In My Mailbox is a weekly meme started by The Story Siren. It gives people a chance to share what they got in the mail, in a shopping bag, from the library, or from a friend. You can get more information, or share your posts here.
This week I got a lot of the books I’d ordered for my birthday. I loved all of my Amazon gift cards :)
This will be my weekly post, similar to Waiting on Wednesdays done Jill at Breaking the Spine. I will be showcasing a book that I am wildly anticipating, and have most-likely already pre-ordered on Amazon.com. I’ll try to post “I Can’t Hardly Wait” posts on Fridays. Thanks, and feel free to tell me what you’re excited about :)
Cloaked by Alex Flinn
A retelling of The Frog Prince, the Elves and the Shoemaker, and several other fairytales. I do love how Alex Flinn blends her fairytales with a modern setting and characters. I can’t wait to read this.
Anything you’re looking forward to?
Interest: Debut Author Challenge, storyline: people frozen on a spaceship
Released: January 11, 2011
398 Pages, hardcover
Summary:A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.
Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.
Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.
Summary from Goodreads.com
Alright, I held off on reviewing Across the Universe for a few weeks because I did not know what to think. It was hyped to be one of the best books out this year, the storyline was really intriguing, but I found myself disappointed by the story. Time has helped me sort out why. For me, it was the romance. I love good YA romances. In Across the Universe, I am sorry to say, there was not a romance. Normally, I would not be too upset about this, but the blurb led me to believe there would be: “A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.” I felt misled, and let down when there was not a love story.
Now, if I take those emotions out of the equation, AtU was a great story! It was science fiction meets dystopian literature. The world that Revis created (right down to a ship map inside the dust cover) was impressive. That is one thing I love about dystopian books: the new world, presumably created based on our actions and/or mistakes. The world on Godspeed is one that will make you cringe. People are docile and vacant. Those who are not are considered crazy. Children aren’t born out of love, but because it is “the season”, and people mate like animals in the middle of the sidewalk.
It’s a strange new world. It grows even stranger when cryogenically frozen people are being taken out early: to awaken or die. Amy wakes up. Elder (the teenaged future leader of Godspeed) is immediately drawn to her. As he watches her reactions to his society he starts to actually question how and why things are done on the ship. He also works with Amy in a race to protect the other “frozens” and discover who is trying to kill them.
Overall, Across the Universe was very well done. Just think don’t think of it as a romance, and you should be satisfied :)
Cover: 10/10 Love the colors, the contrast, the faces, the stars. It fits for the book too.
Plot: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Ending: 9/10
Overall Enjoyment: 7/10
Score: 84% B
PG-13 Not much language as the characters use future curses, sexuality described in terms of human “mating” on the ship, and a near rape
Okay, I know, it’s January already, but I was a terrible blogger in December. There was a big holiday in there somewhere, family visiting, and then I was on vacation for the past three weeks. So, here I am a month late. I participated in the blogger holiday swap hosted by Selena. I had an awesome Secret Santa, Maria Cari (http://cariblogs.blogspot.com/). She has a really awesome blog too. Go check it out, seriously.
I got Cindy Ella and Geek Charming by Robin Palmer, as well as some swag bookmarks and all. She even included barrettes and stickers for my two year old daughter. How sweet is that!?
So, even though this is late, I really did appreciate it. I also enjoyed getting to meet new bloggers. If you’re interested, I definitely recommend checking out the book blogger holiday swap next year :)
Once again I’m signing up for the Debut Author Challenge hosted by The Story Siren. If you’re interested in more information click on this link to The Story Siren’s webpage. Basically, I’ll be reading at least twelve books published in 2011 by new young adult authors. Here’s my to read list, thus far:
1. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
2. Timeless by Alexandra Monir
3. Warped by Maurissa Guibord
4. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
5. The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal
6. A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford
7. The Demon Tapper’s Daughter by Jana Oliver
8. Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach
9. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
10. Entwined by Heather Dixon
11. Falling Under by Gwen Hayes
12. Kat, the Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
13. Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell
14. Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury
15. Divergent by Veronica Roth
16. Die for Me by Amy Plum
17. Mercy by Rebecca Lim
18. Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs
19. The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
Best of luck!
Released: January 11, 2011
Hardcover, 320 pages
Interest: Debut Author Challenge
Tessa doesn't believe in magic. Or Fate. But there's something weird about the dusty unicorn tapestry she discovers in a box of old books. She finds the creature woven within it compelling and frightening. After the tapestry comes into her possession, Tessa experiences dreams of the past and scenes from a brutal hunt that she herself participated in. When she accidentally pulls a thread from the tapestry, Tessa releases a terrible centuries old secret. She also meets William de Chaucy, an irresistible 16th-century nobleman. His fate is as inextricably tied to the tapestry as Tessa's own. Together, they must correct the wrongs of the past. But then the Fates step in, making a tangled mess of Tessa's life. Now everyone she loves will be destroyed unless Tessa does their bidding and defeats a cruel and crafty ancient enemy.
Summary from Goodreads.com
Can I just say I was impressed by this novel. I preordered it several months ago and forgot what it was supposed to be about. The cover intrigued me, but didn’t pull me in immediately. The story, on the other hand, did. Tessa is a fairly normal teenager with a uneventful life until she sees the unicorn tapestry at an auction. All of a sudden she has to have it. Strange dreams follow, along with a devastatingly handsome guy. Sigh…
Warped is well-woven fantasy. It took me into a vivid world that I could not wait to read more about. The characters felt real and compelling. While the story wrapped up, there also seems to be room for more, should Maurissa Guibord desire it. Either way, I feel satisfied and enchanted.
Rating:
Cover 8/10
Plot 10/10
Characters 10/10
Ending 10/10
Overall approval 9/10
Total: 94% A
Reader rating: PG, a few light swears, some violence, nothing really to worry about
Noelle, a hopeless romantic, just knows that her gifts have to be from her senior crush! And geeky Froggy thinks the game is the perfect way to get super-popular Celia to fall for him...except she thinks his gifts are from Jake, the school's resident bad boy, and starts to crush on him! Romantic mishaps abound, but all is revealed the night of the Winter Dance, where there's more than one surprise waiting under the mistletoe!
Summary from Goodreads.com
Released: October 2007
256 pages (paperback)
Really quick: Secret Santa was sweet, funny, and satisfying.
There were a lot of characters, I had to keep referring to the diagram on the back of my book to tell who was who in the school-wide secret Santa game. Once I could keep all of the characters straight, they were well-developed and likable. Secret Santa was a tale of mistaken identity, and crushing on the wrong person, only to find the right one was there with you all along. Predictable, and slightly cheesy, but a great holiday read if you want the happy endings. My second favorite holiday read (Let it Snow is my first).
Cover 8/10 Plot 9/10 Characters 9/10 Ending 9/10 Overall approval 10/10
Grade 90% A-
Mistletoe by Hailey Abbott, Melissa de la Cruz, Aimee Friedman, and Nina Malkin
Glittering white snowflakes. The handsome blond ski instructor. The sparkle on a cashmere skirt. Hot cocoa and kisses in front of a crackling fire. The holiday season is the ESSENCE of magic...and romance. Four of today's bestselling teen authors -- Melissa de la Cruz (THE AU PAIRS), Aimee Friedman (SOUTH BEACH), Hailey Abbott (SUMMER BOYS), and Nina Malkin (6X) -- bring us delectable tales of love and lust and holiday cheers (and tears) in this one-of-a-kind collection that teens will devour faster than a plate of Christmas cookies.
Summary from Goodreads.com
Released: October 2006
240 pages (paperback)
A collection of unrelated Christmas tales that left me dissatisfied. After reading Secret Santa, and Dashing Through the Mall, I was looking for “Christmas cheer”. Mistletoe as a collection was more about scandal than the “feel good romance” I was looking for. The first story by Aimee Friedman was an exception. Melissa de la Cruz’s retelling of the Gift of the Magi was also enjoyable-good writing, likeable characters who experience growth, even in such a short story. I guess I was just soured on the collection in the middle of the book. Just because I didn’t enjoy it overall doesn’t mean it’s not worth a try though. I’d really recommend it to those who are already familiar with each of the authors.
Cover 6/10 Plots 7/10 Characters 7/10 Endings 7/10 Overall approval 6/10
Grade 66% D
Dashing Through the Mall by Sherryl Woods, Darlene Gardner, Holly Jacobs
Santa, Baby by Sherryl Woods When Amy Riley's son disappears in the mall, Santa--who is actually police officer Nick DiCaprio--comes to the rescue. Whoever said the Big Red Guy wasn't sexy?
Assignment Humbug by Darlene Gardner Retail manager Joy O'Connell is fraying at the edges when rheumatologist Ed Hall and his three child-terrors enter her store. Between shopping hell and bah humbug, can Ed uncover the true Joy of the season?
Deck the Halls by Holly Jacobs TV reporter Merry Deluca's "'tis the season to be greedy" story is about to get complicated--her new cameraman is recently ex-fiancé Patrick MacFarland! And he's got a whole new angle for her story....
Summary from Goodreads.com
Released: November 2006
320 pages (paperback)
I think I picked this up for a quarter at my local library and I am glad I did! Dashing through the Mall was a collection of chick-lit stories all taking place at the same mall on Christmas Eve in Raleigh, North Carolina. While the stories shared the same setting, they were independent of one another. The characters and romances were developed as well as they could be when the stories take place in one day. It’s a little far-fetched to see the characters kissing by the end of the day, but the stories were all light and happy. They put me in the mood to play Christmas music, and even to spend time at the mall. I especially loved Assignment Humbug because the three teenage boys were hilarious, and I loved Joy and Ed’s witty banter.
Cover 8/10 Plots 8/10 Characters 8/10 Endings 8/10 Overall approval 8/10
Grade 80% B-
All of the above were reviewed for the Holiday Reading Challenge hosted by All About {n}
