Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, which is all about sharing the books that you’ve acquired in the past week!

 

Here are the books I bought this week:

The Original 1982 by Lori Carson

I bought this book on a whim when it came up on my book recommendations on Amazon this week. I love Sliding Doors-type stories so this novel sounds like exactly my kind of thing. I hope to read this very soon, it feels like it’ll be a good summer read.

Synopsis:

The Original 1982 is the wise and memorable debut novel of love, regret, music, and motherhood, by singer and songwriter Lori Carson of the Golden Palominos.

It’s 1982, and Lisa is a 24-year-old waitress in New York City, an aspiring singer/songwriter, and girlfriend to a famous musician. That year, she makes a decision, almost without thinking about it.

But what if what if her decision had been different?

In a new 1982, Lisa chooses differently. Her career takes another direction. She becomes a mother. She loves differently–yet some things remain the same.

Alternating between two very different possibilities, The Original 1982 is a novel about how the choices we make affect the people we become–and about how the people we are affect the choices we make.

Child Taken by Darren Young

I’ve seen great reviews of this book on some of my favourite blogs recently so I was keen to read it myself. I have a lot of review books to read at the moment but I’m going to try and squeeze this book in soon!

Synopsis:

One hot summer’s day, two-year-old Jessica Preston disappears from the beach. The police are convinced she drowned, but Sandra Preston won’t give up hope that her daughter is still alive. After all, a mother’s instinct is never wrong.
Is it?
Twenty years later, another child goes missing, and Sandra is approached by a young journalist who raises questions about what really happened to Jessica Preston all those years ago. But when the journalist discovers someone with an explosive secret, it threatens not only to reveal what’s been covered up for so long, but puts both their lives in danger.

 

I received four review books:

The Lie of the Land by Amanda Craig

I was very excited this week when the publicist for this book contacted me to ask if I’d like to read and review it on my blog. I couldn’t reply fast enough to say that I’d love to! The book arrived just a couple of days later and I’m so looking forward to reading this.

Synopsis:

Quentin and Lottie Bredin, like many modern couples, can’t afford to divorce. Having lost their jobs in the recession, they can’t afford to go on living in London; instead, they must downsize and move their three children to a house in a remote part of Devon. Arrogant and adulterous, Quentin can’t understand why Lottie is so angry; devastated and humiliated, Lottie feels herself to have been intolerably wounded.

Mud, mice and quarrels are one thing – but why is their rent so low? What is the mystery surrounding their unappealing new home? The beauty of the landscape is ravishing, yet it conceals a dark side involving poverty, revenge, abuse and violence which will rise up to threaten them.

Sally Verity, happily married but unhappily childless knows a different side to country life, as both a Health Visitor and a sheep farmer’s wife; and when Lottie’s innocent teenage son Xan gets a zero-hours contract at a local pie factory, he sees yet another. At the end of their year, the lives of all will be changed for ever.

A suspenseful black comedy, this is a rich, compassionate and enthralling novel in its depiction of the English countryside, and the potentially lethal interplay between money and marriage.

The Other Twin by L.V. Hay

I was beyond excited when I got offered the chance to read and review this book for the blog tour. I’ve become such a massive fan of Orenda books, I just know every book published by them is going to be incredible. I’ve been looking forward to this one ever since I first saw the cover on twitter. I know for sure that this book won’t be on my TBR for very long at all!

Synopsis:

When India falls to her death from a bridge over a railway, her sister Poppy returns home to Brighton for the first time in years. Unconvinced by official explanations, Poppy begins her own investigation into India’s death. But the deeper she digs, the closer she comes to uncovering deeply buried secrets. Could Matthew Temple, the boyfriend she abandoned, be involved? And what of his powerful and wealthy parents, and his twin sister, Ana? Enter the mysterious and ethereal Jenny: the girl Poppy discovers after hacking into India’s laptop. What is exactly is she hiding, and what did India find out about her? Taking the reader on a breathless ride through the winding lanes of Brighton, into its vibrant party scene and inside the homes of its well- heeled families, The Other Twin is a startling and up-to-the-minute thriller about the social-media world, where resentments and accusations are played out online, where identities are made and remade, and where there is no such thing as truth …

The Darkest Lies by Barbara Copperthwaite

I loved the sound of this book when I first heard about it and then last week I read the fabulous Donna at chocolatenwaffles’ review and I couldn’t resist any longer. I immediately downloaded a copy from NetGalley and can’t wait to read this!

Synopsis:

A mother desperate for the truth. A daughter hiding a terrible secret.

Melanie Oak appeared to have the perfect life. Married to her childhood sweetheart, Jacob, the couple live with their beautiful, loving, teenage daughter, Beth, in a pretty village.

Nothing can shake her happiness – until the day that Beth goes missing and is discovered beaten almost to the point of death, her broken body lying in a freezing creek on the marshes near their home.

Consumed with grief, Melanie is determined to find her daughter’s attacker. Someone in the village must have seen something. Why won’t they talk?

As Melanie tries to piece together what happened to Beth, she discovers that her innocent teenager has been harbouring some dark secrets of her own. The truth may lie closer to home and put Melanie’s life in terrible danger…

After I’ve Gone by Linda Green

I loved Linda Green’s previous novel so have been eagerly anticipating this new one. I spotted it on NetGalley this week so immediately requested it and was thrilled to be approved. I hope to read this one soon too as it sounds so good!

Synopsis:

YOU HAVE 18 MONTHS LEFT TO LIVE . . . On a wet Monday in January, Jess Mount checks Facebook and discovers her timeline appears to have skipped forward 18 months, to a day when shocked family and friends are posting heartbreaking tributes to her following her death in an accident. Jess is left scared and confused: is she the target of a cruel online prank or is this a terrifying glimpse of her true fate?
Amongst the posts are photos of a gorgeous son she has not yet conceived. But when new posts suggest her death was deliberate, Jess realises that if she changes the future to save her own life, the baby boy she has fallen in love with may never exist.

Giveaway win

I was thrilled to find out that I’d won one of JaffaReadsToo blogiversary giveaways this week and my prize arrived yesterday. I won a copy of this gorgeous poetry pamphlet that was on my wishlist and then Jo surprised me with some lovely extra goodies too.

The poetry pamphlet is called Ten Poems of Kindness and was compiled by Jackie Kay, I’ll definitely be reading this very soon!

 

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So, that’s all of my new books from the past week. Have you bought any new books recently? Tell me all in the comments below, or if you have a stacking the shelves post on your blog feel free to post the link below too.

My weekly wrap up post will be on my blog tomorrow so please look out for that.