Sunday, June 21, 2009

In My Mailbox (4)

This week I actually bought some books. XD Usually I just get them from the library, but my mom was nice enough to buy me some this week as a end of school year gift. So yay.

The Borrowed:

Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti
At the beginning of her sophomore year, Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, more importantly, a boyfriend. So when the handsome and popular Derek asks her out, Marisa thinks her long wait for happiness is over. But several bumps in the road, including her parent's unexpected separation, a fight with her best friend, and a shocking disappointment in her relationship with Derek tests Marisa's ability to maintain her new outlook. Only the anonymous DJ, whose underground podcasts have the schoolas ear, seems to understand what Marisa is going through. But she has no idea who he is, or does she?

In this third romantic novel from Susane Colasanti, Marisa learns how to abe in the Nowa and realizes that the love she's been waiting for has been right in front of her all along.

I've read both of Susane Colasanti's previous novels, and can't wait to read this one too. :)


Fade by Lisa McMann
SOME NIGHTMARES NEVER END.

For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They're just trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck.

Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody's talking. When Janie taps into a classmate's violent nightmares, the case finally breaks open -- but nothing goes as planned. Not even close. Janie's in way over her head, and Cabe's shocking behavior has grave consequences for them both.

Worse yet, Janie learns the truth about herself and her ability -- and it's bleak. Seriously, brutally bleak. Not only is her fate as a dream catcher sealed, but what's to come is way darker than she'd feared....

I read the first a while ago. Hopefully I'll be able to read Fade without remembering much of Wake.

The King's Rose by Alisa M. Libby
Life in the court of King Henry VIII is a complex game. When fifteen-year-old Catherine Howard catches the king's eye, she quickly transforms from pawn to queen. But even luxury beyond imagination loses its luster as young Catherine finds her life - and her heart - threatened by the needs of an aging king and a family hungry for power. Will their agendas deliver Catherine to the same fate as her infamous cousin, Anne Boleyn - sacrificed at the altar of family ambition?

Engaging historical fiction with a throbbing YA heartbeat, this thrilling novel will draw readers into the intrigues and dangers of the Tudor court.

Not always a huge historical fan, but this sounds interesting and probably is worth the read.




Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia
The wrong angle
Trina: "Hey," I say, though I don't really know them. The boyed-up basketball girl barely moves. The others, her girls, step aside. It's okay if they don't speak. I know how it is. They can't all be Trina.
Dominique: Some stupid little flit cuts right in between us and is like, "Hey." Like she don't see I'm here and all the space around me is mines. I slam my fist into my other hand because she's good as jumped.


Leticia: Why would I get involved in Trina's life when I don't know for sure if I saw what I thought I saw? Who is to say I wasn't seeing it from the wrong angle?

Acclaimed author Rita Williams-Garcia intertwines the lives of three very different teens in this fast-paced, gritty narrative about choices and the impact that even the most seemingly insignificant ones can have. Weaving in and out of the girls' perspectives, readers will find themselves not with one intimate portrayal but three.

I'd never heard about this book before, but I somehow requested it from the library, so here it is. XD Sounds good to me though.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica George

A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn… Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.

Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.

:D

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Some summers are just destined to be pretty.

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer -- they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

It sounds good and is recommended by Sarah Dessen. Need I say more? I will anyway. XD It seems like a great summer read about summer.


You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith
Emma Healy has never fit in with the rest of her family. She's grown used to being the only ordinary one among her rather extraordinary parents and siblings. But when she finds a birth certificate for a twin brother she never knew she had, along with a death certificate dated just two days later, she feels like a part of her has been justified in never feeling quite whole.

Suddenly it seems important to visit his grave, to set off in search of her missing half. When her next-door neighbor Peter Finnegan -- who has a quiet affinity for maps and a desperate wish to escape their small town -- ends up coming along for the ride, Emma thinks they can't possibly have anything in common. But as they head from upstate New York toward North Carolina, driving a beat-up and technically stolen car and picking up a stray dog along the way, they find themselves learning more and more about each other. Neither is exactly sure what they're looking for, but with each passing mile, each new day of this journey, they seem to be getting much closer to finding it.

I loved The Comeback Season, so I'm really excited to read this.

Peace, Love, and Rubber Ducks by Lauren Myracle
Growing up in a world of wealth and pastel-tinted entitlement, fifteen-year-old Carly has always relied on the constancyaand authenticityaof her sister, Anna. But when fourteen-year-old Anna turns plastic-perfect-pretty over the course of a single summer, everything starts to change. And "there are boys involved," complicating things as boys always do.

With warmth, insight, and an unparalleled gift for finding humor even in stormy situations, beloved author Lauren Myracle dives into the tumultuous waters of sisterhood and shows that even very different sisters can learn to help each other stay afloat.

Lauren Myracle's great. I've read some reviews about this book and it seems really cute for a summer read.


The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
Nick and his brother, Alan, have spent their lives on the run from magic. Their father was murdered, and their mother was driven mad by magicians and the demons who give them power. The magicians are hunting the Ryves family for a charm that Nick''s mother stole -- a charm that keeps her alive -- and they want it badly enough to kill again.

Danger draws even closer when a brother and sister come to the Ryves family for help. The boy wears a demon''s mark, a sign of death that almost nothing can erase...and when Alan also gets marked by a demon, Nick is des-perate to save him. The only way to do that is to kill one of the magicians they have been hiding from for so long.

Ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nick starts to suspect that his brother is telling him lie after lie about their past. As the magicians'' Circle closes in on their family, Nick uncovers the secret that could destroy them all.

This is the Demon''s Lexicon. Turn the page.

Forever Changes by Brendan Halpin
5: 30 a.m., Brianna Pelletier gets ready for her daily pounding. As she lies on the couch, her dad beats her chest, then her back, coaxing the mucus out of her lungs. The pounding doesn't take care of everything. Brianna's held out for a long time, but a body with cystic fibrosis doesn't last forever. It doesn't matter that Brianna has a brilliant mathematical mind or that she's a shoo-in for MIT. Or even that her two best friends are beautiful, popular, and loyal. In the grand scheme of things, none of that stuff matters at all. The standard life, lasting maybe seventy-five years, is no more than a speck in the sum total of the universe. At eighteen, and doubting she'll make nineteen, Brianna is practically a nonentity. Of course she's done the math. But in her senior year of high school, Brianna learns of another kind of math, in which an infinitely small, near-zero quantity can have profound effects on an entire system. If these tiny quantities didn't exist, things wouldn't make the same sense.

Funny, tear-jerking, and memorable, the author's second novel for teens introduces readers to an extraordinary girl who learns that the meaning of forever can change, and that life - and death - is filled with infinite possibilities.

I used to think the girl on the cover was figure skating, so the book was about figure skating. Apparently I was wrong...

Are U 4 Real? by Sara Kadefors
Kyla is exactly the kind of girl Alex could never talk to in real life. She’s a gorgeous, outspoken L.A. girl who parties to forget about her absent father and depressed mother. He’s a shy ballet dancer from outside San Francisco who’s never been kissed. Luckily, when these sixteen-year-olds meet for the first time it’s not in real life—it’s in a chat room, where they can share their feelings of isolation and frustration away from the conformity-obsessed high school scene. Alex and Kyla quickly forge a friendship that’s far from virtual— maybe they’re even falling in love. But what happens when the soul mate you’ve never met moves from online to in person?

Sara Kadefors’s wildly romantic, award-winning Swedish bestseller perfectly captures the universal angst of being a teenager, and the perhaps even more universal struggle to negotiate identity in a multi-platform world.


Swedish? Awesome. I just did a geo project on Sweden...


The Bought:

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Ruby is used to taking care of herself. But now she's living in a fancy new house with her sister Cora, a sister she hasn't seen in ten years, and her husband Jamie, creator of one of the most popular online networking sites. She's attending private school, wearing new clothes, and for the first time, feels the promise of a future that include college and her family. So why is she so wary? And what is Nate, the adorable and good-hearted boy next door, hiding behind his genial nature? As Ruby starts to see, there's a big difference between being given help, and being able to accept it. And sometimes, in order to save yourself, you've got to reach out to someone else.

Read this before obviously, but really wanted to own a copy so bought it. :)

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

When Annabel, the youngest of three beautiful sisters, has a bitter falling out with her best friend, the popular and exciting Sophieashe suddenly finds herself isolated and friendless. but then she meets Owen, a loner, passionate about music and his weekly radio show, and always determined to tell the truth. And when they develop a friendship, Annabel is not only introduced to new music but is encouraged to listen to her own inner voice. With Owenas help, can Annabel find the courage to speak out about what exactly happened the night her friendship with Sophie came to a screeching halt?

I'm trying to own all the Sarah Dessen books. I've got these two, This Lullaby and The Truth About Forever now.





Looking For Alaska by John Green

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps."

Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green''s arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

Same as above. Wanted to own an amazing book.


An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Sadly couldn't find a description for this book on either chapters or amazon. And I don't have time to copy it down from the cover. Sorry!














And that's what I got this week, otherwise known as yesterday. :D How about all of you?


14 comments:

  1. You bought some great books! John Green and Sarah Dessen are both amazing!

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  2. Great books! All of them! You will love the Sarah Dessen ones, they were fabulous!

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  3. Wow, you got a lot of great books...Fade and Forever Changes are both great books. Enjoy!

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  4. Great book! I loved The King's Rose and Princess of the Midnight Ball. John Greene is great too! Have you read Paper Towns?

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  5. Fade and Demon's Lex are so so good. Hope you enjoy!

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  6. You got a lot of books! Lucky :)

    Happy Reading!

    -Briana

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  7. Awesome week!! The King's Rose looks realllly good. Need to check that one out.

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  8. That Brendan Halpin book looks top notch!

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  9. amazing batch! I love Just Listen!! Owen's so cute. ♥ You Are Here & R U 4 Real? seem great. Can't wait for your reviews.:)

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  10. Great books you got. I have Looking for Alaska on my shelf waiting to be read. Enjoy.

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  11. Very nice mom! So many books I want to read. I loved Wake so Fade should be good. I hope you can remember what happened in Wake though. Happy reading!

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  12. With John Green and Sarah Dessen you couldn't of had a better week!

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