In My Mailbox - 5/16/09

Credit goes to The Story Siren for thinking up the In My Mailbox feature.

Most of the books I got this week were ARCs from my trip to the Strand but there are a few books I bought at the regular bookstore or online, or got in the mail.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Stage Fright by Meg Cabot

Mrs. Hunter's fourth grade class is putting on a play! But Allie's theatrical hopes are crushed when she doesn't get cast as the princess -- the part that she wanted! Instead, Allie is cast as the evil queen. But as opening night approaches, Allie learns its not the size of the part, it's the size of the heart that really matters.


Ruined: A Ghost Story by Paula Morris

Rebecca couldn't feel more out of place in New Orleans, where she comes to spend the year while her dad is traveling. She's staying in a creepy old house with her aunt. And at the snooty prep school, the filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she's invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he's got a hidden agenda. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city. There's just one catch: Lisette is a ghost. A ghost with a deep, dark secret, and a serious score to settle. As Rebecca learns more from her ghost friend - and as she slowly learns to trust Anton Grey-she also uncovers startling truths about her own history. Will Rebecca be able to right the wrongs of the past, or has everything been ruined beyond repair?


Lady Macbeth's Daughter by Lisa Klein

In alternating chapters, ambitious Lady Macbeth strives to bear a son and win the throne of Scotland for her husband, and their daughter Albia, banished due to a deformity, tries to deny her supernatural abilities as she is raised in the woods by three weird sisters, in this tale based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth.


Murder at Midnight by Avi

A deadly plot to overthrow King Claudio is brewing in the Kingdom of Pergamontio, Italy. Scholarly Mangus the Magician, along with his street-smart and faithful new servant boy, Fabrizio, have been marked as easy scapegoats for the traitor lurking within the king's court.
Together, these two unlikely partners must gather clues to solve the mystery and prove their innocence before the stroke of midnight. . . or face certain death!


A Bride in the Bargain by Deeanne Gist

In 1860s Seattle, redwoods were plentiful but women scarce. Yet a man with a wife could secure 640 acres of timberland for free.
Joe Denton doesn't have a wife, though. His died before she could follow him to Seattle and now the local judge is threatening to take away his claim. In desperation, he buys himself a Mercer bride--one of the eastern widows and orphans brought to the Territory by entrepreneur Asa Mercer.
Anna Ivey's journey west with Mercer is an escape from the aftermath of the Civil War. She signed on to become a cook--not a bride. When she's handed over to Denton, her stubborn refusal to wed jeopardizes his land. With only a few months before he loses all he holds dear, can he convince this provoking, but beguiling, easterner to become his lawfully wedded wife?


Fire by Kristin Cashore

Set in a world of stunningly beautiful, exceptionally dangerous monsters, Fire is one of the most dangerous monsters of all - a human one. Marked out by her vivid red hair, she's more than attractive. Fire is mesmerizing. But with this extraordinary beauty comes influence and power. People who are susceptible to her appeal will do anything for her attention, and for her affection. They will turn away from their families, their work, and their duties for her. They will forget their responsibilities to please her... and worse, crush nations, neglect kingdoms and abuse their power. Aware of her power, and afraid of it, Fire lives in a corner of the world away from people, and away from temptation. Until the day comes when she is needed - a day when, for her king, she has to stand against not only his enemies, but also against herself...


Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.


Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

Sixteen year-old Lia Milthorpe and her twin sister Alice have just become orphans and, as Lia discovers, they have also become enemies. The twins are part of an ancient prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other. To escape from a dark fate and to remain in the arms of her beloved boyfriend James, Lia must end the prophecy before her sister does. Only then will she understand the mysterious circumstances of her parents' deaths, the true meaning of the strange mark branded on her wrist, and the lengths to which her sister will go to defeat her.


White Heat by K.M. Grant

Will Raimon's and Yolanda's love survive the ravages of a siege, her enforced betrothal to Raimon's enemy, and the growing divisions within their beloved Occitan? Raimon has escaped the pyre and carried the Blue Flame, the true spirit of the Occitan, to the mountains above Castelneuf. There he dreams of Yolanda and gathers more people to his cause. But his resolve begins to fail as he is besieged by the Catholic Aimery and the Cathar White Wolf. In Paris, Yolanda, believing Raimon is dead, resists marriage to Sir Hugh, who is building a war train to topple Raimon and bring the flame and the Occitan under the rule of the French King ...In a blazing finale, as Castelneuf burns, all sides are forced to reconsider what they are willing to sacrifice for the Occitan, for power and ultimately for love.


Gabriel's Journey by Alison Hart

Twelve-year-old Gabriel is too young to join the regiment as a soldier, but finds a job as personal groom to Champion, the unruly horse that belongs to Col. Waite, the white commander. When the Calvary receives orders to join white regiments in an attack on the Virginia salt works, Gabriel surreptitiously gets a hold of a horse and a uniform and joins the troops. But being a soldier is a lot harder than he imagined. Bad, weather, rough riding, dwindling supplies, and blatant racism wear heavily on his spirit. When his father and Col. Waite are not among the weary and wounded who return from battle, Gabriel mounts Champion and rides to the battlefield in search of them.


Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund (finished copy, you can read my review of the ARC here)

With a past too terrible to speak of, and a bleak, lonely future ahead of her, Aerin Renning is shocked to find she has earned a place at the most exclusive school in the universe. Aerin excels at Academy 7 in all but debate, where Dane Madousin—son of one of the most powerful men in the Alliance— consistently outtalks her. Fortunately Aerin consistently outwits him at sparring. They are at the top of their class until Dane jeopardizes everything and Aerin is unintentionally dragged down with him. When the pair is given a joint punishment, an unexpected friendship—and romance—begins to form. But Dane and Aerin both harbor dangerous secrets, and the two are linked in ways neither of them could ever have imagined. . . .


Possessions by Nancy Holder

New girl Lindsay can sense that all is not right at the Marlwood Academy for Girls. But what Lindsay doesn't know is that Mandy and her clique are becoming possessed by spirits who have haunted Marlwood for two hundred years. Spirits who want someone dead. And only Lindsay can stop them.



Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Astrid Llewelyn has always scoffed ather eccentric mother’s stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods – thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom – Astrid learns that unicorns are real and dangerous, and she has a family legacy to uphold. Her mother packs her off to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.
However, at the cloisters, all is not what is seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to – perhaps most dangerously of all – her growing attraction to a handsome art student… and a relationship that could jeopardize everything.


Sarah Boone: A Lowcountry Girl by Michelle Adams

In 1780 at Boone Plantation near Charles Towne, South Carolina, eleven-year-old Sarah has an eventful year as a new baby arrives, British forces occupy the city, and she becomes fast friends with a new slave girl, teaching her to read and write.



(Now, to read all these books, because my to be read pile is way too big now!)