Stacking the Shelves #15!

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks! And audiobooks. Don’t forget audiobooks!

Once again I received a few too many books this week, but I’m looking forward to all of them!

NetGalley:

I never tire of Danielle Steel Novels.

Synopsis: In this riveting novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel, a gifted young woman must grapple with the legacy of a troubled childhood in order to pursue her dreams.

Antonia Adams is the product of a loveless marriage between a beautiful young model and an aristocrat. As a child, she is abandoned in the abyss that yawns between them, blamed by her mother, ignored by her father, and neglected by both. Unprotected and unloved, she learns that the only way to feel safe is to hide from the dangers around her, drawing as little attention as possible to herself, to be “invisible.”

In her isolation, books are her refuge and movies her escape. A day spent being carried away by an unforgettable film in a dark theater is her greatest thrill. Her love of the movies turns into a dream to become a screenwriter, and a summer job at a Hollywood studio. There, a famous British filmmaker notices her, and suddenly she can remain invisible no longer. He wants to put her in a movie and make her a star. It is a dazzling opportunity but a terrifying one, as it strips her of the camouflage that made her feel safe. She is suddenly thrust into the public eye—and even more so when they fall in love.

She will never let go of her true dream of becoming a filmmaker, though, and if she wants to make that leap, she will have to expose herself in ways she never has before. When tragedy strikes, she must decide whether she will remain center stage or become invisible again, where she feels safest. Will she face her demons, or run and hide?

In this extraordinary novel, Danielle Steel tells the story of a woman who must decide how high a price she is willing to pay to pursue her passion—and whether it is possible to stay true to herself while she does.

I have read and enjoyed the earlier books in this series, so I’m looking forward to this one!

Synopsis: Mia has had her whole life mapped out since she was 18. She’s supposed to follow up her math PhD with a research postdoc, but her 20-year tenure plan takes a surprise deviation when she’s forced to settle for a temporary teaching job at a small-town university.

It’s not easy adapting to rural life when you’re an inveterate city girl, but Mia tries to make the best of it until she can get the heck out of Podunk—er, Crowder, Texas. Things finally start to look up after a run-in with some terrifying local wildlife sends her careening into the arms of a sexy goat farmer/cheesemaker.

Mia finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Josh’s gruff cowboy charms, especially after she learns what lies behind the thick walls he’s built around his heart. The deeper their connection grows, the more Crowder starts to feel like home.

But Mia can’t afford to stay. Not unless she’s willing to give up on her dream—or trade it in for a new one.

ELEMENTARY ROMANTIC CALCULUS is a full-length standalone novel and the sixth book in the Chemistry Lessons series of contemporary romances featuring STEM heroines. Each book in the series focuses on a brand new couple with their own happily ever after and can be read in any order.

I requested A Little Christmas Spirit a while ago, and NetGalley approved me on its Publication Day!

Synopsis: Single mom Lexie Bell hopes to make this first Christmas in their new home special for her six-year-old son, Brock. Festive lights and homemade fudge, check. Friendly neighbors? Uh, no. The reclusive widower next door is more grinchy than nice. But maybe he just needs a reminder of what matters most. At least sharing some holiday cheer with him will distract her from her own lack of romance….

Stanley Mann lost his Christmas spirit when he lost his wife and he sees no point in looking for it. Until she shows up in his dreams and informs him it’s time to ditch his scroogey attitude. Stanley digs in his heels, but she’s determined to haunt him until he wakes up and rediscovers the joys of the season. He can start by being a little more neighborly to the single mom next door. In spite of his protests, he’s soon making snowmen and decorating Christmas trees. How will it all end?

Merrily, of course. A certain Christmas ghost is going to make sure of that!

Reputation just looked like fun. I don’t read many regency romances, but Reputation looks a bit different.

Synopsis: Bridgerton meets Gossip Girl with a dash of Jane Austen, in Reputation, a Regency-era historical romantic comedy with a deliciously feminist twist, from a hilarious new British voice, Lex Croucher.

Abandoned by her parents, bookish and sheltered Georgiana Ellers is spending the summer with her stodgy aunt and uncle at their home in the English countryside. At a particularly dull party, she meets the enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy member of the in-crowd who delights Georgiana with her disregard for so-called “polite society.”

Lonely and vulnerable, Georgiana quickly falls in with Frances and her wealthy, wild, and deeply improper friends, who introduce her to the upper echelons of Regency aristocracy, and a world of drunken debauchery, frivolous spending, and mysterious young men. One, in particular, stands out from the rest: Thomas Hawksley, who has a tendency to cross paths with Georgiana in her most embarrassing moments. Sparks fly, but Thomas seems unimpressed with the company she is keeping. And soon, Georgiana begins to wonder whether she’ll ever feel like she fits in––or if the price of entry into Frances’s gilded world will ultimately be higher than she is willing to pay.

Set against a backdrop of lavish parties, handsome men on horseback––and in a time when one’s reputation was everything––this edgy, hilarious romantic comedy explores sex, consent, belonging, and status through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine that Austen herself would have cheered for.

I saw the cover and it’s a cabin in the forest so I thought it would be fun.

Synopsis: Trish Doller’s The Suite Spot is a charming romance novel about taking a chance on a new life and a new love.

Rachel Beck has hit a brick wall. She’s a single mom, still living at home and trying to keep a dying relationship alive. Aside from her daughter, the one bright light in Rachel’s life is her job as the night reservations manager at a luxury hotel in Miami Beach—until the night she is fired for something she didn’t do.

On impulse, Rachel inquires about a management position at a brewery hotel on an island in Lake Erie called Kelleys Island. When she’s offered the job, Rachel packs up her daughter and makes the cross country move.

What she finds on Kelleys Island is Mason, a handsome, moody man who knows everything about brewing beer and nothing about running a hotel. Especially one that’s barely more than foundation and studs. It’s not the job Rachel was looking for, but Mason offers her a chance to help build a hotel—and rebuild her own life—from the ground up.

I like books set in Paris and the blurb sounded really interesting.

Synopsis: The ultimate escapist adventure in Paris, told with wit, style, and a touch of intrigue, by the popular and dynamic author of The Sweeney Sisters.

Joan Blakely had an unconventional childhood: the daughter of a globe-trotting supermodel and a world-famous artist. Her artist father died on 9/11, and Joan—an art historian by training—has spent more than a decade maintaining his legacy. Life in the art world is beginning to wear on her—and then one fateful afternoon her husband drops a bombshell: he’s fathered twins with another woman.

Furious but secretly pleased to have a reason to blow up her life, Joan impulsively decides to get out of town, booking a last-minute trip to Paris as an art courier: the person museums hire to fly valuable works of art to potential clients, discreetly stowed in their carry-on luggage. Sipping her champagne in business-class, she chats up her seatmate, Nate, a good-looking tech nerd who invites her to dinner in Paris. He doesn’t know she’s carrying drawings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But after a romantic dinner and an even more romantic night together, Joan wakes up next to her new lover to discover the drawings gone. Even more shocking is what’s been left in their place: a sketch from her father’s journals, which she thought had been lost when he died on 9/11, and a poem that reads like a treasure hunt.

With Nate as a sidekick, Joan will follow the clues all over Paris—from its grand cathedrals to the romantic bistros to the twisty side streets of Monmarte—hoping to recover the lost art, and her own sense of adventure. What she finds is even better than she’d expected.

Edelweiss:

A very rare approval from Edelweiss this week! I love a good ole family drama and this looks good!

Synopsis: An irresistible comedy of manners about three generations of a Chicago restaurant family and the private jokes, ancient grudges, broken hearts, and deep, abiding love that feeds them all. 

Here are the three things the Sullivan family knows to be true: The Chicago Cubs will always be the underdogs; historical progress is inevitable; and their grandfather, Bud, founder of JP Sullivan’s, will always make the best burgers in Oak Park. But when, over the course of three strange months, the Cubs win the World Series, Trump is elected president, and Bud drops dead, everyone in the family finds themselves suddenly doubting all they hold dear.

Take, for example: Gretchen, lead singer for a 90s cover band, who has been flirting with fame for a decade, but beginning to wonder if she’s too old to be chasing a childish dream. Or Jane, Gretchen’s older sister, whose husband has become obsessed with fitness, is suddenly working late, and hiding the screen of his phone. Is he having an affair? Would he be so obvious about it if he were? And Teddy, their steadfast, unfailingly good cousin, is nursing heartbreak and confusion—his boyfriend dumped him but keeps showing up for lunch at JP Sullivan’s, where Teddy is the manager. How can any of them be expected to make the right decisions when the world feels sideways—and the bartender at JP Sullivan’s makes such strong cocktails?

A novel both outrageously funny and perfectly timely, Marrying the Ketchups is a delicious confection by one of our most beloved authors.

Kindle Unlimited:

Saw reviews for this on @beinganne and @tessatalksbooks and it looked different but good, so I went to Kindle and downloaded it!

Synopsis: Bertrand is King of the Pigeons….

Unofficially. From his perch atop a gargoyle on Notre Dame cathedral, he surveys his kingdom. He sees Sylvie Cloutier, art lover and ex-antiques dealer, making dinner for her bullying husband Henri, trapped in their loveless marriage like a bird in a gilded cage. He sees security guard, hopeless romantic and bookworm Philippe Moreau cycling through the streets of Paris in his crumpled uniform, late (again) for his night shift at the museum.

When Sylvie begs her husband to let her go to work, he gets her a job as an evening cleaner at the Louvre. He thinks such a menial position will dispel any ideas about independence she might have, but his plan backfires when she falls in love with kind, gentle Philippe. They decide to run away together, but there’s a major problem: neither of them has any money.

One stormy night in the Louvre, the answer to their prayers falls into their lap… But is it really the solution, or just another, even bigger problem?

What follows is a romantic, wistful but madcap adventure through (and under) the city of lights, involving a stolen painting, an art heist in reverse, and Eric Cantona. Will love find a way?

The Library

I’ve had Shadow and Bone on hold from my library, and It came in this week. I don’t read YA, nor Fantasy, but this series has had so many good reviews I had to try it out.

Synopsis: Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

That’s all I have for this week. Have you read any of these books? What’s on your list to read? Comment below!