Stacking the Shelves - Episode 6, 2015

Stacking the Shelves is an awesome meme hosted by Tynga's Review.

Bloggers share the books they've received, bought, borrowed - and I collect more and more books for my 'must acquire' list.

I showed some restraint this week when it came to buying but not when it came to reviewing....

Note: All blurbs are straight from Goodreads.

 Hot Blooded by Lisa Jackson

A prostitute lies strangled in a seedy French Quarter hotel room. Miles away, in a rambling plantation house on the sultry shores of Lake Ponchartrain, popular late-night radio host Dr. Samanatha Leeds receives a threatening crank call. Soon, another hooker's corpse turns up. Samantha's ominous caller persists, along with a mysterious female claiming to be a woman from her past -- a woman who's been dead for years. With Detective Rick Bentz convinced that the serial killer prowling the shadowy streets of New Orleans is somebody close to Samantha, she doesn't dare trust anyone. Especially Ty Wheeler, her seductive new neighbor who seems to know more about her than a stranger should.

Someone has discovered Samantha's darkest secret. Somebody is convinced that lives must be sacrificed to pay for her sins. So far, the victims have been strangers. Prostitutes. But as a cunning, cold-blooded killer grows bolder, Samantha wonders in dread if she will be the next to die. 

Chelsea's Thoughts: I manned up and returned one of my two copies of the Jeffries book If the Viscount Falls (I hate returning things), and picked up this re-issued book instead. I haven't actually read Lisa Jackson before, but she's one of those authors that I see everywhere, so I thought I'd give her a try.

Written in Red by Anne Bishop

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others. 

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.

Chelsea's Thoughts: I've had mixed results with Anne Bishop in the past, but I thought I'd give this one a try when I saw it was on sale at 1.99 on Amazon.ca.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Four minutes changes everything. Hadley Sullivan 17 misses her flight at JFK airport, is late to her father's second wedding in London with never-met stepmother. Hadley meets the perfect boy. Oliver is British, sits in her row. A long night on the plane passes in a blink, but the two lose track in arrival chaos. Can fate bring them together again?

Chelsea's Thoughts: I grabbed this one on sale as well. It looked too cute not to - and I've already read it as well. It was as cute as I thought it would be. Very quick read, a whole lot YA, just enough 'real issue' to ground the whirlwind romance.







Now my books for review:

Trust the Focus by Megan Erickson

With his college graduation gown expertly pitched into the trash, Justin Akron is ready for the road trip he planned with his best friend Landry— and ready for one last summer of escape from his mother’s controlling grip. Climbing into the Winnebago his father left him, they set out across America in search of the sites his father had captured through the lens of his Nikon.

As an aspiring photographer, Justin can think of no better way to honor his father’s memory than to scatter his father’s ashes at the sites he held sacred. And there’s no one he’d rather share the experience with more than Landry.

But Justin knows he can’t escape forever. Eventually he’ll have to return home and join his mother’s Senate campaign. Nor can he escape the truth of who he is, and fact that he’s in love with his out-and-proud travel companion.

Admitting what he wants could hurt his mother’s conservative political career. But with every click of his shutter and every sprinkle of ash, Justin can’t resist Landry’s pull. And when the truth comes into focus, neither is prepared for the secrets the other is hiding.

Chelsea's Thoughts: I haven't read a lot of LGBT books for this blog, and this one sounded perfect for me.



Get Lucky by Multiple Authors

Six brand new Irish-themed contemporary, new adult and paranormal romance novellas that will give Get Lucky a whole new meaning.

Chelsea's Thoughts: Irish? Assorted romance? Yes, please.










The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler

Simon Watson, a young librarian on the verge of losing his job, lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home, a house perched on the edge of a bluff that is slowly crumbling toward the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, works for a traveling carnival reading tarot cards and seldom calls.

On a day in late June, Simon receives a mysterious package from an antiquarian bookseller. The book tells the story of Amos and Evangeline, doomed lovers who lived and worked in a traveling circus more than two hundred years ago. The paper crackles with age as Simon turns the yellowed pages filled with notes, sketches, and whimsical flourishes, and his best friend and fellow librarian, Alice, looks on in increasing alarm. Why does his grandmother's name, Verona Bonn, appear in this book? Why do so many women in his family drown on July 24? Could there possibly be some kind of curse on his family, and could Enola, who has suddenly turned up at home for the first time in six years, risk the same fate in just a few weeks? In order to save her--and perhaps himself--Simon must try urgently to decode his family history while moving on from the past.

Chelsea's Thoughts: I do love books about books.

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.

After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people's lives.

Chelsea's Thoughts: The description could have just had that last paragraph and I would have been hooked. I may have to organize a week of "books featuring books" at this rate....

My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp

Luisa “Lulu” Mendez has just finished her final year of high school in a small Virginia town, determined to move on and leave her job at the local junkyard behind. So when her father loses her college tuition money, Lulu needs a new ticket out.

Desperate for funds, she cooks up the (definitely illegal) plan to make and sell moonshine with her friends, Roni and Bucky. Quickly realizing they’re out of their depth, Lulu turns to Mason: a local boy who’s always seemed like a dead end. As Mason guides Lulu through the secret world of moonshine, it looks like her plan might actually work. But can she leave town before she loses everything – including her heart?

The summer walks the line between toxic and intoxicating. My Best Everything is Lulu’s letter to Mason – though is it an apology, a good-bye, or a love letter?

Chelsea's Thoughts: I really don't know what to expect with this, but for whatever reason it looked like a potential 'it' book, so I figured I'd get on board.

Interference by Dakota Madison

Neuroscience student SEDONA MILLER is perfectly imperfect. She’s slightly nerdy and slightly eccentric, but completely brilliant. 

When an unfortunate accident leaves Sedona with an injured arm and she’s fired from her part-time job shelving books at the university library she has to find a new gig fast. 

The only job available mid-semester is working as a tutor for the athletic academic center. And the notorious bad boy of the university’s basketball team, JESSE WALKER, is the one and only guy on the new tutor’s roster.

But when SEDONA discovers a secret that could ruin the school’s winning basketball team doing the right thing could mean destroying the only guy she’s ever loved.

Chelsea's Thoughts: I'm touring this book this week, so check back for it!

Rule Breaker by Harper Kincaid

Just one more can’t hurt…right?

Re-belle-ious, free-spirited Lauren Renwick has decided it’s time to trade her wings for roots. That means no more bad boys, no more foolish choices. Yet when she’s stood up on New Year’s Eve, her resolution to stick to her Mama’s Rules for Dating weakens. Especially when she spots sex-in-leather-and-tattoos, Jackson Sullivan.

One look at Lauren, and Jackson is hell-bent on getting her on the back of his Harley and riding straight for his bed. Their night together is an erotic rush that has a new word popping up on his horizon—forever. 

Lauren tries to convince herself he’s just one last fling to get bad boys out of her system, yet she finds herself falling hard and fast for a man with a stalker ex and a meddling Irish family. Plus, he has zero chance of passing her uptight parents’ inspection.

Jackson has Lauren’s back, but if she wants all of his heart, she’ll have to meet him halfway—by ditching rules that hold her prisoner, and learning to stand up for what she really wants

Chelsea's Thoughts: Again, Irish. Maybe a second theme week....

Silk by Chris Karlsen

It is the time of Jack the Ripper, the widowed Queen Victoria sits on the throne of England.

The whole of London is on edge wondering when or where Jack will kill next. The Palace, Parliament, and the press are demanding the police do more to find him.

In another part of London, rough-around-the-edges war hero, Metropolitan Detective Inspector Rudyard Bloodstone has his own serial killer to find. Inter departmental rivalries, politics, and little evidence to go on hamper the investigation at every turn. In a battle of wills, Bloodstone presses forward following his instincts in spite of the obstacles. 

Adding to those problems, away from the strains of the investigation, he is engaged in the ups and downs of a new relationship with a lovely hat maker. 

Chelsea's Thoughts: While I don't actually have a Jack the Ripper obsession, it does seem that I cannot resist a book that mentions him.

The Dead Days Journal by Sandra R Campbell

The daughter of a radical doomsday prepper, Leo Marrok spent her entire life preparing for the end. A skilled fighter and perfect marksman, Leo is her father’s second-in-command when Armageddon comes to pass. Together, they lead a group of survivors to a secure bunker deep in the Appalachian Mountains. 

Vincent Marrok is willing to take extreme measures to repopulate their broken world. Leo’s refusal marks her as a traitor. With father and daughter at odds for the first time, their frail community is thrust into turmoil. Until the unthinkable happens, a blood-thirsty horde arrives. The impending attack will destroy all that they have worked for.

To protect her home and everything she believes in, Leo puts her faith in the arms of the enemy—a creature only rumored to exist—the one she calls Halloween. An alliance born out of necessity evolves into feelings Leo is ill-equipped to handle. 

The Dead Days Journal is a post-apocalyptic story of love and family told through Leo Marrok’s first-hand account and the pages of Vincent’s personal journal, giving two very different perspectives on what it takes to survive.

Chelsea's Thoughts: I like the juxtaposition of this book after Silk. Something old, something new! Looking forward to reading this post-apocalyptic book!

Broken by Cynthia Eden

The first novel in New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Eden's sizzling LOST series introduces the Last Option Search Team, an elite unit that must protect the only surviving victim of a serial killer.

Ex-SEAL and LOST founder Gabe Spencer is accustomed to the unusual in his job. But when knockout Eve Gray steps into his office, he's rattled. For the mysterious woman is a dead ringer for the heiress thought to be the latest prey of the serial killer who goes by the name Lady Killer.

When Eve awoke in an Atlanta hospital, her past was a blank slate. Then she recognized her own face in the newspaper and vowed to learn the truth. Determined to confront the nightmares hidden in her mind, she never expects to find a partner in Gabe.

As Gabe and Eve work together, their explosive attraction becomes irresistible. Gabe knows that his desire for Eve is growing too strong, bordering on a dangerous obsession, but nothing pulls him away from her. And when another Eve lookalike disappears, Gabe vows to protect Eve at all costs. While Eve may have forgotten the killer in her past, it's clear he hasn't forgotten her.

Chelsea's Thoughts: I love that blurb. So intrigued.

I read *eight* books this week, so I'm up to forty for the year. I stalled out on reading yesterday (Friday), and I have two reviews that are only half written and they're niggling at me to finish before I dive into my next review book. This week is *jam-packed* with reviews, so be sure to check back for oodles of review-goodness!

And, as always, if you have written a review of any of my 'for review' books, please drop me a link here in comments or email/tweet it at me so I can include your link in my 'don't take my word for it' section of my review post.

That's it for me this week. What's on your list this week?