In my Mailbox #5

This week I have decided that 'In my Mailbox' will only feature on a Sunday. This is the most logical day of the week because there is no post and I'll be able to do a round-up of the entire week's book arrivals.

I have already posted about my first set of books - click here to view them.

The end of the week has bought another haul of books. On Friday I went to Hay-on -Wye with Jenny from Chocolate Chunky Munkie, which is rather properly nicknamed 'the town of books'.
This is me outside the Hay Castle bookshop, surrounded by the books from the Honesty Bookshop outside.

Unfortunately I didn't find anything from the Castle bookshop that I wanted to read, but I did find some good ones from other book shops around Hay.


From Jenny at Chocolate Chunky Munkie:
A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
Night World vol. 2 by L.J. Smith

From Hay-on-Wye:
Krimson by Thomas Emson
Ivy by Julie Hearn
Angel by Cliff McNish
Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Waterstone's synopsis'

A Long, Long Sleep
Rosalinda Fitzroy had been asleep for 62 years when she was woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically-induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten sub-basement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long dead, and Rose - hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire - is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes - or be left without any future at all.

Night World Vol. 2
In 'Dark Angel', Gillian is about to die. Then he appears - Angel - and becomes her secret protector. She must give him absolute trust and obedience and in return he will make her the most sensational girl in the school. When all she's ever wanted is offered to her, surely there's a price to pay - as Gillian is about to find out as Angel draws her into the darkness of the Night World. In 'The Chosen', Rashel kills vampires. But she is up against a huge dilemma: her soulmate, Quinn, traps human girls and feeds on their blood. He's a Night World ringleader. Love and loathing tear at Rashel's heart. Revenge is sweet. But is love sweeter? Can she live without him? In 'Soulmate', something is haunting Hannah. Plagued by memories of a burning passion that has spanned the centuries and her past lives, she remembers her true love...her vampire lover, who is Lord of the Night World. And now her soulmate is back to pursue her again. And so is Hannah's ancient enemy...

Krimson (Amazon)
The sequel to SKARLET, KRIMSON is the second part of Thomas Emson's VAMPIRE TRINITY.

The vampires' grip on London and the rest of Britain strengthens. Their human allies force themselves into positions of power. Even Number 10 Downing Street is occupied by the Nebuchadnezzars, the undead's mortal watchmen. But a small band of Britons continues the fight. And with Jake Lawton leading them, there is always a glimmer of hope for humanity...

Ivy
The only beautiful thing in Ivy's drab life is her glorious red hair. At a young age, her locks made her the target of Carroty Kate, a 'skinner'. She recruited Ivy to help her coax wealthy children away from their nannies so that she could strip them of their clothes - clothes worth a fortune in the markets of Petticoat Lane. It is years before Ivy escapes and finds her way back to her in-laws. Once there, she finds respite in laudanum. But before she can settle into a stupor and forget the terrible things she has done, Ivy is spotted by a wealthy pre-Raphaelite painter. Oscar Fosdick needs a muse (until now he has had to use his domineering mother as a model, something not conducive to producing his best work, he finds). To him, Ivy is perfect, a stunner. Realising quickly that this painter has more money than sense, Ivy's in-laws order her to sit for him, and to do anything else he demands. But not everyone is happy. Oscar's mother is determined to get rid of Ivy. Oscar's famous neighbour is determined to paint her. Carroty Kate is determined to find her, and Ivy herself is determined to escape...

Angel
It's been many years since fourteen-year-old Freya's life was ruled by an obsession with angels - an obsession which destroyed her family. She has a burgeoning social life at school, and feels adjusted in the world. But then the angels return, and Freya discovers that she herself is a guardian angel. What makes matters worse is the arrival of the strange new girl, Stephanie, who craves for herself the angelic power that Freya resists. Learning to harness this difficult new friendship and her otherworldly abilities are complicated tasks, fraught with difficult decisions to make and dangerous situations to negotiate. Every time Freya helps one of her wards, she puts her own life at risk. And then there are her fellow angels - understanding what they want from her is perhaps the hardest task of all.

Gods in Alabama (goodreads)
When Arlene Fleet headed off to college in Chicago, she made three promises to God: She would never again lie, never fornicate outside of marriage, and never, ever go back to her tiny hometown of Possett, Alabama (the "fourth rack of Hell"). All God had to do in exchange was to make sure the body of high school quarterback Jim Beverly was never found. Ten years later, Arlene has kept her promises, but an old schoolmate has recently turned up asking questions. And now Arlene s African American beau has given her a tough ultimatum: introduce him to her family, or he s gone. As she prepares to confront guilt, discrimination, and a decade of deception, Arlene is about to discover just how far she will go to find redemption--and love.

The Cry of the Sloth (goodreads)
Living on a diet of fried Spam, vodka, sardines, cupcakes, and Southern Comfort, Andrew Whittaker is slowly being sucked into the morass of middle age. A negligent landlord, small-time literary journal editor, and aspiring novelist, he is—quite literally— authoring his own downfall. From his letters, diary entries, and fragments of fiction, to grocery lists and posted signs, this novel is a collection of everything Whittaker commits to paper over the course of four critical months.

Beginning in July, during the economic hardships of the Nixon era, we witness our hero hounded by tenants and creditors, harassed by a loathsome local arts group, and tormented by his ex-wife. Determined to redeem his failures and eviscerate his enemies, Whittaker hatches a grand plan. But as winter nears, his difficulties accumulate, and the disorder of his life threatens to overwhelm him. As his hold on reality weakens and his schemes grow wilder, his self-image as a placid and slow-moving sloth evolves into that of a bizarre and frantic creature driven mad by solitude.

In this tragicomic portrait of a literary life, Sam Savage proves that all the evidence is in the writing, that all the world is, indeed, a stage, and that escape from the mind’s prison requires a command performance.