Friday Finds # ARCs 2016 Wrap up

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat .  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

I don’t intend on adding any more  ARCs  to my bookshelf this year so this is likely to be my final FF post for 2016 unless I go on a book buying spree or get some book gifts. Anyway, here are five books that I have acquired from NetGalley recently.

 My Husband the Stranger by Rebecca Done

A tragic accident.  A terrible injury.
And in a moment, the man you fell in love with is transformed into a total stranger.How would you cope? What would you do? Would you be strong enough to stay?
But what if you found out that it wasn’t an accident at all…?

 I liked Rebecca’s debut novel, This Secret We’re Keeping and that is why I decided to get her second book.

 

Here and Gone by Haylen Beck

It begins with a woman fleeing through Arizona with her kids in tow, trying to escape an abusive marriage. When she’s pulled over by an unsettling local sheriff, things soon go awry and she is taken into custody. Only when she gets to the station, her kids are gone. And then the cops start saying they never saw any kids with her, that if they’re gone than she must have done something with them…

Meanwhile, halfway across the country a man hears the frenzied news reports about the missing kids, which are eerily similar to events in his own past. As the clock ticks down on the search for the lost children, he too is drawn into the desperate fight for their return.

 

Lies by TM Logan

 WHAT IF YOUR WHOLE LIFE WAS BASED ON LIES?

When Joe Lynch sees his wife enter an underground car park in the middle of the day, he’s intrigued enough to follow her down.

And when he sees her in an angry altercation with family friend Ben, he naturally goes to her defence – and doesn’t for a minute believe the accusations Ben makes against her.It’s pure misfortune that, just as the clash becomes violent and Ben is knocked unconscious, Joe’s son has an asthma attack, and Joe has to take him to safety. It’s just that, when Joe comes back to check Ben’s OK, he’s disappeared. And that’s when Joe receives the first message …

 

If the Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss

In a North Carolina mountain town filled with moonshine and rotten husbands, Sadie Blue is only the latest girl to face a dead-end future at the mercy of a dangerous drunk. She’s been married to Roy Tupkin for fifteen days, and she knows now that she should have listened to the folks who said he was trouble. But when a stranger sweeps in and knocks the world off-kilter for everyone in town, Sadie begins to think there might be more to life than being Roy’s wife.

 

 

House of Silence by Sarah Barthel

Oak Park, Illinois, 1875. Isabelle Larkin’ s future like that of every young woman hinges upon her choice of husband. She delights her mother by becoming engaged to Gregory Gallagher, who is charismatic, politically ambitious, and publicly devoted. But Isabelle s visions of a happy, profitable match come to a halt when she witnesses her fiance commit a horrific crime and no one believes her.
Gregory denies all, and Isabelle s mother insists she marry as planned rather than drag them into scandal. Fearing for her life, Isabelle can think of only one escape: she feigns a mental breakdown that renders her mute, and is brought to Bellevue sanitarium. There she finds a friend in fellow patient Mary Todd Lincoln, committed after her husband s assassination.In this unlikely refuge, the women become allies, even as Isabelle maintains a veneer of madness for her own protection. But sooner or later, she must reclaim her voice. And if she uses it to expose the truth, Isabelle risks far more than she could ever imagine.

I received this copy book from the publisher. It is not a genre that I read (historical fiction) but I really liked the blurb.

Pending Requests on NetGalley

I have 6 pending requests on NetGalley. Out of the six, there are three books that I really hope I will get although I know that chances of getting approved are slim because of the popularity of the titles/authors. Still, a girl can dream.

The Break Down by B.A Paris

If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?

Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods and the woman who was killed. Since then she’s been forgetting everything. Where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby. What she can’t forget is the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt. Or the silent calls she’s receiving and the feeling that someone’s watching her…

Behind Closed Doors by B. A Paris has been nominated as one of the best thrillers of 2016. I read the book back in 2016 and recently reread the final chapter. I was so excited to see that the author has a second book. I hope that my request will be approved because it will take quite a while before the book is available here.

 

The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne

I was born two years into my mother’s captivity. She was three weeks shy of seventeen. If I had known then what I do now, things would have been a lot different. I wouldn’t have adored my father.’

When notorious child abductor – known as the Marsh King – escapes from a maximum security prison, Helena immediately suspects that she and her two young daughters are in danger.

No one, not even her husband, knows the truth about Helena’s past: they don’t know that she was born into captivity, that she had no contact with the outside world before the age of twelve – or that her father raised her to be a killer.And they don’t know that the Marsh King can survive and hunt in the wilderness better than anyone… except, perhaps his own daughter.

 

Rest in Power by Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin

On a February evening in 2012, in a small town in central Florida, seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin was walking home with candy and a soda in hand and talking on the phone with a friend when a fatal encounter with a gun-wielding neighborhood watchman ended his young life. The watchman was briefly detained by the police and released. Trayvon’s father tried to get answers from the police but was shut down and ignored. Trayvon’s mother was paralyzed by the news of her son’s death and lost in mourning, unable to leave her room for days. But in a matter of weeks, their son’s name would be spoken by President Obama, honored by professional athletes, and passionately discussed all over traditional and social media. And at the head of a growing nationwide campaign for justice were Trayvon’s parents, who—driven by their intense love for their lost son—discovered their voices, gathered allies, and launched a movement that would change the country. But who was Trayvon Martin, before he became, in death, an icon? And how did one black child’s death on a dark, rainy street in a small Florida town become the match that lit a civil rights crusade?

 

Okay so this is it for this year, no more requests…yeah, I hope so anyway but will see.

 

Have you added any books to your bookshelf this week? Have you read any of the books on my list? Let me know.

Happy Friday!

Friday Finds #November 11th

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat.  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

I added four eBooks to my TBR list this week. These are books that I really wanted to read but couldn’t get as ARCs. I saw Grisham’s book on NetGalley after it was shelved and no longer available. However, since I like all things Grisham, I had to wait for the release and get the book. I requested Jodi and Moretti’s books on NetGalley but didn’t get approved. Killing Kate by Alex Lake was a book that I decided to get since I enjoyed the first book by the author, After Anna. This is the first time that I am buying eBooks. It doesn’t feel the same as physical books but at least they are books that I am genuinely interested in reading.

 Source: Purchased

The Whistler by John Grisham

We expect our judges to be honest and wise. Their integrity and impartiality are the bedrock of the entire judicial system. We trust them to ensure fair trials, to protect the rights of all litigants, to punish those who do wrong, and to oversee the orderly and efficient flow of justice.
But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? It’s rare, but it happens.

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption. But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout U.S. history.

What’s the source of the ill-gotten gains? It seems the judge was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. The Coast Mafia financed the casino and is now helping itself to a sizable skim of each month’s cash. The judge is getting a cut and looking the other way. It’s a sweet deal: Everyone is making money. But now Greg wants to put a stop to it. His only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Greg files a complaint with the Board on Judicial Conduct, and the case is assigned to Lacy Stoltz, who immediately suspects that this one could be dangerous.

Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else

Small Great Things by Jodi Piccoult

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she’s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy’s counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other’s trust, and come to see that what they’ve been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti

Zoe Whittaker is living a charmed life. She is the beautiful young wife to handsome, charming Wall Street tycoon Henry Whittaker. She is a member of Manhattan’s social elite. She is on the board of one of the city’s most prestigious philanthropic organizations. She has a perfect Tribeca penthouse in the city and a gorgeous lake house in the country. The finest wine, the most up-to-date fashion, and the most luxurious vacations are all at her fingertips.

What no one knows is that five years ago, Zoe’s life was in danger. Back then, Zoe wasn’t Zoe at all. Now her secrets are coming back to haunt her. As the past and present collide, Zoe must decide who she can trust before she—whoever she is—vanishes completely.

Killing Kate by Alex Lake

A serial killer is stalking your home town.He has a type: all his victims look the same.

And they all look like you.

Kate returns from a post break-up holiday with her girlfriends to news of a serial killer in her home town – and his victims all look like her.

It could, of course, be a simple coincidence. Or maybe not.She becomes convinced she is being watched, followed even. Is she next? And could her mild-mannered ex-boyfriend really be a deranged murderer? Or is the truth something far more sinister?

 

Have you added any books to your bookshelf this week? Let me know.

 

Happy Friday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Finds #October 21st

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Jenn at Books and a BeatBooks and a Beat .  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

I added two books to my TBR list this week.

 Flawed by Cecilia Ahern

 You will be punished…

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found flawed.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where perfection is paramount and flaws lead to punishment. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.

I read Ps: I Love you by Ceclia Ahern sometime back and I enjoyed it. I was thrilled when it found this book at my favorite second-hand bookshop being sold at only one dollar.

 The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg

 In Afghanistan, a culture ruled almost entirely by men, the birth of a son is cause for celebration and the arrival of a daughter is often mourned as misfortune. A bacha posh (literally translated from Dari as “dressed up like a boy”) is a third kind of child – a girl temporarily raised as a boy and presented as such to the outside world. Jenny Nordberg, the reporter who broke the story of this phenomenon for the New York Times, constructs a powerful and moving account of those secretly living on the other side of a deeply segregated society where women have almost no rights and little freedom.

The Underground Girls of Kabul is anchored by vivid characters who bring this remarkable story to life: Azita, a female parliamentarian who sees no other choice but to turn her fourth daughter Mehran into a boy; Zahra, the tomboy teenager who struggles with puberty and refuses her parents’ attempts to turn her back into a girl; Shukria, now a married mother of three after living for twenty years as a man; and Nader, who prays with Shahed, the undercover female police officer, as they both remain in male disguise as adults.

At the heart of this emotional narrative is a new perspective on the extreme sacrifices of Afghan women and girls against the violent backdrop of America’s longest war. Divided into four parts, the book follows those born as the unwanted sex in Afghanistan, but who live as the socially favored gender through childhood and puberty, only to later be forced into marriage and childbirth. The Underground Girls of Kabul charts their dramatic life cycles, while examining our own history and the parallels to subversive actions of people who live under oppression everywhere

I got this book from a friend. The whole idea of women/girls growing up disguised as men/boys is shocking. I have never heard about that before this book. This is one book that I really can’t wait to read soon.

Have you read these books yet? And have you added any books to your bookshelf this week? Let me know.

 

Happy Friday!

 

 

Friday Finds #October 14th

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat.  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

I have been trying to read different genres. My usual genre is thrillers but this week; I have mixed it up a little bit by getting two books from different genres , YA and a folktale(not sure if the later is a genre). Here are my new finds:

 The Secrets We Kept by Lily Velez

One year. That’s how long it’s been since childhood sweethearts Sully Graham and Cadence Gilbertson broke up, since one adoption and one out-of-state move turned their worlds upside down.

Suddenly, Cadence is back in New York City, but something’s different about her. The light in her eyes, the music in her laughter, the warmth in her smile—all of those things have entirely vanished. In their place stand the makings of a girl Sully can’t even begin to recognize, much less understand.

Still, despite the collective history of heartbreak between them, he’s convinced he can win her trust again, and he’s committed to proving the invincibility of their love no matter what it takes.

But Cadence is quietly harboring secrets of her own. Dark secrets. Ugly secrets. Secrets that could break a person. And though broken herself and unbearably lonely, she’s determined to protect Sully from her terrible, biting truths. Even if it means locking him out of her life forever. The only problem is it seems her heart hasn’t quite received the memo. One glimpse of him is all it takes for her to trip into familiar (and, she’ll admit, addictive) feelings that threaten to all but consume her. Now her biggest fear is that her secrets will begin to slowly unravel one by one…long before Sully’s resolve ever does.

 The Killing Game by G. S Carol

Imagine you are having lunch at an exclusive restaurant, filled with Hollywood’s hottest stars.And a masked gunman walks in and takes everyone hostage.

You must bargain for your life against a twisted individual who knows everything about you.

He also has a bomb set to detonate if his heart rate changes.

If he dies. You die.You have four hours to stay alive.

What would you do?

 

The Hour of Daydreams by Renee Macalino Rutledge

 At a river near his home in the Philippine countryside, respected doctor Manolo Lualhati encounters the unthinkable—a young woman with wings. After several incredible visits, he coaxes her to stay behind—to quit flying to the stars with her sisters each night—so they can marry. Tala agrees, but soon finds herself grounded in a new life where she must negotiate Manolo’s parents’ well-intentioned scrutiny. As Tala tries to keep long-held family secrets from her new husband, Manolo begins questioning the gaps in her stories, and his suspicions push him even further from the truth. Weaving in the perspectives of Manolo’s parents, Tala’s siblings, and the all-seeing housekeeper, The Hour of Daydreams delves into contemporary issues of identity and trust in marriage, while exploring how myths can take root from the seeds of our most difficult truths.

Have you read these books yet? And have you added any books to your bookshelf this week? Let me know.

Happy Friday!

 

 

Friday Finds #September 23rd

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat .  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

 I only have three new additions to my TBR this week. All books are from NetGalley. My self-imposed ban from the site lasted for a week. I am still in control though. I mean;I got only three books (so far) this week, which is reasonable, right?

 Cruel Beautiful World by Caroline Leavitt

Set in the early 1970s against the specter of the Manson girls, when the peace and love movement begins to turn ugly, this is the story of a runaway teenager’s disappearance and her sister’s quest to discover the truth.

Caroline Leavitt is at her mesmerizing best in this haunting, nuanced portrait of love, sisters, and the impossible legacy of family.It’s 1969, and sixteen-year-old Lucy is about to run away with a much older man to live off the grid in rural Pennsylvania, a rash act that will have vicious repercussions for both her and her older sister, Charlotte. As Lucy’s default caretaker for most of their lives, Charlotte’s youth has been marked by the burden of responsibility, but never more so than when Lucy’s dream of a rural paradise turns into nightmare.

With gorgeous prose and indelible characters, Cruel Beautiful World examines the intricate, infinitesimal distance between seduction and love, loyalty and duty, and what happens when you’re responsible for things you can’t fix.

This book was recommended to me by Annie. You can read her review here.

 The Gossip by Jenny Holiday

 Dawn Hathaway is a realist. She’s not the smartest girl at Allenhurst College. She’s not the prettiest, either. So if she wants to be popular, she’ll need something else: power. What better way to get it than to start a gossip column in the campus newspaper? If she has to commit a few minor crimes in pursuit of the latest scoop, what’s the harm?

Arturo Perez loves being a campus cop. He knows Allenhurst’s nooks and crannies—and lately he’s been finding the campus gossip snooping into every one of them. He can’t deny that he enjoys bantering with the sassy schemer. But he also can’t shake the sense that there’s more going on with Dawn than meets the eye.When tragedy strikes and Dawn needs help, how far will Arturo go to protect her?

 The One that Got Away by Melissa Pimentel

Ruby and Ethan were perfect for each other. Until the day they suddenly weren’t.Ten years later, Ruby’s single, having spent the last decade focusing on her demanding career and hectic life in Manhattan. There’s barely time for a trip to England for her little sister’s wedding. And there’s certainly not time to think about seeing Ethan there for the first time in years.

But as the family frantically prepare for the big day, Ruby can’t help but wonder if she made the right choice all those years ago? Because there’s nothing like a wedding for stirring up the past. The last two books are not the usual kind of stuff that I read but I am in the mood for something lighter to give me a break from the  darkness of psychological thrillers.

Have you added any books to your bookshelf this week? Let me know.

Happy Friday!

Friday Finds #September 16th

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat.  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

 I only have three new additions to my TBR this week. The last two books are from NetGalley. I reached the 80% feedback ratio and figured that I deserved at least two new books before banning myself from the site for a while(I hope).

 The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984: the year a heat wave scorched Breathed, Ohio. The year he became friends with the devil.

Sal seems to appear out of nowhere – a bruised and tattered thirteen-year-old boy claiming to be the devil himself answering an invitation. Fielding Bliss, the son of a local prosecutor, brings him home where he’s welcomed into the Bliss family, assuming he’s a runaway from a nearby farm town.

When word spreads that the devil has come to Breathed, not everyone is happy to welcome this self-proclaimed fallen angel. Murmurs follow him and tensions rise, along with the temperatures as an unbearable heat wave rolls into town right along with him.

As strange accidents start to occur, riled by the feverish heat, some in the town start to believe that Sal is exactly who he claims to be.

While the Bliss family wrestles with their own personal demons, a fanatic drives the town to the brink of a catastrophe that will change this sleepy Ohio backwater forever.

Safe with me by K. L Slater

Thirteen years ago someone did something very bad to Anna. Now it’s her turn to get even …

Anna lives a solitary existence, taking solace in order and routine. Her only friend is the lonely old lady next door. She doesn’t like to let people to get too close – she knows how much damage they can do.

Then one ordinary day Anna witnesses a devastating road accident and recognises the driver as Carla, the woman who ruined her life all those years ago. Now it’s Anna’s chance to set things straight but her revenge needs to be executed carefully …

First she needs to get to know Liam, the man injured in the accident. She needs to follow the police investigation. She needs to watch Carla from the shadows…

But as Anna’s obsession with Carla escalates, her own secrets start to unravel. Is Carla really dangerous or does Anna need to worry about someone far closer to home?

 The Girl who stole the apple by Peter Tickler

Who can you trust?

Who wants you dead?
They’ll kill for what they think you have.

A little girl dressed in a Snow White costume walks into a shop and steals an apple . . . then the shop blows up. One of the staff, Maggie Rogers, is conveniently out of the shop when all this happens. Maggie turns out to have a past full of secrets and betrayal, and attracts the attention of the police as well as more sinister forces. Maggie and the little girl end up on the run, not knowing who’s on their side or even what their pursuers really want.

Then they seem to have reached the end of the line. Nowhere else to run, nowhere else to hide. Maggie and the little girl face a desperate struggle for survival.

Have you read these books yet? What did you think about it? And have you added any books to your bookshelf this week? Let me know.

 

Happy Friday!

 

 

Friday Finds #September 9th

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat.  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

 I only have two new additions to my TBR this week. These are books that I have been seeing around blogosphere and was lucky enough to get them.

All the Light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr

Larie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

It ends with us by Colleen Hoover

 Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up – she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, and maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, but Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan – her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.

Have you read these books yet? What did you think about them? And have you added any books to your bookshelf this week? Let me know.

 Happy Friday!

 

 

Friday Find: The Girls by Emma Cline

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat .  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

 I only have one new addition to my TBR this week. I have been seeing this book around and so when I saw on it NetGalley, I just had to request it. Luckily, my request was approved.

The Girls by Emma Cline

 California. The summer of 1969. In the dying days of a floundering counter-culture a young girl is unwittingly caught up in unthinkable violence, and a decision made at this moment, on the cusp of adulthood, will shape her life….

Evie Boyd is desperate to be noticed. In the summer of 1969, empty days stretch out under the California sun. The smell of honeysuckle thickens the air and the sidewalks radiate heat.

Until she sees them. The snatch of cold laughter. Hair, long and uncombed. Dirty dresses skimming the tops of thighs. Cheap rings like a second set of knuckles. The girls.

And at the centre, Russell. Russell and the ranch, down a long dirt track and deep in the hills. Incense and clumsily strummed chords. Rumours of sex, frenzied gatherings, teen runaways.

Was there a warning, a sign of things to come? Or is Evie already too enthralled by the girls to see that her life is about to be changed forever?

Have you read this book yet? What did you think about it? And have you added any books to your bookshelf this week? Let me know.

 

Happy Friday!

Friday Finds #July 29

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Books and a Beat.  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

Here are my new Finds:

I am really excited about my new books. I have been looking forward to reading the two and I finally have them with me.

Home Going by Yaa Gyasi

 Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and will live in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising children who will be sent abroad to be educated before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the empire. Esi, imprisoned beneath Effia in the Castle’s women’s dungeon and then shipped off on a boat bound for America, will be sold into slavery.

Stretching from the wars of Ghana to slavery and the Civil War in America, from the coal mines in the American South to the Great Migration to twentieth-century Harlem, Yaa Gyasi’s novel moves through histories and geographies.

 

The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah

 Memory is an albino woman languishing in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she has been convicted of murder. As part of her appeal, her lawyer insists that she write down what happened as she remembers it. As her story unfolds, Memory reveals that she has been tried and convicted for the murder of Lloyd Hendricks, her adopted father. But who was Lloyd Hendricks? Why does Memory feel no remorse for his death? And did everything happen exactly as she remembers?

 

How about you? Did you add any books to your bookshelf this week? Have you read of my new finds? Let me know.

 

Happy Friday!

 

 

Friday Finds

Friday Finds is a meme currently hosted by Books and a Beat.  This is an opportunity to share the books that you have recently found and added to your TBR.

An Interesting Purchase

This has been a really interesting week for me. I found a book that I have always wanted to read. It was being sold at a dollar by my favorite secondhand books vendor. I was really excited by the find considering that it’s a book that I have heard so much about. Oh I have heard about the mixed reviews but that doesn’t diminish just how excited I am about finding this book.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

Book Gifts

A colleague got my three books this week. It was such a wonderful surprise and I definitely can’t wait to read the books. I have always wanted to read Desert Flower by Waris Dirie and I am so happy that I finally got a copy of the book. Karen Kingsbury  is a new author to me so I hope to enjoy the two books.

 

Library Finds

So I mentioned that it has been an interesting week for me. First day back at the office and I visited the library (I have mentioned before that we have a library at my workplace). Browsing the bookshelves I picked two books based on the fact that I have enjoyed other books by the authors. My library picks included I am the Messenger  by Markus Zusak whose book, The Book Thief is one of my favorite books ever. I enjoyed Her Mother’s Hope and Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers and I look forward to reading Lineage of Grace which was my second pick.

So that makes it six new books added to my TBR this week.

How about you? Did you add any books to your bookshelf this week? Have you read of my new finds? Let me know.

 

Happy Friday!