Mix and Match #2 (Book haul, wishlist and TBR update) #somanybooks

Happy Sunday everyone! I have a combination post to share today. Part book haul, part TBR update and a few books that are on my wishlists for 2017. I am having such an epic year book wise and I am eternally grateful for every book that comes my way. Thank you Titan Books and Mulholland Books for my awesome book post. Also my TBR is getting out of hand so I went through it and picked out 5 books I am aiming to finishing by early June. Thank you for stopping by to check out the books that are keeping me busy and please let me know if you see anything you have read or want to read soon.

(Disclaimer: I do not own any cover images, they are property of the publishers)

Book Haul

Warlock Holmes: A Study In Brimstone by G. S. Denning

Published by: Titan Books

I love Sherlock re-imaginings and I think this may be my favourite. Titan were generous to send me both instalments of this series and I can’t wait to delve into them as soon as possible.

Official Synopsis: Sherlock Holmes is an unparalleled genius who uses the gift of deduction and reason to solve the most vexing of crimes.

Warlock Holmes, however, is an idiot. A good man, perhaps; a font of arcane power, certainly. But he’s brilliantly dim. Frankly, he couldn’t deduce his way out of a paper bag. The only thing he has really got going for him are the might of a thousand demons and his stalwart flatmate. Thankfully, Dr. Watson is always there to aid him through the treacherous shoals of Victorian propriety… and save him from a gruesome death every now and again.

An imaginative, irreverent and addictive reimagining of the world’s favourite detective, Warlock Holmes retains the charm, tone and feel of the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle while finally giving the flat at 221b Baker Street what it’s been missing for all these years: an alchemy table.

Reimagining six stories, this riotous mash-up is a glorious new take on the ever-popular Sherlock Holmes myth, featuring the vampire Inspector Vladislav Lestrade, the ogre Inspector Torg Grogsson, and Dr. Watson, the true detective at 221b. And Sherlock. A warlock.

Warlock Holmes: The Hell-Hound of the Baskervilles by G. S. Denning

Published by: Titan Books

As I said before, can’t wait. I need a good laugh and I believe this is going to be just the ticket :D.

Official Synopsis:  The game’s afoot once more as Holmes and Watson face off against Moriarty’s gang, the Pinkertons, flesh-eating horses, a parliament of imps, boredom, Surrey, a disappointing butler demon, a succubus, a wicked lord, an overly-Canadian lord, a tricycle-fight to the death and the dreaded Pumpcrow. Oh, and a hell hound, one assumes.

We Were Kings by Thomas O’Malley and Douglas Graham Purdy

Published by: Mulholland Books

I am really intrigued by We Were Kings. The plot sounds both intense and complex. It is not exactly the type of book that I usually pick up but I am always open to new books.

Official Synopsis: Two years after Cal and Dante destroyed the heart of the Boston Irish mob and splintered the Boston political landscape, everyone is out for themselves and trying to claim a piece of the city.

It’s early summer but already the city is in the grips of a heat wave, which doesn’t help tensions any as the fractures within Boston’s underworld are finding their way to the streets in payback shoot-outs between mobsters and the police. When a body is discovered at the Charlestown locks, tarred and feathered and shot, it appears to be a gangland killing, and almost immediately dismissed.

But Cal’s cousin, detective Owen Lackey, who intended to intercept a boat coming into Boston weighed down with stolen guns and ammunition, recognises the murder as typical retribution for IRA informers and knows that with this murder there may be much more at stake than his superiors realise. Keen to uncover those responsible, he asks Cal and Dante to help search the Irish-American enclaves of Dudley Square, Dorchester and South Boston for some sign of the killers.

It is a journey that will take them into the shadowy parts of Boston, a world of packed dance halls, Irish wakes and funeral parlors, of down-and-out immigrant rooming houses, bars, and secret meeting halls, and, ultimately, to the discovery of a terrorist plot that will shake the city to its core and bring them head-to-head not only with Cal’s past but with the IRA Army Council itself.

The Dark Circle by Linda Grant

Published by: Virago

I adore meaningful and quirky novels! I am almost certain this is going to make me smile and cry at the same time. This isn’t the first novel this year I have read that was centred around the end of WW2. It was certainly a tremendously confusing stage in our history and I am excited to see what Linda Grant has in store for us 😀

Book Synopsis: The Second World War is over, a new decade is beginning but for an East End teenage brother and sister living on the edge of the law, life has been suspended. Sent away to a tuberculosis sanatorium in Kent to learn the way of the patient, they find themselves in the company of army and air force officers, a car salesman, a young university graduate, a mysterious German woman, a member of the aristocracy and an American merchant seaman. They discover that a cure is tantalisingly just out of reach and only by inciting wholesale rebellion can freedom be snatched.

Yesterday by Felicia Yap

Published by: Wildfire

I was very lucky with this copy. I liked and commented on a picture on Twitter and the publishers sent me a copy in the post! Nice one 😀 I took a picture of the epic book post packaging on Instagram. (feel free to follow me while you are there :D)

Official Synopsis: A brilliant high-concept thriller – a debut with all the intrigue of Gone Girl and the drama of Before I Go To Sleep – just how do you solve a murder when you can only remember yesterday?

There are two types of people in the world. Those who can only remember yesterday, and those who can also recall the day before.

You have just one lifeline to the past: your diary. Each night, you write down the things that matter. Each morning, your diary tells you where you were, who you loved and what you did.

Today, the police are at your door. They say that the body of your husband’s mistress has been found in the River Cam. They think your husband killed her two days ago.

Can you trust the police? Can you trust your husband? Can you trust yourself?

Sweet After Death by Valentina Giambanco

Published by: Quercus

A late entry in my blog tour list for June. I always have time for decent crime/thrillers so I hope this meets that criteria. Please stop by on the 14th of June for my thoughts on Sweet After Death.

Official Synopsis: In the dead of winter Homicide Detective Alice Madison is sent to the remote town of Ludlow, Washington, to investigate an unspeakable crime.

Together with her partner Detective Sergeant Kevin Brown and crime scene investigator Amy Sorensen, Madison must first understand the killer’s motives…but the dark mountains that surround Ludlow know how to keep their secrets and that the human heart is wilder than any beast’s.

As the killer strikes again Madison and her team are under siege. And as they become targets Madison realises that in the freezing woods around the pretty town a cunning evil has been waiting for her.

Top of the TBR

The Honours by Tim Clare

Published by: Canongate Books

This looks so good! I have had it on my shelf for too long. Will certainly be reading and reviewing this as soon as I can. The cover art is just superb.

Official Synopsis: TRUE HONOUR IS ENDLESS. JOIN US.

1935. Norfolk.

War is looming in Great Britain and the sprawling country estate of Alderberen Hall is shadowed by suspicion and paranoia. Thirteen-year-old Delphine Venner is determined to uncover the secrets of the Hall’s elite society, which has taken in her gullible mother and unstable father.

As she explores the house and discovers the secret network of hidden passages that thread through the estate, Delphine uncovers a world more dark and threatening than she ever imagined. With the help of head gamekeeper Mr Garforth, Delphine must learn the bloody lessons of war and find the soldier within herself in time to battle the deadly forces amassing in the woods …

The Honours is a dark, glittering and dangerously unputdownable novel which invites you to enter a thrilling and fantastical world unlike any other.

Timekeepers by Simon Garfield

Published by: Canongate Books

I have been reading quite a few books about time recently and this looks like it could be the masterpiece I have been looking for. Canongate have never let me down with books and I doubt this will change that 😀

Official Synopsis: Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana. The Beatles learn to be brilliant in an hour and a half. An Englishman arrives back from Calcutta but refuses to adjust his watch. Beethoven has his symphonic wishes ignored. A US Senator begins a speech that will last for 25 hours. The horrors of war are frozen at the click of a camera. A woman designs a ten-hour clock and reinvents the calendar. Roger Bannister lives out the same four minutes over a lifetime. And a prince attempts to stop time in its tracks.

Timekeepers is a book about our obsession with time and our desire to measure it, control it, sell it, film it, perform it, immortalise it and make it meaningful. It has two simple intentions: to tell some illuminating stories, and to ask whether we have all gone completely nuts.

The Secret Library by Oliver Tearle

Published by: Michael O’Mara

For those who are regular readers, you will all know I love books about books. Can’t get enough of them. This looks awesome and I am eager to learn about the more meaningful history surrounding books.

Official Synopsis: A fascinating tour through the curious history of Western civilization told through its most emblematic invention – the book. As well as leafing through the well-known titles that have helped shape the world in which we live, Oliver Tearle also dusts off some of the more neglected items to be found hidden among the bookshelves of the past. You’ll learn about the forgotten Victorian novelist who outsold Dickens, the woman who became the first published poet in America and the eccentric traveller who introduced the table-fork to England. Through exploring a variety of books – novels, plays, travel books, science books, cookbooks, joke books and sports almanacs – The Secret Library highlights some of the most fascinating aspects of our history. It also reveals the surprising connections between various works and historical figures. What links Homer’s Iliad to Aesop’s Fables? Or Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack to the creator of Sherlock Holmes? The Secret Library brings these little-known stories to light, exploring the intersections between books of all kinds and the history of the Western world over 3,000 years.

The Owl At The Window by Carl Gorham

Published by: Coronet

I got sent this via Bookbridgr and I have avoided it up to this point. I have a family and this book addresses coping with the loss of a loved one. It sounds so complex and meaningful; I feel like it is going to be a unique read. I need to sit down and pay attention as Carl’s insights could help me in the future.

Official Synopsis: The Owl at the Window is a dramatic, moving and funny memoir. An emotional, ultimately uplifting tale of loss and hope.

Shock is just one of many emotions explored in award-winning TV comedy writer Carl Gorham’s account of his bereavement which is by turns deeply moving and darkly humorous.

Part love story, part widower’s diary, part tales of single parenting, it tells of his wife’s cancer, her premature death and his attempts to rebuild his life afterwards with his six -year old daughter.

Realised in a series of vivid snapshots, it takes the reader on an extraordinary journey from Oxford to Australia, from Norfolk to Hong Kong through fear, despair, pain and anger to hope, laughter and renewal.

The Owl at the Window is a fresh and original exploration of what it means to lose a partner in your forties, and how Carl learned to live again.

Emperor of the Eight Islands by Lian Hearn

Published by: Pan Macmillan

This novel and its sequel Lord of the Darkwood, sent to me for review by Pan Macmillan, are so different from what I am used to reading. I am really intrigued and excited though as they seem like hugely immersive novels.

Official Synopsis: An ambitious warlord leaves his nephew for dead and seizes his lands.

A stubborn father forces his younger son to surrender his wife to his older brother.

A mysterious woman seeks five fathers for her children.

A powerful priest meddles in the succession to the Lotus Throne.

These are the threads of an intricate tapestry in which the laws of destiny play out against a backdrop of wild forest, elegant court, and savage battlefield. Set in a mythical medieval Japan inhabited by warriors and assassins, ghosts and guardian spirits, Emperor of the Eight Islands by Lian Hearn is a brilliantly imagined novel, full of drama and intrigue – and it is just the beginning of an enthralling, epic adventure: The Tale of Shikanoko.

Wish List

The Novel Cure by Ella Berthound & Susan Elderkin

Published by: Canongate Books

A book about required reading! Yes please 😀 I know a couple of people who have read this and recommended it to me. It has The City & The City by China Mieville as one of the novel cures so that instantly put it on my ‘god I need this now’ list.

Official Synopsis: This is a medical handbook, with a difference. Whether you have a stubbed toe or a severe case of the blues, within these pages you’ll find a cure in the form of a novel to help ease your pain. You’ll also find advice on how to tackle common reading ailments – such as what to do when you feel overwhelmed by the number of books in the world, or you have a tendency to give up halfway through. When read at the right moment, a novel can change your life, and The Novel Cure is an enchanting reminder of that power.

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

Published by: Serpents Tail

I have so many reasons for wanting to read The Essex Serpent. The two that instantly come to mind are that it was the one of the first big new releases come out when I began book blogging. The other is that Sarah Perry is from Norwich, my home town 😀 I love the look of Waterstone’s exclusive edition.

Official Synopsis: 1893. When Cora Seaborne’s controlling husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness. Along with her son Francis – a curious, obsessive boy – she leaves town for Essex, in the hope that fresh air and open space will provide refuge. On arrival, rumours reach them that the mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming lives, has returned to the coastal parish of Aldwinter. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist with no patience for superstition, is enthralled, convinced that what the local people think is a magical beast may be a yet-undiscovered species. As she sets out on its trail, she is introduced to William Ransome, Aldwinter’s vicar, who is also deeply suspicious of the rumours, but thinks they are a distraction from true faith. As he tries to calm his parishioners, Will and Cora strike up an intense relationship, and although they agree on absolutely nothing, they find themselves at once drawn together and torn apart, affecting each other in ways that surprise them both.

The Essex Serpent is a celebration of love, and the many different shapes it can take.

A Game Of Thrones: The Illustrated Edition by George R. R. Martin

Published by: Harper Voyager

I have been meaning to read this for as long as I can remember! I wouldn’t mind the illustrated edition as it would be more engaging I think, plus it would look epic on my bookshelf. This will probably have to be a birthday present as the price tag is rather large for my meagre earnings.

Official Synopsis: In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the North of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a region of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Thank you as always for stopping by to see what books I have in my sights this week. I have been receiving some truly epic book mail these last few months and I am forever grateful. I have also been drooling over some expensive books as you may have seen towards the end but they shall be mine, at some point! I appreciate everyone who comes to my blog to see/talk books, it means the world to me. All I set out to do with Always Trust In Books is talk about books endlessly and everyone I meet wants exactly the same thing. Till next time, happy reading 😀