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End of 2019 book roundup

This post is going up as my first in 2020, but it’s all the remaining books acquired during 2019, so these count to 2019’s overall count!

Acquired from Audible in audiobook form:

  • The A.I. Who Loved Me, by Alyssa Cole. Contemporary romance. Grabbed this one as I’ve been very fond of Cole’s work lately, and also because this is an audio-only release.
  • Signal, by Tony Peak. SF. Grabbed this one just because I had a free credit to spend from Audible due to the settlement they had to do, and there was apparently a limited number of titles to choose from, so I grabbed an SF story I didn’t recognize. Hopefully it’ll be good?

Acquired from Tor.com:

  • Wild Cards I, edited by George R.R. Martin. This is the long-running superheroes series that George R.R. Martin has to his credit, I believe as primary creator and editor? This was a recent freebie on the Tor.com monthly ebook club.

Acquired from Amazon:

  • The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes. Fantasy. Got this in both novella and audiobook form, in no small part because Daveed Diggs apparently does the reading. And now that I’ve finally fallen in love with the Hamilton soundtrack, I was VERY interested to hear about this story as he does the audiobook narration. Plus, the story sounds pretty amazing: a race of mermaids is descended from pregnant African women who threw themselves overboard to escape slavery. And a female of this race, who’s charged with being the keeper of her people’s memories, rediscovers the surface world. Yowza. (I’m only counting this title once for the count, even though I got it in two formats.)
  • In the Dark, by Loreth Anne White. Thriller/romantic suspense. Got this one because I was able to get it for $1.99, and because I’ve read the author before and liked a previous title of hers.
  • The Vine Witch, by Luanne G. Smith. Fantasy. Nabbed this one because it sounds charming, a historical-type fantasy set in France and centered around magically-powered winemaking.
  • Daughter of Shadows, Son of Solace, and Ashes of Chadanar, by Mirren Hogan. Fantasy/fantasy romance. Grabbed this entire trilogy as I got word via the Romance Alliance discord server that author Mirren Hogan had lost her home in the fires going on down in Australia. 🙁 So I donated a little to the GoFundMe set up for her, and grabbed a few of her books as well.
  • The Melding, The Nameless Knight, and The Call of Aven-Ra, by Claire Ryan. Fantasy/fantasy romance. Grabbed this entire trilogy because of Claire Ryan doing splendid work compiling the massive timeline of events in the RWA scandal that broke just before Christmas.

Acquired from Kobo:

  • Parable of the Talents, by Octavia E. Butler. SF. Part 2 of the duology that starts with Parable of the Sower. Nabbed this because I already had book 1, and we wanted to read the pair of them in our little book club.
  • A Prince on Paper, by Alyssa Cole. Romance. Book 3 of her Reluctant Royals series, which I am enjoying immensely.
  • Talk Sweetly to Me, Once Upon a Marquess, A Kiss for Midwinter, Proof by Seduction, and Trial by Desire, all by Courtney Milan. Historical romance. Also Hold Me and Trade Me by same. Bought all of these to show my support for her in the aforementioned RWA scandal. Because DAMN.
  • Magic for Liars, by Sarah Gailey. Grabbed this because I like their hippo books and because it was on sale at the time.

Acquired in print as a Christmas gift:

  • Sauron Defeated, by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien. This is book 9 of the History of Middle-Earth series, a bunch more analysis and supplementary material for the entire Middle-Earth legendarium. I’ve gotten more interested in acquiring these books due to Tor.com’s ongoing series People of Middle-Earth, looking in depth at various lesser-known characters. The writer of these posts is pulling considerably out of the History of Middle-Earth series, so yeah, I want to have a look at them myself.

86 for the year.

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.

Other People's Books

Post-Norwescon ebook roundup

Gotten from Tor.com’s monthly ebook promotion:

Walkaway, by Cory Doctorow. SF. A tale about a group of people who decide to walk away from their futuristic society and what happens when they go off the grid.

Gotten from Kobo:

The Cardinal Rule, by C.E. Murphy. Romantic suspense. This is a book I bought ages ago when it was published under the pen name Cate Dermody. Catie has now revised it and re-released it, now that she’s gotten the rights back. I remember liking this the first time through and will be interested to see how this version is different!

The Raven Tower, by Ann Leckie. Fantasy. This is Leckie’s first fantasy novel, and since I have quite liked her Ancillary books so far, I wanted to give this a shot too.

Total for the year: 29

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