Sunday, February 1, 2009

In My Mailbox (5)

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi. Visit her blog for more info on what it is and how to join.

I've gotten a lot of really good looking books in the mail this week. I can't wait to dig into them. :)

[Note: Summaries are not mine. They are from amazon. If amazon did not have them, I just Googled to find one.]

For Review:


Privilege - Kate Brian

MOST GIRLS WOULD DIE FOR A LIFE OF PRIVILEGE....
SOME WOULD EVEN KILL FOR IT.

Ariana Osgood ruled exclusive Easton Academy -- until she was arrested for murdering Thomas Pearson. She's spent the past two years at the Brenda T. Trumbull Correctional Facility for Women plotting her escape and is determined to get a second chance at the glamorous life she left behind. And Ariana will do anything to get her way....

From the author of the bestselling Private novels comes a new series about the dark world of wealth, secrets, and Privilege.


The Season - Sarah MacLean

Seventeen year old Lady Alexandra is strong-willed and sharp-tongued -- in a house full of older brothers and their friends, she had to learn to hold her own. Not the best makings for an aristocratic lady in Regency London. Yet her mother still dreams of marrying Alex off to someone safe, respectable, and wealthy. But between ball gown fittings, dances, and dinner parties, Alex, along with her two best friends, Ella and Vivi, manages to get herself into what may be her biggest scrape yet.
When the Earl of Blackmoor is mysteriously killed, Alex decides to help his son, the brooding and devilishly handsome Gavin, uncover the truth. But will Alex's heart be stolen in the process? In an adventure brimming with espionage, murder, and other clandestine affairs, who could possibly have time to worry about finding a husband? Romance abounds as this year's season begins!


Eyes Like Stars - Lisa Mantchev

EYES LIKE STARS introduces Beatrice Shakespeare Smith. Behind the curtain at the Théâtre Illuminata, you can find the characters of every play ever written. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book–an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family–and she is about to lose them, and the only home she has ever known.


Because I Am Furniture - Thalia Chaltas

Anke’s father is abusive. But not to her. He attacks her brother and sister, but she’s just an invisible witness in a house of horrors, on the brink of disappearing altogether. Until she makes the volleyball team at school. At first just being exhausted after practice feels good, but as Anke becomes part of the team, her confidence builds. When she learns to yell “Mine!” to call a ball, she finds a voice she didn’t know existed. For the first time, Anke is seen and heard. Soon, she’s imagining a day that her voice will be loud enough to rescue everyone at home—including herself.

(This one's from Karin through the YA Book Swap. Thanks, Karin. :D)


Hottie - Jonathon Bernstein

Alison Cole’s got it all: She’s gorgeous, dating a steamy surfer boy, and has just been crowned Beverly Hills High Freshman Class President. Then during a special “symmetry” surgery, a lightning bolt zaps her, and Alison instantly transforms into Hottie—that is, a totally sizzling superhero with the power to shoot fire from her fingers!
Shunned as a Pyro-Freak, Alison must adopt dorky David Eels as her crime-fi ghting sidekick. Worse, she’s falling for the one guy who wants to “extinguish” her forever, Junior Class President of Cuteness— and wannabe fi refi ghter—T. Hull. But she doesn’t realize that a supervillain’s lurking. . . .

Has Hottie met her match?


Eon: Dragoneye Reborn - Alison Goodman

Eon has been studying the ancient art of Dragon Magic for four years, hoping he'll be able to apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But he also has a dark secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been living a dangerous lie for the chance to become a Dragon-eye, the human link to an energy dragon's power. It is forbidden for females to practice the Dragon Magic and, if discovered, Eon faces a terrible death. After a dazzling sword ceremony, Eon's affinity with the twelve dragons catapults him into the treacherous world of the Imperial court, where he makes a powerful enemy, Lord Ido. As tension builds and Eon's desperate lie comes to light, readers won't be able to stop turning the pages...


Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks - Lauren Myracle

Growing up in a world of wealth and pastel-tinted entitlement, fifteen-year-old Carly has always relied on the constancy—and authenticity—of her sister, Anna. But when fourteen-year-old Anna turns plastic-perfect-pretty over the course of a single summer, everything starts to change. And there are boys involved, complicating things as boys always do. With warmth, insight, and an unparalleled gift for finding humor even in stormy situations, beloved author Lauren Myracle dives into the tumultuous waters of sisterhood and shows that even very different sisters can learn to help each other stay afloat.


The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Tenth Grade Bleeds - Heather Brewer

It’s another sucky year at Bathory High for Vladimir Tod. The evil vampire D’Ablo is hunting for the ritual that could steal Vlad’s powers. His best friend Henry doesn’t want to be his drudge anymore. And as if all that weren’t enough, it’s getting harder for Vlad to resist feeding on the people around him. When months go by with no word from Uncle Otis and D’Ablo shows up demanding Vlad’s father’s journal, Vlad realizes that having a normal high school year is the least of his concerns. Vlad needs to act fast, and even his status as the Pravus won’t save him this time . . .

-->If anyone has the second book in the series, Ninth Grade Slays, and are willing to let me borrow/keep it, e-mail me. I've read the first one, but not the second one, and I need to read it before reading this one. Thanks. :)<--


Tales of the Madman Underground - John Barnes

Wednesday, September 5, 1973: The first day of Karl Shoemaker’s senior year in stifling Lightsburg, Ohio. For years, Karl’s been part of what he calls “the Madman Underground”—a group of kids forced (for no apparent reason) to attend group therapy during school hours. Karl has decided that senior year is going to be different. He is going to get out of the Madman Underground for good. He is going to act—and be—Normal. But Normal, of course, is relative. Karl has five after-school jobs, one dead father, one seriously unhinged drunk mother . . . and a huge attitude. Welcome to a gritty, uncensored rollercoaster ride, narrated by the singular Karl Shoemaker.


Wintergirls - Laurie Halse Anderson

“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.
Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend’s restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia’s descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.


You Are So Undead To Me - Stacey Jay

Q: HOW MANY ZOMBIES DOES IT TAKE TO RUIN A SOCIAL LIFE?
A: NOT MANY.
Megan Berry is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she's part-time shrink to a whole bunch of semi-dead people with killer issues. All Megan really wants is to go to homecoming, but when you're trailed by a bunch of slobbering corpses whenever you leave the house, it's kinda hard to score a date. Let's just say Megan's love life could use some major resuscitation.

Megan's convinced her life can't get any worse - until someone in school starts using black magic to turn average, angsty Undead into scary, hardcore flesh-eating Zombies. Now it's up to Megan to stop the Zombie apocalypse. Her life - and more importantly, the homecoming dance - depends on it.


Flygirl - Sherri L. Smith

Ida Mae Jones dreams of fl ight. Her daddy was a pilot and being black didn’t stop him from fulfilling his dreams. But her daddy’s gone now, and being a woman, and being black, are two strikes against her.
When America enters the war with Germany and Japan, the Army creates the WASP, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots—and Ida suddenly sees a way to fl y as well as do something signifi cant to help her brother stationed in the Pacific. But even the WASP won’t accept her as a black woman, forcing Ida Mae to make a difficult choice of “passing,” of pretending to be white to be accepted into the program. Hiding one’s racial heritage, denying one’s family, denying one’s self is a heavy burden. And while Ida Mae chases her dream, she must also decide who it is she really wants to be.


Waiting for You - Susane Colasanti

At the beginning of her sophomore year, Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, more importantly, a boyfriend. So when the handsome and popular Derek asks her out, Marisa thinks her long wait for happiness is over. But several bumps in the road—including her parents’ unexpected separation, a fight with her best friend, and a shocking disappointment in her relationship with Derek—test Marisa’s ability to maintain her new outlook. Only the anonymous DJ, whose underground podcasts have the school’s ear, seems to understand what Marisa is going through. But she has no idea who he is—or does she?
In this third romantic novel from Susane Colasanti, Marisa learns how to “be in the Now” and realizes that the love she’s been waiting for has been right in front of her all along.

Lipstick Apology - Jennifer Jabaley

Sometimes a good-bye is just the beginning…
When Emily Carson’s parents die in a plane crash, she’s left with nothing but her mother’s last words scrawled in lipstick on a tray table: “Emily, please forgive me.”

Now it’s fall and Emily moves to New York City— where she attracts the attention of two very different boys: the cute, popular Owen, and her quirky chemistry partner, Anthony. With the help of some surprising new friends, Emily must choose between the boy who helps her forget and the one who encourages her to remember, and ultimately heal.

Debut author Jennifer Jabaley has written a wonderful, feel-good romantic comedy with real emotional depth. Full of lovably wacky characters, Lipstick Apology is a heartwarming story about the true meaning of forgiveness.

(Can't find cover art for this one... )


Along for the Ride - Sarah Dessen

It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.
A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.

In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect.

hope.

16 comments:

MySharonAnne said...

You had a nice week. I'm still waiting for Hottie and The Season.

Anonymous said...

Definitely a nice week! UNDEAD is amazing. I'm sure you'll love it.

I can't wait to get Along for the Ride!

Unknown said...

Man, you hauled it in! I would heart Wintergirls, Along for the Ride, and Vladimar Tod. I've only read the 8th grade one but I look forward to reading the other ones! Lucky Lucky.

Shalonda said...

Yay Hope!

You got some really good stuff. Definitely jealous (but excited for you) about The Season, Lipstick Apology, Wintergirls and Along for the Ride!

Nancy said...

You had an amazing week. Yeay! I cannot wait to read your reviews on them. Undead by Stacey Jay, is out of this world, crazy good. I know you will enjoy it.

Happy reading: )

asdfjkl; said...

I've heard of all of those, but have yet to read them. I have just started The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, but the one you received (the third) has the best cover for sure.

Bookworm said...

Ooh, I really want HOTTIE, EYES LIKE STARS, PEACE LOVE & BABY DUCKS, ALONG FOR THE RIDE, and LIPSTICK APOLOGY! You are sooooo lucky!

Bookworm said...

...And the Season, too!

Anonymous said...

Again with the Wintergirls...I am so jealous.

the story siren said...

geez hope! your mailbox must be busted now....

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Awesome week! I love getting books in the mail. Eyes Like Stars sounds amazing. I'm so jealous. :)

-Lauren

prophecygirl said...

Wow Hope, amazing week! (Along For the Ride... woohoo!)

Test said...

You had an amazing week. I am so jealous. Especially, of Along For The Ride (It seems like everyone is getting that, but me) and Lipstick Apology( same!).

Anyway, You Are So Undead To Me is great, I can’t wait to see what you think about it.

stargirlreads said...

I got privelage and I have wintergirls :)

Diana Dang said...

That's one heck of an awesome batch!

Em said...

ohh, you got tons of great books this week!