Book Buying Ban Week #4 - or how this isn't really reducing my TBR pile...

For the fourth week in a row I've resisted the urge to buy any books, but books keep arriving at my flat! It's great - really, I'm not going to complain - but I always thought the reason my TBR pile kept growing was because I kept buying books. Turns out I get more review books than I thought, am lucky enough to win giveaways and have very generous friends! So another week with no purchases but see what I did get...

When my cinema bud, Sarah heard I was taking part in the Book Lovers Inc Christmas Reading Challenge, she couldn't resist loading me down with a selection of seasonal reads. It's Sarah's favourite time of the year and she just a tiny bit excited when the mistletoe and wine season starts! So these are books on loan rather ones to keep - and I need to read them in the next three weeks!

The Magic of Christmas - Trisha Ashley

Publisher: Avon

In the pretty Lancashire village of Middlemoss, Lizzy is on the verge of leaving her cheating husband, Tom, when tragedy strikes. Luckily she has welcome distraction in the Christmas Pudding Circle, a group of friends swapping seasonal recipes – as well as a rivalry with local cookery writer Nick over who will win Best Mince Pie at the village show…
Meanwhile, the whole village is gearing up for the annual Boxing Day Mystery Play. But who will play Adam to Lizzy’s Eve? Could it be the handsome and charismatic soap actor Ritch, or could someone closer to home win her heart? Whatever happens, it promises to be a Christmas to remember!

A Winter's Tale - Trisha Ashley

Publisher: Avon

Sophy Winter is not your typical Lady of the Manor. When she unexpectedly inherits Winter's End - a crumbling mansion in the beautiful Lancashire countryside - it seems like all Sophy's prayers have been answered. She eagerly swaps life as an impoverished housekeeper in favour of her own team of staff. 
But Sophy quickly realises the challenge on her hands - the house is decrepit and its eccentric inhabitants are a nightmare. And once it is discovered that Winter's End played host to a young Shakespeare, the entire village of Sticklepond becomes curious about Sophy's plans, especially charming Jack Lewis. But is he really smitten by Sophy!or her newly-acquired cash? 
Meanwhile, Sophy's gorgeous head gardener Seth is the strong and silent type. But does his passion bloom for anything beyond the horticultural? As Sophy gets to grips with squabbling relatives, collapsing buildings and the ghostly presence of one of her ancestors, she wonders if Winter's End is not so much a gift from the gods as a mixed blessing. 

Christmas at Tiffany's - Karen Swan

Publisher: Pan Publishing

Cassie settled down too young, marrying her first serious boyfriend. Now, ten years later, she is betrayed and broken. With her marriage in tatters and no career or home of her own, she needs to work out where she belongs in the world and who she really is. So begins a year-long trial as Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotland to stay with each of her best friends in the most glamorous cities in the world: New York, Paris and London. Exchanging grouse moor and mousy hair for low-carb diets and high-end highlights, Cassie tries on each city for size as she attempts to track down the life she was supposed to have been leading, and with it, the man who was supposed to love her all along. 

I also had another giveaway win arrive in the post. This time I won a bag of swag and as well as  a copy of Allison Pang's A Brush of Darkness from the wonderful Jackie at Literary Escapism (There is a fantastic month-long Black Friday Event going on there are the moment with loads of great stories from authors and few giveaways so go check it out!)

A Brush of Darkness - Allison Pang

Publisher: Pocket Books

Six months ago, Abby Sinclair was struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Now, she has an enchanted iPod, a miniature unicorn living in her underwear drawer, and a magical marketplace to manage. But despite her growing knowledge of the OtherWorld, Abby isn’t at all prepared for Brystion, the dark, mysterious, and sexy-as- sin incubus searching for his sister, convinced Abby has the key to the succubus’s whereabouts. Abby has enough problems without having this seductive shape-shifter literally invade her dreams to get information. But when her Faery boss and some of her friends vanish, as well, Abby and Brystion must form an uneasy alliance. As she is sucked deeper and deeper into this perilous world of faeries, angels, and daemons, Abby realizes her life is in as much danger as her heart—and there’s no one she can trust to save her.

So what have you got this week for your TBR piles?