In My Mailbox!

Thanks, Kristi, for starting this fun mailbox meme!

    This week was a big week for me! First off, I received a huge package from GreenBeanTeenQueen from winning her big "I Love Books" contest.

Here's the loot:

The Lucky Ones (ARC) by Stephanie Greene

Freefall (ARC) by Anna Levine

Sorcerers and Secretaries by Amy Kim Canter (which I just finished reading!)

Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott (I am so excited to have my own copy!)

Hot Mess: Summer in the City by Shallon Lester and Julie Kraut

Kissing Booth by Lexie Hill

Around the World in 80 Dates by Jennifer Cox

Thanks so much, Sarah! (:

From Random House:

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

   All 16 year old Cameron wants to do is get through high school--and life in general--with a minimum of effort. But that's before he's given some bad news: he's sick and he's going to die. Which totally sucks. 

   Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there's a cure--if he's willing to search for it. With the help of Gonzo, a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf, and a yard gnome who might just be the Viking god Balder, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America of smoothie-drinking happiness cults (and possible serial killers), parallel-universe-hopping physicists, mythic New Orleans jazz musicians and more into the heart of what matters most.

If there's one word to describe how this book sounds, its interesting. Seriously. Wacky, but it sounds kind of cool. And it's by Libba Bray. So I was pretty happy when it came in the mail.

The Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart

   Ruby is back at Tate Prep, and it's her 37th week in the state of Noboyfriend. Her panic attacks are bad, her love life is even worse, and what's more:

   Noel is writing her notes, Jackson is giving her frogs, Gideon is helping her cook, and Finn is making her brownies. Rumors are flying, and Ruby's already-sucky reputation is heading downhill. Not only that, she's also: running a bake sale, learning the secrets of heavy metal therapy, encountering some seriously smelly feet, defending the rights of pygmy goats and bodyguarding Noel from unwanted advances.

This looks so good and funny! Plus the little marshmallow snowman on the cover is adorable, huh?

The Diamonds by Ted Michael

   At Long Island's private Bennington School, the Diamonds rule supreme. They're the girls all the boys want to date and all the girls want to be. And fortunately for Marni, she's right in the middle of them. Best friends with the ringleader, Clarissa, Marni enjoys all the spoils of the ultrapopular: boys, power, and respect. But then Marni gets a little too close to Clarissa's ex-boyfriend, Anderson. Wrong move. The Diamonds don't touch each other's exes.

   And just like that, Marni is jettisoned from Diamond to lower than Cubic Zirconia. But Marni isn't about to take her ouster lying down. She has dirt on the Diamonds, and she's not about to go down without a fight. Everyone know, the only thing strong enough to cut a Diamond in another Diamond. 

This sounds cool and kind of different from the usual popular-mean-girl-clique stories, because, according to the back cover and the few pages I've flipped through, the story has a lot to do with a school's mock-trial system, justice, laws....stuff like that. 

Also from Random House (all ARCs):

(Re) Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin

Fat Cat by Robin Brande 

Castration Celebration by Jake Wizner 

From Steph Su:

Girl V. Boy by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout

   Sixteen-year-old Luisa Perez is not looking to win any awards for school spirit. In fact, she and her friends make it a point to avoid all activities considered "extra-curricular". So when her English teacher volunteers her to be an anonymous columnist for the school paper, Luisa's first impulse is to run. But, unlike her high-school dropout sister, Luisa does want to go to college, and it would be nice to have something on her applications.

  Her school's latest fundraiser pits the girls against the boys, and Luisa takes an assignment covering the events from the female POV. Another anonymous writer provides the male perspective. Or at least that's how it begins. The two columnists soon find themselves engaged in an epic battle of the sexes--a battle that Luisa is determined to win. But why can't luisa shake the very sinking feeling that her unidentified nemesis might also be her new boyfriend?

I can't wait to read this one. First, I love how the plot sounds. Second, I love the authors-I've read nearly everything they've written. Thanks so much, Steph! (:

From the library:

Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

   Teenaged Bailey Morgan and her three best friends impulsively buy swirly shaped temporary tattoos to complement their outfits for the upcoming school dance. Suddenly Bailey hears voices that say, "She comes. To fight, to live, she comes." Soon the girls discover that the tattoos have given them supernatural gifts: Bailey can start fires with her thoughts, Annabelle can read minds, Delia has the power to transmogrify objects, and Zo has premonitions. Bailey's dreams reveal that the voices in her head are from two ancient fairy warriors who are variations of the mythological Fates who control the thread of life of mortal and immortals. 

   Evil Alecca wants revenge...and  Zo predicts that Alecca is planning on killing many students at the dance. Bailey discovers that she's one of a long line of humans who have been chosen to maintain the balance between two worlds...

I got the second book in this series, Fate, last week, so I decided to get this at the library. Anybody out there read it? It sounds good....can't wait to start!

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

   In the summer between her freshman and sophomore years, Frankie Landau-Banks transforms from a "scrawny, awkward child" with frizzy hair to a curvy beauty. On her return to Alabaster Prep, her elite boarding school, she attracts the attention of gorgeous Matthew who draws her into his circle of popular seniors. Then Frankie learns that Matthew is a member of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, an all-male Alabaster secret society to which Frankie's dad had once belonged. Excluded from belonging to or even discussing the Bassets, Frankie engineers her own guerilla membership by assuming a false online identity...

I am so excited to read this. I've heard from various people that it was amazing, and doesn't it just sound genius? Now I want to find out what Frankie's up to...

I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (whew! another long title!)

   Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school--that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses, but it's really a school for SPIES.

   Even though Cammie is fluent in 14 languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"--but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

I'm reading this right now (for a school book report) and it's pretty good....I love how creative the plot is!