Letterbox Love #93

Letterbox Love is a way to show you all of the lovely, lovely books I’ve gotten in the post, bought and everything else over the last week. Summaries are taken from the cover, or Amazon/NetGalley/Goodreads in the case of e-books, unless otherwise stated. Hosted by Narratively Speaking.

As I was on holiday last week, this is the last two weeks’ worth of books. I got some lovelies!

For review:

Lying Out Loud, Kody Keplinger (e-proof)

Revisit Hamilton High in this must read for fans of The DUFF – co-starring Bianca and Wesley.

Sonny Ardmore is an excellent liar. She lies her dad about being in prison. She lies about her mom kicking her out. And she lies about sneaking into her best friend’s house every night because she has nowhere else to go.

Amy Rush might be the only person Sonny shares everything with – secrets, clothes, even a nemesis named Ryder Cross.

Ryder’s the new kid at Hamilton High and everything Sonny and Amy can’t stand – a prep-school snob. But Ryder has a weakness: Amy. So when Ryder emails Amy asking her out, the friends see it as a prank opportunity not to be missed.

But without meaning to, Sonny ends up talking to Ryder all night online. And to her horror, she realises she might actually ‘like’ him. Only there’s one small catch: he thinks he’s been talking to Amy. So Sonny comes up with an elaborate scheme to help Ryder realise that she’s the girl he’s really wanted all along. Can Sonny lie her way to the truth, or will all her lies end up costing her both Ryder and Amy?

Yay! Can’t wait to get stuck in – thanks Hodder and NetGalley!

Lair of Dreams, Libba Bray (e-proof)

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the worlds knows of her ability to ‘read’ objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, ‘America’s Sweetheart Seer’. But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners’ abilities…

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

Finally! This has been a long time coming. Thanks Little Brown and NetGalley!

The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot (paperback)

‘You’re not Mia Thermopolis any more, honey,’ Dad said.

‘I’m not?’ I said, blinking, ‘Then who am I?’

‘You’re Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Princess of Genovia.’

A princess?? Me???

Yeah, right.

I have a confession to make – I’ve never read this series before… Thanks Macmillan! It’s definitely time to read this.

Beyond Clueless, Linas Alsenas (proof)

Marty Sullivan has just started high school, which is difficult enough but even worse when it’s a new school with new people. A private school. A Catholic school. A private, Catholic, single-sex school. And to make matters more depressing, her best friend, Jimmy, is attending a public high-school in a different town. But there’s a silver lining: Jimmy, to no one’s surprise, has come out of the closet, and he’s found himself a new group of friends: Derek, his boyfriend; Kirby, who has five boyfriends on the Internet; and Oliver…whom Marty would be all over if not for the fact that he’s gay.

And with her new friend Xiang, Marty discovers that school is not as bad as she was expecting, especially when she learns the fall musical will be Into the Woods! And part of the cast will be boys! At rehearsal, she quickly falls for Felix, the tall, dark, and handsome hunk that all the girls are swooning over. And he likes her too! But all is not as it seems with Felix, and everyone can see that – except for Marty. Her misperceptions cause a rift between her and her friends, especially Oliver. Will she be able to repair the damage?

This sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks Amulet!

The Lost and the Found, Cat Clarke (proof)

LOST.

When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister. Faith’s childhood was dominated by Laurel’s disappearance – from her parents’ broken marriage and the constant media attention to dealing with so-called friends who only ever wanted to talk about her sister.

FOUND.

Thirteen years later, a young woman is found in the garden of the Logans’ old house, disorientated and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Laurel is home, safe and sound. Faith always dreamed of getting her sister back, without ever truly believing it would happen. But a disturbing series of events leaves Faith increasingly isolated and paranoid, and before long she begins to wonder if everything that’s lost can be found again…

Yay! I love Cat’s books – thanks Quercus!

I Knew You Were Trouble, Paige Toon (e-proof)

Life as the undercover daughter of a rock god isn’t going to be easy. How will Jessie adjust to her boring old life again after spending her summer living it up with her dad in LA? With tough decisions ahead (and not just choosing between two hot boys), can she cope juggling her two very different lives?

Summer may be over, but Jessie’s story is just beginning…

Yay, more Paige Toon!

Frenchman’s Creek, Daphne Du Maurier (paperback)

Lady Dona St Columb with the shallowness of life at the Restoration Court. Despite always being at the heart of the court intrigue, there is a secret Dona who longs for freedom and honest love, even if it is spiced with danger. She leaves London for Navron, her Cornish estate, seeking peace and solitude. But she finds that Navron is being used as a base by a pirate – a Frenchman who, like Dona, would gamble his life for a moment’s joy. Her passion and thirst for adventure have never been more aroused, and together they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory.

How beautiful are the new YA editions?! Look out for a blog tour stop next month! Thanks Virago.

Another Day, David Levithan (e-proof)

Eagerly anticipated companion novel to the internationally acclaimed bestselling totle Every Day.

Every day is the same for Rhiannon. She has convinced herself that she deserves her distant, moody boyfriend, Justin. She knows the rules: Don’t be needy. Avoid upsetting him. Never get your hopes up.

Then, out of the blue, they share a perfect day together – perfect, that is, until Justin doesn’t remember anything about it. Confused, and yearning for another day as great as that one, Rhiannon starts to question everything. And that’s when a stranger tells her that the Justin she spent that time with…wasn’t Justin at all.

I’m really curious about reading this story from the other side. Thanks Egmont and NetGalley!

On Wednesday I got to go to an event at Bloomsbury with Sarah Crossan and Jenny McLachlan and we were lucky enough to get a goodie bag each. Here’s what was in them:

And then on Saturday morning, I spent my Sunday morning at #WalkerFictionFest! It was a brilliant blogger event and Zoe Marriott, Lauren James and Katie Everson. It was a brilliant morning and it was officially the best goodie bag I’ve ever been given!

Bought:

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales, Margaret Atwood (e-book)

A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband. And elderly lady with Charles Bonnett’s syndrome comes to terms with the little people she keeps selling, while a newly-formed populist group gathers to burn down her retirement residence. A woman born with a genetic abnormality is mistaken for a vampire. And a crime committed long ago is revenged in the Arctic via a 1.9 billion year old stromalite.

In these nine tales, Margaret Atwood ventures into the shadowland earlier explored by fabulists and concoctors of dark yarns such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Daphne du Maurier and Arthur Conan Doyle – and also by herself, in her award-winning Alias Grace. In Stone Mattress, Margaret Atwood is at the top of her darkly humorous and seriously playful game.

I think it’s about time to finally read some Atwood.

Hold Still, Nina Lacour (hardcover)

Dear Caitlin, there are so many things that I want so badly to tell you but I just can’t.

That night Ingrid told Caitlin, I’ll go wherever you go. But by dawn Ingrid, and her promise, were gone, and Caitlin was alone. Ingrid’s suicide immobilises Caitlin, leaving her unsure of her place in a new life she recognises. A life without the art, the laughter, the music, the joy that she shared with her best friend.

But Ingrid left something behind. Devastating and hopeful, playful and hopeless. In words and drawings, Ingrid documented a painful farewell in her journal – just for Caitlin. Journeying through Ingrid’s final days, Caitlin fights back through unspeakable loss to find renewed hope.

A breakthrough new voice in fiction, Nina LaCour brings the changing seasons of Caitlin’s first year without Ingrid to the page with indelible emotion and honesty.

After falling in love with Everything Leads to You during the #LGBTReathon, I knew I had to get Nina LaCour’s first two novels.

More Happy Than Not, Adam Silvera (hardcover)

Adam Silvera’s extraordinary debut confronts race, class, and sexuality during one charged near-future summer in the Bronx.

The Leteo Institute’s revolutionary memory-relief procedure seems too good to be true to Aaron Soto – miracle cure-alls don’t tend to pop up in the Bronx projects. Aaron could never forget how he’s grown up poor, how his friends aren’t there for him, or how his father committed suicide in their one-bedroom apartment. Aaron has the support of his patient girlfriend, if not necessarily his distant brother and overworked mother, but it’s not enough.

Then Thomas shows up. He has a sweet movie-watching setup on his roof, and he doesn’t mind Aaron’s obsession with a popular fantasy series. There are nicknames, inside jokes. Most importantly, Thomas doesn’t mind talking about Aaron’ past. But Aaron’s newfound happiness isn’t welcome on his block. Since he can’t stay away from Thomas or suddenly stop being gay, Aaron must turn to Leteo to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he is.

I’m so looking forward to this!

The Wrath and the Dawn, Renee Ahdieh (hardback)

One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It’s an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Inspired by A Thousand and One Night, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end.

I’ve heard amazing things about this! I can’t wait.

Sophie