – Ann Aguirre
Some people wait decades to meet their soul mate. Courtney Kaufman suspects she met hers in high school only to lose him at seventeen. Since then, Courtney’s social life has been a series of meaningless encounters, though she’s made a few close friends along the way. Especially her roommate Max Cooper, who oozes damaged bad-boy vibes from every pore.
Max knows about feeling lost and trying to move beyond the pain he’s been on his own since he was sixteen. Now it’s time to find out if he can ever go home again, and Courtney’s the only one he trusts to go with him. But the trip to Providence could change everything because the more time he spends with Courtney, the harder it is to reconcile what he wants and what he thinks he deserves.
It started out so simple. One misfit helping another. Now Max will do anything to show Courtney that for every heart that’s ever been broken, there’s another that can make it complete.
How to Plan a Wedding for a Royal Spy (Renegade Royals #3) – Vanessa Kelly
Whether as spies or lovers, the Renegade Royals—illegitimate sons of England’s Royal Princes—are bold, skillful, and a force to be reckoned with…
A war hero returned from Waterloo should be able to indulge in a bit of bad behavior. Instead, Captain William Endicott is summoned by his father, the Duke of York, to investigate an assassination plot. The unlikely suspect: William’s former sweetheart. Will can’t believe that innocent Evie Whitney could be mixed up in anything so nefarious. Then again, almost everything about Evie has changed—except for his body’s instinctive response to hers…
Just as Evie’s life is finally coming together, Will saunters back into it. Should she slap him—or seduce him? Even as she tries to decide, scandal pushes her toward marriage with a man she can neither trust nor resist—and into the heart of a deadly conspiracy…
Edelweiss ARCs:
Monday’s Lie – Jamie Mason
Dee Aldrich rebelled against her off-center upbringing when she married the most conventional man she could imagine: Patrick, her college sweetheart. But now, years later, her marriage is falling apart and she’s starting to believe that her husband has his eye on a new life… a life without her, one way or another.
Haunted by memories of her late mother Annette, a former covert operations asset, Dee reaches back into her childhood to resurrect her mother’s lessons and the “spy games” they played together, in which Dee learned memory tricks and, most importantly, how and when to lie. But just as she begins determining the course of the future, she makes a discovery that will change her life: her mother left her a lot of money and her own husband seems to know more about it than Dee does. Now, before it’s too late, she must investigate her suspicions and untangle conspiracy from coincidence, using her mother’s advice to steer her through the blind spots. The trick, in the end, will be in deciding if a “normal life” is really what she wants at all.
With pulse-pounding prose and atmospheric settings, Monday’s Lie is a thriller that delivers more of the “Hitchcockian menace” (Peter Straub) that made Three Graves Full a critical hit. For fans of the Coen brothers or Gillian Flynn, this is a book you won’t want to miss.
Kindle Purchases:
Enemies on Tap (Sweet Salvation Brewery #1) – Avery Flynn
Brewing up trouble one pint at a time.
Enemies …After years away, Miranda Sweet returns to Salvation, Virginia to save her family’s brewery, but her fate is in the hands of her lover-turned-enemy, Logan. What’s a girl to do when the only person who can help her is the man who betrayed her?
Lovers …Logan Martin can’t believe his luck when the woman who smashed his heart to smithereens walks into his bank asking for his help. What she doesn’t know is that he needs the land her brewery is on–and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.
An Irresistible Combination …Their wager becomes a battle between their attraction and their determination to win. But it’s in each other’s arms that they realize there might be more at stake now than their bet. With the town against the Sweet Salvation Brewery’s success, Logan has to choose between what’s expected of him and what he really wants…
Hollywood on Tap (Sweet Salvation Brewery #2) – Avery Flynn
For years, Sean O’Dell has hidden his past as a Hollywood heartthrob from everyone at the Sweet Salvation Brewery. However, the arrival of nosey efficiency expert Natalie Sweet threatens the status quo. It doesn’t help that with her glasses, buttoned-up sweaters and always pulled-back hair that she’s uncovered one secret already: His attraction for hot librarian types.
Natalie has had enough of the strong-and-silent Sean submarining her efforts to change the brewery for the better. She’s ready to do whatever it takes to make her vision a reality, even if that means taking down the pig-headed and too-hot-for-his-own-good brewmaster.
Sizzling attraction battles stubborn determination as Natalie and Sean go head to head in a battle that’s anything but business as usual.
Kindle Freebies:
Spirits of Christmas – Nicky Wells
At one time, up-and-coming rock singer Jude had it all: a great band, a platinum record, a loving girlfriend. This Christmas, however, he is well down the road towards spontaneous self-destruction. Unwitting at first, Jude has progressively alienated his band and driven away the love of his life. Tonight, the night before Christmas Eve, he has broken the final taboo during a disastrous gig. Yet Jude doesn’t see how badly his life has derailed, not until a ghostly procession of legends passes through his bedroom with a series of vivid and powerful wake-up calls. Will the Spirits help Jude put the friendship, love, and rock music back into his Christmas?
Spirits of Christmas is a modern-day rock’n’roll adaption of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. This novella will enchant romance readers, rock lovers, fans of ghost stories, and everybody who adores the festive season.
The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds #1) – Alexandra Bracken
When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.
Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.
When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.
When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.
Giveaway Wins:
The Sharp Hook of Love – Sherry Jones: I won this gem from France Booktours, and I can’t wait to start reading!
Among the young women of 12th century Paris, Heloise d’Argenteuil stands apart. Extraordinarily educated and quick-witted, she is being groomed by her uncle to become an abbess in the service of God. But with one encounter, her destiny changes forever.
Pierre Abelard, headmaster at the Nôtre Dame Cloister School, is acclaimed as one of the greatest philosophers in France. His controversial reputation only adds to his allure, yet despite the legions of women swooning over his poetry and dashing looks, he is captivated by the brilliant Heloise alone. As their relationship blossoms from a meeting of the minds to a forbidden love affair, both Heloise and Abelard must choose between love, duty, and ambition.
Sherry Jones weaves the lovers’ own words into an evocative account of desire and sacrifice. As intimate as it is erotic, as devastating as it is beautiful, The Sharp Hook of Love is a poignant, tender tribute to one of history’s greatest romances, and to love’s power to transform and endure.
Did you get some exciting-looking books this week? Remember to leave me your link so I can check out your Stacking the Shelves and or Bought, Borrowed and Bagged post, too 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! Have a spectacular Saturday.
Darkest Minds! I’ve heard a lot of positive things about that series and I hope you enjoy, lovely. Shape of My Heart – looks like the author is continuing with the backstreet boys theme. Hope you enjoy all of your books Lexxie!
I’ve heard good things about Darkest Minds as well, Jeann. I can’t wait to read it. And The Shape of my Heart was really good.
Thanks for stopping by.
Can’t Always Get What You Want sounds really promising! I’m not familiar with that one. I have a copy of The Shape of My Heart. I’ve loved Ann’s 2B Trilogy so much. I’m just sad to see it come to an end.
Happy reading!
My StS!
I actually already read The Shape of My Heart, Kim. It was awesome! And as you, I’m sad this amazing series has come to an end.
Thanks for stopping by.
OOoh very nice! All new to me! Hope you enjoy each and every one of them!
My STS will be up tomorrow, stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
Yeah, I’m pretty happy with my huge haul of this week 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Jessica.
Many great books I would enjoy reading 😀
🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Lexie.
Dang! You have some excellent books that I will most definitely be checking out. Great week!
here’s mine.
I hope you’ll enjoy those you pick up, Danica 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
WOW lots of awesome looking books. The Erica Ridley book looks interesting indeed. I hope that you love all of your new books.
Grace
Yes, I really got a little bit of everything this week 🙂 Can’t wait to read them all! Thanks for stopping by, Grace.
Oh many new books for me! I hope you”ll like them lady! Happy reading ans have a nice weekend!
I hope I’ll like them too, Melliane 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
Twitter: bmreviewsohmy
Got some great looking ones in there. I some how figured that you would probably pick up How to Plan a Wedding for a Royal Spy when I seen it and grabbed it myself. 🙂 I hope we both enjoy it. 🙂
Have a great rest of the weekend!
LOL, I wonder how you guessed on the Royal Spy book, Stormi 🙂 I hope we’ll both enjoy it, too!
Thanks for stopping by.
Another great haul, Lexxie. Love the covers of the Sweet Salvation Brewery series. Think i might check this one out myself.
Hope you’re having a fabulous weekend. Happy Reading!
Marilyn @ Marilyn’s Mystery Blog
Yeah, those covers are made of yummy, aren’t they? I read a review for the 2nd book, and that was it – I just had to have them.
Thanks for stopping by, Marilyn.
I really enjoyed The Shape of my Heart and Darkest Minds, I hope you do as well. I’m curious about Can’t Always Get What You Want – I’m loving the cover.
Happy reading! Sharon – Obsession with Books
I loved The Shape of My Heart! Max and Courtney were so lovable! The cover of Can’t Always Get What You Want – and the title is what made me want to check that one out as well.
Thanks for stopping by, Sharon.
A whole slew of new books this week that I haven’t heard of. Hope you find something you love!
I have high hopes I’ll love them all, Shelley 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
I’ve read The Darkest Minds and was loving it up until a certain scene that ruined it for me, but everyone seems to love it (and the rest of the series.) 🙂
Oh no! I hope that scene won’t ruin it for me, Kirsty-Marie! It sucks when that happens…
Thanks for stopping by.
Can’t Always Get what you want sounds great, hope you enjoy and have a great weekend.
Thank you, Brandi 🙂
I heard The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower is a really good read, have it myself 😀
I look forward to reading it, Lily! I really enjoyed the first book in this series 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
Phew, nice haul, you do get a lot of books too 😉 I read several Umberto Eco back in the days, especially the one on libraries, I love that writer ! Well, read and enjoy 😉
I am starting to think about my MA thesis, so Umberto Eco’s How to Write a Thesis came just at the right time for me 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Iza!
You hauled in lots of goody-goodness this week, Lex! Enemies on Tap looks good. Well, they all do…and I see more HR is in store. 🙂 I hope you enjoy Spirits of Christmas! Happy reading, my friend!! **BIG HUGS**
Yeah, some books are just impossible to resist, right? 😉 Thanks for stopping by, my dear! *BIG HUGS*
Congratulations on winning THE SHARP HOOK OF LOVE! I hope you LOVE it. 🙂
Thank you, Sherry 🙂 I really look forward to it!