Saturday, July 8, 2017

A “Very Excited” Book Haul


Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. I get to show off all the books I’ve gotten recently. The year is half over, and I’m just now getting some of my most-anticipated 2017 releases. I also got a random backlist book that was published in the 1980s. I had bookstore credits, and I couldn’t say no, okay?








The Love Interest – Cale Dietrich


There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets. 
Caden is a Nice: the boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: the brooding, dark-souled guy who is dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose the Nice or the Bad? 
Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to be—whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die. 
What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.








Perfect Little World – Kevin Wilson


When Isabelle Poole meets Dr. Preston Grind, she's just about out of options. She recently graduated from high school and is pregnant with her art teacher's baby. Her mother is dead and her father is a drunk. The art teacher is too much of a head-case to help raise the child. Izzy knows she can be a good mother but without any money or prospects, she's left searching. 
So when Dr. Grind offers her a space in The Infinite Family Project, she accepts. Housed in a spacious compound in Tennessee, she joins nine other couples, all with children the same age as her newborn son, to raise their children as one extended family. Grind's theory is that the more parental love a child receives, the better off they are. 
This attempt at a utopian ideal—funded by an eccentric billionaire—starts off promising: Izzy enjoys the kids, reading to them and teaching them to cook. She even forms a bond with her son more meaningful than she ever expected. But soon the gentle equilibrium among the families is upset and it all starts to disintegrate: unspoken resentments between the couples begin to fester; the project's funding becomes tenuous; and Izzy's feelings for Dr. Grind, who is looking to expunge his own painful childhood, make her question her participation in this strange experiment in the first place.








Cold Summer – Gwen Cole


Today, he’s a high school dropout with no future. 
Tomorrow, he’s a soldier in World War II. 
Kale Jackson has spent years trying to control his time-traveling ability but hasn’t had much luck. One day he lives in 1945, fighting in the war as a sharpshooter and helplessly watching soldiers—friends—die. Then the next day, he’s back in the present, where WWII has bled into his modern life in the form of PTSD, straining his relationship with his father and the few friends he has left. Every day it becomes harder to hide his battle wounds, both physical and mental, from the past. 
When the ex-girl-next-door, Harper, moves back to town, thoughts of what could be if only he had a normal life begin to haunt him. Harper reminds him of the person he was before the PTSD, which helps anchor him to the present. With practice, maybe Kale could remain in the present permanently and never step foot on a battlefield again. Maybe he can have the normal life he craves. 
But then Harper finds Kale’s name in a historical article—and he’s listed as a casualty of the war. Kale knows now that he must learn to control his time-traveling ability to save himself and his chance at a life with Harper. Otherwise, he’ll be killed in a time where he doesn’t belong by a bullet that was never meant for him.








The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas


Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. 
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. 
But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.








A Parcel Of Patterns – Jill Paton Walsh


"A parcel of patterns brought the plague to Eyam. A parcel sent up from London to George Vicars, a journeyman tailor, who was lodging with Mrs. Cooper in a cottage by the west end of the churchyard." 
So begins Mall Percival's account of how her village of Eyam struggled against the plague. George Vicars dies on September 6, 1665, and by the end of October, twenty-five more townsfolk have been buried. As the deaths continue, the villagers, including Mall, begin to panic—helpless to fight off the disease. Uncertain as to how it is contracted and passed from one person to another, Mall forces herself to make a sacrifice that radically changes her life—she decides to stops seeing Thomas Torre, a man from another village, the man she hopes to marry. In June of 1666, at their minister's urging, the entire village makes a pact to protect those who live in the surrounding countryside by staying within the boundaries of Eyam. 
Although Mall longs to see Thomas, she remains steadfast in her resolution, until one day Thomas runs into the center of Eyam, knowing that he will not be allowed to leave, yet fearing that Mall has died. Mall and Thomas marry, but their happiness is short-lived. Finally, in October of 1666, the pestilence subsides. Mall, overwhelmed by grief and sorrow, decides to write a chronicle of all she has witnessed in Eyam, hoping that it will set her free.





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






Butch-Kiera thinks all books look better with drool.
























17 comments:

  1. I never buy hardbacks...too hard to hold and take up too much shelf space! I like my paperbacks! Dog drool on my books??? NOOOOOOO!!! Have a great reading week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Hate U Give is one of my favorite books this year! I'm reading Cold Summer right now because Gwen Cole is coming to the bookstore I work at next month, along with two other YA authors, and I'm moderating the panel. The Love Interest is on my TBR pile too, and it looks sooooooo good. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've read Cold Summer a while ago and it was so great! I'd love to buy myself a hardcover of it. The cover is so gorgeous! ♥

    My STS

    Happy Reading!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You grabbed an interesting mix of books, and now I have to add a few more titles to my list of 'I want it'! Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I haven't read any of these, but I've heard great things about The Hate You Give. It's on my to be purchased list. - Katie

    Here's my STS: http://justanothergirlandherbooks.blogspot.de/2017/07/stacking-shelves-8-july-2017.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great haul!! I really liked The Hate You Give and hope you do too. The Love Interest is one that interests me. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've heard amazing things about The Hate U Give! Perfect Little World and Cold Summer sound so interesting.

    Enjoy your new books! :)

    Kyra @ Blog of a Bookaholic
    My Book Haul!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nothing wrong with not being able to say no to books ;) I did enjoy The Love Interest hope you do as well. I have heard great things about Hate You Give as well. My Shelf

    ReplyDelete
  9. I enjoyed The Hate U Give! I also really want to read The Love Interest :-) I hope you love these books.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I've got a copy of The Love Interest about six feet from where I'm sitting. I really like THUG, but went in with overly high expectations. Cold Summer sounds good--love me some time travel!--and I hope you like A Parcel of Patterns more than you like A Year of Wonders.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am interested in The Love Interest. It has a ton of good buzz. Enjoy all your new books!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I want to read THUG and Cold summer. Both are on my wish list. I often get doggy nose wetness on my books if I stop petting my golden retriever while reading. A whimper and a nudge remind me to pay attention!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've been wanting to read The Hate U Give....and I'm curious about Perfect Little World.

    Enjoy your week, and here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

    ReplyDelete
  14. An interesting mix of books! THUG is a book that I've been meaning to read for the longest time but haven't gotten around to it. So cool that it is going into film. I'll need to read it before that happens. :D I hope you enjoy all of your new books!

    Have a fabulous week. =)

    Check out my STS post!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I just bought a copy of The Hate U Give and grabbed The Love Interest a few weeks ago. I hope we both enjoy them.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The Hate U Give is so popular, and I believe it is for good reads! Cold Summer is one I have but have yet to read! Hopefully soon I will. :D

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, The Love Interest and The Hate U Give look really great, and I hope you enjoy all of those books! Thanks for stopping by! Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete