the Blacksheep Project: December 2015

[RELEASE EVENT] On Thin Icing

Series: A Bakeshop Mystery #3
Author: Ellie Alexander
Genre: adult, mystery, cozy mystery
Published: December 29, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Powells

Welcome to Torte-a small-town family bakeshop where the treats are killer good.

It's the dead of winter in the sleepy town of Ashland, which means no tourists-and fewer customers-for Jules Capshaw and her bakery. But when she's asked to cater an off-season retreat for the directors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, business starts heating up...until Jules finds a dead body in the freezer.

"An intriguing new series." -Reader to Reader

Someone at the retreat has apparently iced the bartender, a well-known flirt with a legendary temper-that is, before a killer beat him to the punch. Then, from out of nowhere, Jules's own ex-husband shows up at the shop-and soon becomes a suspect. With accusations piling up higher than the snow-and thicker than a chocolate mousse cake-Jules has to think outside the (recipe) box to find the real culprit...and make sure he gets his just desserts.

"A delectable tale of murder and intrigue." -Portland Book Review on Meet Your Baker

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger | On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee | Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Hello,

Merry Christmas!! Happy Holidays!!

I am so glad at myself for not buying any books and not downloading anything from Netgalley this month. These three are gifts from my friend, my sister, and my mom. I got so excited when I got Dumplin' because it's one of the books I've been hoping to get!

[WEEKLY MUSING] 2016 Releases I Can't Wait to Read

Hello,

I usually post my weekly musings on Sundays but I didn't open my laptop (or maybe barely open it) since my Christmas vacation started. I've been so busy with wrapping my and my mom's gifts and buying them - definitely tiring but certainly one of my fave things about Christmas.

In my last weekly musing post, I shared books I'd like to read before the year ends. I'm currently reading Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas and I'm really loving it. I do see why everyone likes it more than the first book - the development that's going on around Celaena, Chaol, and Dorian is crazy. While I think my ship just sunk, I think that I'll still enjoy this series.

Anyway, here are books I'd really LOVE to get my hands on and immediately read once they are released this 2016:

Morning Star (Red Rising #3) by Pierce Brown. Golden Son ended in a cliffhanger - I mean just how did Darrow and Mustang ended there? And Fitchner!! And bloodydamn everything else!! ugh. I really just have a major NEED to read this book already!
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Ruta Sepetys is an auto-buy author for me. When I found out that she'll have a new novel more so that it's a WWII novel, I knew I should read it. Between Shades of Gray was a heartbreaking but lovely read. With that in mind, I'm sure this one will be as good or hopefully even better.
Stone Field by Christy Lenzi. Saw this on a WoW post a few months back and found out that it's a Wuthering Heights Retelling which is one of the few non-Agatha Christie classics I've read and liked.
The Last Star (the 5th Wave #3) by Rick Yancey. The Infinite Sea was full of revelations that I'm still quite confused about. This final book will obviously clear everything and hopefully will have a satisfying ending.
Stars Above (the Lunar Chronicles Novella Collection) by Marissa Meyer. I still haven't read Winter. I know, I suck. My local bookstores suck. Anyway, while my three of my paperback books have three of the novellas that will be featured here, I still haven't read them (I feel so weird for not reading them).

full tour schedule can be found at YA Bound Book Tours

Series: Anthology
Author: Azzurra Nox
Genre: adult, mystery, thriller
Published: December 8, 2015
Publisher: Twisted Wing Productions
Purchase: Amazon

A haunting trio of short stories about love, obsession, and secrets. Each short story is titled after a song, The National's Apartment Story, Placebo's Scared of Girls, and Skunk Anansie's Post Orgasmic Chill.

Apartment Story
A lonely married woman nostalgically rekindles a friendship with a former lover and the apartment they shared. Dark secrets and mysteries surround the apartment building and its new tenants that delve deep into the woman's psyche and prove to be fatal.

Scared of Girls
A glamorous go-go dancer and a failing university student are bound by a dark secret that may change their fates forever.

Post Orgasmic Chill
The destinies of a cynical rock star, a groupie, an arrogant DJ, and naïve university student intertwine in a rainy London that serves as the backdrop to their tormented lives. Secrets and lies coincide in this dark tale of love gone wrong.

Hauntingly spare, beautiful, and twisted, Doll Parts is a disquieting and at times darkly morbid collection of short stories about normal people who suddenly discover their own dark possibilities.

some books I intend to read before the year ends

Hello,

2015 was a really great reading year for me. As of today, goodreads told me I've read 82 books out of my goal of 70. Before the year ends, I'd really love to read a few more books and maybe go around 100 read books for year.

Today, I decided to list down books I'd love to read before the year ends. I have more or less (actually less) three weeks to go before 2016. Impossible? Some part of me thinks it is but who knows? Christmas vacation is coming up so I think that I'll have a decent amount of time to actually read.

Series: Red Queen #1
Author: Victoria Aveyard (@victoriaaveyard)
Genre: young adult, fantasy, magic, romance, dystopia
Published: February 10, 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Purchase: Amazon

Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood - those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods. Mare steal what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend is conscripted into the army, she gambles everything to win his freedom. A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself, where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a power of her own - an ability she didn't know she had.

Except... her blood is Red.

To hide this impossibility, the king forces her into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks her new position to aid the Scarlet Guard - the leaders of a Red rebellion. Her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince and Mare against her own heart.

From debut author Victoria Aveyard comes a lush, vivid fantasy series where loyalty and desire can tear you apart and the only certainty is betrayal.

Series: Dash & Lily #1
Author: Rachel Cohn (@RachelCohn); David Levithan
Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance, realistic fiction, humor
Published: October 11, 2011 (first published 2010)
Publisher: Ember
Purchase: Amazon

"I've left some clues for you.

If you want them, turn the page.

If you don't, put the book back on the shelf, please."

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

"Another surefire hit from the creators of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist." -Booklist

Series: A Cherry Blossom Book #3
Author: Jennifer Maruno
Genre: middle grade, historical fiction, realistic fiction, sports
Published: December 5, 2015
Publisher: Dundurn
Purchase: Amazon

Is pretending to be someone else the only way Michiko can fit in?

Michiko Minigawa’s life is nothing but a bad game of baseball. The Canadian government swung the bat once, knocking her family away from a Vancouver home base to an old farmhouse in the Kootenay Mountains. But when they move into town, the government swings the bat again, announcing that all Japanese must now move west of the Rockies or else go to Japan.

Now in Ontario, Michiko once again has to adjust to a whole new kind of life. She is the only Japanese student in her school, and making friends is harder than it was before. When Michiko surprises an older student with her baseball skills and he encourages her to try out for the local team, she gives it a shot. But everyone thinks this new baseball star is a boy. Michiko has to make a decision: quit playing ball (and being harassed), or pitch like she’s never pitched before.

current reads!!

Hello,

November was supposed to end well. It was the ending of my vacation, the beginning of a new semester, and a successful personal reading challenge for me but things didn't go that well. Before going back to university, I got really, really sick. I was struck with dengue and was hospitalized for a week - one of the craziest (and scariest) eight days of my life. ugh.

Right now, I'm catching up with my reading, blogging, and school works. My mind's cooperating with me lately so somehow, I think that I'll be able to finalize several of my reviews from a week ago this weekend or throughout the coming week, hahaha.

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