My Book Haul / Showcase Sundays

This is Books, Biscuits and Tea's Showcase Sunday where I share my lovely book hauls each week. Have a look back at Vicki's link up to see what everyone is up too!

This week was far too long for my liking! Still in the UK it's a long weekend so I get a lie-in tomorrow...much needed!

I finished reading the second Lily Bard book - Shakespeare's Champion by Charlaine Harris, an enjoyable mystery that was less cosy and more violent. I also read The Lady of the Rivers by Phillippa Gregory - a very enjoyable historical fiction and Immortal Eclipse by Sherry Soule - a nice atmospheric paranormal fantasy.

This week was a bit of a bumper week for me with a couple of pre-orders turning up and a little spending in The Works. No excuse - I just love buying books! Added to that a couple of unexpected review books arrived so books in definitely out weighed books read!

For Review

Stung - Bethany Wiggins

Publisher: Bloomsbury

In a world in crisis, children are the future. Part of the cure. Not now. Children are deadly. Marked one to ten. Fiona is a TEN. She just doesn't know it yet . . . She doesn't know her true strength. 
Fiona doesn't remember going to sleep. But she has woken to find her entire world has changed - her house is abandoned and broken, and her neighbourhood is barren and dead. Even stranger is the tattoo on her right wrist that she doesn't remember getting but somehow knows she must cover at any cost. And she's right. When the honeybee population collapsed, a worldwide pandemic occurred and the government tried to bio-engineer a cure. But instead the vaccination turned people into ferocious, deadly beasts. They have been branded as a warning to unvaccinated survivors. Key people needed to rebuild society are protected inside a fortress-like wall. Fiona has awakened branded, alone and on the wrong side of the wall ...

I do like the odd dystopian story and this sounds like an intriguing story!

Transcendence - C.J. Omololu

Publisher: Bloomsbury

When a visit to the Tower of London triggers an overwhelmingly real vision of a beheading that occurred centuries before, Cole Ryan fears she is losing her mind. A mysterious boy, Griffon Hall, comes to her aid, but the intensity of their immediate connection seems to open the floodgate of memories even wider. As their feelings grow, Griffon reveals their common bond as members of the Akhet-an elite group of people who can remember past lives and use their collected wisdom for the good of the world. But not all Akhet are altruistic, and a rogue is after Cole to avenge their shared past. Now in extreme danger, Cole must piece together clues from many lifetimes. What she finds could ruin her chance at a future with Griffon, but risking his love may be the only way to save them both.

Teen romance isn't really my thing at the moment but I can be seduced by a pretty cover and the idea of reincarnation...

Bought

Bronze Gods - A.A. Aguirre

Publisher: Ace Fantasy

Hy Breasil is grimmer than it used to be.
Before the Architect closed the door, there were regular crossings, and a great war decimated both humans and Ferishers. The native fae who refused to treat with the invaders faded; their bodies withered and died, stranding them as hungry, angry spirits that haunt the countryside.
That means there’s always trouble brewing in Dorstaad.
Janus Mikani and Celeste Ritsuko work for the Criminal Investigation Department, keeping citizens safe from things that go bump in the night. He’s a hardboiled cynic with an uncanny sixth sense; she’s determined to justify her promotion as the first female detective in her division. Together, they’re trying to keep a black tide from drowning the city.
But when the second body surfaces, murdered with the same type of infernal device, the entire CID must face the truth. There’s a madman on the loose, twining magic and blood… and only Mikani and Ritsuko can unravel the intricate, lethal conspiracy before the Royale killer completes his macabre plan, unleashing old, forbidden magic on an unsuspecting populace. If the maniac succeeds, it could mean the end of everything...

This is one of my pre-orders that arrived this week. I love the Ann Aguirre Corine Solomon series and I do enjoy a bit of steampunk so this was a no-brainer purchase for me!

Oath Bound (Unbound #3) - Rachel Vincent

Publisher: Harlequin MIRA

The Tower Syndicate will fall... The secret daughter of the head of an infamous Skilled crime family, Sera Brandt has hidden her past, her potential and especially her powers. But when a tragedy strikes her other family, Sera needs justice. And the only way to get it is to reveal her heritage–including a rare Skill–and take the reins of the Tower Syndicate from her cunning and malicious aunt. 
If he can figure out how... 
Kristopher Daniels might have the answer. He's fought the syndicate to protect his sisters, but he'd never realized just how close to the new heir he needed to get.... 
And if they can survive 
Neither is used to trusting. But there's something between them that can't be ignored. And so Sera is on the run with a man she can't figure out, a target on her back and the new knowledge of just how powerful she really is...

I really enjoyed Rachel's Shifter series so I've been buying the Unbound books and the pre-order on this one arrived this week. This is the last one in the trilogy (I think!) so now I can read all of them with little waiting!

The Secret Hour - Scott Westerfeld

Publisher: Atom

Nobody is safe in the secret hour.

Strange things happen at midnight in the town of Bixby, Oklahoma.

Time freezes. Nobody moves.

For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of people know about the secret hour -- only they are free to move about the midnight time.

These people call themselves Midnighters. Each one has a different power that is strongest at midnight: Seer, Mindcaster, Acrobat, Polymath. For years the Midnighters and the dark creatures have shared the secret hour, uneasily avoiding one another. All that changes when the new girl with an unmistakable midnight aura appears at Bixby High School.

Jessica Day is not an outsider like the other Midnighters. She acts perfectly normal in every way. But it soon becomes clear that the dark creatures sense a hidden power in Jessica . . . and they're determined to stop her before she can use it.

I've been eyeing this book up in The Works for a while and I cracked this week!

So what have you picked up this week...?