Once again, I’m joining in with Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews and Marlene of Reading Reality for Stacking Shelves, where you share the real and virtual books you have added to your shelves in the last week.

This is the first time I’ve joined in a for a few weeks what with my holiday and then last week suddenly finding I had been approved for Netgalley books I hadn’t remembered requested (I was obviously having a click happy moment right before I went away).

I felt a bit overwhelmed as I’d also made a long overdue trip to the library to change out my books and I wasn’t quite sure where to start with reading.  Thankfully, I have now got everything organised by dates due back or for review and am feeling nice and in control again, though I am on a self-imposed Netgalley ban till I get the list down a bit.  So, without further rambling, here’s what I got, starting with the Netgalley books…

First up is the next in a series I recently rediscovered and am excited to be jumping back into

When Minneapolis homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are called to a crime scene in a heavily wooded city park, everything about the setting is all too familiar. And when they discover a playing card on the victim’s body, their worst fears are confirmed there s a serial killer operating in the city for the first time in years.

Across town, Grace MacBride and her unconventional partners at Monkeewrench Software find themselves at both personal and career crossroads. Weary of the darker side of their computer work for law enforcement, they agree to take on a private missing-persons case in a small farming community in southwestern Minnesota.

As the violence accelerates in Minneapolis, Magozzi and Gino soon realize their killer is planning to complete the deck, and they enlist Monkeewrench to help stop the rampage. As a baffling tangle of evidence accumulates, the cops and Monkeewrench make the unlikely connections among a farmer s missing daughter, a serial killer, and a decades-old stabbing that brings them face-to-face with pure evil.

Release date: 24th August, 2017

Find on: Amazon UK / Amazon US / Goodreads

Alison Weir’s latest look at the queens of England is next.  I have already read other books on the subject and I love how strong these women were in a time when men ruled the world.

The story of England’s medieval queens is vivid and stirring, packed with tragedy, high drama and even comedy. It is a chronicle of love, murder, war and betrayal, filled with passion, intrigue and sorrow, peopled by a cast of heroines, villains, stateswomen and lovers. In the first volume of this epic new series, Alison Weir strips away centuries of romantic mythology and prejudice to reveal the lives of England’s queens in the century after the Norman Conquest.

Beginning with Matilda of Flanders, who supported William the Conqueror in his invasion of England in 1066, and culminating in the turbulent life of the Empress Maud, who claimed to be queen of England in her own right and fought a bitter war to that end, the five Norman queens emerge as hugely influential figures and fascinating characters.

Much more than a series of individual biographies, Queens of the Conquest is a seamless tale of interconnected lives and a rich portrait of English history in a time of flux. In Alison Weir’s hands these five extraordinary women reclaim their rightful roles at the centre of English history.

Release date: 28th September, 2017

Find on: Amazon UK / Amazon US / Goodreads

Then there is a collection of short stories, which I love reading.

A raucous collection of short stories from the astonishingly inventive and bestselling writer of The Harder They Come and The Terranauts

While T. C. Boyle is known as one of our greatest American novelists, he is also an acknowledged master of the short story. In The Relive Box, his first collection following two hugely influential collected volumes, Boyle’s crackling wit and thematic range combine with a penetrating social consciousness to produce his trademark “inventive and often crushingly comic” (NPR) short fiction.

From the title story, featuring a so-called relive box that allows users to experience anew almost any moment from their past, to “The Five-Pound Burrito,” the tale of a man aiming to build the biggest burrito in town, the twelve stories in this collection represent a whole new way of looking at the world from one of the best storytellers at work today.

The Relive Box is an exuberant, linguistically dazzling book from someone the Boston Globe has said is “such a good storyteller it will probably take, as in Alice Munro’s case, the Nobel Prize or retirement for us to realize what tremendous talent has lain right in front of our noses.

Release date: 5th October, 2017

Find on: Amazon UK / Amazon US / Goodreads

The, finally, is a book that takes me back to my comfort zone.

When child psychologist Imogen Reid takes on the case of 11-year-old Ellie Atkinson, she refuses to listen to warnings that the girl is dangerous.

Ellie was the only survivor of a fire that killed her family. Imogen is convinced she’s just a sad and angry child struggling to cope with her loss.

But Ellie’s foster parents and teachers are starting to fear her. When she gets upset, bad things seem to happen. And as Imogen gets closer to Ellie, she may be putting herself in danger…

Release date: 21st September, 2017

Find on: Amazon UK / Amazon US / Goodreads

Then add to this the books I got from the library this week – which I have decided to share just the covers of for risk of sending you all to sleep with six more overviews.  Clicking on the links will take you to Goodreads for more information.

   

And that’s it…not many books right?  Now just need to decide where to start – what do you think?

Emma