In My Mailbox - 4/21/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week:

The Voyage of the Sea Wolf by Eve Bunting

At the end of The Pirate Captain's Daughter, Catherine and cabin boy William are marooned on Pox Island by the murderous crew of the pirate ship Reprisal. The young lovers see no hope of escape.
In Voyage of the Sea Wolf, the continuing sage of Catherine's sea adventures, she and William are rescured from their island prison by the Sea Wolf, a pirate ship pursuing the Reprisal. Catherine worries that these new pirates will send her back to the island once they discover she's a girl. But then, she meets the captain of the Sea Wolf. A woman! Surely, Catherine thinks, the bloodshed and brutality she and William experienced aboard the Reprisal can't happen again, especially under the leadership of a female captian.
But just as things seem to be going their way, the captain takes a liking to William. Catherine is forbidden to see him.
If Catherine and William want to stay together, they must find a way to now escape from the Sea Wolf. (already reviewed here)

The FitzOsbornes at War by Michelle Cooper

Sophie FitzOsborne and the royal family of Montmaray escaped their remote island home when the Nazis attacked. But now that war has come to England and the rest of the world as well, nowhere is safe.
Sophie fills her journal with tales of a life in wartime. Stories of blackouts and the Blitz. Dancing in nightclubs with soldiers on leave. And desperately waiting for news of her brother Toby, last seen flying over enemy territory.
But even as bombs rain down on London, hope springs up in surprising places, and love blooms. And when the Allies begin to drive their way across Europe, the FitzOsbornes take heart. Maybe, just maybe, there will be a way to liberate Montmaray - to go home again at last.

In My Mailbox - 4/14/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week:

Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb

Meg Lytton has always known of her dark and powerful gift. Raised a student of the old magick by her Aunt Jane, casting the circle to see visions of the future and concocting spells from herbs and bones has always been as natural to Meg as breathing. But there has never been a more dangerous time to practise the craft, for it is 1554, and the sentence for any woman branded a witch is hanging, or burning at the stake.
Sent to the ruined, isolated palace of Woodstock to serve the disgraced Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and half-sister of Queen Mary, Meg discovers her skills are of interest to the outcast princess, who is desperate to know if she will ever claim the throne. But Meg's existence becomes more dangerous every day, with the constant threat of exposure by the ruthless witchfinder Marcus Dent, and the arrival of a young Spanish priest, Alejandro de Castillo, to whom Meg is irresistibly drawn - despite their very different attitudes to her secret.
Thrilling and fast-paced, this is the first unputdownable story in a bewitching new series.

The Horse Road by Troon Harrison

Kallisto loves her horses. She is an excellent horsewoman, as she has been taught all her equestrian skills by her nomad mother. One day she is returning from racing her horses when she sees from a mountain pass that the Chinese army is approaching her city - clearly planning to steal their horses! She races back home to find a deserted city and her favourite horse, Swan, taken by the Chinese, along with all the other horses.
Kallisto is determined to get the horses back for her city, including her beloved Swan. She bravely approaches the Chinese general and challenges his best horseman to a duel of horsemanship and skill - if she wins, she will get Swan back. Kallisto loses (she is only 13!) but the general is so impressed by her audacity and bravery that he gives her Swan anyway, on condition that she sends him a foal every year.
Set in Ferghana, Central Asia, in 102 BC, this is a thrilling tale that weaves in real events. The Chinese did invade and besiege towns to acquire the famed and beautiful Akhal-Teke horses - which led eventually to horses being traded for silk and the Silk Route being formed.
A fascinating taste of another culture and another time, couched in a richly descriptive and very pacy narrative.

Illuminate by Aimee Agresti

Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.
As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?
Illuminate is an exciting saga of a teen’s first taste of independence, her experience in the lap of luxury, and her discovery she may possess strength greater than she ever knew.

In My Mailbox - 4/7/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

I only got one new book this week, I am expecting others but the mail is being slow. :(

Destiny's Path: Caradoc of the North Wind by Allan Frewin Jones

HOW FAR CAN THE BONDS OF LOYALTY BE STRETCHED?
As the war with the Saxons reaches its darkest hour, Branwen is taking on 'suicidal' missions. Disaster strikes, and a valued friend suffers a devastating injury, testing the loyalty of her band of followers to the limit. Branwen must trust in the power of her destiny more than ever - and when she discovers her greatest ally has entered a secret alliance with her greatest enemy, she decides enough is enough.
But a deadly trap awaits, and Branwen finds herself the prized prisoner of a man half-blinded by a thirst for revenge ...

{By the way, this series was previously published in the US and titled Warrior Princess. The last book was cancelled in the US but finally was published in the UK. So if you read the Warrior Princess series and wondered what happened to the last book, you can buy it online from the UK.)

In My Mailbox - 3/17/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

I only got two new books this week. The first is a review copy, and I also bought a finished copy of Grave Mercy since I had a B&N gift card and I *LOVED* the book so I much that I wanted a hardcover copy with the cover art.

Violins of Autumn by Amy McAuley

When the Germans begin bombing London in World War II, Betty is determined to do her part. Instead of running air raid drills like most girls her age, she lies about her age and trains to become a spy. Now known by her secret agent persona, Adele Blanchard, she finds herself parachuting over German-occupied France under the cover of darkness to join the secret Resistance movement. Prepared to die for her cause, Adele wasn’t expecting to make a new best friend in her fellow agent or fall for a handsome American pilot. With the brutality of war ever present, can Adele dare to dream of a future where the world is at peace and she is free to live and love of her own accord?

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?
Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart? (reviewed here)

In My Mailbox - 3/10/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are my new books for this week:

Forget Me Not by Sue Lawson

The story of one family's voyage on the Titanic.
"I am filled with the worst feeling. Everyone says it is the safest, most luxurious ship in the world, but something about it is extremely unsettling."
Evelyn Gilmore does not share her brother Thomas’s excitement about travelling on the maiden voyage of the luxurious Titanic.
For Evelyn the ship is taking her away from everything she knows and loves. For Thomas it is taking him to his new life.
How could they know what the trip would bring?

The Wrong Boy by Suzy Zail

Hanna is a talented pianist, and the protected second daughter of middle class Hungarian Jews. Relatively late in World War II the Budapest Jews were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz. Hanna and her mother and sister are separated from her father. Her mother becomes increasingly mentally ill until she too is taken away somewhere. Her sister Erika is slowly starving to death. Hanna is quite a naïve 15-year-old but when presented with the opportunity to play piano for the camp commander, she is desperate to be chosen. She goes each day under guard to the commander’s house and stands waiting in case the commander should want some music. Also living in the house is the commander’s son, Karl. A handsome young man who seems completely disengaged from what is happening around him. Hanna hates him as he sits drawing in the music room. But the longer Hanna goes to the house, the more she realises there are other things going on. Secret things. Karl may not be the person she thinks he is. Before she knows it she has fallen in love with the wrong boy.

Peaceweaver by Rebecca Barnhouse

This is historical fantasy at its best. Sixteen-year-old Hild has always been a favorite of her uncle, king of the Shylfings. So when she protects her cousin the crown prince from a murderous traitor, she expects the king to be grateful. Instead, she is unjustly accused of treachery herself.
As punishment, her uncle sends Hild far away to the heir of the enemy king, Beowulf, to try to weave peace between the two kingdoms. She must leave her home and everyone she loves. On the long and perilous journey, Hild soon discovers that fatigue and rough terrain are the least of her worries. Something is following her and her small band of guards—some kind of foul creature that tales say lurks in the fens. Will Hild have to face the monster? Or does it offer her the perfect chance to escape the destiny she never chose?

In My Mailbox - 3/3/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week. The reason I got so many books is that it seems like almost all my preorders of UK books from The Book Depository came in at once, plus I also traded a few ARCs with other bloggers. So I had a very good mailbox week and I can't wait to read several of these books, if only there were more hours in the day!

Courtship and Curses by Marissa Doyle

Sophie’s entrance into London society isn’t what she thought it would be: Mama isn’t there to guide her, Papa is buried in his work fighting Napoleon, and Sophie’s newly acquired limp keeps her from dancing at any of those glittering balls. If it weren’t for her shopping escapades with her new French friend Amélie and a flirtation with the dashing Lord Woodbridge, she would think this season a complete disaster.
But when someone uses magic to attack Papa the night of Sophie’s first ball, her problems escalate, especially when it becomes clear that all the members of the War Cabinet are being targeted. Can she catch the culprit and keep her own magic powers hidden long enough to win herself a match?

All Fall Down by Sally Nicholls

When Isabel's Yorkshire village is devastated by the Black Death, it seems that the world is ending in horror and fear. But for the survivors of the terrible plague, a new and freer society will rise from the destruction of the feudal system that enslaved the family. This is a powerful historical novel from one of today's most exciting young writers.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past. Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze

Happily ever after is a thing of the past.
The year is 2090.
England is a barren land. Food is rationed. Oil has decimated the oceans. The people are restless.
A ruthless revolutionary enacts a plan to destroy the royal family, and in a moment, the king is dead. His heiress, Princess Mary, and her brother, Jamie, have been abducted, and no one knows their fate. Princess Eliza Windsor barely escapes, and finds herself scared and lost in London's dangerous streets.
With a mind for revenge and the safe recovery of her siblings, Eliza joins the enemy forces in disguise. There she is tempted by her first taste of independence -- and true love. Ultimately she must summon her courage and fight to ensure that she does not become... The Last Princess.

My Story: Wartime Princess by Valerie Wilding

It's 1939, Europe is on the verge of war and Princess Margaret begins a diary to record her wartime experiences. But more exciting than blackouts, evacuees, and doodlebugs is her sister Elizabeth's blossoming romance with Prince Philip of Greece. Margaret dreams of a royal wedding, but Philip is sent to serve in the navy and Elizabeth longs to join the army. Will there be a fairy tale ending?

London Stories by Jim Eldridge

The story of London as seen through the eyes of the city's children. Twelve stories transport the reader from the Londinium of two millenniums past to the London of 2012, anticipating the Olympi games and a Diamond Jubilee. Along the way we escape a great fie, survive the gunpowder plot and meet Charles Dickens. The perfect companion to a defining year in British History.

Sophia the Flame Sister by Amber Castle

When eleven-year-old Gwen ventures into the forest beyond her castle home she comes across the magical island of Avalon and her life changes forever. The lady of the lake, Nineve, asks Gwen to embark on a quest to protect the enchanted island of Avalon from the evil sorceress Morgana Le Fay.
Morgana has imprisoned the eight Spell Sisters of Avalon throughout the kingdom and stolen their magical powers. It's up to Gwen, her best friend Flora and a very special horse named Moonlight to find the sisters and return them to Avalon before its magic is lost forever.
In this first adventure Gwen and Flora search for Sophia the Flame Sister who Morgana has imprisoned in an enchanted forest. Can the girls save her and help to restore the magic of fire to Avalon? (already read and reviewed here)

Lily the Forest Sister by Amber Castle


In this second adventure Gwen and Flora are faced with a swarm of hornets and enchanted vines as they try to rescue Lily the Forest Sister. Can they overcome Morgana's magic and return Lily to Avalon?

Isabella the Butterfly Sister by Amber Castle

In their third adventure Gwen and Flora must find Isabella the Butterfly Sister. But with wolves under Morgana's magical control stalking them through the forest, will the girls be able to find Isabella and return her safely to Avalon?

Amelia the Silver Sister by Amber Castle

In this fourth adventure Gwen and Flora set out to rescue Amelia the Silver Sister who is imprisoned in an old castle. But when Morgana attacks the castle with a hurricane the girls become trapped too! Can they escape and return Amelia to Avalon?

The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott

Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she's had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic's doomed voyage. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes.
Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat. Tess’s sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon’s questionable actions during the tragedy. Others—including the gallant Midwestern tycoon—are not so lucky.
On dry land, rumors about the survivors begin to circulate, and Lady Duff Gordon quickly becomes the subject of media scorn and later, the hearings on the Titanic. Set against a historical tragedy but told from a completely fresh angle, The Dressmaker is an atmospheric delight filled with all the period's glitz and glamour, all the raw feelings of a national tragedy and all the contradictory emotions of young love.

The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance.
On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena's father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.

In My Mailbox - 2/25/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week:

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.
Eighteen-year-old Luddite Elliot North has always known her place in this caste system. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. But now the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress and threatening Luddite control; Elliot’s estate is floundering; and she’s forced to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliott wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she abandoned him.\
But Elliot soon discovers her childhood friend carries a secret—-one that could change the society in which they live…or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she has lost him forever.
Inspired by Jane Austen’s PERSUASION, FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

Ripper by Amy Carol Reeves

It’s 1888, and after her mother’s sudden death, Abbie is sent to live with her grandmother in a posh London neighborhood. When she begins volunteering at Whitechapel Hospital, Abbie finds she has a passion for helping the abused and sickly women there.
But within days, patients begin turning up murdered at the hands of Jack the Ripper. As more women are murdered, Abbie realizes that she and the Ripper share a strange connection: she has visions showing the Ripper luring his future victims to their deaths—moments before he turns his knife upon them. Her desperation to stop the massacres leads Abbie on a perilous hunt for the killer. And her search leads to a mysterious brotherhood whose link to the Ripper threatens not just London but all of mankind.

By the Light of the Silvery Moon by Tricia Goyer

Remember the Titanic 100 years after its doomed voyage with Tricia Goyer’s fictional portrayal of one woman’s journey. To Amelia Gladstone, this ship means promise of seeing family again. To Quentin Walpole, the Titanic represents a new start in America…if he can get onboard. All seems lost until Amelia offers him a ticket, securing his passage—and bringing him face-to-face with his railroad tycoon father and older brother, Damian. As Amelia works to reconcile father and son, she finds herself the object of both brothers’ affection. Can she choose between two brothers? Or will she lose everything to the icy waters of the Atlantic?

In My Mailbox - 2/18/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week:

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near-impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one unlikely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life– a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha… and the secrets of her heart.

The Girl in the Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen

Set in Georgian England, fifteen-year-old Sophia is trapped by the limitations of living in a man's world. Forced by her father to give up everything she loves, Sophia is ordered to make a new life in Bath. By day, she is trapped in the social whirl of balls and masquerades. By night, she secretly swaps her ball gowns for breeches, and turns to highway robbery to get her revenge . . . When one man begins to take a keen interest in her, Sophia must keep her distance, or risk unmasking her secret life.

Daughters of the Sea: Lucy by Kathryn Lasky

A choice between love and survival . . . Lucy's family is excited to spend the summer in Bar Harbor, Maine. Her minister father is pleased to preside over such a prestigious congregation, and his social-climbing wife is ecstatic at the chance to find a rich husband for her daughter.Yet Lucy wants nothing to do with the Bar Harbor social scene; she's simply excited to spend the summer by the sea, watching the waves from her favorite spot on the cliff. Despite having never gone swimming, Lucy feels an intense connection to the ocean, and meets a handsome ship-builder who shows Lucy a world she's never known, yet somehow always longed for.However, her mother will stop at nothing to keep Lucy and the ship builder apart, even if it means throwing Lucy into the arms of a wealthy man with a dangerous secret. Can Lucy break free and embrace her destiny as a daughter of the sea? Or is she doomed to waste away in a gilded cage, slowly dying of a broken heart?

Gladiator: Street Fighter by Simon Scarrow

Now a member of Julius Caesar’s palace, Marcus’s training continues in the city of Rome. The streets are plagued by vicious gang war attacks, and Caesar must employ his own gang leader, who learns of a plot to murder him.
Only Marcus can go in undercover. But he’s in terrible danger. If the rival gang discover him the price will be fatal. Julius Caesar’s isn’t the only life at risk . . .

American Girl Mysteries: The Hidden Gold by Sarah Masters Buckey

Marie-Grace can't wait to begin her journey up the Mississippi River with her father. The steamboat they're traveling on is crowded with all sorts of interesting passengers, including Wilhelmina Newman, a girl Marie-Grace's age. Wilhelmina is traveling alone, and she's carrying a secret in one of her trunks--clues to hidden Gold Rush treasure.

American Girl Mysteries: The Cameo Necklace by Evelyn Coleman

As Cecile exits a crowded showboat after enjoying a lavish Floating Circus, she stumbles--and when she gets up, she realizes that the cameo necklace she borrowed from her aunt is no longer on her neck. Knowing that the necklace was the last gift Tante Tay's husband gave her before he died, Cecile is desperate to find it.

American Girl Mysteries: The Crystal Ball by Jacqueline Greene

Rebecca and her neighbor, Mr. Rossi, seem to be having a run of bad luck. When Mr. Rossi sprains his wrist, Rebecca takes over the care and feeding of his carrier pigeons. Then a strange black pigeon delivers an eerie message warning Mr. Rossi of danger, and Rebecca must jump into action to find answers.

The Diary of Marie Landry, Acadian Exile by Stacy Allbritton

During the Great Upheaval of 1755, the British forced the Acadians to leave their homes in the Canadian provinces and later the American colonies. Fourteen-year-old Marie Landry joins her family and friends on a mass exodus from Maryland to Louisiana 10 years later, where land awaits them. Along the way, she notes her feelings of despair and hope through candid diary entries.

Matilda's Secret by Sandra Goldbacher

Norfolk 1540 Thirteen-year old Matilda Marchmont lives a dull life in the country - riding her horse, mixing her family's medicines, imagining herself to be a witch and writing in her secret diary. She longs for the glamour and thrills of life at court, led by her ultrafashionable young cousin Katherine Howard. And then one night something DOES happen. She is to be sent to court too, as a lady in waiting and spy, to help further Katherine's marriage chances with King Henry the Eighth himself. Matilda is drawn into a glittering world of intrigue, intense friendship and mortal danger which takes her from Hampton Court Palace to the Bloody Tower itself.

Pendragon Legacy: Sword of Light by Katherine Roberts

It is the darkest hour of the darkest Age. King Arthur is dead, killed by his wicked nephew, Mordred. Saxon invaders rampage across the land and forces of evil are gathering. The path to the throne lies open to Arthur's only remaining flesh and blood - Mordred. But there is one with a better claim than Mordred - Arthur's secret child. Brought by Merlin to enchanted Avalon as a baby and raised there for protection, the king's heir must take up a vital quest: to search for the four magical Lights with the power to restore Arthur's soul to his body. Introducing Rhianna Pendragon: unlikely princess and Camelot's last hope.

In My Mailbox - 2/11/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week:

The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors

Emmeline Thistle has always had a mysterious bond with cows, beginning on the night of her birth, when the local bovines saved the infant cast aside to die in the forest. But Emmeline was unaware that this bond has also given her a magical ability to transform milk into chocolate, a very valuable gift in a kingdom where chocolate is more rare and more precious than gold or jewels. Then one day Owen Oak, a dairyman’s son, teaches Emmeline to churn milk into butter – and instead she creates a delicious chocolate confection that immediately makes her a target for every greedy, power-hungry person in the kingdom of Anglund. Only Owen loves Emmeline for who she truly is, not her magical skill. But is his love enough to save her from the danger all around her?

The Last Song by Eva Wiseman

Spain had been one of the world’s most tolerant societies for eight hundred years, but that way of life was wiped out by the Inquisition. Isabel’s family feels safe from the terrors, torture, and burnings. After all, her father is a respected physician in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. Isabel was raised as a Catholic and doesn’t know that her family’s Jewish roots may be a death sentence. When her father is arrested by Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, she makes a desperate plan to save his life – and her own.

The Académie by Susanne Dunlap

Eliza Monroe—daughter of the future president of the United States—is devastated when her mother decides to send her to boarding school outside of Paris. But the young American teen is quickly reconciled to the idea when—ooh, la-la!—she discovers who her fellow pupils will be: Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Josephine Bonaparte; and Caroline Bonaparte, youngest sister of the famous French general. It doesn't take long for Eliza to figure out that the two French girls are mortal enemies—and that she's about to get caught in the middle of their schemes.
Loosely drawn from history, Eliza Monroe's imagined coming of age provides a scintillating glimpse into the lives, loves, and hopes of three young women during one of the most volatile periods in French history.

Our Australian Girl: Meet Alice by Davina Bell

It's 1918 . . .
and Alice lives with her big family by the Swan River in Perth, while on the other side of the world, the Great War rages. Alice's deepest wish is to become a ballerina, and when she auditions for a famous dance teacher from London, it seems as if her dreams might come true. But then there's a terrible accident, and Alice must ask herself whether there are more important things than dancing.
Meet Alice and join her adventure in the first of four stories about a gifted girl in a time of war.

Our Australian Girl: Meet Nellie by Penny Matthews

It's 1849 . . .
and Nellie O'Neill is arriving in South Australia on a ship bringing orphan girls from Irish workhouses. Nellie and her best friend, Mary, have left the famine in Ireland far behind, and are full of hopes and dreams for the future. Nellie longs to learn to read, to be part of a family once more, and never to be hungry again. But with no job and no one to turn to, how will Nellie make her wishes come true?
Meet Nellie and join her adventure in the first of four stories about an Irish girl with a big heart, in search of the freedom to be herself. (already read and reviewed here)

Our Australian Girl: Sydney Harbour Bridge by Vashti Farrer

It is 1932 and Sydney has hit hard times but the construction of a bridge that will reach across the harbour is setting spirits soaring. Both Alice and Billy tell the story of building the spectacular Harbour Bridge which will link the north shore to the working class suburbs of the south and unify a separated city.

In My Mailbox - 2/4/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week:

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.
Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.
In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the final page.

Dangerous Waters: An Adventure on the Titanic by Gregory Mone

A stowaway, a stolen book, a murderous villain: an adventure on the most famous shipwreck in history. The great ocean liner Titanic is preparing to cross the Atlantic. On board is a sinister thief bent on stealing a rare book that may be the key to unlocking infinite treasure, a wealthy academic traveling home to America with his rare book collection, and Patrick Waters, a twelve-year-old Irish boy who is certain that his job as a steward on the unsinkable ship will be the adventure of a lifetime. Disguises, capers, and danger abound as the ship makes its way toward that fateful iceberg where Patrick will have to summon all his wits in order to survive.

In My Mailbox - 1/28/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week:

Dear Canada: Torn Apart by Susan Aihoshi

The harsh conditions of an internment camp become a reality for a young Japanese-Canadian girl.
It is 1941 and Mary Kobayashi, a Canadian-born Japanese girl enjoys her life in Vancouver. She likes school, she likes her friends, and she yearns above all else to own a bicycle. Although WWII is raging elsewhere in the world, it hasn't really impacted her life in B.C.
Then on December 7, 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. . . and everything changes.
Suddenly a war of suspicion and prejudice is waged on the home front and Japanese-Canadians are completely stripped of their rights, their jobs and their homes. Mary is terrified when her family is torn apart and sent to various work camps, while she and her two sisters are sent, alone, to a primitive camp in B.C.'s interior. Here Mary spends the duration of the war, scared and uncertain of how it will all end.
In Torn Apart, author Susan Aihoshi draws from the experiences of her own family during "The Uprooting" of the Japanese in B.C. during WWII. Through young Mary's eyes, readers experience this regrettable time in Canadian history firsthand.

I Am Canada: Behind Enemy Lines by Carol Matas

A young WWII gunner from the Prairies sees the horrors of war firsthand when he is captured by the Gestapo.
Eighteen-year-old Sam Frederiksen has come a long way from the Prairies. Trained to be a gunner in a Lancaster bomber during WWII, he is shot down over France. Battered and bruised, he does survive, and joins forces with the French Resistance... only to be betrayed by one of its members. He and other flyers from various Allied countries are rounded up by the Gestapo and held in Fresnes prison just outside of Paris.
Treated as spies, rather than POWs, these men are beaten, some tortured — then sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp in eastern Germany. It is here, in these wretched conditions, that Sam witnesses the darkest side of humanity — gas chambers, torture and starvation. Yet it is also here that he comes to understand the true resilience and unfathomable courage of the victims.
Author Carol Matas has won numerous awards for her previous novels about the Holocaust. Behind Enemy Lines is partially based on a true incident from WWII, in which 168 Allied airmen were captured and sent to Buchenwald. Twenty-six of these men were Canadian.

Making Bombs for Hitler by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

In this companion book to the award-winning Stolen Child, a young girl is forced into slave labour in a munitions factory in Nazi Germany.
In Stolen Child, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch introduced readers to Larissa, a victim of Hitler's largely unknown Lebensborn program. In this companion novel, readers will learn the fate of Lida, her sister, who was also kidnapped by the Germans and forced into slave labour — an Ostarbeiter.
In addition to her other tasks, Lida's small hands make her the perfect candidate to handle delicate munitions work, so she is sent to a factory that makes bombs. The gruelling work and conditions leave her severely malnourished and emotionally traumatized, but overriding all of this is her concern and determination to find out what happened to her vulnerable younger sister.
With rumours of the Allies turning the tide in the war, Lida and her friends conspire to sabotage the bombs to help block the Nazis' war effort. When her work camp is finally liberated, she is able to begin her search to learn the fate of her sister.
In this exceptional novel Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch delivers a powerful story of hope and courage in the face of incredible odds.

Halflings by Heather Burch

After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven, and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret—and the wings that come with.
A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As the mysteries behind the boys’ powers, as well as her role in a scientist’s dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world.

Promise Me This by Cathy Gohlke

Michael Dunnagan was never supposed to sail on the Titanic, nor would he have survived if not for the courage of Owen Allen. Determined to carry out his promise to care for Owen’s relatives in America and his younger sister, Annie, in England, Michael works hard to strengthen the family’s New Jersey garden and landscaping business.
Annie Allen doesn’t care what Michael promised Owen. She only knows that her brother is gone—like their mother and father—and the grief is enough to swallow her whole. As Annie struggles to navigate life without Owen, Michael reaches out to her through letters. In time, as Annie begins to lay aside her anger that Michael lived when Owen did not, a tentative friendship takes root and blossoms into something neither expected. Just as Michael saves enough money to bring Annie to America, WWI erupts in Europe. When Annie’s letters mysteriously stop, Michael risks everything to fulfill his promise—and find the woman he’s grown to love—before she’s lost forever.

In My Mailbox - 1/21/12

Credit goes to The Story Siren for creating and hosting the In My Mailbox feature.

Here are the new books I got this week:

My Story: No Way Back by Valerie Wilding

The riveting true story of eleven-year-old Mary Wade – one of the first and youngest British convicts to be transported to Australia. Raised in the slums of eighteenth century London, Mary is sentenced to death for a petty theft at the age of just eleven. While she is shut up in Newgate prison awaiting execution, her sentence is commuted to transportation to an Australian penal colony. So Mary sets sail aboard a prison ship to the other side of the world. Australia brings the promise of a new life, but it is also harsh and wild. Does Mary have what it takes to survive in this land of danger and opportunity? (already read and reviewed here)

Interrupted: A Life Beyond Words by Rachel Coker

If Sam Carroll hadn't shown up, she might have been able to get to her mother in time. Instead, Allie Everly finds herself at a funeral, mourning the loss of her beloved mother. She is dealt another blow when, a few hours later, she is sent from Tennessee to Maine to become the daughter of Miss Beatrice Lovell, a prim woman with a faith Allie cannot accept.
Poetry and letters written to her mother become the only things keeping Allie's heart from hardening completely. But then Sam arrives for the summer, and with him comes many confusing emotions, both toward him and the people around her. As World War II looms, Allie will be forced to decide whether hanging on to the past is worth losing her chance to be loved.