Friday Finds (4)

Friday Finds are books that you've heard about during the past week. Friday Finds is hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading.

My finds this week:

The Queen's Governess by Karen Harper

This is a fictionalized account of the life of Kat Ashley, one of Queen Elizabeth I's most trusted ladies. As a fan of Tudor history I am particularly looking forward to reading this book.

Swoon at Your Own Risk by Sydney Salter

Description from Amazon.com:

"You’d think Polly Martin would have all the answers when it comes to love—after all, her grandmother is the famous syndicated advice columnist Miss Swoon. But after a junior year full of dating disasters, Polly has sworn off boys. This summer, she’s going to focus on herself for once. So Polly is happy when she finds out Grandma is moving in—think of all the great advice she’ll get. But Miss Swoon turns out to be a man-crazy sexagenarian! How can Polly stop herself from falling for Xander Cooper, the suddenly-hot skateboarder who keeps showing up while she’s working at Wild Waves water park, when Grandma is picking up guys at the bookstore and flirting with the dishwasher repairman?No advice column can prepare Polly for what happens when she goes on a group camping trip with three too many ex-boyfriends and the tempting Xander. Polly is forced to face her feelings and figure out if she can be in love—and still be herself."

Thanks to Dahlia at The Book Shopaholic for this find!

Not Quite Paradise by Adele Barker

Adele Barker writes of her experiences living in war-torn Sri Lanka for a year and then later when she returns during the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. I really want to read this book about the land of my ancestors. Thanks to Ramblings of a Librarian Assistant for this find!

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien

Description from author's website:

"After climate change, on the north shore of Unlake Superior, a dystopian world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. It's Gaia's job to "advance" a quota of infants from poverty into the walled Enclave, until the night one agonized mother objects, and Gaia's parents disappear. As Gaia's efforts to save her parents take her within the wall, she faces the brutal injustice of the Enclave and discovers she alone holds the key to a secret code, a code of “birthmarked” babies and genetic merit. Fraught with difficult moral choices and rich with intricate layers of codes, BIRTHMARKED explores a colorful, cruel, eerily familiar world where a criminal is defined by her genes, and one girl can make all the difference." This looks like it will be as good as The Forest of Hands and Teeth!

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

The premise of Dreaming Anastasia is that during the Russian Revolution, Anastasia Romanov didn't die but was instead "rescued" by the witch Baba Yaga. In modern times, Anne starts having bizarre dreams about Anastasia.

Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George

This is a retelling of Cinderella from the author of Princess of the Midnight Ball and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow. I love fairy tales retold and I've enjoyed her other books so I am looking forward to this one.