In My Mailbox and Mailbox Monday – 11/22

Mailbox Monday can be found at: The Printed Page

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. 


I got eleven books this week.  They are listed below along with where I got them from.  A lot of them were from the used book store at the Barnes and Noble near my house.  A lot were also from the library, which I know isn’t supposed to count…but I like to keep track of what books come in the house so they are listed here.

• Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton through Traveling ARC Tours.
• Tracking the Tempest (Jane True, Book 2) by Nicole Peeler bought used at Barnes and Noble
• Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti bought used at Barnes and Noble
• Fast Ship, Black Sails Edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer bought used at Barnes and Noble
• Crank by Ellen Hopkins swapped though paperbackswap.com
• House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings, Book 1) by Robert Liparulo free e-book from Amazon
•  Bitten in Two (Jaz Parks, Book 7) by Jennifer Rardin from the Library
•  Weight of Stone (Book 2 of The Vineart War) by Laura Anne Gilman from the Library
• Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey from the Library
• Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods, Book 5) by Melissa De La Cruz from the Library
• Out From Boneville (Bone, Book 1) by Jeff Smith from the Library

For more info on these book please see below!  I hope you all have a great week of reading ahead 🙂



Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
 
First Sentence: “I stared out the classroom window and longed for freedom, wanted to be anywhere in the world other than gaping up at my economics teacher like the rest of my classmates.”
From Amazon.com: “First there are nightmares.
Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.
Then come the memories.
When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie’s power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie’s memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.
Now she must hunt.
Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.”

Tracking the Tempest (Jane True, Book 2) by Nicole Peeler
 
First Sentence: “This time was for real.”
From Amazon.com: “Snarky selkie halfling Jane True, introduced in 2009’s Tempest Rising, plays hooky from learning how to control her paranormal abilities and heads to Boston for a scorching Valentine’s weekend with her lover, Ryu, a vampire-like baobhan sith who spends most of his time solving supernatural mysteries. Before their sensual action can heat past simmer, they’re attacked by another powerful halfling, this one an ifrit. Soon Jane’s dodging fireballs and summoning sea power with her lover and friends. New to the supernatural scene, flighty Jane must grow into her powers to save them all. Peeler’s chick lit tone adds sparkle to the most spine-tingling scenes with a style that never strikes a false note, and the seamless plot weaves together Jane’s paranormal and personal growth while linking both to the swelling suspense.”

Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti 
 
First Sentence: “Tanya cupped her wings and fanned them, slowing as the iron struts of a wineferry tower loomed before her.”
From Amazon.com: “A steampunkish romantic fantasy set in Ondinium, a city that beats to the ticking of a clockwork heart. Taya, a metal-winged courier, can travel freely across the city’s sectors and mingle indiscriminately among its castes. A daring mid-air rescue leads to involvement with two scions of an upperclass family and entanglement in a web of terrorism, loyalty, murder, and secrets.”

Fast Ship, Black Sails Edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
 
First Sentence: “The ship has no name of her own, so her human crew called her the Lavinia Whateley.”
From Amazon.com: “Do you love the sound of a peg leg stomping across a quarterdeck? Or maybe you prefer a parrot on your arm, a strong wind at your back? Adventure, treasure, intrigue, humor, romance, danger – and, yes, plunder! Oh, the Devil does love a pirate – and so do readers everywhere! Swashbuckling from the past into the future and space itself, Fast Ships, Black Sails, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, presents an incredibly entertaining volume of original stories guaranteed to make you walk and talk like a pirate.”

Crank by Ellen Hopkins
 
First Sentence: “So you want to know all about me.”
From Amazon.com: “This is a story about a monster. Not a dragon or mythological beast, but a very real, very destructive monster–crystal meth–that takes hold of 17-year-old Kristina Snow and transforms her into her reckless alter-ego Bree. Based on her own daughter’s addiction to crystal meth, Ellen Hopkins’ novel-in-verse is a vivid, transfixing look into teenage drug use. Told in Kristina’s voice, it provides a realistic portrayal of the tortured logic of an addict.”

ebook:

House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings, Book 1) by Robert Liparulo

First Sentence: “Nothing but trees,” the bear said in Xander’s voice.”
From Amazon.com: “Dream house . . . or bad dream?

When the Kings move from L.A. to a secluded small town, fifteen-year-old Xander is beyond disappointed. He and his friends loved to create amateur films . . . but the tiny town of Pinedale is the last place a movie buff and future filmmaker wants to land.

But he, David, and Toria are captivated by the many rooms in the old Victorian fixer-upper they moved into–as well as the heavy woods surrounding the house.

They soon discover there’s something odd about the house. Sounds come from the wrong directions. Prints of giant, bare feet appear in the dust. And when David tries to hide in the linen closet, he winds up in locker 119 at his new school.

Then the really weird stuff kicks in: they find a hidden hallway with portals leading off to far-off places–in long-ago times. Xander is starting to wonder if this kind of travel is a teen’s dream come true . . . or his worst nightmare.”

From Library:


Bitten in Two (Jaz Parks, Book 7) by Jennifer Rardin
 
First Sentence: “Holy crap, do you smell that?” I asked.
From Amazon.com: “Jaz Parks here. I. Am. Pissed. Just as Vayl and I arrive in Morocco to secure an ancient artifact, he wakes up calling me by another woman’s name. And it’s not even a good one. But since any form of argument transforms him into an unholy terror, I’m forced to play along until the gang and I can figure out what kind of power has so vastly altered his perceptions.

So it’s time for me to do what any well-trained assassin in my position might do. I attack. What follows is a hair-raising, breath-taking bullet train ride to the finish as the crew battles on multiple fronts. I now know what I have to do – I must return to hell one last time.”


Weight of Stone (Book 2 of The Vineart War) by Laura Anne Gilman
 
First Sentence: “The Washers tell us, over and over again, that Sin Washer came to save us from destruction.”
From Amazon.com: “An island nation has vanished. Men of honor and magic have died unnatural deaths. Slaves flee in terror. . . . Are the silent gods beginning to speak? Or is another force at work in the Lands Vin?
Laura Anne Gilman’s critically acclaimed, Nebula Award–nominated Flesh and Fire introduced a brilliantly imagined world where the grapevine—cultivated by the Vinearts who know the secrets of wine magic—holds together disparate lands. Now, confusion, violence, and terror are sweeping over the Lands Vin. And four people are at the center of a storm.
Jerzy, Vineart apprentice and former slave, was sent by his master to investigate strange happenings—and found himself the target of betrayal. Now he must set out on his own journey, to find the source of the foul taint that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. By Jerzy’s side are Ao, who lives for commerce and the art of the deal; Mahault, stoic and wise, risking death in flight from her homeland; and Kaïnam, once Named-Heir of an island principality, whose father has fallen into a magic-tangled madness that endangers them all.
These four companions will travel far from the earth and the soul of the vine, sailing along coastlines aflame with fear, confronting sea creatures summoned by darkness, and following winds imbued with malice. Their journey will take them to the very limits of the Sin Washer’s reach . . . and into a battle for the soul of the Lands Vin. For two millennia the Sin Washer’s Commandment has kept these lands in order: Those of magic shall hold no power over men and those princes of power shall hold no magic. Now, that law has given way. And a hidden force seeks the havoc of revenge.”


Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey
 
First Sentence: “I opened my eyes.”
From Amazon.com: ““You’re Ellie Spencer.”

I opened my mouth, just as he added, “And your eyes are opening.”

Seventeen-year-old Ellie Spencer is just like any other teenager at her boarding school. She hangs out with her best friend Kevin, she obsesses over Mark, a cute and mysterious bad boy, and her biggest worry is her paper deadline.

But then everything changes. The news headlines are all abuzz about a local string of serial killings that all share the same morbid trademark: the victims were discovered with their eyes missing. Then a beautiful yet eerie woman enters Ellie’s circle of friends and develops an unhealthy fascination with Kevin, and a crazed old man grabs Ellie in a public square and shoves a tattered Bible into her hands, exclaiming, “You need it. It will save your soul.” Soon, Ellie finds herself plunged into a haunting world of vengeful fairies, Maori mythology, romance, betrayal, and an epic battle for immortality.”


Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods, Book 5) by Melissa De La Cruz
 
First Sentence: “Schulyer Van Alen walked as quickly as she could up the polished brass spiral stairs leading to the upper deck.”
From Amazon.com: “After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler fled to Florence–with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of them must embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find and protect the seven gates that guard earth from Lucifer, lord of the Silverbloods.

As the Blue Blood enclave weakens yet further, fate leads Schuyler closer to a terrifying crossroads–and a choice that will determine the destiny of all vampires.”

Out From Boneville (Bone, Book 1) by Jeff Smith
 
First Sentence: “Still no sign of the townspeople.”
From Amazon.com: “The BONE adventures tell the story of a young bone boy, Fone Bone, and his two cousins, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone, who are banned from their homeland of Boneville. When the cousins find themselves mysteriously trapped in a wonderful but often terrifying land filled with secrets and danger – and special new friendships – they are soon caught up in adventures beyond their wildest dreams. In OUT FROM BONEVILLE, the three Bone cousins are separated and lost in a vast uncharted desert. One by one, they find their way into a deep, forested valley where they come face to face with…”