In My Mailbox 69

This meme was started by the fabulous Kristi who was inspired by Alea. Check out their blogs for more information. All summaries are from the book jackets.

For review:

Trash - Andy Mulligan (no cover available)
I’ve been picking up trash since I could crawl, and people always say ‘maybe one day you’ll find something special’. Then one day I did.
Raphael Fernandez is fourteen years old and part of the slum that barely makes a living on the mountains of the dumpsite. No education and no prospects: a lifetime of sifting through rubbish.

Then, out of the blue, he finds a key.

Keys open doors, and soon Raphael and his friends are just one step ahead of a desperate and dangerous police force. The three boys hold the key to a deadly secret. It leads to corruption, unimaginable wealth, and one man’s mission to put right a terrible wrong.

Children can’t be children when their lives are at stake…they have to be heroes.

A very cool surprise from David Fickling Books/Random House. I was wrapped in a paper bag with strips of paper filled with quotes.

Spirit Hunter - Katy Moran

Two empires are at war.

This time, the Empress of China is sure she will destroy the Horse Tribes for ever.

She sends a deadly weapon across the desert with her army: Swiftarrow, her Shaolin spy. But Swiftarrow has more than one mission to complete. He must also find a new recruit for the empress, a young barbarian to train as Shaolin: swift as a shadow, more silent than death.

Out on the Steppe, a young Horse Tribe shaman dreams of a great battle and the slaughter of her people. She knows that war is coming. She must stop the bloodshed. But how?

Thanks to Walker Books for this. I feel a forbidden love coming on!

Somebody’s Crying - Maureen McCarthy

When Alice looks up and sees Tom staring at her, everything closes down around them and becomes very still. No one is breathing. No one else is in the room. Tom feels as if he can see right into the soul of Alice Wishart. It lies open before him, like a wide, long pane of glittering glass. So delicate and beautiful and…ready to break.

Three years have passed since the murder of Alice’s mother, but still the killer is unknown. Alice, her cousin Jonty and his friend Tom are drawn together by the mystery, but what are they hiding? Will their secrets bind them even tighter or tear everything apart?

Maureen McCarthy’s intensely real characters will draw you deep into a world of suspicion, betrayal, desire and redemption.

A surprise from Allen & Unwin/Frances Lincoln. Hopefully I’ll get round to giving this a go.

No and Me - Delphine de Vigan

Lou Bertignac has an IQ of 160 and a good friend called Lucas who gets her through the day. At home her father cries in secret and her mother hasn’t been out of their flat properly for years.

Then Lou meets and becomes friends with No, a teenage girl living on the streets, and asks her parents if No can come and live with them. No’s sudden presence within Lou’s fractured family has an explosive force that will change the lives of Lou - and her parents - for ever.

A brilliant, challenging and thought-provoking novel about the true nature of home and homelessness.

A paperback copy from Bloomsbury

Claire de Lune - Christine Johnson

Hanover Falls hasn’t had a werewolf problem in over one hundred years, but when people suddenly start dying in Claire Benoit’s town, panic spreads fast. The gruesome killings are all anyone can talk about at Claire’s sixteenth birthday party, though the only thing on Claire’s mind is gorgeous Matthew Engle chatting and flirting with her as if she’s the only girl there. But that night, Claire discovers something that takes away all sense of normality: she’s a werewolf.

Claire knows she must keep her changing identity a secret, especially from Matthew, whose father is leading the werewolf hunt. But then a rogue werewolf threatens to put everyone she knows in danger. Struggling to feel comfortable in either skin, and with her lupine loyalty at odds with her human heart, Claire is forced to make a choice that will change her forever.

So excited for this! I love Simon Pulse/S&S!

Shade - Jeri Smith-Ready

Aura’s in love with two boys - but one of them’s a ghost. Can true love really conquer all - even death?
 Like everyone born after the Shift, sixteen-year-old Aura can see and talk to ghosts. She’s always found this mysterious ability pretty annoying, wishing only that she could reverse it and have some peace. But when her boyfriend, Logan, dies unexpectedly, Aura is forced to reconsider her connections to the dead…


Devastated by Logan’s sudden death, Aura ralises that her ability to see ghosts might actually be a blessing. Surely a violet-hued spirit Logan is better than no Logan at all? But just when Aura is coming to terms with having a ghost for a boyfriend, she starts developing feelings for her new friend Zachary, who is understanding, supportive and, most of all, alive. Each boy holds a piece of her heart - as well as vital clues to the secret of the Shift - and it’s time for Aura to choose between loving the living or embracing the dead…

Again with the Simon Pulse/S&S love.

She’s So Dead to Us - Kieran Scott

Ally Ryan’s back in Orchard Hill, a place she vowed never to set foot in again. Not after the trauma of her family fleeing their home in shame when her dad’s business dealings almost bankrupted their local community. Now she’s moved back, but her old ‘friends’ are cutting her dead. And while she may have outgrown the country club-trust fund-new car-every year-lifestyle, they certainly haven’t - and they won’t let her forget now she’s living on the wrong side of the tracks.

As if dealing with past demons and current grudges isn’t enough, now Ally’s met the handsome, wealthy and totally into her Jake Graydon, who just happens to live in her old house and be part of the clique that’s rejected her…complicated much?

Ally was hoping to start her life over again, but she’s learning that some things just can’t be forgotten…

Thanks, Simon Pulse/S&S!

The Runaway Troll - Matt Haig

There’s one thing every troll child dreads more than anything else - ns hat’s being sent to the Betterer - the most evil creature in Shadow Forest.

The Betterer is furious when one troll boy escapes to be with his favourite human, Samuel Blink. But then he realises that perhaps the most useful thing to have in his Bettering Tower would be a real life human child.he sets out on a quest to kidnap Samuel and the troll he’s been hiding in his wardrobe. Sameul's not allowed to enter Shadow Forest, but what’s to stop the forest coming to him?

Thanks to Bodley Head/Random House for this one. It sounds like so much fun!

Bought:

No books, but I did get…

…after countless recommendations from Jenny and Luisa. I watched season 3 when it was repeated on TV and fell in love so I felt I had to see it from the beginning!

Sophie