In My Mailbox 41

Welcome to another edition of In My Mailbox. IMM is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren in which bloggers get the chance to share with their readers the books that have recently come into their possession. I really love this meme and I look forward to seeing all my favourite blogger's books each week. Thank you to Kristi for hosting something that is such fun!

Here are the books that I acquired this week...


This Is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees - Everyone says that Caro is bad ...but Jamie can't help himself. He thinks of her night and day and can't believe that she wants to be his girlfriend. Gorgeous, impulsive and unconventional, she is totally different to all the other girls he knows. His sister, Martha, hates her. Jamie doesn't know why, but there's no way he's going to take any notice of her warnings to stay away from Caro. But as Jamie falls deeper and deeper under her spell, he realises there is more to Caro - much more. There are the times when she disappears and doesn't get in touch, the small scars on her wrists, her talk about revolutions and taking action, not to mention the rumours he hears about the other men in her life. And then always in the background there is Rob, Jamie's older brother, back from Afghanistan and traumatised after having his leg smashed to bits there. Jamie wants to help him, but Rob seems to be living in a world of his own and is increasingly difficult to reach. With Caro, the summer should have been perfect ...but that isn't how things work out in real life, and Jamie is going to find out the hard way. This taut psychological drama is the brilliant new novel from acclaimed Celia Rees.

I'm really excited about this one. Celia Rees is an author that I keep meaning to read more of!

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Tempest by Julie Cross - The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

I'm reading this book at the moment, and I'm really loving it! It's not at all the book I expected it to be, and I really love it when a book surprises me as much as this book has!

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As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott - Ava is welcomed home from the hospital by a doting mother, lively friends, and a crush finally beginning to show interest. There's only one problem: Ava can't remember any of them - and can't shake the eerie feeling that she's not who they say she is.

Ava struggles to break through her amnesiac haze as she goes through the motions of high-school life, but the memories that surface take place in a very different world, where Ava and familiar-faced friends are under constant scrutiny and no one can be trusted. Ava doesn't know what to make of these visions, or of the boy who is at the center of them all, until he reappears in her life and offers answers . . . but only in exchange for her trust.

This was something I acquired from a book swap. It sounds a little strange, but I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Scott, so I'll read anything she's written!

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Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver - I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

AHHHHH! How much am I looking forward to this one?! I'm also sort of nervous about reading it as I loved Delirium so much. I'm holding off on it for a little while as it's not published for awhile, but I'm sure I'll cave soon.

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Velvet by Mary Hooper - Rose is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry is scalding, back-breaking work and Rose is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Rose is noticed by Madame X, a famed medium, who asks Rose to come to work for her. Rose is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame. But soon Rose realises that Madame X is not all that she says she is, and Rose's very life is in danger ...A romantic and thrillingly exciting new novel from an acclaimed and much-loved historical writer for teens.


This is a book I won from Becky at The Bookette! I was the October winner for her British Books Challenge :) Thanks Becky!

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Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan - I'm just completing the first draft of a novel called The Brides of Rollrock Island, which is about selkies - that is, seals that come up out of the sea and transform into humans, and live among people. It's a very sad, strange story; a lot of people in it make themselves wretched with magic. But of course it's beautiful and atmospheric too - the selkies themselves are beautiful, but so is the landscape, the seascape, the weather, and some of the humans. This novel is also less violent than Tender Morsels, so a lot more readers will find it easier to stomach, I hope. I believe it'll come out as YA here in Australia and in the US, but as a crossover, in adult and YA editions, in the UK, as Tender Morsels did.

I'm not really sure what to make of this one. I think I've tried reading other books by Margo Lanagan and I didn't get very far. Always willing to give her another shot though!

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Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare - In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

This one's very exciting, isn't it? Although *whispers* I haven't yet read Clockwork Angel. Though I'm hoping to soon!

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And those are the books that came into my house this week. What books did you get?