In My Mailbox #15

This week I have a ridiculous amount of books in my mailbox. I know there are probably some readers thinking wow, I'd love that many books in one week but it is actually quite stressful when you have to fit reviewing in around work and try to have a normal life instead of a virtual one. But hey, I can't deny that there is one book among these that is seriosuly happy-dance worthy!


Firstly, from my blogger friend Lauren @ I Was A Teenage Book Geek.


Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden

Lauren reviewed both these books and her reviews were so fabulous that I really wanted to read them, so she sent them to me. Isn't she amazing!

NB: All book summaries are from Waterstones.com unless otherwise stated.

Secondly, books for review:

The Puzzle Ring by Kate Forsyth
Sent to me by Scholastic for the upcoming blog tour. For anyone who is interested my tour date is February 1st!

Hannah Rose Brown is twelve years old when she finds out that her family is cursed. Desperate to find the truth about her father' disappearance, she travels to her ancestral home in Scotland, and discover a chain of dark secrets that plunge her into different worlds, timeframes and dangers. This is another magical historical novel from the author of "The Gypsy Crown".

The following six titles have been sent to me from Bloomsbury. I emailed them before the new year asking very politely if they would allow me to review Montacute House for my UK debut author part of The Story Siren's challenge. I didn't hear anything until this Wednesday when I got a reply in my inbox saying that I am a very lucky girl as the proofs had just come in and yes you may have one. I was over joyed. I cannot wait to review it. Anyway, my lovely emailer said that she'd send me a couple of other books as well. I was all ooohs and ahhhs. I couldn't believe it when Saturday came and my wonderful postie brought me a big parcel and inside, yes six books. Thank you very much indeed Bloomsbury! I think this illustrates two points when asking for review books: be polite and be patient. If the publisher likes your blog, then they will get in touch.

Montacute House by Lucy Jago (The Bookette's happy-dance here)

Cess works caring for the chickens at Montacute House but on her thirteenth birthday everything changes. She finds a precious locket hidden in the chicken coop and is convinced someone has placed it there for her to find. But the day is overshadowed by fear as a boy's body is found by the river, and then when John disappears, Cess is accused by the villagers of bewitching her best friend. Cess is determined to find John and prove the villagers wrong, but is soon embroiled in a plot that threatens her world and forces Cess to draw on powers she never knew she possessed, powers that will place her life in danger if they are discovered by the villagers. Witchcraft, politics and religious ambition combine in this gripping and wonderfully realised novel set in the Somerset of the 1500s.

Drawing with Light by Julia Green

Kat and Emily have grown up without their mother for almost as long as they can remember. And now Dad is with Cassy and they all muddle along together well enough - even though they are living in a cramped caravan while their new house is being renovated. Then Cassy and Dad tell them that Cassy is pregnant, and everything seems to shift. Emily feels a new urge to find her own mother. How could she have left them the way she did? Never writing to them? Not communicating with them? And as Emily begins her search, not knowing what she will find, she is at the same time embarking on a new relationship of her own, that of her romance with Seb. This is an evocative and finely drawn novel about family relationships, in particular that of mother and daughter, and the shifting emotions of a teenager trying to make sense of her family and her world.

Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore

Nimira is a music-hall performer forced to dance for pennies to an audience of leering drunks. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to do a special act - singing accompaniment to an exquisite piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets stir. Unsettling below-stairs rumours abound about ghosts, a mad woman roaming the halls, and of Parry's involvement in a gang of ruthless sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing young fairy gentleman is trapped inside the automaton's stiff limbs, waiting for someone to break the curse and set him free, the two fall in love. But it is a love set against a dreadful race against time to save the entire fairy realm, which is in mortal peril.

No and Me by Delphine de Vigan

Lou Bertignac has an IQ of 160 and a good friend in class rebel Lucas. At home her father puts a brave face on things but cries in secret in the bathroom, while her mother rarely speaks and hardly ever leaves the house. To escape this desolate world, Lou goes often to Gare d'Austerlitz to see the big emotions in the smiles and tears of arrival and departure. But there she also sees the homeless, meets a girl called No, only a few years older than herself, and decides to make homelessness the topic of her class presentation. Bit by bit, Lou and No become friends until, the project over, No disappears. Heartbroken, Lou asks her parents the unaskable question and her parents say: Yes, No can come to live with them. So Lou goes down into the underworld of Paris's street people to bring her friend up to the light of a home and family life, she thinks.

 
Need by Carrie Jones

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect Facebook friends. It's little wonder, since she's had a fairly rough life. Her father left when she was a baby, her stepfather just died and her mother's almost given up - in fact, she's sent her to live with her grandmother in cold and sleepy Maine to 'keep Zara safe'. Zara doesn't think she's in danger; she thinks her mother just can't cope. Zara's wrong. The man she sees everywhere - the tall, creepy guy who points at her from the side of the road - is not a figment of her imagination. He's a pixie. But not the cute, sweet kind with little wings. Maine's got a whole assortment of unbelievable creatures. And they seem to need something - something from Zara...

My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey

The Blakes are rather different to your usual neighbours. They are vampires and some of the members of the family date back to the twelfth century. One of the children, Solange, is the only born female vampire known and, as such, she poses a direct threat to the vampire queen. Her best friend Lucy is human, and when Solange is kidnapped Lucy and Solange's brother, Nicholas, set out to save her. Lucy soon discovers that she would like to be more than just friends with Nicholas. But how does one go about dating a vampire? Meanwhile, Solange finds an unlikely ally in Kieran, a vampire slayer on the hunt for his father's killer.



 
Macmillan Children's book sent the following book to work for me to review. I haven't read anything by this author before so it should be interesting. This is due for release in the UK in April.
 

Dreaming of Amelia by Jaclyn Moriarty

 

Amelia and Riley have transferred to Ashbury for their final year of school, and everyone is completely obsessed with them. Glamorous, talented and totally devoted to one another, the two of them drift through school in their own world. But there's more to the couple than meets the eye - they have secrets. And some of them are dangerous to share. As Riley starts to lose his grip on Amelia, the repercussions affect everyone around them. It is a spellbinding story about ghosts, secrets, madness, passion, locked doors, femme fatales, and that terrifying moment in the final year of high school when you realise that the future's coming to get you.



The final two books in my mailbox were sent to me by the author. Gillian contacted me through Twitter after reading one of my reviews. I would be lying if I said I wasn't flattered.
 

Crossing the Line by Gillian Philip
 
Nick Geddes's life is a mess. His sister's boyfriend was killed in a school stabbing. His grandmother is decending into a world of her own, his mother has a 'god-slot' on local radio, and his father is drinking way too much. But that is nothing, because he is also crazy in love with Orla, the sister of the boy who has been killed, and she blames Nick! How can Nick make sense of this chaos, and look after his sister, and hopefully get lucky with Orla?
 
 
 

Bad Faith by Gillian Philip

 

MURDEROUSLY SINISTER DYSTOPIAN SATIRE. Life's easy for Cassandra. The privileged daughter of a cleric, she's been protected from the extremist gangs who enfore the One Church's will. Her boyfriend Ming is a bad influence, fo course, with infadel parents who are constantly in trouble with the religious authorities. But Cass has no intention of letting their different backgrounds drive them apart. Then they stumble across a corpse. Who killed him? How did his body end up in their secret childhood haunt? And is this man's death connected to other, older murders? As the political atmosphere grows feverish, Cass realises she and Ming face extreme danger.



 
I know my mailbox was crammed full this week so I'm hoping for a quiet week next week. The only thing that I want to arrive is the promised goody-bag for Voyager.

This meme is hosted by The Story Siren and inspired by Alea, Pop Culture Junkie.