Books I Still Need to Get My Hands On

The sad truth is that even though I have overflowing bookshelves in my home library (because yes, it’s bad enough at this point to be called that), there are still more books I want to get my hands on.

I’m 99.3485% sure this will forever and always be the case. That last remaining just under 0.6% is on the off-chance I get amnesia and become, I don’t know, a pirate or a dragon hunter or something and forget how to read or something. One side effect of interacting with a lot of bloggers is always seeing all the amazing books that are out there. Which inevitably leads to me wanting to read all those amazing books that are out there, as you do. But for some reason, that just doesn’t jive with my bank account.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is bookish wishes in honor of Jana’s birthday! You should definitely stop by her blog, That Artsy Reader Girl, and leave her a little bit of birthday love!

I technically have a bookish wishlist on Amazon and Book Depository, but I haven’t updated it in nigh on forever. The truth is that there aren’t really many books I really want that I won’t find a way to get myself. Especially since I’ve started leaning heavily on libraries to get said books. However, there are some certain exceptions where I definitely want a book and haven’t been able to get my hands on it yet, so today’s post is dedicated to those worthy tomes that have still alluded me! One day, you will be mine.

Spellslinger (UK Edition)

There are three things that earn you a man’s name among the Jan’Tep. The first is to demonstrate the strength to defend your family. The second is to prove you can perform the high magic that defines our people. The third is simply to reach the age of sixteen. I was a few weeks shy of my birthday when I learned that I wouldn’t be doing any of those things.

Magic is a con game.

Kellen is moments away from facing his first mage’s duel and the start of four trials that will make him a spellcaster. There’s just one problem: his magic is gone. As his sixteenth birthday approaches, Kellen falls back on his cunning in a bid to avoid total disgrace. But when a daring stranger arrives in town, she challenges Kellen to take a different path. Ferius Parfax is one of the mysterious Argosi – a traveller who lives by her wits and the three decks of cards she carries. She’s difficult and unpredictable, but she may be Kellen’s only hope…

Is this me being ridiculously nitpicky? Yes, absolutely. However, I absolutely love the UK covers for this series, and I want to own them, okay? Is that too much to ask? This is one of those rare cases where I don’t own this yet only because I haven’t been able to get the specific cover versions I want. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. The longer the series goes on, the more expensive of an investment I see purchasing the whole thing in UK editions, so that’s why I’ve been teetering on the edge with this one, debating whether I just cave and read Kindle versions from the library or if I hold out hope that maybe there will be a bundle made one day of the entire series so I can buy it all in one go and not think too hard about it.

The Black Hawks

Dark, thrilling, and hilarious, The Black Hawks is an epic adventure perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch.

Life as a knight is not what Vedren Chel imagined. Bound by oath to a dead-end job in the service of a lazy step-uncle, Chel no longer dreams of glory – he dreams of going home.

When invaders throw the kingdom into turmoil, Chel finds opportunity in the chaos: if he escorts a stranded prince to safety, Chel will be released from his oath.

All he has to do is drag the brat from one side of the country to the other, through war and wilderness, chased all the way by ruthless assassins.

With killers on your trail, you need killers watching your back. You need the Black Hawk Company – mercenaries, fighters without equal, a squabbling, scrapping pack of rogues.

Prepare to join the Black Hawks.

Everything about this book … well, series now … sounds like I’m going to absolutely love it. Assuming I can get my hands on it to read it. This is one of those rare instances where neither of my libraries actually has a copy of this book. So I figured if I bought the series and read it, then I could donate it to my library and they would have a copy. Huzzah! Two birds with one stone and all that. I just need to work on the whole getting a copy now.

The Twisted Tree

Part ghost story, part Nordic thriller – this is a twisty, tense and spooky YA debut, perfect for fans of Coraline and Michelle Paver.

Martha can tell things about a person just by touching their clothes, as if their emotions and memories have been absorbed into the material. It started the day she fell from the tree at her grandma’s cabin and became blind in one eye.

Determined to understand her strange ability, Martha sets off to visit her grandmother, Mormor – only to discover Mormor is dead, a peculiar boy is in her cabin and a terrifying creature is on the loose.

Then the spinning wheel starts creaking, books move around and terror creeps in . . .

Set in the remote snows of contemporary Norway, The Twisted Tree is a ghost story that twists and turns – and never takes you quite where you’d expect.

I’ve heard really good things about Rachel Burge’s book, and it sounds exactly like something I would love! The problem is getting my hands on it. Again, neither of my libraries has this. It’s definitely something I plan to read, though. I mean, look at that blurb! How could you not?!

The Last Sun

Rune Saint John, last child of the fallen Sun Court, is hired to search for Lady Judgment’s missing son, Addam, on New Atlantis, the island city where the Atlanteans moved after ordinary humans destroyed their original home.

With his companion and bodyguard, Brand, he questions Addam’s relatives and business contacts through the highest ranks of the nobles of New Atlantis. But as they investigate, they uncover more than a missing man: a legendary creature connected to the secret of the massacre of Rune’s Court.

In looking for Addam, can Rune find the truth behind his family’s death and the torments of his past?

Hmmm. There seems to be a theme here with the books on this list. Another one that neither library has, inexplicably! There’s really not even an excuse for this one, because they should have it. Alas, here we are. I’ve heard great things about The Tarot Sequence, and I’ve read the Amazon sneak peek and think I’m going to absolutely love it!

The Legend of Eli Monpress

Eli Monpress is talented. He’s charming. And he’s a thief.

But not just any thief. He’s the greatest thief of the age – and he’s also a wizard. And with the help of his partners – a swordsman with the most powerful magic sword in the world but no magical ability of his own, and a demonseed who can step through shadows and punch through walls – he’s going to put his plan into effect.

The first step is to increase the size of the bounty on his head, so he’ll need to steal some big things. But he’ll start small for now. He’ll just steal something that no one will miss – at least for a while. Like a king.

I’m a fan of omnibuses. All those books compactly smooshed into one. Yes, please. Also, have you read that blurb? I’m pretty sure Eli and I are going to get along just fine. I’m not sure how I stumbled across this one, but it’s another that my libraries just don’t have, so I’ll have to grab a copy on my own.

Wizard for Hire

Fourteen-year-old Ozzy lives near Portland, Oregon, and is desperate for help. His scientist parents have been kidnapped after discovering a formula that enables mind control. Their work was so top secret Ozzy is afraid to go to the police, but without help, he fears he’ll never find his parents. Then he stumbles across a classified ad in the local newspaper that says “Wizard for Hire. Call 555-SPEL.” Ozzy has read about wizards in books like Harry Potter, but wizards couldn’t actually exist today, could they? After Ozzy meets the wizard Labyrinth — aka Rin — he’s even more skeptical.

Sure, Rin dresses like a wizard, but the short robe and high-top tennis shoes seem unorthodox, as does Rin’s habit of writing notes on his shoes and eating breakfast for every meal. Plus, Rin doesn’t even cast any magic spells, which means that the unexplained coincidences that start happening around Ozzy are just that — coincidences.

With the help of a robotic-talking raven invented by Ozzy’s father, a kind and curious girl at school who decides to help Ozzy, and, of course, a self-proclaimed wizard who may or may not have a magical wand, Ozzy begins an unforgettable quest that will lead him closer to the answers he desperately seeks about his missing parents.

I’ve heard such good things about this series, so I definitely need to check it out. This book sounds utterly fun and like something I definitely need in my life. Plus, is that cover not amazing? This whole series has amazing covers, come to think of it. I read the opening of this on Amazon and was instantly interested in it!

Kings of the Wyld

Clay Cooper and his band were once the best of the best — the meanest, dirtiest, most feared crew of mercenaries this side of the Heartwyld.

Their glory days long past, the mercs have grown apart and grown old, fat, drunk – or a combination of the three. Then an ex-bandmate turns up at Clay’s door with a plea for help. His daughter Rose is trapped in a city besieged by an enemy one hundred thousand strong and hungry for blood. Rescuing Rose is the kind of mission that only the very brave or the very stupid would sign up for.

It’s time to get the band back together for one last tour across the Wyld.

This cover looks astonishingly similar to The Black Hawks. Or maybe it’s the other way around. I don’t know. Either way, I always tend to get these two confused. In any case, how could I not love a band of mercenaries getting back together for one last tour? Um, yes. Have I mentioned how much I love squads? Especially sarcastic, stabby squads.

Hero Forged

Gabe thought he had covered all the angles, but it’s tough to plan a contingency for accidentally trapping an evil god in your brain.

Gabriel Delling might call himself a professional con artist, but when walking superstitions start trying to bite his face off, his charm is shockingly unhelpful. It turns out living nightmares almost never appreciate a good joke. Together with a succubus who insists on constantly saving his life, Gabe desperately tries to survive a new reality that suddenly features demons, legends, and a giant locust named Dale—all of whom pretty much hate his guts.

And when an ancient horror comes hunting for the spirit locked in his head, Gabe finds himself faced with the excruciating choice between death…or becoming some kind of freaking hero.

Hero Forged is the first book in the new series, Ethereal Earth , a modern fantasy adventure that challenges the natures of myth, humanity, and what it means to be the good guy.

Not sure how I found out about this one, but it sure seems like it’s got a little bit of everything, right? Snarky narrator, check. Evil god, check. Ancient horrors, check. Reluctant hero, check. Twists on mythology, check. Dark humor, check. Honestly, I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to get my hands on this one, because it sounds very much like something I need in my life.

When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew

Born in the Netherlands at a time when girls are to be housewives and mothers and nothing else, Hendrika de Vries is a “daddy’s girl” until her father is deported from Nazi-occupied Amsterdam to a POW camp in Germany and her mother joins the Resistance. In the aftermath of her father’s departure, Hendrika watches as freedoms formerly taken for granted are eroded with escalating brutality by men with swastika armbands who aim to exterminate those they deem “inferior” and those who do not obey.

As time goes on, Hendrika absorbs her mother’s strength and faith, and learns about moral choice and forced silence. She sees her hidden Jewish “stepsister” betrayed, and her mother interrogated at gunpoint. She and her mother suffer near starvation, and they narrowly escape death on the day of liberation. But they survive it all—and through these harrowing experiences, Hendrika discovers the woman she wants to become.

I don’t tend to read a ton of nonfiction books, buuut . . . come on. How can you not? That title is not only a mouthful but it’s absolutely brilliant and immediately makes me want to ask a bunch of questions. Again, I’ve read the beginning of this on Amazon and it pulled me in right away. I love books that do that. I love reading books about World War II, but I don’t think I’ve ever read one from the point of view of a Norwegian, so I’m super curious about this memoir.

Ghost Wood Song

Sawkill Girls meets Beautiful Creatures in this lush and eerie debut, where the boundary between reality and nightmares is as thin as the veil between the living and the dead.

If I could have a fiddle made of Daddy’s bones, I’d play it. I’d learn all the secrets he kept.

Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness.

But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets.

In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing.

Family secrets, a gorgeously resonant LGBTQ love triangle, and just the right amount of creepiness make this young adult debut a haunting and hopeful story about facing everything that haunts us in the dark.

This is a book I keep forgetting exists until someone mentions it and I’m like, “Oh yeah, I wanted to read that!” Everything about this one sounds absolutely fantastic. I’m always hesitant about love triangles, and yet I’m forever giving them a try anyway. What can I say? I do love me some good tropes.

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