Ordinary Day

Y’all have probably noticed that the vast majority of my blogging activity lately has been all about the Skyrim. Still though I do periodically try to remember that I need to beat down my email queue, and also get caught up on things like “which new ebooks do I need to make sure and pull into Calibre?”

So here’s a roundup of ebook activity over the last several months, since today is a “beat down the email queue” kind of day.

Acquired from Project Gutenberg:

• Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Nabbed this because they did a readthrough of it on Tor.com’s recurring Reading the Weird column, and I felt it was high time I checked this out.

Pre-ordered from Kobo:

• A Half-Built Garden, by Ruthanna Emrys. SF. Combo of first contact/climate catastrophe type novel. (And as I write this, pretty sure this book is actually about to drop.)
• Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir. Book 3 of her Locked Tomb series, because of fucking course I’m buying this book, after the awesomeness of Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth.
• The Book Eaters, by Sunyi Dean. Ordered this because of this preview posted to Tor.com, which seized me by the highly original idea of a secret lineage who survives by literally eating books.
• Station Eternity, by Mur Lafferty. SF/Mystery, book 1 of the forthcoming Midsolar Murders series. Queued this up because I very much enjoyed a couple other Lafferty titles, Six Wakes and The Shambling Guide to New York City.

And acquired from Kobo:

• For the Wolf, by Hannah Whitten. Fairy-tale-adjacent YA.
• A Curious Beginning, by Deanna Raybourn. Mystery. First book of her Veronica Speedwell series.
• Wrath Goddess Sing, by Maya Deane. Fantasy. Nabbed this because it’s a trans retelling of the Trojan War, reimagining Achilles as a trans woman. I am here for this.
• A Lady for a Duke, by Alexis Hall. Historical romance. Nabbed this because the heroine is a trans woman and I am real interested to see how this plays out in a historical romance context.
• The Calyx Charm, by May Peterson. Book 3 of her Sacred Dark series. And yet another one I’m grabbing because trans heroine. In this specific case, I love that cover, the heroine has amazing hair. <3
• The Jane Austen Project, by Kathleen A. Flynn. SF. Nabbed this as it’s a combo of SF/Time Travel, a love story, and heavy emphasis on Jane Austen! Hoping this will be as engaging as it sounds.
• The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi. SF. Nabbed for general “because Scalzi has a very consistent history of entertaining the hell out of me”, and also, kaiju!
• Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey. Horror. Nabbed because Gailey also has a consistent history of entertaining the hell out of me.

Nabbed from Kobo and Amazon explicitly on the strength of various reviews by James Nicoll:

• The Tale of Princess Fatima, Warrior Woman, translated by Melanie Magidow. Kinda adore that cover.
• The Stardust Thief, by Chelsea Abdullah. Fantasy. Inspired by Arabian Nights.
• January Fifteenth, by Rachel Swirsky. SF. Nabbed because I like the concept of exploring what a UBI in the United States might actually look like in terms of effects on a selection of citizens.
• Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963) and Rediscovery 2: Science Fiction by Women (1953-1957), edited by Gideon Marcus. I’m not normally an anthology reader, but I really liked the concept of these ones, revisiting stories written by women in the earlier years of the SF/F genre.
• The Red Palace, by June Hur. Mystery. Nabbed this because it’s a period mystery not set anywhere in Europe. It’s in Korea. Highly interested to check this out.
• The Language of Roses, by Heather Rose Jones. This appears to be a queer/aromantic retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and that’s certainly unusual enough to make me want to check it out.
• Eric John Stark: Outlaw of Mars, by Leigh Brackett. Got this on the grounds that Brackett is known for having been a writer on The Empire Strikes Back, and I wanted to check out some of her other work. This title is actually two of her books in one release. Not a fan of the cover, but there wasn’t a better one to be had!

Previous pre-order from Kobo that showed up:

• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Acquired from Amazon:

• Legends and Lattes, by Travis Baldree. Grabbed this because I heard a lot of buzz about it earlier this year, putting it into the general area of “cozy fantasy”. I really love the idea of a big butch orc running a coffee shop. <3
• The Flamingo’s Fated Mate, by Elva Birch. Nabbed this because I heard about it via C.E. Murphy’s newsletter, and it sounds hilarious, as a sendup of shifter romances. :D
• Song of the Forever Rains and Dance of the Burning Sea, by E.J. Mellow. Grabbed these because they were talked up on Smart Bitches. Intrigued by the prospect of a series about a group of siblings raised to be incredibly powerful magic users.
• Beneath Devil’s Bridge and The Patient’s Secret, by Loreth Anne White. Nabbed for when I’m in the mood for thrillers.
• At the Quiet Edge, by Victoria Helen Stone. Also nabbed for when I’m in the mood for thrillers.

Pre-ordered from Amazon:

• Symphony for a Deadly Throne, by E.J. Mellow. Book 3 to go with the two books above.

52 for the year.

Crossposted from annathepiper.org. Original post: https://www.annathepiper.org/2022/07/23/several-months-wide-ebook-roundup-post/

Now that the house net is back up and stable again, and I’m on a three-day weekend where I don’t have to worry about things being on fire at the day job, I have the time to dig back through my inbox and get caught up on tallying my ebook purchases!

This post will cover the tail end of 2021’s purchases and also lay down the initial ones for 2022.

Purchased from Kobo in 2021:

• A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske. Book 1 of The Last Binding. Fantasy set in Edwardian England, with a side of M/M romance. Nabbed because of seeing positive buzz for it on Tor.com
• Comfort Me With Apples, by Catherynne M. Valente. Nabbed this because I’ve read and enjoyed quite a bit of her work, and the idea of her doing a gaslit-wife kind of thriller is intriguing.
• The Wolf and the Woodsman, by Ava Reid. Fantasy. Nabbed this because it was on sale at the time, for $1.99. Also, because fantasy influenced by Hungarian mythology sounded potentially fun and different.
• Murder on Black Swan Lane, by Andrea Penrose. Mystery. Book 1 of Wrexford & Sloane. Nabbed this because I’d originally seen buzz about it on Smart Bitches as a period British-set mystery, a genre I generally enjoy. Tried to check it out from the library but never started reading it before the checkout ran out, so I just went ahead and bought it.
• State of Terror, by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Yes, that Hillary Clinton.) Thriller. Nabbed this because I like Louise Penny’s writing and was legit curious about how a thriller Hillary Clinton is involved with would turn out. Started reading it as a library book, but the library checkout ran out, so I just bought the thing so I could finish it.
• The Scholars of Night, by John M. Ford. Another thriller, a newer edition of this book as a bunch of Ford’s backlist has been re-published since his death. Dara started reading this one in print and liked it, so this was another one I checked out first from the library and then just decided to go ahead and buy.
• Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory, by Martha Wells. SF. This is a short story about Murderbot! Bought because Murderbot. <3
• Sisters of the Vast Black, by Lina Rather. SF. Our Lady of Endless Worlds #1. Nabbed this because I kept hearing good things about it, so finally picked it up.
• Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor. Fantasy. Book 1 of her Nsibidi Scripts series, and YA. Nabbed this because it was on sale for $2.99 at the time, and also because I want to read more SF/F out of the African diaspora. And, it has a gorgeous cover.
• Sisters in Arms, by Kaia Alderson. Historical fiction. Another book I initially started reading as a library checkout, but the checkout ran out, so I just bought it. This is a story about a regiment of Black women serving during WWII and I’m here for that!
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club, by Malinda Lo. Historical fiction/romance, and specifically queer, F/F romance between two young women, set during the Red Scare in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Very interested to see how this’ll read. I quite liked this author’s book Huntress, too.

Purchased from Kobo in 2022:

• West End Earl, by Bethany Bennett. Historical romance. Book 2 of Misfits of Mayfair. Nabbed this because it got talked up on Smart Bitches for having a gorgeous cover and really, I agree. I love the use of yellow on the cover art, which makes it bright and cheerful, and that’s a thing I really need in my life right now! And, the summary seemed fun, as did the sample I read on Kobo’s site.

Purchased from Amazon in 2022:

• Vessel of Starfire and The Last Witch Queen, by Allison Carr Waechter. YA Fantasy. Books 1 and 2 of the Outlaws of Interra trilogy. Nabbed these because the first one’s cover was called out on Smart Bitches on a Cover Awe post, and I agreed it was lovely! Plus I wanted to pick these up for F/F romance goodness. And I bought both of them because they were nice and cheap!
• Dangerous Ground and Crash Site, by Fiona Carver. Thriller. Books 1 and 2 of the Fiona Carver series. Nabbed these again because of a Smart Bitches Cover Awe post, and because the individual titles of the series were not expensive.
• The Raven Spell, by Luanne G. Smith. Fantasy, Book 1 of Conspiracy of Magic. Nabbed this because I saw an ad for it, and because it sounds like fun, particularly with a hook about a hero who’s had his memory rattled around by an attack and needs help from the heroine to find out who targeted him.

79 total for 2021. 6 so far for 2022.

Crossposted from annathepiper.org. Original post: https://www.annathepiper.org/2022/01/15/ebook-catchup-post-2/

What can I say? All these books sounded tasty.

Pre-ordered from Kobo:

• Fugitive Telemetry, by Martha Wells. SF. Specifically, her next Murderbot book, and OF COURSE I want more Murderbot!

Acquired from Kobo:

• Alice Isn’t Dead, by Joseph Fink. This is the novelization of the story from the podcast of the same name, from one of the two masterminds of Welcome to Night Vale. I liked the podcast version of this story quite a bit and look forward to reading the novel adaptation of same.
• The Space Between Worlds, by Micaiah Johnson. SF. Nabbed this because it sounds like an interesting parallel-worlds type thriller, and because it was on sale for $1.99 as of the time of my purchase.
• Winter’s Orbit, by Everina Maxwell. SF/Space Opera. Nabbed this one because it’s been getting good buzz, and because it’s a queer romance/space opera type scenario, and because I really rather like the tagline on the cover.
• A History of What Comes Next, by Sylvain Neuvel. SF. Nabbed this one because I’ve enjoyed other work by this author, and because the period-set SF vibe appeals to me after having had great fun reading Mary Robinette Kowal’s recent work in that realm.
• Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de Bodard. Fantasy. Nabbing this because F/F romance and also because my word that cover is gorgeous.
• Nights of the Living Dead, by various authors. Zombies! As one might guess from the title, this is influenced by Night of the Living Dead, and it is in fact an anthology telling assorted stories set in the 48-hour period of time covered by that very movie. There is an intro by George Romero in it. And, as should surprise exactly no one, there is a story by Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire in it too. This will hopefully be fun!
• The Book of Earth, The Book of Water, The Book of Fire, and The Book of Air, by Marjorie B. Kellogg. Fantasy. These are the four books of Kellogg’s Dragon Quartet series. I bought Book 1 of this and read it ages ago, and eventually picked up book 2 and an omnibus of books 3 and 4 in print, but I have yet to read any of them. I nabbed all four titles in ebook on the theory that I might actually read them if I have them on the Kindle. Let’s find out!
• Remnant Population, by Elizabeth Moon. SF. Nabbed this one because it showed up in a roundup by James Nicoll on Tor.com of books featuring isolation as a theme–and because the protagonist is an old woman, a rarity even today in the genre.

Total for the year: 31.

Crossposted from annathepiper.org. Original post: http://www.annathepiper.org/2021/02/28/oops-i-appear-to-have-had-an-ebook-acquisition-burst/

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.

Crossposted from annathepiper.org. Original post: http://www.annathepiper.org/2021/01/31/whoops-i-missed-a-2020-purchase-ebook-roundup-post/

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.

Crossposted from annathepiper.org. Original post: http://www.annathepiper.org/2020/08/31/whoops-i-missed-a-post-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.

Crossposted from annathepiper.org. Original post: http://www.annathepiper.org/2020/06/20/because-i-fixed-crossposting-ebook-roundup/

Picked up from Kobo:

• The Unleashing, by Shelly Laurenston. Urban fantasy/paranormal romance. Book 1 of her Call of Crows series. Nabbed this because of it going on sale, and because I keep hearing this series get gushed about on Smart Bitches as an example of a series with excellent camaraderie between female characters. (I really wish the cover wasn’t a shirtless dude in a hoodie, if there’s that much emphasis on female relationships, but hey, romance marketers don’t listen to me!) Also a heaping helping of Norse-based worldbuilding going on in this series, and I’m here for that.
• An Illusion of Thieves, by Cate Glass. Fantasy. Book 1 of her Chimera series. This has gotten a lot of buzz about being essentially a heist story, but in a fantasy setting. It sounds fun, so when it went on sale I snapped it up.
• Untamed Shore, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This is Moreno-Garcia’s first thriller, and I thought the plot sounded intriguing. Plus, I’ve read a little bit by this author before and I want to read more of her.
• The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco. Nabbed this by spending some Super Points on my Kobo account, and because we’re reading this in book club.
• Stormsong, by C.L. Polk. Book 2 of her Kingston Cycle series. Nabbed this because I really enjoyed Witchmark, and I’m looking forward to this second book in the series, starring the sister of the hero from the first one. And an F/F romance too!
• The Unspoken Name, by A.K. Larkwood. Fantasy, book 1 of The Serpent Gate. Grabbed this one on the strength of this review at Tor.com, and because LESBIAN. ORC. ASSASSIN. Yes please I’ll have some!
• The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower, by Tad Williams. Books 1-3 of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. Fantasy, a series I’ve read before and which I own in print. Nabbing these in ebook because my print copies of these are gigantic hardbacks and I’d rather like to read these again.

Picked up from Comixology:

• Harleen, by Stjepan Šejić. Graphic novel. This is a retelling of Harley Quinn’s origin story, which I nabbed in digital form after seeing it mentioned in the comments on the Tor.com review of Birds of Prey. Since I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, I was very much in the mood to check out this graphic novel. And I burned through it as soon as I bought it, because the art is gorgeous and the story is thoroughly engrossing.

And, pre-ordered from Kobo:

• The Shadow of Kyoshi, by F.C. Yee. Book 2 of the Kyoshi duology from the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Book 1 rocked and I am VERY on board for book 2. :D
• Mexican Gothic, also by Silvia Morena-Garcia. Saw this mentioned when I went looking for the author’s Twitter account and went ZOMG at the description of it as a re-invention of the Gothic horror/suspense novel. This one’s set in 1950’s Mexico, and the author’s page for it includes an endorsement that compares it to Mary Stewart . I need it in my brain RIGHT NOW.

21 for the year.

Crossposted from annathepiper.org. Original post: http://www.annathepiper.org/2020/02/16/recent-ebook-roundup/

This post is going up as my first in 2020, but it’s all the remaining books acquired during 2019, so these count to 2019’s overall count!

Acquired from Audible in audiobook form:

• The A.I. Who Loved Me, by Alyssa Cole. Contemporary romance. Grabbed this one as I’ve been very fond of Cole’s work lately, and also because this is an audio-only release.
• Signal, by Tony Peak. SF. Grabbed this one just because I had a free credit to spend from Audible due to the settlement they had to do, and there was apparently a limited number of titles to choose from, so I grabbed an SF story I didn’t recognize. Hopefully it’ll be good?

Acquired from Tor.com:

• Wild Cards I, edited by George R.R. Martin. This is the long-running superheroes series that George R.R. Martin has to his credit, I believe as primary creator and editor? This was a recent freebie on the Tor.com monthly ebook club.

Acquired from Amazon:

• The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes. Fantasy. Got this in both novella and audiobook form, in no small part because Daveed Diggs apparently does the reading. And now that I’ve finally fallen in love with the Hamilton soundtrack, I was VERY interested to hear about this story as he does the audiobook narration. Plus, the story sounds pretty amazing: a race of mermaids is descended from pregnant African women who threw themselves overboard to escape slavery. And a female of this race, who’s charged with being the keeper of her people’s memories, rediscovers the surface world. Yowza. (I’m only counting this title once for the count, even though I got it in two formats.)
• In the Dark, by Loreth Anne White. Thriller/romantic suspense. Got this one because I was able to get it for $1.99, and because I’ve read the author before and liked a previous title of hers.
• The Vine Witch, by Luanne G. Smith. Fantasy. Nabbed this one because it sounds charming, a historical-type fantasy set in France and centered around magically-powered winemaking.
• Daughter of Shadows, Son of Solace, and Ashes of Chadanar, by Mirren Hogan. Fantasy/fantasy romance. Grabbed this entire trilogy as I got word via the Romance Alliance discord server that author Mirren Hogan had lost her home in the fires going on down in Australia. 🙁 So I donated a little to the GoFundMe set up for her, and grabbed a few of her books as well.
• The Melding, The Nameless Knight, and The Call of Aven-Ra, by Claire Ryan. Fantasy/fantasy romance. Grabbed this entire trilogy because of Claire Ryan doing splendid work compiling the massive timeline of events in the RWA scandal that broke just before Christmas.

Acquired from Kobo:

• Parable of the Talents, by Octavia E. Butler. SF. Part 2 of the duology that starts with Parable of the Sower. Nabbed this because I already had book 1, and we wanted to read the pair of them in our little book club.
• A Prince on Paper, by Alyssa Cole. Romance. Book 3 of her Reluctant Royals series, which I am enjoying immensely.
• Talk Sweetly to Me, Once Upon a Marquess, A Kiss for Midwinter, Proof by Seduction, and Trial by Desire, all by Courtney Milan. Historical romance. Also Hold Me and Trade Me by same. Bought all of these to show my support for her in the aforementioned RWA scandal. Because DAMN.
• Magic for Liars, by Sarah Gailey. Grabbed this because I like their hippo books and because it was on sale at the time.

Acquired in print as a Christmas gift:

• Sauron Defeated, by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien. This is book 9 of the History of Middle-Earth series, a bunch more analysis and supplementary material for the entire Middle-Earth legendarium. I’ve gotten more interested in acquiring these books due to Tor.com’s ongoing series People of Middle-Earth, looking in depth at various lesser-known characters. The writer of these posts is pulling considerably out of the History of Middle-Earth series, so yeah, I want to have a look at them myself.

86 for the year.

Purchased from Amazon:

The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley. This was a Kindle daily deal, and while I don’t normally buy ebooks from Amazon, for $2.99 I’ll make an exception. This is of course one of my all-time favorites of McKinley’s, and I was happy to get an ebook copy.

Purchased from Kobo:

Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi, by, well, John Scalzi. Nabbed this because I know I already like Scalzi’s work, and because at least a couple of pieces in this have been adapted into episodes of Love, Death, and Robots. Also, it was on sale for $2.99 as well, at least as of the time of purchase! (I checked: as of this writing, it’s back up to $5.99, which doesn’t suck as a price either but is not quite as awesome as $2.99.)

Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure, by Courtney Milan. Grabbed this after I saw her talking about it on Twitter as her tale of elderly lesbians burning down London and I am ON BOARD. (To all reports, it is delightful.)

Captain Horatio Hornblower, by C.S. Forester. Book Club decided we’d proceed to reading the next Hornblower (by publishing order, anyway). Turned out the only way I could get A Ship of the Line was in this omnibus edition that includes Beat to Quarters, A Ship of the Line, and Flying Colors.

Total for the year: 26

So yeah y’all may or may not have noticed I’ve been really behind on getting things posted around here. I’ve got a lot of things I just petered out on completely, and I’ve been trying to explore new ways of dealing with that.

But in the meantime, yes, hi, this blog still exists, so here, have a quick ebook roundup post!

Purchased from Amazon:

Stillhouse Lake and Killman Creek, by Rachel Caine. I have a long history of loving Caine’s work, though these two are a change of pace: they’re thrillers in which the heroine has to deal with discovering her husband is a serial killer. (YIKES!) I will probably have to be in the right headspace to read these, and I don’t know when that’s going to be. But I got them because a) Caine! and b) they were on sale.

I also nabbed them from Amazon specifically because this particular series is in fact _only_ available on Amazon. For favorite authors, I will in fact purchase from Amazon if that’s the only way I can get their work.

And back in the land where I usually purchase my ebooks, i.e., Kobo:

A Conspiracy in Belgravia, by Sherry Thomas. This is book 2 of her Lady Sherlock series, which I grabbed again because it was on sale, and also because this series has gotten talked up a lot on the Smart Bitches podcast. Thomas is a delightful interviewee, and that as well as just being fond of Sherlock Holmes pastiches drove me to go ahead and pick up book 1 earlier. Now I’ve got book 2 as well.

(And for those of you unfamiliar with this particular series, it’s still Victorian England, but ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is a cover identity of a young lady of the gentry, Charlotte Holmes. I’m reading book 1 right now as of this writing, and so far, I’m pretty intrigued by her backstory. But I’m anxious to get to the part where she’s actively solving crimes.)

Wonderful, by Jill Barnett. Historical romance. This had been hanging out for some time on my wishlist, until I recently discovered that the author had new editions of the trilogy. And also that book 1 was free. I like free! So I finally nabbed this one.

The Fall of Gondolin, by J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien. And absolutely NONE of you should be surprised I nabbed this. This is going to possibly be the last volume of the truly great stories out of The Silmarillion edited by J.R.R. Tolkien’s son Christopher, if nothing else just due to Christopher Tolkien’s advanced years. But I’m very much looking forward to diving into this. I always felt that the fall of Gondolin was a story given short shrift in The Silmarillion!

(It should also surprise none of you I will also be picking this up in print. The print edition is currently hanging out on my Amazon wishlist. We’ll see if it shows up around Yuletide this year.)

Pre-orders which have shown up now but which I counted already:

The Fated Sky, by Mary Robinette Kowal. Now that I’ve read The Calculating Stars, I’m VERY much looking forward to diving into this.

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, by Seanan McGuire. Another book 2 I’m looking forward to, after an excellent book 1.

This brings me up to 49 for the year.

Mirrored from angelahighland.com.