Friday Finds (February 7)

Hosted by Should be Reading

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

This week I have added to my collection (again) by using NetGalley so first up a book due to be published on 10 April 2014 by Headline, The Dead Ground by Claire MccGowen

Blurb

A stolen baby. A murdered woman. A decades-old atrocity. Something connects them all…
A month before Christmas, and Ballyterrin on the Irish border lies under a thick pall of snow. When a newborn baby goes missing from hospital, it’s all too close to home for forensic psychologist Paula Maguire, who’s wrestling with the hardest decision of her life.
Then a woman is found in a stone circle with her stomach cut open and it’s clear a brutal killer is on the loose.
As another child is taken and a pregnant woman goes missing, Paula is caught up in the hunt for a killer no one can trace, who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
The Dead Ground will leave you gasping for breath as Paula discovers every decision she makes really is a matter of life and death…

Having enjoyed both The Fall and the start of the new series featuring Paula Maguire, The Lost, I was delighted to be approved to read the next in the series.

I also acquired another book set around the time of World War I called The Fall and Rise of Lucy Charlton by Elizabeth Gill, published by Quercus in December 2013.

Blurb

1920, Durham. Since she was a child, Lucy Charlton has dreamed of working with her father in the family solicitor’s firm. But a scandal shatters her dreams and, when her father disowns her, she finds herself on the streets, fighting for survival.
Joe Hardy has returned to London after the Great War to find his life in tatters – his father is dead and his pregnant fiancée has disappeared. Then Joe learns he’s unexpectedly inherited an old river house in Durham from a stranger called Margaret Lee. With nothing left for him in London, he makes arrangements to travel north and claim it.
Lucy’s determination has finally secured her a job as a legal secretary, campaigning for the rights of the poorest in society. As Joe arrives in her office to collect the keys to his new home, she promises to help him uncover information about his mystery benefactor. But before long, the past comes back to haunt them both, with shocking consequences…NetGalley

I have also been lucky enough to win a giveaway at Goodreads making me the very pleased owner of Spilt Milk by Amanda Hodgkinson, another historical novel.

Blurb

The eagerly anticipated new historical novel from the author of 22 Britannia Road: a novel about sisterhood, motherhood, and secrets that cannot be laid to rest.
1913. Unmarried sisters Nellie and Vivian Marsh live an impoverished existence in a tiny cottage on the banks of the Little River in Suffolk. Their life is quiet and predictable, until a sudden flood throws up a strange fish on their doorstep and a travelling man who will change them forever.
1939. Eighteen year old Birdie Farr is working as a barmaid in the family pub in London. When she realises she is pregnant she turns to her mother Nellie, who asks her sister to arrange an adoption for Birdie’s new born daughter. But as the years pass Birdie discovers she cannot escape the Marsh sisters’ shadowy past – and her own troubling obsession with finding her lost daughter will have deep consequences for all of them…Goodreads

 Another great surprise was to win a book through Bookmarks, this is how Random House deliver their surveys which cover everything from feedback on book covers to what types of books we read, how we read and where we read. I have filled in a fair few of these surveys and in return they have sent me a copy of Surrounded by Water by Stephanie Butland which is due to be published 10 April 2014

Blurb

Elizabeth’s world is turned upside down when her husband dies in a tragic drowning accident.
How typical of her kind, generous husband to sacrifice his own life saving a complete stranger’s. At the heart of this village that has lost its most respected police officer is a woman who has lost life as she knows it.
Or so she thinks.
Before Elizabeth can begin trying to piece her heart back together, it might just need to be broken again. Goodreads

…. even better along with my book I got a new bookmarks. This means I don’t need to rely on scraps of paper or the loyalty card for the coffee shop anymore!

Finally after enjoying Renita D’Silva’s debut novel Monsoon Memories  I was delighted to be offered a copy of The Forgotten Daughter to read and review.

Blurb

Three simple words, in a letter accompanying her parent’s will, tear Nisha’s carefully ordered world apart. Raised in England, by her caring but emotionally reserved parents, Nisha has never been one to take risks.
Now, with the scrawled address of an Indian convent begins a search for the mother and family she never knew and the awakening of childhood memories long forgotten.
The secrets, culture and people that Nisha discover will change her life forever. And, as her eyes are opened to a side of herself she didn’t know existed, Nisha realizes that she must also seek answers to the hardest question of all – why?
Weaving together the stories of Nisha, Shilpa and Devi, The Forgotten Daughter explores powerfully and poignantly the emotional themes of motherhood, loss and identity – ultimately asking the question of what you would do out of love for your children? Goodreads

So apart from being approved by NetGalley for my first choice, completely by chance, the genre of reading in my finds this week contains far less murder and mayhem!

What did you all find for me to envy?