Cleaning Up My TBR With a Giveaway (US Only) – Down the TBR Hole #16

Posted April 6, 2019 by Lisa Mandina in giveaway / 10 Comments

This meme was started by Lost in a Story.  Here is how it works:

  • Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?

Because I have so many to do, I’m going to try to do this weekly, and do 10 at a time.

1.  Eliza’s Freedom Road:  An Underground Railroad Diary by Jerdine Nolan and Shadra Strickland:

It is 1852 in
Alexandria, Virginia. Eliza’s mother has been sent away and it is Abbey,
the cook, who looks after Eliza, when Eliza isn’t taking care of the
Mistress. Eliza has the quilt her mother left her and the memory of the
stories she told to keep her close. When her Mistress’s health begins to
fail and Eliza overhears the Master talk of Eliza being traded, Eliza
takes to the night. She follows the path and the words of the farmhand
Old Joe, “ … travel the night … sleep the day. Go East. Your back to the
set of the sun until you come to the safe house where the candlelight
lights the window.” All the while, Eliza recites the stories her mother
taught her along her Freedom Road from Maryland to St. Catherine’s,
Canada.
 

My thoughts:  
Another subject I used to devour any book on was the Underground Railroad.  However, not sure with this one if I’ll get to it.  

Verdict:  Toss

2.  Falling Under by Gwen Hayes:

Theia Alderson has
always led a sheltered life in the small California town of Serendipity
Falls. But when a devastatingly handsome boy appears in the halls of her
school, Theia knows she’s seen Haden before- not around town, but in
her dreams.

As the Haden of both the night and the day beckons
her closer one moment and pushes her away the next, the only thing Theia
knows for sure is that the incredible pull she feels towards him is
stronger than her fear.

And when she discovers what Haden truly is, Theia’s not sure if she wants to resist him, even if the cost is her soul.

My thoughts:
I feel like I have a copy of this on my shelves.  But I’m not sure.  So for now I probably won’t keep it.  If I ever get around to going through my books, probably after I move, then I’ll know for sure and can re-add it to my list.

Verdict:  Toss

 3.  The Unholy Cause (Supernatural #5) by Joe Schreiber:

A Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit CW series!

Way
back in April 1862, Confederate Captain Jubal Beauchamp leads a charge
across a Georgia battleground… Fast forward to 2009 and a civil war
re-enactment becomes all too real. When Sam and Dean head down south to
investigate they find that history has got somewhat out of hand… 

My thoughts:
Don’t know if I own this one, but I know that one day, since the series is ending this year, that day will be soon, I will want to read the stories and get what I can.

Verdict:  Keep

4.  Eureka:  Substitution Method (Eureka #1) by Cris Ramsay:

Welcome to Eureka.
Population: BRILLIANT

It’s a town of geniuses-and now it’s the smartest series going.

Founded by Albert Einstein and Harry Truman after WWII, Eureka is home
to the greatest minds in science and technology. But the creations of
these eccentric geniuses threaten to destroy the world as often as they
save it. Jack Carter is the everyman sheriff who must use his common
sense and unique street smarts to keep a lid on this Pandora’s Box of a
town.

A secret government think tank that doesn’t appear on any
maps, Eureka has seen its share of strange problems. But today those
problems may be seen by the outside world. People, cars, and buildings
are being swapped with people, cars, and buildings from different
places. With Eureka’s secrets on the line, Carter must find the cause
before the town is exposed. And all roads lead to Global Dynamics, the
mysterious research facility that everyone seems to work for — except
Jack.

My thoughts:
I loved this TV show.  And I might actually own this book.  However, I know that some day I will want to go back and revisit the quirky town of Eureka.  I also have four other books from this series right after this one on the list:  Brain Box Blues (#2), Road Less Traveled (#3), and Dormant Gene (by a different author – Andrew Crosby)

Verdict:  Keep all of them

5.  Flip by Martyn Bedford:

Alex, 14, goes to bed in
December, and wakes in June, in a strange house to a strange family. In
the mirror, he sees Flip. Unless Alex finds out what’s happened and how
to get back to his own life,  he may be trapped forever inside a body
that belongs to someone else. What is identity, the will to survive, and
what will we sacrifice to survive?

My thoughts:  This isn’t even one I remember adding to my list.

Verdit:  Toss

  

6.  The Girl in the Lighthouse (Arrington #1) by Roxanne Tepfer Sandford:

From the time Lillian
Arrington was born, she lived an isolated life on a remote lighthouse
station with her father Garrett and her young mother Amelia. But Lillian
has wishes and dreams far beyond her years.

When her father is
transferred to a new station, Lillian is anxious to meet the assistant
keepers and their two sons, Heath and Ayden. She had never met children
her own age, had playmates, or made a friend.

Heath, the handsome
teenage boy who desires to become a doctor someday, welcomes Lillian.
However, his younger brother, Ayden, doesn’t like her and she struggles
to win him over. Before long, a secret bond between the three is forged
and to Lillian’s delight, they become close friends.

After so
many years, Lillian’s childhood is beginning to resemble that of a
normal girl. No longer is she lonely and isolated from the rest of the
world by over-protective parents. Instead, she experiences new
adventures, attends school, and falls in love for the first time.

However,
her glorious days on Jasper Island are short-lived as her beautiful
young mother begins a tragic descent into insanity and passes away.
Lillian is left in the care of her sinister grandmother Eugenia
Arrington, who, since the end of the Civil War, continues to steadfastly
hold onto the once glorious Georgia plantation known as Sutton Hall. It
is there that the immoral secrets of Lillian’s parents are revealed,
and she is left to pick up the pieces of her scandalous past, and
somehow, find her long way home.
  

My thoughts:  
Hmm, sounds pretty good.  But I don’t know, will I ever get around to it?  I also have the sequel to this on my TBR, will do the same with both.

Verdict:  Toss

7.  Hollowland (The Hollows #1) by Amanda Hocking:

“This is the way the world ends – not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door.”

Nineteen-year-old
Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America,
and nothing will stand in her way – not violent marauders, a spoiled
rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.

My thoughts
So I fell in love with this author when I began reading her Trylle series while sitting in line all day waiting for one of the Harry Potter movie premieres.  This is an earlier title of hers, and I don’t want to forget it.  Actually, we have a graphic novel in my library that I’ve begun reading on days when I’m sitting and “gurading” the back exit so kids don’t decide they can sneak out that way.  

Verdict:  Keep

8.  My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison:

Finding your one true love can be a Grimm experience!

After
her boyfriend dumps her for her older sister, sophomore Savannah Delano
wishes she could find a true prince to take her to the prom. Enter
Chrissy (Chrysanthemum) Everstar: Savannah’s gum-chewing, cell
phone–carrying, high heel-wearing Fair Godmother. Showing why she’s only
Fair—because she’s not a very good fairy student—Chrissy
mistakenly sends Savannah back in time to the Middle Ages, first as
Cinderella, then as Snow White. Finally she sends Tristan, a boy in
Savannah’s class, back instead to turn him into her prom-worthy prince.
When Savannah returns to the Middle Ages to save Tristan, they must team
up to defeat a troll, a dragon, and the mysterious and undeniably sexy
Black Knight. Laughs abound in this clever fairy tale twist from a
master of romantic comedy.

My thoughts:
If you know me, I love a good fairy tale retelling.  But i this case, I think maybe I’ll skip.

Verdict:  Toss

 9.  Kings of the Dead by Tony Faville:

When the H1N1 “Swine
Flu” virus mutates it begins to not only kill those who have received
the vaccination, but also bring on the unthinkable: the dead reanimate.
Cole Helman and his friends are not only survival experts, they’ve spent
hours discussing and preparing for just this event and quickly head to
the hills before the cities become clogged with looting and riots. But
the group knows all too well that the living dead are just the beginning
of their problems, and they’ll eventually have to deal with the worst
qualities of the living-desperation, greed, selfishness, and cruelty-in
this new post-apocalyptic world. And a chance encounter at a secret
military installation may reveal a conspiracy bigger than any of them
had imagined… Straight out of the apocalypse comes the chronicle of
one small group and their experiences with life and death, survival and
loss. In a world of the living dead, is one man capable of maintaining
not only his community, but his own sanity?

My thoughts:
I might be kind of over zombie books too.  Not sure I’ve ever heard much more about this one either.

Verdict:  Toss

 10.  Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock:

MACKENZIE AND AMY WERE BEST FRIENDS.

UNTIL AMY WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED.

Since
then, Mac’s life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by
Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come
to Mac’s hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy’s killer:

A white werewolf.

Lupine
syndrome – also known as the werewolf vius – is on the rise across the
country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust
is not easy to control.

Wanting desperately to put an end to her
nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder herself. She
discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy’s
boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best
friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that
puts her life at risk.

Kathleen Peacock’s thrilling novel is the
first in the Hemlock trilogy, a spellbinding urban fantasy series filles
with provocative questions about prejudice, trust, lies, and love.

My thoughts:
I think this is one that is well enough known that if I ever decide I want to read it, I’ll be able to find again.

Verdict:  Toss

Final Thoughts:
So, while I’m tossing 8 this week, since I have several kind of combined in the Eureka series, I am keeping 6 .  Have you read any
of these?  Would you suggest I keep any I’m tossing?  And if you’re
inspired to do this on your blog, please feel free to join in and share a link in the comments, since it’s not really catching on, I’m not going to waste time with the link up this week.  It will also get you an extra entry into my giveaway at
the bottom of this post.    

Giveaway:
Once
again this is a US only giveaway, unless you are International and see a
book here you really want and would be willing to pay for the
difference in the shipping through Paypal or some other way.  This week
I’m upping the prize, you get to pick any two books from the pictures
below, as
long as they don’t get traded away, or picked by last week’s winner,
and I will pick a surprise book from the piles to add to your choice. 
Here are your choices:
   
  

Above are my 2018 ARCs

My 2017 ARCs 

Above are my 2014-2016 ARCs.

Once again I’m going to let you pick two, along with me throwing in a surprise third book!  Just enter the Rafflecopter below.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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10 responses to “Cleaning Up My TBR With a Giveaway (US Only) – Down the TBR Hole #16

  1. I haven't read any of the books in this weeks TBR list, so I can't give any input on these. I see Amal Unbound in your ARC piles and this is one of my must reads. Thanks for sharing!

    • You are right that it will be good to binge watch it now! Although there are a few seasons in the middle that almost made me quit, it's worth getting through them and going on. At least until this last season, I've got to go back and watch it! Thanks for visiting!

    • I'm kind of heartbroken about Supernatural, but since this year I haven't been watching, just recording and then not feeling like watching, I'm okay I guess. Good to see you're still joining in!

  2. I did a rewatch of Eureka while I had the flu in January. Love that show. Rewatching Supernatural from the beginning as background for when I'm reading.

    • I should totally do a rewatch of Eureka. I should have bought the seasons on DVD. Supernatural I just need to watch this final season, but I have a feeling I may not get around to my recordings until this summer. Thanks for stopping by!

  3. I love how, excepting one book, the only ones you kept were the ones that were tv series adaptions. I don't usually feel an inclination to read the books coming from series, but I think it's cool that other people do!

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