In My Mailbox (47)

This is a meme that I first heard about from Kristi over at The Story Siren and immediately wanted to jump on board. I'm always picking up new books, because I never tire of reading, but the other thing I like about this meme is that it gives everyone an opportunity to check out what other book fanatics, bloggers, etc... got for themselves. I've gotten great recommendations from this meme and hope that keeps up in the future.

Here's what I got, what did you guys get this week?

For Review:

Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi (Thanks to NLA Digital)

Can true love survive the end of the world?

Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice--between her family--and Chris Parker, the boy she'd given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he's the only thing on her mind.

All Chris "Chase" Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed--breaking his heart without ever telling him why.

Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk...and feed. As they begin their pilgramage to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost--all while attempting to save what's left of the human race?

Dark Kiss (Nightwatchers, #1) by Michelle Rowen (Thanks to Harlequin)

I don't do dangerious, Smart, ü ber-careful, ordinary Samantha-that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me...something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing-and I don't know if I can get it back. Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me.... NIGHTWATCHERS When angels and demons must work together, something beyond evil is rising...

The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland (Thanks to Penguin)

Elizabeth Margaret—better known as Em—has always known what life would contain: an internship at her father’s firm, a degree from Harvard and a career as a lawyer. The only problem is that it’s not what she wants. When she gets the opportunity to get away from it all and spend a month with the aunt she never knew, she jumps at the chance. While there, Em pursues her secret dream of being a chef, and she also learns that her family has kept some significant secrets from her, too. And then there’s Cade, the laid-back local surfer boy who seems to be everything Em isn't. Naturally, she can’t resist him, and as their romance blossoms, Em feels she is living on her own terms for the first time.

Sacred by Farrah Naseem (Thanks to Farrah)

When Sasha Stryker meets Ariston Kavanagh, she is entranced by his good looks but mystified by his odd behavior. After all, he keeps asking her how she sees him even though he's standing right in front of her. Yet, she can't deny the strange and powerful attraction she feels towards him.

At the same time, her ex-best-friend-current-nemesis Connor Macho starts showing a romantic interest in her as well. Is Connor truly attracted to Sasha, or is this another move in his war against Sasha and Ariston's relationship?

Sasha finds out the whole truth when she is attacked by a lioness one night! To her utter bewilderment, her savior is a white tiger that morphs into the last person she wants to be indebted to.

This encounter shatters her notion of the world as she knows it and her love affair comes to a crashing halt when all truths are revealed. Just as she's trying to cope with the truth about Ariston and Connor, other nocturnal creatures called Friaries try to kidnap her for their own nefarious purpose.

Touched by Cyn Balog (Thanks to Delacorte Press)

Nick Cross always listens to the voice in his head. Because if he doesn't? Things can go really, really wrong. Like the day he decided to go off script and saved a girl from being run over . . . and let another one drown. Trying to change the future doesn't work.

But this summer at the Jersey Shore, something's about to happen that Nick never could have predicted. He meets a girl named Taryn and finds out about the Book of Touch. Now the path that he thought he was on begins to shift . . . and there's no way to stop things from happening. Or is there?

In a life where there are no surprises, nothing has prepared Nick for what he's about to discover--or the choice he will be forced to make. . . .

Flirting In Italian by Lauren Henderson (Thanks to Delacorte Press)

In Flirting in Italian, Lauren Henderson, bestselling author of Kiss Me Kill Me, follows four girls' unforgettable summer in the magnificent Italian countryside.

Four girls. One magical - and possibly dangerous - Italian summer. Family mysteries, ancient castles, long hot nights of dancing under the stars...and, of course plenty of gorgeous Italian boys!

Yesterday by C.K. Kelly Martin (Thanks to Random House)

THEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas's life. Until that world starts to crumble.

NOW: It's 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father's death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy?

When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can't get him out of her head. She's sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they've never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered.

Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from.

Countdown: 2012 Releases (4)

You guys know the drill by now...I'm always on the lookout for new finds and exciting new reads and below are just a few that I've come across lately. With how busy everyone gets if I don't write the titles down immediately I'll never be able to remember them later when I'm ready to download a new book to my kindle, or in the store wondering which shelf to look through first. So by posting these countdowns I give myself one more place to look when I need to be reminded of the titles I'm looking forward to.

And as always if you guys hear of any that you haven't seen me post let me know. Like I said, I only have so much time to search for future reads on my own, and to be honest, the majority of my favorite titles I owe to friends/bloggers/author recommendations. So leave a comment, shoot me an email, etc... if there are any books or authors you think I should have on my radar.

Countdown Pick #1: Touched (Touched, #1) by Corrine Jackson (December 2012)

Remy O'Malley has the power to heal people with her touch, but her ability comes at a steep cost because every illness or injury she heals becomes her own.

How far would you be willing to go to help or save the lives of others with those kinds of consequences? I'd like to think that if I was given such an amazing and life changing gift that I'd help whomever I could but I'm not sure if I'm that much of a saint. We all have survival instincts and knowing the consequences of a healing action like the one that Jackson's future release describes...how do you decide who's life is worth saving? Jackson's got my wheels turning and December 2012 is a long way off. But I'm looking forward to it's release and I'm counting down to when it finds a place on the bookshelves.

Countdown Pick #2: Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale (02/02/2012)

When seventeen-year-old Rosie’s mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington’s Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty-per-cent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when she tells her mum’s best friend, ‘Aunt Sarah’ that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie was not her biological mother after all... Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, hitching along on her ex-boyfriend’s GAP year to follow her to Los Angeles. But all does not go to plan, and as Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply-buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonising decision of her own - one which will be the most heart-breaking and far-reaching of all...

Talk about your bombshells! Not only does her mother pass away and she's left to deal with that heartbreak, but then Rosie finds out that she wasn't really her biological mother after all! Wow and yikes is about all I've got. Not sure what other deeply buried secrets Rosie's running the risk of uncovering, but I do know I'd do exactly the same thing. I would have to know. The not knowing would drive me absolutely crazy. In fact, this is a fictional book and I'm stressing out as if it was my own life we're talking about here.

Countdown Pick #3: For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund (06/12/2012)

Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Eighteen-year-old Luddite Elliot North has always known her place in this caste system. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. But now the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress and threatening Luddite control; Elliot’s estate is floundering; and she’s forced to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliott wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she abandoned him.

But Elliot soon discovers her childhood friend carries a secret—-one that could change the society in which they live…or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she has lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s PERSUASION, FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

Anything involving Jane Austen is going to draw my attention and even before I realized the relation, Peterfreund's future release had me marking this release date down. Every part of this description has me drooling and wishing it was already out on the shelves. But to then find out that it's based loosely on Austen's Persuasion...and I was sold without a doubt and floating on cloud nine. I'm half tempted to already predict a four or five shamrock rating! That's how excited I am for this release.

Countdown Pick #4: The Alchemy of Forever (Incarnation, #1) by Avery Williams (01/03/2012)

Seraphina’s first love made her immortal…her second might get her killed.

Incarnation is a new series that introduces a fresh mythology perfect for fans of bestselling series like The Immortals by Alyson Noel and Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
After spending six hundred years on earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world’s riches, but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to swap bodies with other humans, jumping from one vessel to the next, taking the human’s life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she’s done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again.


Then sixteen-year-old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she’s inhabiting—and falls for the human boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she’s his again, and every moment she stays, she’s putting herself and the people she’s grown to care for in great danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that’s eluded her for centuries: true love?


What a synopsis! Whoever was in charge of that write up gets a gold star. I'm not sure who could resist that compelling teaser, I had no chance. True love, lives lost, infinite possibilities, and an evil and nefarious villain hunting down the main character is sure to keep readers on the edges of their seats and burning the so-called midnight oil in order to see what happens next. Thank goodness we don't have to wait too long, this sounds like a great start to the new year, don't you think?

Countdown Pick #5: The Story of Us by Deb Caletti (04/24/2012)

Cricket’s on a self-imposed break from her longtime boyfriend—but she’s picked a bad week to sort out her love life. For one thing, her mother’s romance is taking center stage: After jilting two previous fiancés, her mom is finally marrying Dan Jax, whom Cricket loves. But as wedding attendees arrive for a week of festivities at a guesthouse whose hippie owners have a sweet, sexy son—Ash—complications arise:


Cricket’s future stepsisters make it clear they’re not happy about the marriage. An old friend decides this is the week to declare his love for Cricket. Grandpa chooses to reveal a big secret at a family gathering. Dan’s ex-wife shows up. And even the dogs—Cricket’s old, ill Jupiter and Dan’s young, lively Cruiser—seem to be declaring war.


While Cricket fears that Dan is in danger of becoming ditched husband-to-be number three, she’s also alarmed by her own desires. Because even though her boyfriend looms large in her mind, Ash is right in front of her....


I haven't had the chance to read any of Caletti's works, but I've heard good things. So along with some great sounding reviews of her previous books, this book's write up had me marking this one down on the countdown and adding it to my very long and ever increasing TBR pile. I'm liking the idea of everyone being at odds. Sounds terrible I know but also strangely entertaining, I mean even the main characters' dogs don't like each other. So while it sounds like this book might have a lot going on and possibly at times too much going on, I want to give it a shot. I'm curious to see what Cricket will do with this new boy Ash being in the picture. I will however have to come to terms with the fact that her name is Cricket...not sure how I feel about that quite yet. We'll see if it grows on me once I crack open the book's cover and get to know her a little better.