Stacking the Shelves #83!

Posted April 1, 2023 by WendyW in Blogging, Book Blog Meme, bookblogger / 17 Comments

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and ReadingReality 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!


A few too many again, but my NetGalley ratio is still above 80%

NetGalley:

Publication Date: July 11, 2023

I’ve heard Kelly Rimmer is an excellent author of historical fiction.

Synopsis: For fans of fast-paced historical thrillers like Our Woman in Moscow and The Rose Code, Kelly Rimmer’s dramatic new novel follows two female SOE operatives whose lives will be determined by a double agent in their midst. 

For fans of Our Woman in Moscow and The Rose Code, [AUTHOR]’s fast-paced historical thriller follows two female undercover operatives whose lives are imperiled when a double agent joins their ranks. 

Twenty-five years after the end of the war, aging British secret operative Noah Ainsworth often thinks about the undercover SOE agent who saved his life when a mission went wrong during his perilous, exhilarating time in occupied France. A head injury sustained on his final operation has caused frustrating gaps in his memories—including information about the agent’s identity and whether she even survived the war.

Noah’s daughter Charlotte begins a search for answers. What she uncovers is the stories of Fleur and Chloe, two otherwise ordinary women who are called up for secret deployment in France in 1943. Taking enormous risks with scant training, information and resources, the women have no idea they’re at the mercy of a double agent.

As Charlotte’s search reveals long-overlooked clues about the traitor’s identity, unsettling hints point close to home, and mysteries are unraveled about the dangerous, dramatic last days of the war that lead to Chloe’s and Fleur’s shocking fates.

For fans of Our Woman in Moscow and The Rose Code, [AUTHOR]’s fast-paced historical thriller follows two female undercover operatives whose lives are imperiled when a double agent joins their ranks. 

Publication Date: September 5, 2023

I love books about travel and flying.

Synopsis: A sparkling and steamy opposites-attract romance, Fly with Me by Andie Burke is filled with sharp banter and that sweet, swooping feeling of finding “the one” when and where you least expect it.

A one-way ticket to love or a bumpy ride ahead?

Flying-phobic ER nurse Olive Murphy is still gripping the armrest from her first-ever take-off when the pilot announces an in-flight medical emergency. Olive leaps into action and saves a life, but ends up getting stuck in the airport hours away from the marathon she’s running in honor of her brother. Luckily for her, Stella Soriano, the stunning type A copilot, offers to give her a ride.

After the two spend a magical day together, Stella makes a surprising request: Will Olive be her fake girlfriend?

A video of Olive saving a life has gone viral and started generating big sales for Stella’s airline. Stella sees their union as the perfect opportunity to get to the boys’ club executives at her company who keep overlooking her for a long-deserved promotion. Realizing this arrangement could help her too, Olive dives into memorizing Stella’s comically comprehensive three-ring-binder guide to fake dating. As the two grow closer, what’s supposed to be a ruse feels more and more real. Could this be the romantic ride of their lives, or an epic crash and burn?

Publication Date: August 8, 2023

So much to love about this book. It’s about sisters and it’s set in California in the 60s.

Synopsis: Two sisters navigate the thrilling, euphoric early days of California surf culture in this dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and the tangled ties between mothers and daughters from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator’s Wife.

Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky a Go Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donnelly breaks the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport—and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of Carol’s unconventional lifestyle.

The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother’s absence—physically, when she’s at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she’s at home. To escape questions about Carol’s whereabouts—and to chase her elusive affection—they cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy is a natural, but Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water.

As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger’s relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and a USO tour in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger, desperate for a community of her own, is tugged into the dangerous counterculture of drugs and cults. But through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood.

A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to be Donna Reed, not Gidget, California Golden is an unforgettable novel about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously as the breaking waves.

I recently listened to Before I Go by Kennedy Ryan and loved it. so when I saw this on NetGalley I went and requested it.

Synopsis: From beloved, RITA-award-winning author Kennedy Ryan comes the first in her gripping All the King’s Men duology.

In a world of haves and have-nots, Maxim Cade’s family and their oil empire have it all…and he wants nothing to do with it. At odds with his mogul father, he’s determined to build his own empire, even if it means traveling far from home, painted as the black sheep.

Lennix Hunter is the exception to every one of Maxim’s rules. At a protest for the oil pipeline that threatens to mar her ancestral land forever, they meet in a flurry of stars and sparks, and that one moment changes everything. But Maxim’s family is the one stealing from hers, and his father is the man she hates most. He has to lie in order to have her once, and despite the truth, he’ll do anything to keep her.

Even though Lennix tries to hate Maxim, too, their hearts are pointed in the same direction. The inexorable pull between them, across miles and years, will not be denied.

And neither will Maxim.

I was in the mood for some fun magic!

Synopsis: From Paige Crutcher, the author of The Orphan Witch and The Lost Witch, comes a new tale about a witch, a book of magic, and a beguiling and powerful creature whom she must free, even if it puts her life and soul at stake.

Aline Weir, a witch who can talk to ghosts, has kept her talents hidden ever since a disastrous middle school slumber party. Ever since, Aline has chosen to be invisible and use her powers in secret to help lost souls reunite with the keys to send them home. All the while, she finds solace in a bookstore and the three mysterious women who run it… until Aline discovers The Book of Mischief, and her powers are enhanced.

Living a solitary life until the age of thirty-four, Aline’s life takes an unexpected turn when the wrong (or perhaps right) person witnesses her using her powers and she is invited to a town that doesn’t exist on any map. Arriving in Matchstick, Aline learns of a lost magic that desperately needs to be found and only her unique powers can do it. But what she’s not told is that Magic is a person. One that is dangerous and seductive and has been waiting for a witch with a power like hers for centuries. Magic must free himself and claim the power to gift it to The Supreme Witch, a being more beguiling, powerful and dangerous than he.

This is by a debut author and the start of a new historical cozy mystery series.

Synopsis: Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie in Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, a dazzling first entry in a terrific new Regency-era cozy series with a feminist spin.

When Lady Petra Forsyth’s fiancé and soulmate dies just weeks ahead of their wedding, she makes the shocking proclamation—in front of London’s loosest lips—that she will never remarry. A woman of independent means, Petra sees no reason to cede her wealth and freedom to any man now that the love of her life has passed, nor does she intend to become confined to her country home. Instead, she uses her title to gain access to elite spaces and enjoy the best of society without expectations.

But when ballroom gossip suggests that a longtime friend has died of “melancholia” while in the care of a questionable physician, Petra vows to use her status to dig deeper—uncovering a private asylum where men pay to have their wives and daughters locked away, or worse. Just as Lady Petra has reason to believe her friend is not dead, but a prisoner, her own headstrong actions and thirst for independence are used to put her own freedom in jeopardy

Edelweiss: None

Library Haul:

This is the third book in the Bromance Book Club, and I’m enjoying this series very much

Synopsis: Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, have shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts—her best friend, Noah Logan.

Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah’s got a secret: He’s madly in love with Alexis. When she asks for his help, he wonders if the timing will ever be right to confess his crush.

Noah’s pals in The Bromance Book Club are more than willing to share their beloved “manuals” to help him go from bud to boyfriend. But he must decide if telling the truth is worth risking the best friendship he’s ever had.

A hacktivist and a cat café owner decode the friend zone in this romantic comedy from the author of Undercover Bromance.

This is the second book in the Lady Sherlock series. I’m also enjoying this series very much.

Synopsis: The game is afoot as Charlotte Holmes returns in the atmospheric second novel in New York Times bestseller Sherry Thomas’s Victorian-set Lady Sherlock series.

Being shunned by Society gives Charlotte Holmes the time and freedom to put her extraordinary powers of deduction to good use. As “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective,” aided by the capable Mrs. Watson, she’s had great success helping with all manner of inquiries, but she’s not prepared for the new client who arrives at her Upper Baker Street office.

Lady Ingram, wife of Charlotte’s dear friend and benefactor, wants Sherlock Holmes to find her first love, who failed to show up at their annual rendezvous. Matters of loyalty and discretion aside, the case becomes even more personal for Charlotte as the missing man is none other than Myron Finch, her illegitimate half brother.

In the meanwhile, Charlotte wrestles with a surprising proposal of marriage, a mysterious stranger woos her sister Livia, and an unidentified body that.
surfaces where least expected. Charlotte’s investigative prowess is challenged as never before: Can she find her brother in time—or will he, too, end up as a nameless corpse somewhere in the belly of London?

Purchased (audible credit): None

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

17 responses to “Stacking the Shelves #83!

  1. California Golden looks gorgeous and I love the look of Act Like a Lady. I’d probably pick up The Paris Agent just for the cover. I hope the book lives up to it! Enjoy your new reads!

  2. Great picks, Wendy! Your NetGalley ratio is amazing. Mine is abysmal. I need to stop downloading for more than a year to get it near 80%.

  3. California Golden sounds great, and I like the sound of that cozy too!

    Hope you have an awesome weekend!

  4. Janette

    That’s an impressive collection of new ARCs to read. There definitely seems to be an explosion of cosy crime series set in Regency or Victorian times at the moment doesn’t there? I hope that you enjoy all of these.