Welcome to the latest volume of Stacking the Shelves! This meme is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may those books be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in a physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and e-books.

A few days ago, I visited the New England Mobile Book Fair for the first time. Wow! Not even Barnes & Noble carries as many books or as wide a selection as this shop does! I ended up buying five books in total: three of them are birthday / Christmas gifts for friends, and two for myself. And those two novels are what I’ll feature for Volume 3 of Stacking The Shelves. Here they are!

Eon by Alison Goodman (YA Fantasy): I’ve read nothing but praise for Alison Goodman’s debut novel, and if you’re familiar with my taste in novels you know I’m always looking for fantasy fare. The premise of a girl disguising herself as a boy to train in magic reminds me of Tamora Pierce’s Songs Of The Lioness saga. I don’t have an issue with that, although the female-masquerading-as-a-male plot has become a bit of a trope, IMO. But the Oriental background with dragons sounds fascinating. And look at the cover! Isn’t it gorgeous??

Legend by Marie Lu (YA Dystopian / Science Fiction): Yet another novel that flew under my radar when it first hit store shelves, and I’m not quite sure how. Legend seems to be in the same vein as The Hunger Games and Divergent, but tells a much different story of two 15-year-olds (a female military trainee and a male felon living in poverty) whose lives become intertwined because of their country’s dirty politics. The role reversal (girl chasing a boy fugitive) offers an interesting twist, so I’m curious to see how this one will play out.

How about you? What books did you recently buy or acquire? Have you read Eon or Legend? If you did, what did you think of either story (or both)?