In My Mailbox #57 ( Massive Haul!)

Morning lovelies! Sunday here in Australia and time for In My Mailbox. IMM is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren where we show the books we've bought/received in the past week! As always, this is a two week haul as I'm far too lazy to do a post every week.

My Book Haul - 

For Review -

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

Spark by Brigid Kemmerer (!!!)

ARC Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

ARC The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Crewel by Gennifer Albin 

Vicious Little Darlings by Katherine Easer

Envy by Elizabeth Miles

The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George

Wolf Pact by Melissa De La Cruz

Rumour Has It by Ali Cronin

ARC The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

ARC Sacrifice by Cayla Kluver

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Falling to Ash by Karen Mahoney

( Thanks Penguin, Allen and Unwin, Simon and Schuster, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Hachette, Harlequin Teen and Random House!)

WHAT A GREAT (TWO) WEEKS IN BOOKS! So many wonderful books, I'm having a very hard time choosing what to read! So excited for Spark, The Raven Boys, Poison Princess and so many more! First time hearing about Falling to Ash, Wolf Pact and The Edge of Nowhere but both books sound absolutely amazing! I really need to get a move in with finishing the Iron Fey series so I can read The Lost Prince! 

What do you think I should first?

Link me to your IMM posts!

Badasss Bookie xx

Debut of the Month - All About Talia Vance ( Silver)

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Debutante Profile

Name – Talia Vance

Debut – Silver

Genre – YA Fantasy

Website– HERE

Blog -  Here

Twitter - HERE

Talia Vance is a practicing litigation attorney living in Northern California with her real life love interest, two-point-five kids, and a needy Saint Bernard named Huckleberry. Talia has been writing since she could talk, making up stories for every doll, stuffed animal and action figure she could get her hands on. She grew up hoping to write the great American novel, but her life ran more along the lines of tortured romance and fast paced thrillers, so that's what she writes.

Dream Debutante Dress -  I like it because I think it will look pretty with my book cover.  Plus it’s on sale at TBdress.com, and I am a sucker for sales.  Now I just need a hot boy to escort me to the debutante ball.  There will be hot boys, right?  

Notes from a YA Debutante

A little bit about me:

1) I used to be a horse trainer, but after a horse fell down on me, I ended up with a serious concussion.  It could only speak in one word sentences for the better part of a day.  I got better, but I lost my nerve.

2) So I became a lawyer.  (See head injury, above).

3)  But I always dreamed of becoming a writer, so I decided to write a book.

4)  Silver is my first novel, as in, the first book I ever tried to write.  It’s evolved from the original story, which was based on my own tortured path to romance with my husband, but it is still very personal to me.  A lot is based on things that actually happened to me as a teen. Well not the goddesses and magic (as far as you know).

5)  I am the descendant of a woman who was hung during the Salem witch trials. 

6)I believe in true love.  I think that people who don’t believe in true love just haven’t found theirs yet, and that makes me sad. 

7)It never occurs to me that I can’t do something because it’s hard.  There is always a way.  Tenacity beats hard every time.

8) I met my husband when I was 16 years old.  He’s really the inspiration for everything I write.  I posted the story on YA Muses before, but I think it’s fitting here:

I met him when I was sixteen.  He had brown hair and the highest cheekbones I’d ever seen.  We were sitting around a table at a party playing quarters.  Our eyes met and held.  There was a spark of something there from the first moment.  Something I’d never felt before.  Something magic. 

I remember the first time he kissed me, in a dark room before he really knew who I was.  It was wild and secret, and it didn’t matter that I didn’t know his name. I remember the second time he kissed me, when he knew exactly who I was.  It was wilder and it mattered more that it had any right to. 

I remember my heartache as I watched him date a series of girls who were never me.  The thrill when he flashed me a sardonic smile.  I remember deluding myself that having him as a friend was enough.

I remember the moments I almost confessed my heart.  When I was 19, we sat in his car in front of my house, talking about everything and nothing.  There was a moment of silence, and for a second, I thought maybe, but no.  I couldn’t risk sending him away forever. 

And then, finally, the moment I finally told him how I felt.  Eleven years later.

We had grown up.  It seemed safe to joke about my teenage crush.  Only he didn’t laugh.  His face went white.  He said it was impossible because he had always thought I was the one who wasn’t interested in him.  We were alone in a room full of people. 

It was one of the best and worst times of my life.

So many missed moments.   

But I’ve found a way to get them back.  On the pages of books. 

My own.

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Bookie's Note: That is the most romantic thing I've ever heard Talia! OMG I want a great love story like that. It good that you guys finally found each other, imagine if you never said anything - YOUR LOVE STORY COULD HAVE NEVER HAPPEND ( dun dun dun!). Come back tomorrow guys for the second half of Talia's feature and a great giveaway! 

Badass Bookie xx

Slide

Review Time! Slide by Jill Hathaway is a 2012 YA Debut published by HarperCollins Australia in March. Jill was one of my 2012 debutantes and Slide was one of the books that I was really looking forward to reading. Again, I planned to read this back earlier on but books just keep getting pushed back! You can purchase a copy of Slide from Fishpond | The Nile | Booktopia | Dymocks | Angus and Robertson. Thanks to HarperCollins for the review copy!

(Goodreads) Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth--her sister's friend Sophie didn't kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn't actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else's mind and experiences the world through that person's eyes. She's slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed "friend" when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie's slashed body.
Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can't bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting distant lately, especially now that she's been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

The Short Story? - Jill Hathaway's YA thriller was a solid debut with an supernatural twist to a quite predictable murder mystery. I really enjoyed aspects of Slide especially the writing and the characterisation. A good ending and a great romance tagline, Hathaway is definitely not afraid to take risks with her plots. Overall a solid debut that will appeal to both contemporary and paranormal readers, this murder mystery is highly entertaining!

The Long Story? - While reading Slide, I spent some time on Goodreads reading the reviews and upon finishing the novel I found that I agreed with selective points that other reviewers talked about. I enjoyed Slide and I definitely think it's a book that lots of people will enjoy. In terms of murder mysteries, Slide is not as draining to read and this is probably because the ending was a little bit predictable. Hathaway did try to put a spin on the novel and but it kind of fell flat, nevertheless, Slide was entertaining and I *did* enjoy it. The romance tagline was very cute, there was a build up and the love story was really mushy which really fitted with the plot because this novel would have been downright depressing without a little bit cuteness. The ending though predictable still held some element of surprise, I don't want to spoil the ending but I thought that it was very brave of Hathaway to do what she did ( ha! vague!). Solid debut, Slide was very enjoyable.

The characterisation was probably my favourite aspect of the novel. I really enjoyed Vee as a protagonist, she was unique and not just because of her special sliding ability but because of her personality as well. I love characters that understand the importance of family and it was obvious that Vee really cared for her sister despite the fact that they're very different. I liked what I saw of Rollins although I do wish he played a bigger role in the novel since I love friendships in YA as well. The characterisation was very much just based on Vee and that was okay but variety is always good! Zane, was rather quickly developed but I could connect with Zane, he went through so much and I didn't think he deserved the ending that he got but I accepted it and it was somewhat fitting. Overall a great characterisation and I'm looking forward to see how all the characters with grow in the sequel.

Originally I thought Slide was a standalone novel because it wrapped up really nicely but after checking Goodreads, it seems as if there will be a sequel coming out next year. I will definitely be reading Imposter because I'm curious to see where Hathaway takes Vee and her ability next. Slide was a solid debut that was highly entertaining, if you're looking for a YA thriller that isn't too draining but at the same time still enjoyable, I would highly recommend for you all to read Slide!

What's it Worth? - Squeeze into the Budget/ Hand Over the Paycheck

Badass Bookie xx