In My Mailbox (29)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme inspired by Alea and hosted by Kristi. Go to Kristi's blog to see what others got in terms of books this week!

I haven't posted in a few days, partly because of a self-imposed birthday weekend blogging exemption, and then because I got ill, or heatstroke, or sunstroke, or something. (Darn this 75-degree weather in March! If things were just normal I wouldn't have felt the need to spend 4 hours outside, soaking up the sun!) So, uhh... yeah. That's the state of things with me.

For review:

Every Little Thing in the World by Nina de Gramont
(Atheneum / March 23, 2010)

Sixteen-year-old Sydney Biggs is a “good kid”— smart, pretty, self-aware. No one doubts that she’ll go far in life. But lately her mother worries that Sydney is wandering down the wrong path and getting all caught up in petty teenage rebellion and shenanigans. When Sydney and her best friend, Natalia, “borrow” a car to go to a party and then get escorted home by the police, their parents pack them up and ship them off to a hard-love wilderness camp to stop this behavior before it gets out of hand, before things go too far. The problem is, they already have.

Sydney the “good kid” is pregnant.

In the wilds of Canada—where the girls are to spend the next four weeks canoeing, camping, and foraging for food—time is ticking, because Sydney isn’t sure what she wants to do about this baby. And she certainly isn’t expecting the other heady issues that will confront her as she forges friendships with her adventure mates, not to mention her own best friend—who is very adamant about what Sydney should do.

This sounds so good and the cover is beautiful too. Thanks, Nina!

Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong
(HarperCollins / March 9, 2010)

When you're so skinny people call you Skeleton Boy, how do you find strength for the fight of your life?

Twelve-year-old Vonlai knows that soldiers who guard the Mekong River shoot at anything that moves, but in oppressive Communist Laos, there's nothing left for him, his spirited sister, Dalah, and his desperate parents. Their only hope is a refugee camp in Thailand—on the other side of the river.

When they reach the camp, their struggles are far from over. Na Pho is a forgotten place where life consists of squalid huts, stifling heat, and rationed food. Still, Vonlai tries to carry on as if everything is normal. He pays attention in school, a dusty barrack overcrowded with kids too hungry to learn. And, to forget his empty stomach, he plays soccer in a field full of rocks. But when someone inside the camp threatens his family, Vonlai calls on a forbidden skill to protect their future—a future he's sure is full of promise, if only they can make it out of Na Pho alive.

In her compelling debut, Laura Manivong has written an evocative story that is vividly real, strongly affecting, and, at its heart, about hope that resonates in even the darkest moments.

Thanks, Elyse!

The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott
(Simon Pulse / March 16, 2010)

Everyone knows the unwritten rule: You don't like your best friend's boyfriend.

Sarah has had a crush on Ryan for years. He's easy to talk to, supersmart, and totally gets her. Lately it even seems like he's paying extra attention to her. Everything would be perfect except for two things: Ryan is Brianna's boyfriend, and Brianna is Sarah's best friend.

Sarah forces herself to avoid Ryan and tries to convince herself not to like him. She feels so guilty for wanting him, and the last thing she wants is to hurt her best friend. But when she's thrown together with Ryan one night, something happens. It's wonderful...and awful.

Sarah is torn apart by guilt, but what she feels is nothing short of addiction, and she can't stop herself from wanting more...

Thanks, Elizabeth!

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
(Scholastic / July 20, 2010)

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love - the light and the dark, the warm and the cold - in a way you will never forget.

From Around the World Tours:

Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus
(EgmontUSA / July 13, 2010)

Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts—the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.

After stepping on campus, Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.

But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town…might cost her her life.

Yay! I'm reading this right now and it's quite good! It'll definitely be popular when it comes out this summer.

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June by Robin Benway
(Razorbill / Aug. 3, 2010)

Three sisters share a magical, unshakeable bond in this witty high-concept novel from the critically acclaimed author of Audrey, Wait! Around the time of their parents’ divorce, sisters April, May, and June recover special powers from childhood—powers that come in handy navigating the hell that is high school. Powers that help them cope with the hardest year of their lives. But could they have a greater purpose?

April, the oldest and a bit of a worrier, can see the future. Middle-child May can literally disappear. And baby June reads minds—everyone’s but her own. When April gets a vision of disaster, the girls come together to save the day and reconcile their strained family. They realize that no matter what happens, powers or no powers, they’ll always have each other.

Because there’s one thing stronger than magic: sisterhood.

I LOVED Audrey, Wait! and have been waiting for a second book from this author ever since I finished her first. I can't wait to dig into this one!

Gifted:

The Gardener by S. A. Bodeen

(Feiwel & Friends / May 25, 2010)

Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs—genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive. And before he knows it, Mason is on the run with the girl, and wanted, dead or alive, by the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener.

Will Mason be forced to destroy the thing he’s longed for most?

Tayla saw my Waiting on Wednesday post for this book and sent me her extra copy! Thank you soooo much!

Won:

Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto by Eric Luper
(Balzer + Bray / June 8, 2010)

Seth Baumgartner just had the worst day of his life: His girlfriend dumped him (at Applebee's), he spied his father on a date with a woman who is not his mother (at Applebee's!), and he lost his fourth job of the year. It's like every relationship he cares about is imploding, and he can't figure out what's going on.

To find answers, Seth decides to start an anonymous podcast called The Love Manifesto, exploring "what love is, why love is, and why we're stupid enough to keep going back for more." Things start looking up when Seth gets a job at a golf club with his hilarious and smut-minded best friend, Dimitri, and Dimitri's sister, Audrey. With their help, Seth tracks down his father's mystery date, hits the most infamous bogey in the history of golf, and discovers that sometimes love means eating the worst chicken-salad sandwich you can ever imagine.

I won this in a contest Eric held on his blog. Thanks, Eric! Isn't the cover awesome?

Bought:
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
And Falling, Fly by Skyler White
By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters

Borrowed from library:
Nothing by Janne Teller
In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth
Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn