Liz De Jager alerted me to a massive sale of Quercus books in Kindle format on Amazon and I picked up a bunch of books. It’s a curious experience scrolling through 8 pages of discounts. I’m sure there are some great books in there that I missed. Whether or not I clicked on something was based on thoughts like ‘good cover’ or ‘intriguing title’ – although several times I backed up and didn’t purchase because of a less inspiring blurb. In the end I went for seven titles.
This was partly cover love because I’ve been interested in this book ever since it was first released because of the beautiful cover. But also I keep hearing great things about Cat’s work and each of her books has a really original and compelling idea. This one is introduced with the line “17-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with table, pens and paper – and no clue how she got there. “. I’m also fascinated by the idea of empty white rooms so I’m really looking forward to this one.
Dinner with a Vampire (The Dark Heroine, Book 1)
I met Abigail earlier this year at the Oxford Literary Festival where we were on the same panel about being published when young. She’s still at Oxford – which felt a bit weird looking back at when I was also at Oxford and writing my first few books. Anyway, my to read pile was so vast I didn’t buy the book then. The pile is still vast but kindle books count as a separate pile so now I have this. It will be the first vampire novel I’ve read in some time but I actually started writing a vampire story myself recently so they are back in my thoughts. I’m waiting for them to get really uncommercial and unsellable before writing about them – genius!
Hartslove
This sounds like a cross between I Capture the Castle and National Velvet – both great books. The cover is beautiful but if I’ve understood the book correctly, not actually quite right for it. It makes it look like a fantasy title.
A beautiful cover and an intriguing blurb attracted me to this one. The reviews are a bit mixed and several are from people who won it in a competition. But this book reminded me of one of my own ideas so I want to see how it’s executed. Again, the beautiful cover makes the book look like fantasy, when it’s actually contemporary. I think perhaps publishers have gone overboard with the lush covers. Any author would be happy to have this one – but is it right for the book?
The Runaway Princess by Helen Browe
This is a bit more chick lit than my usual reading but I liked the title and the reviews endorsed it as a light and witty read.
Tomorrow When the War Began: Book One, The Tomorrow Series
I already have a book by this author “Letters From the Inside” but this book is his most successful and the title is so incredibly strong. This is just the start of a series so I’m in danger of being sucked into this if it’s as good as I hope it is.
Torn
Another Cat Clarke title, again with an evocative description and good reviews. She’s the only author I bought more than one book from this time around. It’s interesting that the covers, while strong, and reminiscent of each other, seem much more contemporary (like the books) rather than fantastical or magical.
I’ll check back and post mini reviews once I’ve dived into this pile of electrons. Now my kindle books-to-read pile is as big as my physical one. Damn you, Liz De Jager!