Diary Of The Book Dragon

The Hoard Grows is where I show off whatever new treasure joined my collection this week — bought, borrowed, gifted, or won. Credit where it's due: this meme was inspired by 'In My Mailbox,' created by The Story Siren, and 'Stacking the Shelves,' hosted by Tynga's Reviews — thank you both for the inspiration!

If you've been around a while, you know that I ask at the end of each post what I should read first from the pile. For Week #44, most of you picked Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman — I bumped it up and loved it! For Week #45, The Iron King by Julie Kagawa won the vote, so I'll be squeezing it into this week's reading. Thanks for helping me pick — I can't wait to see what wins this time.

This week's haul is a big stack of ebooks — seventeen in total! All Kindle reads this time, split below by how they came into my hands.

Offered by Allies

• Incarnation by Emma Cornwall — Edelweiss — Steampunk & Victorian London, two of my favorite book settings combined. Lucy Weston with the help of Bram Stoker (author of Dracula) seeks a vampire who transformed her.
• City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte — NetGalley — When music student Sarah Weston gets a summer job at Prague Castle cataloging Beethoven's manuscripts, she has no idea that she will also: get arrested, have tantric sex in a public fountain, discover a time-warping drug and catch the attention of a handsome prince.
• The Rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman — NetGalley — This book wasn't marked as part of a series on Goodreads, so I requested it, but then I saw on Amazon that it's actually part of the Half-Made World series. Guess I'll have to buy and read the previous books first — it'll probably take a while until I review this one.
• The Ruling Sea (Chathrand Voyages #2) by Robert V.S. Redick — NetGalley — Last week I was approved for the first book in this epic fantasy series, and this week I got the second and third too! Can't wait to read them, I'll have to make time in my schedule soon.
• The River of Shadows (Chathrand Voyages #3) by Robert V.S. Redick — NetGalley — Same story as above — got this one along with the second book this week. This series is quickly climbing my tbr pile.
• The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination by John Joseph Adams — NetGalley — Just the title is recommendation enough to read it. :D This is a collection of stories about mad scientists and evil geniuses from their own point of view.
• Brave New Worlds by John Joseph Adams — NetGalley — Stories in this anthology explore the question: what happens when civilization invades and dictates every aspect of your life? Some of my favorite authors contributed: Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Philip K. Dick, etc.
• Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton — NetGalley — Peter F. Hamilton combines the nail-biting suspense of a serial-killer investigation with "a future that seems not merely plausible but inevitable." I like reading how authors imagine our world will develop. Do you?
• The Water Witch (Fairwick Chronicles #2) by Juliet Dark — Edelweiss — I just loved the first part of this series, 'The Demon Lover' — it was like adult Harry Potter. The heroine is a college professor who discovers that her colleagues and students aren't completely 'normal'. There's a real mix of mythical creatures here and a lot of funny adventures.
• Demon's Curse (Imnada Brotherhood #1) by Alexa Egan — Edelweiss — "A fast-paced and captivating debut — the first in the dark and sexy Imnada Brotherhood series about shape shifters in Regency-era England." I hope the accent is more on paranormal than romance, but I won't know until I read it. :)
• A Shimmer of Angels (Angel Sight #1) by Lisa M. Basso — NetGalley — What a beautiful cover, don't you agree? "Sixteen-year-old Rayna sees angels, and has the medication and weekly therapy sessions to prove it. Now, in remission, Rayna starts fresh at a new school, lands a new job, and desperately tries for normalcy."
• Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis — YA Bound — I just love the myth of Persephone and Hades, so when the YA Bound website offered me a review copy of this book I accepted right away. Can't wait to read this one!

Kindle Freebies

• The Sundered by Ruthanne Reid — Amazon Freebie — "Harry searches for artifacts left over from the time before the water came. When he's given the chance to find a mysterious device that might fix everything, he jumps at it - but this Hope isn't what it seems. In his broken, flooded world, every hope has a price."
• Zombie Bitches from Hell by Zoot Campbell — Amazon Freebie — The title alone made me lol. The summary promises a good old trashy zombie novel: a plague has turned all the world's women into brain-eating zombies, and Kent Zimmer searches for both his girlfriend and a cure — encountering hungry undead, psychotic doctors, evil nuns, racist militias, and drag queens with machine guns along the way.
• The Road to Nowhere by Lee Argus — Amazon Freebie — Another zombie novel, but with my favorite type of opening: the hero wakes up in a room with no memory of where he is or how he got there.
• Beguiled (Immortal Essence #2) by RaShelle Workman — Amazon Freebie — I have the first book of this series on my Kindle but haven't read it yet. When I saw the second part was free I grabbed the chance to get it — maybe that'll push it up my tbr...
• The Medium (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #1) by C.J. Archer — Amazon Freebie — What a scary and weird hairstyle. :) But it sounded interesting: 17-year-old Emily is a medium who accidentally released a shape-shifting demon into the mortal realm, and together with Jacob Beaufort she must send him back... did I mention that Jacob is a sexy ghost? :)

Well, I hope your fingers don't hurt (again) after scrolling through this epic pile of books. :) Maybe there are fewer books than last week, but there are some real chunksters in this pile. I need to speed up my reading and clear up my to-review-asap pile (well, at least a little bit).

There's a Book Fair on Friday, so if I manage to review 4 books before then I'll treat myself with something nice. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm gonna buy a pile of books either way. LOL :D

What do you think I should read first? Did you already read something from this pile? What did you get this week?

The Hoard Grows is where I show off whatever new treasure joined my collection this week — bought, borrowed, gifted, or won. Credit where it's due: this meme was inspired by 'In My Mailbox,' created by The Story Siren, and 'Stacking the Shelves,' hosted by Tynga's Reviews — thank you both for the inspiration!

This week I somehow ended up with eighteen books — so much for reining things in after last week. Frank Zappa said it best: "So many books, so little time." I think I'll just adopt that as my motto at this point.

Offered by Allies

• Scent of Magic (Healer #2) by Maria V. Snyder — NetGalley — This was my Waiting on Wednesday pick! Obviously NetGalley gods have heard me and granted my request. I hope I will have time to read it soon. *looks at her review pile & schedule* Hell, who needs sleep, right?
• Pantomime by Laura Lam — NetGalley — Young adult fantasy set in a imaginary world. Heroine Iphigenia is from noble family so there will be corsets and crinolines and hero Micah (her love interest I presume) is acrobat in circus. This gotta have a good love story if nothing else.
• The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke — NetGalley — "There's never been anyone - or anything - quite like Finn. He looks, and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection." I like that this sf ya book is from a male perspective and the hero is robot too. (I loved Cinder.)
• Cloud Atlas (Movie Tie-in Edition) by David Mitchell — NetGalley — Ok, I confess I don't know anything about this book except that there is a movie with Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Hugh Grant and that trailer looks awesome. I'm so excited I got approved to read this ebook. It's on top of my tbr right now.
• The Red Wolf Conspiracy (Chathrand Voyages #1) by Robert V.S. Redick — NetGalley — I had this book on my tbr for a long time, since I spotted it at Best Fantasy Books website... But I never bought it or read it. Well, NetGalley gave me the push I needed. I'm in a mood for one good epic fantasy these days.
• God's War (Bel Dame Apocrypha #1) by Kameron Hurley — Giveaway by NightShade Books — I was so excited when I saw this giveaway (it was not even a giveaway, they gave ebooks to everyone who requested). I re-twitted the news so I hope that you got it too. I will write about book content in book two section...
• Infidel (Bel Dame Apocrypha #2) by Kameron Hurley — Giveaway by NightShade Books — Heroine "Nyx is a former government assassin who makes a living cutting off heads for cash." Kick-ass is one of my favorite type of heroines so this mix of science fiction and fantasy sounds like something I would like.
• Rapture (Bel Dame Apocrypha #3) by Kameron Hurley — NetGalley — Since I got first two books in that awesome giveaway from NightShade Books, I thought that I could add third part in series to my tbr pile also. I hope I will manage to read this series soon, because it sounds very interesting.
• Forged In Death (The Death Wizard Chronicles #1) by Jim Melvin — NetGalley — "Sexy, action-packed six-book epic fantasy. Not for children and teenagers - or the faint of heart." I was intrigued after reading this. My imagination is running wild. Is this 'Fifty Shades Of Gray' in fantasy setting? (Just a wild guess). I will let you know when I read it.
• First Frost by Liz DeJesus — Author — Frost family runs Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts. They even have a collection dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales: Cinderella's glass slipper, Snow White's poisoned apple, etc. I like elements of fairy tales used in urban fantasy so I accepted review request from Liz DeJesus.
• Order of the Dimensions by Irene Helenowski — Author — This book was described to me as "science fiction/fantasy book about inter-dimensional travel". Since 'Fringe' is one of my favorite tv shows, I accepted Irene Helenowski's review request.

Gifts from Fellow Dragons

Technically a website isn't a fellow dragon, but they shared their hoard with me all the same, so they've earned a spot here too — thank you, Iron Fey site!

• The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa — The Iron Fey website — Ok, so I don't know how many of my friends have recommended this series to me. I really should start this series soon, since it already got so many parts. I need to catch up soon.

Kindle Freebies

• The Chocolatier's Wife by Cindy Lynn Speer — Fantasy, romance, magic and chocolate, all in one book, who could ask for more? I hope I will find place in my crowded book reading schedule to squeeze in this book.
• Branded (Fall of Angels #1) by Keary Taylor — YA Paranormal with angels. Enough said. LOL. Book summary hints about a love triangle, so I'm not sure I would like it, but I adore books with angels, so I had to give it a go.
• Dollhouse (Dollhouse #1) by Anya Allyn — I just adore cover for this book. As soon as I saw it I clicked download even before I read what it is about. Summary says it's dark paranormal mystery about kids disappearing in woods. Sounds like good read for Halloween.
• Breath of Air (Dryad Quartet #1) by Katie Jennings — YA Fantasy with heroine Capri who has magical powers over nature and earth elements. She lives in an orphanage but "she does not belong there, she does not belong with human beings at all. Because she wasn't one of them, not really." Intrigued? I was.
• Stray (Touchstone #1) by Andrea K. Höst — Young Cassandra takes a walk from school to home trough a forest. Unexpectedly she is surrounded with "wrong sort of trees, and animals never featured in any nature documentary". I like in when heroine is in a world unknown to her, because we get to discover it together.
• Brightest Kind of Darkness (Brightest Kind of Darkness #1) by P.T. Michelle — "Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day." Only good comments from my Goodreads friends about this YA Paranormal.

I hope your fingers don't hurt after scrolling through this epic pile of books!

What do you think I should read first? Did you already read something from this pile? What did you get this week?

The Hoard Grows is where I show off whatever new treasure joined my collection this week — bought, borrowed, gifted, or won. Credit where it's due: this meme was inspired by 'In My Mailbox,' created by The Story Siren, and 'Stacking the Shelves,' hosted by Tynga's Reviews — thank you both for the inspiration!

This week's haul is refreshingly small — just three books, all from NetGalley. Most of these were actually old requests that only just got approved, so it's not quite the restraint it looks like, but I'll take it.

Offered by Allies

• Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman — NetGalley — Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales was one of my favorite books as a child, so I had to grab this one when I saw the retelling was by one of my all-time favorite authors, Philip Pullman — I adore his His Dark Materials series.
• Pilgrim of the Sky by Natania Barron — NetGalley — I'd never heard of Natania Barron before, but the cover caught my eye, and the summary hooked me — especially the part where the heroine discovers her supposedly dead boyfriend might not only be alive, but part god.
• Lichgates by S. M. Boyce — NetGalley — This YA fantasy sounds great — a magical Grimoire gives a young girl incredible powers and teleports her to Ourea, a beautiful world full of terrifying things that want the Grimoire's secrets back.

I'm trying to be good and clear out my to-read pile before it clears me out first. Fingers crossed this streak of small hauls continues — though I wouldn't bet on it.

What do you think I should read first? Did you already read something from this pile? What did you get this week?

The Hoard Grows is where I show off whatever new treasure joined my collection this week — bought, borrowed, gifted, or won. Credit where it's due: this meme was inspired by 'In My Mailbox,' created by The Story Siren, and 'Stacking the Shelves,' hosted by Tynga's Reviews — thank you both for the inspiration!

This week's haul came entirely from NetGalley approvals and a few Kindle freebies — eight review copies and three freebies. Everything just sounded so good I couldn't say no. Now I have a new problem: I have no idea where to start.

Offered by Allies

• UnEarthed by Rebecca Bloomer — NetGalley — The story of a Mars colonization and a young girl fighting for her freedom — it gripped me from just the short summary.
• A Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn — NetGalley — Again, a YA sci-fi about humans on a new planet, but this time with superpowers.
• Future Games by Orson Scott Card, Cory Doctorow, Louise Marley, George R. R. Martin, John Shirley, Howard Waldrop & Scott Westerfeld — NetGalley — Some heavy, famous names in this anthology — intriguing, and I can't wait.
• Moscow But Dreaming by Ekaterina Sedia — NetGalley — The title alone sounds dreamy (no pun intended), plus the author is Russian-born and draws on Slavic folklore.
• Inkarna by Nerine Dorman — NetGalley — An ancient Egyptian cult, reincarnation, a great plot.
• Pathfinder Tales: Blood of the City by Robin D. Laws — NetGalley — I hope this doesn't need to be read in order, since it's book 10 in the Pathfinder series — but it sounded like classic fantasy adventure, and I couldn't resist.
• Pathfinder Tales: Queen of Thorns by Dave Gross — NetGalley — And this is the next one in the Pathfinder series, book 11 — so at least I have those two.
• The Worker Prince by Bryan Thomas Schmidt — NetGalley — The tagline in the first sentence was so catchy, plus — a prince as the MC? Who can resist that?

Kindle Freebies

• The Girls From Alcyone by Cary Caffrey — Two girls sold into slavery, futuristic setting.
• A Gift of Ghosts (Tassamara) by Sarah Wynde — "Akira Malone believes in the scientific method..." — we were instant soulmates, and I had to read her story.
• Word and Breath (Wordless Chronicles) by Susannah Noel — Again, I liked the MC from the summary — a rule-follower who reads for a living. I wanted to know more.

I'm officially out of control at this point — but in my defense, none of this cost me a dime, so my bank account is unbothered. Now I just need to figure out where to start with this pile.

What do you think I should read first? Have you already read anything from this pile? What did you get this week?