Books in the House Monday

So...I made a little visit to Orchard Bookstore Sunday afternoon after seeing the movie Astro Boy at the show with Lady K (good flick BTW). I had a box of trade ins and I looked around while they perused my offerings. They took them all and I found four for my shelves and one for my sister and two for Lady K. Lady K's picks were Christmas in style, one is for Christmas crafts which will be fun to do together.

My picks are:

CARPE CORPUS - Rachel Caine, book 6 Morganville Vampires

FADE OUT - Rachel Caine, book 7 Morganville Vampires

SMALL FAVOR - Jim Butcher, book 10 Dresden Files

BLOOD RETRIBUTION - David and Aimee Thurlo, book 2 Lee Nez series

And I picked up

GARDEN SPELLS - Sarah Addison Allen for my sister

What made it into your house?

GARDEN SPELLS - Sarah Addison Allen

This is my favorite book so far this year. Enchanted is a start to how I felt while reading this lovely magical book. I could identify with the emotionally encased main character, Claire, needing to keep people out so as not to be hurt as she was sure she would be. I loved watching her bloom as her garden perpetually did once she realized that some things are worth the possibility of heartache.

I enjoyed disliking the wealthy, self-centered characters of Hunter John and his wife, Emma and their clique of like-minded narcissists.

I loved meeting Claire's runaway sister Sydney and Sydney's daughter, Bay. Sydney ran away from Bascom, North Carolina as a teen to escape what she thought of as a prison. Now she realizes it is a safehaven for her and Bay.

Then there are the magical recipes Claire, a successful caterer, creates for her clients from the flowers and plants in her garden. I had to grin at the apple tree at the center of the mystical garden. It had a character all its own, producing apples year round, throwing them at Claire and others to get attention. Claire buries the apples as they fall so that innocents won't eat one and discover the biggest event in their lives, some wonderful, sometimes awful.

I am loaning this to my sister with the proviso that I get it back for my keeper shelf. I will read this again.

Five magically warm beans.....