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. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cleaning Up My TBR: Down the TBR Hole #2

Working on this again, here's the info:

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.  So here we go!

1. A Child Called "It" and The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer:

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games—games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it." Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive—dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.  

Dave Pelzer's sequel to million-copy bestseller A CHILD CALLED 'IT'

As a child, Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his mother. The world knew nothing of his living nightmare and he had nothing and no one to turn to. But his dreams kept him alive - dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son. Finally, his horrific plight could no longer be hidden from the outside world and Dave's life radically changed.

THE LOST BOY is the harrowing, but ultimately uplifting true story of a boy's journey through the foster-care system in search of a family to love. 

The continuation of Dave Pelzer's story is a moving sequel and inspirational read for all.

 My thoughts:  

So, I really feel that at some point I need to read the first book.  I'm including these two books on my list together, because they do go together.  I hear people talk about these books all the time, and so it feels like I really do need to read it at some point.  

Verdict:  Keep book 1 on the TBR list, take the other off, and if I ever get around to reading the first one, I'll remember to read the 2nd one if I want to go on.

2. Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix:

Around her the workers were screaming out prayers and curses.... She herself was sobbing tearlessly....Her only prayer was still, "I don't want to die." 

Oh, please, God, don't let me die, she thought. I've never even had a chance to live.

Bella, newly arrived in New York from Italy, gets a job at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. There, along with hundreds of other immigrants, she works long hours at a grueling job under terrible conditions. Yetta, a coworker from Russia, has been crusading for a union, and when factory conditions worsen, she helps workers rise up in a strike. Wealthy Jane learns of the plight of the workers and becomes involved with their cause. 

Bella and Yetta are at work--and Jane is visiting the factory--on March 25, 1911, when a spark ignites some cloth and the building is engulfed in fire, leading to one of the worst workplace disasters ever. 

Margaret Peterson Haddix draws on extensive historical research to bring the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire to tangible life through her thrilling story of Bella, Yetta, and Jane. 

My thoughts:
I love this author, I love historical fiction, and this is an event I've always been fascinated with.

Verdict:  Keep

3. Swapping Lives by Jane Green:

The New York Times bestselling author of Falling presents a charming transatlantic take on trading places...

Being director of Poise! magazine affords Vicky Townsley a glamorous London life. She has everything she wants--except marriage, children, and a house in the country.

Amber Winslow has a stone mansion in Connecticut, two kids, and a nanny. She loves her husband and her children, but that doesn't mean she can't fantasize about a taste of something a little more...exciting.

When a single Londoner and a Connecticut mother get the chance to walk in each other's shoes for a month things are bound to get interesting. But as they quickly learn, wanting something and actually getting it are two entirely different things... 

My thoughts:
Well, at the time I put this on my list I think I had just discovered Jane Green. Also the one character, the single one, sounds a lot like me.  However, it just doesn't sound like one that I'd really get into these days, although it might be something I need to do myself to get over the fact that I'll probably always be single and childless, and that I want the marriage and kids, but may not get.

Verdict:  Toss

4. Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk:

From the master of literary mayhem and provocation, a full-frontal Triple X novel that goes where no American work of fiction has gone before

Cassie Wright, porn priestess, intends to cap her legendary career by breaking the world record for serial fornication. On camera. With six hundred men. Snuff unfolds from the perspectives of Mr. 72, Mr. 137, and Mr. 600, who await their turn on camera in a very crowded green room. This wild, lethally funny, and thoroughly researched novel brings the huge yet underacknowledged presence of pornography in contemporary life into the realm of literary fiction at last. Who else but Chuck Palahniuk would dare do such a thing? Who else could do it so well, so unflinchingly, and with such an incendiary (you might say) climax?   

My thoughts:  I've only read one other book by this author, but it was one that had me constantly turning pages to find out what would happen. This one sounds similar along the lines of the one I did read, so I may want to still give it a try.

Verdict:  Keep

5. Name and Address Withheld by Jane Sigaloff:

Lizzie Ford is an urban sexpert, and her hip London magazine column and radio show are bombarded with romantic casualties on a daily basis. What a relief that, after years in the dating jungle, Lizzie herself has finally leaped off the shelf into the arms of Matt Baker -- an advertising genius with enough charm to win over even Lizzie's man-cynical best friend.

Little does Lizzie know there's more to Matt Baker than witty one-liners and bedroom eyes. Or that this innocent, seemingly anonymous note from a reader is about to catapult her into a scorching scandal, forcing Lizzie to confront some compelling home truths about life, love -- and loyalty....

My thoughts:  I have read at least one other book by this author and enjoyed it, and I feel she is not a well-known author, so I probably would still enjoy this one, and forget about it, though, if I took it off the list.

Verdict:  Keep

6. Off the Record by Jennifer O'Connell:

Jane Marlow is a true-blue good girl: plain, predictable, and perfectly responsible. But when her brother catches an episode of Music One's "Off the Record," he discovers that former pop sensation Teddy Rock is actually their childhood neighbor Theodore Brockford, and that his one-hit wonder twelve years earlier wasn't just a catchy tune that took the charts by storm-it was a song about Jane Marlow! Now Jane has a chance to live life off the record, but is she ready for the changes it brings? And even if she's willing to take the risk, is she willing to face the music? 

 My thoughts:  Another chick lit book from back when I was constantly reading them.  Another book that I don't think is well known, and still sounds like one I'd enjoy reading.  These weren't usually as steamy as the romances I'm reading these days, but I might still like this story.

Verdict:  Keep

7. True Love (and Other Lies) by Whitney Gaskell:

Travel writer Claire Spencer doesn't believe in fate, much less any part of that fairy tale, happy ending, love at first sight stuff. Especially not for Amazon-sized women like her. So when Jack, the sexy man who sits next to her on a flight from New York to London, asks her out, Claire figures there has to be a catch. Is he blind? Sleazy? On the rebound? But she decides to accept, and finds herself smitten and a little frightened at how happy she is with how fast things are moving.

While in London (on assignment for Sassy Seniors! magazine), Claire is also looking forward to seeing her best friend, Maddy, one of those impossibly gorgeous, if-I-didn't-love-her-I'd-hate-her women who's got everything in the world going for her--except that, for the first time in her trouble-free life, Maddy has just been dumped...by Jack. Claire's finally met what seems to be the perfect guy, and now the only way she can have him is by betraying her best friend. It's almost enough to make Claire believe in Fate, but if Fate does exist, it seems intent on screwing her over.  

My thoughts:  This is another from my chick-lit phase.  I did enjoy the books I've read by this author, but I think that the whole friend's ex thing messes the story up for me. 

Verdict:  Toss

8. Testing Kate by Whitney Gaskell:

No one is better than Kate Bennett at playing by the rules–because no one has quite her knack for running into bad luck. Orphaned while in college, Kate handled her loss by graduating with honors and acquiring a secure job and a dependable boyfriend. But now, with her thirtieth birthday around the corner, Kate decides it’s time to shake things up. She quits her job, breaks up with her long-term boyfriend, and U-Hauls it across the country for her first year at Tulane Law School. Too bad nothing in the Big Easy is quite so easy….

Before she knows it, Kate finds her life turned upside down by a notoriously sadistic professor, a larger-than-life new boss–and two interested men who are sure that she’s The One…. But can either of the men in her life really know Kate, when she’s just getting to know herself? In a year of self-discovery, the most important lesson Kate may learn is that to change your luck, sometimes you have to change your mind–including what you thought was your dream.  

My thoughts: I actually almost bought this one as a bargain book at my bookstore one time.  There's just something about having all those guys interested that is just too unrealistic for me I think.  Plus, a lot of the reviews say boring, and are low stars, so I probably will pass on this one as well.

Verdict:  Toss

9. Performance Anxiety by Betsy Burke:

Miranda Lyme, mezzo-soprano, is in love with the infamous -- and, okay, technically married -- conductor-composer Kurt Hancock. So what if he lives in London, and she...doesn't. Their secret rendezvous are more than enough -- for now.

Besides, Miranda's life is full and frenetic: four part-time jobs, plus singing in the opera chorus, voice lessons with Madame Klein and looking for her long-lost father. Who's got time for a full-time beau?

Miranda craves the good life and is certain that's what she'll have once Kurt officially ends his marriage and she rises to stardom. But there are glitches. Like the fact that Kurt is still technically faithful to his wife and he insists that Miranda keep their relationship a secret. He promises it won't be like this forever. Yeah, sure... The truth, when it finally arrives, is so shocking that it causes Miranda to lose her voice.

But the show must go on. Will it be a night to remember -- or one to utterly forget?  

My thoughts:  So, I am not really a fan of any kind of cheating romance.  And to me, that's what this is.  So, this is probably not one I'd be interested in anymore.

Verdict:  Toss

10. It's Not You, It's Me by Allison Rushby:

She's heard all the lines. Now it's time for the truth! Charlie has to keep pinching herself to believe she's leaving Australia for a trip to Europe - a generous gift from her family, who know how tough her life has been lately. 

But the last person Charlie expects to bump into on the plane is Jasper Ash, international celebrity, rock-star sex-god - and Charlie's former best friend, flatmate and... almost-lover!

It's been three years since Charlie impulsively jumped into bed with Jas, then a struggling student. But their nearly-one-night stand had just been warming up when Jas began the male "backing off" ritual, practically sprinting out the door with the classic excuse, "It's not you, it's me." Yeah, right. Everyone knows what that means - It is you! Not pretty enough, not successful enough - just not enough.

Charlie has dealt with it - and a whole lot more - but the unanswered questions still niggle. Acting on impulse once again, she invites Jas to join her own European tour! And as they share hotel rooms, play at being tourists and dodge Jas's determined groupies, it becomes clear they're both at a crossroads in life. Before they can move on, they finally have to deal with the unfinished business between them - starting with a serious conversation about that night.

Former journalist Allison Rushby lives in Brisbane, Australia, where she writes full-time, usually with her cat Violet on her lap. It's Not You It's Me is her debut novel for Red Dress Ink.  

My thoughts:  This one definitely sound like one I'd still enjoy.  Kind of a rock star romance in a way.  So....

Verdict:  Keep

Have you read any of these books?  Would you suggest I keep any of the ones I decided to toss?  Looks like I'm tossing half of the ones I featured this week.  So that's good!