Wyrd & Wonder is a month-long celebration of the fantastic hosted by imyril @ There’s Always Room for One More, Lisa @ Dear Geek Place and Jorie @ Jorie Loves a Story. Get involved here!
As I’m taking part in Wyrd & Wonder throughout May, and celebrating the fantasy genre, I’m dedicating this month’s Shelf Control posts to the fantasy novels that have been waiting patiently on my shelves far too long!
Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves created and hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out Lisa’s introductory post, here.
A Great and Terrible Beauty
by Libba Bray
It’s 1895 and, after the death of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped from the she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true. Gemma finds he reception a chilly one. She’s not completely alone, though… she’s being followed by a mysterious young man, sent to warn her to close her mind against the visions.
It’s at Spence that Gemma’s power to attract the supernatural unfolds as she becomes entangled with the school’s most powerful girls and discovers her mother’s connection to a shadowy, timeless group called The Order. Her destiny awaits… if only Gemma can believe in it.
I fell in love with The Diviners last autumn, and the heroine of this, her first historical fantasy trilogy, makes a cameo appearance in it, so the fact that these two stories are set in the same version of the past Bray’s written about makes me want to read this book even more than I already did. I’ve owned a copy for years, so it’s about time I picked it up!
Jessticulates 
I really like this idea 🙂 I’ve had books on my shelf for literal years that I’m yet to read. Mainly non-fiction but I’ve had Dune and Cloud Atlas waiting to be read for more years than I actually know.
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Oh, this looks good.
Umm, I actually have a couple of unread books on my shelves that have been with me since the 90s LOL.
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Hahaha don’t worry, I have books that have been waiting on my shelves for years, too!
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Glad I’m not the only one hahahaha.
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Oh wow, I had no idea that Gemma shows up in The Diviners! I read The Diviners when it came out, and I just read this book (and the rest of the trilogy) a couple of years ago. I loved this trilogy! I listened to the audiobooks, and they were terrific. I hope you enjoy this one!
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She makes a very, very brief appearance – I think she’s sending a parcel, and she happens to mention her name? – but it’s made me even more excited to pick it up knowing that it has a link to a series I’m already loving. So glad you loved this one!
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I read this years ago and LOVED it!
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Oh yay, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
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