Cleaning Up My TBR With a Giveaway (US Only) – Down the TBR Hole #31

Posted July 20, 2019 by Lisa Mandina in giveaway / 14 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.  Although last week Reese’s Reviews did 20, so maybe I’ll try 20 this week?  I mean I have thousands of books to go through on my Goodreads TBR list.

1.   The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark:


I gasped, or tried to. My mouth opened, but I couldn’t draw breath.
His lips, pearly wet, parted and he blew into my mouth. My lungs
expanded beneath his weight. When I exhaled he sucked my breath in and
his weight turned from cold marble into warm living flesh.

Since accepting a teaching position at remote Fairwick
College in upstate New York, Callie McFay has experienced the same
disturbingly sensual dream every night: A mist enters her bedroom, then
takes the shape of a virile, seductive stranger who proceeds to ravish
her in the most toe-curling, wholly satisfying ways possible. Perhaps
these dreams are the result of her having written the bestselling book
The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers. Callie’s lifelong passion is the
intersection of lurid fairy tales and Gothic literature—which is why
she’s found herself at Fairwick’s renowned folklore department, living
in a once-stately Victorian house that, at first sight, seemed to call
her name.

But Callie soon realizes that her dreams are alarmingly
real. She has a demon lover—an incubus—and he will seduce her, pleasure
her, and eventually suck the very life from her. Then Callie makes
another startling discovery: Her incubus is not the only mythical
creature in Fairwick. As the tenured witches of the college and the
resident fairies in the surrounding woods prepare to cast out the demon,
Callie must accomplish something infinitely more difficult—banishing
this supernatural lover from her heart.
 

My thoughts:
Oooh, this one sounds like pretty unlike anything I’ve read. 

Verdict: Keep

2.  My Life as Laura:  How I Searched for Laura Ingalls Wilder and Found Myself by Kelly Kathleen Ferguson:

Kelly Kathleen Ferguson
needed to know-was connecting with her lifelong heroine the key to
knowing herself? She decided to find out. Kelly donned a prairie dress
and retraced the pioneer journey of Laura Ingalls Wilder. From Wisconsin
to Minnesota, South Dakota to Missouri, she explored Laura’s past and
her own. Part travelogue, part memoir and part social commentary, My
Life as Laura
shows how a relationship with a pioneer girl who lived in
little houses long ago can give a sense of purpose for today. Judy
Blunt, author of the national best seller Breaking Clean, says My Life
as Laura
is “Hilarious, perceptive and true, a homespun story as genuine
as the ones that inspired it.”

My thoughts:  
I read a book kind of like this, and I think it would be fun to go travel and see all the different places she lived.  But I don’t know that I’ll actually take the time to read this title.  I might be past this type of memoir for now.

Verdict:Toss

3.  Finding Fiona by Emily Ann Ward:

The victim of a brutal
attack, Fiona remembers little about her life until she meets someone
who claims to be from her past. He tells her that her parents were
killed for a human replication machine. He’s shocked to discover she’s
still alive since her body was found in the wreckage of the fire.

She
soon travels to her old home in New York to figure out what happened to
her and her family. She needs to find out who she is, but more
importantly, confront the men who killed her parents.

This coming-of-age scifi novella is full of mystery, action, and romance. It’s a perfect weekend read.
 

My thoughts:  
Hmm, not so original. 

Verdict: Toss

4.  Meany  by Peazy Monellon:

Six year old Jenny Barnes wakes up from night terrors only to find out that ghosts are real and there’s no such thing as safe.

She
lives in a two hundred year old farmhouse with her large family, but
they’re not alone. There’s a malevolent presence up in the attic and the
forest surrounding the farm is alive with folks who just won’t stay
dead. Worse is the fact that the cattle have developed a taste for
murder and are threatening to stampede. Well…that, and the fact that it
seems her own father is trying to kill her.

All Jenny wants is a
childhood–a few moments playing in the sunny yard with her sisters. To
get one, all she’ll have to do is survive.

And as Eddie, the one farmhand who’s on her side notes, “this old place is going over.”

Will anyone get out of there alive?

 

My thoughts:
Could be creepy.  Would probably make a good horror movie.  But doubt I’ll get around to it.

Verdict:Toss

5.   I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella:

I’ve lost it. 🙁 The
only thing in the world I wasn’t supposed to lose. My engagement ring.
It’s been in Magnus’s family for three generations. And now the very
same day his parents are coming, I’ve lost it. The very same day! Do not
hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive 🙂 !!

Poppy Wyatt has
never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish,
but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not
only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the
panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the
lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers!
Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find
her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s
owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back
and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his
personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable
turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives
through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations,
mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his
parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise
of her life.


  
My thoughts:
Love this author, and this one sounds like one I still need to read!

Verdict: Keep

6.  Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island by C.K. Volnek:

‘Twelve year-old Jack
Dahlgren must face his fears to save his family from the ancient evil
curse haunting Roanoke Island, stopping it before it destroys him.’

In
1587,121 colonists disappeared without a trace from Roanoke Island,
leaving behind not only unanswered questions, but a terrifying evil.

Life
on Roanoke Island, North Carolina isn’t what twelve year-old Jack
Dahlgren expected. Not only does Dad treat him like a baby, but Dad also
blames him for his little sister’s accident. And to top it off, no one
at school wants to get to know the new kid who lives in the ‘haunted
house’. Could things get any worse?

Jack’s about to find out it
can. Inside a mysterious cave on the bluff next to Jack’s new home, a
terrifying evil awaits—the very demon from the malevolent curse
surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the Lost Colony. Now, it’s
up to Jack to unravel the four-hundred year-old mystery and save his
family from the devil tormenting his island. With the help of an elusive
Giant Mastiff and new-found friend, Manny, a Native American healer,
Jack must discover what this monster is and find a way to put an end to
its eternal hatred. But can he defeat it, before it destroys him?

My thoughts:
Hmm, I am always curious about this mysterious bit of history.

Verdict:  Keep

7.  Glitch by Heather Anastasiu:

In the Community, there
is no more pain or war. Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity
clean of destructive emotions, and thoughts are replaced by a feed from
the Link network.

When Zoe starts to malfunction (or “glitch”),
she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. Any
anomalies must be immediately reported and repaired, but Zoe has a
secret so dark it will mean certain deactivation if she is caught: her
glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.

As Zoe
struggles to control her abilities and stay hidden, she meets other
glitchers including Max, who can disguise his appearance, and Adrien,
who has visions of the future. Both boys introduce Zoe to feelings that
are entirely new. Together, this growing band of glitchers must find a
way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community
before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.

In this action-packed debut, Glitch begins an exciting new young adult trilogy.

My thoughts:  
Hmm.  Kind of sounds good.  But also not sure if I’ll ever get around to it.

Verdict: Toss

 8.  Butter by Erin Jade Lange:

A lonely obese boy
everyone calls “Butter” is about to make history. He is going to eat
himself to death-live on the Internet-and everyone is invited to watch.
When he first makes the announcement online to his classmates, Butter
expects pity, insults, and possibly sheer indifference. What he gets are
morbid cheerleaders rallying around his deadly plan. Yet as their dark
encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. And that
feels good. But what happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline?
Can he live with the fallout if he doesn’t go through with his plans?

With
a deft hand, E.J. Lange allows readers to identify with both the
bullies and the bullied in this all-consuming look at one teen’s battle
with himself.

My thoughts:
While I still think I will read this one, it is in my school library, so I don’t think I need it on my Goodreads TBR to remember.

Verdict: Toss

9.  Archon by Sabrina Benulis:

Angels and demons do
battle for a girl possessed by the spirit of a powerful, dead angel in
this fabulous paranormal debut by Sabrina Benulis. Archon is
the first of the Books of Raziel, a truly fantastic and very hip new
take on heaven’s warriors that readers of the angelic novels of Danielle
Trussoni, Lauren Kate, Becca Fitzpatrick, and Alexandra Adornetto are
sure to adore. Archon is new wave urban fantasy, a tale of the
supernatural that brilliantly blends passion, obsession, horror, and
suspense in a way that will appeal to dark fantasy fans and paranormal
romance readers equally. Sabrina Benulis’s angels are creepy, sexy, and
totally awesome—and, like Anne Rice’s amoral, ambiguous, and addicting
vampires, they will seduce and terrify you at the same time.

My thoughts:
Sounds like too much of other things.  I also haven’t read a lot of angel stories lately, leaving those to my favorite authors like JLA.

Verdict:  Toss

10.  Bacterium by Nathan Pennington:

Their baby daughter
suffocates in their arms. A mysterious illness takes her life almost
instantly. Then, Derek Silverman and his wife find their city littered
with dead bodies. No survivors anywhere. For an unknown reason, only
they are alive.

Using an amateur radio, Derek tries to reach anyone who will answer him.

That is his biggest mistake.

The
perpetrators of the global pandemic receive the radio transmission and
dispatch killers. Almost too late, Derek and his wife realize an unknown
group caused this and will stop at nothing to kill them too.

They are now on the run for their lives in a human-less world.

My thoughts:
There was a time t his was what I read.  Now, don’t know that I’ll really want to read it.

Verdict: Toss

11.  Sugar Rush by Donna Kaufman:

Devil’s Food…Angel Cake…Red Velvet…Praline Crunch…Lemon Chiffon…
How’s a woman to choose?
Luckily, the members of the Cupcake Club are about to taste it all…

When
baker extraordinaire Leilani Trusdale left the bustle of New York City
for Georgia’s sleepy Sugarberry Island, she didn’t expect her past to
follow. Yet suddenly, her former boss, Baxter Dunne, aka Chef Hot Cakes,
the man who taught her everything pastry, wants to film his hit cooking
show in her tiny cupcakery. The same Chef Hot Cakes whose molten
chocolate brown eyes and sexy British accent made Lani’s mouth water and
her cheeks blush the color of raspberry filling – stirring all kinds of
kitchen gossip, much of which Lani wished was true…

Lani’s
friends are convinced that this time around, Baxter is the missing
ingredient in her recipe for happiness. But convincing Lani will be a
job for Baxter himself. And he’ll need more than black velvet frosting
to sweeten the deal…

Recipes included!

My thoughts:
The cover makes me hungry for a cupcake.  And it still sounds like one I’d want to read.

Verdict:  Keep

Final Thoughts:
Keeping three again this week out of the ten, still more gone than kept! Have really started unpacking.  Have a lot of books I’m going to take to Half Price bookstore.  Picture:

Once again you can see that I may have dropped some, but you can also see how many I’ve added during the week as well because I’m also pointing out how many books are on my Want to Read list on Goodreads each week.  This week, after taking these 7 off, I have 3,172 books listed now, and last week I ended with 3,170. I know I added some after looking at some Can’t Wait Wednesday Posts this week.

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 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:
 
 
 

2018 ARCs:

2017 ARCs:

I’m continuing to add in my early 2019 ARCs now.  You can pick one of your two choices from the picture below, the other book you pick needs to come from the pictures above.


Once again I’m going to let you pick two, along with me throwing in a surprise third book!  Just enter the Rafflecopter below.   Disclaimer:  Unfortunately, while I’ve only had it happen once, I’m going to have to make a statement like other giveaways I’ve seen on blogs that I am not responsible for lost mail. 

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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14 responses to “Cleaning Up My TBR With a Giveaway (US Only) – Down the TBR Hole #31

  1. I've never read a Sophie Kinsella novel before and have been wanting to for awhile. I see some books by KCP Loft that are high on my TBR, so thanks for the chance!

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