In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by The Story Siren, which allows bloggers to share what books they’ve received in the past week. They can be from stores, contests, tours or publishers!

• Tempest by Julie Cross (purchased) – My Review
• The Fault In Our Stars by John Green (thanks to Publishers)
• The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter (thanks to Publishers)

Small week, which is good as I’ve trying to put a dent in my reading pile. I read five books in the past week, which is unusual for me. I fell in love with Being Human by Patricia Lynne, spending all of Friday night on it – definitely check that one out. As for the books I got, I really enjoyed Tempest when I read the galley a couple weeks ago, so I had to order myself the hardcover. The first twenty or so pages were a little glued together along the top edge, but I managed to pry them apart without any dramas. The other two were sent to me from Penguin and Harlequin Teen, respectively – so thanks for those. I need to catch up on The Goddess Test before the sequel comes out.

Here are my latest reviews if you want to check them out:
Lewis, Jon S. C.H.A.O.S. #2, Alienation
Lynne, Patricia Being Human #1, Being Human
Meyer, Marissa The Lunar Chronicles #1, Cinder
Yovanoff, Brenna, Smoulder

Link up to your mailbox and I’ll be sure to check it out!

Title: Being Human (Being Human #1)
Author: Patricia Lynne
Published: September, 2011
Thanks: Patricia Lynne
Pages: 284
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository // Amazon // Smashwords

For Tommy, there is only one thing he needs to do: survive.

Only surviving isn’t that easy. The hunt for blood can be tricky when humans know to fear the night. Desire sits on the edge of his mind, urging him to become the monster humans think he is. Vampire Forces, a special branch of police, is determined to turn every vampire to ash. Tommy included.

The only human Tommy can trust is his twin brother. A bond connects them, and with Danny’s help, Tommy starts to understand the human world he struggles to survive in. He’ll learn what friendships means and feel the sting of betrayal, find that sometimes the worst monsters are very human, and come to understand that family means more than blood.

Tommy just wants to survive and he knows what he needs to do. But with the number of humans that mean more to him than a meal growing, he’ll learn there’s more to life than simple survival. He’ll discover being human doesn’t mean being a human.

Final Thoughts:
Why can’t I find a nice, boring book that won’t wrench apart my insides? This is the third one in the past week. I can’t handle it. Stop writing amazing books people. With that said, I can’t believe I took so long to get around to this one. With the simple, yet eerily awesome dark cover begging me to open it up and read, I have to wonder what the hell was wrong with me. I shouldn’t have kept Tommy waiting. There were so many times that my eyes teared up leaving me blinking away the blurry vision so I could keep reading, that I lost count. Being Human took me through so many emotions—both good and bad—there was just simply no way to put it down. It’s what I loved about it. There were never moments where I felt like nothing was happening. The staggered insight into Tommy’s life after being turned was just too riveting.

Title: Alienation (C.H.A.O.S. #2)
Author: Jon S. Lewis
Published: January, 2012 by Thomas Nelson
Thanks: Thomas Nelson via NetGalley
Pages: 288
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

The invasion was only the beginning . . .

After his parents were killed in a car accident, Colt McAllister was drawn into a world he thought only existed in comic books-one where mind control, jet packs, and flying motorcycles don’t even scratch the surface.

Along with his best friends Oz and Danielle, Colt is now training at the secret Central Headquarters Against the Occult and Supernatural academy. But strange accidents seem to follow him. . . even with the security of the school grounds. What first seems random soon turns deadly. But who is targeting Colt?

As the alien invasions increase in frequency and force, C.H.A.O.S resources are taxed to the limit and they’re forced to utilize the new recruits. In the midst of battle, Colt will discover some startling revelations . . . about himself, his friendship with Oz, and why he has been chosen to defeat this alien attack against earth.

Final Thoughts:
Compared to the first book, this one lacked a little something. The characters were still just as fun, showing the strengths and the weaknesses in their friendship, but it felt like things could have been taken further. The resolutions to some of the books plot points came a little too easily for me. Personally, I felt like the first half of the book could have been shortened to allow for more time spent at the actual CHAOS academy rather than waiting so long to ship them off—CHAOS was where all the excitement was. Though, for those not particularly interested in boarding school novels, they may enjoy the prolonged transition.

The winner is Tristan B.

Title: Smoulder
Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Published: December, 2011 by Simon & Schuster
Thanks: Simon & Schuster, AU
Pages: 363
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

First published in the USA as “The Space Between” in 2011 by Razorbill, an imprint of the Penguin Group(USA)Inc.

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time – until her brother Obie is kidnapped, and Daphne realises she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying.

With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie’s whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigete the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be…

Final Thoughts:
With a slow start, I spent a few days picking up and putting this book back down. It wasn’t until I crossed the 90 page mark that I got hooked by these characters. I spent the rest of the day in a non-stop reading frenzy. Daphne, the daughter of Lilith and Lucifer, was a lot of fun to watch as she experienced Earth for the first time. And Truman, he was just so broken by what life had thrown at him that he’d given up on caring. The two were quite different, but just seemed to work, playing off each other’s inadequacies. I wouldn’t have cared if there wasn’t a plot, these two were enjoyable enough just following them around.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read and share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

Also known as The Space Between, I’ve had this one sitting around for nearly two months now, so I thought I’d better get to it. I love that it’s about demons, but I’m finding it hard to get into so far. The writing alternates between past and present tense depending on the POV.

His heart was hammering in his chest. When he pressed his palms against his eyelids, he saw squirming red shapes, afterimages of his dream.

It wasn’t one of the bad ones – not a bloody bathtub or a hospital room. It was not a dark, decrepit church. Not a funeral full of crows. This time, he’d dreamed about the girl.

– Smoulder by Brenna Yovanoff, page 61.
Published in December, 2011 by Simon & Schuster.

Title: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Published: January, 2012 by Feiwel & Friends
Thanks: Macmillan via NetGalley
Pages: 400
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Final Thoughts:
I haven’t had the best of luck with retellings in the past, but with Cinder, I couldn’t get enough. I attribute that in part to the skilfully crafted futuristic setting of New Beijing. Infusing a wide range of speculative technology with an atmosphere that somehow managed to feel both advanced and primordial at the same time gave the book an intriguing hook. The way the main twist was handled let things down for me. I liked the twist, but the hints were too obvious. Still, Cinder drew me in, displaying multiple facets of her character as she balanced between her headstrong ferocity and self-deprecating withdrawal from the world.