In My Mailbox 29/1

Welcome to In My Mailbox! Goodness, that feels like a quick week. That's probably down to my croaky throat from last weekend getting worse, making me take a sick day during the week, but all better now :)

I didn't actually get anything new this week, but there are a few ebooks I got over the Christmas period that I didn't talk about last week, so they get their own post now.

First up is 'Hot As Hades' by Alisha Rae. This is a retelling of the Persephone/Hades myth, with a couple of twists and a lot of sexiness. (I can't find a cover image that would show up small, so... no cover.) It's published by Samhain.

Next, I got 'Captives of the Night' by Loretta Chase.

It's a historical romance, mostly set in London.

Then it's 'No Dress Required' by Cari Quinn:

This one was a fun short romance story that starts on New Years Eve, and ends with an HEA. I'm probably not going to review this one, but I would recommend fans of steamy romance check out Cari Quinn - she writes a good story. This one is published by Entangled.

Finally, I got a fun one for review last week:

I've read it, but it doesn't actually come out until April, so I'll be posting my review nearer to the time. It's from Sourcebooks, and is available for review on NetGalley at the moment.

So, what did you get in your mailboxes this week, people? What book were you most excited about? Let me know in the comments :)

~Ailsa

Review: Hollow Pike, by James Dawson

Title: Hollow Pike

Author: James Dawson

Publisher: Indigo (New YA imprint from Orion)

Release date: 2 February 2012

Source: ARC from publisher

Description: She thought she'd be safe in the country, but you can't escape your own nightmares, and Lis London dreams repeatedly that someone is trying to kill her.

Lis thinks she's being paranoid - after all who would want to murder her? She doesn't believe in the local legends of witchcraft. She doesn't believe that anything bad will really happen to her. You never do, do you?

Not until you're alone, in the woods, after dark - and a twig snaps...

My thoughts: From the moment I read the description of this book back in November/December, I wanted to read it. I can totally relate to the paranoia here - I come from the middle of nowhere, and when I'm walking the dogs on my own, I always get jumpy. You don't really think someone is there, but if you here a sudden noise, it puts you really on edge. I love how, in the few sentences on the back cover it captures that jumpiness, which is something that runs throughout the book.

Hollow Pike was... not quite what I was expecting, at first. It starts with Lis moving to the village of Hollow Pike to live with her grown-up sister Sarah, to start over at a new school because she was being bullied. Yes, someone starting at a new school is something we've seen before in YA novels (a lot), but I like it. It's a good way for the main character and the reader to learn things at the same time, gradually, without having an info dump to get the reader up to speed.

In many ways, Hollow Pike is a story about bullying. Having come for her fresh start, Lis falls in with the 'popular' crowd, and watches as they bully other people. I hated seeing Lis just standing watching what her new 'friends' were doing. Even though I could sort of see why she didn't want to end up being picked on again, I think if she'd done something when she first saw what kind of people the girls were, and left to find other friends, she would have been fine. However, after an incident where Lis is seen talking to Queen Bee Laura's crush, the posse turn on her, and she finds herself a victim once more. The only good thing about this is that it leads are to some new friends, who actually seem genuine.

Of course the other big part of Hollow Pike is the witchcraft. In the first chapter, before she arrives, Lis dreams about crawling along a stream in the woods, and someone drowning her. It's a nightmare she's had a lot, and when her mum drives through a 'shortcut' in the woods to get to Sarah's house, Lis is shocked to realise that it's the wood from her dream. Witches are tied in to the history of the village - everyone knows it, but no one really believes it. Then a girl is murdered in the woods, and Lis's dreams get worse. Although she keeps telling herself she doesn't believe it, creepy things keep happening. She feels like she's being watched. Birds go quiet when she walks past. A creepy shop owner tells her that her dreams are a warning.

I spent the whole book trying to work out who the bad guy was. I was fairly convinced that there was something witchy going on, but still found myself questioning if that was just because of the stories about witches in Hollow Pike. I kept changing who I thought was behind everything, every time Lis found something new that seemed to point in a different direction. I really didn't guess who it was until it was far too late, just like Lis.

Bullying, in various forms, remains a theme of the book all the way through. I think it's a very good look at how it affects people, why people get caught up in it, and different kinds of bullying and prejudice. Woven through that is the paranoia of the witches, and trying to work out what is going on, if Lis is just imagining things, and if not then who is targeting her and why. It really is an excellent read, one of the best young adult novels I've read in a long time. I can't wait to see what James Dawson comes up with next. Writing this review, I realise just how well certain things were slipped in to the novel to emphasise the themes - I wish I'd had this book when I was trying to write english essays in high school, because there would have been so much to write about!

I could go on, but before you all get bored of reading, I give this book 10 out of 10. A brilliant, gripping story that fans of slightly more realistic young adult books will love.

~Ailsa

Review: The Name Of The Star, by Maureen Johnson

Title: The Name Of The Star

Author: Maureen Johnson

Publisher: Harper Collins (UK)/Putnam Juvenile (USA)

Release Date: 29th September 2011

Source: Bought in Waterstone's, Glasgow

Notes: Book 1 in Shades of London series

Description: Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux flies to London for the start of a new life at boarding school. But her arrival is overshadowed by a sudden outbreak of brutal murders, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific work of Jack the Ripper.

'Rippermaina' grabs hold of London, and the

police are stumped with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory has seen their prime suspect on the school grounds. But her friend Jazza didn't see anyone.

So why could only Rory see him? And what is he planning to do next?

My thoughts: I tried very hard not to buy The Name Of The Star (I really couldn't afford to at the time), but I'd been interested from the words "Jack the Ripper", and I saw so many glowing reviews, so when I found it reduced in the shop, I ended up taking it home. Over the next three or four nights, I regretted reading it at bedtime, and had to repeatedly check behind my curtains and in the wardrobe for monsters before I could go to sleep. For a YA book, it does a very good job of making you jump at shadows.

For those unfamiliar with who Jack the Ripper was, in London in the 1800s, someone brutally murdered several prostitutes, and was never caught. I knew the story when I was younger, and on a school trip to London when I was 12, we visited the London Dungeon, which has an excellent Ripper exhibit. I was fascinated by the story, this horrible murderer who couldn't be caught, even though there were various theories of who it might be. From some things I've read on twitter, I think Maureen Johnson has some of that same curiosity.

Rory's parents, both university professors, are coming to spend a sabbatical year in England, so Rory has picked a London boarding school to spend her senior year at. The book starts with her first arriving, and goes through her first few weeks at school, with the usual new-school things: making friends, different classes, and people who aren't so nice. There was no clique of mean-girls, which I think made it much more realistic, and thankfully, all of the Britishisms were pulled off well. (It's a pet peeve of mine when authors put in "British slang" and it comes across as forced and awkward.) You can tell that Ms Johnson has spent time in Britain and understands what it's like in school, and how to write Britishisms without it seeming forced. As Rory adjusts, the Ripper story is there in the background, something she hears about on the news. Wexford (her school) is quite close to some of the crimes, and she visits a couple of the scenes with other curious school friends. Even in the little snippets about the Ripper, you quickly see that something is not normal - he seems to be invisible on CCTV, and no one can figure out how he keeps slipping past police. You could feel the menace of the mystery figure, and the tension & nervousness that were starting to grip London as the murders continued and the police didn't catch him.

Part way through, Rory learns something, and the book shifts, and everything steps up a gear. It's a clear before/after point, and I loved it. Yes, I'd guessed before we found out what it was, and I think a lot of people will, but after the revelation, everything gets much more interesting, and there is so much more pressure to figure out what is going on, and why Rory is being caught up in it. I loved trying to piece together the clues in the second half of the story, and despite again having some guesses which turned out to be right before the characters figured it out, it didn't do anything to stop the tension in the book, or make me get bored with it. I really loved this story.

I'm not sure how I feel about the end. All the important story points are tied up nicely, and although you can see as you read that the book could go on as a series, it's not until the last two or three pages that it's clear there's going to be a sequel. Those last few paragraphs leave some big questions, and although it's not what I'd call a cliffhanger, I'm very eager for the next book. I'm looking forward to seeing what direction the Shades Of London series goes in now, as the Ripper angle seems to be done, and that's going to be a hard act to follow.

I really loved The Name Of The Star, so I'm giving it 9 stars.

Has anyone read it? What did you think about it, the ending, and the bits you could guess at? Where do you think Maureen Johnson will go next with the series? Let me know in the comments!

~Ailsa

Matched

Alas it's been so long, I am ashamed!!  I read this book ages ago and am now only getting to review it as I've spent the past week laid up in bed, staring at this book on my book case. So here goes. . .

In a future society, the officials decide everything, from what you eat for breakfast to who you should love. Cassia Reyes, is a normal teenage girl, who through a technical mishap discovers that the officials are not always in control, especially when it comes to who you love.

Matched, similar to the Hunger Games and Delirium, is a break through dystopian young adult series, which has received a huge amount of positive reviews. A well deserved amount in my opinion.

Ally Condie does an exemplar job at building her world - which in some respects has elements of our own. If we use IQ and personality tests to assess people's suitability for certain jobs, who is to say this won't develop further into who we  should love (on-line dating sites are prime example). The point being, that like all exemplar writers in this field, Condie builds a world that is not hugely dissimilar to our own, she takes elements of our world and skews them to an extreme and for this reason the story and moral of Matched has more impact. Definitely in my opinion, world-building is one of the strongest features of this book.

Regarding characters, Cassia was an alright character - she has her flaws and good qualities, however to be honest I didn't really engage with her. Not because of how she was written but just the character herself, which is no reflection on Condie's writing. My favourite characters are Grandfather and Bram as both strike me as free spirits in their own way. For instance, Cassia's eyes needed to be opened through the mismatch, her grandfather's words and Ky's lessons while Bram from the get go seems to always be pushing the barriers in his own small ways. I just found him to be delightful and a touching character especially when it comes to the antiques incident.

My feeling is that although this book centres around a match/mismatch, romance is not the main theme, which is refreshing. Now, there obviously is romance in this book, and it's nice to see both male leads on equal footing (smart, handsome, decent), although you do feel sorry for Xander at times. In some ways, regarding Ky too, I find it sad that it took the mismatch for open Cassia's eyes, but I'm glad this is explored in the book - that it is not taken as a given by the character, that Cassia questions herself regarding her feelings.

But my most favourite aspect of this book and the main theme (imo), is the use of poetry, especially one of my all time favourite poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" , as a catalyst for Cassia. It demonstrates that in the void of Cassia's world, where only 100 poems, novels and songs exist, the timeless impact of certain works remain. That, regulation of the arts and elimination of creative self-expression is the beginning of the end - a regulation on the evocation of emotion and the human spirit. Condie does an exemplar job of showing us how these forbidden poems fester in Cassia's mind, riling up her spirit, in a quiet but deep way and provoking her to questions the society and consequently  to seek out Ky more and more.

My only detraction from the book, is I felt the ending could have been stronger. Ky's disappearance and then Cassias leaving didn't leave me on the edge of my seat. However the last chapter was touching as she associates each word as bringing her closer to Ky, reiterating the importance of self-expression without restraints/monitoring.

Off topic: Sometimes I wonder about the wisdom of trilogies - whether sometimes an extra-long tightly written book would be better than three?

Back on topic, this is definitely one the better Dystopian YA fictions out there, and I recommend fans of dystopian romance to have a gander. I'm giving this 8 out of 10 stars :)

Toodles for now, 

Em.

In My Mailbox 22/1

Hello! It has been a long time since I did an IMM, so this is a pretty long video!

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

I didn't realise how dark my camera was going to make the corner seem, and my voice really is pretty croaky from the cold - never mind!

Books mentioned:

Darkness Rising & Darkness Unbound, by Keri Arthur

Planet Cake

Dawn of the Bunny Suicides, by Andy Riley

Eye of the Tempest, by Nicole Peeler

Bloodfever & Faefever, by Karen Marie Moning

Iron Crowned, by Richelle Mead

Mercy Blade, by Faith Hunter

Hollow Pike (ARC), by James Dawson (thank you Indigo publishers!)

City Of Ashes, by Cassandra Clare

A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

Thanks for dropping by - what did you get in your mailbox this week? Share your links in the comments!

~Ailsa

Cross My Heart by Katie Klein

Cross posted from Incandescent. 

Jaden McEntyre lives a life that is about as perfectly organized as you can make it. She has everything planned out from her next fundraiser for the children of Bangladesh to the next ten years of her life as she goes from Harvard to med-school and beyond. Her boyfriend Blake is sweet and popular and sends her good morning text messages every day and even if her contractor father hasn't gotten around to fixing her bathroom sink for the past couple years, she still knows her family loves her. Everything is fine until she's late for class one day and is assigned a partner for a group project: Parker Whalen.

Parker moved to town a few months ago and the rumors about his past are as outrageous as the motorcycle he rides to school every day. Jaden isn't sure if she believes even half of them, but she isn't about to let something as ridiculous as rumors keep her from getting an A on this project. She's extremely frustrated when Parker avoids speaking to her at first, but she eventually wears him down. Then it's only everyone else she has to worry about. Her boyfriend is jealous of, her parents are worried about, and her best friend is mystified by the time Jaden is suddenly spending with Parker. But Jaden is finding that the more time she spends with him, the less he seems like the devil-may-care rebel everyone else has him pinned as. When Jaden's plans for her future suddenly fall apart, Parker is there to help her reassemble the pieces, but what will happen when she discovers the secret he's been hiding for the past six months? Will she ever be able to move past it and trust him again or has their love been shattered just like her plans?

This book seems like the normal girl-falls-for-a-boy-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks story, but don't let that fool you. It's not. Klein's characters are interesting and relatable and she knows how to keep your interest right from the start. Jaden has never had anyone question her plans or her need for control, so when Parker starts pushing buttons she didn't know she had everything changes. The dynamic of Jaden's family is an interesting subplot--she's the youngest of three kids with two older brothers and a soon-to-be sister in law still living at home--and it's amazing how something as simple as a broken bathroom sink takes on grand proportions as it pops up again and again through the story. On top of all this, when you get to the twist ending you'll immediately want to go back and reread the whole book looking for the clues Klein leaves along the way like bread crumbs. The building relationship between Parker and Jaden is well developed with just the right amount of tension as both of them fight the pull for their own reasons. I found myself just as curious about and captivated by Parker as Jaden was and I think it would be fascinating to see pieces of the story from his perspective.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a contemporary YA romance with a twist. And also, I plan on rereading it. Just FYI. :)

Sera's Rating: 10/10

Winner Announcement!

I put the entries for the Evermore/Hush Hush giveaway in to Random.org, and the winner is:

Buddyt, aka Carol!

Carol picked Evermore, so Hush Hush will be back in a future giveaway. Thank you everyone for entering, and keep your eye on the blog for future giveaways, including when we hit 200 followers (less than 30 to go!), and I'll be doing some things for my birthday in early March, too!

~Ailsa