So this is the last post for this feature for 2019!! I never expected this feature to be so popular when I started it so thank you for everyone who has taken part and voted! It is not the end of the feature so don’t panic! We have culled my TBR list a bit but we have other lists to cull! You guys always make me chuckle each week with your comments and your voting.
Well, last week was a bit of a close call. Clear winner but 3rd is tied….so obviously I have keep 4!
Ok, yes I know I was naughty again! But I promise to be good this week…..
What do I have to offer up this week?
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Goodreads
A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.
Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan..
But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?
A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1) by V.E. Schwab, Victoria Schwab
Goodreads
Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.
Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.
The Girl Before by Rena Olsen
Goodreads
In this powerful psychological suspense debut, when a woman’s life is shattered, she is faced with a devastating question: What if everything she thought was normal and good and true . . . wasn’t?
Clara Lawson is torn from her life in an instant. Without warning, her home is invaded by armed men, and she finds herself separated from her beloved husband and daughters. The last thing her husband yells to her is to say nothing.
In chapters that alternate between past and present, the novel slowly unpeels the layers of Clara’s fractured life.
We see her growing up, raised with her sisters by the stern Mama and Papa G, becoming a poised and educated young woman, falling desperately in love with the forbidden son of her adoptive parents.
We see her now, sequestered in an institution, questioned by men and women who call her a different name—Diana—and who accuse her husband of unspeakable crimes.
As recollections of her past collide with new revelations, Clara must question everything she thought she knew, to come to terms with the truth of her history and to summon the strength to navigate her future.
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
Goodreads
Also by this author: One by One
What should be a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in Ruth Ware’s suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted psychological thriller.
Leonora, known to some as Lee and others as Nora, is a reclusive crime writer, unwilling to leave her “nest” of an apartment unless it is absolutely necessary. When a friend she hasn’t seen or spoken to in years unexpectedly invites Nora (Lee?) to a weekend away in an eerie glass house deep in the English countryside, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip.
Forty-eight hours later, she wakes up in a hospital bed injured but alive, with the knowledge that someone is dead. Wondering not “what happened?” but “what have I done?”, Nora (Lee?) tries to piece together the events of the past weekend. Working to uncover secrets, reveal motives, and find answers, Nora (Lee?) must revisit parts of herself that she would much rather leave buried where they belong: in the past.
Molly's Game by Molly Bloom
Goodreads
Molly Bloom reveals how she built one of the most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker games in the world--an insider's story of excess and danger, glamour and greed.
In the late 2000s, Molly Bloom, a twentysomething petite brunette from Loveland Colorado, ran the highest stakes, most exclusive poker game Hollywood had ever seen--she was its mistress, its lion tamer, its agent, and its oxygen. Everyone wanted in, few were invited to play.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were won and lost at her table. Molly's game became the game for those in the know--celebrities, business moguls, and millionaires. Molly staged her games in palatial suites with beautiful views and exquisite amenities. She flew privately, dined at exclusive restaurants, hobnobbed with the heads of Hollywood studios, was courted by handsome leading men, and was privy to the world's most delicious gossip, until it all came crashing down around her.
Molly's Game is a behind the scenes look at Molly's game, the life she created, the life she lost, and what she learned in the process.
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
Goodreads
A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn't have prevented it. Could she?
In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh.
Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.
Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . . .
Wow! So how are you going to choose?!
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Until next time xxx
likeherdingcatsblog says
Have you not read I Let You Go? It’s superb. Bin the rest and get reading lovely.
Joanne - Portobello Book Blog says
I agree!
Zoé says
???
likeherdingcatsblog says
You won’t be sorry ?
Joanne - Portobello Book Blog says
You absolutely have to read I Let You Go. Such a clever book with twists and turns to make you gasp out loud!
Zoé says
Hope you voted for it! Can’t wait to see the results this week!! Thank you for commenting ❤️
Joanne - Portobello Book Blog says
I did ?
Zoé says
Yay! Looking forward to seeing the results!
sandys5 says
Many of these books are on my TBR pile also. I have only read Fangirl which was my first Rowell book and I enjoyed it. I ended up watching the movie of Molly’s Game as I heard the book wasn’t as good as the movie (isn’t that amazing).
Zoé says
I watched the film too which is why I wanted to read the book but I might give it a miss then…unless it’s voted lol
FictionFan says
Phew! So glad you’ve kept My Cousin Rachel! I haven’t read any of this week’s but I’ve enjoyed other Ruth Ware books so voted for it. Be careful the TBR doesn’t get too low though – you don’t want to run out of books… 😉
Zoé says
Ha ha I don’t think that will happen, it’s still in the 2000 so don’t worry ?