Down The TBR Hole #32

Current TBR shelf: 3839

Last week's TBR shelf: 3841

The rules   

1. Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
2. Order on ascending date added.
3. Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
4. Read the synopses of the books
5. Decide: keep it or should it go?

 

So Much to Tell You by John Marsden

 

Scarred, literally, by her past, Marina has withdrawn into silence. Then, at her new boarding school, she is set the task of writing a diary by her English teacher, and finds a way of expressing her thoughts and feelings and of exploring the traumatic events that have caused her distress. Through Marina's diary we gain an insight into life on her dormitory, and her difficult relationship with her father, who injured her in an angry moment. Eventually, Marina makes tentative friendships and, in a moving denouement, is reconciled with her father. 

 

I think this synopsis pretty much explains the whole plot which leaves me with no anticipation to be honest.

Verdict: Remove

A Spy in the House (The Agency #1) by Y.S. Lee

 

Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan (and thief) Mary Quinn is surprised to be offered a singular education, instruction in fine manners — and an unusual vocation. Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls is a cover for an all-female investigative unit called The Agency, and at seventeen, Mary is about to put her training to the test. Assuming the guise of a lady’s companion, she must infiltrate a rich merchant’s home in hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships. But the household is full of dangerous deceptions, and there is no one to trust — or is there? Packed with action and suspense, banter and romance, and evoking the gritty backstreets of Victorian London, this breezy mystery debuts a daring young detective who lives by her wits while uncovering secrets — including those of her own past.

 

Victorian era set mysteries are some of my favourites so definitely still a book I'm excited to read. 

Verdict: Keep

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly 

 

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.
 
Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

 

So many people seem to really like this book, suprising for YA historical fiction, so that point alone has me intrigued but I also like the plot revolving around the French revolution as well. 

 

Verdict: Keep

 

Trance by Linda Gerber

 

It begins with a subtle vibration, a tingling. There is time to take only one breath. The trance begins. When it is through, she is certain of two things: Someone she knows is about to die. And she is powerless to stop it.

Ashlyn Greenfield has always known when bad things are going to happen. Each time that familiar tingling at the back of her neck begins, she knows what's to come a trance. She's pulled in, blindsided, an unwilling witness to a horrible upcoming event. But she's never been able to stop it not even when the vision was of her mother's fatal car accident. When soulful Jake enters Ashlyn's life, she begins having trances about another car accident. And as her trances escalate, one thing becomes clear: it's up to her to save Jake from near-certain death. 

Sounds very early 2010's paranormal, I'd be up for reading it but it's not one I feel I need to read. 

Verdict: Remove

Dark Life (Dark Life #1) by Kat Falls

 

The oceans rose, swallowing the lowlands. Earthquakes shattered the continents, toppling entire regions into the rising water. Now, humans live packed into stack cities. The only ones with any space of their own are those who live on the ocean floor: the Dark Life.Ty has spent his whole life living deep undersea. When outlaws attack his homestead, he finds himself in a fight to save the only home he has ever known. Joined by Gemma, a girl from Topside, Ty ventures into the frontier's rough underworld and discovers some dark secrets to Dark Life. Secrets that threaten to destroy everything.

 

I like the sound of an underwater city but like Trance it's not a must read for me.

Verdict: Remove

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

 

Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the United States to find work. Recently, it has dawned on her that he isn't the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village--they've all gone north. While watching The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men--her own "Siete Magníficos"--to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over. 

 

Wasn't sure at first but this premise definitely has me intrigued and it's also a translated work, something that I want to read more of. 

 

Verdict: Keep

 

She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott

 

Ally Ryan would rather be in Maryland. She would rather be anywhere, in fact, than Orchard Hill, site of her downfall. Well, not hers exactly—but when your father’s hedge fund goes south and all your friends lose their trust funds, things don’t look so sunny for you. Her mother moved her to Maryland to flee the shame, but now they’re moving back. Back to the country-club, new-car-every-year, my-family-came-over-on-the-Mayflower lifestyle that Ally has outgrown. One bright spot, however, is gorgeous, intense Jake Graydon. But it won’t be easy for the two of them to be together—not if his friends (her former friends) have anything to say about it. Is Ally ready to get thrown back into the drama of the life she left behind? 

 

Probably the kind of contemporary that I would've loved ten years ago but not so much now.

Verdict: Remove

Freeze Frame by Heidi Ayarbe

 

No matter how many times Kyle rewrites the scene, he can't get it right. He tries it in the style of Hitchcock, Tarantino, Eastwood, all of his favorite directors—but regardless of the style, he can't remember what happened that day in the shed. The day Jason died. And until he can, there is one question that keeps haunting Kyle: Did he kill his best friend on purpose? 

 

Would pick up in the library but not that bothered if I never read it. 

Verdict: Remove

Amplified by Tara Kelly 

 

When privileged 17-year-old Jasmine gets kicked out of her house, she takes what is left of her savings and flees to Santa Cruz to pursue her dream of becoming a musician. Jasmine finds the ideal room in an oceanfront house, but she needs to convince the three guys living there that she's the perfect roommate and lead guitarist for their band, C-Side. Too bad she has major stage fright and the cute bassist doesn't think a spoiled girl from over the hill can hack it. . . 

 

Sounds like a non ghost version of Julie and the Phantoms...

Also, C-Side is an awful name for a band.

Verdict: Remove

 

The Mermaid's Mirror by L. K. Madigan

 

LENA HAS LIVED her whole life near the beach - walking for miles up and down the shore and breathing the salty air, swimming in the cold water, and watching the surfers rule the waves - the problem is, she's spent her whole life just watching.

As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Lena vows she will no longer watch from the sand: she will learn to surf.

But her father - a former surfer himself - refuses to allow her to take lessons. After his near drowning years ago, he can't bear to let Lena take up the risky sport.

Yet something keeps drawing Lena to the water... an ancient, powerful magic. And one morning Lena catches sight of this magic: a beautiful woman - with a silvery tail.

Now nothing can stop Lena from seeking the mermaid, not even the dangerous waves at Magic Crescent Cove.

And soon... what she sees in the mermaid's mirror will change her life forever.

 

I don't mind mermaid stories but this one doesn't interest me as much as similar book do. And Magic Crescent Cove sounds like something out of a Disney channel movie.

Verdict: Remove

This Week:

Kept: 3

Removed: 7 

Overall: 

 

Kept: 104

Removed: 211