In My Mailbox 6th May 2012

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren and is one of the many weekly events where book bloggers can talk about the books they've gotten the past week- whether bought, borrowed, swapped, or given for review. This feature was started to increase interaction between bloggers and to better improve our awareness of all the new books coming out.

Ooooh- I got some great books again this week. Check 'em out!

Audiobooks:

             

• Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. I have heard so many amazing things about this book. I love high fantasy stories, and assassin nuns?!- Yes please!
• Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts. This has been on my wishlist for so long I have forgotten what it's about! It's a dystopian (I think), but it was on sale this week, and I remember that it was really popular a few months back. 

For review:

• Shift by Kim Curran. This looks like an interesting action book, looking forward to starting this one. This is due to be published in September 2012, thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy.

• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. This is about female fighter pilots and spies in the Second World War, sounds pretty good. This is published already. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy.

• The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry. It's steampunk and full of unusual  characters, goblins, and people with unusual powers. I really like the sound of this one. This is published already. Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for my review copy.

• Shadow Sight by E.J Stevens. This is a new series about a psychic detective, written by the author of the funny and quirky She Smells the Dead series. I'm looking forward to this one. My review copy sent thanks to the author. 

Those were my fantastic books this week. Thanks for stopping by. Let me know which books came into your house this week.

Happy reading!

Winners- Divergent giveaway!

Okay- if you entered the giveaway of Divergent, the two winners have been chosen, and they are...

... wait for it...

Beverley and Tyler-Rose Neath!

Congratulations guys- a copy of Divergent is yours- expect an email from me soon!

The Time Will Come #60

The Time Will Come is a weekly meme hosted by Jodie at Books For Company, where we can spotlight those books that we've had sitting on our shelves for too long. Books that we really want to read but never seem to get around to.

This is one that I bought over six months ago when I read some incredible reviews of this book (Mel- I blame you!), and it didn't look like the library was going to order it in. It sounds so good and so different from the usual YA fantasy fare, especially the heroine who apparently describes herself as "a big bloated sausage" and a "pig". I really want to read it but I unfortunately have soooo many books that I really need to read, and a full time job that stands in the way of that! But one day, I will pick this book up.

Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Goodreads:

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

Alternate covers:



Awesome reviews:


Mels Random Reviews- 9 out of 10
My Keeper Shelf- 5 out of 5
Candace's Book Blog- 5 out of 5
Read Me, Bookmark Me, Love Me- 4 of 5
The Reader Bee

Rest of the series:

Book 2- Crown of Embers (Goodreads) is due to be published in September 2012. Book 3- The Bitter Kingdom is due out Autumn 2013.  

Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Source: Borrowed from the library

Synopsis from Goodreads:
I’m pushing aside
the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana
and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, ' Delirium.' This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

I absolutely loved book 1 in this series Delirium, and waited with such excitement for the sequel Pandemonium to come out, desperate to find out what happened next. What happened to Alex?! Did Lena make it to the Wilds?!

Verdict?- I loved this book too. I felt for Lena all the way through all the struggle, all the twists and turns, and cried and loved along with her. Pandemonium has Lauren Oliver's typical focus on in-depth characters and back story, which gives such weight to the whole story.

It felt like a completely different type of story from the first book though. In Delirium Lena was living her life within the society- controlled and ignorant, and the book mainly focused on how horrifying it was living in a world where love is forbidden and feared. In Pandemonium we are looking at the society from the outside- and seeing some of the various resistance movements that are trying in their different ways to bring about change, or to just try to survive free however they can.

It's also told in alternating chapters switching between what happened just after Lena and Alex were seperated, and then living in New York as a member of the resistance many months later. I liked this style (even though it was a little confusing at first) because it was interesting to slowly discover how Lena got from one situation to another. Both threads of the story are totally compelling, and kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through.

The world she escapes to is dark and harsh. She has to walk miles to carry buckets of water back, she is always hungry and cold, always in danger of being hunted or from dropping bombs, with her friends dying of sickness. But even so, she and her new friends living in the Wilds are free, and when we see back to how cruel living in the society could be, what she has given up doesn't seem too bad.

There is always something happening, and I loved the build up of suspense, as Lena and her new band of rebels infiltrate back into society as spies trying to break the government down from the inside. This is how Lena meets Julian, who is the son of the man in charge. He has not yet had the cure and has his own doubts about it. But I loved seeing them struggle to break free together.

In a society where love is seen as a sickness it is shocking how this comes across in the books. Lena has very happy memories of her mother singing to her, dancing and playing games together, and yet this behaviour was seen as wrong- a mother infected with the deliria sickness. Julian's father in contrast, beats his sons, and is abusive and cruel, and yet this is seen as the norm.

Lena's world is hard and cruel, which for me made this book moving and tense, and powerfully gripping. This is an incredible story about love and survival, with a terrifying but believable world, and strong complex characters. But it ends on another intense cliffhanger, so I have another long agonising wait for the next one now!

Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
My rating: 
3 of 5 stars


Source: Netgalley

Synopsis from Goodreads:
"Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers."

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.

His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.

Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.

But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

This is a really sweet and funny contemporary book that I just devoured. I really liked these characters and felt for what they were going through. These are real teenagers with real problems, and some tough emotional dramas, but I enjoyed their stories, and how everything kind of came together so well.

Both the main characters have such a passion for art, and even though I personally know absolutely nothing at all about art, their enthusiasm was contagious. Lucy is really into glass-blowing and creating sculptures, and Ed likes to paint his emotions and dreams onto walls, but they both have favourite artists and when tey get together they easily discuss paintings and exhibitions that they went to. They both have an appreciation for art in all it's forms, and it was so refreshing to read about.

Lucy is such a quirky and independent character. I loved her innocence, and her optimism . But you can see where she gets her quirkiness from in her artistic parents, and their odd ways. Her Dad is currently living in the shed and nailing up a sign saying 132a "because the pizza delivery guy keeps getting confused". I liked the way the situation with her parents always had an element of humour with it.

Ed I loved for his insecurity but his innate "goodness". He has had a hard time being misunderstood because of his dyslexia but has worked hard and earned the respect of his boss, looked after his mum, and taken care of his best friend. I liked the way he was concerned about the safety of the girls at the party, and how he was always looking out for other people, and never letting on about the difficulties in his own life.

And as they travel around the city together searching for the elusive graffiti arist Shadow and admiring his artwork they learn a lot about each other's lives, and that there is more to the other beneath the surface. Lucy feels that if she could just meet Shadow who paints such beautiful artwork he would be the perfect guy. Instead she is stuck with Ed- whose nose she once broke after he tried to grab her arse.

I really liked the dual narrative switching between Ed and Lucy, which really showed off their personalities, what the other was thinking and feeling and how ultimately through talking their lives through, they make a decisive choice about their own futures. This is a novel about finding yourself and accepting hard choices.

I really enjoyed this book- such a sweet read, beautifully written, very moving and very clever. I loved the mix of characters, and the fact that it is set over the course of one night made it compulsively compelling reading.