Letterbox Love #125

Letterbox Love is a way to give all of the books I receive for review some exposure. Summaries are taken from the cover, or Amazon/NetGalley/Goodreads in the case of e-books, unless otherwise stated. All of the books are in exchange for an honest review.

Passenger, Alexandra Bracken (e-proof)

In one devastating night, Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has travelled not just miles but years from home.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods – a powerful family in the Colonies – and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past he can't escape and the family that won't let him go. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, his passenger, can find.

Together, Etta and Nicholas, embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveller who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to their target, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home forever.

I'm so curious about this! Thanks Quercus!

Zom-B Goddess, Darren Shan (hardcover)

Double-crossed again, B is confused, enraged and broken. But the battle isn’t over. The end is nigh, but there are plenty of horrors to come. And who will survive? The Zombies? The humans? Or worse…?

‘Zachary…’ Dr Oystein murmurs.

‘No,’ Owl Man replies. ‘There has been enough bloodshed. I know there must be more before this is through, but let’s not kill those we can afford to spare. You and I are monsters, but we have to draw the line somewhere. Let’s draw it here.’

Dr Oystein looks troubled, but he nods reluctantly.

Owl Man turns to the girl again. ‘Leave your walkie-talkie,’ he says. ‘Return to County Hall. Tell Mr Dowling that you found me with Becky Smith and Dr Oystein. Tell him it’s over. The outcome has been decided, since we have what Becky stole from him.’

I’ll be so sad to see this series end, but I also can't wait to finish it off! Thanks S&S/Angel Publicity!

Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen, Alison Weir (e-proof)

A Spanish princess. Raised to be modest, obedient and devout. Destined to be an English Queen.

Six weeks from home across treacherous seas, everything is different: the language, the food, the weather. And for her there is no comfort in any of it. At sixteen-years-old, Catarina is alone among strangers.

She misses her mother. She mourns her lost brother.

She cannot trust even those assigned to her protection.

Katherine of Aragon. The first of Henry’s Queens. Her story.

Acclaimed, bestselling historian Alison Weir has based her enthralling account of Henry VIII’s first wife on extensive research and new theories. She reveals a strong, spirited woman determined to fight for her rights and the rightful place of her daughter. A woman who believed that to be the wife of a King was her destiny.

History tells us how she died. This captivating novels shows us how she lived.

I’ve heard such wonderful things about this and I CANNOT wait! Thanks Headline and NetGalley!

The Call, Peadar O’Guilin (proof)

Imagine a world where you might disappear any minute, only to find yourself alone in a grey sickly land, with more horrors in it than you would ever wish to know about. And then you hear a horn and you know that whoever lives in this hell has got your scent and the hunt has already begun.

Could you survive the Call?

This sounds creepy-as. Thanks David Fickling!

All Sort of Possible, Rupert Wallis (paperback)

The moment a sinkhole swallows the car that Daniel and his father are travelling in, everything changes: suddenly Daniel is the ‘miracle boy’ who survived unharmed whilst his father is left trapped in a coma.

So how did Daniel escape?

Was it luck or something more – was it really a miracle?

Mason, a small-time gangster, thinks so. When he decides the boy has been saved to help him with the biggest score of his career, Daniel is suddenly facing a life or death situation all over again…

Thanks S&S!

The Monstrous Child, Francesca Simon (proof)

‘Unfortunately. A word bound to me with iron fetters.’

Meet Hel, the Queen of the Dead. Daughter of a giantess and a god. Sister to Fenrir the wolf and Jormungand the snake.

This is her testament.

She didn’t always hate everything. Read it and laugh, read it and weep, read it and be warned! Hel does not ask for your pity. But she demands that you listen…

She never wanted to be queen.

This sounds so amazing and I can't wait. Thanks Faber!

Sophie 

Walk the Edge, Katie McGarry

Pages: 364

Publisher: MiraInk

Release Date: 10^th March 2016

Edition: UK e-proof, review copy

Other Titles from this Author: Pushing the Limits, Dare You Too, Crash Into You, Take Me On, Breaking the Rules, Nowhere But Here

Razor knows his family is haunted by secrets of the past.

High school senior Thomas ‘Razor’ Turner knows his family has a dark history as part of the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, especially when it comes to the secrecy surrounding his mother’s death. When Razor starts to dig deeper into his mum’s case he turns to the unlikeliest source for help: classmate Breanna Miller, the shy, smart girl he's never looked twice at. But the more time they spend together, the more they realise they actually have in common, and how attracted to each other they really are.

When secrets from the past are revealed, can their newfound feelings survive?

I’ve been feeling pretty slumpy lately and not enjoying books as much as I wanted to, but I breezed through Walk the Edge.

Razor and Breanna are amazing protagonists. It took only a few chapters for me to fall for them and completely have their backs. Razor is a strong and silent type. He’s still floundering following the death of his mum and the swathe of rumours and whispers that came after it; his trust in his family and the Terror is waning and he’s just lost. Breanna is the middle child of 9 and she has an almost photographic memory for facts and is a genius at puzzles. She doesn’t fit anywhere in her family and she's invisible to everyone. Until Razor.

I was shipping them SO hard! Katie McGarry does sexual tension and forbidden love flawlessly. It makes these books addictive and it’s impossible not to get behind her couples. Reading this felt like behind wrapped in a blanket, except from the moments where it stressed me out because I just wanted them to kiss already… Or tell a teacher what was going on!

Spoiler coming!

During an innocent moment between Razor and Breanna, popular jock Kyle takes a picture of them that makes it look like more than it was. And he uses it to blackmail Breanna to write his English papers for him. I tend to find blackmail rather frustrating to read about, particularly in a school setting, as telling a teacher will usually solve the problem, but boy did it get on my nerves in Walk the Edge. It was obviously needed for the big dramatic moment at the end, but I also think the novel would have worked perfectly without it and we might have gotten to go a bit in depth about Razor and Breanna solving the riddle about Razor’s mum’s death.

Spoiler over!

It also would have changed the way that Razor saved and protected Breanna so frequently. I mean, yeah, he’s a biker with a whole hoard of them at his back, but she’s ridiculously smart – she could have used her brains instead of his brawn. I've noticed that Katie McGarry’s books can be a tad problematic when it comes to gender stereotypes and a dash of sexism. The guys are tough and overly protective, while having a sweet, broken side, of course. They regularly save the heroines, even when they’re whip smart and capable. Breanna swooned and first admitted she loved Razor when she first saw him shirtless and I definitely face-palmed. He frequently mentioned her fragility and softness and it was a little aggravating. I've definitely read worse, and it didn’t stop me from enjoying Walk the Edge a hell of a lot, but I just wish that it wasn’t so obvious. With a series based around a motorcycle club, turning stereotypes on their head and allowing women to be as important and proficient as the men would have spoken volumes and made it a very special read indeed.

As always, I’m eagerly awaiting the next book from Katie McGarry. They’re just so much fun to read!

Thanks to Mira Ink and NetGalley for the review copy.

Sophie 

Adult TBR: Part Three

The final part of my Adult TBR is here! Here's Part One and Part Two. I am posting this in advance, but I sincerely hope that I haven’t added to it already. I'm hoping to have taken some of these off instead!

The Female Man, Joanna Russ

I actually heard about this classic feminist sci-fi from an author’s guest post and I just fell in love with the premise. It’s supposed to take a searing look at gender roles and I have very high expectations.

I am Legend, Richard Matheson

This is a book I’ve been peripherally aware of for a really long time, but up until recently sci-fi hasn’t been something I'm hugely interested in even though it’s one of Jenny from Wondrous Reads’ favourite books. But when I saw this as an Audible daily deal, I decided to give it a go.

The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters

I read my first Sarah Waters novel, Fingersmith, last December and I really loved it. She only has six novels so I’m okay with taking them slowly. The Paying Guests is set in the early 1920s when a mother and daughter take in a young couple as lodgers.

Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson

I began my journey into Sanderson’s novels last year and promptly decided I want to read all of his books. This is the first book in another series and is considerably shorter than lots of his others so it’ll be the first one I read after I finish Mistborn.

The Danish Girl, David Ebershoff

I saw the film adaptation of this in January and it was so, so beautiful – it made me cry! I'm really eager to see how it differs from the movie.

Dune, Frank Herbert

This is a classic of science fiction that I feel like I need to read it and it does sound very, very cool. It is a chunky one, though, so it will probably be on my TBR for a little while longer.

The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch

This is an epic fantasy series that is beloved my so many fantasy readers. This is one that I've got lined up for once I make it through more of Brandon Sanderson’s novels.

Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I’ve been meaning to read something of Adichie ever since I read We Should All Be Feminists and this year I'm making a real effort to read more BAME authors so this will definitely be read this year.

The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood

I became obsessed with Greek mythology after falling head over heels with The Song of Achilles last and bought a few more literary retellings. This one tells Penelope’s side of the story – she’s the wife of Odysseus who was left her behind to fight the Trojan War.

The Royal We, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

I wasn’t hugely fussed by this when I first heard it announced, but then the reviews started to come in and they were saying that it’s funny, charming and a real feel-good read and I was sold.

Sophie 

Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare

Pages: 668

Publisher: S&S

Release Date: 8^th March 2016

Edition: UK proof, review copy

Other Titles by this Author: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire, Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, Clockwork Princess, The Bane Chronicles, The Iron Trial, The Copper Gauntlet, Tales from Shadowhunter Academy

In a secret world where half-angel warriors called Shadowhunters are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word. A parabatai is your best friend and battle partner. Parabatai can be everything to each other – but they can never fall in love. Emma Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, the best in her generation. Together with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where faeries – the most powerful of supernatural creatures – teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When bodies – both faeries and human – turn up, bearing marks that match those found on Emma’s own murdered parents, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance at revenge – and Julian’s chance to get back his brother, a prisoner of the faerie Courts. All they have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.

As you can imagine, I nearly died of happiness when an early proof of Lady Midnight arrived and I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it.

We picked up with the world of the Shadowhunters five years after the ending of City of Heavenly Fire, and the battle to defeat Sebastian is now referred to as the Dark War, and a Cold Peace has been struck between the Shadowhunters and the fae. The world has moved on a lot from where we left it and it was so good to find out what Jace, Clary, Simon, Magnus, Alec, Jem and Tessa are up to now – and to see them appear again! It was so lovely. I did find that I spent at least the first half of Lady Midnight more invested in finding out about the old gang and desperately waiting for them to be mentioned and make appearances. But I eventually fell in love with Emma, Jules and the rest of the Blackthorns though.

There’s a whole new cast of characters to meet – we’ve got another big family to fall in love with! I really liked the dynamics between the Blackthorns and the way that the romance developed between Jules and Emma; it wasn’t new, it has always been there in the background but never fully embraced until now. It seemed to escalate a bit quicker when it finally happened (420 flipping pages!!) than it has in either of the previous series’ and it was actually really refreshing. It felt very natural for their history. I have to admit that Emma and Jules seemed pretty much like flipped versions of Jace and Clary, though.

One of Cassandra Clare’s strengths is her ability to torture both her characters and her readers with an agonising forbidden romance and The Dark Artifices is going to be no different! I really loved how the whole ‘falling in love with your parabatai is forbidden’ complication was revealed and played out. It’s going to make for some very, very interesting reading, and I’ve already had my heart a little broken… All I'm going to say is poor, poor Jules. I fell a bit in love with Jules, to be honest. He’s not Will or Jace Herondale level yet (yet) but he has serious potential. I think he has one of biggest and most in depth backstories of Clare’s characters so far and I felt like I knew him very early on.

I don’t want to go into the plot or anything, especially as the book was on embargo until yesterday! But I loved that it was a bit of a murder mystery as well as Emma’s search for answers, multiple love stories and the grappling with the politics of the Shadowhunter world, and once again, the oppressive power of the Clave. I do find this world endlessly interesting, especially as we go back and forwards through time and to different locations, and I'm looking forward to seeing where Clare will take it in the rest of the trilogy.

In the back of Lady Midnight is a short story featuring the old gang, running parallel to a moment in Lady Midnight and I’ve got to say, it through up quite a few questions, but also some serious squeeing happy moments. I really hope that we get one of these after each book to catch us up with what Cassandra Clare is tormenting us with here.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lady Midnight and I’m already desperate for book two!

Thanks to S&S and Georgia Lawe PR for the review copy.

Sophie 

Mini-Reviews: World Book Day 2016

Last Thursday was one of my favourite days of the year: World Book Day! The day when you were allowed to go to school dressed up as your favourite fictional character and were given a voucher to get a free book – it doesn’t really get better than that, to be honest! And even now at 23, I still love it, and buy at least of the £1 World Book Day books every year. This year, though, they outdid themselves and I had to buy three… Here’s the full selection of titles:

Amazing, huh? The three I bought were The Great Mouse Plot by Roald Dahl, Spot the Difference by Juno Dawson and Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell. Here’s what I thought of them!

The Great Mouse Plot, Roald Dahl

55|Penguin Random House

Synopsis

‘You had the idea – so you can be the one to put the mouse in the jar.’

This is a true story.

Every day the boy walks past a sweet shop filled with jars of delicious gobstoppers and sticky treacle toffees. But there is one terrible problem. The shop is owned by Mrs Pratchett, a skinny old hag with filthy finger nails. She is so mean that the boy decides to trick her – and he’s got the perfect plan…

Did you know that this boy grew up to become the writer Roald Dahl?

Mini-Review
I’ve worshipped Roald Dahl since I was a little girl, but it’s been many years since I last read him and this little story was a complete treat!

Easily the best thing about this story is the fact that it’s a tale from Roald Dahl himself when he was eight years old! It’s always wonderful to get a glimpse into the real lives of your favourite authors and the time that Dahl was growing up really makes it feel like a story. As is usually the case with Dahl, The Great Mouse Plot features kids taking revenge on horrid adults, wonderful descriptions of sweets and fearsome headteachers.

Brilliant!

Spot the Difference, Juno Dawson

85|Hot Key Books

Synopsis

Avery has always suffered at the hands of the bullies, so when she’s given a seemingly-miraculous opportunity to join the ‘A-list’ she grabs at it with both hands. But appearances can be deceiving, and soon Avery’s not so sure she likes this new version of herself. And it’s only by overcoming her fears that she can learn the true meaning of being comfortable in your own skin.

Mini-Review

It didn’t take long for this to become one of my favourite things that I’ve read from Juno. Of the three World Book Day books I picked up, it was the one that I felt the most connected to and involved in. 

Avery has severe acne – it’s painful, obvious and she’s ridiculed at school for it. It occurred to me that I couldn’t recall ever reading about a protagonist in a YA novel with acne before and that’s really ridiculous – acne is one of the biggest worries for teenagers, why isn’t it represented? 

Spot the Difference has something of Mean Girls about it as a miracle drug trial cleared up Avery’s skin and she was suddenly seen as pretty by the A-list girls and become embroiled in their world. I always hate to see the effects this has on the friendships that withstood all of the horrible days and the picking up the pieces after a particularly nasty comment, but I really loved Lois and Avery – they just worked so well together that I could only hope Avery would come to her senses. 

With Avery’s newfound confidence, she decides to run for Head Girl and I was cheering her along all the way! The speech she made to her school at the end of the story was particularly poignant. But I was so frustrated by the fact that we didn’t get to see if she was actually chosen or not that I had to knock a star rating off the book. I know that wasn’t the point of the story at all, but man, it was annoying!

This is an important, powerful little story and I really hope that teens take the message from it: you are more than your appearance, but you still don’t deserve to be bullied or ridiculed for anything about yourself. Ever. 

Kindred Spirits, Rainbow Rowell
62|Macmillan Children’s Books

Synopsis
‘Everybody likes everything these days. The whole world is a nerd.’
‘Are you mad because other people like Star Wars? Are you mad because people like me like Star Wars?’
‘Maybe.’

If you broke Elena’s heart, Star Wars would spill out. So when she decides to queue outside her local cinema to see the new movie, she’s expecting a celebration with crowds of people who love Han, Luke and Leia just as much as she does.

What she’s not expecting is to be last in a line of only three people; to have to pee into a collectible Star Wars soda cup behind a dumpster or to meet that unlikely someone who just might truly understand the way she feels.

Mini-Review
I loved Kindred Spirits – it’s cute, fun and just as charming as I've come to expect from Rainbow.

In only 62 pages Rainbow Rowell managed to make me fall in love with Elena, Gabe, their love for Star Wars and give a load of backstory to both characters – she really is a special writer. I loved the way that Elena bonded with Troy and Gabe during their adventure, the things they learned about each other, united by fandom.

There are cupcakes, selfies, dances, Starbucks runs and maybe the start of something awesome.

Which World Book Day books did you pick up this year?

Sophie