Sunday 14 July 2013

Weekly Highlights: the gift edition


Weekly Highlights is a feature borrowed from Faye of A Daydreamer's Thoughts, where I get to highlight my posts of the week, show you my new books and talk about bookish things! 



On the blog

Review of Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (5 stars)
My summer reading list and the Summer Reading Challenge for kids
Ink blog tour


Currently reading

The Hit by Melvin Burgess - not as terrifying as I thought it would be so far, but pretty scary how realistic it is!
Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols - just got this on netgalley and started it straight away! My first Jennifer Echols book and it is great so far! 


On My Bookshelf

The Soterion Mission by Stewart Ross

In a post-apocalyptic world where no-one lives beyond their teenage years, the mysterious Roxanne arrives in Cyrus’s village, fleeing the barbaric Zeds. She claims to be on a mission that can save them all, but can she be trusted? Cyrus joins her in her quest for the legendary Soterion, but the Zeds are determined to get there first. 

My first book from Curious Fox, the new kid on the block in the publishing world. They have some great titles coming up so keep an eye out! Thanks Curious Fox!

Out of the Easy by Ruts Sepetys

Josie Moraine wants out of The Big Easy - she needs more than New Orleans can offer. Known locally as a brothel prostitute's daughter, she dreams of life at an elite college, far away from here.

But then a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie caught between her ambition and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans is luring Josie deeper in as she searches for the truth, and temptation beckons at every turn.


A gift from my school librarian because I've been helping out there this last week for work experience. I loved it and I'm going back in a couple of days next week too!

Parallel by Lauren Miller

Two worlds. Two separate identities. Two guys. 

A collision of parallel universes leaves 18-year-old Abby Barnes living a new reality - every time her parallel makes a new decision. Never-without-a-plan Abby is forced to cope with the consequences of waking up in a life she has no memory of creating. 

With chapters that alternate between our world (Here) and the parallel one (There), Abby's Here comes complete with a Yale address, a new roomie, and birthday blind date with a super-hot lacrosse player. In the parallel world, Abby's still navigating senior year class schedules, college applications, and her relationship with Astronomy Boy at her high school. 

This story explores the nature of identity, the role of cause and effect in young lives and the defining power of choice.


A hand-me-down from Lucy (The Queen of Contemporary) because she had two copies and it turns out we live practically round the corner from each other! Small world, huh? Thanks Lucy, this sounds awesome and I've been looking forward to it for ages!

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . . 

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell. 

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter. 

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.


Requested from Hachette, it's being re-published in the UK by Orchard Books, I believe. Anyway, it sounds awesome, I love Tiger Lily! Thanks Hachette!

Vivian versus the Apocalypse by Katie Coyle

A chilling vision of a contemporary USA where the sinister Church of America is destroying lives. Our cynical protagonist, seventeen-­year-­old Vivian Apple, is awaiting the fated 'Rapture' -­ or rather the lack of it. Her evangelical parents have been in the Church's thrall for too long, and she's looking forward to getting them back. Except that when Vivian arrives home the day after the supposed 'Rapture', her parents are gone. All that is left are two holes in the ceiling...

Viv is determined to carry on as normal, but when she starts to suspect that her parents might still be alive, she realises she must uncover the truth. Joined by Peter, a boy claiming to know the real whereabouts of the Church, and Edie, a heavily pregnant Believer who has been 'left behind', they embark on a road trip across America. Encountering freak weather, roving 'Believer' gangs and a strange teenage group calling themselves the 'New Orphans', Viv soon begins to realise that the Rapture was just the beginning.


One of the winners of the Hot Key Books Young Writers last year, it sounds just incredible and an amazing idea for a book. Thanks Hot Key!

2 comments:

  1. I also got the Soterion Mission and can't wait to start it :) Vivian versus the apocalypse isn't one I've heard of, but sounds really intriguing so will be looking out for what you think!

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  2. So looking forward to Tiger Lily - it's had great review sin the US. out of the Easy is fantastic you know I loved Dirty Little Secret :)

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