Letterbox Love (#41)

As always, Letterbox Love is a weekly feature that I'm hosting on the blog and basically, the idea came out of a discussion with other UK book bloggers about the need to do a weekly meme with more of a British feel to it. Therefore, Letterbox Love was born and the logo was lovingly designed by Dark Readers. Letterbox Love is a way for us to share the books that come through our letterbox, galleys and e books (through our electronic letterbox) and any other bookish goodies that we want to tell you about. Letterbox Love is intended to showcase upcoming books and build up some excitement for them as well as let you know what is available out there. It is not about competing with other bloggers or boasting of any kind (c'mon, we're British and we don't do drama!)

I think you'll be very proud of me this week with regards to book buying, ESPECIALLY my eBook addiction ;)

Review Books

Neferet's Curse by P.C. and Kristin Cast (Unsolicited)

This is apparently number three in the House of Night novella's, a series I have never read and am not sure I have any interest in reading.  For one, I don't have the time available to me to catch up on it!  If you're a huge fan of the series and you want it, let me know and I'll send it to you.

The Hit by Melvin Burgess (Unsolicited) 

I'm not totally sure this is the book for me although I don't doubt that it is interesting.  This is about a new drug that comes out that all the teenagers want to get their hands on but guess what, it ruins lives.  This is not news to me and I don't really find anything interesting about that so don't be surprised if I end up passing this on to someone else.

The Queen is Dead by Kate Locke (Unsolicited)

This is the second book in the series, the first entitled God Save the Queen.  Again, this is steampunk and I haven't read the first book yet.

Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger (Unsolicited)

I've never made any secret that I'm not a huge fan of the idea of steampunk BUT I'm not sure I've actually ever read a steampunk book so I can't really justify that point of view.  Anyway, I've heard a lot of positive things about this book and I love the idea of balancing learning to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time.  I like the contrast of behaving like a lady whilst learning the art of espionage.  I think it sounds interesting and I definitely want to give it a go.

Shards and Ashes by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr (Unsolicited)

This is a dystopian anthology with contributions from nine different authors including Veronica Roth, Beth Revis, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Rachel Caine, Carrie Ryan, Nancy Holder, Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr.  I'm not big on anthologies but I do like the idea of sampling and you never know when the short story might be turned into a bigger book.

Thank You Publishers!!

Books Bought

Sever by Lauren Destefano

I LOVE Lauren's writing with a fierce passion, she just makes it look so bloody effortless.  Naturally, I opted for the US hardback to complete my collection but I'm a bit nervous to read it at the moment, especially when I hear other reviewer's gasps and "Oh my God" comments.  I am looking forward to it though but I want to savour it.  I have a week off coming off.  I'm thinking I'm going to curl up on the sofa on one of those days and read the day away. 

Ebooks

The Collector by Victoria Scott (For Review)
I've been wanting to read this book for the longest time now! You know I love a good demon bad boy (See Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers for further clarification).  I can't wait to get stuck into this one and I hope that Dante doesn't disappoint ;)

If You Stay by Courtney Cole (Bought)
Love the cover, love the synopsis, love that it features a bad boy.  Fingers crossed that it holds my attention but I've heard people say that they're hooked from the first page.

Every Last Kiss (The Bloodstone Saga) by Courtney Cole (Free)
This is the first book in this paranormal series and what I like about it is that it mentions Egypt and Cleopatra so not your run of the mill vampire/angel/weresolf/Greek God mythology story.  And it was free so even better!  Of course, if I get hooked then I'm going to have to buy the rest. 

The Deepest Cut by J.A. Templeton (Free)
This is a mature YA story with adult themes.  It's a ghost story with a bit of romance and the American family move to Scotland. I thought it sounded like my kind of book and it was free!

Severed by Sarah Alderson (Free)
I do love Sarah Alderson's writing and the fact that she made Severed available for free this Valentine's.  Unfortunately, I have not yet read the first book Fated yet but obviously I will before I tackle this one!

Bedding the Wrong Brother by Virna DePaul (Free)
I love any kind of romance with one girl and two brothers (I don't know why) so immediately, I thought I would like this.  It's a steamy novella as you can probably guess from the title  and again, I do love a little mixup/miscommunication in my stories to get the plot going.  I'm looking forward to this quick read. 

Water (The Akasha Series) by Terra Harmony (Free)
I don't know why but I'm a sucker for elemental stories (featuring Earth, Fire, Air and Water themes) and so I knew I had to get my hands on this book. It's for mature YA readers and I hope I like it so I can carry on with the rest of the series. 
 
Challenging Zed by Joss Stirling (Free)
This is a short story from the Soulfinders Series which goes back to the first book Finding Sky where we first met Zed and Sky.  I believe it shows us Zed's point of view for the first time and I'm looking forward to that!

So you see, I think I've done really well this week - I've only bought one hardback (although it was a pre-order) and one ebook as the rest were free.  HOORAH!  As money is tight for me at the moment, this is definitely a good thing.

This week I went to see Beautiful Creatures at the cinema and whilst I was a little worried (as I always am when I go and see these YA adaptions on the big screen) you'll be pleased to know that it was excellent and I enjoyed it a lot!  Look out for my review in the next couple of days.  I've started reading a couple of books and had to put them down either because I wasn't in the mood for the particular story and didn't want to ruin the reading experience or because I lost interest (this doesn't happen often and it was a more literary, adult book).  I've decided that I want to catch up on all the series' I've been missing  so I'm re-reading Beautiful Creatures and working my way through those books before reading Sever by Lauren Destefano, Shades of Earth by Beth Revis, Requiem by Lauren Oliver and then the rest of Cassandra Clare's books.  I still can't believe I haven't started the Clockwork Angel books yet!!!  What are you reading this week?  Hope you had a great week for books and please share your links below.