Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Bookending Spring 2020: Knock Offs



It's April 1st people, which means the awesomeness called Bookending Spring has just started. The timing of this couldn't be better, since we need a distraction from the quarantine. If you need more information about this event go to Sam's blog, check out the rules, the prompt hosts, and sign up! Let's start!

The first prompt is offered by Sam and it's all about the books we want to read this spring.

Old books creating cobwebs and dust on your TBR? Create a list of backlists books you are attempting to finally get off your TBR this spring!
We know I have a lot of books on my TBR, but what with the social distancing (which is a term I hate, let me just say this right now) I feel like it's now or never. And yes, I did sing that in my head. I will only include backlist books that I have on my physical shelves, otherwise I would never finish this post.

A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister, Scarlett, from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice, but now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever...

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . the games have only just begun.
I utterly adored Caraval, so I feel like I need Legendary to pass the time. I also have Finale, so I think I'll just binge read this trilogy this week.


Lord Alaric Wilde, son of the Duke of Lindow, is the most celebrated man in England, revered for his dangerous adventures and rakish good looks. Arriving home from years abroad, he has no idea of his own celebrity until his boat is met by mobs of screaming ladies. Alaric escapes to his father’s castle, but just as he grasps that he’s not only famous but notorious, he encounters the very private, very witty, Miss Willa Ffynche.

Willa presents the façade of a serene young lady to the world. Her love of books and bawdy jokes is purely for the delight of her intimate friends. She wants nothing to do with a man whose private life is splashed over every newspaper.

Alaric has never met a woman he wanted for his own . . . until he meets Willa. He’s never lost a battle.

But a spirited woman like Willa isn’t going to make it easy. . . .
I'm utterly in love with historical romance, and I need to start my journey properly. I only just read the fourth book in this series, but I think this is a good place to start. Plus, the fifth book comes out in May, and a binge read of the series before the next one comes out seems like a good way to pass the time.


The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
I've started this book probably three times already, and it's only the size of it that stops me from reading it to the end. It's not that I don't enjoy it, because I remember I flew through the first hundred pages, but the size has always scared me. I have no excuse now not to sit down and properly read this book.

Steven Erikson returns to the Malazan world with the first book in a dark and revelatory new epic fantasy that tells the tragic story of ruin of a realm.

This is the story of the early years of Anomander Rake, and his brothers, Andarist and Silchas Ruin.

It is a tale that begins within the Age of Darkness and the Birth of Light and involves the forging of a sword unlike any other, and tells of the tragedy that was the collapse of the realm of the Tiste Andii.

It is the story of the devastating civil war that tore their world apart -- a story of bitter family rivalries, of jealousies and betrayals, of wild magic and unfettered power, of death and terriifying destruction.
It is the story of a how the goddess of the Tiste, Mother Dark, abandoned her children and turned her back on her people.
Speaking of long books, Forge of Darkness is long. Not as long as Outlander, but long. I have no idea what this book is even about, all I know is that I saw this book on the used books isle at my favorite bookstore and I was just entranced by the cover. I didn't even care all that much about the blurb, which I haven't fully read then, or now, I just knew I was staring at one of the prettiest covers I've seen and I had to have it on my shelf.



NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Part love story, part workplace drama, this sharply observed novel is a witty critique of the false judgments we make in a social-media-obsessed world. New York Times bestselling author Sophie Kinsella has written her most timely novel yet.

Everywhere Katie Brenner looks, someone else is living the life she longs for, particularly her boss, Demeter Farlowe. Demeter is brilliant and creative, lives with her perfect family in a posh townhouse, and wears the coolest clothes. Katie's life, meanwhile, is a daily struggle--from her dismal rental to her oddball flatmates to the tense office politics she's trying to negotiate. No wonder Katie takes refuge in not-quite-true Instagram posts, especially as she's desperate to make her dad proud.

Then, just as she's finding her feet--not to mention a possible new romance--the worst happens. Demeter fires Katie. Shattered but determined to stay positive, Katie retreats to her family's farm in Somerset to help them set up a vacation business. London has never seemed so far away--until Demeter unexpectedly turns up as a guest. Secrets are spilled and relationships rejiggered, and as the stakes for Katie's future get higher, she must question her own assumptions about what makes for a truly meaningful life.

Sophie Kinsella is celebrated for her vibrant, relatable characters and her great storytelling gifts. Now she returns with all of the wit, warmth, and wisdom that are the hallmarks of her bestsellers to spin this fresh, modern story about presenting the perfect life when the reality is far from the truth.
No TBR list of mine is complete without a Sophie Kinsella book, and I've had this book for ages, and I need a good romcom currently. I trust Kinsella to provide me with hours of entertainment, laughter, and love. Also, who doesn't love a story about presenting the perfect life on social media? Because I do.


Where does our consciousness lie?

Is it possible to transfer it? To preserve it?

Hope, Josh, and Luke are three neuroscience students, an inseparable trio bound by unwavering friendship and a genius idea. When one of them becomes terminally ill, they decide to attempt the impossible and make their extraordinary project come true.

Moving and mysterious yet full of humor, A Spin on the Horizon is a timeless love story with an unforgettable denouement.

A novel about life, love, and death…

Because after that, nothing is quite the same.


If no list is complete without Kinsella, I must include Marc Levy as well. The plot of this story is soooo interesting to me. The blurb in English is taken from the author's website.

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These are just a few of the books I hope to read this spring. I have high hopes for April's reading time.

Let's discuss. What's on your spring TBR?
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