Letterbox Love #34

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:

AKA: Sleuth or Dare, Robin Benway (paperback)

Former safe-cracking spy, Maggie Silver, likes her new life as a regular high-school girl. Mostly.

Okay, so there’s the usual cliques, bad lunches and frustratingly simple locker combinations, but there’s also her new boyfriend, Jessie, and insanely cool best friend, Roux.

He her parents are falsely accused of a crime, so Maggie and her new team flee to Paris  where she will have to use all her skills as a spy in order to clear their names. Too bad it only puts her and everyone she loves in danger.

I loved the first book so I’m really looking forward to digging back the world of spies and safe-cracking. Thanks S&S!

Where the Rock Splits the Sky, Philip Webb (paperback)

Where Megan lives it’s forever dusk: an endless indigo sky above a wounded land that’s slowly dying. Ever since the Visitors came, the world has stopped turning. No one sleeps, everyone’s afraid. But Megan wants to know what’s coming. She’ll stop at nothing to save those she loves. She’ll ride across a forsaken wilderness to where the rock splits the sky to set the world spinning again – and discover what she’s truly made of.

This sounds gorgeous. Thanks Chicken House!

The Glass Bird Girl, Esme Kerr (proof)

Orphan Edie King is sent to Knight’s Haddon – a castle-like boarding school – to keep a watchful eye on Anastasia, the unhappy daughter of a Russian prince. Before long, Edie is caught up in a sinister mystery and a kidnap plot – which it’s up to her to stop.

Isn’t the cover gorgeous?! Thanks Chicken House!

Amy and Matthew: A Love Story, Cammie McGovern (paperback)

This is the story of Amy and Matthew.

It’s about being different.

It’s about feeling alive.

It’s about finding each other.

It’s about falling in love.

I think this sounds fantastic and that the cover is gorgeous. Thanks Macmillan!

Mutant City, Steve Feasey (proof)

Fifty years ago, the world was almost destroyed by a chemical war. Now the world is divided: The mutants and the pure. The broken and the privileged. The damaged and the perfect.

Defections and deformities have no place inside the City walls.

But the mutants are on their way.

This reminds me a bit of Gone by Michael Grant which I love so I’m officially intrigued. Thanks Bloomsbury.

I also got a finished copy of Trouble by Non Pratt from the lovely people at Walker. Thank you!

Bought:

Prince of Shadows, Rachel Caine (paperback)

‘A plague! A plague on both your houses.’

In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one goal: power. The boys are born to fight and die for honour and – if they survive - marry for influence and money, not love. The girls are assets, to be spent wisely. Their wishes are of no import. Their fates are written on the day they are born.

Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this. He expects to die for his cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellions still lives inside him. At night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona – and he risks all as he steals from House Capulet. In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many...

The combination of Romeo and Juliet and Rachel Caine sounds like perfect madness and I can’t wait.

Cress, Marissa Meyer (paperback)

Incarcerated in a satellite, an expert hacker and out to save the world – Cress isn;t your usual damsel in distress.

Cress grew up as a prisoner. With only netscreens for company, she’s forced to do the bidding of the evil Queen Levana. Now that means tracking down Cinder and her handsome accomplice Emperor Kai. But little does Queen Levana know that those she seeks, and the man she loves, are plotting her downfall...

As paths cross and the price of freedom rises, happily ever after has never seemed further away for Cress, Scarlet and Cinder.

This is not the fairy tale you remember. But it’s one you won’t forget.

Man, I adore this series.

Tape, Steven Camden (hardback)

Ryan and Ameliah. Two teenagers separated by time but infinitely connected.

- You could call this a love story.

- You could call it a time-travel story.

- or a story of hope and fate and all the magic of the universe...but to really get it, you just have to read it.

I’ve heard really, really mixed things about this, but I love the sound of the premise so I’m giving it a go.

Sophie