Letterbox Love #2

Letterbox Love came about after some drama with the American book haul memes, so the UKYA bloggers came together on Twitter to organise one of our own. Hosted by Narratively Speaking.

For Review

Noble Conflict – Malorie Blackman (ebook)

Years after a violent war destroyed much of the world, Kaspar has grown up in a society based on peace and harmony. But beyond the city walls, a vicious band of rebels are plotting to tear peace apart. It is up to the Guardians – an elite peascekeeping force – to protect the city, without ever resorting to the brutal methods of their enemy.

When Kaspar joins the Guardians, he has a chance encounter with another rebel – a beautiful girl named Rhea. Haunted that moment on by strange visions and memories – memories that could only belong to Rhea – he realises he hasn’t been told the truth about what the rebels want, and what he’s really fighting for.

I feel like a bad person for not loving Noughts and Crosses so I’m hoping I’ll like this a bit more. Thanks RHCP and NetGalley!

My mum brought up a few packages from home as well but I didn't have time to write them up so they'll be included in next week's Letterbox Love.

Bought:

Levitating Las Vegas – Jennifer Echols (ebook)

From the award-winning, wildly popular author of Such a Rush and Going Too Far comes a sexy and fun new adult romantic comedy with a paranormal twist, available exclusively as an eBook.

Twenty-one-year-old showgirl Holly Starr is sick and tired of assisting her dad, a celebrity magician, in his Las Vegas casino magic show. As soon as he keeps his promise to her and shares the secrets to his tricks, she can break out on her own. But can she really make it? For years Holly has taken medication to stave off crazy hallucinations that she can levitate objects. Just when she thinks she’s ready to make a career and a life for herself, her medicine – and her luck – run out.

Elijah Brown suffers from a similar delusion – he thinks he can read minds – and he’s out of medicine too. Determined to save himself and his old flame Holly, her kidnaps her and takes her to a town high in the Rockies where their medicine is made. What they discover there leads them to discover their powers are not imaginary at all...and neither is the intense attraction they feel for each other.

They make a pact to stick together as they return to Vegas to confront the people who kept them in the dark for so long. But soon they’re pitting their powers against each other in a dangerous world where the nightlife is seductive, domination is addictive, and sex is beyond belief...and falling in love can lead to murder.

I love Jennifer Echols’ books so I couldn’t pass this up!

Wither – Lauren DeStefano (ebook)

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb – males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden’s genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape – to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden’s eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant she trusts, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

I’ve been wanting to read this for years, so after seeing it on Amazon for £1.99, I couldn’t not get it!

Department 19 – Will Hill (ebook)

In a secret supernatural battle that’s been raging for over a century, the stakes have just been raised – and they’re not wooden anymore.

DEPARTMENT 6 IS THE ARMY

DEPARTMENT 12 IS MI5

DEPARTMENT 19 IS THE REASON YOU’RE ALIVE

When Jamie Carpenter’s mother is kidnapped  by strange creatures, he finds himself dragged into Department 19, the government’s secret agency.

Fortunately for Jamie, Department 19 can provide the tools he needs to find his mother, and to kill the vampires who want him dead. But unfortunately for everyone, something much older is stirring, something even Department 19 can’t stand against...

Only 99p on Amazon!

Sophie

Author Interview: Emma Pass

I've been talking to the lovely Emma Pass on Twitter for what feels like ages and I finally got to read her stunning debut, ACID, when it was released in April, but I couldn’t let it pass without asking her a few questions.

1. Jenna is such a vibrant, self-sufficient and empowering heroine. Was this something you purposefully set out to create in her?

Yes. She needed to be strong in order to cope with what happens to her – both in the prison and afterwards. Also, I find passive female MCs SO annoying! I wanted to create a female MC who could more than hold her own, and didn’t need anyone to save her, thank you very much.

2. Have you ever read a dystopian novel and thought ‘Wait, that could definitely happen, and pretty soon...’? If yes, which one?

I know it’s not a recent dystopian novel, but 1984 always gives me chills...!

3. If you, like Jenna, had to choose between living as someone else or dying as yourself, do you know which you’d choose?

I think I would choose to live as someone else, but try to find a way to fight the system while I did it. You can’t change things if you’re dead!

4. What are you working on at the moment? Can you tell me anything about it?

I'm currently working on my second book, THE FEARLESS, which will be published by Random House next year. It's a post-apocalyptic YA thriller about monsters, courage, love and loyalty. This is the mini-blurb from the back pages of ACID:

The Fearless. An army, powered by an incredible new serum that makes each soldier stronger, sharper, faster than their enemies. Intended as a force for good, the serum has a terrible side-effect – anyone who takes it is stripped of all humanity, empathy, love. And as the Fearless sweep through the country, forcing the serum on anyone in their path, society becomes a living nightmare.

Cass remembers the night they passed through her village. Her father was Altered. Her mother died soon after. All Cass has left is her little brother – and when Jori is snatched by the Fearless, Cass must risk everything to get him back.

5. Do you think we’ll ever revisit Jenna and ACID?

I would love to revisit Jenna and ACID – the book was so much fun to write! So we’ll see...

And a few fun ones, just because!

6. Sweet or savoury?

Sweet! Or to be more specific, chocolate... ;)

7. Coke or Pepsi?

Coke

8. Favourite TV show?

Game of Thrones. I LOVE it!

9. Favourite place in the world?

I have lots of favourite places! If I had to pick one, though, it would be the Swiss Alps. I visited them when I was twelve, and although I’ve not been back yet, I still remember every detail. It is a stunning place.

10.  What are you reading at the moment?

THE OATHBREAKER’S SHADOW by Amy McCulloch. Amy is a publishing sibling at RHCP; her editor sent me a proof and I’ve been dying to get to it! It’s the story of Raim, a boy who lives in a world where people tie knots to make promises, and if those promises are broken, they are exiled into the desert. When Raim breaks an oath he has unknowingly carried since birth, he is outcast, and begins a struggle to survive – and find out the truth behind the promise he has no knowledge of making. It’s a beautifully written book with a richly imagined world, and I’m sure it’s going to be a huge success!

A huge thank you to Emma for agreeing to answer some questions and I hope that everyone continues to fall in love with ACID!

Sophie

The Longest Holiday - Paige Toon

Pages: 378

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Release Date: 25^th April 2013

Edition: UK paperback, purchased copy

Other Titles by this Author: Lucy in the Sky, Johnny be Good, Chasing Daisy, Pictures of Lily, Baby Be Mine, One Perfect Summer

‘Don’t wait for the storm to pass; learn to dance in the rain...’

Laura has been married to the man of her dreams for seven months. But a week before the wedding, Matthew made a terrible mistake.

Escaping the humiliation that is now her marriage, Laura is whisked off to Florida’s Key West by her best friend Marty. A carefree holiday full of cocktails and fun, surrounded by gorgeous, tanned men, Is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Distraction comes in the form of sexy Cuban scuba diver Leo. Laura’s instant attraction to him knocks her flying, and she falls hard.

As the end of the holiday approaches, Laura doesn’t want to go home. Is it time to face the music? Or is there more to key West than a holiday romance?

I’m a huge fan of Paige Toon’s but I was a little let down by her last novel, One Perfect Summer so I hoped for great things from The Longest Holiday. Oh boy, did I get what I asked for!

First of all, I love how Paige Toon connects her novels by minor characters appearing as main characters. Laura was the original girlfriend of Will in Chasing Daisy, and The Longest Holiday picks up on her story a few years after the traumatic events of that excellent, excellent book. We also find out that Daisy and Luis got engaged! There was also a subtle link to One Perfect Summer with Laura’s husband Matthew being the university friend of Lukas. I love when authors do this and I spent a lot of time wondering which characters from The Longest Holiday might get their own book in the future! My money’s on Bridget or Carmen.

As is often the case with these novels I end up with a serious case of wanderlust. The object of my affections this time? Key West. I want to live there forever and learn to dive. If I happen to meet a guy like Leo while I’m there, well that’d be grand! He’s a gorgeous mystery and I loved the fact that him and Laura didn’t immediately get involved. These was a tense, sexy build up and it made their first kiss that much better.

Leo and Laura’s relationship was really strong and I wanted them to be together so, so much, but I always really appreciated how Page Toon didn’t write Laura’s decision between him and Matthew to be a piece of cake. She was married and prepared to spend the rest of her life with Matthew before he broke her heart and that’s not something you get over in just a few weeks. Her to-ing and fro-ing was realistic and made me empathise with her at a much deeper level than I would have if Matthew had just been left in England and forgotten about. It was an incredibly difficult decision for Laura and I’m glad that she was confused and agonised over it.

The whole situation was made me even harder with the blind conviction of her friends and family that she would forgive Matthew and come home to him. It made me so angry! It’s such a double standard that it was Laura who had to be forgiven for her relationship with Leo even in light of Matthew’s discretion. It’s such a valid point and I’m glad it was tackled in The Longest Holiday.

Something very unexpected happened in The Longest Holiday that simultaneously made me very, very happy and scared the living daylights out of me: we got to read from Leo’s point of view. It was great to see the man behind the come hither smile and very few words as well as learn more about his background, it was just the situation that called for his section... I won’t say any more about it, but boy, it had me on the edge of my seat.

The Longest Holiday is another warm, sexy and thoughtful read from Paige Toon and I’m over the moon that I’ll get to read two new books from her next year; one of them a YA novel!

Sophie