Book Haul 6/4/2016

I got to go to the glorious Half Priced Book Sale today with my friends Leslie, her Fiance Aris, and the adorable tiny people they parent. Last year was my first year, so it was a little crazy for me, and I tried to have a system. I learned there's no good way to go about having a system at this sale. It's in a giant convention center, it's crowded, and people are coming at the tables from all different directions. So this year I went with a more reckless abandon approach. I think it worked out better for me. Instead of focusing on things to complete series I already have or what I just scoped out authors I've wanted to read, regardless of series. I think I have 17 books to discuss so this will take some time. I have 0 clue of where I'm going to put these new books.

Book Haul:

Goodreads Summary: Anne Rice continues her astonishing Vampire Chronicles in a new novel that begins where Blackwood Farm left off — and tells the story of Lestat’s quest for redemption, goodness, and the love of Rowan Mayfair.
Welcome back to Blackwood Farm. Here are all of the brilliantly conceived characters that make up the two worlds of vampires and witches: Mona Mayfair, who’s come to the farm to die and is brought into the realm of the undead; her uncle, Julian Mayfair, guardian of the family, determined to forever torment Lestat for what he has done to Mona; Rowan Mayfair, brilliant neurosurgeon and witch, who finds herself dangerously drawn to the all-powerful Lestat; her husband, Michael Curry, hero of the Mayfair Chronicles, who seeks Lestat’s help with the temporary madness of his wife; Ash Templeton, a 5,000-year-old Taltos who has taken Mona’s child; and Patsy, the country-western singer, who returns to avenge her death at the hands of her son, Quinn Blackwood. Delightfully, at the book’s center is the Vampire Lestat, once the epitome of evil, now pursuing the transformation set in motion with Memnoch the Devil. He struggles with his vampirism and yearns for goodness, purity and love, as he saves Patsy’s ghost from the dark realm of the Earthbound, uncovers the mystery of the Taltos and unselfishly decides the fate of his beloved Rowan Mayfair.

A story of love and loyalty, of the search for passion and promise, Blood Canticle is Anne Rice at her finest.

Goodreads Rating: 3.70 stars with over 18,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Paranormal, Vampires, Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural, Occult, American Literature

Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository

Initial Thoughts: The Vampire Chronicles is something that I've wanted to read forever. No seriously. Interview with the Vampire was one of my mom's favorite movies, and so I watched it all of the time growing up. I read Interview with the Vampire a while back, and when I got to the sale today, I just kept coming across tons and tons of Anne Rice books. So I picked up a bunch, and eventually I'll get around to reading the, I'm still missing a lot in this series, but I think I have a good start on it. I'm not going to do any Initial thoughts for the rest of the Anne Rice books, just the necessary information because all of the initial thoughts will be the same for them. 

Goodreads Summary: Memnoch the Devil (1995) is the fifth novel in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles series, following The Tale of the Body Thief. Some of the themes of this novel and in large part the title are re-borrowed from the old Irish gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer. In this story, Lestat is approached by the Devil and offered a job at his side.
Goodreads Rating: 3.72 stars with over 62,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Horror, Paranormal, Vampires, Fantasy, Fiction, Supernatural, Gothic
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: In her mesmerizing new novel, the author of The Vampire Chronicles and the saga of the Mayfair Witches demonstrates once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling and the creation of myth and magic. Here, in a magnificent tale of sorcery and the occult, she makes real for us a hitherto unexplored world of witchcraft.
At the center is the beautiful, unconquerable witch Merrick. She is a descendant of the gens de couleur libres, a society of New Orleans octoroons and quadroons steeped in the lore and ceremony of voodoo, who reigned in the shadowy world where African and French--the dark and the white--intermingled. Her ancestors are the great Mayfair Witches, of whom she knows nothing--and from whom she inherits the power and the magical knowledge of a Circe.

Into this exotic realm comes David Talbot--hero, storyteller, adventurer, almost-mortal vampire, a visitor from another dark realm. It is he who recounts Merrick's haunting tale--a tale that takes us from the New Orleans of past and present to the jungles of Guatemala, from the Maya ruins of a century ago to ancient civilizations not yet explored.

Anne Rice's richly told novel weaves an irresistible story of two worlds: the witches' world and the vampires' world, where magical powers and otherworldly fascinations are locked together in a dance of seduction, death, and rebirth.

Goodreads Rating: 3.70 with over 32,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Paranormal, Vampires, Fiction, Fantasy. Supernatural, Occult, Gothic 

Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force-a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.

Goodreads Rating: 3.97 stars with over 370,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Vampires, Supernatural, Gothic, Occult
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: Once a proud Senator in Imperial Rome, Marius is kidnapped and forced into that dark realm of blood, where he is made a protector of the Queen and King of the vampires --- in whom the core of the supernatural race resides. Through his eyes, we see the fall of pagan Rome to the Emperor Constantine, the horrific sack of the Eternal City at the hands of the Visigoths, and the vile aftermath of the Black Death. Ultimately restored by the beauty of the Renaissance, Marius becomes a painter, living dangerously yet happily among mortals, and giving his heart to the great master Botticelli, to the bewitching courtesan Bianca, and to the mysterious young apprentice Armand. But it is in the present day, deep in the jungle, when Marius will meet his fate seeking justice from the oldest vampires in the world

Goodreads Rating: 3.87 stars with over 26,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Paranormal, Vampire, Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural, Occult, Gothic

Get the book: Amazon, Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: For centuries, Lestat --- vampire-hero, enchanter, seducer of mortals --- has been a courted prince in the dark and flourishing universe of the living dead. Now Lestat is alone. And suddenly all his vampire rationale --- everything he has come to believe and feel safe with --- is called into question. In his overwhelming need to destroy his doubts and his loneliness, Lestat embarks on the most dangerous enterprise he has undertaken in all the danger-haunted years of his long existence

Goodreads Rating: 3.69 stars with over 67,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Paranormal, Vampire, Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural, Occult, Gothic

Get the book: Amazon, Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: Trisha McFarland is a plucky 9-year-old hiking with her brother and mom, who is grimly determined to give the kids a good time on their weekends together. Trisha's mom is recently divorced, and her brother is feuding with her for moving from Boston to small-town Maine, where classmates razz him. Trisha steps off the trail for a pee and a respite from the bickering. And gets lost.
Trisha's odyssey succeeds on several levels. King renders her consciousness of increasing peril beautifully, from the "first minnoy flutter of disquiet" in her guts to her into-the-wild tumbles to her descent into hallucinations, the nicest being her beloved Red Sox baseball pitcher Tom Gordon, whose exploits she listens to on her Walkman. The nature writing is accurate, tense, and sometimes lyrical, from the maddening whine of the no-see-um mosquito to the profound obbligato of the "Sub-audible" (Trisha's dad's term for nature's intimations of God).

Our identification with Trisha deepens as we learn about her loved ones: Dad, a dreamboat whose beer habit could sink him; loving but stubborn Mom; Trisha's best pal, Pepsi Robichaud, vividly evoked by her colorful sayings ("Don't go all GIRLY on me, McFarland!"). The personal associations triggered by a full moon, the running monologue with which she stays sane--we who have been lost in woods will recognize these things.

Goodreads Rating: 3.55 stars with over 93,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Fantasy, Mystery, Baseball, Adventure, Survival, Nature

Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository

Initial Thoughts: This is going to surprise some of you and make some of you incredibly sad, but The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is the only Stephen King book I've ever read. I'm not even saying that for shock factor. I read it years and years ago, probably when I was 12 or 13. I've wanted to read more Stephen King, but for whatever reason, I've just never made an attempt. 

Goodreads Summary: Stephen King's most gripping and unforgettable novel, Bag of Bones, is a story of grief and a lost love's enduring bonds, of a new love haunted by the secrets of the past, of an innocent child caught in a terrible crossfire.
Set in the Maine territory King has made mythic, Bag of Bones recounts the plight of forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, who is unable to stop grieving even four years after the sudden death of his wife, Jo, and who can no longer bear to face the blank screen of his word processor.

Now his nights are plagued by vivid nightmares of the house by the lake. Despite these dreams, or perhaps because of them, Mike finally returns to Sara Laughs, the Noonans' isolated summer home.

He finds his beloved Yankee town familiar on its surface but much changed underneath -- held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, who twists the very fabric of the community to his purpose: to take his three-year-old granddaughter away from her widowed young mother. As Mike is drawn into their struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations, ever-escalating nightmares, and the sudden recovery of his writing ability. What are the forces that have been unleashed here -- and what do they want of Mike Noonan?

As vivid and enthralling as King's most enduring works, Bag of Bones resonates with what Amy Tan calls "the witty and obsessive voice of King's powerful imagination." It's no secret that King is our most mesmerizing storyteller. In Bag of Bones -- described by Gloria Naylor as "a love story about the dark places within us all" -- he proves to be one of our most moving.

Goodreads Rating: 3.85 stars with over 121,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Fantasy, Paranormal, Suspense, Supernatural, Ghosts

Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository

Initial thoughts: I feel like if I'm going to start reading Stephen King, this is probably where I should start. There was a ton of King's books at the sale, which isn't surprising, but I figured I'd start slow, so I only got a few of his books.

Goodreads Summary: Four lifelong friends gather in the woods of western Maine for their annual hunting trip. When they were young, they were bound together forever by an act of bravery involving a fifth friend, whose influence has given these men special powers. Their trip is disrupted when a stranger, disoriented and delirious, wanders into camp, muttering about light in the sky. Before long, the friends find themselves pitted against an alien invasion and must draw on their old friend's strength once again to fight for their lives.
Goodreads Rating: 3.55 stars with over 107,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Horror, Fiction, Science Fiction
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Initial Thoughts: This is another one that I thought would be good to get me started on Stephen King books. I've seen the movie, and it creeps me out, so I figure the book will too. Of the three Stephen King books I got, this is probably the one I'm most excited to read.

Goodreads Summary: From the celebrated imagination of Dean Koontz comes a powerful reworking of one of the classic stories of all time. If you think you know the legend, you know only half the truth. Now the mesmerizing saga concludes. . . .
As a devastating hurricane approaches, as the benighted creations of Victor Helios begin to spin out of control, as New Orleans descends into chaos and the future of humanity hangs in the balance, the only hope rests with Victor's first, failed attempt to build the perfect human. Deucalion's centuries-old history began as the original manifestation of a soulless vision and it is fated to end in the ultimate confrontation between a damned creature and his mad creator. But first they must face a monstrosity not even Victor's malignant mind could have conceived an indestructible entity that steps out of humankind's collective nightmare with powers, and a purpose, beyond imagining.
Goodreads Rating: 4.00 stars with over 19,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Paranormal, Supernatural
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Initial Thoughts: Damn it.  That pretty much sums up my feelings right now. I was really really excited for this book, and then I started to do this blurb about it and found it it's the 3rd in a series. I do this every time I do a huge book haul like this. It's so hard for me to go with a list in hand because chances are those books aren't going to be there. I might see if I can find at least the first one on Readers Legacy for the amount of coins I have still.

Goodreads Summary: At the age of thirty-two, Richard the Lionheart has finally succeeded Henry II to the English throne. And, against his father's wishes, he intends to make Berengaria, daughter of the King of Navarre, his Queen. But first, he must fulfill his vow to his country to win back Jerusalem for the Christian world. Leaving England to begin his crusade, Richard's kingdom is left in the hands of his brother, John, who casts covetous eyes on the crown, and his sister, Joanna, who is willing to defy even a king.
Goodreads Rating: 3.86 stars with just over 500 ratings
Genre Listing: Historical Fiction, British Literature, Romance, Medival
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Initial Thoughts: Double Damn it. This is apparently another book that's in a series and is the 3rd book in a series. I really wish it was a law that if a book is in a series there has to be a number written on the spine or the books must be listed inside the books I'd be saved so much aggravation.

Goodreads Summary: Nineteen-year-old Emma Bau has been married only three weeks when Nazi tanks thunder into her native Poland. Within days Emma's husband, Jacob, is forced to disappear underground, leaving her imprisoned within the city's decrepit, moldering Jewish ghetto. But then, in the dead of night, the resistance smuggles her out. Taken to Krakow to live with Jacob's Catholic aunt, Krysia, Emma takes on a new identity as Anna Lipowski, a gentile. Emma's already precarious situation is complicated by her introduction to Kommandant Richwalder, a high-ranking Nazi official who hires her to work as his assistant. Urged by the resistance to use her position to access details of the Nazi occupation, Emma must compromise her safety—and her marriage vows—in order to help Jacob's cause. As the atrocities of war intensify, so does Emma's relationship with the Kommandant, building to a climax that will risk not only her double life but also the lives of those she loves.
Goodreads Rating: 3.91 stars with over 8,000 ratings
Genre listing: Historical Fiction, World War II, Romance, Adult Fiction
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Initial Thoughts: I think I have this one somewhere in the depths of my Kindle. I do know that I've wanted to read it for a while, but for whatever reason, I forget about it. This is a pretty common thing for me. Maybe now that it will be staring at me on my bookshelf, I'll actually read it.
Edit: Review of The Kommandant's Girl

Goodreads Summary: In Sunderland, England, a city quarantined by the cholera epidemic of 1831, a defiant, fifteen-year-old beauty in an elegant blue dress makes her way between shadow and lamp light. A potter's assistant by day and dress lodger by night, Gustine sells herself for necessity in a rented gown, scrimping to feed and protect her only love: her fragile baby boy. She holds a glimmer of hope after meeting Dr. Henry Chiver, a prisoner of his own dark past. But in a world where suspicion of medicine runs rampant like a fever, these two lost souls will become irrevocably linked, as each crosses lines between rich and destitute, decorum and abandon, damnation and salvation. By turns tender and horrifying, The Dress Lodger is a captivating historical thriller charged with a distinctly modern voice
Goodreads Rating: 3.56 stars with over 6,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Historical Fiction, British Literature, 19th Century, Mystery, Adult
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Initial Thoughts: Mmm Historical fiction. This just seems like it's going to be a very twisted read, and that makes me happy. I really enjoy the cover on this one. I'm hoping that it will be as good as my expectations of it are.

Goodreads Summary: Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, Emma is often seen as Jane Austen's most flawless work.
Goodreads Ratings: 3.98 stars with over 450,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Fiction, Romance, Classics, Historical Fiction, Literature, 19th Century
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Initial Thoughts: I uploaded a picture of this book because I really love the cover. That's honestly why I bought it. I know I should read Jane Austin, but I have such a hard time getting through classics that I haven't yet. I'm pretty sure I have a bunch on my kindle, but I just loved this cover so much I couldn't pass it up.

Goodreads Summary: From the award-winning author of A Rose for the Crown,Daughter of York, and The King's Grace comes another masterful historical novel—the story of Cecily of York, mother of two kings and the heroine of one of the history's greatest love stories.
Anne Easter Smith's novels are beloved by readers for their ability "to grab you, sweep you along with the story, and make you fall in love with the characters." In Cecily Neville, duchess of York and ancestor of every English monarch to the present day, she has found her most engrossing character yet.

History remembers Cecily of York standing on the steps of the Market Cross at Ludlow, facing an attacking army while holding the hands of her two young sons. Queen by Right reveals how she came to step into her destiny, beginning with her marriage to Richard, duke of York, whom she meets when she is nine and he is thirteen. Raised together in her father's household, they become a true love match and together face personal tragedies, pivotal events of history, and deadly political intrigue. All of England knows that Richard has a clear claim to the throne, and when King Henry VI becomes unfit to rule, Cecily must put aside her hopes and fears and help her husband decide what is right for their family and their country. Queen by Right marks Anne Easter Smith's greatest achievement, a book that every fan of sweeping, exquisitely detailed historical fiction will devour.
Goodreads Rating: 3.99 Stars with over 2,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Historical Fiction, British Literature, Medival, Romance, Adult
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Link to Review: Review of Queen by Right
Initial Thoughts: Historical Fiction? Check. Romance? Check. Fight for the throne? Check Check Check. I'm ready to devour this right now, but it's going to be a bit before I can read it. I'm in the middle of a book now and have promised an author I'd read their book soon. It'll be my reading precious soon, though.

Goodreads Summary: 

A New York Times Bestseller
A decade after the publication of this hugely popular international bestseller, Picador releases the tenth-anniversary edition of The Red Tent.

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that tell of her father, Jacob, and his twelve sons.

Told in Dinah's voice, Anita Diamant imagines the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of the mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through childhood, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past.

Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's lives
Goodreads Rating: 4.15 stars with over 410,000 ratings
Genre Listing: Historical Fiction, Religion, Book Club, Fiction
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Initial Thoughts: I read this a while back and loved it. It's been on my mind lately, so when I saw it, I knew I would have to get it to read it again. I highly recommend it.

Goodreads Summary: We have all heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty ... and what curses accompanied Cinderella's looks?
Set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, been wantingConfessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household -- and the treacherous truth of her former life.Goodreads Rating: 3.51 stars with over 49,000 ratings
Genre listing: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Historical Fiction, Retellings
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Initial Thowanted I've this one for so long. I loved Wicked and have been meaning to get more Gregory Maguire books in my life. This is probably one of the books I'm most excited for.I'm hoping I can get a hold of more of his retellings.