Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga where we share books we’ve bought or received this week. Find out more and join in here!
Hi everyone! One day I will get my book buying under control, but this week isn’t that week. A combination of October book releases and my birthday have meant that I’ve been receiving even more books than usual, which is both lovely and means a lot of books have been gained!
Bought
North Carolina, 1863. As the American Civil War rages on, the Freedmen’s Colony of Roanoke Island is blossoming, a haven for the recently emancipated. Black people have begun building a community of their own, a refuge from the shadow of the old life. It is where the March family has finally been able to safely put down roots with four young daughters:
Meg, a teacher who longs to find love and start a family of her own.
Jo, a writer whose words are too powerful to be contained.
Beth, a talented seamstress searching for a higher purpose.
Amy, a dancer eager to explore life outside her family’s home.
As the four March sisters come into their own as independent young women, they will face first love, health struggles, heartbreak, and new horizons. But they will face it all together.
The first book I received this week was a pre-order, which I’m so excited to read! I didn’t know when this one was actually coming out, so I was happy to receive it.
I also made a Blackwells order with a voucher I had, including finally getting a hardback copy of this one to match the first book I have!
Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya–but neither wants to be.
War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds–and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
I added this one to my Blackwells order too, as I’ve wanted to read this series for a long time but I much prefer the older covers like the one pictured above.
Gifted
Flora loves Christmas more than anything else in the world, so she’s gutted when her Scrooge-alike boss fires her from Deck the Halls Christmas emporium. But now she finally has a chance to follow her dreams – and what better place to start than the home of Christmas?
Before she can say ‘sleigh bells’, Flora’s on her way to Lapland in a campervan-cum-Christmas-shop. She can’t wait to spend her days drinking hot chocolate and taking reindeer-drawn carriage rides, but something Flora didn’t expect was meeting Connor, a Norse god of a man who makes her heart flutter and snowflakes swirl in her stomach. There’s just one problem: Connor hates Christmas.
Can Flora convince Connor of the joys of Christmas – and will she find a festive romance along the way?
I also received a lot of books as gifts this week, the first one being Flora’s Travelling Christmas Shop from Midas PR/the publishers. This one looks super cute and I can’t wait to read it soon!
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.
A flying demon feeding on human energies.
A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.
And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.
The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.
She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.
My lovely friend Alex had a box of books she no longer wanted, and I decided to take this one as I’ve heard such good things about it and I’ve wanted to read it for a while.
Unicorns don’t belong in fairy tales—they belong in nightmares. The deadly beasts can only be tamed by the rider who hatches them.
Skandar Smith has only ever wanted to be a unicorn rider, and the time has finally come for him to take his Hatchery Exam, which will determine whether he is destined to hatch a unicorn egg. But when Skandar is stopped from taking the exam, and the mysterious and frightening Weaver steals the most powerful unicorn in the world, becoming a rider proves a lot more dangerous than he could ever have imagined.
As he faces elemental magic, fierce sky battles, ancient secrets, nail-biting races and, of course, bloodthirsty unicorns, Skandar realizes he and his friends are in graver danger than he ever imagined.
I also received this beautiful proof from the publisher, which looks so fun!
In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time.
It’s time to talk about birthday gifts, including this graphic novel Mark gave me! I’ve wanted to read this series for a while and Mark also thought I would enjoy it, so decided to buy me a copy. Thank you Mark!
Throughout the deepest reaches of space, a crew rebuilds beautiful and broken-down structures, painstakingly putting the past together. As Mia, the newest member, gets to know her team, the story flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student. When Mia grows close to her new friends, she reveals her true purpose for joining their ship—to track down her long-lost love.
Courtney also gifted me a graphic novel – one we have both wanted to read ever since seeing SpoopyHol on YouTube reading it! I’m so excited for this one.
The Moomins, in case you didn’t know, are kind, philosophical creatures with velvety fur and smooth round snouts, who live in a tall blue house in a beautiful woodland valley beside the sea.
One summer a grumbling volcano causes Moominvalley to flood, forcing the Moomin family to leave their beloved home and find refuge on a floating theatre. When this casts adrift, leaving Moomin, the Snorkmaiden and Little My marooned on land, Moominsummer Madness ensues. Will they all be reunited before the final curtain?
She also gifted me this beautiful copy of Moominsummer Madness! I’ve wanted to read the Moomin books for so long and Courtney looked into the recommended reading order for this one. Thank you so much Courtney!
Which books did you buy or receive this week?
-Beth
May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽
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