Cleaning Up My TBR With a Giveaway (US Only) - Down the TBR Hole #20

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.   Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey:

This enthralling confection of a novel, the first in a new trilogy, follows the transformation of a coddled Austrian archduchess into the reckless, powerful, beautiful queen Marie Antoinette.

Why must it be me? I wondered. When I am so clearly inadequate to my destiny?

Raised alongside her numerous brothers and sisters by the formidable empress of Austria, ten-year-old Maria Antonia knew that her idyllic existence would one day be sacrificed to her mother's political ambitions. What she never anticipated was that the day in question would come so soon.

Before she can journey from sunlit picnics with her sisters in Vienna to the glitter, glamour, and gossip of Versailles, Antonia must change everything about herself in order to be accepted as dauphine of France and the wife of the awkward teenage boy who will one day be Louis XVI. Yet nothing can prepare her for the ingenuity and influence it will take to become queen.

Filled with smart history, treacherous rivalries, lavish clothes, and sparkling jewels, Becoming Marie Antoinette will utterly captivate fiction and history lovers alike.

My thoughts:
I was fascinated in learning more about Marie Antoinette for a while.  I'd say I'm past that point now, have learned what I want to.

Verdict:  Toss



2.  The Tudor Throne by Brandy Purdy:

In the wake of King Henry VIII's death, England's throne is left in a precarious state—as is the peculiar relationship between his two daughters. Mary, the elder, once treasured, had been declared a bastard in favor of her flame-haired half-sister, Elizabeth, born of the doomed Anne Boleyn. Yet the bond between the sisters was palpable from the start. Now reinstated, Mary eventually assumes her place as queen. But as Mary's religious zeal evolves into a reign of terror, young Elizabeth gains the people's favor. Gripped by a tormenting paranoia, Mary is soon convinced that her beloved Elizabeth is in fact her worst enemy. And the virginal Elizabeth, whose true love is her country, must defy her tyrannical sister to make way for a new era. . .

A brilliant portrait of the rule of "Bloody Mary" and her intricate relationship with Elizabeth I, the adored "Virgin Queen," here is a riveting tale of one family's sordid and extraordinary chapter in the pages of history.
My thoughts:  
Another time in history I was once obsessed with.  Not so much anymore.

Verdict:  Toss



3.  Airplane Novel by Paul A. Toth:

Paul A. Toth’s Airplane Novel is the Guernica of 9/11 novels, a literary mural that provides the one view of events never before depicted: inside-out.

Toth employs the South Tower as his narrator, a crucial conceit that allows the tower’s computer infrastructure, height and thousands of windows to provide the first truly-panoramic 9/11 novel. Rather than focusing on a single family or individual, Airplane Novel pursues the WTC’s past and future to the moment of their collision. Yet the narrator also follows characters representative of all that it has and will endure.

Adding yet another angle, the South Tower addresses its audience as readers of "airplane novels" in flight to various destinations. The distance between readers and the center of the catastrophe thus decreases until all must answer a key question: Are they reading a fictional account of a historical event...or participating in that event?

Comic and tragic, wailing and railing, fantastic and hyper-realistic, Airplane Novel portrays the South Tower to be “more human than human” and the perfect spectator of its own spectacle.

My thoughts:  
While this sounds really original, not sure it's one I'll ever actually want to pick up and read. 

Verdict:  Toss



4.  Hollow by Richard P. Denney:

Welcome to the house of Hollow.

In a dystopian future, sixteen year old Leah Munro has been sold to a rich woman in a crippling mansion. Soon Leah discovers that there is something mysterious going on around the home, and with the help of three other girls, she attempts to uncover what is truly happening… what lies beyond all of the plexiglass windows and the hideous screams in the middle of the night? Leah will soon find out.

This book is no longer going to be published.
 
My thoughts:
Well, from the last line of the Goodreads synopsis, it sounds like this isn't anything I'd even have the chance to read anyway.  So why bother keeping it?

Verdict:  Toss

5.   Fade by Kailin Gow: 

What if you found out you never existed?

My name is Celestra Caine. I am seventeen years old, which makes me a senior at Richmond High. I never thought this would happen to me, but it has... I'm one of those people you see every day, go to school with, remember seeing at the supermarket or the mall, and then one day you don't hear about them any longer. They're gone, and eventually, you forget them.

  
My thoughts:
I really do need to read something by this author, but not sure I'm so interested in this one anymore.

Verdict: Toss



6.  Placebo by Paul Allih:

Emma is a teenage girl who has spent most of her life being shuffled from place to place. Between her mother’s drug addiction and her sister’s overbearing nature, Emma feels she is being forced to grow up sooner then she should. Using her love for brooding music and paranormal romance novels to escape; Emma hides from this stress that she faces every day.

Finally settling in a small coastal town, Emma meets Matt, a man who she believes to be the prince that she has always dreamed of. At first she finds herself drawn to his dark and strange desires, but the closer they become, the more Emma realizes that there is something horribly wrong with Matt. The person who she thought could save her from her life, might be the same man who could end it.

My thoughts:
Eh, not sure why I added this one, other than the really creepy cover.

Verdict:  Toss



7.  Wolfsbane by William W. Johnstone:

It had been years since wolfsbane grew on the bayou, yet everyone who lived in Ducros Parish, Louisiana, knew that someday it would appear again. With its pretty yellow flowers and lovely green leaves, wolfsbane was as beautiful as it was deadly. And when the townspeople saw the ancient root once again spring from the earth, they knew it wouldn’t be long before they heard the terrifying howls in the night . . .

There were those who called the tales of wolfsbane superstition, the stuff of childhood legend. But others knew that when the flower blossomed again, so would the spilling of human blood—and there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide . . .

My thoughts:  
This is an author that I really used to read all his horror novels that I would find for cheap at used bookstores.  They aren't published anymore, but I think this is one I'd still enjoy, so I'll  leave it on the list in the hopes of seraching for it some day.

Verdict:  Keep



 8.  The Devil's Laughter (The Devil #5) by William W. Johnstone:

Something funny’s going on in Louisiana’s backwoods . . .

Someone in LaGrange has stirred up something truly evil. From beyond, demonic messengers emerge out of the fires of Hell itself, to ignite an orgy of chaos, murder, and bloody destruction.

But the Devil was the only one laughing . . .

Town veterinarian Link Donovan (former CIA) and Sheriff Ray Ingalls have grave premonitions that the ungodly laughter they heard echoing through the woods meant this was only the beginning. Once they root out the rich folk whose meddling released the minions of Satan, they recruit a band of God-fearing locals like themselves ready to battle—and obliterate—whatever face of evil dares to cross their paths.

My thoughts:
Same reasoning as above since it is the same author, and I have read the first couple in this series.

Verdict:  Keep



9.  Between by Cyndi Tefft:

It just figures that the love of Lindsey Water's life isn't alive at all, but the grim reaper, complete with a dimpled smile and Scottish accent.

After transporting souls to heaven for the last 300 years, Aiden MacRae has all but given up on finding the one whose love will redeem him and allow him entry through the pearly gates.

Torn between her growing attraction to Aiden and heaven's siren song, Lindsey must learn the hard way whether love really can transcend all boundaries.

My thoughts:
I do love a Scottish accent. But this just seems too much like others I've read. 

Verdict:  Toss




10.  Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel:

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead - or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria - a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible - until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead - and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.  

My thoughts:
I'm not sure!  I've heard good things, but don't know when or if I'll get around to it?

Verdict:  Keep for now


Final Thoughts:
Tossing all but 3 this week!  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's not really catching on, I'm not going to waste time with the link up this week.  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:

2014-2016ARCs:

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: O Reviews - The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory/Out of Time by Caroline B. Cooney

Today I'm sharing two books that kind of deal with history.  The first one is definitely called historical fiction, and the second one has characters that time travel, so it is both contemporary and historical.

First is The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.  I ended up reading this one because of the movie that was going to be coming out soon at the time.  This was back when I had time and tried to read the book before I saw the movie. These days I'm running out of time, or learning that it is often more disappointing to read the book first in case they do a bad job on the movie.  But this book, and the movie, got me more intrigued by the actual history of Henry VIII.  And that was right in time for the HBO series The Tudors as well.  I guess this book might be a 2nd in a series, but I don't know that I'll read any others.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king.

A rich and compelling novel of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her heart.

When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king and take her fate into her own hands.

The second book is one by a pretty popular author, it is Out of Time (Time Travelers #2) by Caroline B. Cooney, and again I'm just picking the 2nd one because of the letter, and I plan to talk about the whole series.  It does have the dreaded love triangle that everyone moans and complains about, but that I firmly insist is nothing new, but an old, old, old part of stories, and I can name some if you want!  It starts with a girl who kind of has always felt that she was born too late.  Until one day she is transported back in time where she falls in love, even though she does have someone back in her own time period.  The series follows her and some other characters to time periods such as around the late 1800s, medieval times, and even ancient Egypt.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads for this second book:
Annie Lockwood exists; everyone admits it. Everyone has seen her. But only Strat insists that Miss Lockwood traveled one hundred years back in time to be with them in 1895. Now Strat is paying an enormous price: His father has declared him insane and had him locked away in an asylum. When Time calls Annie back to save Strat, she does not hesitate, even though her family is falling apart and desperately needs her. Can Annie save the boy she loves, or will her choice keep her a trespasser out of time?

So what historical time periods fascinate you?  Have you read either of these books, or maybe a different book by one of these authors?

Don't forget to enter my giveaway below.

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The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 3.2 Part 3

Okay, the last part of this volume of the books I see when I work at the store. Just in time too, as I work again tonight! And as it is a Tuesday and there will be new books out, I'm sure I'll find even more! These books are mostly adult fiction or maybe some nonfiction that I've seen and am interested in. So here goes.
First is called The First Days: As the World Dies by Rhiannon Frater. This is another zombie book, I can't believe how much I'm getting into these types of books. From what I read, these are already an internet sensation, I guess it will be a trilogy. The two main characters are Jenni and Katie, who become a zombie fighting team shortly after they get up the first morning in this book. They must rescue Jenni's stepson from a camp. They finally find refuge in a tiny Texas town, where both women find attraction to the leader. Should be an interesting read. The cover draws you in, and it is a pretty big book, so lots of detail I'm guessing.




Second is Heaven's Shadow by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt. This is a space sci-fi book. It's about a giant object heading towards our sun. Two spaceships are sent from Earth to try to reach it and explore it. Both want to reach it first, but when they do, they find it is from an intelligent race trying to communicate with Earth, and they need our help. I'm often hesitant about space sci-fi, due to the fact that I'm not a big Star Wars fan, it's okay, and I do like the first two series of Star Trek, but not all of them. I like it to be related to the Earth still, and this sounds as if it will be.





Third is Dark Rising by Greig Beck. I guess from what I find online, this is a second in a series, but as I read about the first, I don't know that I'm as interested in that storyline. It is also a sci-fi book. In this a large amount of gamma radiation is detected under Iran and everyone is worried it is a weapon. It turns out there is a lab beneath this area, but nothing in it, because there is now a black hole there. There's a creature in a dark cave, soldiers bodies are being drained of fluids, Iran is preparing for the return of a prophet, Israel is threatening nuclear war. Some good things and bad things in this.





Fourth is To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Sandra Byrd. I am, as I have said before, intrigued with the whole Anne Boleyn story, ever since the movie The Other Boleyn Sister came out and then I read the book, and then I watched the Tudors and was hooked. This is a novel, but historical fiction, so I enjoy reading that. It is actually the story of Meg Wyatt who is supposedly Anne's best friend since childhood. She of course follows Anne to the court and is one of her maids. Meg also in this story comes close to worrying about her life and her true love at Anne's downfall. The facts are that their families did grow up near by, and that Meg's brother did have a romance with Anne, and when Anne was executed, Meg and her sister did tend her, and Anne gave her jeweled prayer book to Meg.


Fifth is a book called My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me by Hilary Winston. Now, I feel like I've already wrote about this, but if I did, I didn't mark it in my notebook that I try to keep track of these books in. The author of this is actually a TV writer, and this is an autobiographical look at her dating life and other adventures. She finds out that her ex has written a novel based on their relationship where she is the "fat-assed girlfriend". This sounds like a really funny book, it is humor, not a novel, but a fun biography type book.






And finally is i am DACHSHUND by Mavis Duke Hinton. I think this is a print on demand book, not sure if it is a kid's book though. But it is a story about the dachshund. Which I love dachshunds as you can tell from the top of my blog page. Which reminds me, I need to add a picture of my new dachshund puppy somehow. This is the dachshund's story, his name is Shadow I think, and his point of view of the world around him. Sounds cute to me, but that's because I love all things dachshund.

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 2.0

Only worked one night this week due to both my own plans, as well as I'm sure the cutting of hours at the bookstore. So I only have two books to share.

First is Staying at Daisy's by Jill Mansell. I have never read any of this author's books, they just haven't really seemed to catch my attention when I picked them up and read their summary. This one did sound kind of cute though. As the title suggests, Daisy is the manager of a hotel. She's single, because her husband died in a car accident (I think most of the author's books have married/divorced women as the main character, which I have trouble relating to). A handsome, former rugby star is there for a wedding, and while Daisy doesn't trust him, she doesn't trust handsome men, sparks seem to fly in their growing attraction. It sounds like a funny chick lit book, the kind I haven't found many of lately, but are the ones that got me started in the first place. Of course, it could be the dachshund looking dog on the cover that drew me to the book in the first place. :-)

Second is The Confession of Katherine Howard by Suzannah Dunn. Another historical fiction book set in the reign of Henry VIII. So of course I was intrigued. This is about his 5th wife. The Tudors really intrigued me to want to know more about her, and this book seems to fill that need. Again, not much more to talk about, we all know the main story, and now I want to read it.