In My Mailbox 48

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 recently... (quite a few of them were picked up in February, I'm still working through a bit of backlog!)


Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby - Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s called in the biz. The best pint-sized photographer of them all, Jo doesn’t mind doing what it takes to get that perfect shot, until she’s sent on an undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett—teen superstar and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her—at an exclusive rehabilitation retreat in Boston. The money will be enough to pay for Jo’s dream: real photography classes, and maybe even quitting her paparazzi gig for good. Everyone wants to know what Ned’s in for. But Jo certainly doesn’t know what she’s in for: falling in love with Ned was never supposed to be part of her assignment.

I was really happy to hear from the author on this one. It really looks like a fun book to read and I shall be getting to it very shortly!

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Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber - Perry Stormaire is a normal high school senior– he is busy applying to college and rehearsing with his band –until he agrees to go to the prom with the Lithuanian exchange student who is staying with his family. It turns out that Gobi Zaksauskas is not the mousy teenager that she seems but rather an attractive, confident trained assassin. Instead of going to the prom, Perry finds himself on a wild ride through the streets of New York City as Gobi commandeers the Jaguar his father lent him for the prom in order to take out her targets. Perry learns a lot about himself – and ends up with some amazing material for his college application essays.


This book just seems absolutely crazy. I cannot wait.

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BZRK By Michael Grant - Time is running out for the good guys. But what happens when you don’t know who the good guys really are?

Noah and Sadie: newly initiated into an underground cell so covert they don’t even know each other’s real names. Trained for combat on the nano level, they are thrust into a war they can barely grasp.

Vincent: feels nothing and cares for no one. Fighting a personal battle with Bug Man, the greatest nano warrior alive.

The Armstrong Twins: wealthy, privileged, fanatical. Are they the saviors of humanity or authors of the darkest conspiracy in history?

On one side: Charles and Benjamin Armstrong’s Nexus Humanus. On the other: a group of teen hackers who call themselves BZRK.

Twenty-first-century warfare that takes place on the macro and nano level for the highest stakes: humanity’s free will.

It’s time to choose sides.

This book turned up unexpectedly, and I'm curious to read a book by Michael Grant. His other series completely passed me by.

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Torn by Amanda Hocking - Acknowledging that she was different from everyone else wasn’t difficult for Wendy Everly – she’d always felt like an outsider. But a new world and new family is a hard for any girl to accept easily.

Leaving behind the mysterious country of her birth, she is determined to fit back into normal life. But the world she’s left behind won’t let her go that easily. Kidnapped and imprisoned by her true family’s enemies, Wendy soon learns that the lines between good and evil aren’t as defined as she thought. And those things she’d taken for granted may have been lies all along. With the help of the dangerously attractive Loki, she escapes back to the safety of Förening – only to be confronted by a new threat.

It’s time to make a choice – can she put aside her personal feelings for the sake of her country? Torn between duty and love she must make a choice that could destroy her one chance at true happiness.

Sadly, my wonderful guest reviewer, Carrie, did not much care for the first book in this series, so it is not likely that this book will be reviewed!

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Skinned by Robin Wasserman - Lia Kahn was perfect: rich, beautiful, popular -- until the accident that nearly killed her. Now she has been downloaded into a new body that only looks human. Lia will never feel pain again, she will never age, and she can't ever truly die. But she is also rejected by her friends, betrayed by her boyfriend, and alienated from her old life.

Forced to the fringes of society, Lia joins others like her. But they are looked at as freaks. They are hated...and feared. They are everything but human, and according to most people, this is the ultimate crime -- for which they must pay the ultimate price.

Robin Wasserman is an author I'm fairly new to, having only read my first book of hers at the beginning of the year. I loved it so much though that I started looking out for more. Hopefully Skinned will live up to expectations :)

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Beads, Boys and Bangles by Sophia Bennett - Crow is in designer heaven; Nonie's caught the eye of a gorgeous boy; Jenny has a new play. But poor Edie's in trouble ...the rumours are that slave children in India have been making their high-street collection. It's up to the girls to save their fashion dream.

This is the second book in the Threads series, the first of which I read last year and LOVED! I love the combination of friendship and fashion with something a bit more serious.

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The Sky Always Hears Me; and the Hills Don't Mind by Kristin Cronn-Mills - Sixteen-year-old Morgan lives in a hick town in Nebraska. But after she discovers that the one person in the world she trusted most has kept a devastating secret from her, Morgan must redefine her life and herself.

This book has been on my wishlist for absolutely ages so I was very excited to have the chance to read it. ...I think I was expecting something different but now that I've read it, I can't explain how it was different to what I thought. Still, very enjoyable book and I shall attempt to form my thoughts better into a proper review!

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Drive By by Jim Carrington - 'That was brilliant,' Jake says. 'That was without doubt the most satisfying moment of my entire life.'

When Johnny, Jake, Drac and Badger take the law into their own hands and give an irritating neighbour a drive-by soaking, life feels good. Then something terrible happens as a result and Johnny's guilty conscience won't leave him alone. But are the weird things that start happening really just a result of his overheated brain? Or is the old lady coming back to haunt him?

Is it ever possible to get away with murder? It's a good question. One that Johnny needs to think about. Hard.

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Gladiator: Street Fighter by Simon Scarrow - It is settled. The boy is in your charge. You will train him to fight.

He must be able to use the dagger, throwing-knife, staves and his bare hands.

One day young Marcus may well become a gladiator in the arena.

But you must also teach him the ways of the street.'


Now a member of Julius Caesar's palace, Marcus's training continues in the city of Rome. The streets are plagued by vicious gang war attacks, and Caesar must employ his own gang leader, who learns of a plot to murder him.

Only Marcus can go in undercover. But he's in terrible danger. If the rival gang discover him the price will be fatal. Julius Caesar's isn't the only life at risk . . .

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and I'm curious to see where the story will go from here...

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Nine Uses For an Ex-Boyfriend by Sarra Manning - Hope Delafield hasn’t always had an easy life.

She has red hair and a temper to match, as her mother is constantly reminding her. She can’t wear heels, is terrified of heights and being a primary school teacher isn’t exactly the job she dreamed of doing, especially when her class are stuck on the two times table.

At least Hope has Jack, and Jack is the God of boyfriends. He’s sweet, kind, funny, has a killer smile, a cool job on a fashion magazine and he’s pretty (but in a manly way). Hope knew that Jack was The One ever since their first kiss after the Youth Club Disco and thirteen years later, they’re still totally in love. Totally. They’re even officially pre-engaged. And then Hope catches Jack kissing her best friend Susie…

Does true love forgive and forget? Or does it get mad… and get even?

I do so love Sarra Manning! I've already this one and while it is entirely different than I was expecting, I still really enjoyed it.

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Illegal by Miriam Halahmy - If Jemma had lived, none of this would have happened. I'd have been too busy to get dragged into this filthy, illegal business...

Since Lindy's baby sister died, her family have been caught in a downward spiral. Her brothers are in prison and her parents have given up. Soon Lindy is out of her depth too, caught in the centre of an international drugs ring, with no way out. Then Lindy finds help from an unexpected ally: weird, mute Karl from school, and together they plan a daring and desperate escape. But when you're in this deep can you ever be free?

Touching, surprising and painfully honest, Illegal is the second in a cycle of three novels by Miriam Halahmy, and the follow up to her acclaimed first novel, Hidden.

I really loved this author's first book in the cycle, so I'm looking forward to Illegal. I think it's a really striking cover as well!

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Partials by Dan Wells - Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the world’s population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. The threat of the partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to the disease in over a decade. Humanity’s time is running out.

When sixteen-year-old Kira learns of her best friend’s pregnancy, she’s determined to find a solution. Then one rash decision forces Kira to flee her community with the unlikeliest of allies. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and partials rests in her attempts to answer questions of the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar Galactica, Partials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability, and our only hope for survival.

This is the book I'm reading at the moment and I'm really enjoying it!

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The Prince Who Walked With Lions by Elizabeth Laird - A sweeping epic about a prince torn from his mountain home. Based on a true story.

The British Army is circling the stronghold of the King of Abyssinia. Under orders from Queen Victoria, its mission is to rescue the British Envoy, held prisoner.

Watching with terror and awe is the king's young son, Alamayu. He knows that his father is as brave as a lion, but how on earth can he and his warriors stand against the well-equipped foreigners? As battle rages, everything that Alamayu fears comes to pass. The fighting is cruel and efficient. By the time it is over, Alamayu is left without parents, throne or friends.

In a misguided attempt to care for him, the British take Alamayu to England. There he is befriended by the queen herself and enrolled in Rugby College to become a 'proper' English gentleman. What the English see as an honour is, to this lonely Ethiopian prince, a horror.

This is Alamayu's story, seen through his eyes: the battle, the journey to England and the trauma of an English public school as he comes to terms with the hand that fate has dealt him and tries to build a new life.

Historical fiction isn't normally my sort of thing, but I'm curious to read more by this author!

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Fateful by Claudia Gray - A tragic tale about falling in love on the world’s most infamous ill-fated sea voyage as heroine, Tess, discovers darker secrets that lie beneath the doomed crossing… and a hidden brotherhood that threaten to tear her lover from her forever.

The RMS Titanic is the most luxurious ship ever built, but for eighteen-year-old Tess Davies it’s a prison. Travelling as a maid for the family she has served for years, Tess is trapped in their employ amid painful memories and family secrets.

When she meets Alec, a handsome upper class passenger, Tess falls helplessly in love. But Alec has secrets of his own… and soon Tess is entangled in a dangerous game. A sinister brotherhood that will do anything to induct Alec into their mystical order has followed him onboard. And Tess is now their most powerful pawn.

Tess and Alec fight the dark forces threatening to tear them apart, never realising that they will have to face an even greater peril before the journey is over…

New York Times best-selling author Claudia Gray delivers adventure, dark paranormal suspense, alluring romance, and a truly surprise ending, set against the opulent backdrop of the Titanic's first — and last — voyage.

I was a bit skeptical about a book involving both the Titanic and werewolves, but I was intrigued enough to read through this one pretty quickly. Werewolves really are my favourite paranormal creature! :) Review soon!

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Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie - When River auditions for a part in an interschool performance of Romeo and Juliet, she finds herself smitten by Flynn, the boy playing Romeo. But Flynn comes from a damaged family—is he even capable of giving River what she wants? The path of true love never did run smooth . . .

This is real life, not a rehearsal...

I've already read this book and really enjoyed it! Nice, quick read.

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Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie - When Theo discovers the father he thought died when he was a baby is still alive, he's determined to find him. The clues lead him to lonely Rachel, who has problems of her own, including parents who compare her unfavourably to her long-dead sister. But when Rachel and Theo are attacked by men from RAGE - the Righteous Army against Genetic Engineering - they are rescued by strangers and taken to meet a mysterious figure who leads them to make startling discoveries about their identities, which will affect their past, present, and future in dramatic and life-altering ways...

I've only started reading books by Sophie McKenzie recently and I'm really enjoying them! I'm really hoping to enjoy these two.

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Blood Ransom by Sophie McKenzie - The long-awaited sequel to the award-winning Blood Ties by the bestselling Sophie McKenzie. Clones Rachel and Theo now live thousands of miles apart. They keep in touch, but things just aren't the same. When Rachel discovers that evil scientist Elijah is still working in secret for a section of the government and about to murder Daniel, she sets out to rescue the little boy, but her plans backfire with disastrous consequences. Theo sets off to find her.

The sequel to Blood Ties. I'm trying to write this really quickly so that I'm not spoiled in any way by reading that synopsis!

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The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting - In the end, all that’s left is an echo.

Violet kept her morbid ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and her childhood-best-friend-turned-boyfriend, Jay Heaton. That is until forensic psychologist Sara Priest discovered Violet’s talent and invited her to use her gift to track down murderers. Now, as she works with an eclectic group of individuals—including mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe—it’s Violet’s job to help those who have been murdered by bringing their killers to justice.

When Violet discovers the body of a college girl killed by “the girlfriend collector” she is determined to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new “relationship” and Violet may have caught his eye...

YAY! Another Body Finder book. I'm absolutely in love with these series, I adore Violet and Jay. I've already sped through this one and really liked it. Review coming soon!

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And those are the books I've picked up recently! Any suggestions on where to start?