In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly post hosted by Kirsti at The Story Siren as a chance to share the books we've bought or received over the past week.
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These last couple of weeks my IMM's have been pretty tiny, but I figure quality over quantity (plus, I don't need too many more books right now since I have books- and unread books at that- coming out of my ears ;))!

For Review: 

"Going Underground" by Susan Vaught (Thanks to Jenny over at Supernatural Snark!)

Bought: 

"Wolfsbane" by Andrea Cremer

What did you get in your mailbox?

On My Wishlist...

 

On My Wishlist is a great event that Book Chick City runs every Saturday. It's where you list all of the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. I thought that this was a fantabulous idea so I thought I would join in!
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"Succbus Blues" by Richelle Mead

From Goodreads: "When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. 

Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical?"Succubus. An alluring, shape-shifting demon who seduces and pleasures mortal men. Pathetic. A succubus with great shoes and no social life. See: Georgina Kincaid.

But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid's life is far less exotic. Her boss is a middle-management demon with a thing for John Cusack movies. Her immortal best friends haven't stopped teasing her about the time she shape-shifted into the Demon Goddess getup complete with whip and wings. And she can't have a decent date without sucking away part of the guy's life. At least there's her day job at a local bookstore--free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can't.

But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle's demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won't help because Georgina's about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny..."

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating...
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Title: "Drink Deep"
Author: Chloe Neill
Release Date: November 1st, 2011

From Goodreads: "Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and recently turned vampire Merit can't tell if this is the darkness before the dawn or the calm before the storm. With the city itself in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times haven't been this precarious for vampires since they came out of the closet. If only they could lay low for a bit, and let the mortals calm down.

That's when the waters of Lake Michigan suddenly turn pitch black-and things really start getting ugly.

Chicago's mayor insists it's nothing to worry about, but Merit knows only the darkest magic could have woven a spell powerful enough to change the very fabric of nature. She'll have to turn to friends old and new to find out who's behind this, and stop them before it's too late for vampires and humans alike."

"Supernaturally" by Kiersten White

From Goodreads: "Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees. 

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself. 

So much for normal."

Even from reading the first couple pages of this book I knew that I was in for a treat primarily because Kiersten began it off on such a humorous note, humor which in my opinion eclipses that seen in the first book of the series, "Paranormalcy" (Kiersten is most definitely tied alongside Rachel Hawkins, in my opinion, as the most hilarious current YA authors). There were countless times while reading this book I found myself sputtering and guffawing at what came out of the characters mouths (typically Evie's) and how events unfolded (events which typically involved a little blonde maniac- surprisingly, not Evie).

I have always though Evie to be a pretty enigmatic character with her heritage, abilities, and so forth, and therefore I was beyond shocked (and ecstatic) for us to actually learn quite a bit more about her- unlike in other YA books, I found that this book provided us with so many more answers than questions and for that I am seriously appreciative and grateful.

While Lend obviously did play quite a large role in this book, I do wish that he had even played more so of one (seriously, who needs college?)- I really came to miss the carefree and easy-going banter that he and Evie shared nd when they were together I found their relationship to be quite strained which was quite a booger (though when I take it into consideration is actually more realistic than the typical 'perfect relationship' which seems to predominate YA literature).

The characters in the previous book that I wouldn't really stand, or I was on the fence about, totally stole my heart in this book (seriously, never in a million years did I imagine that I would like Reth, or heck, even Vivian). And hey-oh! I must say that I loved the addition of Jack to this story. Typically I dislike it when a new character is introduced to an already well developed plot line, I feel like they are just thrown in for the sake of filling up a few additional pages, however, I did not find myself feeling that at all with Jack.

Unfortunately I felt that the epic action sequence that we had been so looking forward came at the last possible moment (within the last ten or so pages of the book) and as such, that the ending was a fair bit rushed. I felt like the book was heading in one direction and BAM! It went in a totally different one- that there was very little development leading up to said "OMGish!" moment. However, I am quite excited to see in what direction Kiersten takes the next book in the series, "Endlessly".

Rating: 9/10

I received this book from the publisher to read and honestly review. I was not compensated in any way for said review.

Special thanks to HarperCollins and Shannon!

Memorable lines from this book:

"Jack fell to his knees on the bench, his eyes rolling back in ectasy as he clutched both hands to his heart. "Oh, heavens above, to have seen such beauty with my own eyes! It's more than I ever hoped for. But how can I live now, knowing that you're not mine? Please." He crawled forward to the edge of the bench. "Marry me. Nay, marriage will cost us precious moments together. Let us make sweet, passionate love right here. Let me bear your children." 
A primal growl signaled Miss Lynn getting over her shock as being this addressed. She lunged forward; Jack deftly rolled off of the bench, jumping out of her reach. 
"Goodness, I didn't expect toy to be quite this enthusiastic about my advances. If I don't play hard to get, how will I ever know whether or not you respect me?" (pg. 80). 

"Too bad he was a lunatic; they would have made a cute couple" (pg. 121). 

"Apparently this unicorn hadn't gotten the memo. It was ugly. Like, seriously ugly. Coat a mottled brown and gray, horn a dingy, stubby thing; hair a matted mess. It looked more like a goat than anything else, with a small, filthy beard and square pupils" (pg. 126).

"Something we have in common, then, besides the world's most perfect hair colour" (pg. 129).

"He wrinkled his nose. "Well, that was... interesting. Always wanted to try it, but now that I have, I'm pretty sure I never want to again" (pg. 228).

"Dragon's Pupils- The Sword Guest" by Martin Chi Shui

From Goodreads: "When East and West combine…

Half-Chinese, half-Australian, Liz is not interested in her father’s ancient Tao wisdom, or his cryptic tales. She is more concerned with environmental issues—particularly the plan to mine one of Australia’s great landmarks, Wave Rock. Her father’s latest gift, a Chinese calligraphy pen, seems set to take its place in her bottom drawer forever. 

Then Wave Rock is blasted open by something more than a mining operation, and Liz finds that she must battle monsters from ancient times as well as creatures from other worlds, all intent on destroying Earth. She must call on all her powers, from both her Eastern heritage and her Western upbringing, to save her world. Her pen becomes her way into a new and magical world, and Liz discovers she has powers—and allies—that she never could have guessed. 

An exciting, fast-paced tale that combines the wisdom of ancient tradition with the pace of a Kung Fu movie and brings them to life in contemporary Australia, this exciting tale takes the best of two cultures and blends them to open up a new world of adventure and mystery."

When I first read the synopsis of this book I had two thoughts, one being, that the book sounded to be completely out of my comfort zone (typically I read YA PNR/ UF, I cannot recall ever having read, what I could like to call, a 'foreign fantasy' before- a fantasy story which takes place entirely outside of North America and focuses intently on a foreign culture- their behaviours, practices, histories, and so forth), the other, that there seemed a lot to be going on in the story, with all of the talk of magical instruments, environmental issues, monsters, and warriors, but since I am one to rarely turn down the opportunity to read and review a book for an indie author I figured I would give the book a chance and try to go into it with an open mind. And after reading the book I personally don't find it to be my cup of tea- usually when I start a book I can read it in a day, two at most, however this book took me over a week to read because I could only handle reading it for half an hour, or an hour, at most. 

While all of Chinese folklores which were scattered throughout the book were extremely interesting I just felt that they added very little to the story- they seemed more like an "Hey, let's have an educational moment in the middle of this fight scene" instead of "This ancient story is necessary to the book as it is the sole fuel of the story". Also, as this book is fantasy-based, and unrealistic or seemingly impossible plot elements are a component of fantasy books, this book seemed beyond unrealistic (and highly unbelievable) at moments (for instance, a fourteen year old character hopping on an airplane all by herself with very little thought, knowing that she most likely faced certain death in doing so or vampires who run around wearing backpacks- who are dubbed "backpack vampires"- who actually turn out to be aliens hellbent on destroying landmarks on Earth in order to get rocks that they desperately need to continue fueling their planet/ way of life) and in those moments I felt that way too much seemed to be going on at one time. 

In addition, I felt that in some points of the story the characters were extremely melodramatic at the simplest of things (or things that didn't seem to be all that great of a concern- ie. when one of the characters shirts gets ruined and she is totally distraught it), though at other times, when events which deserved to be somewhat overdramatized (ie. when a character lost an arm), the characters kind of brushed them off with a "Meh".

All in all, while the book is grammatically well written, I think that a bit of editing to the storyline would serve it justice, allowing the book to reach its full potential.

Rating: 1/5

I received this book from the author to read and honestly review. I was not compensated in any way for said review.  

"Hard Bitten" by Chloe Neill

From Goodreads: "Times are hard for newly minted vampire Merit. Ever since shapeshifters announced their presence to the world, humans have been rallying against supernaturals--and they're camping outside of Cadogan House with protest signs that could turn to pitchforks at any moment. Inside its doors, things between Merit and her Master, green-eyed heartbreaker Ethan Sullivan are ... tense. But then the mayor of Chicago calls Merit and Ethan to a clandestine meeting and tells them about a violent vamp attack that has left three women missing. His message is simple: get your House in order. Or else.

Merit needs to get to the bottom of this crime, but it doesn't help that she can't tell who's on her side. So she secretly calls in a favor from someone who's tall, dark, and part of underground vamp group that may have some deep intel on the attack. Merit soon finds herself in the heady, dark heart of Chicago's supernatural society--a world full of vampires who seem too ready to fulfill the protesting human's worst fears, and a place where she'll learn that you can't be a vampire without getting a little blood on your hands..."

A few months back when I first read "Some Girls Bite" by Chloe Neill (the first book in her "Chicagoland Vampires" series) I completely fell head over heels for her leads Merit and Ethan. Merit won me over because she possessed every quality is necessary when writing a strong female character- intelligence, independence, snark, and all of that jazz- and it is obvious why Ethan won me over (sex on legs anyone? ;) ). When I read the second book in the series, "Friday Night Bites", my love of the series and of Merit and Ethan did falter a bit due to their indecisiveness, the third book in the series, "Twice Bitten", somewhat restored my faith in it and its characters once again, but this book in the series, the fourth installment of the "Chicagoland Vampires" series, fully and completely restored my faith in the series- I personally believe this book to be just as good as, if not better than, the original, "Some Girls Bite". 

In the first couple of books Ethan was overly confident, almost to a fault, and he exuded cockiness and arrogance and as much as I loved that side of him, I loved the side that he exhibited in this book even more- a gentle, caring, and almost shy side. Furthermore, I appreciated that, unlike in the previous books, Merit wasn't afraid to ask for help (or only asked for it when she really needed it). It has become evident that both characters have tremendously grown throughout this series, bettering one another, and becoming the people that they were destined to be.

Furthermore, as much as I hate an author in the moment that they rip their readers hearts out and stomp on them- usually in the last four pages of their books (*FUMES* Those last four pages of books! Just when you think that the book is going to end on a fine and dandy note you read those last four pages and everything goes to hell in a handbasket), I do come to appreciate them after the shock factor has worn off and I have had time to process everything. I think that it was very brave of Chloe to have written the ending that she did- she had to have known that in doing so she was going to turn a whole lot of readers off, but she still went through with it. I have read a number of reviews where some of those angered by the ending have questioned how Chloe can fix the ending of this book because everything seems so 'Final', but I personally find it to be anything but. I do have complete faith that Chloe will be able to resolve everything/ wrap everything up nicely with a big pretty bow in the next book of this series, "Drink Deep".

Rating: 10/10

Memorable lines from this book: 

"What am I doing?" 
 He smiled just a little- a tease of a smile. "Procrastinating," he said. "Avoiding the inevitability of you and me" (pg. 46). 

"Maybe I'm getting better at this?" he asked. "Better at wooing you in the manner in which you should be wooed?" 
I crossed one leg over the other and met his gaze. "My job is to ensure the security of this House. Ensuring the sanity of its Master seemed like a good start." 
"Is that the story you're sticking with?" 
"That's my answer."
"I don't buy it" (pg. 144). 

"His voice was just more than a whisper, but the sentiment was strong enough that I had to look away, tears brimming in my eyes. It was a legitimate question- but not one for which I had an easy answer. What would it take for me to believe in Ethan again? To believe that he'd chosen my, for better or worse, and regardless of the politics?" (pg. 283).

"But the words he said broke my heart into a million pieces" (pg. 335).

On My Wishlist...

 

On My Wishlist is a great event that Book Chick City runs every Saturday. It's where you list all of the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. I thought that this was a fantabulous idea so I thought I would join in!
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"Lament" by Maggie Stiefvater 

From Goodreads: "Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind . . .

Lament is a dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic faerie lore, plus cover art and interior illustrations by acclaimed faerie artist Julia Jeffrey." 
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"Ballad" by Maggie Stiefvater 

From Goodreads: "In this mesmerizing sequel to Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception, music prodigy James Morgan and his best friend, Deirdre, join a private conservatory for musicians. James' musical talent attracts Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. Composing beautiful music together unexpectedly leads to mutual admiration and love. Haunted by fiery visions of death, James realizes that Deirdre and Nuala are being hunted by the Fey and plunges into a soul-scorching battle with the Queen of the Fey to save their lives."
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What is on your wishlist?

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating...
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Title: "The Golden Lily"
Author: Richelle Mead
Release Date: March 1st, 2012

From Goodreads: "The second thrilling installment in Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy spinoff series.

Tough, brainy alchemist Sydney Sage and doe-eyed Moroi princess Jill Dragomir are in hiding at a human boarding school in the sunny, glamorous world of Palm Springs, California. The students—children of the wealthy and powerful—carry on with their lives in blissful ignorance, while Sydney, Jill, Eddie and Adrian must do everything in their power to keep their secret safe. But with forbidden romances, unexpected spirit bonds, and the threat of Strigoi moving ever closer, hiding the truth is harder than anyone thought. 

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Richelle Mead’s breathtaking Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive. In this second book, the drama is hotter, the romances are steamier, and the stakes are even higher."

"Forever" by Maggie Stiefvater

From Goodreads: "The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Shiver trilogy from Maggie Stiefvater

then.

When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their love moved from a curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.

now.

That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt.

forever.

Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment - a moment of death or life, farewell or forever."

For the last few years Sam and Grace have occupied a large part of my heart, they are most definitely one of my most favourite YA couples and I have always rooted for their happy ending, however I must admit that when I first started reading this book and saw that they did not play as large of a role in it than they had in the previous books I wasn't as heartbroken as I had thought I would be. Why would that be? Because of Cole. While in the previous book he was totally swoon-worthy with his bad-boy behavior he was even more so swoon-worthy in this book because he showed a completely different side of himself- a gentle, caring, and selfless side- while still maintaining his trademark sarcastic edge.

In the parts that Sam and Grace were the focus of the story you couldn't help but experience the emotional turmoil that they were feeling alongside them. From Grace transforming back to a human and trying to remember who she was- let alone remembering who Sam was, Sam frantically trying to find the now-human Grace before the cold took her away from him once again,and the realization that no one was safe with Jack Culpeper in town.

What I also loved also appreciated about this book was how humorous it was, when you were in the pits about the Grace and Sam situation, someone would come along (usually Cole) and do something to really uplift your mood- for instance, all of the voicemails that Cole left on Isabel's answering machine, Sam and Cole bonding as Cole tried to teach himself how to play guitar, Isabel and Cole dancing around the kitchen, and Grace bugging Sam when he was in the shower.

I think that my largest complaint about this book was the ending. I am the sort of person who needs an epilogue that spells everything out for me (for instance in the epilogue of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" we find out which characters married one another, their occupations as adults, their children's names, etc.), I hate things that are left up in the air, and therefore not knowing what truly happens to the characters, specifically Grace, eats me up inside (especially when taking into consideration that THIS IS THE LAST BOOK IN THE SERIES! *Fingers crossed that Maggie extends the series a la Cassie Clare and her "Mortal Instruments" series, or that she writes a spin-off a la Richelle Mead with her "Vampire Academy" and "Bloodlines" series).

All in all, aside from the little problem I have with the ending of the book, I think that this is a perfectly written finale to such an amazingly emotional series. In this book there is so much well thought humor and character development that it is truly unlike anything I have ever read of before, I highly recommend this series to anyone who has yet to read it, I don't think that you will be disappointed with it one bit!

Rating: 10/10

Memorable lines from the book:

"Sam.
His name returned suddenly, and with it a thousand other things: poems whispered uncertainly in my ear, his guitar in his hands, the shape of the shadow beneath his collarbone, and the way his fingers smoothed the pages of a book as he read" (pg. 6).

"Voicemail #1: Hi, Isabel Culpeper. I am lying in my bed, looking at the ceiling. I am mostly naked. I am thinking of... your mother. Call me" (pg. 23).

"I stepped into the bathtub, my shoes squeaking softly on the surface. My heart hammered against my T-shirt. Bees hummed inside my head. One thousand minutes other than this one lived in here, minutes with razors, minutes where everything that was me gurgled down the drain, minutes with hands pinning me in the water. But there was also Grace holding my head above the surface. Grace's voice calling me back to myself, Grace taking me by the hand" (pg. 158).

"I sleep naked," Cole said. He put both milk and sugar in my coffee. "As the day goes on, I put on more and more clothing. You should've come over an hour ago" (pg. 244). 

"I felt a tickle on my skin; it took me a moment to realize that Cole was driving his die-cast Mustang up my arm. He was laughing to himself, hushed and infectious, as if there was still any reason to be quiet. He turned the car around at my shoulder and headed back down toward my hand, the wheels skidding on my skin a bit when he laughed.
I thought that it was the truest thing I'd even heard from Cole St. Clair" (pg. 262).

Maggie Stiefvater Book Signing

On Sunday Maggie stopped by London, Ontario for her Forever Tour. This was exciting because I essentially live in London (and I had the day off of work) so I could actually attend it! It was further exciting because it was my first EVER book signing.

*Note: When I got to the bookstore I realized that I had forgotten my digital camera memory card in my computer, the memory card that I had spent all morning cleaning up so I would have lots of room for pictures and videos. I wasn't all that concerned because I figured that I could just load pictures directly off of my camera to my computer. Not so much. All but one of the pictures were corrupted and wouldn't let me download them to my computer, however I was able to take cell phone pictures of a few of the pictures on my digital camera (how is that for ingenuity? ;) ).

Because it was my first signing I wasn't quite sure how a signing went so I dragged my sister to the bookstore about two hours before the signing began (thank gosh I did so because by the time the signing started the few seats that they had out were filled and everyone else had to stand- fifty or so people standing I would guess). And I am not quite sure how it happened, but I got in a conversation with two women sitting behind me and it turns out that one of them was Jen from Lost in the Library! AND a young girl sitting beside me was KC Graham from In The Words Of... It was really awesome talking to all of the ladies/ reassuring that I am not the only obsessed with books and blogging out there.

After a couple rounds of giveaways (I somewhat embarrassingly mispronounced NARKOTICA and missed out on a GC to the bookstore. Boogers!) Maggie came out to great applause and started telling us about how "Forever" came to be (she wrote the book and handed it in to her editor two weeks before the deadline, almost as soon as she did she realized that she absolutely hated it and rewrote it) and she answered some audience questions (people at first were quite hesitant to ask anything, but after one or two questions more started to roll in, ie. "What music inspired you to write?", "Why German poetry?", "Can I ride with you in Loki?").

After the Q&A session she drew the winner for her gorgeous Sharpie guitar (You can see the guitar on Maggie's blog).  Jen and I debated grabbing the guitar and making a run for it, but chickened out- unfortunately neither of us won it (or my little sister who I would have obviously stolen the guitar from).

After the guitar drawing the signing then technically started. Because of where my sister and I were sitting we were actually at the front of the line. I nervously went up to Maggie and handed her my pile of books to sign. I totally had a fangirl moment and blathered on about how I loved "Forever's" shower scene between Grace and Sam and the dancing scene between Isabel and Cole. Apparently her editor thought that the shower scene was too goofy for the book, but I am really glad that it was included because I thought that it showed a different side of Grace's and Sam's relationship. She also asked me why I had a ton of little pieces of paper strewn throughout my books and I explained that they were all of the best/ most memorable portions of her books IMO and that I had been featuring those parts on my blog (I used some of them in my Take Two of "Shiver" and my Take Two of "Linger")- I then totally had a shameless promotion moment and handed her a bookmark that I had made that had all of my blog info on it.

My signed books

After stumbling away awestruck from Maggie I then wandered over to Tessa Gratton (I felt really bad that I have yet to read "Blood Magic", but it is totally going to the top of my TBR pile). Tessa seemed like an absolute sweetheart and I was really glad to have had the opportunity to have met her as well (The picture of Tessa and me, left, was the only picture I managed to successfully download- thank gosh it was that one and not the one I had accidentally taken of my elbow).

And my signed copy of "Blood Magic"

And as we we leaving I obviously had to get a picture of myself with (Blue) Loki! Maggie was super excited because the bookstore actually let her park Loki on the sidewalk in front of it. Look at that license plate!

Thing I learned from my first book signing:

1) Take a working camera with you. Heck, take twelve if possible. And a cell phone with a good camera in it. Better. Safe. Than. Sorry.

2) Make sure your little sister is well fed before you force her to take you to a book signing (if not she will become super fidgety and grumpy and will go MIA for quite a long time as she drives to the nearest fast food restaurant to stuff her face).

3) Try to reach out to fellow bloggers who may be attending a signing prior to it (special thanks to Liz over at Midnight Bloom Reads- she actually let Jen and myself know that we would both be attending the event).

Thanks goes out to Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Chapters (Wellington location)!

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly post hosted by Kirsti at The Story Siren as a chance to share the books we've bought or received over the past week.
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Received for Review 
"Possess" by Gretchen McNeil (Thank you so much to HarperCollins and Shannon!)

Bought
"Haunted" by Meg Cabot
"Personal Demons" by Lisa Desrochers 
"Original Sin" by Lisa Desrochers 
"Forever" by Maggie Stiefvater 

Won
A HarperCollins mug from Facebook (Thanks HarperCollins)

And then NetGalley offered up some truly amazing books for review this week (Thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers!): 

 

"The Iron Knight" by Julie Kagawa

"Cold Kiss" by Amy Garvey

"Vanish" by Sophie Jordan

"A Beautiful Dark" by Jocelyn Davies 

"The Girl of Fire and Thorns" by Rae Carson 

"Wreath" by Judy Christie

What did you get in your mailbox?

On My Wishlist...

 

On My Wishlist is a great event that Book Chick City runs every Saturday. It's where you list all of the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. I thought that this was a fantabulous idea so I thought I would join in!
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"A Million Suns" by Beth Revis 

From Goodreads: "The plot of this book is currently a secret..."

UGH! No description! Darn authors who love to tease us!