October 20, 2012

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. It’s awesome. Every week, we all get a chance to tell everyone what new books we’ve gotten so that we can tell you guys and we can all drool and squee together! Huzzah for squees! Stacking the Shelves is another weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. They’re both awesome memes and I love meeting all of you through them!

LOTS of good stuff to shout out, friends! Some awesome-sounding contemporaries and a SUPER sounding MG. All in all, a good week for me, my dears.

NETGALLEY

Amazon | Goodreads

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (March 15, 2013 from St. Martin’s Press). A contemp set in 1986 is always going to snatch my attention right up. I was a super-cool kindergartener in 1986, so I can’t say that I was having serious talks about Bono during that school year, but grown-up Amy is still DYING to read this book. It seriously sounds amazing.

Amazon | Goodreads

Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt (January 15, 2013 from St. Martin’s Press). Another contemp that sounds pretty stellar. I am really looking forward to reading this one, about a girl with a stinky home life who befriends boys over other girls, and who suffers the brunt of that truly horrible brand of teenage judgement where kids assume a girl who likes to be around boys all the time is a slut. Subvert, Anna!

BOUGHT

Amazon | Goodreads

Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara. Sigh. This book sounds like something right up my alley. A girl retreats to the woods (LOVE the woods) to regroup after a horrible car accident and meets a boy there who’s dealing with his own troubles and the two of them connect. Sounds deep. Also, I read the little snippet on the cover flap. Guys? THE WORDS ARE PRETTY.

Amazon | Goodreads

Justin Thyme: The Tartan of Time #1 by Panama Oxridge. Scottish time-traveling, middle grade adventure?!? STOP IT RIGHT NOW.Guys, I’m so excited that I found this book. This book has a CAST OF CHARACTERS page, featuring a Laird of Thyme named Willoughby, a butler named Peregrine Knightly, and a computer-savvy GORILLA (!) named Eliza. ALSO, it has a map/illustration of the castle where Justin, our MC, lives. I DIE A BAZILLION TIMES.

SO STOKED! Hope you guys love your hauls this week!

October 14, 2012

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. It’s awesome. Every week, we all get a chance to tell everyone what new books we’ve gotten so that we can tell you guys and we can all drool and squee together! Huzzah for squees! Stacking the Shelves is another weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. They’re both awesome memes and I love meeting all of you through them!

Got a big pile of MGs this week guys and I. AM. STOKED.

FOR REVIEW

A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez

Amazon | Goodreads

Guys, I’m pretty jazzed about reading this middle grade, friends. It’s about a young girl living in Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. If the name Guernica sounds familiar to you, maybe that’s because Picasso has a pretty famous painting of the bombing of that town, where the town is basically destroyed and tons of people died. So…there’s that. Also, spies. And a couple of young kids who sound brave and awesome. I’m going to be reviewing and blog touring for this one over on Bookalicious.org in November.

The Invisible Tower: The Otherworld Chronicles #1 by Nils Johnson-Shelton

Amazon | Goodreads

In which an Arthurian legend-based video game COMES TO LIFE (I KNOW) and a young kid named Artie finds out that he is the modern incarnation of KING ARTHUR. Guys, there are dragons and Excalibur and Merlin in this book.

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Amazon | Goodreads

This MG about a young Southern girl is kind of right up my alley. I LOVE books set in the South almost as much as I love books set in places that I know, and Moses LoBeau sounds like one of those sassy, smart young girls that I love to cheer on. Also, her bff is named after Dale Earnhardt. LOVE IT.

The Cloak Society by Jeramy Kraatz

Amazon | Goodreads

Umm, did someone say “elite group of supervillains”? YES PLEASE. This book is about superheroes and the villains they have defeated. That’s right. The MC, Alex, is junior bad guy in The Cloak Society who wants nothing more than to become a grown-up bad guy and use his telekinesis to do bad things. Of course, he befriends a girl from the good side–The Rangers of Justice! God, I love a good league of superheroes–and begins to question everything.

Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinelli

Amazon | Goodreads

This sounds like a super cute MG contemp about two twins, Jake and Lily, and the summer they turn 11, when they start hanging out with other people and dealing with some things. In a humorous, heartwarming way, though. I know I’ve mentioned before that I love reading about brothers and sisters, so I’m looking forward to this one for sure.

Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker

Amazon | Goodreads

Friends, give me a book set in a beach town and I’m pretty much in. The fact that this book takes place on Cape Cod is double exciting because I love Cape Cod. It’s so pretty there. This one is about a young girl named Stella who’s living with her Great Aunt while her mother “finds herself” and she befriends a girl there. I’m looking forward to this one, too.

BOUGHT

Amazon | Goodreads

Sean Griswold’s Head by Lindsey Leavitt. Guys, I’ve already read this book and adored it and the way it surprised me. So when it was the kindle daily deal yesterday, I snatched it right up. This is one of those YA contemps that is so much more than you think it will be. This cover up here is the paperback cover. Which is ok. But props for the kids actually LOOKING like the main characters, and I think it’s sweet that he’s kissing her head. ANYWAY, read this one, friends.

NETGALLEY

Amazon | Goodreads

Velvet by Mary Hooper (November 13, 2012 from Bloomsbury). Victorian historical fiction! This one is about a seamstress in Victorian London (I think) who gets hired by a famous medium. Dangerous things ensue. Sounds good!

Hope you guys love what you got in your mailboxes, too!

October 7, 2012

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. It’s awesome. Every week, we all get a chance to tell everyone what new books we’ve gotten so that we can tell you guys and we can all drool and squee together! Huzzah for squees! Stacking the Shelves is another weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. They’re both awesome memes and I love meeting all of you through them! 

I’m off today to attend Oktoberfest with my family (as in, we create and host our own and it’s basically THE BOMB), but I wanted to share these goodies with you guys!! Because I’m excited.

NETGALLEY

Amazon | Goodreads

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool (January 8, 2013 from Delacorte). I have to confess that I still have not read Clare Vanderpool’s Newbery Award-winning MOON OVER MANIFEST. But there’s not much in this book that doesn’t sound super to me, and I’m always on the lookout for great middle grades! So, after WWII, there are these two boys at a school in Maine and one of them sounds a little odd. But they become friends and wind up going on this journey on the Appalachian Trail (a portion of which runs through my town) together.

Amazon | Goodreads

Splintered by A.G. Howard (January 1, 2013 from Amulet Books). I will admit here and now that I’m not the hugest fan of Alice in Wonderland. It was always a little too weird for me. But I can appreciated oddities, friends, and SPLINTERED sounds like it takes the Alice in Wonderland business in a new direction: by keeping it in the family of the girl who inspired Alice from the books, and making her ability to hear flowers and bugs talking to her a curse that runs in her family, all the way down to Alyssa, our MC.

BOUGHT

Amazon | Goodreads

Through to You by Emily Hainsworth. Woot! So excited to have this one, friends, because I’ve been waiting on it for awhile now. It just sounds so twisty and intense and emotional: a story about a guy whose girlfriend dies, only for him to discover a parallel world in which she has not died at all. I’m looking forward to this debut for sure!

Amazon | Goodreads

The Mark of Athena: The Heroes of Olympus #3 by Rick Riordan.  Friends, I adore Rick Riordan. His middle grade series about Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythologies are pretty stellar and they have given the world one of the very best heroes in children’s literature, in my opinion: Percy Jackson. This book features the reunion of Percy and his Camp Half-Blood friends, including his gf, Annabeth. The book is humungous–it’s over 600 pages long–but I have no doubt that it’s going to be full of action, heart, and drama.

Hope you guys love what you got in your mailboxes, too!

September 30, 2012

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. It’s awesome. Every week, we all get a chance to tell everyone what new books we’ve gotten so that we can tell you guys and we can all drool and squee together! Huzzah for squees! Stacking the Shelves is another weekly meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. They’re both awesome memes and I love meeting all of you through them! 

This week was CRAZY for me, friends, so to say that I needed some good books to brighten things up is basically an understatement. THANKFULLY, I found a few solid cheapies hanging around for both my eyes AND my ears. I’m STOKED. Plus, I’m taking part in some blog tours for books that sound really great, too!

FOR REVIEW/BLOG TOUR

Goodreads

The Gleaning: Spellspinners of Melas County #2 by Heidi R. Kling (October 2012 from Colliloquy).  I really enjoyed the first book in this series, WITCH’S BREW. It’s basically a choose-your-own story, although it doesn’t have quite as many choices. But still, AWESOME. Also, I’m a big fan of witches, especially these witches, who are all about natural magic and prophecies and danger and STEAMY TIMES between Lily and Logan. Woot!

Amazon | Goodreads

Conjure: The Hoodoo Apprentice #1 by Lea Nolan (October 16, 2012 from Entangled Publishing). WHAT HOODOO! First of all, that word ALWAYS makes me think of this song (even though they only say “hoodoo” once), which I still know all the words to. But focusing back on the book–a 2012 debut!–is all of the words in the Goodreads synopsis that set off my bells: the South, hoodoo, messages in a bottle, PIRATE BOOTY, curses, hellhounds, WAH AWESOME! So excited about this one. Blog touring this one up on November 5.

NETGALLEY

Amazon | Goodreads

The Madness Underneath: Shades of London #2 by Maureen Johnson (February 26, 2013 from Putnam Juvenile). WHOA. I just saw this on NetGalley and I HAD to request it. THE NAME OF THE STAR was one of the first books I reviewed on my blog and I loved it. I’ve been looking forward to the second book in this series ever since.

BOUGHT

Amazon | Goodreads | Audible

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. I actually just started listening to this one today and, guys? I’m totally hooked already. The narrator, Scott Holst, has a really nice voice, and I’m digging the alternate paranormal history vibe. I’m REALLY looking forward to reading more about how vamps played some major role in the Civil War. I mean, STOP IT.

Amazon | Goodreads | Audible

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy: The Gallagher Girls #2 by Ally Carter.  I’m always on the lookout for good audiobooks, now that I’m a card-carrying member of the audio fan club, and I’ve heard really great things about the narrator of this series, Renee Raudman. I’ve heard great things about this series in general, and I liked the first book lots. Because SPIES. Spies, boarding school, secrets, danger, etc. Looking forward to this one, friends.

Amazon | Goodreads

The Bastard: The Kent Family Chronicles #1 by John Jakes.  This is a series–the story of a bastard son of an English duke who comes to America before the Revolution and fights with the colonists for their independence–that gives me TINGLES. I will shout my love of historical fictions from Revolutionary America for ever and ever. It’s my favorite time period. So when April @ Good Books and Good Wine dropped the knowledge on me that this book is only $0.99 for kindles right now, I got on that shizz ASAP.

Amazon | Goodreads

The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle. I have been hearing OUTSTANDING things about this book! Amish + vampires = AWESOME? Who knew?! But I’m excited. I’m excited to read this book that manages to take something well-tread–vampires–and puts it in a fresh context–Amish communities.