I was recently looking at my bookshelves and realized that there are a few books that I either don’t know anything about or I have had so long that I’m not sure if I still want to read them. I thought this would be the perfect tag to do to see if I can eliminate any of them from my shelves. So, I’m going to read the first chapter of these five books and then tell you my thoughts on them.

Isabel Dalhousie is back, in the latest installment of this enchanting, already beloved, best-selling series.

In addition to being the nosiest and most sympathetic philosopher you are likely to meet, Isabel is now a mother. Charlies, her newborn son, presents her with a myriad wonders of a new life, and doting father Jamie presents her with an intriguing proposal: marriage. In the midst of all this, she receives a disturbing letter announcing that she has been ousted as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics by the ambitious Professor Dove.

None of these things, however, in any way diminshes Isabel’s curiosity. And when she attends an art auction, she finds an irresistible puzzle: two paintings attributed to a now-deceased artist appear on the market at the same time, and both of them exhibit some unusual characteristics. Are these paintings forgeries? This proves to be sufficient fodder for Isabel’s inquisitiveness. So she begins an investigation… and soon finds herself diverging from her philosophical musings about fatherhood onto a path that leads her into the mysteries of the art world and the soul of an artist.

Goodreads

Oh boy. This book is definitely not for me and I’m so happy that I got to try it out and now  I don’t feel bad about passing it on. This is also a fourth book in a series so that may have something to do with me not connecting with it right away. Either way I am happy to pass it on and give someone else the chance to read this.

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

BRIEFING NOTE: Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.  

Goodreads

I’m pretty torn about this one. A part of me really wants to read it but another part of me knows that I’m not going to pick it up anytime soon so I should just let it go. But I’m so interested in the format of the story that I am leaning toward keeping it. I think this will end up being a situation where I decide based on a gut feeling when I go to donate the books.

For centuries, treasure hunters have been eager to possess the stones, undeterred by their corrupting nature. The list is long — Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, to name a few. Now the Stones have found their way to Salem, Massachusetts, and so has Gerwulf Grimoire, adding himself to this rogues’ gallery of power seekers. He’s an uncommonly dangerous man, with a hunger for the forbidden, and a set of abilities that are way beyond ordinary. Abilities that he feels entitle him to possess anything he might desire.

That would include Elizabeth Tucker, the woman he needs to find the Stones. She’s freshly transplanted from New York City to Boston’s North Shore. With a new job as pastry chef at Dazzle’s bakery and an old house inherited from her Aunt Ophelia, her life is pretty much on track …until it’s suddenly derailed by a guy named Diesel, a rude monkey, and a ninja cat.

Lizzy can handle the monkey and the cat. She’s not sure about Diesel. He’s offering up his own set of unusual talents, promising to protect her from Grimoire. The kind of protection that Lizzy suspects might involve guarding her body day and night.

The Seven Deadly Sins are pride, greed, lust, envy wrath, sloth and gluttony. That pretty much covers everything that is wicked. Diesel thinks it also pretty much covers everything that’s fun. And Lizzy thinks Diesel and the Seven Deadly Sins cover everything her mother warned her about.

Goodreads

This is not a particularly great book. However, it is a cozy mystery with a baking element which is my absolute favorite sub genre. I could read this and probably rate it three stars but do I want to invest that time when I have so many other things that I want to read. I’m leaning toward no.

Astrid Jones desperately wants to confide in someone, but her mother’s pushiness and her father’s lack of interest tell her they’re the last people she can trust. Instead, Astrid spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn’t know the passengers inside, but they’re the only people who won’t judge her when she asks them her most personal questions–like what it means that she’s falling in love with a girl.

As her secret relationship becomes more intense and her friends demand answers, Astrid has nowhere left to turn. She can’t share the truth with anyone except the people at thirty thousand feet, and they don’t even know she’s there. But little does Astrid know just how much even the tiniest connection will affect these strangers’ lives–and her own–for the better.

In this truly original portrayal of a girl struggling to break free of society’s definitions, Printz Honor author A.S. King asks readers to question everything–and offers hope to those who will never stop seeking real love.

Goodreads

This just seems like a pretty typical YA contemporary centered around the main character figuring out her sexuality. I have heard great things about this book and I think it will appeal to a lot of people. I haven’t been reading much YA the last few years so I think I am going to send this book to my sister. I feel like she will get more out of this than I will.

It seemed to June that she had the perfect marriage until the day Ronald Pruett was arrested for the murder of Vernay Hanks. Through her job at an elementary school, June knew both the victim’s child and Pruett. Moreover, on the day of the murder, she had almost taken a ride from Pruett herself. This connection with the murder becomes an obsession – leading June into a deceitful and increasingly complicated relationship with the dead woman’s brother and her child. Pretending to have been a friend of the victim, June inserts herself into their lives – and through this deception, soon discovers some disturbing things about her marriage and herself.

Sharp and full of unsettling twists, Twenty Questions is a gripping story that speaks of violence and betrayal, feminism, and reinvention. Above all, it speaks of the human condition to resurrect itself, whatever the cost.

Goodreads

I really didn’t like the first chapter of this one. The premise sounds right up my alley but I couldn’t connect with the story at all. I think it may have been the writing style but I was pretty bored reading it which is odd because it starts out with the main character reading about the murder of Vernay and her reaction to it. Hopefully the next person to own this book likes it more than I did.

To sum up I am only (maybe) keeping one book out of the five. I feel pretty good about unhauling some books from my shelves and I will probably re do this tag next month. I have more books than I want on my unread shelf so this is a great way of weeding out the ones I no longer want to read.

~Cassie