In My Mailbox- Week of August 1st!

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi aka The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie!

Bought:

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I really think I'm the only one who hasn't read it. I need to find out who this Peeta person is...)

Won:

• Incarceron by Catherine Fisher - From Angela at Reading Angel!
• Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell - From Random Buzzers!

This IMM post took forever! I tried to do a vlog but for some reason it will never load when I attempt it. *sigh*

Oh well.

What did you guys get this week?

Unbroken Connection!

As most of you know I love Angela Morrison. Sing Me To Sleep, and Taken By Storm are two books that just stayed with me almost obsessively and I think about them all the time. If you haven't read those two you really need to.

Well, to my utter joy I got an e-mail today announcing Taken By Storm's sequel, Unbroken Connection, will be coming out next month!

Bring out the streamers and balloons!! This is super exciting for me and I can't wait to read it when it is released on Amazon for Kindle and later from Smashwords in paperback.

Here is the cover and the synopsis for Unbroken Connection. It's been a long time coming and I'm so excited it's almost here!!

Against all odds, the couple that swept you away in TAKEN BY STORM is back.

Michael is in Thailand diving his dream.

Leesie is at BYU living hers.

And they just can't leave each other alone.

Their romance rekindles, deeper than before.

They grow desperate to see one another again.

To hold one another again.

Michael decides there is only one direction their relationship can go and asks Leesie the ultimate question.

Her answer challenges everything Michael is and wants to be.

Can she change for him?

Can he change for her?

Angela's son designed this cover and I give him mad props. I think it's utterly gorgeous and it matches Taken By Storm's paperback perfectly.

Siren by Tricia Rayburn

Siren
by Tricia Rayburn

Seventeen-year-old Vanessa Sands is afraid of everything—the dark, heights, the ocean—but her fearless older sister, Justine, has always been there to coach her through every challenge. That is, until Justine goes cliff-diving one night near the family’s vacation house in Maine, and her lifeless body washes up on shore the next day.

Though her parents hope that they’ll be able to find closure back in Boston, Vanessa can’t help feeling that her sister’s death wasn’t an accident. After discovering that Justine was keeping a lot of secrets, Vanessa returns to Winter Harbor, hoping that Justine’s boyfriend might know more. But Caleb has been missing since Justine’s death.

Soon, it’s not just Vanessa who’s afraid. All of Winter Harbor is abuzz with anxiety when another body washes ashore, and panic sets in when the small town becomes host to a string of fatal, water-related accidents in which all the victims are found, horrifically, grinning from ear to ear.

Vanessa turns to Caleb’s brother, Simon, for help, and begins to find herself drawn to him. As the pair try to understand the sudden rash of creepy drownings, Vanessa uncovers a secret that threatens her new romance—and will change her life forever.

A seductive paranormal romance full of unexpected twists, Siren is certain to make a big summer splash.

Rating: A+

Source: Author.

Review:

Siren essentially has everything you could want in a story. It has a mystery, a romance, a gothic vibe, a tragdey, the paranormal, an intriguing locale. Honestly, I could get lost in the world of Siren and never come out of it.

I got pulled into Vanessa's story, her feelings and emotions drew me in and wouldn't let me go. I was turning the pages frantically wanting to know what was going to happen and just how it was going to end.

From the very first chapter we're shown how important Vanessa and Justine's relationship is. It's haunting to read about, those first few chapters where we have so many questions and so little answers. All we have is Vanessa's raw emotion to pull us into the story and you're hooked from there.

I was dying to know what was going on in Winter Harbor.

The string of random deaths and constant storms added a sense of urgency to the novel while creating that haunting aspect that literally had me unable to put my book down. Winter Harbor seemed like the perfect small town where something like that would occur.

I loved Simon and Vanessa's relationship and the gradual transition they had from friend to something more. It was sweet and Simon was such an amazing character. He was protective without being overly so, and he was genuinely a good guy. I loved that about him.

It was amazing to watch Vanessa's growth from the first page to the last. She goes a long way from the scared insecure girl she started out as and I loved watching her growth process.

There's just so many things I could say about this book! I loved it and I can't wait for the sequel.

I have so many questions that need answering, plus I'm already missing Simon and Vanessa.

Next summer could not come soon enough...

-Christina

The Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday!

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-for-Books!

This Week's Question:

Who is your favorite new-to-you author so far this year?

My Answer:

This is actually quite tough for me to answer. My favorite new authors would probably be Kimberly Derting and Kody Keplinger because their debuts were awesome! New to me though ... that's a bit more difficult. Probably Tricia Rayburn because I loved Siren and I hadn't read her Maggie series, or Maggie Stievfater because we all love Shiver right? Plus, I read Shiver late as in just a couple months ago.

I feel like I went all around that question, but I hope I answered it some at least! :)

If you're here from the hop welcome to my blog, and be sure to leave your link so I can check out your site.

-Christina

:)

Follow My Book Blog Friday Host is Parajunkee.com!

Waiting On Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, and it's purpose is to spotlight those titles we can't wait for!

Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish. Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?

*I just love how original this story sounds! It's a completely different take on vampires.

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

Glimmerglass

by Jenna Black

Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, Dana decides she’s had it with being her mother’s keeper, so she packs her bags and heads to stay with her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl—she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie. Soon, she finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone wants something from her, even her newfound friends and family. Suddenly, life with her alcoholic mom doesn't sound half bad, and Dana would do anything to escape Avalon and get back home. Too bad both her friends and her enemies alike are determined not to let her go . . .

Rating: A

Source: From Publisher

Review:

I was tentative to read this one because I don't have a very good history with Fairy books. I have tried and tried to read them but I have never found any that I could get into or like, but this one surprised me because I did really, really like it!

I can finally join in with the rest of you on this fairy thing because I'm so excited for this series!!

The book started out a little fast for me but once I got into the story I was completely hooked and I couldn't put it down. I appreciated Dana for making the mistakes she made, yes some were a bit extreme and maybe she didn't think things completely through but to me that felt real because of her home life and background. She was looking for an escape and sometimes that means not thinking things through completely.

I'm sensing a love triangle coming in later books and though in this one I liked Ethan I can completely see Keane being a true rival for both mine and Dana's affections. He has that distant brooding bad boy jerk exterior which is always fun in a love triangle.

I really loved how this world was set up as a kind of Vatican type city right outside of London. It seemed to be right off of reality, and wasn't a secret which I thought was great. So often we see these paranormal worlds undercover and I loved seeing one that wasn't hidden from everyone.

The Faeriewalker idea I found intriguing, and the way it was presented was great. We get pieces to why it's such a big deal throughout the book so by the end I understood at least some of what Dana may be able to do and I can't wait to see what she does with it.

All in all I really loved this book as it had everything I wanted including magic and attractive boys.

Also, I'm semi in love with this cover, it has the perfect magical feel for the story and the smoke is a great touch. It's one of my favorite covers this year for sure.

I can't wait for book number 2!

-Christina

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Nightshade

by Andrea Cremer

While other teenage girls daydream about boys, Calla Tor imagines ripping out her enemies’ throats. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. Calla was born a warrior and on her eighteenth-birthday she’ll become the alpha female of the next generation of Guardian wolves. But Calla’s predestined path veers off course the moment she saves the life of a wayward hiker, a boy her own age. This human boy’s secret will turn the young pack's world upside down and forever alter the outcome of the centuries-old Witches' War that surrounds them all


Rating: B
Source: We Love YA ARC tours

Review:

I liked this book but I didn't absolutely adore it which I think is due in part because it is the first in a series and I wasn't in the paranormal mood while reading it.

I really loved the idea of Calla being the Alpha and of a forbidden love and a love triangle but it took me a while to get into the story and maybe it was because I hadn't read a paranormal in a while but I could just never fall into the story like I was hoping I could.

Calla is supposed to marry Ren but yet is falling in love with Shay and I had a bit of a problem understanding why. I really liked Ren, he had character, personality and even though he could be a jerk at times I believed he genuinely cared for Calla where as Shay I just didn't like. I couldn't for the life of me understand why Shay was more appealing than Ren and I'm sure many will disagree with me on this point but Shay just seemed kind of boring, too nice even.

I didn't really understand the world until about halfway through, like I had no idea who the Keepers were or why they were special or why Seekers were bad and I wish this had been explained more with the history closer to the beginning of the book.

I didn't see the twist at the end and that was interesting, the entire final chapter left me with tons of questions for the next in the series.

I really liked Andrea Cremer's writing style though throughout the book, and the inside chapter designs of the moon's phases made me freak out when I noticed them.

I'll probably read this book again when it comes out in October but I'll definitely read the next in the series as I really did like Nightshade, I just don't think I was in the proper state of mind to be fully engulfed in the story.

I really did enjoy the book and felt the story was great. I loved all of the side characters and it had enough witty banter and action to keep me reading. I liked Calla because she was a strong female which I never get tired of, though I will never understand her taste in men. :)

If we're picking teams here, sign me up for Team Ren!

-Christina