Letterbox Love #83

Letterbox Love is a way to show you all of the lovely, lovely books I’ve gotten in the post, bought and everything else over the last week. 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:

Monster, CJ Skuse (proof)

Sometimes the thing you fear the most is closer than you think...

At sixteen Nash thought that the fight to become Head Girl of prestigious boarding school Bathory would be the biggest battle she’d face. Until her brother’s disappearance leads to Nash being trapped at the school over Christmas with Bathory’s assorted misfits.

As a blizzard rages outside, strange things are afoot in the school’s hallways, and legends of the mysterious Beast of Bathory – a big cat rumoured to roam the moors outside the school – run wild.

Yet, when the girls’ Matron goes missing it’s clear that something altogether darker is to blame – and that they’ll have to stick together if they hope to survive.

ARGH!! So excited for this! Snagged in a goody bag at #ukyaba last weekend, this isn’t out until September so it’ll be awhile until this shows up on here. Thanks MiraINK!

Hausfrau, Jill Alexander Essbaum (e-proof)

Anna Benz lives in luxury with her husband and three young children in Dietlikon, a picture-perfect suburb of Zurich. Anna, an American expat, has chosen this life far from home; but, despite its tranquillity and order, inside she is falling apart.

Feeling adrift and unable to connect with her husband or his family; with the fellow expatriates who try to befriend her; or even, increasingly, her own thoughts and emotions, Anna attempts to assert her agency in the only way that makes sense to her: by engaging in short-lived but intense sexual affairs.

But adultery, too, has its own morality, and when Anna finds herself crossing the line, she will set off a terrible chain of events that ends in unspeakable tragedy. As her life crashes down around her, Anna must then discover where one must go when there is no going back...

This is getting so much buzz on Twitter at the moment and my curiosity got the best of me. Can’t wait to find out if all the hype is justified! Thanks

Bought:

Open Road Summer, Emery Lord (paperback)

Two best friends...

Two broken hearts...

One summer that will change everything.

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. Her best friend, country superstar Dee Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Dee’s twenty-four-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing.

But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. With miles to go before Reagan and Dee are ready to risk their hearts again, this summer will be one to remember.

Well, this couldn’t sound more perfect for me, really. Bring it on!

Violet and the Pearl of the Orient, Harriet Whitehorn (e-book)

Meet Violet Remy-Robinson, an amateur Sherlock Holmes in the making.

When a new family move in next door, Violet is sure there’s something strange about them. Then her eccentric, but lovely neighbour, Dee Dee Derota, has a precious jewel stolen. Could the new family be to blame? Violet is on the case to uncover the truth...

I’ve heard such wonderful things about this and after reading some wonderful middle grade recently I’m on the lookout for more! (Oh, and it’s only £1.49 on Kindle)

Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford (paperback)

Ah, the dresses! But oh, the monotony of the Season, with its endless run of glittering balls. Even fabulously fashionale Polly Hampton – with her startling good looks and excellent social connections – is beginning to wilt under the glare.

Groomed for the perfect marriage by her mother, fearsome Lady Montdore, Polly instead scandalises society by declaring her love for her uncle ‘Boy’ Dougdale, the Lecherous Lecturer, and promptly eloping to France. But the consequences of this union no one could quite expect...

Love in a Cold Climate is the wickedly funny follow-up to The Pursuit of Love and explores the mystery of sexual attraction.

I spotted this in Foyles’ Mother’s Day promotion and snapped it up (I’ve wanted to read it for years) without realising it’s actually the sequel to The Pursuit of Love. Doh. Doesn’t it sound brilliant, though?!

Men Explain Things to Me and Other Essays, Rebecca Solnit (hardback)

In her iconic essay ‘Men Explain Things to Me’, Rebecca Solnit investigates the conversations of men who wrongly assume they know things and wrong assume women don’t.

This famous and influential essay is included her along with the best of Solnit’s feminist writings. From rape culture to grandmothers, from French sex scandals to marriage and the nuclear family, and from Virginia Woolf to colonialism, these essays are a fierce and incisive exploration of the issues that a patriarchal culture will not necessarily acknowledge as ‘issues’ at all. With grace and energy, and in the most exquisite and inviting prose, Rebecca Solnit proves herself a vital leading figure of the feminist movement and a radical, generous thinker.

I’m thoroughly looking forward to diving into this. I’m enjoyed expanding my reading in 2015!

Sophie