In My Mailbox 5/23/09

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

Anyway, I was bored this week so I decided to make another trip to the Strand and bought more ARCs. Between these, and my last trip there, and BEA next week, I'm going to have a LOT of stuff to read this summer, I guess! I ordered some books from B&N.com as well but they didn't arrive yet so I guess I'll post about those next week.

Anyway, the books I got this week:


Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George

As far as Creel is concerned, all is finally right with the world. The dragon king, Shardas, and his queen, Velika, have made a home for themselves on the Far Islands, and for the first time in centuries it seems dragons and humans might be able to live together in peace. So what better time for Creel and Luka to plan their wedding. But then Velika gets kidnapped by a band of rogue dragons in need of their own queen. And Creel and Luka leap to aid Shardas and rescue her—only to discover that Luka’s father has set his sights on taking back the Far Islands from the dragons. Torn between her love for Prince Luka and her friendship with Shardas and Velika, Creel must make the most difficult decision of her life if she stands any chance of getting to the church on time.


Horse Diaries: Koda by Patricia Hermes

Independence, Missouri, 1846
Koda is a bay quarter horse with a white blaze. He loves to explore the countryside and run free with his human friend Jasmine nearby. But after Koda sets out with Jasmine’s family on a long and dusty wagon train journey on the Oregon Trail, he finds out what is truly important to him. Here is Koda’s story . . . in his own words.


The Hollow by Jessica Verday

When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is deadâ?¦and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. It only makes things worse that everyone now treats Abbey like either a freak show or a charity case. Thank goodness for Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special.
Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her—one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.


Unclaimed Heart by Kim Wilkins

The rules for a young English woman in 1799 are simple: Do what you're told; stay out of the way; and don't, under any circumstances, ask questions.
But Constance Blackchurch is insatiable, headstrong, and complex; and the quest to find her missing mother is too much to resist...
...as is Alexandre Sans-Nom, the pearl diver who steals her heart, uproots all of her social expectations, and can either ruin or save the family she loves.


Tropical Secrets by Margarita Engle

Daniel has escaped Nazi Germany with nothing but a desperate dream that he might one day find his parents again. But that golden land called New York has turned away the ship full of refugees, and Daniel finds himself in Cuba.
As the tropical island begins to work its magic on him, the young refugee befriends a local girl with some painful secrets of her own. Yet even in Cuba, the Nazi darkness is never far away. . . .


Me, My Elf, & I by Heather Swain

It's not often you see an elf in the middle of Brooklyn, let alone a tall, blonde, gorgeous elf in the middle of one of the most prestigious performing arts high schools in the country. And yet, that's just where Zephyr Addler finds herself: smack dab in the middle of bustling New York City, worlds away from the woodland community she knows so well. But Zephyr knows that if she's going to make the most of her talent, she has to figure out how to live in the world. And dress in the world. Thanks to a little friendly fashion advice from her new friend Mercedes, Zephyr starts to get the hang of Brooklyn. That is, until Zephyr raises the ire of the most popular girl in school, Bella Dartagnan. Now with Bella and her friends out to get her, can Zephyr out-maneuver the mean girls (and catch the eye of a certain cute boy) without losing herself?


Soldier's Secret by Sheila Solomon Klass

In the 1700s, women’s responsibilities were primarily child rearing and household duties. But Deborah Sampson wanted more from life. She wanted to read, to travel—and to fight for her country’s independence. When the colonies went to war with the British in 1775, Deborah was intent on being part of the action. Seeing no other option, she disguised herself in a man’s uniform and served in the Continental army for more than a year, her identity hidden from her fellow soldiers.


Stone Voice Rising by C. Lee Tocci

Lilibit can hear what the stones are whispering. She is meant to be the earth’s new Stone Voice who will ultimately connect the planet with the universe. Her protector, a stone warrior, attempts to take her to the place called Kiva to fulfill her destiny--but they are intercepted by Syxx, an evil entity devoted to finding the source of Lilibit’s power. Lilibit ends up at a group home for unwanted children, damaged and near death. But she recovers and journeys to Kiva with the other children, bestowing upon them the stones that allow them to embrace their own powers, fight Syxx's minions, and save the earth.


Guardians of Ga'hoole: The War of the Ember by Kathryn Lasky

In this last chapter in the great saga of the Guardians of Ga-Hoole the Striga and Nyra join to conjure a malignant power from hagsmire itself. When news of their alliance reaches the Great Ga-Hoole Tree the Guardians call to good creatures everywhere: gadfeathers, kraals, polar bears, green-owls, puffins, seagulls, and dire wolves. An army of free creatures marches, swims, and flies to the Hot Gates of the Beyond, where the fate of the six owl kingdoms will be decided one and for all.


Peril on the Sea by Michael Cadnum

It is the summer of 1588 and a pair of unlikely shipmates is traveling on the Vixen, a privateer that will soon be drafted to join a flotilla of English ships bound for a fiery clash with the Spanish Armada. Seventeen-year-old Sherwin is aboard to repay a debt he owes the ship’s roguish captain, Brandon Fletcher. Sixteen-year-old Katharine is sailing with them in a desperate bid to save her noble family’s fortune. The fight will be harrowing and bloody, and the unfolding tumult will challenge the character of both Sherwin and Katharine, who are about to discover the deeper meaning of strife and of honor.


Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody

For teenage Elspeth Gordie freedom is— like so much else after the Great White — a memory. People like Elspeth, mysteriously born with powerful mental abilities, are feared by the Council and hunted down like animals. Her only hope for survival to is keep her power hidden. But is secrecy enough against the terrible power of the Council? A Starscape middle grade edition of Book One in the Obernewtyn Chronicles by acclaimed Australian author Isobelle Carmody.


Gifted: Out of Sight, Out of Mind by Marilyn Kaye

Queen of Mean Amanda Beeson, 13, gets the shock of her life when she wakes up one morning to find herself in the body of one of her victims, Tracey Devon. Amanda discovers that Tracey, ignored at home and school, has the ability to become invisible. When Amanda finds herself in a special class that Tracey usually attends, it becomes clear that at Meadowbrook Middle School the definition of “gifted” has a whole other meaning. Can Amanda rescue her one-time target from obscurity and get her own life back on track? In order to do so, she will have to reveal her own startling gift and take her rightful place among Meadowbrook’s very secret clique.


Gifted: Better Late Than Never by Marilyn Kaye

Goth girl Jenna Kelley has the ultimate tool to stage a teenage rebellion: she can read people’s minds without even trying. When her alcoholic mother is hospitalized, a stranger shows up who says he’s her long-lost dad and promises a better future. Too good to be true? Her gifted classmates think so, but Jenna is so determined to have a real parent around and a somewhat normal life that she might have lost her ability to listen.


Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey

Sadima lives in a world where magic has been banned, leaving poor villagers prey to fakes and charlatans. A "magician" stole her family's few valuables and left Sadima's mother to die on the day Sadima was born. But vestiges of magic are hidden in old rhymes and hearth tales and in people like Sadima, who conceals her silent communication with animals for fear of rejection and ridicule. When rumors of her gift reach Somiss, a young nobleman obsessed with restoring magic, he sends Franklin, his lifelong servant, to find her. Sadima's joy at sharing her secret becomes love for the man she shares it with. But Franklin's irrevocable bond to the brilliant and dangerous Somiss traps her, too, and she faces a heartbreaking decision.
Centuries later magic has been restored, but it is available only to the wealthy and is strictly controlled by wizards within a sequestered academy of magic. Hahp, the expendable second son of a rich merchant, is forced into the academy and finds himself paired with Gerrard, a peasant boy inexplicably admitted with nine sons of privilege and wealth. Only one of the ten students will graduate — and the first academic requirement is survival.
Sadima's and Hahp's worlds are separated by generations, but their lives are connected in surprising and powerful ways in this brilliant first book of Kathleen Duey's dark, complex, and completely compelling trilogy.


Sacred Scars by Kathleen Duey

In the second volume of the Resurrection of Magic trilogy, Somiss, exiled and desperate, hoards the magic he is recovering from ancient documents while Sadima and Franklin struggle to contain his egomaniacle ambitions. They secretly record the magic, hoping to share it with humankind, in order to end the historic cycles of bloody, civilization-destroying wars between kings and wizards.
Two hundred years later, Hahp and Gerrard, students at Somiss's brutal academy, endure the painful ordeals used to "teach" magic. Their tenuous pact, forged for survival, falters as they plot to destroy Somiss, the school...and to set magic free.


Rebecca: An American Girl, 1914 (boxed set) by Jacqueline Dembar Greene

Rebecca's six-book set comes in a protective slipcase, and each story reveals more about this lively girl growing up in New York in 1914. They include Meet Rebecca, Rebecca and Ana, Candlelight for Rebecca, Rebecca and the Movies, Rebecca Saves the Day, and Changes for Rebecca. Every book features beautiful illustrations, plus a historical "Looking Back" section about life in Rebecca's time.


Secret of the Night Ponies by Joan Hiatt Harlow

In 1965 Newfoundland, thirteen-year-old Jessie’s brave and impulsive nature leads her to commit a variety of daring acts, including rescuing a herd of wild ponies and kidnapping a poor orphan girl who is being mistreated by her guardians. Includes factual information about the history of the Newfoundland pony.


The Goodbye Season by Marian Hale

Mercy Kaplan doesn’t want to be like her mother, saddled with crying kids and failing crops for the rest of her life. Mercy longs to be on her own—until her wish comes true in the worst possible way. It is 1918 and a deadly flu epidemic ravages the country, leaving her utterly alone and penniless.
Mercy soon finds a job with Mrs. Wilder. But there’s something unsettling about the woman, whose brother died under mysterious circumstances. And then there’s Daniel, who could sweep a girl off her feet if she isn’t careful.