Although tampering with someone’s mail is an offense that must be punished in some way, you won’t risk getting a day in court if you’re just checking out What’s In My Mailbox? (Believe me…I tried). Rather than a stiff punishment, you’ll get the satisfaction of knowing what may be coming up on my blog sooner or later.
I read a lot of different types of books – from mashups, like Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin and paranormal to contemporary and historical narratives, but they all have one thing in common, they’re written either for the YA audience or with a teen voice. The vast majority of the novels that made it into this week’s What’sInMyMailbox are comprised of contemporary issue-related subject matter. Whether it is a story of an at risk teen like As She Grows and it’s brand new sequel Something Wicked or narratives of guilt and loss about a friend’s suicide like Thirteen Reasons Why and Hold Still or from complications of anorexia, like Wintergirls, many of these novels are, I imagine, hard-hitting looks at the situation. While I don’t expect any of them to be easy reads, if only because the emotional quotient will be rather high, I am definitely looking forward to reading each of them.
One of the things that I’m really looking forward to is the fact that three of the novels that made their way into my mailbox are written from a male’s perspective, including Thirteen Reasons Why, Last December, and Looking For Alaska by Jay Asher, Matt Beam, and John Green, one of the authors of this year’s Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Although I have reviewed a few novels already with male leads, and there is at least one more review coming, the majority of the novels I’ve featured have a female protagonist. I love reading books with female characters, but given the fact that there are fewer novels geared toward teen boys, I think it’s important to review them when I have the chance as well. Of course, it’s even better when, like these novelists, they are writing a compelling story: whether you’re interested in narratives about a high school boy crush as in Looking For Alaska or a narrative about what happened Last December to make the possibility of a new younger sister necessary, I don’t expect you’ll be disappointed.
Left to be discussed in this post, you’ll find a mix of a realistic contemporary novel, a memoir (the first one I’ll be reviewing her), a horror story and a few pieces of book swag. The first book I mentioned is called After by Amy Efaw (the irony of this situation isn’t lost on me). Efaw presents the narrative of a teen, who after giving birth, dumps the body of the baby in a trash can, which leads to the it’s death. I’m quite curious as to how she portrays the psychology of a teen who is willing to go to this extreme. Second, Susan Juby‘s memoir, Nice Recovery, about her struggle with alcoholism is, I think, an important book to read. Just because someone is young doesn’t mean that they can’t have a substance abuse problem, so I think this book should be required reading. Next, a few weeks ago I received an ARC of Nancy Holder‘s second novel in the Possessions series, and last week, I finally received the first book in the series. As a long time horror movie and book fan, I’m really looking forward to checking out these offerings.
Now for the book swag…*rubs my hands together in mischievous delight.* Since I just mentioned Possessions, it makes sense to start with the Wicked Apple Mints that I received along with this book. What a great piece of swag, which matches one of Holder’s earlier horror series a little better than this one, but is still extremely cool. Last but not certainly not least, I got some awesome pieces of swag from Sherri Browning Erwin last week, including a few magnets and keychains with the cover image from Jane Slayre on them. My favorite item, however, was the Jane Slayre postcard, and it’s personalized message to me with Sherri’s signature; it’s something I’ll definitely be holding on to for a long time to come!
Feel free to leave me a comment if you’ve read any of these books already or if you’re just as excited as I am to read them in the future. Now, go out and have a great day! 
Melissa has always been a voracious reader of fiction and has an M.A. in English Literature to prove it. Like many other adults, she got caught up in the young adult crossover fiction phenomenon. Now, one of her great joys comes from sharing her love of YA lit on this popular review site. Come with expectations of intellect, magic, and honest reviews, and you won’t be disappointed.
