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Books, Other People's Books

Yet another ebook roundup

So yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything besides an ebook report, I know! This post is not actually going to change that, but it’s taken me several days to compose it and I really need to get it out of my queue. So here you go!

The Candle and the Flame

The Candle and the Flame

Acquired from Kobo:

The Widow of Rose House, by Diana Biller. Gothic/historical romance. Nabbed it because of this excellent review over on Smart Bitches Trashy Books.

Palimpsest, Speak Easy, and The Refrigerator Monologues, all by Catherynne Valente. Fantasy and superheroes. Nabbed them partly because she’s just generally an excellent author, and partly also because I saw word going around on Twitter that her family got hard-hit by recent storm action. So I thought I’d make a point of grabbing a few of her titles I didn’t have already.

The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders. SF. Grabbed because I like the premise, and because it went briefly on sale for reduced price.

The Candle and the Flame, by Nafiza Azad. Fantasy. Gotten because good lord that cover is gorgeous, and because I was drawn in by the sample I read on Kobo. And by the protagonist playing an oud! (As y’all know, I am very partial to musician protagonists, and hey, I have even SEEN an oud.)

The Queen of Rhodia, Daughter of the Sun, and The Queen of Ieflaria, by Effie Calvin. SF/SF Romance, and specifically F/F as well. Book 1 of this series, The Queen of Ieflaria, originally came across my radar because of how pretty I found the cover. But the series came up again in discussion on Smart Bitches, and I was pleased enough by what I heard there that I went ahead and got all three of these.

Acquired from Amazon:

Search Image, by Julie E. Czerneda. SF. Got this one because Amazon offered me a small credit against the purchase price for recently buying something else by Czerneda. Also because I love her books.

Fortuna, by Kristyn Merbeth. SF/Space opera. Nabbed this one because I won it in a Goodreads giveaway, yo.

The Immortals, by Jordanna Max Brodsky. Urban fantasy. Nabbed this one because it’s book 1 of a series featuring Greek mythology–and in particular, starring Artemis. Partial to Greek mythos, as y’all may recall! And this book was on sale for $1.99 when I nabbed it.

Acquired from Tor.com’s Ebook of the Month mailing promotion:

The Tiger’s Daughter, by K Arsenault Rivera. Fantasy. Gotten for free as I’m on Tor.com’s periodic “here have a free ebook” promotional list.

63 for the year.

Books, Other People's Books

Long overdue ebook roundup post

A roundup post, mostly but not exclusively composed of various books I’ve picked up on sale over the last several weeks:

Picked up from Kobo:

Ink and Bone, by Rachel Caine. First in her Great Library series, which I’ve been meaning to read for a while. (Particularly now that she’s said on Twitter she’s fighting cancer. I suspect I’ll be buying a few more of these to do my part to contribute to her book income, because boy howdy she’s gonna need it!)

Among Others, by Jo Walton. SF. This got some very favorable buzz a few years ago when it came out, and it took both a Nebula in 2011 and a Hugo in 2012.

Jade City, by Fonda Lee. Fantasy. This is getting very favorable buzz now, and I finally picked it up after discussing it with one of my book club peeps.

Year One, by Nora Roberts. I’m not sure whether to call this SF or SF romance; given that it’s Nora Roberts, I’m inclined to think the latter is more likely. Either way I perked up a bit when the release of this was announced, since post-apocalyptic SF-ish stories are a pretty new thing for her. Historically I’ve liked her standalone romantic suspense novels better than her forays into paranormal. But given that I also like the SFnal flavor of the J.D. Robbs, I’m very intrigued to see how this turns out.

Picked up from Amazon:

Thorn, by Anna Burke. F/F retelling of Beauty and the Beast? WHY YES I will have some, thank you.

The Revolution Betrayed, by Leon Trotsky. If you look at this and go, “HEY ANNA this is absolutely nothing like anything you usually read,” you would be correct. I picked this up because we read it in book club. Dara has a print copy, but I didn’t want to take it out of the house to read at work while she needed to read it for book club. So I wound up nabbing the ebook version on Kindle.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson. This is a YA I’ve been meaning to read for ages, and it going on sale briefly was a good excuse to finally buy it.

The Gossamer Mage, by Julie E. Czerneda. Because Julie Czerneda taking another crack at fantasy? WHY YES I will have some of this too, thank you.

50 for the year.

Books

Breaking radio silence book roundup

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, and I’ve gotten quite a few books lately from various sources. Time for another roundup post!

First up, I’ve seen some Romanceland brouhaha going around Twitter this week about yet another round of “but but but THERE WEREN’T ANY BLACK PEOPLE IN THE REGENCY!” One of the many tweets I happened to see from author Courtney Milan on the topic was an RT of a link to Black London: Life before Emancipation, a book from Rutgers University Press that delves into the history of people of color in London. The link offers the book in multiple formats, including the ability to read it online. And, it’s free.

So I nabbed it in EPUB and in MOBI form, because I definitely want to educate myself on this.

Next, from Tor.com:

The Murders of Molly Southbourne, by Tade Thompson. Nabbed this one because it was the free download of the month from the Tor.com mailing list, last month.

From Kobo:

  • The Only Thing to Fear, by Julie E. Czerneda. A novella in her Web Shifter series, which I grabbed because I am sorely behind on reading her things!
  • Mixed Signals and Signal Boost, by Alyssa Cole. Books 2 and 3 of her Off the Grid series from Carina. Nabbing these because I finally read book 1, so I’m in to give books 2 and 3 a go. Liking that from what I’m seeing, this seems like a post-apocalyptic story in which there is in fact a recovery from the apocalypse, and I’m very down with that little glimmer of hope.
  • Rosewater, by Tade Thompson. Nabbed this as I spotted it on sale, and because it’s SF set in Nigeria.
  • Her Royal Spyness, by Rhys Bowen. Book 1 of the series of the same name, period mysteries starring a young British aristocrat in 1932. She’s nowhere near the throne in the line of succession, and she’s penniless, so what’s she to do? Solve murders, naturally! Grabbed this one as another one I spotted on sale.
  • Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan McGuire. Book 3 of her Wayward Children series.
  • Named of the Dragon, by Susanna Kearsley. This is one of hers I’ve already read, but in print and it hasn’t been high on my list to re-read. But the ebook went on sale for cheap, so I nabbed it. Want to give this one another shot as I didn’t quite care for it the first time and I want to see if it reads better a second time through. Having it in ebook form will bump up the chances I’ll take another look.
  • Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells. SF. Book 2 of The Murderbot Diaries. MURDERBOT! <3
  • The Toll, by Cherie Priest. A new Gothic by Priest? OH HELL YES sign me up.
  • The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, by Olivia Waite. Book 1 of her Feminine Pursuits series, which I am nabbing because OH HELL YES F/F historical romance sign me up for that too. 😀 And I find both the title and the cover rather charming.

From Amazon:

Wolfhunter River, by Rachel Caine. Book 3 of her Stillhouse Lake thriller series. Plowed through books 1 and 2 very quickly, as I am wont to do with pretty much anything of hers I read, so I had to nab this one too. Got it from Amazon as it’s exclusively sold there.

42 for the year.

Books, Other People's Books

End of March ebook roundup

Purchased from Amazon:

The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley. This was a Kindle daily deal, and while I don’t normally buy ebooks from Amazon, for $2.99 I’ll make an exception. This is of course one of my all-time favorites of McKinley’s, and I was happy to get an ebook copy.

Purchased from Kobo:

Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi, by, well, John Scalzi. Nabbed this because I know I already like Scalzi’s work, and because at least a couple of pieces in this have been adapted into episodes of Love, Death, and Robots. Also, it was on sale for $2.99 as well, at least as of the time of purchase! (I checked: as of this writing, it’s back up to $5.99, which doesn’t suck as a price either but is not quite as awesome as $2.99.)

Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure, by Courtney Milan. Grabbed this after I saw her talking about it on Twitter as her tale of elderly lesbians burning down London and I am ON BOARD. (To all reports, it is delightful.)

Captain Horatio Hornblower, by C.S. Forester. Book Club decided we’d proceed to reading the next Hornblower (by publishing order, anyway). Turned out the only way I could get A Ship of the Line was in this omnibus edition that includes Beat to Quarters, A Ship of the Line, and Flying Colors.

Total for the year: 26

Books, Other People's Books

Because apparently I needed retail therapy ebook roundup

I’ve been slurping up a high number of ebooks lately, so here’s a quick roundup about that.

Picked up from Amazon:

Beat to Quarters, by C.S. Forester, which is one of the Horatio Hornblower novels. We decided to read some Hornblower in book club, since gfish has headed off to hang out on a tall ship for a few weeks, and it seemed thematically appropriate.

Grabbed this from Amazon because I couldn’t find an equivalent version on Kobo. This Hornblower novel in particular is the first one in publication order, but the sixth in chronological order.

Pre-ordered from Kobo:

Avatar: The Rise of Kyoshi, by F.C. Yee and Michael Dante DiMartino. This is an Avatar: The Last Airbender tie-in novel, part 1 of a duology delving into the life story of Avatar Kyoshi, the Avatar just before Aang’s immediate predecessor, Roku. Kyoshi has important cultural impact still present by Aang’s day, and I will greatly enjoy reading about her.

Picked up from Kobo:

The Heiress Effect, The Countess Conspiracy, and The Suffragette Scandal, by Courtney Milan. Books 2-4 of her Brothers Sinister series. Nabbed these partly because I already knew I like Milan’s work a lot, and partly because of the eruption of the CopyPasteCris scandal. Wanted to buy a few of Milan’s titles I didn’t already have, to show her my support.

(Note: since I purchased these, I have actually finally read Book 1 of this series, The Duchess War. Recommended for fans of historical romance who appreciate camera time spent on issues outside the ton and new ways to underscore the restrictive gender roles of the era.)

A Hope Divided, by Alyssa Cole. Historical romance, book 2 of her Loyal League series. Grabbing this because Cole’s shot onto my radar as a romance author I want to regularly follow, now that I’ve read several things of hers.

Bellewether, by Susanna Kearsley. This is her latest release and I do love me some Kearsley, so yay! Bonus points for some French Canadian action in this one.

Alice Payne Arrives, by Kate Heartfield. This is a Tor.com novella and it sounded like great fun, with a time-traveling rogue type as the heroine. Book 1 of a series.

Terminal Alliance, by Jim C. Hines. Book 1 of his Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse series. Grabbing this one finally as it’s at mass-market prices in ebook form, now that book 2 is out.

“Deriving Life”, by Elizabeth Bear. SF. This is a Tor.com short story, which you can read for free on their site. But I nabbed my own copy as I felt this piece was achingly beautiful.

The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon. Fantasy. Nabbing this on general “because epic fantasy written by women” grounds, but also because I love this cover and I love the title. Read enough of the sample to go “yep I want to know more about what’s going on in this world”, too.

And last but not least:

Thornbound, by Stephanie Burgis. Book 2 of her Harwood Spellbook series, which is essentially fantasy romance. Caught my attention with the worldbuilding idea of an alternate Earth where Boudicca drove the Romans out of Britain–and the nation that grew out of that, Angland, is one ruled by the Boudiccate, full of women politicians. Men, meanwhile, serve as mages, and gender power dynamics are essentially flipped. I’m ON BOARD. I’ve already read Spellswept, the prequel novella for this series, and am looking forward to diving into the two novels.

Total for the year: 22.

Books, Other People's Books

Shoveling out from under the inbox ebook roundup

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy

All these storms in the Seattle area have meant my inbox has been piling up along with the snow! So here’s another ebook roundup post to help clear out the queue.

Acquired from Amazon:

Jane Doe, by Victoria Helen Stone. This one is a thriller about a woman getting revenge on the man responsible for killing her best friend. Saw this get talked up very positively on the Smart Bitches site, so when it went on sale for $1.99, I nabbed it.

(And I bought it from Amazon since it’s published by one of Amazon’s own imprints, and therefore not available with other ebook vendors.)

Acquired from Kobo:

How Long ’til Black Future Month?, by N.K. Jemisin. This is her newly released collection of shorter works, and I’m snapping it up because goddamn this woman can write. And I nabbed it in ebook form for $4.99. (A price which is still in effect as of this writing!)

Spellswept and Snowspelled, by Stephanie Burgis. Fantasy-flavored romance, sort of a meld of historical romance and romantic fantasy, so think “Regency romance with elves”. This is highly pertinent to my interests! These two titles are a prequel novella and Book 1 of the series called The Harwood Spellbook, and right now the prequel is on sale for $1.99 and Book 1 for $0.99. If I like this, I’ll also be nabbing book 2.

And last but most definitely not least:

Radio Silence, A Duke by Default, and Once Ghosted, Twice Shy, all by Alyssa Cole. Nabbing these because a) hey, I’m also published by Carina Press! This makes Alyssa Cole and I fellow Carina Press authors! \0/, b) I really liked A Princess in Theory, so I wanted to proceed with the series, c) I’m particularly happy about Once Ghosted, Twice Shy, featuring queer black women, and d) I also enjoyed Cole’s An Extraordinary Union, and am looking forward to building her presence in my library!

Got the two Royals books for nice and cheap, and I nabbed Radio Silence while I was at it by spending some amassed Kobo points. I love that I can periodically do that on their site! Also, I like the cover on Once Ghosted, Twice Shy almost as much as the one on A Princess in Theory. I love the expressions those two women are giving each other. (heart)

Total for the year: 10

Books, Other People's Books

Opening 2019 book roundup, with bonus extra 2018

It will probably surprise none of you that I didn’t get too far into 2019 without getting more new books. 😀

Ebooks

This is technically a book I bought at Orycon, but I didn’t actually go download it off the publisher site until this month. So I’m counting this as a 2019 acquisition: Soul Born, by Kevin James Breaux. This is a fantasy novel put out by Azure Spider Publications, who had a table at Orycon right near the one I was sharing with fellow NIWA members Madison Keller and Jeffrey Cook. I liked the look of the cover, and had a pleasant chat with the lady at the table. So I bought a download code for the book!

A Princess in Theory

A Princess in Theory

Meanwhile, acquired from Kobo, because both of them were on sale for $1.99 at the time:

A Princess in Theory, by Alyssa Cole. I don’t normally buy contemporary romance. But Alyssa Cole has been on the Smart Bitches podcast a couple of times, and she’s delightful. Plus, a) I liked the previous thing of hers I read, An Extraordinary Union, and b) the cover on this title is beautiful. I really like how it’s dynamic and romantic without having to rely upon either person being scantily clad.

Plus, the color scheme stands out to my eye as well. Cole even talked about that on the podcast, and about how the heroine’s dress and the hero’s tie were both patterns she came up with herself, inspired by traditional African ones.

And since she’s an author of color I am happy to explore more of her work!

And #2: no lie, I will totally be reading this thing and mentally casting Chadwick Boseman as the hero. 😉

A Study in Honor, by Claire O’Dell. This one is SF, and came across my radar last year as a new Sherlock Holmes pastiche. The thing here is, the Sherlock and Watson analogues here are both black, queer women. Which strikes me as rather awesome. I’ll be intrigued to see how the author handles keeping core recognizable “Sherlock” and “Watson” characteristics while diverging so hugely from the original characters, as well as so blatantly different a setting. I.e., a futuristic SF dystopia.

Print Books

This actually was a book I acquired in 2018, but which I never mentioned: Cracking the Coding Interview. I ordered this from Amazon last month because I need it for job hunting purposes. And I’ve started slowly working my way through it. It came highly recommended to me by one of my former Big Fish teammates, and so far, a few exercises in, I’m already finding it valuable.

And, since my household always does a gift exchange when Paul returns from Virginia, this also counts as a 2018 acquisition: the hardback edition of The Fall of Gondolin! Which I’ve already read in ebook form, but which I also wanted in hardback.

This bumps my 2018 total up to 59. And so far for 2019, we’re at 3!