In a concerted effort to start off 2016 on the right literary note (or, y’know, because I just happened to pass by a huge library), I borrowed a whopping six books on the last day of 2015 for the biggest library haul in quite a while.
[…] the Song of the Lioness quartet is the adventurous story of one girl’s journey to overcome the obstacles facing her, become a valiant knight, and save Tortall from conquest. Alanna douses her female identity to begin her training in Alanna: The First Adventure, and when she gains squire status in In the Hand of the Goddess, her growing abilities make her a few friends — and many enemies. Books 3 and 4 complete Alanna’s adventure and secure her legend, with the new knight errant taking on desert tribesmen in The Woman Who Rides like a Man and seeking out the powerful Dominion Jewel in Lioness Rampant.
One of the last books I read last year was Tamora Pierce’s Wild Magic and, while it wasn’t perfect, I liked it enough to name it as one of my favourites for 2015. I read on Gillianberry’s Literary PSA, though, that this series wasn’t the best to start the whole saga with and therefore decided to delay looking for Wild Magic‘s sequel until I’ve finished the first quartet…
…which, lo and behold, I found at the library! All four books, all in pristine condition! I’m guessing January will be Tamora Pierce month for me.
Meet the Cooke family. Our narrator is Rosemary Cooke. As a child, she never stopped talking; as a young woman, she has wrapped herself in silence: the silence of intentional forgetting, of protective cover. Something happened, something so awful she has buried it in the recesses of her mind.
Now her adored older brother is a fugitive, wanted by the FBI for domestic terrorism. And her once lively mother is a shell of her former self, her clever and imperious father now a distant, brooding man.
And Fern, Rosemary’s beloved sister, her accomplice in all their childhood mischief? Fern’s is a fate the family, in all their innocence, could never have imagined.
This has been sitting on my TBR for the longest time, so long that I can’t even remember when or why I placed it there. Still, this is the first time I’ve seen it at a library (previous sightings were all at bookstores) and it was in mint condition so of course it had to go in the stack.
An untested young princess must claim her throne, learn to become a queen, and combat a malevolent sorceress in an epic battle between light and darkness in this spectacular debut—the first novel in a trilogy.
Young Kelsea Raleigh was raised in hiding after the death of her mother, Queen Elyssa, far from the intrigues of the royal Keep and in the care of two devoted servants who pledged their lives to protect her. Growing up in a cottage deep in the woods, Kelsea knows little of her kingdom’s haunted past . . . or that its fate will soon rest in her hands.
Long ago, Kelsea’s forefathers sailed away from a decaying world to establish a new land free of modern technology. Three hundred years later, this feudal society has divided into three fearful nations who pay duties to a fourth: the powerful Mortmesne, ruled by the cunning Red Queen. Now, on Kelsea’s nineteenth birthday, the tattered remnants of the Queen’s Guard—loyal soldiers who protect the throne—have appeared to escort the princess on a perilous journey to the capital to ascend to her rightful place as the new Queen of the Tearling.
Though born of royal blood and in possession of the Tear sapphire, a jewel of immense power and magic, Kelsea has never felt more uncertain of her ability to rule. But the shocking evil she discovers in the heart of her realm will precipitate an act of immense daring, throwing the entire kingdom into turmoil—and unleashing the Red Queen’s vengeance. A cabal of enemies with an array of deadly weapons, from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic, plots to destroy her. But Kelsea is growing in strength and stealth, her steely resolve earning her loyal allies, including the Queen’s Guard, led by the enigmatic Lazarus, and the intriguing outlaw known simply as “the Fetch.”
Kelsea’s quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun. Riddled with mysteries, betrayals, and treacherous battles, Kelsea’s journey is a trial by fire that will either forge a legend . . . or destroy her.
That is perhaps the longest blurb I’ve ever seen on Goodreads.
Like We Are All… above this, I cannot remember why I placed this on my TBR, although I do know that it was a much more recent addition. Still, when I came across this at the library, I found the name familiar enough that I grabbed it before I realised that it was actually on the list. I guess some books are just meant to be.
This book will definitely be the last on this list to be read, though, since it’s the start of a new series and I’m not going to put off another sequel to finish other books (i.e. the above ones) first.
The Great Gabsby 
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