Category: Books

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Brief ebook roundup

Pre-orders that finally arrived:

  • Soulstar, by C.L. Polk. Fantasy. Book 3 of her Kingston Cycle, which i am very much looking forward to reading.

Pre-orders that I placed:

  • Grave Reservations, by Cherie Priest. This is Priest’s mystery debut, but given that the heroine is a psychic, it’s clearly going to be a mystery with paranormal elements. Sign me the fuck up.

And, acquired from Kobo because I was in a mood to expand this author’s presence in my library:

  • A Madness in Spring, The Dress of the Season, The Game and the Governess, The Lie and the Lady, The Dare and the Doctor, and Miss Goodhue Lives for a Night, all by Kate Noble. All historical romance. A couple of these are standalones, a couple of them are novellas, and all of them are ones I look forward to reading. Noble’s on the short list of authors who historical romances I have actively enjoyed, and I’ll look forward to checking out more of her work.

(Note also for anyone besides me who likes reading historical romance: A Madness in Spring and The Dress of the Season were both available for free on Kobo, where I got them. You may wish to consult your ebook vendor of choice to see if you can get them for free as well, if you want to check out this author.)

Total for the year: 19.

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Whoops I missed a 2020 purchase ebook roundup post

Acquired from Amazon during 2020

  • The Lord of Stariel, by A.J. Lancaster. Fantasy with strong romantic subplot. Got this on the strength of this review over on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

Amended total for 2020: 162

Acquired from Kobo:

  • The Mask of Mirrors, by M.A. Carrick. Fantasy. Got this in no small part because M.A. Carrick is a pen name for a pair of authors doing a collaboration, and one of those authors is Marie Brennan, whose Lady Trent series I adore. Plus, they have an individual going by the name of ‘Rook’ in their plot, and as anyone who’s read my Rebels books or who ever played with me on AetherMUSH knows, I am rather partial to that particular sobriquet.

Total for the year: 12.

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Rest of 2020 and into 2021 ebook roundup post

Geez, this post was sitting in my drafts section of my WordPress for ages. Oops. Let’s see if I can get this finally posted, okay?

Acquired from Kobo during the end of 2020:

  • Hench, by Natalie Zina Walschots. SF/Superheroes. Grabbed this once I saw buzz going around about it from the Bitchery, because it sounds awesome: a story about a young woman in a superhero world driven to serious injury as collateral damage in a fight between heroes and supervillains–and nobody cares because she was temping for the villain at the time. So she starts using her own strong talent for data gathering to show how ordinary people are being harmed by the superheroes, until she winds up being a top supervillain’s second in command. I’m here for this!
  • Secrets and Lies, Reckless, Never Tell, Hidden Sins, and Deception, by Selena Montgomery. All romance/romantic suspense, by Stacey Abrams under her pen name of Selena Montgomery. Bought on general “because damn, Stacey Abrams has been awesome the last several years” grounds.
  • All Together Now, by Alan Doyle. This is Alan’s most recent book talking about his history with Great Big Sea and his life in general. Bought for general “duh, because ALAN” reasons that any Great Big Sea fan will certainly understand.
  • Goldilocks, by Laura Lam. SF. Grabbed this because I liked the last SF novel I read by this author, because this is a plot featuring women, and because the plot in general sounded intriguing.
  • The Last Emperox, by John Scalzi. SF. Nabbed because it was on sale at the time, and because it’s book 3 of his Interdependency series. I liked Book 1 and will look forward to reading this one.

Pre-ordered from Kobo during 2020:

  • While Justice Sleeps, by Stacey Abrams. Forthcoming thriller, this time written under her actual name. Bought on same general grounds of “because Abrams is awesome”.

Acquired from Amazon during 2020:

  • The Psychology of Time Travel, by Kate Mascarenhas.

Acquired from Kobo during 2021:

  • The Key to All Things and The Chocolatier’s Ghost, by Cindy Lynn Speer. Gotten because Cindy is a fellow former Drollerie author, and because I quite loved The Chocolatier’s Wife.
  • The Year of the Witching, by Alexis Henderson. I’ve seen a lot of buzz about this one over the last several months, both on Smart Bitches and Tor.com.
  • The Once and Future Witches, by Alix E. Harrow.
  • Spoiler Alert, by Olivia Dade. Romance by an author I’ve heard about via Smart Bitches, Olivia Dade, and one of whose books I’ve already read as a library checkout. She seems to have a nice trend going in her books of larger heroines, and plus this particular book is heavily fannish as well.
  • Girl, Serpent, Thorn, by Melissa Bashardoust.

Acquired from Amazon during 2021:

  • Subversive, Radical, and Revolutionary, by Colleen Cowley. Fantasy trilogy. Nabbed this entire trilogy because of this review over on Smart Bitches!

Acquired as birthday gifts this very weekend as I write this post:

  • Middle-Earth: Journeys in Myth and Legend, by Donato Giancola. Wanted this because I’ve seen this man’s art come up again and again in discussions of the Tolkien legendarium, particularly on Tor.com. They have a lovely profile and interview of him over here. And the artist’s own page is here.
  • 1000 airs du Québec et de l’Amérique francophone, by Olivier Demers. if you’ve hung around my site long enough to know how big a Le Vent du Nord fan I am, and also that I’m a fiddle padawan, you’ll know why I had to nab this songbook of tunes from the Quebecois repertoire by one of my top favorite fiddle players from the province. I will very, very much look forward to delving into this in depth. :D

161 total for 2020. 11 so far for 2021.

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End of September ebook roundup post

Acquired from Kobo:

  • The entire Themis Files trilogy (Sleeping Giants, Waking Gods, and Only Human) by Sylvain Neuvel. SF. Grabbed this because I got book 1 as a freebie a while back in paperback, and I liked it, and the ebook went on sale. So I went ahead and got all three of them.
  • Beach Read, by Emily Henry. Contemporary romance. Grabbed this because Smart Bitches reviewed it quite positively, and while I don’t normally read contemporaries, this sounded kind of delightful. In no small part because of the schtick of both the heroine and hero being writers and challenging each other to write each other’s genres.
  • The Duke Who Didn’t, by Courtney Milan. Historical romance. Acquired for general “because Courtney Milan” reasons, but also, I’m quite interested to see how she sets up a historical set in Britain but with protagonists of color.
  • The Case of the Missing Marquess, by Nancy Springer. Book 1 of her Enola Holmes series, which I nabbed since we just watched the new movie adaptation on Netflix. I found it quite charming, and the ebook was on sale for $2.99, so I snapped it up.

Acquired from Amazon:

  • Chaos Reigning, by Jessie Mihalik. Book 3 of her Consortium Rebellion series, sci-fi romance. Nabbed it because it went on sale price and I did like book 1, so.

And last but not least, acquired from John Scalzi:

  • Clash of the Geeks, by John Scalzi and other authors. Chapbook parody fantasy, with stories explaining exactly what’s going on in a painting depicting Scalzi as an orc, fighting Wil Wheaton who’s riding a unicorn pegasus kitten. As you do! Scalzi posted about it on his Whatever blog, and offered freebie copies of the chapbook to readers, so I took him up on that. Because this year? This year definitely calls for some supremely silly reading.

Pre-orders that showed up:

  • When No One is Watching, by Alyssa Cole

150 for the year.

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Whoops I missed a post ebook roundup

Found a draft of an ebook roundup post marooned in my Drafts folder, oops. So I’m merging a couple of earlier acquired titles with more recently acquired titles in this post now!

Acquired from Kobo:

  • Devolution, by Max Brooks. Horror. I nabbed this on the strength of the name Max Brooks, since I totally adored World War Z. I can also report that I’ve actually gone ahead and read this since I originally bought it. I did not like this one as much as I liked World War Z, but I’m not sorry I read it. I still found it an enjoyable read, even though I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t nearly as brilliant as his first book.
  • Prince of Shadows, by Rachel Caine. Fantasy, alternate telling of Romeo and Juliet. Nabbed this in no small part because Caine is dealing with serious cancer treatments right now and I wanted to try to buy more of her titles in support.
  • Honor Among Thieves, Honor Bound, and Honor Lost, by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre. SF YA. Nabbed this entire trilogy partly because see previous commentary re: Caine, but also because I also like Ann Aguirre’s work and the two of them together promise to be entertaining.

Pre-ordered from Kobo:

  • Soulstar and The Midnight Bargain, by C.L. Polk. Fantasy. Grabbed both of these because I quite liked Witchmark, and Soulstar is the closing book of that trilogy.

Acquired from Amazon:

  • Bitter Falls, by Rachel Caine. Book 4 of her Stillhouse Lake series of thrillers. Acquired from Amazon because the series is available in ebook only for Kindle.

Pre-ordered from Amazon:

  • Heartbreak Bay, by Rachel Caine. Book 5 of her Stillhouse Lake series of thrillers.

Previous pre-orders that showed up but which I’ve counted on the yearly tally already:

  • Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko.

142 for the year.

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Oh hey look another ebook roundup post

Because I may have been doing a lot of Kobo lately!

Pre-orders for The Relentless Moon, Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Shadow of Kyoshi, The Immortal City, and Harrow the Ninth all showed up. It’s PREORDERPALOOZA up in here. But I’ve already counted all these titles on totals, so I won’t count them again here.

Newly pre-ordered from Kobo:

  • When No One is Watching, by Alyssa Cole. Nabbed this because I already know I love Cole’s work, and I love her in particular because she’s excellent at handling various sub-genres of romance. It’ll be interesting to see how she handles writing a thriller!

Bought straight up from Kobo:

  • Haunted, by Cathy Pegau. Not sure if this is mystery, paranormal romance, or maybe a little bit of both, but it sounds charming and I told Cathy straight up on Twitter that I loved the cover.
  • Interference, by Sue Burke. SF. Nabbed this because it’s the second half of the duology that started with Semiosis. While I wasn’t a hundred percent in love with that book, it did still stand out in my mind as one of the more original SF novels I’ve read lately, and I want to see where this storyline goes next.
  • Seven Devils, by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May. SF, and in particular, self-described as “feminist space opera”, which I am HERE FOR. Also was totally sold by the authors pitching it on Twitter thusly: “If you wished Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars had more murder, women, and sapphic moments, we wrote this for you. IF YOU WANT TO SEE ASSHOLE FASCISTS GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE, we wrote this for you”. SOLD.
  • The Consuming Fire, by John Scalzi. SF, book 2 of his Interdependency series. Nabbed this because I also know I already like Scalzi’s work, and I enjoyed book 1 of this series in particular, The Last Emperox. I know this one’s been out for a while, but I finally got it when it went briefly on sale for $2.99.

And oh yes, can’t forget this either:

  • Silver in the Wood, by Emily Tesh. Fantasy. Grabbed this one from Tor.com’s freebie ebook of the month club. I’d had half an eye on this one, so was pleased to see it available as a freebie!

133 for the year.

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Because I fixed crossposting ebook roundup

Latest ebooks I’ve acquired, you all know the drill.

Picked up from Kobo:

  • Upright Women Wanted, by Sarah Gailey. Had my eye on this one as a post-apocalyptic Western-flavored thing starring queer women serving as Librarians–charged with taking books to communities in the oppressive society they live in.
  • Reborn Yesterday, by Tessa Bailey. Paranormal romance featuring vampires. The Bitchery seemed to like this one and it was on sale for 99 cents, and I liked the cover and the sample I read. So thought I’d give it a go.
  • Chilling Effect, by Valerie Valdes. SF. This one was also on sale, and I nabbed it in part because the protagonist appears to be Latinx and this has an impact on the dialogue. Plus I am intrigued by her ship having to deliver a cargo of superintelligent telepathic cats, and since the blurb is setting it up as humorous space opera, I’m here for that.
  • Santa Olivia, by Jacqueline Carey. This one’s actually been out a while, and I had my eye on it as it’s a superhero story set in the American Southwest. Grabbed it finally as it was on sale for $1.99.

Pre-ordered from Kobo:

  • The Conductors, by Nicole Glover. Historical/urban fantasy with protagonists of color and this one does seem like fun. More info on the book can be found on the author’s site here.

127 for the year.

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Ebook roundup, Storybundle edition

I saw three different sets of books being promoted via Storybundle on Twitter today, so I decided to splurge and get all three of ’em. As of this writing the bundles are still available, so if any of these sound interesting to you, you should check them out!

I’m not going to list every single title here, otherwise the post would be way too damned long. But I will link you up with the actual pages on storybundle.com!

These bundles are timed offers, so if any of them sound interesting to you, get on it:

SFWA Fantastic Beasts Bundle, good for another 11 days, 15 books if you pay at least $15

Pride 2020 Bundle, good for another 25 days, 11 books if you pay at least $15

African Speculative Fiction Bundle, good for another five days, 10 titles if you pay at least $15; note that these are all anthologies/collections of shorter works

122 total for the year.

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Ebook roundup, anti-racism edition

Trying a new thing with this particular book roundup, and including actual purchase links for all the titles. In case any of you all want to buy these titles for yourselves, particularly the anti-racism reading, I thought it might behoove me to make it a little easier for you.

For almost all titles, I have included the link off to Kobo where I bought them from, but I have also included the link to the title on Bookshop.org. If you’re not familiar with that site, it’s an aggregate site for indie booksellers, and I encourage you to look into it if you’d like to buy print books from somewhere that isn’t Amazon.

On to the books! Purchased from Kobo for purposes of educating myself about systemic racism in this country:

  • Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, by Beverly Daniel Tatum. [Kobo] [Bookshop]
  • When They Call You a Terrorist, by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele. [Kobo] [Bookshop]
  • Eloquent Rage, by Brittney Cooper. [Kobo] [Bookshop]
  • So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo. I’ve actually already read this, but I read it as a library book before, and under the current circumstances I feel it important to own a copy. I can definitely recommend this as critical reading. [Kobo] [Bookshop]

Purchased from Kobo because I wanted to support some authors of color:

  • A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, by Roseanne A. Brown. YA Fantasy. Nabbed this because the title is awesome. [Kobo] [Bookshop]
  • Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko. YA Fantasy. Nabbed this because its cover is gorgeous, because I liked what I read in the sample. [Kobo] [Bookshop]
  • A Song Below Water, by Bethany C. Morrow. YA Fantasy. Nabbed this because mermaids are cool. [Kobo] [Bookshop]
  • The City We Became, by N.K. Jemisin. Urban fantasy. Nabbed this because I already knew N.K. Jemisin is an amazing writer, and because I read the original short work on Tor.com that precipitated this novel. [Kobo] [Bookshop]

Also purchased from Kobo:

  • Wanderers, by Chuck Wendig. Apocalyptic SF. Grabbed this one because I already know I like Wendig’s work, and because I’m half in the mood for this kind of story given current national and world events. [Kobo] [Bookshop]
  • Blood Shot, by Tanya Huff. Urban fantasy. This is a collection of short stories featuring Vicki Nelson, post-dating the main Blood series. Only available in ebook form, I think? [Kobo]

And lastly, purchased from Amazon:

  • Knit One, Girl Two, by Shira Glassman. F/F romance. Grabbed this because a) I think the title is adorable, b) it got some positive buzz on Smart Bitches, and c) the world is a flaming trash fire right now and every so often I just need a sweet little novella about two nice girls who like each other. Only available on Amazon for the Kindle, though. Sorry, anybody who reads on other platforms! [Amazon]
  • Conquest, by Celeste Harte. Futuristic sci-fi fantasy. This is another author of color, and I saw her work getting plugged on Twitter so I decided to check it out. She thanked me directly and was very sweet about it. <3 Go give her book a look, won’t you? [Amazon] [Bookshop]
  • The Undoing, by Shelly Laurenston. Paranormal romance/urban fantasy, book 2 of her Call of Crows series. Nabbed it because it went on sale for $1.99 for a little bit there, though it appears to no longer be on sale at that price. [Amazon] [Bookshop]

86 for the year.

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Mid-May ebook roundup

Acquired from Tor.com:

  • The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson. Fantasy. This was a freebie from their ebook club mailing list.

Acquired from Amazon:

  • Aurora Blazing, by Jessie Mihalik. Book 2 of her Consortium Rebellion sci-fi romance series. Nabbed this one because it was cheap, even though I haven’t read book 1 yet. But I love the titles, I love the cover, and I love what I’m seeing in the blurbs on these so I anticipate liking these quite a bit. And I’ll freely admit I like the similarity of vibe to Jupiter Ascending given off by this series’ book titles. I’m hoping the actual books will have a similarly fun vibe.

Pre-ordered from Kobo:

  • The Relentless Moon, by Mary Robinette Kowal. SF, book 3 of her Lady Astronaut series. Because fuck yeah, I want to read this one! Books 1 and 2 were awesome. <3
  • Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir. Book 2 of her Locked Tomb trilogy, which I pre-ordered the fuck out of as soon as I finished Gideon the Ninth, Book 1. Because goddamn that book rocked.

Bought from Kobo:

  • Truthseeker, by C.E. Murphy. I have this one already in print, and I’ve already read it, but now it’s finally out in ebook form. Yay!
  • Chimera, by Mira Grant. Book 3 of her Parasitology series, which I’m finally ready to read now that I’ve re-read books 1 and 2!
  • The Broken Girls, by Simone St. James. Nabbed this one because I really enjoyed the other book I recently read by her, and because this went on sale.

73 for the year.