Macy's TBR Pile

This week we’re blogging about our TBR pile.

Hmm.. I have a to-be-read book case, but I do have it sort of narrowed down to some books I REALLY want to read next.

Of course, like Alyson, I continuously shuffle the books and replace and reposition the ones I’m most eager to read. That means as I read books and add them to my list on Random Ravings, you may or may not see these books being changed from TBR to read.

I’m currently reading two – The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin and The Devil and Miss Prym by Paolo Coelho. I keep setting aside Devil to read leisurely, but I’m going to just dive in and get it finished over the next week. Also, the AotP book club is about to tackle Adios to My Old Life by Caridad Ferrer. I haven’t bought it yet, but I’ll be starting it soon.

However, these are the five I’m eager to dive into:

Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey. First, it’s one of five nominees for a Horn Award. Big stuff. It’s the only fantasy book on the short list of Horn nominees. The cover is compelling, the premise is exciting.

Here’s a blurb from Amazon: "This double-narrative fantasy begins slowly but deepens into a potent and affecting story of struggle. First, a small farm boy begs a magician (healer) to help his mother through childbirth, but the magician's corrupt and leaves the baby on the floor and the mother dead. The baby is Sadima. Sadima grows up able to read animals' minds and eventually seeks the city, where she joins two intense young men: tempestuously abusive Somiss, madly trying to capture ancient languages of magic, and Franklin, serving Somiss with odd devotion. Somiss claims his work will restore banned magic and help the poor. In a second story line, a boy named Hahp is sent to a magician's academy where he's starved, abused and taught meditation. Only one boy will live to graduate as a wizard, and they're forbidden to help each other survive the filth and hunger. Some painful connections between the two narratives emerge, though key details-and the fates of Sadima and Hahp-wait for the sequel. Darkly resonant."

So what is it that strikes me? Maybe it’s the “darkly resonant” part. I could tell it would be dark just by the blurbs. And, well, I like dark stories. I like them to end well, but I don’t mind a good dose of dark on the way to the happier ending. I also thought it might be interesting to note that it’s a YA book.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. Okay, first, I have a thing for the Fae. I love stories about the Sidhe or fairies. I love the lore that surrounds them. I love the concept that they’ve been around forever and are very powerful, sexual beings. In Wicked Lovely, a royal fairy believes the female protagonist (a high school girl) is the one he’s supposed to marry in order to fulfill his power. But she can see him and she knows what he is and she’s been taught to be very afraid of the Fae. And as you can see, it sounds like a great deal of conflict ensues.

Here is a blurb about Wicked Lovely from Amazon: "Melissa Marr adds elegantly to the sub-genre of Urban Faery with this enticing, well-researched fantasy for teens … The romantic scenes are delicious. The fantasy of being pursued by two young men is alluring in itself, but when one is a pierced and tattooed sexy outsider and the other is a blindingly beautiful King of Faery, how much better can it get? Halfway through the book, I knew which characters I wanted to end up together, and that made me read greedily on. Readers will beg for a sequel."

….. Again, it’s YA.

The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose. This book grabbed me with its title. This is not a YA book. From a combo of various blurbs: “Rose delves into religious myth and past-life discovery. In present-day Rome, a terrorist bomb explosion triggers flashbacks of pre-Christian Italy in photographer Josh Ryder. Josh experiences the memories as Julius, a pagan priest defending the sacrosanct monuments of his gods and the life of his vestal virgin lover. Convinced these episodes aren't figments of his imagination, he enlists the aid of the Phoenix Foundation, a group that specializes in past-life research. Later, when he becomes involved in the unearthing of an ancient tomb—and experiences a connection with its long-buried resident—Josh realizes he has a chance to right a wrong that happened a millennium and a half ago.”

I’ve been looking for some new, good, not YA, Urban Fantasy since I’ve given up Anita Blake. (Frown.) I’m going to try Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden series. The first book in it is Ill Wind. The protagonist can control the weather, but she’s on the run for murder and doesn’t know who to trust. The book has gotten good reviews, so I’m adding it to the TBR pile and putting it pretty high on the list. It’s waiting for me now on my bed-side table.

This last one is the tough one. What to add in the fifth spot?

I'm going to go with one my neice recommended. It's Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, first of his Alex Rider series. Yep, this is YA. Fourteen year-old Alex is reluctantly and forcibly recruited to be a spy when his guardian (also a spy) is killed. Then, he's off on his first mission to thwart a Middle-Eastern terrorist who's targeted schools in a cold and calculating way.

Oh, wow. I've spent way too long on this. I need to go write so that I can go get started on this pile. Do you think there is any way I can tackle them all by Christmas?

Macy