Showcase Sunday #9

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicki at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Its aim is to showcase our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders this week. 

Received:
"Poison Dance" by Livia Blackburn
I'm very much excited to read Livia's debut, Midnight Thief, a YA high fantasy that will be published next July. Livia recently contacted me to see if I'd be interested in reading her prequel novella while waiting for her debut. Um, yes I would! My understanding is that this prequel is told from the perspective of one of the secondary characters in the novel. 

Enders (Starters, #2) by Lissa Price

Many thanks to Kaye Publicity for providing me with the opportunity to review two of the company's upcoming YA novels. I read Starters way back towards the beginning of my blogging days (my review). It wasn't a perfect read for me and left me with a number of questions, but I still enjoyed the story and it left off with a killer cliffhanger. I'm definitely anxious to see how Callie's plight and her society's overall tensions between Starters and Enders gets resolved!

Control (Control, #1) by Lydia Kang

Again, thanks to Kaye Publicity. I hadn't actually heard of this book prior to receiving a review request. Apparently this is about teens who possess superior genes and are used for some sort of experimentation? I actually have high hopes for the scientific data here, as it appears that the author has a science background. If only more authors had a scientific background or at least thoroughly researched science before writing science fiction. Looking forward to this one!

Purchased:
World After (Angelfall, #2) by Susan Ee
I'm giving Penryn and Raffe another try here. Although I rated Angelfall pretty highly (my review), I don't think that I loved it quite as much as most other readers seem to have loved it. As time has gone by, I've become slightly more critical of it. And that really saddens me. I'm hoping that World After helps me really love and appreciate Ee's works.

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

A science fiction retelling of "Sleeping Beauty"? Political intrigue intermixed dystopian elements? Be still, my heart. Of course I'm going to be reading this one. It seems to have gotten pretty decent praise, too, at least according to Goodreads. And if the major complaint is that it's science fiction for those who don't like science fiction, well, that's no deterrent for me.

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Fifty cents at a library book sale for a (basically) new condition Sarah Dessen book? Don't mind if I do. I enjoyed but didn't love the only other Dessen book I've read (Just Listen), but I don't want to be too quick to judge her works, especially as I'm beginning to appreciate YA contemporary a bit more.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I've been meaning to buy myself a copy of this basically ever since I read it in high school. I really liked it when we read and discussed it in class, and it's just one of those classics that I'd prefer to have on my shelves for easy reading. Plus, this is the favorite book of one of my best friends but we haven't been able to have in-depth discussions on it since I don't remember too many details. I'm hoping to fix that soon.

The Burning Sky (The Burning Sky, #1) by Sherry Thomas

Rarely have I ever been this excited for a Kindle daily deal. Despite having been super excited to read this book for a while now, I blew this one opportunity to read an ARC of this and I just hadn't gotten around to requesting a copy from my library. And I I quite enjoyed this high fantasy featuring alternate universes and magic and cross-dressing.

The Governess Affair (Brothers Sinister, #0.5) by Courtney Milan & The Duchess War (Brothers Sinister, #1) by Courtney Milan

Renae of Respiring Thoughts had absolutely glowing reviews of the novella and first book within this series and even posted on Twitter that Kindle put both of these ebooks on sale (The Governess Affair was actually free). I've been meaning to read some historical romances for a while now, and I had heard good things about Milan even before Renae's reviews, so I decided to take the plunge and get these. Hopefully I can start reading them soon!

Borrowed:

Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell

Adult historical fiction, how I have missed you. After reading a few fantastic reviews, I immediately requested a copy from my library this summer. Then of course the hold came in while I was on vacation, and I was unable to get the copy before my hold expired. I'd forgotten about it for a while there, but I was reminded of it recently again. I've read a ridiculous amount of historical fiction recounting the Tudor Era, so it was refreshing focus on the earlier time period of Emma of Normandy. And I found this to be a very well done work.

The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil, #1) by Soman Chainani

One of my book-reading resolutions is to find some middle grade works that I adore. I've had a stigma against reading any books within this intended audience range basically since I started blogging, and I can't say I've read any middle grade books since I myself was a middle-grader. But this sounded so adorable. And spoiler alert: it is! I quite enjoyed reading this one overall. My review.

The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler

I realize how ridiculous it sounds when I say that I'm not really a fan of YA contemporary when I read at least one a month. I do think, however, that there's no better way to combat genre fiction weariness than to read a contemporary. I've also been trying to read contemps by well-known YA authors, so Ockler's been on my radar for a while now. I know everyone loved this one, but it didn't work out for me, unfortunately. 

Restless by William Boyd

Our December read for my work book club. We're branching out into genre fiction some here. My understanding is that this is an espionage thriller/mystery about a woman who was a Russian spy during World War II and her daughter, decades later, who uncovers her mother's past. Definitely a different sort of story than I normally read, so I'm eager to try this one out!

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

I've been waiting for a copy from my library for months. I'm not sure if this is indicative of readers of adult fiction or this is just an odd case, but I've noticed that my YA fiction releases seem to get to me faster than the few adult fiction releases I request. Anyway, I was very excited to read this historical fiction work about the last woman to be sentenced to public beheading in Iceland, back in the late 1800s.

Let me know what books you've recently acquired!