Stacking the Shelves - 7.18.15

Stacking the Shelves
hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

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Bought:

The Secrets of Love and Death
E. Van Lowe and Sal Conte
-Horror, Romance
Amazon | Goodreads
For Review:

The Road Home
by Kathleen Shoop
-Historical
courtesy of BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge 2015
Thanks!
BookSparks | Goodreads

Lady Maybe
by Julie Klassen
-Christian, Historical, Romance
courtesy of publisher
Thanks !
Amazon | Goodreads -enter giveaway, ends July 23

The Demon's Grave
by E.M. MacCallum
-Urban Fantasy
courtesy of author
Thanks !
Amazon | Goodreads
Library:

A Visit from the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan
-Contemporary Fiction, Music
Amazon | Goodreads
Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.

=====> listening to audio, so far, so good

UNBOXING:

From Uppercase box (details & signup):
A hand-selected young adult book & fun bookish item, delivered monthly #UppercaseBox


July Box includes:
* Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
* Signed bookplate from Sophie Kinsella
* Book-inspired coffee sleeve
* Out of Print Clothing Library Socks
* Exclusive set of 3 Paper Towns bookmarks designed by Risa Rodil

Finding Audrey
by Sophie Kinsella
Amazon | Goodreads
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.

An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey's daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother's gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she's never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.

=====> Yipee! my first Uppercase unboxing and loved it! Finding Audrey was one on my want list. The socks are sooo cute - they kinda match the book cover. And, the bookmarks come in just in time for the Paper Towns movie release - looking forward to watching it as I liked the book. Plus, anything John Green is just pure awesome!

AND binge watching:

Fargo
tv series, season one
-Crime, Drama, Thriller
Amazon | imdb
A drifter named Lorne Malvo arrives in small-town Minnesota and influences the population with his malice and violence, including put-upon insurance salesman Lester Nygaard.

=====> I am enjoying this quirky dark series. It is very well casted with Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman and others. Please note that although the series is similar in style to the movie version, it has a different storyline with a different set of characters.

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* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways offers

Happy Release: The Secrets of Love and Death by E. Van Lowe and Sal Conte (with giveaway)

The Secrets of Love and Death
by E. Van Lowe and Sal Conte
Amazon | Goodreads
Theo “Turtle” Dawson is overweight, under-confident and unloved, that is until the arrival of Turtle’s new classmate, feisty Rita Calderon. It’s springtime in Foster City, and young love between the teenage couple begins to bloom, until...

...Turtle’s best friend, big brother returns from the grave. At least that’s what A.D. wants Turtle to believe. Is A.D. really back among the living, or is Turtle going loony-bin crazy? And if Turtle’s loving brother has returned, why is he asking Turtle to do such murderous things? "The Secrets of Love and Death" is a ghostly tale of romance and horror, memories, and murder.


“'The Secrets of Love and Death' will tug on your heartstrings while simultaneously scaring the pants off you. A triumphant coming-of-age tale with a dash of the supernatural and a twist of gritty horror, 'The Secrets of Love and Death' may be Van Lowe’s best novel yet!” –Anabelle Blume, author of "Frozen Heart" and "Melted Tears."

“E. Van Lowe and his dark twin, Sal Conte, dig deep in 'The Secrets of Love and Death' and come up with emotional gold. Not for the faint of heart, 'The Secrets of Love and Death' will grab you by the throat and not let go until the horror-filled, page-turning ending.” - John Lansing, author of the bestselling thrillers, "The Devil’s Necktie" and "Blond Cargo"

--~ Giveaway courtesy of author~--signup to win a spanking new Kindle Fire HD 7" (here)

Toothache Man by Sal Conte

Toothache Man
by Sal Conte

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon - currently at $.99
Goodreads
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter @EVanLowe

Published: 2011
Publisher: White Whisker Books
Genre: Horror, Short Story
ebook
Rating: 5

There is no pain like toothache pain.

Jim Roberts is a victim of today's economy. While he's lucky enough to have a job, his job has been keeping him temp for two years to avoid paying medical benefits. When Jim gets a terrible toothache, a friend tells him about the Toothache Man, an unlicensed dentist where people like Jim can have their dental problems solved for a song. Unfortunately, the Toothache Man turns out to be a lot more than Jim bargained for—with an old fashioned dentist’s chair, and a penchant for pain. Jim is about to discover a toothache is the least of his problems.

My two-bits:

Twisted humor, horror and ending emanates from this short story. I found this to be an entertaining quick read that left me with a hoot and holler ;-)

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author

Stacking the Shelves - 11.22.14

Stacking the Shelves
hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

~*~
Bought:

The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar
(The Parasol Protectorate Book 6)
by Gail Carriger
-steampunk
Amazon | Goodreads
-----> in Gail Carriger mode

FREE:

The Wielder: Betrayal
(The Wielder Series Book 1)
by David Gosnell
-paranormal
Free kindle from The Midlist
Amazon | Goodreads

Zombie Games
(Origins 1)
by Kristen Middleton, C.J. Pinard, Mae I Design
-zombies
Free kindle from The Midlist
Amazon | Goodreads
For Review:

Everything to Lose
The Rookie Club, Book 5
by Danielle Girard
-mystery, thriller
courtesy of author via Kate Tilton's Book Bloggers
Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

Forbidden
by Kimberley Griffiths Little
-historical, YA
courtesy of Media Masters Publicity
Thanks Casey!
Amazon | Goodreads

The Beautiful American
by Jeanne Mackin
-France, Historical, WW2
courtesy of France Book Tours
Thanks Emma!
Amazon | Goodreads

The Body Tourist
by Dana Lise Shavin
-memoir
courtesy of BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge 2014
Thanks Janay!
Amazon | Goodreads

Toothache Man
by Sal Conte
-horror
courtesy of author
Thanks E. Van Lowe!
Amazon | Goodreads
Library:

Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?
by Roz Chast
-graphic novel, memoir, humor, family
Amazon | Goodreads
2014 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST

In her first memoir, Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast’s memoir is both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents.

When it came to her elderly mother and father, Roz held to the practices of denial, avoidance, and distraction. But when Elizabeth Chast climbed a ladder to locate an old souvenir from the “crazy closet”—with predictable results—the tools that had served Roz well through her parents’ seventies, eighties, and into their early nineties could no longer be deployed.

While the particulars are Chast-ian in their idiosyncrasies—an anxious father who had relied heavily on his wife for stability as he slipped into dementia and a former assistant principal mother whose overbearing personality had sidelined Roz for decades—the themes are universal: adult children accepting a parental role; aging and unstable parents leaving a family home for an institution; dealing with uncomfortable physical intimacies; managing logistics; and hiring strangers to provide the most personal care.

An amazing portrait of two lives at their end and an only child coping as best she can, Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant will show the full range of Roz Chast’s talent as cartoonist and storyteller.

-----> Read this in one sitting and really enjoyed this. Many funny and touching points in regards to caring for the elderly.

Dreaming about getting soon:

Serenity:
Leaves on the Wind (Serenity #4)
by Zack Whedon, Georges Jeanty (Penciller),
Fábio Moon (Artist), Karl Story (Inker),
Laura Martin (Colorist), Dan Dos Santos (Cover Artist)
-graphic novel, sci-fi
Amazon | Goodreads
In the film Serenity, outlaw Malcolm Reynolds and his crew revealed to the entire ’verse the crimes against humanity undertaken by the sinister Alliance government. In this official follow-up, circumstances force the crew to come out of hiding, and one of their own is captured, setting them on another mission of rescue and resistance . . . Collects the six-issue miniseries and the 2012 Free Comic Book Day story.

-----> because I love the Firefly tv series ;-)

OTHER things: kinda book-related

Serial
a podcast (details)
I had a binge listening session with this podcast and got hooked. It is a weekly show that is uploaded on Thursdays. I learned about it from Books on the Nightstand Episode #305.

Serial is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial will follow one story - a true story - over the course of a whole season. We'll follow the plot and characters wherever they take us and we won’t know what happens at the end of the story until we get there, not long before you get there with us.

Listen to Episode 1: The Alibi here
It's Baltimore, 1999. Hae Min Lee, a popular high-school senior, disappears after school one day. Six weeks later detectives arrest her classmate and ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, for her murder. He says he's innocent - though he can't exactly remember what he was doing on that January afternoon. But someone can. A classmate at Woodlawn High School says she knows where Adnan was. The trouble is, she’s nowhere to be found.

For those obsessed with Serial:

Discussion podcasts: Slate, Pete and Rabia

Reddit - for a place to talk about it

Other links related

Book recommendation tie-in from Books on the Nightstand:

The Journalist and the Murderer
by Janet Malcolm
-true crime, non-fiction
Amazon | Goodreads
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* some of these may be offered as giveaways within the next two months

* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways offers

In My Mailbox - 11.5.11

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie. A post where we share books acquired via mailbox, library, store, etc.

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Bought:

The Toothache Man
by Sal Conte
-gruesome horror

Free from Kindle: beware some free offers are limited

Love Finds You in Victory Heights, Washington
(Love Finds You)
Tricia Goyer, Ocieanna Fleiss
-ww2, romance

Songbird Under a German Moon
by Tricia Goyer
-ww2, romance

While We're Far Apart
by Lynn Austin
-ww2, romance

House Report
(Kat Carpenter Mysteries)
by Deborah Nicholson
-mystery

For Review:

Demon Bait
Children of the Undying, Book 1
by Moira Rogers
-paranormal romance
courtesy of authors
Thanks Bree & Donna!

For Review and giveaway:

Laddertop
Volume 1
by Orson Scott Card and Emily Janice Card
illustrated by Honoel A. Ibardolaza
-fantasy, manga
courtesy of publisher, Tor/Forge
Thanks Aisha!
signup for this giveaway here

Asenath
by Anna Patricio
-historical, Egypt
courtesy of author
Thanks Anna!
stay tuned: giveaway in December

Specific Impulse
by Charles Justiz
-scifi
courtesy of PR by the Book
Thanks Babs!
stay tuned: giveaway in January

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Won from contest:

Radiant Desire
by Inara Scott
-fairies, romance
Thanks to My Bookish Ways!

Tranquil Disturbances
by Garry Charles
-horror
Thanks to KHP Books!

In Sickness
by LL Soares and Laura Cooney
-horror
Thanks to KHP Books!

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Bookie Brunch schedule
Now follow me to the Bookie Brunch meeting for a bit of chit chat at -tba

Bookie Brunch Question of the day: tba

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* get a heads up on free or discounted ebooks from Books on the Knob

* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways to you

* image from Leafcutter Designs - world's smallest postal service and you can get a letter kit at Chronicle Books