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. Notes from the Blender by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin:
Declan loves death
metal--particularly from Finland. And video games--violent ones. And
internet porn--any kind, really. He goes to school with Neilly Foster
and spends most of his classroom time wondering what it might be like to
know her, to talk to her, maybe even to graze against her sweater in
the hallway. Neilly is an accomplished gymnast, naturally beautiful, and
a constant presence at all the best parties (to which Declan is never
invited). She's the queen of cool, the princess of poker face, and her
rule is uncontested-- or it was until today, when she's dumped by her
boyfriend, betrayed by her former BFF Lulu, and then informed she's
getting a new brother--of the freaky fellow classmate variety. Declan's
dad is marrying Neilly's mom. Soon. Which means they'll be moving in
together.
My thoughts:
Sounds okay, but not sure it stands out.
Verdict: Toss
2. Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper:
WRONGED. HANGED. ALIVE? (AND TRUE!)
Anne
can't move a muscle, can't open her eyes, can't scream. She lies
immobile in the darkness, unsure if she'd dead, terrified she's buried
alive, haunted by her final memory—of being hanged. A maidservant
falsely accused of infanticide in 1650 England and sent to the scaffold,
Anne Green is trapped with her racing thoughts, her burning need to
revisit the events—and the man—that led her to the gallows.
Meanwhile,
a shy 18-year-old medical student attends his first dissection and
notices something strange as the doctors prepare their tools . . . Did
her eyelids just flutter? Could this corpse be alive?
Beautifully written, impossible to put down, and meticulously researched, Newes from the Dead is based on the true story of the real Anne Green, a servant who survived a hanging to awaken on the dissection table. Newes from the Dead concludes with scans of the original 1651 document that recounts this chilling medical phenomenon.
My thoughts:
I'd forgotten this one, but now that I'm reminded, I think it still sounds pretty good!
Verdict: Keep
3. Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson:
Once upon a time there was a girl who was special.
This is not her story.
Unless you count the part where I killed her.
Sixteen-year-old
Alison has been sectioned in a mental institute for teens, having
murdered the most perfect and popular girl at school. But the case is a
mystery: no body has been found, and Alison's condition is proving
difficult to diagnose. Alison herself can't explain what happened: one
minute she was fighting with Tori -- the next she disintegrated. Into
nothing. But that's impossible. Right?
When Alison meets Dr
Faraday, a visiting psychologist, she feels an instant connection. More,
he believes her story. But there's more to Faraday than Alison can
possibly imagine ... and the answers he will give her are ...
extraordinary ...
My thoughts:
Hmm, don't remember this one. Not sure it stands out that much.
Verdict: Toss
4. Rise of the Corpses (The Undertakers #1) by Ty Drago:
On a sunny Wednesday
morning in October, a day that would mark the end of one life and the
beginning of another, I found out my grouchy next door neighbor was the
walking dead. When you turn around expecting to see something familiar,
and instead see something else altogether, it takes a little while for
your brain to catch up with your eyes. I call it the 'Holy Crap Factor.'
Forced
to flee his home and family, twelve-year-old Will Ritter falls in with
the Undertakers - a rag-tag army of teenage resistance fighters who've
banded together to battle the Corpses.
My thoughts:
Hmm, not sure. Sounds pretty similar to other zombie stories.
Verdict: Toss
5. Draw the Dark by Ilsa J. Bick:
There are things in
Winter, Wisconsin, folks just don't talk about. The murder way back in
'45 is one. The near-suicide of a first-grade teacher is another. And
then there is 17-year old Christian Cage. Christian's parents
disappeared when he was a little boy, and ever since he's drawn and
painted obsessively, trying desperately to remember his mother. The
problem is Christian doesn't just draw his own memories. He can draw the
thoughts of those around him. Confronted with fears and nightmares
they'd rather avoid, people have a bad habit of dying. So it's no
surprise that Christian isn't exactly popular. What no one expects is
for Christian to meet Winter's last surviving Jew and uncover one more
thing best forgotten: the day the Nazis came to town. Based on a
little-known fact of the United States' involvement in World War II,
Draw the Dark is a dark fantasy about reclaiming the forgotten past and
the redeeming power of love.
My thoughts:
I really like this author, and this sounds pretty original.
Verdict: Keep
6. Pinch Me by Adena Halpern:
LILY MARRIED THE MAN OF HER DREAMS. THEN SHE WOKE UP.
“Never marry a man unless he’s short, bald, fat, stupid, and treats you badly.”
That is the advice that twenty-nine-year-old Lily Burns has heard her
entire life from her grandmother Dolly and her mother, Selma. Despite
this, when she meets Gogo, the handsome, successful pediatrician who
treats her like a queen, she has no choice but to let her heart take
over. When she agrees to marry him, Dolly and Selma are inconsolable.
They decide it’s time to tell her the truth: their family is cursed. If
she marries for love, there will be unimaginable consequences.
Nevertheless,
Lily and Gogo elope. Unable to believe her good fortune, Lily asks Gogo
to pinch her—to make sure all this isn’t just a dream. The moment he
does, Lily finds herself transported back to the house she lived in when
she was single. Gogo is gone. When Lily tracks him down, she finds that
he’s married to someone else and has no memory of her. In this modern
fairy tale, Lily must find a way to break the curse and turn her
nightmare back into a dream come true.
My thoughts:
Well, not sure if this is one I'm interested in anymore.
Verdict: Toss
7. Frankie the Walk 'n Roll Dog Coloring and Paper Activity Book by Barbara Gail Techel:
Frankie the Walk 'N
Roll Dog keeps rolling along in her doggie wheelchair. This paralyzed
dachshund's unabashed healing, exuberant spirit, and spunky personality
is a blessed gift to everyone she befriends. In this true, inspirational
story, Frankie tells how she became a registered therapy dog and shares
her visits to Libby's House, a senior facility where many residents
have Alzheimer's or dementia. Frankie teaches us that patience,
listening, and understanding opens our hearts to what matters most-love.
With this lovely book, Frankie will win your heart and inspire children
to overcome whatever obstacles they face in life. Told from Frankie's
viewpoint, this journey from using a wheelchair (dog cart) to finding
her purpose as a therapy dog is not only touching but also shows
children how much joy, healing, and hope a dog can bring to this world.
Outstanding! ~Linda and Allen Anderson, authors of Angel Animals books www.angelanimals.net
My thoughts:
It's a dachshund, I need it some day if I can find it.
Verdict: Keep
8. Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry:
A prison doctor injects
a condemned serial killer with a formula designed to keep his
consciousness awake while his body rots in the grave. But all drugs have
unforeseen side-effects. Before he could be buried, the killer wakes
up. Hungry. Infected. Contagious. This is the way the world ends. Not
with a bang…but a bite.
My thoughts:
It's Jonathan Maberry who I love, but I don't read a ton of zombie books, especially not adult, these days. I think I'd always pick up any book by him though, so not sure I need to keep it on a Goodreads TBR list.
Verdict: Toss for now
9. Ripple by Mandy Hubbard:
Lexi is cursed with a
dark secret. The water calls to her, draws her in, forces her to sing
her deadly song to unsuspecting victims. If she succumbs, she kills. If
she doesn't, the pain is unbearable. To keep herself and those she cares
about safe, she shuts herself off, refusing to make friends or fall in
love - again. Because the last time she fell in love with a boy, he
ended up dead.
Then Lexi finds herself torn. Against her better
judgement, she's opening up again, falling in love with someone new when
she knows she shouldn't. But when she's offered the chance to finally
live a normal life, she learns that the price she must pay to be free of
her curse is giving him up.
My thoughts:
Hmm, probably another I won't get to.
Verdict: Toss
10. Lost Voices by Sarah Porter:
What happens to the
girls nobody sees—the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away? The
girls nobody hears when they cry for help?
Fourteen-year-old
Luce is one of those lost girls. After her father vanishes in a storm at
sea, she is stuck in a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village with her
alcoholic uncle. When her uncle crosses an unspeakable line, Luce
reaches the depths of despair. Abandoned on the cliffs near her home,
she expects to die when she tumbles to the icy, churning waves below.
Instead, she undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a
mermaid.
A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all
of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the
darkest moments of their lives. The mermaids are beautiful, free, and
ageless, and Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the
catch: they feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using
their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks.
Luce’s own
talent at singing captures the attention of the tribe’s queen, the
fierce and elegant Catarina, and Luce soon finds herself pressured to
join in committing mass murder. Luce’s struggle to retain her inner
humanity puts her at odds with her friends; even worse, Catarina seems
to regard Luce as a potential rival. But the appearance of a devious new
mermaid brings a real threat to Catarina’s leadership and endangers the
very existence of the tribe. Can Luce find the courage to challenge the
newcomer, even at the risk of becoming rejected and alone once again?
Lost
Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice,
the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.
My thoughts:
While this sounds like it definitely has a different twist to it than some mermaid stories, I don't know that I'll ever get around to it.
Verdict: Toss
Final Thoughts:
Look at me, I'm on a roll! Only keeping three again 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:
2014-2016 ARCs:
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
