How was your New Years' Eve? Mine went great! Last time I celebrated with my friends. We had a party and all. But this time I went out with my mom. My brothers went to spend some time with our cousins so me and my mom went out and had a mother-daughter New Years Eve =) We drove around and shopped. She even took me to my favorite book shop! And I wished for the thousandth time that I could live over there! I wanted to buy everything! But since I couldn't, I got these books:
There were many new (awesome!) books but they were waaayyy too expensive. So I settled for the above. And with this here's my IMM:
In My Mailbox is a bookish meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.
Bought:
1. The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty
Summary (from Goodreads): A dazzling debut in the tradition of Jane Hamilton and Mona Simpson.
In Laura Moriarty's extraordinary first novel, a young girl tries to make sense of an unruly world spinning around her. Growing up with a single mother who is chronically out of work and dating a married man, 10-year old Evelyn Bucknow learns early how to fend for herself.
Offering an affecting portrayal of a troubled mother/daughter relationship, one in which the daughter is very often expected to play the role of the adult, the novel also gives readers a searing rendering of the claustrophobia of small town midwestern life, as seen through the eyes of a teenage girl. Evelyn must come to terms with the heartbreaking lesson of first love -- that not all loves are meant to be -- and determine who she is and who she wants to be. Stuck in the middle of Kansas, between best friends, and in the midst of her mother's love, Evelyn finds herself . . . inThe Center of Everything.
2. Vienna Blood by Adrian Mathews
Summary (from Goodreads): Sharkey is a Viennese newspaper columnist who finds himself spending time with a drunken computer nerd. When his acquaintance dies in mysterious circumstances, he is contacted by the surprisingly glamorous widow, convinced he has been passed vital information. This sets Sharkey on a terrifying and complex search through the cyber highways for an equation which turns out to be a very dangerous secret for those who know it.
3. When Nobody's Home: Fifteen Baby-Sitting Tales of Terror by Judith Gorog
Summary (from Goodreads): Sasha is baby-sitting twins who are about to have a horrifying accident. June is a snoopy baby-sitter who's dug up something deadly. These and 13 more chilling tales will delight even the hardest horror fan.
Summary (from Goodreads): Massie Block: Stands at the threshold of the most ah-mazing secret room at OCD. But to prove the Pretty Committee is worthy of the honor, the girls need dates to Skye Hamilton's "famous couples" costume party. On top of all that, Massie has to convince her old crush, Chris Abeley, to be Skye's date . . . or else they can kiss the room-and their popularity-goodbye. How will she ever get her girls suitable dates and melt Chris's heart? She'd need to be a mind reader! Luckily for the PC, alpha status just happens to come with ESP . . . not the actual superpower, but a secret weapon that shows them exactly how boy brains work.
Kristen Gregory: Loves supersensitive guys, and thanks to ESP, has her eye on a boy who loves The Notebook as much as she does. So why on earth is she going to Skye's party as the Bride of Chucky?
Alicia Rivera: Diss-missed her crush, Josh Hotz, for having a bizarrely clean room. Then ESP tells her Josh's sister is actually the neat freak, and suddenly hawt Hotz looks hawter than ever.
Dylan Marvil: When ESP clues her in to the fact that guys-plural- like a girl who's not afraid to eat, it's all mozzarella sticks for this former Jenny Craig groupie. Will gaining six pounds make her regret trusting her sixth sense?
Claire Lyons: As the only Pretty Committee girl with a real boyfriend, the date-mission should be a breeze. But when her newfound Claire-voyance tells her Cam's hiding a huh-yuge secret from her, his gifts of gummies leave a stale taste in her mouth. ESP? Extra Sucky Problem is more like it.
The Clique...The only thing harder than getting in is staying in.
Summary (from Goodreads): Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
No one ever told Margaret Simon that eleven-going-on- twelve would be such a hard age. When her family moves to New Jersey, she has to adjust to life in the suburbs, a different school, and a whole new group of friends. Margaret knows she needs someone to talk to about growing up-and it's not long before she's found a solution.
Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. I can't wait until two o'clock God. That's when our dance starts. Do you think I'll get Philip Leroy for a partner? It's not so much that I like him as a person God, but as a boy he's very handsome. And I'd love to dance with him... just once or twice. Thank you God.
Summary (from Goodreads): Jesse's new assignment is no game--it's dead serious.
Jesse Sharpe, child prodigy and secret agent, must find a bomb in a crowded railway station...before the unthinkable happens. Time is running out. Thousands of people could die, and Jesse is the only one who can save them. But the situation is even more deadly than Jesse realizes...
ARCs (from NetGalley):
I've got a lot of ARCs and I almost feel guilty about requesting them because I just cannot take time out to read them (which sucks!). They are e-books so I have to read them on my computer which I don't really like much. But I promise that I will try to read them and don't leave them to catch cyber-dust. Here are the ARCs that I got from such generous publishers:
1. The Stuttering Tattoo by Greg Logsted
Summary (from the Publisher): Steven Bishop is extraordinarily ordinary. He goes to school. He rides his motorcycle. He stutters. His best friend is a former Colombian cartel hit man turned cook/construction worker. You know, ordinary. All that changes the day Becky Moore walks into his classroom. Becky is dazzling, enigmatic.
One day Steven gives Becky a ride home on his motorcycle. There, they discover a severed arm, one of the fingers of which still has an unusual ring attached: a circle, in the middle of which is a heart, at the center of which is a bold number 37. While comforting Becky, Steven discovers a tattoo at the base of her neck: it is the same symbol. And so begins a thrilling descent into a world of crime and murder, a ride wilder than any Steven has taken before.
2. Tool Belt Defender by Carla Cassidy
Summary (from the Publisher): It's Party Time...
That’s the “invitation” shoved under her door. It’s got Brittany Grayson fearing for her life…and her sanity. She’s sure the monster who once held her captive for months is dead, so why his chilling words in the note? His menacing face in the window? And why won’t anyone —even her lawmen brothers—believe that somehow he’s after her again?
Brittany just wants a normal, independent life in Black Rock. Romance is out of the question… although she’s okay as friends-with-benefits with Alex Crawford, her hunky, marriage-phobic contractor. Alex, a single dad, has his own good reasons not to fall for Brittany. But none of them matter when the race is on to find the killer who’s kidnapped her!
3. The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose
Summary (from the Publisher): Jac L'Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances--and of her mother's suicide--she moved to America.
Now, fourteen years later she and her brother have inherited the company along with it's financial problems. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing--leaving a dead body in his wake--Jac is plunged into a world she thought she'd left behind.
Back in Paris to investigate her brother's disappearance, Jac becomes haunted by the legend the House of L'Etoile has been espousing since 1799. Is there a scent that can unlock the mystery of reincarnation - or is it just another dream infused perfume?
The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra's Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet's battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac's quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.
4. Carrie Goes Off The Map by Phillipa Ashley
Summary (from the Publisher): Carrie Brownhill lets her best friend talk her into a scenic European road trip as the perfect getaway from a nasty breakup with her fiancé. Unexpectedly along for the ride is the gorgeous and intriguing Matt Landor, MD, who sorely tests Carrie’s determination to give up men altogether. Careening through the English countryside in a VW camper van, these two mismatched but perfectly attuned lonely hearts find themselves in hot pursuit of adventure and in uncharted territory altogether…
5. Caller ID by Rachelle J. Christensen
Summary (from the Publisher): When twenty-three-year-old Courtney Beckham is abducted near her home, the search turns up more than just a kidnapping crime. FBI agent Jason Edwards investigates the ten-million-dollar ransom and stumbles upon something he wasn’t meant to find. And when Courtney catches a glimpse of the caller ID in her kidnapper’s home, what she sees turns her world upside down.
6. Secrets by Freya North
Summary (from the Publisher): The most successful novel from a UK author with more than ten bestselling novels to her credit, Secrets will tug at your heart and whisper in your ear.
Joe has a beautiful house, a great job, no commitments– and he likes it that way. All he needs is a quiet house-sitter for his rambling old place by the sea. When Tess turns up, he's not sure she's right for the job. Where has she come from in such a hurry? Her past is blank and she's a bit of an enigma. But we all have our secrets. It's just that some are bigger than others.
7. Hushed by Kelly York
Summary (from the Publisher): Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn’t protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids, so he’s never stopped trying to protect her from everything else. It doesn’t matter that Vivian only uses him when hopping from one toxic relationship to another—Archer is always there, waiting to be noticed.
Then along comes Evan, the only person who’s ever cared about Archer without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is. But Viv has her hooks in deep, and when she finds out about the murders Archer’s committed and his relationship with Evan, she threatens to turn him in if she doesn’t get what she wants… And what she wants is Evan’s death, and for Archer to forfeit his last chance at redemption.
8. If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince? by Melissa Kantor
Summary (from the Publisher): Ages 12 and up
In honor of the release of Melissa Kantor’s The Darlings in Love (book 2 in The Darlings), we’re pleased to share a Hyperion staff favorite, If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?
Wicked stepmother? Check. Evil stepsisters? Check. Miserable life? Check.
Lucy Norton's life has all the makings of a Cinderella story. Her dad's always away on business, leaving Lucy with her cruel stepmother and bratty stepsisters. She's burdened with chores, and has a hard time fitting in at her new school. So when she sees Connor Pearson, the star player on the varsity basketball team, Lucy hopes her destiny has finally changed. With everything else going on in her life, doesn't she at least deserve to get the handsome prince?
Melissa Kantor's enchanting novel proves that sometimes the happy ending isn't quite the one you'd expect. Lucy's about to discover the truth about finding her real Prince Charming... and finding herself.
Lucy Norton's life has all the makings of a Cinderella story. Her dad's always away on business, leaving Lucy with her cruel stepmother and bratty stepsisters. She's burdened with chores, and has a hard time fitting in at her new school. So when she sees Connor Pearson, the star player on the varsity basketball team, Lucy hopes her destiny has finally changed. With everything else going on in her life, doesn't she at least deserve to get the handsome prince?
Melissa Kantor's enchanting novel proves that sometimes the happy ending isn't quite the one you'd expect. Lucy's about to discover the truth about finding her real Prince Charming... and finding herself.
Note: The names of the books are linked to their Goodreads pages.
