Cleaning Up My TBR With a Giveaway (US Only) - Down the TBR Hole #26

This meme was started by Lost in a Story.  Here is how it works:

• Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

Because I have so many to do, I'm going to try to do this weekly, and do 10 at a time.


1.   Jane Austen Made me Do It - Original Stories Inspired by Literature's Most Astute Observer of the Human Heart:

Stories by: Lauren Willig • Adriana Trigiani • Jo Beverley • Alexandra Potter • Laurie Viera Rigler • Frank Delaney & Diane Meier • Syrie James • Stephanie Barron • Amanda Grange • Pamela Aidan • Elizabeth Aston • Carrie Bebris • Diana Birchall • Monica Fairview • Janet Mullany • Jane Odiwe • Beth Pattillo • Myretta Robens • Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway • Maya Slater • Margaret C. Sullivan • and Brenna Aubrey, the winner of a story contest hosted by the Republic of Pemberley
“My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” If you just heaved a contented sigh at Mr. Darcy’s heartfelt words, then you, dear reader, are in good company. Here is a delightful collection of never-before-published stories inspired by Jane Austen—her novels, her life, her wit, her world.

In Lauren Willig’s “A Night at Northanger,” a young woman who doesn’t believe in ghosts meets a familiar specter at the infamous abbey; Jane Odiwe’s “Waiting” captures the exquisite uncertainty of Persuasion’s Wentworth and Anne as they await her family’s approval of their betrothal; Adriana Trigiani’s “Love and Best Wishes, Aunt Jane” imagines a modern-day Austen giving her niece advice upon her engagement; in Diana Birchall’s “Jane Austen’s Cat,” our beloved Jane tells her nieces “cat tales” based on her novels; Laurie Viera Rigler’s “Intolerable Stupidity” finds Mr. Darcy bringing charges against all the writers of Pride and Prejudice sequels, spin-offs, and retellings; in Janet Mullany’s “Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” a teacher at an all-girls school invokes the Beatles to help her students understand Sense and Sensibility; and in Jo Beverley’s “Jane and the Mistletoe Kiss,” a widow doesn’t believe she’ll have a second chance at love . . . until a Miss Austen suggests otherwise.

Regency or contemporary, romantic or fantastical, each of these marvelous stories reaffirms the incomparable influence of one of history’s most cherished authors.

Look for special features inside.
 
My thoughts:
Honestly, I'm not a Jane Austen reader.  Oh, I'll admit I enjoyed the Pride and Prejudice movie, but I'm not really one for reading her writing.  So, don't know that I really will ever want to read these?  Although it's exciting to see a couple of the authors that are supposedly a part of this.

Verdict:  Toss



2.  An Infinite Thread - A Merry Sisters of Fate Anthology by Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater, and Brenna Yovanoff:

A collection of the best early stories from the Merry Sisters of Fate website (www.merryfates.com), written by Maggie Stiefvater, Brenna Yovanoff, and Tessa Gratton.

My thoughts:  
Because I love all three of these authors, and I never did get to reading anything from when they had the website up, I know that some day I'd love to read through what they collected in this book.  I'm guessing it is impossible to get a copy of these days, but it is something I'd love to have, so I want to not forget about it. 

Verdict:Keep




3.  Shivers VI by Richard Chizmar (Editor):

Cemetery Dance Publications is proud to announce the sixth entry in this award-nominated and best-selling anthology series! Shivers VI is by far the largest volume to date and the first volume in the series to be published as Limited Edition and Lettered Edition hardcovers signed by the editor for the collectors in addition to the affordable trade paperback edition for general readers!

Shivers VI weighs in at 410 pages and contains more than 110,000 words from today's most popular authors of horror and suspense including Stephen King, Peter Straub, Al Sarrantonio, Jay Bonansinga, Lisa Tuttle, David B. Silva, Melanie Tem, Brian Hodge, Brian Keene, Alan Peter Ryan, Blake Crouch and Jack Kilborn, Bev Vincent, Brian James Freeman, Norman Prentiss, and many others.

Two of the longest pieces are a long lost novella -- "The Crate" by Stephen King, which has never been in one of his collections and hasn't been in print in more than three decades -- and "A Special Place: The Heart of A Dark Matter" by Peter Straub, a novella that is "creepy to the core" and "shines a terrible light on the backstory of Straub's acclaimed A Dark Matter" according to the coveted Starred Review from Publishers Weekly.

Featuring original dark fiction with a handful of rare reprints, Shivers VI is available only from Cemetery Dance Publications.

My thoughts:  
As much as I really want to read the Stephen King short story, and I used to love and devour these types of anthologies, it looks as if this is a difficult book to get ahold of.  So, I probably won't keep it on my list.

Verdict:  Toss



4.  Another Piece of My Heart  by Jane Green:

From The New York Times bestselling author of Jemima J and The Beach House comes Jane Green’s most emotional and powerful novel yet:  a story that explores the complications of a woman marrying into a ready-made family.

Andi is a woman who has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at thirty-seven, she's finally found him.  Ethan—divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia—is a devoted father and even better husband.  Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own.  But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood—leaving both women standing at a crossroad in their lives and in their hearts.

Another Piece of My Heart is a novel that illuminates the nuances and truths about relationships and is Jane Green at her absolute best.
 
My thoughts:
While Jane Green is a very popular author that I don't think I need help remembering, many of her books other than a few, are more what I call women's lit rather than the chick lit that I prefer.  This one however, just about fits what I would kind of hope for myself if I ever find the right guy. Since I have no kids and can't ever have them, I kind of think it would be nice to find a man with kids.  So I think I'll keep this on my list.

Verdict:  Keep

5.   Walden 3.0 - A Dystopian Romance by Phil Fragasso:

If Steve Jobs designed a utopian community, had it filtered by Lewis Black and then painted by Picasso, it would look like Walden 3.0.

Jacob Botticelli is a young reporter who’s been asked to tell the story of Walden 3.0, a secretive, self-sustaining community in Vermont with its own unique culture, educational and healthcare systems, religious beliefs, and economic structure. Almost immediately, Jacob’s head swirls with revelations that the monogamy of the "outside world" has been replaced with serial marriage; parenting is a communal responsibility; death panels are a reality; and everyone gets to be god for a day. The more Jacob learns of Walden's ways, the more uncertain he becomes of his own beliefs and the life he wants to lead.

Torn from today's headlines, Walden 3.0 offers a worldview that will alternately delight and dismay pretty much everyone. Rather than the traditional Red State-Blue State blather, this no-holds-barred, Purple-State black comedy aims its sights on parenting, romantic love, higher education, gay marriage, universal healthcare, circumcision, the bloated legal system, organized religion, reality television, social networking, conspiracy theories, plastic surgery, and much more.
  
My thoughts:
Eh, sounds like it might be good.  But don't know that it is grabbing me enough that I have to read it. 

Verdict: Toss



6.  12.21.12 (The Altunai Annals #1) by Killian McRae:

The only way to save the future is to decode the past. The only way to decode the past is to save the future.

Archaeologist Sheppard Smyth has staked his career and the honorable memory of his wife and partner on proving his widely panned theory: Cleopatra VII, the last sovereign pharaoh of Egypt, was not a victim of suicide as history suggests, but of a well-concealed murder. When a statue of the doomed Queen is unearthed in a pre-Columbian excavation site in Mexico, Shep rushes to investigate and, hopefully, find the proof that has evaded him for so long. The statue, however, is only the first clue suggesting a mysterious connection between Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica, and possibly - beyond. Suddenly thrust into the heated rivalry between sexy and enigmatic antiquities thief Victoria Kent and the infamous Russian mafioso Dmitri Kronastia, Shep finds himself a common pawn played by forces working to see out a quest older than the pyramids and cloaked in the Mayan Doomsday prophecy of 12.21.12.

My thoughts:
There was a time, before 2012, when the whole doomsday prophecy of the Mayans was frightening.  Now, not so much.

Verdict:  Toss



7.  Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt:

According to her guidance counselor, fifteen-year-old Payton Gritas needs a focus object-an item to concentrate her emotions on. It's supposed to be something inanimate, but Payton decides to use the thing she stares at during class: Sean Griswold's head. They've been linked since third grade (Griswold-Gritas-it's an alphabetical order thing), but she's never really known him.

The focus object is intended to help Payton deal with her father's newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis. And it's working. With the help of her boy-crazy best friend Jac, Payton starts stalking-er, focusing on-Sean Griswold . . . all of him! He's cute, he shares her Seinfeld obsession (nobody else gets it!) and he may have a secret or two of his own.

In this sweet story of first love, Lindsey Leavitt seamlessly balances heartfelt family moments, spot-on sarcastic humor, and a budding young romance.

My thoughts:  
Cute, but eh, not sure I'll get to it.

Verdict: Toss



 8.  Bone Dressing by Michelle I. Brooks:

Time is running out and the Dark that's been chasing Syd for many lifetimes has finally caught up with her.

Sydney Roberdeau lost her parents as a young girl. Waiting for her life to start and the freedom that will come with her eighteenth birthday, Syd spends much of her time haunting the local cemetery. It is there, stretched out among the dead, that she feels most alive, most at home. Until one rainy night when Beau, Sarah and T.J. crash her ghostly sanctuary, appearing out of nowhere, turning her already inside-out world one degree past upside down.

Syd must now revisit past lives, dressing in the bodies of her previous selves and bone dressing. Her only chance to outrun the evil breathing down her neck is to face her own worst nightmares and her strongest desires. But if she can't stay out of trouble in this life, how can she possibly fix mistakes from past lives? And just how many lives has she lived, loved and lost? What is Syd exactly, and what will she risk for the life of a man she doesn't remember, the man she spent a lifetime with, the man she loves? Everything including her very own life?

Bone Dressing, the first in a series of seven books, will carry Syd and Beau on an adventure that transcends life itself.  

My thoughts:
Don't remember adding.

Verdict: Toss



9.  Daemon Hall by Andrew Nance:

Is winning a writing contest worth risking your life?

Nothing exciting ever happens in the town of Maplewood—that is, until famous thriller writer Ian Tremblin holds a short-story writing contest with a prize that seems to be the opportunity of a lifetime: five finalists will get to spend the evening with Tremblin himself in the haunted mansion Daemon Hall, and the winner of the best short story will see publication.
Wade Reilly and the other finalists could never have imagined what they find lurking in the shadows of this demonic mansion. During a suspenseful night of tale-telling, strange incidents mix the realms of the real and the supernatural. What is Tremblin really up to, and can he be trusted? What about Daemon Hall—is it alive? And, more to the point, will any of the contestants make it out of this hall of horrors to tell their story?
In the tradition of Stephen King, this chilling novel will have teen readers on edge in anticipation of what's to come with the next extinguished candle.

My thoughts:
Once upon a time I read this kind of stuff constantly, now, not so much.

Verdict:  Toss


10.  Bedtime Stories for Dogs and Bedtime Stories for Cats by Amy Neftzger and Eli Stein:

This unique volume combines Bedtime Stories for Dogs and Bedtime stories for Cats into one book. These engaging stories and essays are specifically written for individuals who love their pets and enjoy imagining what these animals would like to read. The topics range from mythology to magic and horror stories, combined with a little sprinkling of canine poetry.



My thoughts:
Sounds cute, and yes I would read a story to my dogs before bed if I had something silly like this. But, I don't need to buy, and who knows where I'd even find this anymore.

Verdict: Toss


Final Thoughts:
Only keeping two this week out of ten, so that's good! Once again you can see that I may have dropped some, but you can also see how many I've added during the week as well because I'm also pointing out how many books are on my Want to Read list on Goodreads each week.  This week, after taking these 8 off, I have 3,189 books listed now, and last week I ended with 3,190. Like last week, I did get rid of more than I added for a change.  It may just be one book, but still!

Have you read any of these?  Would you suggest I keep any I'm tossing?  And if you're inspired to do this on your blog, please feel free to join in and share a link in the comments, since it will also get you an extra entry into my giveaway at the bottom of this post.      
 

Giveaway:
Once again this is a US only giveaway, unless you are International and see a book here you really want and would be willing to pay for the difference in the shipping through Paypal or some other way.  This week I'm upping the prize, you get to pick any two books from the pictures below, as long as they don't get traded away, or picked by last week's winner, and I will pick a surprise book from the piles to add to your choice.  Here are your choices:   

2018 ARCs:

2017 ARCs:

2014 ARC:

I'm continuing to add in my early 2019 ARCs now.  You can pick one of your two choices from the picture below, the other book you pick needs to come from the pictures above.

Once again I'm going to let you pick two, along with me throwing in a surprise third book!  Just enter the Rafflecopter below. 

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A to Z April: R Reviews - Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler/Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

My books today are from two opposite genres.  The first is one of two books that draws on the obsession so many people have with Jane Austen books, both readers today as well as those when the books were written.  The second is a science fiction book, the first in a series that I got behind after four or five, but hope one day to maybe get back into them.

First is Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler, and it is actually the 2nd book in the Jane Austen Addict series.  But it fit into my A to Z to do this one, so I'll discuss it today.  The first book in the series had to do with a modern day girl, Courtney, back into time period of the Jane Austen books. This 2nd book takes the girl she kind of replaced in that time period, Jane, and plops her in modern day life in Los Angeles.  Here's the blurb from Goodreads:
While Confessions took twenty-first-century free spirit Courtney Stone into the social confines of Jane Austen's era, Rude Awakenings tells the parallel story of Jane Mansfield, a gentleman's daughter from Regency England who inexplicably awakens in Courtney's overly wired and morally confused L.A. life.

For Jane, the modern world is not wholly disagreeable. Her apartment may be smaller than a dressing closet, but it is fitted up with lights that burn without candles, machines that wash bodies and clothes, and a glossy rectangle in which tiny people perform scenes from her favorite book, Pride and Prejudice. Granted, if she wants to travel she may have to drive a formidable metal carriage, but she may do so without a chaperone. And oh, what places she goes! Public assemblies that pulsate with pounding music. Unbound hair and unrestricted clothing. The freedom to say what she wants when she wants-even to men without a proper introduction.

Jane relishes the privacy, independence, even the power to earn her own money. But how is she to fathom her employer's incomprehensible dictates about "syncing a BlackBerry" and "rolling a call"? How can she navigate a world in which entire publications are devoted to brides but flirting and kissing and even the sexual act itself raise no matrimonial expectations? Even more bewildering are the memories that are not her own. And the friend named Wes, who is as attractive and confusing to Jane as the man who broke her heart back home. It's enough to make her wonder if she would be better off in her own time, where at least the rules are clear-that is, if returning is even an option.

Second is Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.  It is a really cool story about a plant that has some kind of mutative powers when ingested.  And it has created a monster.  A monster that is transported to a museum where it creates havoc. Loved this story, and just ignore the horrible movie made from it!   Also this story brings together two people who will be a duo that the series will follow.  Here is the blurb for the first one from Goodreads:
Just days before a massive exhibition opens at the popular New York Museum of Natural History, visitors are being savagely murdered in the museum's dark hallways and secret rooms. Autopsies indicate that the killer cannot be human...

But the museum's directors plan to go ahead with a big bash to celebrate the new exhibition, in spite of the murders.

Museum researcher Margo Green must find out who-or what-is doing the killing. But can she do it in time to stop the massacre?


Are you a big Jane Austen fan?  What would you do if you were all of a sudden living in that time period?  What do you think about a mystery in a museum of a killer creature that no one has ever seen before?  Scary?  Have you seen the movie they made of the book, which for the most part was pretty bad?

While you're here, don't forget to enter my month-long giveaway that goes along with the challenge.

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Austenland by Shannon Hale

So I guess I'm glad my sister in NYC ran out of things to read and called or texted and asked me for some ideas of books to get, because she bought Austenland and so I got to read her copy and loved it!  I'd wanted to read it for awhile.  Especially since I saw the ads for the movie.

After having read the book, I would say that the part of Miss Charming must have been written with actress Jennifer Coolidge in mind, because she fits exactly what the character is in the book, based on seeing her in other shows, not to mention her looks.  I'm not sure that Keri Russell fits my image of the main character Jane.  According to the book I imagine someone not skinny or with no figure, which to me is Keri Russell.  The guys can look like however, I'm good with that.

So basically the story is about Jane Hayes who is obsessed with Jane Austen stories, Pride and Prejudice especially.  She is looking for her own Mr. Darcy.  A very old great aunt sees Jane's obsession and when she dies, she leaves something for Jane in her will.  What it turns out to be is a trip to Austenland.  Austenland is a theme park?  More like a resort, in England of course.  Where women can go and have their own Austen story experience.  And it is an experience!  You have to wear the clothing, you have to give up your modern day technology, etc.  And you have to act according to the rules, which includes how you talk to others, including the opposite sex.  Jane arrives and finds that she is not the normal kind of client.  Normally they are rich women who are there, and will return.  The lady in charge, Mrs. Wattlesbrook, lets Jane know right away that she is not who they normally have, and that she is just looking for anything to kick her out for.  At first Jane finds it hard to get into the spirit.  The clothes aren't comfortable, and the men, eh.  There are enough for everyone at first, until Miss Heartwright shows up.  As nice as she is, now Jane ends up on her own.  Until, Captain East shows up.  It seems Captain East and Miss Heartwright must have a past.  And then soon Miss Charming begins complaining that she is not getting her money's worth, and soon Colonel Andrews begins to make a play for her.  Now early on in the trip, Jane notices one of the gardeners, Martin.  She is careful about going to his cabin/apartment in the "staff" ground area so that she won't get herself in trouble, or him.  But soon she realizes that he isn't real either, and decides to immerse herself in the experience.  Mr. Nobley is pretty much playing Mr. Darcy.  Now, Jane doesn't seem to see this, at least not to me, while it is so obvious that is exactly what his part is.  Soon, Mr. Nobley begins showing interest in Jane, and while it is exciting, Jane is sure it is all just part of the experience, and tries to keep herself from getting her hopes up.
The book is very good, humorous, romantic, etc.  While there are things Jane does that I'm like, STOP!  Give him a chance!  Don't be stupid!  I guess if you're in that type of situation and not sure what is real, I can see doing that.  Of course Jane has to sneak her cell phone in, and of course it almost gets her kicked out, except she is saved by Miss Heartwright unexpectedly.  The ending is pretty much what you'd expect.  Now, I will admit I've only ever read one Jane Austen story, Sense and Sensibility.  I chose to read that during my phase of reading classics instead of Pride and Prejudice, because I'd seen that movie.  I wasn't a fan of Sense and Sensibility, so I think I'll stick to the movies which will get me past the hard to read books themselves.  And that's okay.  Now, I'm really excited to see the movie!

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 1.4

This entry will actually be a combination of both last Saturday and last night. I just was too busy to get Saturday night's done. But both nights I found several books, and some of these I'm listing are ones that I had seen before, but forgot about, so my plan of keeping track this way helps me remember those.

First though, one of the books I mentioned in an earlier Hazards blog was Ill Wind, and they had actually stripped the books to send the covers back to the publisher, and were recycling all of the copies! Fortunately they had not sent the stripped books to the recycle bin yet, so I was able to grab a copy. As soon as I check the Nook back in this Saturday it will probably be the first book I read. So look for a review for that soon.

Okay, here are the books I want to buy:

1. Austenland by Shannon Hale: The main character's name is Jane Hayes, she lives in New York and is seemingly normal. However, she has a secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, well, the Colin Firth Mr. Darcy anyway. Because of her obsession, her dating life sucks, because there is no real man who can stand up to Mr. Darcy. She gets a surprise visit to an English resort that caters to Austen obsesseed women, where she gets to dress in regency period dresses and flirt with all the men there, whether they are only gardeners, or possibly actors hired by the resort.

2. Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse by Max Brallier: Okay, who remembers the Choose Your Own Adventures books that were the big deal when I was a kid in the 80's, that they've even brought back to our store? This is basically that same thing, only for adults. It's the same size as a normal trade paperback. And with all the zombie books and movies I've been into lately, this looks awesome!

3. Jane Goes Batty by Michael Thomas Ford: I actually am a little bit over the whole vampire or zombie re-writing of classics. This however sounds interesting. It is actually a sequel to another that I wanted to read, Jane Bites Back. Where Jane Austen is actually a vampire, and is a bookstore owner in New York. In this sequel she is now the author of a new book, and now she has to really fight to keep her identity as "the" Jane Austen secret. I haven't read the first book, but I think Lord Byron is also a vampire. So she must deal with a Bronte sister coming back in revenge as well. Sounds like a fun romp to me!

4. Stolen by Lucy Christopher: This is a teen book I saw awhile ago and forgot about. But it sounds really intense! So I must make sure to remember to read it. The main character is 16 year old Gemma. She is kidnapped at the airport by a man named Ty. He takes her to the remote wild lands of the Outback in Australia. To Gemma who has always lived in the city, this is so scary how remote it is with no people for miles and miles. This book is told as a letter from Gemma to her kidnapper, as it seems she comes to understand her kidnapper. It brings up the Stockholm syndrome, which I think is very interesting for a teen to read about.

5. Claim to Fame by Margaret Peterson Haddix: Well, first, this is one of my favorite YA authors. Second, the story, the main character was famous as a child, but the stress of fame and the fact she could hear other people's thoughts in her head caused her to have a nervous breakdown and disappear from the public eye. The rumor is that her dad kidnapped her. But really she's gone to live far from all the voices and has become less stressed. Unfortunately some former fans think she's been kidnapped, and these teens go to "save" her and bring her back to the headaches of hearing everyone's thoughts. Sounds really good!

There are actually a few others I want to talk about, but as I've got plans to go see a movie tonight, and need to leave in about 5 minutes, I'll post later on.