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!

• Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (library)
• Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore (library)
• Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith (library)
• Touch by Jus Accardo (purchased) – My Review

Three library books this week, saved some money which was good. I’ve been waiting on Texas Gothic and Lockdown for over a month. They were in stock at the main city library but it took them forever to get it transferred out to the branch near me. I’ve been thinking about trying the Caster Chronicles for a while so I thought I’d borrow it in case I end up liking it and want to buy the new hardcover collector’s box rather than being stuck with the individual paperbacks. And Touch, it’s my only purchase for the week. I read it a couple days ago and thought it was awesome – exactly my kind of book.

Here are my latest reviews if you want to check them out:
Accardo, Jus Denazen #1, Touch
Derting, Kimberly The Pledge #1, The Pledge

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

Title: Touch (Denazen #1)
Author: Jus Accardo
Published: November, 2011 by Entangled Publishing
Pages: 251
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.

Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized.

Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking down Denazen before they’re caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez has spent her life keeping safe.

A secret Kale will kill to protect.

Final Thoughts:
Touch had everything I could have wanted. It’s wickedly romantic, while still managing to pound you with the action and wring you out with twist after twist. I’d liken it to a teen-focussed book version of the CW’s Nikita—evil corporation kidnapping and brainwashing recruits into thinking they’re doing good—well if the recruits had supernatural abilities. The prospect of a boy with a death touch drew me in, but it’s the bond between Kale and Deznee that really hooked me.

Title: The Pledge (The Pledge #1)
Author: Kimberly Derting
Published: November, 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry
Thanks: Simon & Schuster GalleyGrab
Pages: 320
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she’s spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It’s there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she’s never heard before… and her secret is almost exposed.

Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can’t be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country’s only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime.

Final Thoughts:
I don’t know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. I loved the cover when I first saw it and couldn’t wait to read it. While I still enjoyed the book, I wasn’t overly enthralled by it. The world building was unique and interesting, but the main characters didn’t hold my interest. Charlie is constantly putting others first, looking after her little sister and managing to feign adherence to the language-barrier class system. These are all good traits and I liked her for it, but the romance just didn’t work for me. I just felt like I was sitting through it, rather being caught up in it.

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!

• Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (purchased)
• Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent (purchased)
• Angel Arias by Marianne de Pierres (purchased)
• Smoulder by Brenna Yovanoff (thanks to Publishers)

Can’t wait to get into Angel Arias, I’ve been checking my local store for it since its release, and they finally had it in stock. I also found Shatter Me and thought I might as well get it while I was there. I already had the US Blood Bound, but when I saw that the Australian one was regular book size and not tiny like the US one, I gave in a bought myself a second copy. I probably should get around to reading it soon, I’ve already read Rachel’s other 11 books this year and loved them. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for Smoulder. Daughter of hell, sounds like my kind of book. And sorry to those I didn’t get back to last week, I was in crazy cram-mode for my exams.

Here’s my latest review if you want to check it out:
Marion, Isaac Warm Bodies

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

Title: Warm Bodies
Author: Isaac Marion
Published: October, 2010 by Atria
Pages: 240
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

A zombie who yearns for a better life ends up falling in love—with a human—in this astonishingly original debut novel.

R is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He doesn’t enjoy killing people; he enjoys riding escalators and listening to Frank Sinatra. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Not just another zombie novel, Warm Bodies is funny, scary, and deeply moving.

Final Thoughts:
Wow…yes…well…just…wow. R’s ellipsis fetish must have rubbed off on me a little. I know this title has been drowning in five stars lately, but it’s worth it. The narrative is a little jarring at first, thrust into the mind of a zombie ready for its next feeding, but what results is magic. With only 240 pages, Marion doesn’t waste his words. There are no lulls, only carefully crafted reams of character development. R is such a loveable zombie that you can’t help but feel for him even when he’s sneaking bites at a brain.

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!

• Stick by Andrew Smith (purchased) – My Review
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (purchased)
• The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa (purchased)
• Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (purchased)

I reached my goal of reading 100 books in 2011 a couple days ago with Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready. The goal seemed a little crazy to me at the start of the year as I think I read all of five books in 2010. Anyway, onto my mailbox. I read the galley of Stick a couple weeks ago and thought it was a real heart-wrencher. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for hours after I finished it. I ended up ordering myself this hardcopy mid-way through typing up my review. The Scorpio Races was an auto-buy for me. I’ve loved Maggie’s other work so I had to get my hands on this. Unfortunately, I’ve heard some not-so-great things about it, but I’ll give it a try. I still haven’t even started The Iron Fey series, but I had to get myself a copy. I love the cover too much. Rot & Ruin is a lot thicker than I thought it would be. But that’s a good thing. I’ve been wanting to dive into the zombie genre for a while. That’s probably why I’m currently reading Warm Bodies.

Here are my latest reviews if you want to check them out:
Moone, April, Strawberries and the Beast
Oliver, Jana The Demon Trappers #2, Forbidden
Smith-Ready, Jeri Shade #1, Shade

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