My Book Haul / Showcase Sunday

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 my first week back at work so I was back on the commuter train and back reading. I finished Delia's Shadow by Jaime Lee Moyer - an interesting historical mystery, Charming by Elliott James a new male lead Urban Fantasy series and finally Sleeping with the Fishes by MaryJanice Davidson - a fun comic paranormal romance.

A fairly quiet week after all the goodies from Canada so only couple of books arrived!

Bought

The Shining Girls - Lauren Beurkes

Publisher: HarperCollins

THE GIRL WHO WOULDN’T DIE

Kirby is lucky she survived the attack. She is sure there were other victims were less fortunate, but the evidence she finds is … impossible.

HUNTING A KILLER WHO SHOULDN’T EXIST

Harper stalks his shining girls through the years – and cuts the spark out of them. But what if the one that got away came

back for him?

I read a couple of good reviews of this book so when I spotted cheap in Asda I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try!

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Publisher: Crown Publishing

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer?
As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

I'm feeling in the mood for some thrillers at the moment so this one is a top seller that a friend told me to try - so I have!

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

My Book Haul / Showcase Sunday

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!

I'm back!! I had a fabulous time in Canada - Toronto is such a fun city! 

Unfortunately in the two weeks I was far too busy having fun to do much reading... I finished The Kingmaker's Daughter by Phillippa Gregory and then rushed straight into The White Princess also by Philippa Gregory - love the historical detail in both books! Finally I finished Gluten For Punishment by Nancy J. Parra - an enjoyable cosy mystery...not exactly the holiday reading list I set out before I went away but to be honest I'm not fussed! :-)

Won

While I was away a few competition wins came through in the post...

Talking To The Dead - Harry Bingham

Publisher: Orion

It's DC Fiona Griffiths' first murder case - and she's in at the deep end. A woman and her six-year-old daughter killed with chilling brutality in a dingy flat. The only clue: the platinum bank card of a long-dead tycoon, found amidst the squalor. 
DC Griffiths has already proved herself dedicated to the job, but there's another side to her she is less keen to reveal. Something to do with a mysterious two-year gap in her CV, her strange inability to cry - and a disconcerting familiarity with corpses.
Fiona is desperate to put the past behind her but as more gruesome killings follow, the case leads her inexorably back into those dark places in her own mind where another dead girl is waiting to be found.

This was a win from the wonderful Vicki at Books, Biscuits and Tea as part of her crime month. It looks very creepy...

River Road (Sentinels of New Orleans #2) - Suzanne Johnson

Publisher: Headline

 Hurricane Katrina is long gone, but the preternatural storm rages on in New Orleans. New species from the Beyond moved into Louisiana after the hurricane destroyed the borders between worlds, and it falls to wizard sentinel Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep the preternaturals peaceful and the humans unaware. But a war is brewing between two clans of Cajun merpeople in Plaquemines Parish, and down in the swamp, DJ learns, there’s more stirring than angry mermen and the threat of a were-gator. 

Wizards are dying, and something—or someone—from the Beyond is poisoning the waters of the mighty Mississippi, threatening the humans who live and work along the river. DJ and Alex must figure out what unearthly source is contaminating the water and who—or what—is killing the wizards. Is it a malcontented merman, the naughty nymph, or some other critter altogether? After all, DJ’s undead suitor, the pirate Jean Lafitte, knows his way around a body or two.

I won this over at the Shadow Realm and I was looking forward to the second book in this series!

A Novel Way To Die - Ali Brandon

Publisher: Berkley Crime

As the owner of Pettistone’s Fine Books, Darla is settling nicely into her new life, even reaching an uneasy truce with Hamlet. Unfortunately, when she needs to hire a new clerk, the finicky feline decides to lend a paw to the hiring process. He chases away applicants who don’t meet his approval, finally settling on an unlikely candidate: Robert, a book-loving Goth kid who has a secret only Hamlet knows. And Hamlet can’t seem to stay out of trouble. One of the bookstore’s regular customers, a man who is renovating a local brownstone, claims he’s seen Hamlet prowling the neighborhood. When the man’s business partner is found dead, Darla discovers that Hamlet may have been the only witness to what could be murder. With the crafty cat’s help, she wonders if they just might be able to pounce on a killer...

This was from the lovely Qwillery as part of the ParaCozyMystery month.

Bought

While in Toronto I did manage to find my way into a couple of bookstores and pick up a few presents for myself...

Libriomancer - Jim C. Hines

Red Rain - R.L. Stine

Tempest Reborn (Jane True #6) - Nicole Peeler

Dead Iron - Devon Monk

The Blood Gospel - James Rollins & Rebecca Cantrel

The Wild Ways - Tanya Huff

Omens - Kelley Armstrong

This post would be far too long if I put the synopsis of each book up!

So what did you pick up this week...?

My Book Haul / Showcase Sunday

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!

Now in theory I shouldn't have anything to share this week but last Monday was a bank holiday which meant an extra day off work...and for me an extra to visit the shops! While supposedly stocking up on toiletries I just had to visit The Works and picked up three new books!

Bought

The Shambling Guide To New York - Mur Lafferty

Publisher: Orbit

A travel writer takes a job with a shady publishing company in New York, only to find that she must write a guide to the city - for the undead!
Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in the tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can't take off her resume --- human. Not to be put off by anything -- especially not her blood drinking boss or death goddess coworker -- Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble -- with Zoe right in the middle.

This looks like a lot of fun and I couldn't resist when I heard it was available in The Works!

Necessary Evil (The Milkwed Triptych #3) - Ian Tregillis

Publisher: Orbit

The history of the Twentieth Century has been shaped by a secret conflict between technology and magic. When a twisted Nazi scientist devised a way to imbue ordinary humans with supernatural abilities - to walk through walls, throw fire and see the future - his work became the prized possession of first the Third Reich, then the Soviet Army. Only Britain's warlocks, and the dark magics they yield, have successfully countered the threat posed by these superhuman armies. 
But for decades, this conflict has been manipulated by Gretel, the mad seer. And now her long plan has come to fruition. And with it, a danger vastly greater than anything the world has known. Now British Intelligence officer Raybould Marsh must make a last-ditch effort to change the course of history - if his nation, and those he loves, are to survive.

This is the third in a trilogy I haven't started yet but it looks so interesting I thought I'd get all three books before I started reading - plus low price at The Works!

Graveminder - Melissa Marr

Publisher: HarperCollins

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville. While growing up, Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual at every funeral: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words, ""Sleep well, and stay where I put you.""
Now Maylene is gone and Bek must return to the hometown--and the man--she abandoned a decade ago, only to discover that Maylene's death was not natural . . . and there was good reason for her odd traditions. In Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected--and beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D. From this dark place the deceased will return if their graves are not properly minded. And only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk.

This has been in my radar for a while especially as the author as the coolest first name there is! ;-)

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

My Book Haul / Showcase Sunday

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!

Less than a week now until I head for Canada for a couple of weeks. I'm desperately trying to put together enough interesting reviews and posts to keep you all going once I jet off - its exhausting! So this week I read XO by Jeffery Deaver - an entertaining crime novel with plenty of twists and turns, then I raced through Kitty In The Underworld by Carrie Vaughn and finally I enjoyed The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond.

It was a bit of a bumper week this week with a big giveaway win which had me dancing around the room! Plus a couple of request were accepted on Netgalley so I didn't do too badly this week!

For Review

Resist (Breathe #2) - Sarah Crossan

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Resistance to the Pod Leadership has come apart. The Grove has been destroyed but so has the Pod Minister. Quinn, Bea and Alina separately must embark on a perilous journey across the planet's dead landscape in search of the rumoured resistance base Sequoia. Meanwhile the Pod Minister has been succeeded by his capricious daughter. Her brother, Ronan, is supposed to advise her, but his doubts about the regime lead to him being sent out of the Pod in search of Quinn. In a world in which the human race is adapting to survive with little air, the stakes are high.

I loved Breathe last year so I am intrigued to see where this sequel will take the story!

Dying Is My Business - Nicholas Kaufmann

Publisher: St Martins

Given his line of work in the employ of a psychotic Brooklyn crime boss, Trent finds himself on the wrong end of too many bullets. Yet each time he’s killed, he wakes a few minutes later completely healed of his wounds but with no memory of his past identity. What’s worse, each time he cheats death someone else dies in his place. Sent to steal an antique box from some squatters in an abandoned warehouse near the West Side Highway, Trent soon finds himself stumbling into an age-old struggle between the forces of good and evil, revealing a secret world where dangerous magic turns people into inhuman monstrosities, where impossible creatures hide in plain sight, and where the line between the living and the dead is never quite clear. And when the mysterious box is opened, he discovers he has only twenty-four hours to save New York City from certain destruction.

I requested this as it looked like a cool Urban Fantasy - good vs. evil, a hero with shades of grey, New York - lets hope it is as good as it sounds!

Won

Exit Kingdom - Aiden Bell

Publisher: Tor

In a world where the undead outnumber the living, Moses Todd roams the post-apocalyptic plains of America. His reprobate brother, Abraham — his only companion — has known little else. Together, they journey because they have to; because they have nowhere to go, and no one to answer to other than themselves. 
Traveling the bloody wastelands of this ruined world, Moses is looking for a kernel of truth, and a reason to keep going. And a chance encounter presents him with the Vestal Amata, a beguiling and mysterious woman who may hold the key to salvation. But he is not the only one seeking the Vestal. For the Vestal has a gift: a gift that might help save what is left of humanity. And it may take everything he has to free her from the clutches of those who most desire her

I won this from the wonderful Tor Blog (go have a look as they have some great posts!). I like zombie books although I haven't read one for a while. Still it's not long until October and I might try some seasonal reading then! 

I was also lucky enough to win the British Book Challenge prize pack for July from Sarah over at Feeling Fictional and it was a MEGA pack. I'm not going to put in the summary for each one as it would this post as long as the Eiffel Tower is tall! Is it any wonder I was dancing when the box arrived! The books are...

Burn Mark by Laura Powell

Witch Fire by Laura Powell

The Disgrace of Kitty Grey by Mary Hooper

Breathing Underwater by Julia Green

Drawing with Light by Julia Green

Bringing the Summer by Julia Green

This Northern Sky by Julia Green

Winter Damage by Natasha Carthew

Dead Time by Anne Cassidy

Killing Rachel by Anne Cassidy

Anthem for Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce

Hostage 3 by Nick Lake

In Darkness by Nick Lake

The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

The Wall by William Sutcliffe

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

My Book Haul / Showcase Sunday

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 was another good week reading wise - I finished A Night On The Orient Express by Veronica Henry which has really given me the urge to journey to Venice! The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon was a wonderfully complex story while Seraphina by Rachel Hartman was a wonderful take on Dragon mythology! 

I thought I wouldn't have anything to report this week as I didn't receive any books in the post but then I met up with a good friend yesterday and together we managed to explore a lot of book stores in London and I couldn't leave without picking up one or two! :-)

Bought

Half Sick of Shadows - David Logan

Publisher: Corgi

On the eve of Granny Hazel's burial in the back garden a stranger in his time machine visits five year old Edward with a strange request. And Edward agrees to be his friend.
Edward is not alone in the world. His twin sister, Sophia, is about to bring future tragedy upon herself by misunderstanding a promise she will make to their father.
While Sophia stays at home in The Manse, Edward is sent to boarding school. There he encounters the kind and the not so kind and befriends the strangest child, Alf – whose very existence hints at universes of unlimited possibilities ... and who one day might help Edward free Sophia.

I've been after this since it won the first Terry Prachett prize last year and now the paperback copy is out I get to indulge my love of time travel stories!

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

Publisher: Headline

Under the streets of London there's a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.
Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: neverwhere.

This book has also been on my must-read list for ages - and I finally gave in and bought a copy! Now I just need to find time to read it...

So what have you been up to this week...?

My Book Haul / Showcase Sunday

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 the first full week of August and it seems some of the summer heat has gone from the UK - although it's not quite Autumn yet!

I finished reading All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill - a great time travel YA story and practically inhaled Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews - boy, I LOVE that series! I also laughed my way through I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella - such a fun book!

For Review

The Kitchen House - Kathleen Grissom

Publisher: Black Swan

When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin. 
Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.

This arrived unexpectedly from Transworld. It's not my usually type of read so I'm not sure if I will get round to reading soon or not...

Won

Witchstruck - Victoria Lamb

Publisher: Corgi

Meg Lytton has always known of her dark and powerful gift. Raised a student of the old magick by her Aunt Jane, casting the circle to see visions of the future and concocting spells from herbs and bones has always been as natural to Meg as breathing. But there has never been a more dangerous time to practise the craft, for it is 1554, and the sentence for any woman branded a witch is hanging, or burning at the stake. Sent to the ruined, isolated palace of Woodstock to serve the disgraced Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and half-sister of Queen Mary, Meg discovers her skills are of interest to the outcast princess, who is desperate to know if she will ever claim the throne. But Meg's existence becomes more dangerous every day, with the constant threat of exposure by the ruthless witchfinder Marcus Dent, and the arrival of a young Spanish priest, Alejandro de Castillo, to whom Meg is irresistibly drawn - despite their very different attitudes to her secret.

I won this at Goodreads First Reads but it's a book I wanted to read anyway! I'm hoping to start this soon!

Bought

Ex-Heroes - Peter Clines

Publisher: Del Ray

Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap. The Mighty Dragon. They were heroes, using their superhuman abilities to make Los Angeles a better place. 
Then the plague of living death spread around the globe. Now, a year later, the heroes struggle to overcome their differences and recover from their own scars as they protect the thousands of survivors huddled in their film-studio-turned-fortress, the Mount. But the hungry ex-humans are not the only threat the survivors face. Across the city, another group has grown and gained power.

This was a complete impulse purchase as the idea of superheroes and zombies just appeals to me!

What did you get this week..?

My Book Haul / Showcase Sunday

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  I finished Stung by Bethany Wiggins - a decent dystopian, Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas - a fabulously exciting YA fantasy and finally the final Corine Solomon book, Agave Kiss by Ann Aguirre - a nice ending to a good series!

I don't know what it is about sunshine but it seems to make me buy books, lot of books. After last weeks haul, this week I had a grande haul!

Won

Reaper's Legacy (Toxic City #2) - Tim Lebbon

Publisher: Pyr

Two years after London is struck by a devastating terrorist attack, it is cut off from the world, protected by a large force of soldiers (known as Choppers), while those in the rest of Britain believe that their ex-capital is now a toxic, uninhabited wasteland.
Jack and his friends know that the truth is very different. The handful of survivors in London are developing strange, fantastic powers. Evolving. Meanwhile, the Choppers treat the ruined city as their own experimental playground. Jack's own developing powers are startling and frightening, though he is determined to save his father, the brutal man with a horrific power who calls himself Reaper. Jack must also find their friend Lucy-Anne, who went north to find her brother.
What Lucy-Anne discovers is terrifying-people evolving into monstrous things and the knowledge that a nuclear bomb has been set to destroy what's left of London. And the clock is ticking.

I won this over at Literary Escapism and it finally arrived! Now I just need to get book one in this series...

Bought

Wool - Hugh Howey

Publisher: Arrow

In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo.

Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies.

To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism.

Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside.

Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last.

This is one of those books I've been circling for a while as it has had comparisons to The Hunger Games and The Passage so I thought to myself, why not?

A Dangerous Inheritance - Alison Weir

Publisher: Arrow

The year is 1562. Lady Catherine Grey, cousin of Elizabeth I, has just been arrested along with her husband Edward. Their crime is to have secretly married and produced a child who might threaten the Queen's title.
Alone in her chamber at the Tower of London, Catherine hears ghostly voices, echoes, she thinks, of a crime committed in the same room where she is imprisoned.
The story flashes back to 1483 and another Catherine - Kate Plantaganet, bastard daughter of Richard III. She has heard terrible rumours of the death of the young deposed Edward V and his brother (the Princes in the Tower) but loyalty to her father prevents her believing them. After his death at Bosworth, she is viewed with suspicion by Henry VII's court, even more so when she becomes pregnant.
Catherine, too, is pregnant, a friendly warder having sneaked Edward into her room. She finds documents relating to Kate's life and gets swept up both in Kate's story and the mystery of the Princes, which she realises Kate never solved.

Having been watching the BBC drama The White Queen on Sundays at the moment I've become quite taken with historical stories again and this story promises to mix the story of the Princes in the Tower with the Tudors!

A Night On The Orient Express - Veronica Henry

Publisher: Orion Publishing

The Orient Express. Luxury. Mystery. Romance.
For one group of passengers settling in to their seats and taking their first sips of champagne, the journey from London to Venice is more than the trip of a lifetime.
A mysterious errand; a promise made to a dying friend; an unexpected proposal; a secret reaching back a lifetime...As the train sweeps on, revelations, confessions and assignations unfold against the most romantic and infamous setting in the world

This was a complete impulse purchase - I just liked the sound of it!

Cat Trick (A Magical Cats Mystery #4) - Sofie Kelly

Publisher: Obsidian Mystery

A group of Mayville Heights’ business people hope to convince the Chicago-based company, Legacy Tours, to sell a vacation package in their town. Legacy Tours partner, Mike Glazer, grew up in Mayville Heights, but it seems he’s not the same small-town boy people remember. Everyone seems to have an issue with the opinionated loudmouth Mike has become—until someone shuts him up for good.
When Kathleen and her cat, Hercules, discover Mike’s body near the boardwalk, she can’t help but get involved in the investigation—even if it might torpedo her relationship with Detective Marcus Gordon. Now, with a little help from Hercules and Owen, it’s up to Kathleen to make sure the killer is booked for an extended stay in prison before some else takes a permanent vacation.

This is another one of those series I haven't started reading but I now have three books in the series so I hope I like it!

Magic Rises (Kate Daniels #6) - Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Ace Fantasy

Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta. 
Kate can’t bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shapeshifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute—and they’ll pay him in medicine. With the young people’s survival and the Pack’s future at stake, Kate and Curran know they must accept the offer—but they have little doubt that they’re heading straight into a trap...

Thank the book gods for pre-orders!! This arrived unexpected and early this week and literally had me shouting for joy and dancing round the room! I love this series which like a toddler started out a little wobbly but has blossomed into a wonderfully exciting adult! Plus I'd love a little Beast Lord of my own! :-)

What have you picked up this week...?