Letterbox Love #22

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. Summaries are taken from the cover, or Amazon/NetGalley/Goodreads in the case of e-books, unless otherwise stated. Hosted by Narratively Speaking.

For Review:

Curtsies & Conspiracies – Gail Carriger (paperback)

Does one need four fully grown foxgloves for decorating a dinner table for six guests? Or is it six foxgloves to kill six fully grown guests?

Sophronia’s first year at school has certainly been rousing. First, her finishing school is training her to be a spy (won’t Mummy be surprised!), secondly, she gets mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and has a cheese pie thrown at her. Now, as Sophronia steals around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers’ quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship’s boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a school trip to London than at first appears...

Sophronia must rely on her training to uncover who is behind a dangerous plot and what role Mademoiselle Geraldine’s play in the affair. Which is almost as challenging as surviving the London season with a full dance card!

I loved the first book in this series so, yay! Thanks Atom!

Long Live the Queen – Kate Locke (paperback)

Xandra Vardan thought life would be simpler when she accepted the goblin crown and became their queen, but life has only become more complicated. The vampires, werewolves and humans al want the goblins on their side, because whoever has the goblins – wins.

With human zealots intent on ridding the world of anyone with plagued blood, and supernatural politics taking Britain to the verge of civil war, Xandra’s finding out that being queen isn’t all it's cracked up to be. and if she doesn’t do something fast, hers will be the shortest reign in history.

The fantastic conclusion to the series which started with the undead Steampunk debut, God Save the Queen.

Although I love the sound of this series, I knew I’d never get around to it so I passed books one and two onto Anya – let me know if you want this one too! Thanks Atom!

The Chronicles of Narmo – Caitlin Moran (e-proof)

Before the woman came the girl – Caitlin Moran’s hilarious debut novel, inspired by her own childhood and written when she was just fifteen years old. Fifteen-year-old Morag Narmo really doesn’t want to go to school anymore. She and her siblings would rather feed their heads into the waste-disposal unit than “do the academical”. So they are all stunned when their parents whisk them out of school and embark on a home-schooling experiment. But with five children, two unruly pets and some extremely eccentric attitudes, the educational experiment soon descends into chaos...

Witty, razor-sharp and laugh-out-loud funny, The Chronicles of Narmo show us how before Caitlin Moran knew How to Be a Woman, she had to find out How to Be a Girl.

So excited for this! Thanks Random House/NetGalley!

Diamonds are a Teen’s Best Friend – Allison Rushby (e-proof)

Nessa Joanne Mulholland, aka Marilyn Monroe’s No. 1 teenage fan, is used to moving house. This time, however, she’s relocating in movie star style – crossing the Atlantic on board the Majestic, headed to Paris from New York City. And it really would be in movie star style if it wasn’t for her cringe-fest professor dad along for the ride (Dad’s specialization: human mating rituals – need Tessa say more?). Oh yeah, and sharing a cabin that’s five decks below sea level and next to the engine room. Still, at least Holly Isles is on board. Yes, really, that Holly Isles – star of stage and screen. Suddenly, things are looking up. looking a little Marilyn, in fact, because events are strangely mirroring Nessa’s favourite movie of all time, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Watch!

As Holly Isles, world-famous actress, confides in Nessa over mocktails.

Listen!

As Nessa coaches Holly in the amazing “Nessa’s Lessons in Love” – the ultimate man-catching rules to finding true and lasting lurv.

See!

Nessa fall for Holly’s too-cute nephew, Marc...and

Cover your eyes!

As it all goes horribly, terribly, embarassingly wrong.

There’s no doubting it. This is going to be one pitchy crossing.

I know I don’t usually accept self-published novels, but I loved Allison Rusbhy’s Shooting Stars so I accepted the first in her new self-pubbed trilogy. Thanks Allison and NetGalley!

Bought:

The Bane Chronicles 7: The Fall of Hotel Dumort – Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson (e-book)

Fifty years after the Jazz Age and the rise of the Hotel Dumort, immortal warlock Magnus Bane knows the Manhattan landmark is on the decline. The once-beautiful Hotel Dumort has fallen into a decayed thing, a ruin, as dead as a place can be. But the vampires don’t mind...

Yay!

Love is a Thief – Claire Gerber (e-book)

Kate Winters might just be ‘that’ girl.

You now the one. The girl who, for no particular reason, doesn’t get the guy, doesn’t have children, doesn’t get to romantic Happy Ever After. So she needs a plan.

Having been dumped by the man she thought was the One, Kate asks herself what she missed out on because she fell in love. And she sets about taking back what love has stolen from her.

What she doesn’t realise is that, along the way, she might just find love again...

As addictive as One Day, funnier than Bridget Jones, as beautiful and touching as When God Was a Rabbit.

I’ve had my eye on this for a while so I was really glad to see it for 99p in the Kindle Autumn Harvest.  

I’m trying to fill up my series that I’m half done with so I can have marathon catch ups. I don't want to write them out as I would normally for fear of spoilers, so, I got:

Fear, Michael Grant (hardcover)

and

The Serpent’s Shadow (The Kane Chronicles), Rick Riordan (hardcover)

for just over a tenner on the new and used section of Amazon! They’re in perfect condition as well!

Sophie