In My Mailbox

interesting stuff this week, let's see what we've got!

The Second Mrs. Gioconda
by E. L. Konigsburg



Summary:
Could the complex ways these three lives intertwine hold the key to a historical riddle as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa's smile--why Leonardo da Vinci devoted three years to a painting of the second wife of an unimportant merchant when all the nobles of Europe were begging for a portrait by his hand?

Thoughts:
Sounds interesting, but I've said that before about Konigsburg's books and have been disappointed. The only one of his that I've *really* loved was Silent to the Bone, but we'll see.

Story of a Girl
by Sara Zarr



Summary:
I was thirteen when my dad caught me with Tommy Webber in the back of Tommy's Buick, parked next to the old Chart House down in Montara at eleven o'clock on a Tuesday night. Tommy was seventeen and the supposed friend of my brother, Darren.
I didn't love him.
I'm not sure I even liked him.

In a moment, Deanna Lambert's teenage life is changed forever. Struggling to overcome the lasting repercussions and the stifling role of "school slut", Deanna longs to escape a life defined by her past. With subtle grace, complicated wisdom, and striking emotion, Story of a Girl reminds us of our human capacity for resilience, epiphany, and redemption.

Thoughts:
Sounds like it either has the makings for one of my favorite books, or one of my least favorite. I despised the plot of Sweethearts, but I loved the writing, so we'll see how this one goes. I'm seriously hoping I love it.

Leftovers
by Laura Wiess



Summary:
Blair and Ardith are best friends who have commited an unforgivable act in the name of love and justice. But in order to understand what could drive two young women to such extreme measures, first you'll have to understand why. You'll have to listen as they describe parents who are alternately absent and smothering, classmates who mock and shun anyone different, and young men who are allowed to hurt and dominate without consequence. You will have to learn what it's like to be a teenage girl who locks her bedroom door at night, who has been written off by the adults around her as damanged goods. A girl who has no one to trust except the one person she's forbidden to see. You'll have to understand what it's really like to be forgotten and abandoned in America today.

Are you ready?

Thoughts:
Now this sounds like MY kind of book. Drama, but the realistic kind, the kind that happens to millions of kids every day and is never revealed. I'm excited.

The Nature of Jade
written by Deb Caletti



Summary:
Jade DeLuna is too young to die. She knows this, and yet she can't quite believe it, especially when the terrifying thoughts, loss of breath, and dizzy feelings come. Since being diagnosed with Panic Disorder, she's trying her best to stay calm, and visting the elephants at the nearby zoo seems to help. That's why Jade keeps the live zoo webcam on in her room, and that's where she first sees the boy in the red jacket. A boy who stops to watch the elepahants. A boy carrying a baby.
His name is Sebastian, and he is raising his son alone. Jade is drawn into Sebastian's cozy life with his son and his activist grandmother on their Seattle houseboat, and before she knows it, she's in love. With this boy who has lived through harder times than anyone she knows. This boy with a past.
Jade knows the situation is beyond complicated, but she hasn't felt this safe in a long time. She owes it all to Sebastian, her boy with the great heart. Her boy who is hiding a terrible secret. A secret that will force Jade to decide between what is right, and what feels right.

Thoughts:
I've read this before, but now I have my own copy. You'll get to hear my thoughts soon, I suppose :)

The Lexicon
written by Steve Vander Ark



Summary:
Based on the world renowned Harry Potter Lexicon website, which attracts 25 million visitors each year, Steve Vander Ark's definitive encyclopedia is a popular and scholarly work.

Thoughts:
It's the one I've been waiting for! Here we go, I just know this will be one of the best.

Paperquake
by Kathyrn Reiss



Summary:
Violet's paralyzing fear of the earthquakes that are rocking the San Francisco Bay Area makes it difficult for her to overcome her "baby" image. But thins change when her family renovates an old building. While she helps her sisters sweep up, an aftershock dislodges a letter addressed to Baby V from 1906--and Violet is certain the message in the letter is intended for her. More mysterious writings from the past tumble into her hands with each quake. The girls try to unravel the mystery behind these supernatural communiques, but as ever more frequent earthquakes rattle their own lives, they realize their time may be running out...

Thoughts:
Oh, I love Kathryn Reiss. I've read this book years ago, but I don't remember what happens. She writes the greatest twisted historical mysteries, though, so I'm sure I won't be disappointed.

The Truth About Forever
by Sarah Dessen



Summary:
A long, hot summer. That's what sixteen-year-old Macy Queen has to look forward to. Her boyfriend, Jason, is going away to Brain Camp. She's stuck with a dull-as-dishwater job at the library. And all of her free time promises to be spent studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her father's death.
But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mother's open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew. Before long, Macy ditches her library job and joins up with the Wish gang; bighearted Delia; quiet, introspective Monica, and fun-loving, fashion-conscious Kristy. But best of all, there's Wes--artistic, insightful, and understanding Wes--who gets Macy to look at life in a whole new way...

Thoughts:
I've obviously read this one, but I FINALLY own my own copy. Yay :)

Did you get anything awesome in the mail this week?

In My Mailbox

Ohhhkay, so I'm sure this will wreak havoc on my crazy dial-up, but I did get a lot of books this week and therefore, I feel the need to show them off :P

Princess Diaries, Volume X: Forever Princess
by Meg Cabot


Summary:

What's a Princess to do?

It's Mia's senior year, and things seem great. She aced her senior project, got accepted to her dream college(s), and has her birthday gala coming up . . . not to mention prom, graduation, and Genovia's first-ever elections.

What's not to love about her life? Well . . .

• Her senior project? It's a romance novel she secretly wrote, and no one wants to publish it.
• Prince Phillipe's campaign in the Genovian elections isn't going well, thanks to her totally loathsome cousin René, who decided to run against him.
• Her boyfriend, J.P., is so sweet and seemingly perfect. But is he the one?
• And her first love, Michael, is back from Japan . . . and back in her life.

With Genovia's and her own future hanging in the balance, Mia's got some decisions to make: Which college? Which guy? How can she choose? Especially when what she decides might determine not just the next four years, but . . . forever!

Thoughts:
here

Damages
by A.M. Jenkins


Summary:
As the Pride of the Panthers, football star Austin Reid is a likable guy, good with the ladies. Lately though, he doesn't like his life--or anything else--so much. And the worst part is that he can't seem to figure out why.

Thoughts:
I'm really not sure what to think. It's a football book, and God knows I despise sports. On the other hand, Amazon kept recommending it to me, so *shrugs* we'll see how it goes.

Love From London
by Emily Franklin


Summary:
After leaving boarding school to study at the London Academy of Drama and Music, Love Bukowski is learning a lot, especially about love. Too bad the guy she's falling for is off-limits. But she's got plenty to take her mind (if not her lips) off said British Boy. And it's not like there isn't enough going on back in the States. For starters, Love's dad has a new girlfriend, her Aunt Mable is fighting breast cancer, the guy she left behind hooked up with the biggest you-know-what on campus, and her vocal lessons keep getting harder. Maybe life is trying to tell her something-or maybe she's just distracted by all that London (and love) have to offer.

Thoughts:
I'm excited, the series hasn't let me down yet!

Summer of Love
by Emily Franklin


Summary:
After a rough spring semester at Hadley Hall, Love Bukowski is ready for some sun on Martha's Vineyard. Running her Aunt Mable's cafe might not sound glamorous, but when she's working with her best friend, Arabella, anything can be fun. Plus, Mable's set up a treasure map of clues for her to find-each one bringing Love closer to the truth about her family history.

But now that those pieces of her past are finally fitting together, Love's future isn't clear. College and senior year are ahead, but the boys of summer are more appealing than ever. Surprises, sun, summer love-no matter what happens, the next three months will be ones to write home about.

Labor of Love
by Emily Franklin


Summary:
Just when Love meets her half-sister in LA, her dad calls to burst her blissful summer bubble. Her mother, whose identity was kept a mystery her entire life, is in Martha's Vineyard. Love has to cut her trip short and book it home. Unfortunately, what she finds isn't her mother, but a whole world turned upside down.

For one thing, Love's boyfriend Charlie has traded in his fishing pole for a pair of stiff khakis to please his equally stiff and overbearing parents. Meanwhile, her ex professes to still have feelings for her. Thankfully she has her friends and Dad to rely on. But even Dad doesn't have all the answers. Only one woman can clear things up, a woman who's never known Love. Has she come back to stay? Maybe ignorance was bliss.

The Boy Book
by E. Lockhart


Summary:
Here is how things stand at the beginning of newly-licensed driver Ruby Oliver's junior year at Tate Prep:

• Kim: Not speaking. But far away in Tokyo.
• Cricket: Not speaking.
• Nora: Speaking--sort of. Chatted a couple times this summer when they bumped into each other outside of school--once shopping in the U District, and once in the Elliot Bay Bookstore. But she hadn't called Ruby, or anything.
• Noel: Didn't care what anyone thinks.
• Meghan: Didn't have any other friends.
• Dr. Z: Speaking.
• And Jackson. The big one. Not speaking.

But, by Winter Break, a new job, an unlikely but satisfying friend combo, additional entries to The Boy Book and many difficult decisions help Ruby to see that there is, indeed, life outside the Tate Universe.

Thoughts:
I enjoyed the first book, although that was read quite a few years ago, so I'm thinking I'm going to need to make a quick library trip to get the first book before starting this one. I've got nothing but the best expectations, though!

Fly On the Wall
by E. Lockhart


Summary:
At the Manhattan School for Art and Music, where everyone is “different” and everyone is “special,” Gretchen Yee feels ordinary. She’s the kind of girl who sits alone at lunch, drawing pictures of Spider-Man, so she won’t have to talk to anyone; who has a crush on Titus but won’t do anything about it; who has no one to hang out with when her best (and only real) friend Katya is busy.
One day, Gretchen wishes that she could be a fly on the wall in the boys’ locker room–just to learn more about guys. What are they really like? What do they really talk about? Are they really cretins most of the time?
Fly on the Wall is the story of how that wish comes true.

Thoughts:
I don't have the highest hopes for this one. The premise is okay, but nothing stellar. I hope to have my mind changed.

Confessions of a Teenage Hollywood Star
by Dyan Sheldon


Summary:
After years of angst, Lola is graduating from high school and finally
getting out of Dellwood "Deadwood," New Jersey. But destiny intervenes when Lola learns that a Hollywood movie is being filmed right in Dellwood. Is the Drama Queen ready to make the leap from the stage to the silver screen?

Thoughts:
Did YOU know there was a sequel to Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, cause I most certainly did not. Awesome surprise!

LBD: It's a Girl Thing
by Grace Dent


Summary:
Ronnie, Fleur, and Claude are the LBD: Les Bambinos Dangereuses. These inseparable best friends are hip, feisty, and ready to take on the world. Except for one thing&150their fun- hating ogre parents won't let them go to the Astlebury Music Festival. Are their social lives ruined forever? Not if they can help it! The girls soon come up with a brilliant plan. They'll put on a concert of their own, featuring the finest talent (and hottest guys) that Blackwell School has to offer. But staging a music festival isn't as easy as it looks, especially when the LBD's sworn enemy, Panama Goodyear, is the headline act. Now it's up to the LBD to use their grace, poise, and humor to make Blackwell Live a huge success, complete with post-concert snogging and all. With LBD in charge&150it's not just a girl thing; it's the best thing!

Thoughts:
I'm sure everyone else has read this ages ago. It's about time I did so.

Silence
by Christopher Brookhouse
**LT EarlyReviewers ARC**


Summary:
Days before her high school graduation, Nikki Groh runs away from the New Hampshire town where she has grown up. In the months that follow, Nikki will find her way back home, a young woman much changed from her earlier self.
Harriet Groh, Nikki's adoptive mother, is the person most affected by Nikki's absence. Much of the story is told by her, and much of the story is about her, how she "disappears" too, from an earlier self and discovers her own
voice, even if silence is the language in which she finds it.

Thoughts:
I have no idea.

and finally...
Devilish
by Maureen Johnson


Summary:
Jane Jarvis and Allison Concord are desperate to get through senior year at Saint Teresa's Preparatory School for Girls, where barbed wire keeps the boys out and ancient nuns keep the girls in.
Jane and Allison have always been too quirky and different to be popular, but at least they've had each other. Then, after a hideous, embarrassing disaster, Allison comes to school transformed. Suddenly she has cute hair and clothes. She's fluent in Latin, she won't even speak to Jane, and within days, she's stolen Jane's ex-boyfriend, Elton.
A strangely wise freshman boy, Owen, helps Jane discover the outrageous truth--that Allison has sold her soul to the devil. At first, Jane doesn't quite buy it. She plays along with the weirdness--and even gambles her own soul in order to rescue Allison. But events take a turn for the real, and Jane will have to save Allison before the bizarrely exclusive Poodle Prom, a party of biblical proportions that just might blow apart the world as Jane knows it.


Thoughts:
adf;ajfa;fjadfafadfd
or something along those lines.

In My Mailbox

Remember Me-Sophie Kinsella

When twenty-eight year old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she's in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect. Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accident--in a Mercedes, no less--Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she's about to find out just how much things have changed.
Somehow, Lexi went from a twenty-five year old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband-who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person she...well, seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all.
Suddenly, Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance. Her new life, it turns out, comes complete with secrets, schemes, and intrigue. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does?

Revelations-Melissa De La Cruz

Schuyler Van Alen's blood legacy has just been called into question: is the young vampire in fact, a Blue Blood, or is it the sinister Silver Blood that runs through her veins? As controversy swirls, Schuyler is left stranded in the Force household, trapped under the same roof as her cunning nemesis, Mimi Force, and her forbidden crush, Jack Force.
When an ancient place of power is threatened in Rio de Janiero, however, the Blue Bloods need Schuyler on their side. The stakes are high, the battle is bloody, and through it all Schuyler is torn between duty and passion, love and freedom.

The London Eye Mystery-Siobhan Dowd

Monday 24 May, 11:32 a.m.
Ted and Kat watch their cousin Salim get on board the London Eye. He turns and waves and the pod rises from the ground.

Monday 24 May, 12:02 p.m.
The pod lands and the doors open. People exit in all shapes and sizes--but where is Salim?

Suite Scarlett-Maureen Johnson

Scarlett Martin has grown up in a most unusual way. Her family owns the Hopewell, a small hotel in the heart of New York City. Her nineteen year old brother, Spencer, is an out of work actor facing a family deadline to get his career in order. Eighteen year old Lola has the delicate looks of a model, the practical nature of a nurse, and a wealthy society boyfriend. Elven year old Marlene is the family terror with a tragic past.
When the Martins turn fifteen, they are each expected to take over the care of a suite in the once elegant, now shabby, Art Deco hotel. For Scarlett's fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire State and a permanent guest named Mrs. Amberson. Scarlett doesn't quite know what to make of this C-list starlet, world traveler, and aspring audiobiographer who wants to take over her life. And when she meets Eric, and astonishingly gorgeous actor who has just moved to the city, her summer takes a second unexpected turn.
With Mrs. Amberson calling the shots, Spencer's career to save, Lola's love life to navigate around, and Marlene's prying eyes everwhere, things won't be easy. Before the summer is over, Scarlett will have to survive a whirlwind of thievery, Broadway glamour, romantic missteps, and theatrical deception.
The show, as they say, must always go on.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You-Peter Cameron

In Re: James Sveck-eighteen year old New Yorker, charming, precocious, confused, doesn't quite fit in (doesn't really want to),
If: his future (i.e., college) seems completely meaningless, not to mention terrifying...
Then: he'll start anew (move to the Midwest?).
In re: James Sveck-misunderstood by a capricious mother, a self-absorbed father, a mordant older sister,
Et alia: his Teutonic therapist, his D-list celebrity grandmother, his unnervingly atractive art gallery colleague...
If: What one wants is enigmatic...
Then: Life can be hell.
But: as the summer gets hotter, James comes to recognize the wrenching truth of his emotions.

Looking for Alaska-John Green

Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (Francois Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything but borin gworld of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and uttely fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launching him into the Great Perhaps, and stealks his heart.
After. Nothing is ever the same.