In My Mailbox 32

This was started by the fabulous Kristi who was inspired by Alea. If you want more information check out their blogs. All summaries are from the book jackets.

I was away during IMM time last week so these are my books from the last two weeks.

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You - Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school - typical, that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses, but it’s really a school for spies.

Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man seven different ways with her bare hands, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl.

Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist” - but can she manoeuvre a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

Last Chance - Sarah Dessen

Never in one place long enough to make friends or put down roots, Colie doesn’t expect her trip to the North Carolina coast to change a thing.

Always the outcast, she’s resigned to a holiday with her only eccentric aunt Mira for company. But when she finds a job at the Last Chance café, she also finds acceptance, new friends and the beginnings of romance…

I borrowed this from the library years ago as it’s been out of print for a while, but I finally tracked a copy down only to find out that it's been re-released with a pretty new cover (not this one).

Ember Fury - Cathy Brett

PYROMANIA: A mental derangement, excitement or excessive enthusiasm for fire.
Having celebrity parents isn’t as hot as it sounds. Yes, there’s money to burn, fame and some totally smoking guys…But when your dad’s more interested in blazing a trail to the top of the charts than why you got kicked out of school, again, it can make you seriously angry. And if there’s one thing Ember knows, it’s that the smallest spark of anger can ignite a whole heap of trouble…

This sounds brilliant. I love the whole half-graphic novel thing! Thanks, Jenny!

The Last Song - Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks uncovers the secrets of the human heart.

Seventeen-year-old Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Miller’s life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York to Wilmington, North Carolina. Since then she has remained angry and alienated from her parents, until her mother decides she should spend the summer with her father.

Ronnie’s father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town. He is immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centrepiece of a local church.

What unfolds is an unforgettable story about love - first love and the love between parents and children - that demonstrates the many ways that relationships can break our hearts…and heal them.

Now, I’m a sucker for romance, and not many authors do it better than Nicholas Sparks. I can’t wait to become immersed in his latest tragic tale.

The Tear Collector - Patrick Jones

Between hookups, makeups, and break-ups, there isn’t a day a Lapeer High School without drama turning to trauma turning to tears.

And tears are just as essential as air for Cassandra Gray. She and her family are vampires who thirst for human sorrow, and the energy that they soak in from a good crying jig can keep them fuelled up for days.

Anytime a friend needs a shoulder to cry on, Cass is there. Anytime a boyfriend gets too secure, she breaks his heart. Cass’s work as a school peer counsellor and hospital volunteer also provides the perfect cover and access to her family’s energy source. But she is getting tired of all the lies and manipulation - especially now that she’s actually fallen in love with a human. Can she bear to betray her family for a chance at happiness and a life lived with joy?

A perfect blend of romance and the supernatural, this unique kind of vampire story will hook readers.

I can’t wait to see how this new vampire myth unfolds.

Crazy Beautiful - Lauren Baratz-Logsted

I would give a lot to see that smile again, directed at me.
It may not be much, but I would give everything I’ve got.

In an explosion of his own making, Lucius blew his arms off. Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn’t outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself.

Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don’t scare her. They don’t keep her away. In fact, they don’t make any difference at all to her.

But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from his suffering.

Or maybe she’s just a girl who needs love just like he does.

A modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Lauren Baratz-Logsted’s Crazy Beautiful strips away the original tale to get to it’s essence, revealing the truth about forgiveness, redemption, and the power of love.

I also got the last books that I needed for when college started on Wednesday:

Songs of Innocence and Experience - William Blake
Equus - Peter Shaffer
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

Sophie