Letterbox Love #44

Letterbox Love all of the lovely, lovely books I’ve gotten in the post, bought and everything else. Summaries are taken from the cover, or Amazon/NetGalley/Goodreads in the case of e-books, unless otherwise stated. Hosted by Narratively Speaking.

I'm away in Bath this weekend (YAY!) so this my book haul as of Thursday evening. I plan to buy quite a few while I'm in Bath so expect a big 'un, and anything else that arrives Saturday, next week. Happy Easter!

For review:

Playlist for a Broken Heart, Cathy Hopkins (paperback)

When Paige’s parents announce that they’re moving it seems as if her world is falling apart.

Forced to leave her old friends behind, Paige feels totally alone, then an old mix CD in a charity shop catches her eye and she starts to think again. The songs speak of love, longing and heartbreak, and capture everything Paige seems to be feeling. Whoever made the playlist sees the world just as she does, maybe they’re meant to be together...

Paige’s quest to find the boy who put the music together leads her on an unexpected journey of self-discovery, but is she destined to ever find him? And if she does, will he be everything she dreamed he would be?

I loved Love at Second Sight so I’m really looking forward to this. Thanks S&S!

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, Maya Van Wagenen (paperback)

A true story

When Maya Van Wagenen finds a 1950s guide to popularity she embarks on a unique social experiment: for one school year she follows the advice of its author, teen model Betty Cornell.

From hair-dos and girdles to pearls and posture, Maya does whatever Betty says – no matter how difficult or embarrassing.

She’s determined to see her experiment through, for better or worse. Does it work? You decide.

A touchingly honest and candidly hysterical memoir from one of TIME’s most influential teens of 2013.

I think this has such a cool premise – I’m intrigued! Thanks Penguin!

Bought:

Shadowplay, Laura Lam (e-book)

The circus lies behind Micah Grey in dust and ashes.

He and the white clown, Drystan, take refuge with the once-great magician, Jasper Maske. When Maske agrees to teach them his trade, his embittered rival challenges them to a duel which could decide all of their fates. People also hunt both Micah and the person he was before the circus – the runaway daughter of a noble family. And Micah discovers there is magic and power in the world, far beyond card tricks and illusions he’s perfecting...

A tale of phantom wings, a clockwork hand, and the delicate unfurling of new love, Shadowplay continues Micah Grey’s extraordinary journey.

I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed Pantomime. Really looking forward to reading more of Micah’s story.

Zom-B Circus, Darren Shan (e-novella)

Could you survive a plague of zombies?

What would you sacrifice to stay alive?

Who would you try to save?

For one human, judgment day is coming...

Yay, more Zom-B!

Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Laini Taylor (hardback)

It began with

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE

It continued with

DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT

It ends with

DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael’s brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And perhaps, for themselves.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz...something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimera, and seraphim will fight, strive, love and die in an epic theatre that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?

AT LAST. Gods, it sounds epic...

Nantucket Blue, Leila Howland (paperback)

For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.

Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.

When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-coloured tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.

But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on – most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits – that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.

A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.

I refused to buy this in hardback because it’s so skinny, but I’ve had the PB pre-ordered for forever. Hope it likes up to my expectations!

Sophie