Book Haul: January 2021

 

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Welcome to Stacking the Shelves and Mailbox Monday, where I get to show off the books I’ve gotten recently. It’s been a while since I posted a book haul. Oops. Even though I haven’t been posting hauls, I have been acquiring books. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing that! Here’s what I’m hoping to read in the next few months.

 

January 2021 Book Haul

 

 

 

 

Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

 

Young Adult Fantasy

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone.

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: Bookworms go wild for this series. It’s a perennial favorite that always shows up on “Best Books” lists. I feel like I’m the last person on Earth to read it. I’m excited to see what the hype is about.

 

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Gerald’s Game by Stephen King

 

Adult Horror

Once again, Jessie Burlingame has been talked into submitting to her husband Gerald’s kinky sex games—something that she’s frankly had enough of, and they never held much charm for her to begin with. So much for a “romantic getaway” at their secluded summer home. After Jessie is handcuffed to the bedposts—and Gerald crosses a line with his wife—the day ends with deadly consequences. Now Jessie is utterly trapped in an isolated lakeside house that has become her prison—and comes face-to-face with her deepest, darkest fears and memories. Her only company is that of the various voices filling her mind . . . as well as the shadows of nightfall that may conceal an imagined or very real threat right there with her . . . .

 

Why I’m excited to read it: Another addition to my Stephen King collection. This isn’t one of his most popular books, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a review of it. King is a very hit-or-miss author. Some of his stuff is brilliant, and some of it is beyond terrible. I’m interested to see where this book will land for me.

 

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett

 

Adult Historical Fiction

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: Here’s a conversation that has happened more than once at writing conferences:

Random person: “So, you’re a book reviewer?”

Me: “Yep.”

Random person: “What kind of books do you review?”

Me: “Mostly historical fiction.”

Random person: “Have you read The Help?”

Me: “No.”

Random person: *Squints at me suspiciously like maybe I’m impersonating a book reviewer for nefarious reasons.*

I will never have this conversation again. I’m going to read The Help.

 

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The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

 

Young Adult Fantasy

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away—by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: This book was recommended to me by one of my English teacher friends. Her teenage students love it. A lot of books call themselves “children’s literature,” but I question if children would actually like them. It’s good to know that this book has rave reviews from actual young people.

 

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Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King & Owen King

 

Adult Horror

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze.

If they are awakened, and the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place.

The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease.

Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied, or is she a demon who must be slain?

 

Why I’m excited to read it: Another addition to my Stephen King collection. This one is a creepy Sleeping Beauty retelling. And, it’s massive! I need to read it soon because it’s hogging all the space on my to-read shelf. It won a Goodreads Choice Award in 2017 and gets excellent reviews. I’m ready to read about some violent caterpillar women.

 

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Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 

Adult Horror

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.

Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

 

Why I’m excited to read it: It’s been compared to Rebecca and Jane Eyre. If it lives up to those comparison titles, I’ll be a very happy bookworm. It won the horror category of the Goodreads Choice Awards in 2020. It even beat a Stephen King book! I never thought that would happen. Horror readers prefer this book to Stephen King? I need to read it.

 

Buy it on Amazon

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The Life Of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir

 

History Nonfiction / Biography

Perhaps the most influential sovereign England has ever known, Queen Elizabeth I remained an extremely private person throughout her reign, keeping her own counsel and sharing secrets with no one—not even her closest, most trusted advisers. Now, in this brilliantly researched, fascinating new book, acclaimed biographer Alison Weir shares provocative new interpretations and fresh insights on this enigmatic figure.

Against a lavish backdrop of pageantry and passion, intrigue and war, Weir dispels the myths surrounding Elizabeth I and examines the contradictions of her character. Elizabeth I loved the Earl of Leicester, but did she conspire to murder his wife? She called herself the Virgin Queen, but how chaste was she through dozens of liaisons? She never married—was her choice to remain single tied to the chilling fate of her mother, Anne Boleyn?

 

Why I’m excited to read it: Like many Americans, I’m inexplicably fascinated with royal families. I thought I should read an actual biography of a queen instead of tabloid-type speculation stuff on the Internet. This biography has excellent reviews and was a New York Times bestseller.

 

Buy it on Amazon

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Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

 

Young Adult Fantasy

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

 

Why I’m excited to read it: Well, it’s about assassin nuns. That’s the main reason I want to read it. Assassin nuns! Also, a very long time ago, I asked for fantasy recommendations on Twitter. I listed a bunch of books I liked and asked for similar books. This one was recommended a few times, so I should probably give it a shot.

 

Buy it on Amazon

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Have you read any of these? What did you think?