February TBR

I read a lot and I read quickly. I often hit mid to upper twenties in numbers each moth. So I am using my TBR Planning posts to try to highlight those I am most excited about. This is also helping to keep me organized: I am still ahead of my ARCs, too.

I have quite a few good ones on the horizon so that definitely helps me keep on track.


The Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George (Untitled #1)

Built on the backs of those who fell before it, Julius Caesar s imperial dynasty is only as strong as the next person who seeks to control it. In the Roman Empire no one is safe from the sting of betrayal: man, woman or child. 

As a boy, Nero s royal heritage becomes a threat to his very life, first when the mad emperor Caligula tries to drown him, then when his great aunt attempts to secure her own son s inheritance. Faced with shocking acts of treachery, young Nero is dealt a harsh lesson: it is better to be cruel than dead. 

While Nero idealizes the artistic and athletic principles of Greece, his very survival rests on his ability to navigate the sea of vipers that is Rome. The most lethal of all is his own mother, a cold-blooded woman whose singular goal is to control the empire. With cunning and poison, the obstacles fall one by one. But as Agrippina s machinations earn her son a title he is both tempted and terrified to assume, Nero s determination to escape her thrall will shape him into the man he was fated to become an Emperor who became legendary. 

With impeccable research and captivating prose, The Confessions of Young Nero is the story of a boy s ruthless ascension to the throne. Detailing his journey from innocent youth to infamous ruler, it is an epic tale of the lengths to which man will go in the ultimate quest for power and survival."

I have read a lot by this author's extensive bibliography. For the most part I have loved her books and how she tackles historical narratives. Dense, detailed, researched, her works are often the highlights of the genre. I am so excited to also be included in the blog tour for this. 

These Ruthless Deeds by Kelly Zekas & Tarun Shanker (These Vicious Masks #2)  - sequel to last years series debut -- a book that made me literally LOL multiple times -- I am so excited to see how this historical Jane Austen/X-Menish story continues.

The Blood Rose Rebellion by Rosalyn Eves (Blood Rose Rebellion #1) - some of the comparisons for this make me a bit leery (I didn't even finish the Red Queen series..) but I am a giant sucker for rebellions AND for pretty covers... so.. yeah.. No way I was resisting an ARC of this one!

Shadowcaster by Cinda Williams Chima (Shattered Realms #2) - So... the first book in this series and I did not get along. However, I wasn't the hugest fan of the first book in her last series, though I did love the last three. So. This is getting a chance and I hope it follows the same pattern as before.

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

From the #1 bestselling author of "The Historian "comes an engrossing novel" "that spans the past and the present and unearths the dark secrets of Bulgaria, a beautiful and haunted country. 

A young American woman, Alexandra Boyd, has traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, hoping that life abroad will salve the wounds left by the loss of her beloved brother. Soon after arriving in this elegant East European city, however, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi and realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside she finds an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov. Raising the hinged lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes.
As Alexandra sets out to locate the family and return this precious item, she will first have to uncover the secrets of a talented musician who was shattered by oppression and she will find out all too quickly that this knowledge is fraught with its own danger. 

Kostova s new novel is a tale of immense scope that delves into the horrors of a century and traverses the culture and landscape of this mysterious country. Suspenseful and beautifully written, it explores the power of stories, the pull of the past, and the hope and meaning that can sometimes be found in the aftermath of loss.

Oh man, I have only known about this book's existence for a few weeks and yet I AM SO EXCITED TO READ IT. I feel like I have had years to anticipate the reading of Kostova's new book. It sounds like just the kind of eerie story that made me such a fan of hers in the first place.