In My Mailbox 18

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

Books I received this week.

In The Post:

Tangled Threads - Jennifer Estep
Read it. Loved it. Can't wait for the next book.

Moonglass - Jessi Kirby
Reading right now.

Hounded - Kevin Hearne
Next up.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

Irresistible - Susan Mallery

I'm Not Her - Janet Gurtler

Kindle:

Maid for Love (The McCarthy's of Gansett Island) - Marie Force
I love Marie Force and I love the fact that she keeps releasing books.

Netgalley:

Guarding A Notorious Lady - Olivia Parker

Simon & Schuster Galley Grab:

Forbidden - Tabitha Suzuma
I'm not to sure about this one, it can't possibly have a happy ending, I don't think I should have downloaded it.

Possession - Elana Johnson

For Review:

Between - Cyndi Tefft
I think it's the first book in a new YA paranormal series. Looking forward to reading it.

I got a few more books this week than I thought I would but it's no where near as crazy as it has been. I think this whole self-control thing is working out quite well for me.

That's all for now.

Booking Through Thursday 16

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme which asks a bookish question which you have to answer. This weeks question is:

And–the reverse of last week’s question. Name one book that you hope never, ever, ever gets made into a movie (no matter how good that movie might be).

Without a doubt anything in the horror genre. I can't specify one book but if it ends up as a horror movie I'm not watching it. I used to be able to watch horror movies when I was younger but I had a few bad experiences and now I just get too freaked out. I once watched The Hills Have Eyes late at night and ended up having to watch three hours of the shopping channel until the sun came up before I could go to sleep. And that movie Jeepers Creepers - scared the crap out of me, anytime I hear the song of the same name I have horrendous flashbacks. Scary books don't really bother me but movies - not good.

As for books so awesome it would ruin them if they were made into movies. I would have to go with any book written by Tamora Pierce. Her books, to me, are so perfect I can't even imagine them as movies. That said if anyone did make them into movies I would so be there - but I really hope they don't.

That's all for now.

Waiting On Wednesday 17

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that highlights an upcoming book release that we are eagerly anticipating.

This week I have chosen What Happened To Goodbye by Sarah Dessen. Released on the 2nd June in the UK and on the 10th May in the US.
I have been a big fan of Sarah Dessen's work for years. Just Listen and The Truth About Forever are my favourites and if you've never read any of her books I suggest you go do it now.

Who is the real McLean? Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out. Combining Sarah Dessen's trademark graceful writing, great characters, and compelling storytelling, What Happened to Goodbye is irresistible reading.

That's all for now.

Teaser Tuesday 17

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Should Be Reading.

The idea is to:
Grab the book you are currently reading.
Open it up to a random page.
Share two teaser sentences.
Give the name and author of said book.
And remember No Spoilers!

I am currently reading The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross on my kindle. I've only just started it so I will be taking the teaser from where I have read to.

"The thought called to mind a vision of blood and smoke. Of a broken body close to death, held in the clutches of a metal man."

5% Location 195.

In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one…except the "thing" inside her.

When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch….

Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.

Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help—and finally be a part of something, finally fit in.

But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on—even if it seems no one believes her.

That's all for now.

Review: Mostly Good Girls - Leila Sales

Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales.

The higher you aim, the farther you fall….

It’s Violet’s junior year at the Westfield School. She thought she’d be focusing on getting straight As, editing the lit mag, and figuring out how to talk to boys without choking on her own saliva. Instead, she’s just trying to hold it together in the face of cutthroat academics, her crush’s new girlfriend, and the sense that things are going irreversibly wrong with her best friend, Katie.

When Katie starts making choices that Violet can’t even begin to fathom, Violet has no idea how to set things right between them. Westfield girls are trained for success—but how can Violet keep her junior year from being one huge, epic failure?

OK so while it's not the best book I've ever read it's certainly not the worst. The main problem I had with this book is it's narrator she was whiny, naive and pretty much a total snob. Maybe I am being a little harsh but this is how she came off to me. And seriously how many times did she have to say that she was useless and her best friend was perfect, it just became so annoying and repetitive. In the end Violet claims to have learnt a lesson about being judgemental and a poor friend but I just wasn't feeling this. It would come as no surprise to me if a few weeks later she just reverted to the same judgemental, school work obsessed, clueless girl she was before, I'm doubtful that any real change has taken place. It is so hard to like a book when I find the narrator so unlikeable. Perhaps others would be able to relate to Violet better than I could, maybe it is a lack of empathy on my part.

Alright enough of the bad stuff I really did enjoy the writing style it was very easy to read and there were some funny moments in the book that actually made me laugh. I really liked Violet's best friend Katie, honestly I didn't feel like she did was doing anything that crazy it just felt to me that she was changing things up and Violet couldn't really handle it.

Just because I didn't love Mostly Good Girls it won't put me off wanting to read Leila Sales's next book. I enjoyed the writing just not the main character and I'm willing to give her next book a try.

That's all for now.

Review: Dead Is Not An Option - Marlene Perez

I received Dead Is Not An Option by Marlene Perez from netgalley courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

There are four previous books in the Dead Is series Dead Is the New Black, Dead Is a State of Mind, Dead Is So Last Year and Dead Is Just a Rumor all of them are fantastic and the latest Dead Is Not An Option is no exception.

The Dead Is series is about Daisy Giordano and her crazy little town called Nightshade. As the name suggests Nightshade is not your normal town. It is populated with all sorts of paranormal creatures from vampires and werewolves to witches and mermaids. Daisy, her sisters, and their Mother are all psychic and they use their abilities to solve mysteries. Their father was kidnapped by a shadowy group called the Scourge who exist to rid the world of paranormals. Daisy, her family and pretty much all her friends are paranormals so this means they fight the Scourge.

This book centres around a brewing Vampire werewolf fight, Daisy’s boyfriend Ryan is a werewolf and her sister’s boyfriend is a vampire so there is a lot of tension. Running parallel to the mystery aspect of this book is the fact that Daisy has come the end of high school and she must figure out what she is going to do now and what is going to happen with her relationship with Ryan.

Dead is Not an Option flies along at a really fast past as there is so much action which is probably why I read it in one sitting. While there are many different aspects to the story which could make it complicated Marlene Perez makes it very light and easy to read.

I love the fact that everyone is aware of all the mysterious happenings in Nightshade, there are so many other books where everything is kept a secret which makes things unnecessarily difficult, the Dead Is series is not like that. Instead everyone is in on the secret and is willing to help each other out.

I don’t want to give to much away but there is an incident near the end of the book that I did not see coming and if I am being honest the book would have been better with out it. However the incident was used in a way to keep two characters together so I suppose I can live with it.

I didn’t realize going into this book that this is the last book to feature Daisy as the main character, at least I assume it is because it seemed that way in the end. I got the feeling that there maybe other books set in Nightshade with a new lead character, I don’t know for certain but I really hope so.

I recommend you read the first four books in the series before reading this one because a lot of past plot lines are involved in this book. But it would be totally worth your time. This is definitely a series I will be re-reading.

That's all for now.

NetGalley Month Wrap Up Post

Emily over at Red House Books declared April NetGalley Month. For those who don't know what netGalley is I suggest you go to the website right now and check it out because it is the greatest thing ever!

Emily created an awesome challenge where you had to try to read as many netGalley books in April as you could. This was perfect for me as I had a huge backlog of netGalley books to read. Check out this post to learn more, she generously offered prizes too.

Now that April is over it's time to take stock and see how I did.

I managed to read six netGalley books.

The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale - Christine Bell
The Dark Enquiry - Deanna Raybourn
Die For Me - Amy Plum
Putting Makeup On Dead People - Jen Violi
Wherever You Go - Heather Davis
Girl Wonder - Alexa Martin

Reviews will be posted as the books are released.

I wanted to read way more than this but I suppose six is OK considering I was reading other books in April too.
Of course I still have a massive backlog of netGalley books to read. I've already started reading The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross. However Emily is going to do this all over again in July so I will for sure be taking part again.

That's all for now.