My Book Haul/In My Mailbox

The Story Siren hosts a weekly meme where bloggers can share what goodies they've purchased/received this week. If you get a chance head over to The Story Siren and check out what everyone is up to!

I've been very good this week and have only purchased two books this week (but one was from a charity store) - but have taken advantage of Amazon's free books as well as some e-Arcs from netgalley.

Nightmare Hall: The Roommate - Diane Hoh

Publisher: UK - Point Horror (October 1994)

Four roommates share a suite in a dorm. Four girls who are very different, but not what they seem. Each of them hides a secret, and soon one of them may die.

This book I bought for £1 in a charity store and it should count towards my YA of the 80s and 90s challenge.

Dark Oracle - Alayna Williams

Publisher: UK - Pocket Books (May 2010)

As a criminal profiler, Tara used science and her intuitive skill at Tarot card divination to track down the dangerous and depraved, including the serial killer who left her scarred from head to toe. Since that savage attack, Tara has been a recluse. But now an ancient secret society known as Delphi’s Daughters has asked for her help in locating missing scientist Lowell Magnusson. And Tara, armed with her Tarot deck, her .38, and a stack of misgivings, agrees to try.

Tara immediately senses there is far more at stake than one man’s life. At his government lab in the New Mexico desert, Magnusson had developed groundbreaking technology with terrifying potential. Working alongside the brusque but charismatic agent Harry Li, Tara discovers that Magnusson’s daughter, Cassie, has knowledge that makes her a target too. The more Tara sees into the future, the more there is to fear. She knows she has to protect Cassie. But there may be no way to protect herself—from the enemies circling around her, or from the long-buried powers stirring to life within. . . .

After reading Embers this week, I found out that Lauar Bickles also writes under the name Alayna Williams so I've picked this up on my kindle and can't wait to start it! :)

The Fallen Blade - Jon Courtenay Grimwood

Publisher: UK - Orbit (February 2011)

Venice, 1407. The city is at the height of its powers. In theory, Duke Marco commands, but Marco is a simpleton so his aunt and uncle rule in his stead. They seem all powerful, yet live in fear of assassins better than their own.
On the night their world changes, Marco’s young cousin prays in the family chapel for deliverance from a forced marriage. It is her misfortune to be alone when Mamluk pirates break in to abduct her – an act that will ultimately trigger war.
Elsewhere Atilo, the Duke’s chief assassin, cuts a man’s throat. Hearing a noise, he turns back to find a boy drinking from the victim’s wound. The speed with which the angel-faced boy dodges his dagger and scales a wall stuns Atilo. He knows then he must hunt him. Not to kill him, but because he’s finally found what he thought was impossible – someone fit to be his apprentice.

I've got an e-Arc of this from netgalley and I'm very much looking to the mixture of Venice, assassins and something other than natural. Expect a review shortly! :)

Uprising - Scott G Mariani
Kindle Book

For millennia, the vampires walked the earth undetected, feasting on humans in keeping with ancient tradition.In the Information Age, vampires realised they must be more careful to avoid detection. In the late 20th century they created the global Vampire Federation to police vampire activity, with special agents like Alex Bishop authorised to hunt down her own kind who break the laws. The old traditions are history.But not all vampires bow down to Federation rule. When rebel vampire Gabriel Stone declares war against them, Alex and her team are plunged into danger.Police inspector Joel Solomon, haunted by a secret terror of vampires, discovers a series of corpses left behind by Stone's bloodthirsty gang. As he and Alex are drawn together in an unlikely alliance between human and vampire, the race begins to destroy the evil Stone before his uprising tears their world apart.

 Now I have to confess I already own this book in paperback but haven't read it yet. When I saw the kindle version was free on Amazon I thought it would be a good opportunity to get an e-copy so I can read it easily!

The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
Kindle Book

The Moonstone, a priceless Indian diamond which had been brought to England as spoils of war, is given to Rachel Verrinder on her eighteenth birthday. That very night, the stone is stolen. Suspicion then falls on a hunchbacked housemaid, on Rachel's cousin Franklin Blake, on a troupe of mysterious Indian jugglers, and on Rachel herself. The phlegmatic Sergeant Cuff is called in, and with the help of Betteredge, the Robinson Crusoe-reading loquacious steward, the mystery of the missing stone is ingeniously solved.
This is one of those classics I've never read but would like too. Again taking advantage of Kindle's free books I downloaded a version to read at some point.

So what have you picked up this week? :)