Letterbox Love #29

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:

Junk Miles – Liz Reinhardt (paperback)

When Brenna Blixen is offered a trip to Paris in the winter break, she jumps at the chance.

After a tearful goodbye with her gorgeous boyfriend, Jake Kelly, Brenna is shocked to discover that Saxon Maclean is also headed to the City of Love.

He’s trouble and irritating as hell. But also seriously hot.

Can Brenna resist her animal urges, or is good girl Brenna about to turn bad...?

Slow Twitch – Liz Reinhardt (paperback)

It’s summer in Sussex County and things are heating up for Brenna, Jake and Saxon.

Golden couple Brenna and Jake are worlds apart. Brenna’s in Ireland on a creative writing course and Jake’s in New York, meeting his real family, who are super wealthy and seriously obnoxious.

Sex and getting drunk are pretty much all Saxon’s life is about, until he runs his allowance dry and is sent to the middle of nowhere to learn some real life lessons.

It’s a summer full of romance and looking to the future. But who will end up with who, and will all that unresolved chemistry finally get put to bed?

Surprises from RHCP! The titles make me cringe, but I am intrigued. Just a shame that these are books two and three and I don’t have the first one!

Salvage – Keren David (hardback)

Aidan Jones was my brother. But I couldn’t really remember his face. I couldn’t remember talking to him or playing with him. He was just a gap, an absence, a missing person.

Before she was adopted by a loving family and raised in a leaf Home Counties town, Cass Montgomery was Cass Jones. Her memories of her birth family disappeared with her name. But when her adopted family starts to break down, a way out comes in the way of a message from her lost brother Aidan. Having Aidan back in her life is both everything she needs and nothing she expected. Who is this boy who calls himself her brother? And why is he so haunted?

I glance at the paper. There’s a big picture on the front page. A girl with dark hair red hair. A girl with eyes that might have been green or they might have been grey. I sit down and stare at Cass, and it is her, it is. My stolen sister.

Aidan’s survived a disrupted childhood spent shuttling between foster care and children’s homes, with a brief disastrous return to his birth mother. Now he’s found Cass. If only he can make her understand what it means to be part of his family...

Eek, thank you Atom! So excited for this!

Zom-B Gladiator – Darren Shan (hardback)

B Smith has seen evil in her time, but the Board are a whole new ball game. These inhuman humans use their money and power to buy their way to safety and entertainment...

The bloodthirsty members of the Board want action and excitement, and it’s my job to deliver that for them.

    The zombies snarl, sniffing the air.

    ‘Come on,’ I growl, crooking my fingers at them. ‘I’m not as dead as I look.’ I jump into the air, grab the pole and whirl around.

    ‘Oh, nice shot,’ the Prince applauds...

Finally, I step away and gaze at my handiwork.

    The members of the Board are cheering warmly. I glance at them numbly, blood on m hands, brains dribbling from my lips.

    ‘Ladies and gentlemen, a gladiator is born!’

I really do love this series. Thanks S&S!

Longbourn – Jo Baker (paperback)

it is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House, and Sarah’s hands are chapped and raw. Domestic life below stairs, ruled with a tender heart and an iron will by Mrs Hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman, bearing secrets and the scent of the sea.

A surprise from Black Swan. This is the type of thing I love to watch on a Sunday afternoon so hopefully it’ll be just as appealing to read!

Bought:

The Last Stand of the New York Institute, Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson and Sarah Rees Brennan (e-book)

In the time of the Uprising, Valentine’s Circle goes after Downworlders in New York...and the Shadowhunters of the Institute must decide whether to join him, or fight with Magnus and his kind. This is the first time Magnus sees Jocelyn, Luke, and Stephen – but not the last. It is not long before Jocelyn seeks him out...

Second to last of the series L Sadtimes.

More Than This – Patrick Ness (hardback)

A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies.

Then he wakes, naked, bruised and thirsty, but alive.

How can this be? And what is this strange, deserted place?

As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife>

From the multi-award winning author Patrick Ness comes one of the most provocative and moving novels of our time.

I spotted this on Amazon for only about six quid and I couldn’t pass it up!

Skulduggery Pleasant – Derek Landy (paperback)

From Goodreads: Skulduggery and Valkyrie are facing a new enemy: Baron Vengeous, who is determined to bring back the terrifying Faceless Ones and is crafting an army of evil to help him. Added to that, Vengeous is about to enlist a new ally (if he can raise him from the dead): the horrible Grotesquery, a very unlikable monster of a legend.

Once Vengeous is on the loose, dead bodies and vampires start showing up all over Ireland. Now pretty much everybody is out to kill Valkyrie, and the daring detective duo faces its biggest challenge yet.

But what if the greatest threat to Valkyrie is just a little closer to home?

It’s all Cait’s fault that I bought this. She just won’t stop raving about this series!

The Cuckoo’s Calling – Robert Gailbraith (e-book)

When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother had his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case.

A war veteran, wounded both physically and psychologically, Strike’s life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model’s complex world, the darker things get – and the closer he gets to terrible danger...

A gripping, elegant mystery steeped in the atmosphere of London – from the hushed streets of Mayfair, to the backstreet pubs of the East End, to the bustle of Soho – The Cuckoo’s Calling is remarkable. Introducing Cormoran Strike, it is a classic crime novel unlike any other book you will read this year.

I’ve been meaning to read this since the news broke that it was actually JKR. Now it’s £1.99 on Kindle and I bought it instantly.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy – Helen Fielding (e-book)

What do you do when a girlfriend’s 60^th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s 30^th?

Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating?

Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?

Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant?

Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood?

Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter writing in Jane Austen’s day?

Pondering these, and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of single-motherhood, tweeting, texting and rediscovering her sexuality in what SOME people rudely and outdatedly call ‘middle age’.

The long-awaited return of a much-loved character, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is tender, timely, touching, witty, wise and bloody hilarious.

Even though I know the big, shocking spoiler, I’m still intrigued to read this as I love Bridget. Another £1.99 Kindle bargain!

Sophie