Letterbox Love #52

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.

For review:

The Night Itself, Zoe Marriott (paperback)

When fifteen-year-old Mio steals the katana – her grandfather’s priceless sword – she just wants to liven up a fancy-dress costume. But the katana is more than a dusty heirloom, and her actions unleash an ancient evil onto the streets of London. Mio is soon stalked by the terrors of mythical Japan and it is only the appearance of a mysteriously familiar warrior boy that saves her life. Mio must learn to control the katana’s legendary powers fast or she risks losing not only her life ... but the love of a lifetime.

Book two: Hidden Darkness

I’ve been meaning to read something by Zoe for ages so when I was offered copies of books one and two in this series with their beautiful new covers, I couldn’t say no. Thanks Walker!

Sway, Kat Spears (e-proof)

High school senior Jesse Alderman, or Sway as he’s known, could sell hell to a bishop. He also specializes in getting things people want – term papers, a date with the prom queen, fake IDs. It’s all business with Jesse. He has few close friends and he never lets emotions get in the way.

But when ken, captain of the football team, leading candidate for homecoming king, and all around jerk, hires Jesse to help him win the heart of the angelic Bridget Smalley, Jesse finds himself feeling all kinds of things. While following Bridget and learning the intimate details of her life, he falls helplessly in love for the very first time. He also finds himself in an accidental friendship with Bridget’s younger brother who belligerent and self-pitying after spending a lifetime dealing with cerebral palsy. Suddenly Jesse is visiting old folks at a nursing home in order to run into Bridget, and offering his time to help the less fortunate, all the while developing a bond with this young man who idolizes him. The tinman really does have a heart after all.

 A Cyrano de Bergerac story with a modern twist. Sway is told from Jesse’s point of view with unapologetic truth and biting humour. His observations about the world around him are untempered by empathy and or compassion – until Bridget’s presence in his life forces him to confront his quiet devastation over a life-changing event  year earlier, and maybe, just maybe, feel something again.

I really, really love the sound of this. Thanks NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin!

Before You, Amber Hart (e-proof)

It will haunt me. It will claim me. It will shatter me. And I don’t care.

Faith Watters has a picture-perfect life. She’s captain of the dance team, popular, happy. She even spent her junior year travelling the world before returning to Oviedo High for her senior year. But she’s living a lie.

Diego Alvarez hates his new life in the States, but staying in Cuba is not an option. Covered in tattoos and scars, Diego doesn’t stand a chance of fitting in, and doesn’t want to. His only concern is his secret past – a past, which if it were to surface, would cost him his life.

Everyone knows that Faith and Diego don’t belong together. But fate has its own plan. All they want is to be free. What they get is something different entirely.

Love – it will ruin you...and save you.

This sounds like Perfect Chemistry and we know how much I love that! Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley!

Murder Most Unladylike, Robin Stevens (e-proof)

The first gripping, Agatha Cristie-style mystery starring a brilliant new double act: feisty, funny schoolgirl detectives, Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong.

When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own deadly secret detective agency at Deepdean School for Girls, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia’s missing tie. Which they don’t, really.)

But then Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym. She thinks it must all have been a terrible accident – but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared. Now the girls know a murder must have taken place...and there’s more than one person at Deepdean with a motive.

Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove a murder happened in the first place. Determined to get to the bottom of the crime before the killer strikes again (and before the police can get their first, naturally), Hazel and Daisy must hunt for evidence, spy on their suspects and use all the cunning, scheming and intuition they can muster. But will they succeed? And can their friendship stand the test?

All of the rave reviews and tweets I’ve seen about this book lately made me request. I can’t resist it any longer! Thanks RHCP and NetGalley!

Stig of the Dump, Clive King (paperback)

Barney wished he was at the bottom of the put. And the ground gave way... 

Everybody had told Barney not to play too near the edge of the chalk pit. But today was one of those grey days when there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. Except to the chalk pit. The dump. And so Barney lands in a cave in the middle of the rubbish dump - and that's where he meets Stig.

The lovely people of Penguin are re-releasing 30 modern children's classics as part of a new promotion called #ShareAPuffinClassic and I'll be reading and reviewing this, which I've always meant to read. Thanks Puffin!

Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel (e-proof)

DAY ONE The Georgia Flu explodes over the surface of the surface of the earth like a neutron bomb. News reports puts the mortality rate at over 99%.

WEEK TWO Civilization has crumbled.

YEAR TWENTY A band of actors and musicians called the Travelling Symphony move through their territories performing concerts and Shakespeare to the settlements that have grown up there. Twenty years after the pandemic, life feels relatively safe. But now a new danger looms, and he threatens the hopeful world every survivor has tried to rebuild.

STATION ELEVEN Moving backwards and forwards in time, from the glittering years just before the collapse to the strange and altered world that exists twenty years after, Station Eleven charters the unexpected twists of fate that connect six people: famous actor Arthur Leander; Jeevan – warned about the flu just in time; Arthur’s first wife, Miranda; Arthur’s oldest friend Clark; Kirsten, a young actress with the Travelling Symphony; and the mysterious and self-proclaimed ‘prophet’. Thrilling, unique and deeply moving, this is a beautiful novel about art and fame and about the relationships that sustain us through anything – even the end of the world.

I think this sounds so unique and completely wonderful. Thanks Picador and NetGalley!

Bought:

Nothing! Can you believe it?! But I did get these:

A wonderful gift from Netflix!

A few weeks back, Netflix tweeted me asking if they could use my gushing tweet about their show, Orange is the New Black, in some promotion. Of course I said yes. They promised to send me a goodybag in thanks. Then they put the quote on an inside-cover add in Stylist magazine and I had a freak-out, and THEN I got the goodybag. Made of awesome, Netflix are.

I got a snugly hoodie, a gorgeous lined notebook, a foam screwdriver and, ridiculously, an orange jumpsuit. I mean, hello, Halloween costume! This was a seriously exciting package and I can’t thank Netflix enough!

 Bookish Birthday Goodies!

Aren’t they pretty?! I was incredibly lucky this year!

I got the gorgeous Penguin Clothbound Classics edition of Dracula from my sister to add to my ever-growing Clothbound Classics collection. She also bought me the Harry Potter Film Wizardry book of awesome because she knows it’s too expensive for me to ever buy for myself and the Hogwarts Library boxset for exactly the same reason – she outdid herself!

From the lovely @Jess_harms I got a mini Wreck This Journal to get my creative juices flowing and a gorgeous notebook we were drooling over a few weeks ago in Waterstone’s. That girl appreciates that even a box full of pretty notebooks is never enough.

Sophie