Stacking the Shelves: Vacation Style

I am pretty excited for this stacking the shelves... because it means that VACATION is ALMOST HERE.

[insert panic attack/ pre vacation eye twitch/ overwhelming excitment/ long to-do list here]

I am about to go on vacation for two weeks and and "stacking" my nook and bag with reading material.  Obviously I need a paperback from when they tell me to turn off electronics.  Over the next two weeks I will be in two counties via 7 plane rides, 3 ferries,  and 1 overnight bus ride (in Turkey no less)... if nothing else I have enough reading material and Jolly Ranchers packed to make it through.

The Battle for Arcanon Major: The Lost Dacom Files #1 by Alexandra May (via NetGalley)
“As daughter of our ruler I grew up in the crossfire of an ongoing war... All I’d ever wanted to be was a great warrior and ultimately lead my people into victorious battles."

With only a small army at her command Halika Dacome, a skilled warrior and daughter of the Elemental King, is ready to lead one final battle to save her planet. A battle against the savage, bloodthirsty Primords who want to extinguish the diminished race of Elementals once and for all.

But before battle commences her father is given an ultimatum from the enemy leader, Arfron Uhnok. If the king agrees, Halika Dacome must marry Arfron Uhnok to prevent further bloodshed. If the king disagrees they, as a race, will all perish.

Horrified by her fathers decision Halika Dacome leads her army onward regardless of the consequences. Because her heart belongs to another. A love that blossomed many years ago. A love that her father has forbidden.

Halika faces her toughest battle yet and learns that not all battles are those fought with a sword...
The Battle for Arcanon Major is an epic love story set against the backdrop of war and is the first Prequel to Elemental: The First --> I reviewed Elemental with some apprehension, but am still giving this prequel the chance to answer the 100 million questions Elemental left the reader with....

Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder (via NetGalley)

Hunted, Killed—Survived?

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomaniacal King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confidant, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet: an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat. War is coming and Avry is alone.Unless she figures out how to do the impossible…again.

Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1) by Kami Garcia (via Mom who left a copy on her last visit)

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.