~ Goodreads TBR Cleanup 01/28/21 ~

There are two similar challenges: Goodreads TBR Cleanup and Down the TBR Hole that each take your TBR lists on Goodreads and you choose to either keep or toss. The main difference is how you choose your books as Down the TBR Hole has you start with the oldest additions to your TBR list and Goodreads TBR Cleanup uses a random number generator to choose a different place in your TBR list every time.

I decided to go with the Goodreads TBR Cleanup (created by @ Mega Bunny Reads) as the random selections from my 1000+ TBR list sounded like fun. These challenges can be done bi-weekly or weekly (or any other timeframe that suits you). If you’re interest in the other Down the TBR Hole meme, then you can check it out following the links. The meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story — she has a new blog though called Sunflowers and Wonder!

How It Works:

• Go to your Goodreads want-to-read shelf.
• Ask Siri (or any other generator) to pick a number between 1 and however many books are on the list.
• Go to that book and look at it and the 4 after it, for a total of 5.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

For the number selection, I used an online random number generator.

TODAY’S RANDOM NUMBER: 990

1. To Kill a Kingdom

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

THOUGHTS:

I know a lot of people that have read this and it seems to be there are those that loved it and those that didn’t. I’m a sucker for mythology tales, so the decision to keep or toss was biased as I would probably keep it even if wasn’t highly rated. The fact that the cover is very pretty also helped in my final decision.

2. The Black Witch (The Black Witch Chronicles #1)

Elloren Gardner is the granddaughter of the last prophesied Black Witch, Carnissa Gardner, who drove back the enemy forces and saved the Gardnerian people during the Realm War. But while she is the absolute spitting image of her famous grandmother, Elloren is utterly devoid of power in a society that prizes magical ability above all else.

When she is granted the opportunity to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an apothecary, Elloren joins her brothers at the prestigious Verpax University to embrace a destiny of her own, free from the shadow of her grandmother’s legacy. But she soon realizes that the university, which admits all manner of people—including the fire-wielding, winged Icarals, the sworn enemies of all Gardnerians—is a treacherous place for the granddaughter of the Black Witch.

As evil looms on the horizon and the pressure to live up to her heritage builds, everything Elloren thought she knew will be challenged and torn away. Her best hope of survival may be among the most unlikely band of rebels…if only she can find the courage to trust those she’s been taught to fear.

THOUGHTS:

My first thoughts were to keep this saga as it sounds like a fantastic and entertaining concept. At the moment and in the perceivable future, my time schedule wouldn’t allow this many novels just for one series when I have so many others to read. If I had a little more time to dedicate to this series, then I would keep it. Alas, time just isn’t on my side in the present or future, so for now, it is a toss.

3. A Trail of Pearls

Losing her Silicon Valley job to a younger woman was bad enough. Catching her husband in the arms of one is the final straw. Something’s gotta give, like the last threads of Perla Palazzo’s sanity.

Then, a plan so wild and reckless it’s just an inch to the left of self-destruction.

With a bank foreclosure hanging over her head and staring at the last of her savings, Perla books a trip to the Amalfi Coast in the hope of fulfilling her dreams to become a travel writer. But Capri’s deep azure waters are home to more than old wrecks and lost sailors, like Parthenope, an embittered, hard-drinking mermaid who believes the only way to enjoy men is crudo, with a sprinkle of salt and a generous squeeze of lemon.

When Parthenope gives Perla an enchanted cameo just days before she meets a dashing Italian tour guide, it seems the divorcée’s fortunes have turned. Timeless beauty, self-confidence—perhaps even love—are suddenly within tantalizing reach. But the siren’s song is both seductive and deadly, and a moment of weakness will leave Perla facing unthinkable consequences.

THOUGHTS:

This book is on my list of ARCs that I am currently working through, therefore, it is an automatic keep. It helps me that an ARC novel came up during this week’s clean-up as it makes my keep/toss decisions easier. The last novel, The Black Witch, was a very hard choice with a lot of back and forth, so it is nice to follow it with an easier choice.

4. Chasing Lucky

Budding photographer Josie Saint-Martin has spent half her life with her single mother, moving from city to city. When they return to her historical New England hometown years later to run the family bookstore, Josie knows it’s not forever. Her dreams are on the opposite coast, and she has a plan to get there.

What she doesn’t plan for is a run-in with the town bad boy, Lucky Karras. Outsider, rebel…and her former childhood best friend. Lucky makes it clear he wants nothing to do with the newly returned Josie. But everything changes after a disastrous pool party, and a poorly executed act of revenge lands Josie in some big-time trouble—with Lucky unexpectedly taking the blame.

Determined to understand why Lucky was so quick to cover for her, Josie discovers that both of them have changed, and that the good boy she once knew now has a dark sense of humor and a smile that makes her heart race. And maybe, just maybe, he’s not quite the brooding bad boy everyone thinks he is…

THOUGHTS:

I know a lot of people that have read this and loved it. This novel has been on my radar for awhile and I almost read it as an ARC, however, other books kept coming up and I knew I couldn’t keep up. Knowing my long list of ARCs and other TBRs that I still need to get through, this novel’s appeal doesn’t quite get there.

5. To Unite a Realm

Vera Wilson, youngest daughter to the leader of her country – a county conquered by the tyrannical Grays – agrees to marry Angus Gray, heir to the throne of The United Realm. She hates him and everything his clan represents. But she has to protect her family and believes this marriage will keep them alive – unlike the friends the Grays have already murdered, one right in front of Vera. After a hasty ceremony and an awful wedding night, Vera travels to Alta Glenn, home to the Grays.

At first, life there is excruciating, but over time she learns that everything she’s been taught, everything she believes about the Grays and their clan is nothing more than a web of well-constructed lies. Almost too late, Vera protects Alta Glenn from impending disaster and realizes her husband is the exact opposite of what she expected him to be. Now, she doesn’t know if it’s possible for him to ever love her. 

THOUGHTS:

A fantasy meets romance novels are typically high on my list of TBRs as they mix two genres that I love. This novel is another that I meant to read either as an ARC (although I never got around to requesting one) or as an obtained book. Although I never got around to reading it after its release in December, I think I will give myself a little more time to attempt to read it. If it is still there the next time it comes up in a Cleanup, then I will toss it.

That’s it for my third TBR Clean-up week. The random number version is working nicely for me as it allows me to see books on my list that normally I wouldn’t get to, unless they are on my ARC list that I’m working on right now. I am definitely maintaining that these cleanup is necessary, but it is very difficult to toss books that still interest me. Every book on my TBR still interests me, which does not help as it means my TBR just grows. By Tossing ones that still interest me, but I know I won’t get to any time soon, I can at least know through these posts that they at one time interested me and they can make their way back on the list.