Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been asking for your advice on what to read first from the list of new books that made it into my mailbox. I’m happy to report that a lot of you gave me your votes either on my blog, on Twitter, or on the YA Book Shelf Facebook group. Recently, most of you were voting that I read Unearthly over a few other titles, and I’m happy to report that my review of it should be posted a little later this week! So when I ask you which book I should read first this week, once again, I hope that you’ll place your vote! Will it be a dystopian novel, contemporary YA, or fantasy?

Last year, I read A LOT of dystopian YA novels, so I’m definitely excited about the first two titles that made it in my mailbox, namely Across the Universe by Beth Revis and XVI by Julia Karr. The former has been touted as a mix between the movie Titanic and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and while I’m not a huge fan of the former, I definitely am one of the later. This appears to be very much on the sci-fi end of the dystopian novel spectrum with a large ship meant to be traveling 300 years in the future, but the main character quickly realizes that her being woken up 50 years early was a plan to kill her. Now she has to find out both who was planning her death and all of the ship’s secrets before it’s too late. Personally, I’m a little more excited about the concepts which Julia Karr brings up in XVI. Nina Oberon’s life is great, but then again, she’s 15. When she turns 16 and receives the Governing Council-ordered tattoo that goes along with it, her body will announce to all the world that she’s ready for sex – even predatory men. This fate has always been her worst fear, but when her mother is brutally attacked, her few simple, dying words change everything Nina thought she knew about her life. Now Nina must find out who she is and stay at least one step ahead of her mom’s killer. Are you up for some dystopian novels, too?

Not sure about dystopia? Maybe some contemporary YA like Amy Holder‘s The Lipstick Laws or some 20th century historical fiction, like Teresa Toten‘s Beyond Blonde will be more suited to your tastes. In the former novel, April Bowers is so unpopular that a single lunch at queen bee Britney Taylor’s table seems to change everything. Whereas before she was practically invisible, now, she’s basking in the healthy glow of popularity. However, a friendship with Britney comes with a high price tag. How much is too much for April? On the other hand, Toten’s novel takes place in the 1970s in a time when everything seems to be falling apart for Sophie Kandinskey. Just as her dad leaves to get sobered up, her mom retracts within herself, her first love marries someone else, and basketball is no longer the comfort it once was. It’s a good thing that she still has the Blondes and her Aunties in her corner. Whereas both of these novels seem to put the main characters in difficult situations, BeyondBlonde seems a little more like a feel-good novel.

Finally, I’m also really looking forward to check out Sarah Porter‘s summer fantasy release, Lost Voices. Why? Well, I’m really attracted to the contemporary / problem part of this novel as well as the fantasy aspects. On one hand, 14-year-old Luce is one of the ignored, mistreated, and hidden away girls..one of the lost girls. When her alcoholic uncle crosses the line, she reaches the depths of despair. She thinks that she’s going to die on the cliffs near her home, when a surprising thing happens instead – she transforms into a mermaid. Realistic and magical? Yep…sounds like something I’m excited to check out.

So which of these books should I read? Let me know what you think by casting your vote!

It’s Monday; it’s time for What’s In My Mailbox. This week, I have a few books that have either just come out last week, or are being released in February. One of them is contemporary YA, others are Gothic or suspense-filled reads, and there is even a paranormal book for me to check out. Are you as excited as I am to see what arrived? If there is a book that you’re particularly wanting to hear about from me OR that you’ve heard a lot of good things about? Let me know and maybe it’ll be the first book of the following that I read.

First, I have to talk about the one contemporary YA novel that I received last week. I’ve already read Prom & Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg, and you can bet that the review is coming soon. Perhaps you’ve already read Eulberg’s first novel, The Lonely Hearts Club, which came out last year. (I haven’t in case you were wondering.) I’ll admit that I’m not normally the type of person who reads modernized versions of classic novels, but this year, I’m trying to spread my reading comfort zone a little further than I did in 2010, so I thought that I’d give it a go. My sister and I are both fans of Pride and Prejudice, so after talking about it a bit, she was pretty excited to read it too. Now, I’m converted one person…anyone else interested in checking out this novel?

If you read my site regularly, then you know that I have a love of Gothic YA and suspenseful plots, so you would be quite right if you assumed that I was pretty excited when Simon & Schuster decided to send Elizabeth Woods‘ recent release, Choker. I’ve heard a smattering of excitement about Woods’ novel in the Twitterverse, but it wasn’t until I checked out the back cover that I got a hint of the storyline. It’s about a loner named Cara, nicknamed Choker by the mean girls, who is obviously delighted when her old best friend, Zoe, shows up at her house, asking to help hide her. However, when a girl goes missing and Zoe starts acting bizarrely, Cara starts wondering what her friend does all day while she’s at school. I haven’t even started this novel, and I’m already a little creeped out about what might actually be going on.

I’m also really looking forward to reading a book that Harper Collins sent me, called The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahren. It’s about 16-year-old Tamara Goodwin, who has never had to look to tomorrow because she was born into the lap of luxury. However, when her father dies suddenly, leaving a mountain of debt, Tamara and her mother must move out to the Irish country side, without access to Facebook or Twitter. However, when she finds a book with her handwriting labeled tomorrow’s date, she finally thinks she can solve some of the mysteries that have been plaguing her. I heard that this is an edge-of-your-seat suspense novel, so I can’t wait to see what Tamara gets up to.

Last, Bridget Lies Here by Paige Harbison is one of the Harlequin Teen books that I’m really looking forward to reading this winter. If it was only about a stuck up queen bee type of character, then I would only read it if I was trying to expand my reading horizons a little more. However, this novel has a great paranormal twist, which I’m hoping will be coupled with some dark humor. In case you haven’t hear the premise, in this novel Bridget, the girl who rules the school dies in a car accident and ends up in limbo, a place where all of the people she’s wronged over the years get to decide where her soul should end up. I, for one, want to know if the wronged will win or if Bridget is able to reform and win them over with her toe tag in toe.

Have you already read any of these books? What one do you think that I should read first?

Every once in awhile, I get some books in my mailbox that I wasn’t expecting from some of my favorite publishers. Sometimes I think that one of the books might not do it for me, but more often than not I’m pleasantly surprised and enthusiastic about the new novels that I’m privileged enough to read in advance of the actual publication dates. This week is definitely one of the latter, which means that I’m not quite sure which one of these fabulous books I should reach for first. Maybe a little help from my readers is in order?!? Please let me know which of the following four books I should pick up once I’ve finished my current read.

I’m definitely not a dancer, but there is something about dance movies that have always been a guilty pleasure for me. Last week I watched Black Swan with my boyfriend and family when the latter were visiting for the holidays. While my bf couldn’t stand the movie, it definitely got me excited about reading Caridad Ferrer‘s latest YA novel called, When The Stars Go Blue. Unlike Black Swan, this novel is not a psychological thriller, but seems to be more in the realistic romance genre. The main character, Soledad, plans on spending the last summer at home teaching at a dance studio, so she can save money and eventually begin auditions for dance companies. However, when fellow student and love interest, Jonathan Crandall suggests that she instead perform in an intense and competitive drum and bugle corps as the lead character of Carmen, the opportunity to perform this role and spend time with Jonathan is too good to pass up. When another love interest enters the picture, Soledad finds her burgeoning relationship and her career as a professional dancer in jeopardy. Sure, the love triangle theme might have been done before, but I for one am really intrigued about the story and the Cuban-American population that’s sure to pop up in the novel’s Miami setting.

Whereas Ferrer’s novel came out in December, the next two books that I received are the early January releases by veteran YA author Pete Hautman and debut novelist Cynthia Hand. I’ve heard a lot of buzz surrounding the first novel in a paranormal trilogy about angels by Hand called Unearthly, including a positive review by Kristie from Text and Java, which emphasized the lack of teen angst. I don’t know about you, but personally, that’s music to my ears. While I’ve heard a lot less about Hautman’s The Big Crunch, I was really excited when I saw that Scholastic had sent an ARC of this novel my way. Hautman is, as you may or may not know, a National Book Award winner, and his anti-love story type novel for teens seems to be everything I really want in a romantic story. Who needs the cliches of so many love stories, like a “meet cute” or love at first sight, when the sexual tension between two teens who aren’t really sure what they are for one another makes so much more sense. Not only has the story caught my attention, but I also love the illustrations that grace the front cover and have a feeling that this book will appeal to both guys and girls, which is the whole package for me.

Finally, Michael Northrop‘s Trapped appeals to me for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, it’s a realistic thriller about a bunch of kids who get snowed into their school when no one picks them up during a huge blizzard, which reminds me of many a winter day in Southern Ontario where I grew up and Southern Quebec where I currently live. While I’ve never lived through a snow storm like the detailed in this novel, I have heard some crazy stories, like the Blizzard of ’77, which make it a little close to home and therefore, that much creepier. I’m also pretty stoked that I’ll have another book to read for the Contemps reading challenge, which I’d really love to be able to finish.

So which one of these novels would you like me to read next? Maybe you’ve already read it and are sure that I’ll love it too or maybe you just want to see what I’d say about it before you rush out to purchase a copy yourself. Either way, I think it might be a fun change of pace to get someone else to decide what I ought to read this time, so I can’t wait for your suggestions.

Some book bloggers read a very select number of genres for their site. I focus primarily, as you know, on young adult fiction, but I have really broad reading interests, which means that I love reading books from a variety of genres. Perhaps that is part of the reason that I’m so excited about the wide range of books I was lucky enough to receive for review over the last week, and hopefully, your interest will be peeked for one or more of these novels too. From YA fantasy and Gothic thrillers to historical YA fiction and sci-fi LGBT literature, I’m pretty sure there is just about something for every type of reader this week.

When I was a teen, I was obsessed with prison narratives, like Lorenzo Carcaterra‘s Sleepers and the film The Shawshank Redemption. I can’t really say what it was about these stories that spoke to me so intimately, but they did. Perhaps that why I jumped at the chance to read and review the first three books that arrived in my mailbox recently. The fantasy sequel to Catherine Fisher‘s bestselling Incarceron, called Sapphique. While this two-book series has been getting quite a bit of publicity, in case you haven’t heard of it, the story revolves around a character named Finn, who has been incarcerated in the living prison Incarceron for as long as he can remember. Incarceron is a prison like no other – larger, deeper, and impossible to escape from, or is it? Living in prison is hell under normal circumstances, or so I’m told, but Alexander Gordon Smith‘s trilogy about Furnace Penitentiary is more hellish than any teen could possibly imagine. It’s known as the world’s most secure prison for young offenders, which might be welcome news to the people living nearby this facility, but for Alex, who was convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, the impossibility of escaping anytime in his youth is unthinkable. In Lockdown: Escape From Furnace and Solitary: Escape From Furnace 2, Alex soon discovers that this prison is a place of pure evil, where creatures in gas masks stalk the halls, where giants in black suits drag inmates into the shadows, and where deformed beasts howl from the blood-drenched tunnels below. With a devil mastermind behind everything, Alex teams up with other innocent teens and some cold-blooded killers to do one thing – find a way out alive. Smith’s thrillers and Fisher’s fantasy novels appeal to me, but do they appeal to you?

For those who like sci-fi novels and who want to read about LGBT teens, then perhaps you’ll want to check out Nora Olsen‘s debut novel, The End. When World War Three breaks out, 17-year-old Julia is in Amsterdam and 14-year-old Marly is trapped in a prison for delinquent girls. Using their magic amulets to save themselves and those around them turns out not to be enough because nuclear war threatens the existence of the entire human race. Does anyone else have an amulet? Meeting one another and three other LGBT teens with amulets, these five girls and guys attempt to travel through time with the hopes of saving the world from destruction. Can they do it? Check out this book to see for yourself.

Finally, I love reading historical fiction, so I’m really excited about two 2011 eBooks that I received for review recently. Elizabeth Laird‘s The Betrayal of Maggie Blair takes place in 17th century Scotland, a time where saying the wrong thing can lead to banishment or even worse. Maggie Blair is a 16-year-old girl, who is sentenced to death by hanging after being accused of witchcraft. Escaping to her uncle’s home was supposed to divert disaster, but instead she finds herself bringing trouble to her own family! Maggie must do everything in her power to save her uncle and his family, even if she risks her own life in the process. I’m also really looking forward to Saundra Mitchell‘s The Vesperine, which takes place in 19th century Baltimore. Amelia van den Broek is new to the city and all the charms that it has to offer, but her fun and games is interrupted by disturbing visions that come to her at sunset – visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon people are calling on Amelia to hear prophecies about their futures, but her entire life is threatened by a budding, but forbidden romance with an artist. Mysterious and dark, these historical YA novels have my attention, but do they have yours?

Have you read any of these novels yet? Are you as excited about checking them out as I am? Let me know what you think, so we can squee a little together!

As we get closer and closer to the holiday season, I’m at once getting excited about the new 2011 books that are coming out, but also feeling slightly nostalgic for the 2010 books that I haven’t yet had the chance to read. If I fell like I’m being pulled in multiple directions, then it’s a little ironic that the two books I recently received span the 2010-2011 range. I, for one, can’t wait to check out the two, new Canadian YA novels that have found their way into my mailbox.

First, I received an ARC of Marina Cohen‘s latest YA novel, Mind Gap. I’m really looking forward to reading this book for a couple of reasons. First, I absolutely love Marina’s Red Maple 2011 Award Nominated novel, Ghost Ride, which is a very well put-together Gothic story. Second, from my experience reading GhostRide, I know that the author has a powerful writing style that seamlessly blends real teen issues, like peer pressure, with a chilling tale, so I can only imagine that her latest book, with a 14-year-old boy named Jake, who is caught up in drinking, gambling, and a gang, will have a similarly thrilling plot. Finally, since the plot hinges on a nightmarish situation – he’s on a train heading toward his worst fear and can’t get off – so I have a pretty good feeling that my experience reading Gothic novels will come in handy with MindGap as well, which makes me a very happy reader. I can only imagine that it’ll make you a happy reader too!

Next, I participated in a fun ARC trade with another blogger named Briana from The Book Pixie, which allowed me to receive a copy of Losing Faith by Denise Jaden. Although the book is set in Oregon, the author actually lives just outside of Vancouver, which makes me say – yay Canada! I’ve already started reading this novel about a young teen named Brie, who has just lost her older sister Faith when she falls off a cliff. The unexpected death tears Brie’s world apart because she never understood her fervently religious sister and her parents are becoming increasingly distant. As the initial shock wears off, Brie encounters more questions than closure. Rather than move on, she embarks on a search for answers and uncovers Faith’s role in a dark and twisted religious cult…a cult that now wants Brie as a member. Sound like something you’ll be into reading, too? Oh…and by the way…this is both a debut 2010 novel and is the 21 books that qualify for the Contemps Challenge, so for those of you doing the Debut Author Challenge for 2010 or the Contemps Challenge and are still missing a couple books, LosingFaith could put help you complete them both.

Have you read or been looking forward to these books as much as I have? Let me know what you think, so we can squee in glee together!

Now, you know I love both realistic, contemporary YA and paranormal teen fiction (among many other types of books). Some of them are hard hitting looks at real life issues, while the paranormal ones, well, they’re just a bit of fun for the most part. If you have a penchant for either of these categories of young adult novels, then maybe we can both squee in delight over the three books that I received last week for review. I mean…you wouldn’t leave me just hanging there, squeeing on my own…right?

Over the last year, I’ve head a lot of whispering about Carol Lynch Williams‘ book Glimpse over Twitter and the blog world. However, being a little unsure about reading verse novels, I didn’t quite delve as far into what it was about or into other books that the author had written. Having recently received two of Williams’ other books – The Chosen One and Miles From Ordinary – I’m definitely looking forward to reading these, and maybe eventually, the one that was released this year.

For those who haven’t heard of the books by Williams I received, they break down like as follows: TheChosenOne is a story about 13-year-old Kyra, who’s been raised in an isolated and polygamous community. Her father has three wives, and Kyra has 20 brothers and sisters, but she doesn’t resist their beliefs too much. Only reading a few forbidden books and meeting a boy she hopes could choose as her husband. When the Prophet states that she must become wife number seven to her 60-year-old uncle, she resists with all her might. (Ever since watching parts of the HBO series Big Love, I’ve been interested in polygamous communities, so definitely looking forward to this book). At the same time, I received an ARC copy of Williams’ March 2011 release, MilesFromOrdinary that I have a feeling will garner a lot of attention in the coming year. As with Kyra, this novel follows a 13-year-old girl named Lacey, but that’s where the similarities end. Lacey’s mother has been suffering up till now, but as a new, beautiful summer morning begins, Lacey begins to think that everything is turning around: she’s starting a job at the library and her mom is starting one at the grocery store. On a day that begins with such hope, the hours tick by revealing bad memories and a life that is spinning out of control. If her way with words is as good as I’ve heard, then I’m definitely looking forward to checking out her upcoming release, too.

Finally, while I’ve heard mixed reviews about Alyson Noel‘s previous books in The Immortals Series, the publisher recently sent me the latest book in the series, Night Star. In case you don’t know, this book was just released this month, and it picks up where Dark Flame left off. For those who haven’t yet read this series, it follows the character of Ever Bloom, a 16-year-old girl, whose parents, younger sister, and dog die in a tragic car accident, which causes her to relocate to Laguna Beach, California to live with her aunt. After the accident, Ever is able to see everyone’s auras, hear their thoughts, and know their life stories just by touch. Well, everyone but the dark, sexy, and mysterious Damon. While this isn’t my favorite paranormal series, there parts I do like about it so far.

What about you? Have you heard of any of these standalone novels or The Immortals series? Have you read them, and if you have, what did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts about them and whether you’re as excited as I am about the Carol Lynch Williams novels in particular.

Today is my mom’s birthday. Actually, it’s both my mom’s and my aunt’s birthdays (they’re twins). Like me, they both read a lot, but I’m not sure what they’d think of the latest titles that made their way into my weekly mailbox post. I have a feeling that they might not be as enthused about some of them as I am (and as maybe you are), but I don’t think that means anything about our taste in literature. From paranormal fantasies and new Dystopian worlds to realistic looks at families in a contemporary world, there is certainly a lot of diversity in the books that found their way to me this week. Let’s check them out more closely, shall we.

Like many of you, I love standalone books, but from time to time over the last year, I’ve become really immersed in a new series. Two of the books that I want to talk about today: The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa and Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler are books three and two of their respective series. They’re also part of a series that I’m really looking forward to read, but alas, I haven’t had the chance yet in my busy schedule. Kessler’s new novel is about a girl who uses self harm to relieve some of her emotional pain and becomes one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse (or maybe, in this case, horsewomen?). Rather than picking up exactly where the first novel picks up, it focuses on a new character entirely. In contrast, Kagawa’s series about Meghan, a girl who learns that she’s half faerie, half human in the first novel is the conclusion of a series that has had many North American readers on the edge of their seats throughout 2010. If you’re read the previous books in these series (or these ones), please don’t give any spoilers away – both for my sake and that of my readers who still might be interested in checking out these book – but definitely let us know what team you’re on or how you felt about the series overall.

Throughout 2010, I’ve been reading a wide variety of books, but one genre that has me completely fascinated is Dystopian YA fiction. There is just something about imagining a society that is at once so close and yet so far from our own that has given me a lot of time to think and many hours of pleasure. Perhaps it is for this reason that I’m looking forward to Kate Kacvinsky‘s debut novel, Awaken so much. Read this general synopsis and see if it sounds like something you’d be up for too: it’s the year 2060 and everything – other than a soccer game once in awhile – is done digitally. Kids and adults alike don’t go to work or school: instead they work over the internet. Even dates take place in digitally remastered spaces rather than deal with the potential weather problems. Madie is a little uncomfortable will all of this, but she continues on as normal, until she meets Justin and realizes that she isn’t the only one who prefers to live offline. I for one can’t wait to read this book, but what do you think.

Finally, Bonnie Rozanski recently asked me to take the time to read and review one of her backlist novels that didn’t get as much exposure as it deserved, despite being shortlisted for Foreword’s YA Book of the Year Award in 2008 and receiving a silver medal at the Independent Publishers’ Book Awards the same year. Have I peeked your interest? Then you ought to check out Borderline, which is about a younger version of J.D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield, who feels ignored by his parents because of their obsession with caring for his younger brother with autism. Add in a contemporary setting in which the lakes and rivers have been over fished, the forests are shrinking, and a wolf, and you have a pretty good understanding of what to expect.

Now, I know that I’m looking forward to these books, but what are your thoughts? Have you read any of them already or the other books in the same series? Want to know more about when some of these will be officially released most importantly, have I peaked your interest in checking out one of the books that you haven’t heard of before? Wherever situation you fall into, let me know, because gushing over new books is so much more fun with someone else.

Getting to know those who are different than you is something tricky for people of all ages. Kids have questions they can’t answer and adults don’t want them to ask out of politeness. Adults try to pretend that they don’t notice anything different, even though they clearly do, because they’re trying to be politically correct. And teens, on the other hand, are somewhere in the middle: they still have the questions in their minds, but they’ve been socialized to be polite and PC like their adult counterparts. All of the books in my What’s In My Mailbox? post this week deal with teens, who find themselves close to the other than they’ve ever been, but authors Catherine Ryan Hyde and Rick Yancey deal with the concept in very different ways.

While I’ve never read any novels by Catherine Ryan Hyde, like many people, I have seen the movie adaptation of Pay It Forward, which she wrote back in 2000. When I had the opportunity to receive a copy of Jumpstart The World for review I was intrigued, not only because of her past publications, but also because the story of a young loner named, Elle, sounded really powerful. When Elle moves out of her mom’s place, she moves in next door to Frank: Frank might be older (he’s an adult and she’s a teen) and have a girlfriend, but the more she talks to him, the more she finds herself falling for him. However, Frank is different in a way she never expected – he’s transgender – and when she finds out, it turns her world upside down. I’ve read a few books where the main character is LGBT, but this story about how someone who isn’t comes to terms with their thoughts about the other sounds amazing. I can’t wait to read this one!

Now I said that all of the books that I’m received this week deal with those who are different from the main characters, but they don’t all represent a tender or compassionate portrayal. In fact, Yancey’s novels The Monstrumologist and The Curse Of The Wendigo are in fact two YA horror novels in a series about a doctor in the 1880s, who has made the study of monsters his calling. Nominated for the Michael L Printz Award, the first novel deals with the Anthropophagus, a chilling creature, who’s razor-sharp teeth are in it’s stomach, while the second one is about the Wendigo, a Canadian monster who is known for eating human flesh with an insatiable appetite. Whether it is just to prove their existence or something much different, the orphan apprentice Will Henry and his teacher will be in for some of the scariest monsters imaginable. Can’t wait t check out these spooky and gory stories of Western demons.

Have you read any of these books already? Are you looking forward to checking them out or reading my reviews? Let me know!

Now, I’ve been in Florida since the middle of last week, so I don’t quite know what all of the books that I received in my mailbox last week are. Fortunately for both you and I, however, I did get a look at a few of the new novels that have made their way into my to read pile, and I have to say that I’m looking forward to a couple of novels that aren’t exactly what I usually read for YABookShelf.com. From a novel with a target audience geared toward the male YA readers out there to a historical narrative that will delight both teen and adult readers alike, take a few minutes to check out what this week’s mailbox post has in store for you!

Some of you may have already read books by Tracy Chevalier in general, or the story Remarkable Creatures in particular as it was initially released last year. I haven’t read anything by this author before, but as some of you may know, I love 19th century England, so this fictionalized story about the lives of two historical female figures whetted my reading appetite. It’s the novel of Mary Anning a young woman who has the “eye” for finding the most important fossils in the cliffs near her home, fossils that will put religious fathers on edge, the gossips talking, and the scientists excited about the new evidence of evolution. As a woman, Mary doesn’t find the academic community is very receptive to her interest in scientific inquiry, but she, luckily, does find a great friend in Elizabeth Philpot, who also loves scouring the beaches. While there is some rivalry present between the two women, they ultimately realize that their friendship is their greatest ally in a world that struggles against their inclusion in the wider world. In my opinion, RemarkableCreatures sounds like a fascinating look at the power of female friendship and the burgeoning scientific discoveries of evolution. While these real life women don’t have the same recognition as Charles Darwin, their contribution is invaluable.

While most of the novels I read feature female protagonists, I’m looking forward to checking out Robert Feagan‘s new YA novel for guys. Arctic Thunder is a novel that centers on Mike Watson, one of the members of the winning team in the Alberta Bantam Provincial box lacrosse championships, who finds his celebration is short lived when his father is transferred to Inuvik, Northwest Territories. With temperatures hovering around -30C, larger guys threatening him at every turn, and not a lacrosse ball to be had, Mike is far from happy with the move. However, when he is introduced to traditional arctic sports and the natural athleticism of his new friends, Mike’s dad has a great idea – why don’t they train Mike’s new friends to form an Inuvik lacrosse team?!? I don’t usually read books about sports, but the mixed group of Inuvik lacrosse players and the tournament they play against Mike’s former team reminds me a lot of the excitement I felt watching The Mighty Ducks movies back in the day. And of course, a healthy dose of northern Canadian and aboriginal life doesn’t hurt.

Whether you’ve read either of these books, have heard of them, or are learning about them for the first time, I would love to know what you think about them. Leave a comment to let me know your thoughts. I’m definitely excited about this unusual mailbox post, and I hope that you are too!

Packages arrive for me week after week, and once in awhile I receive a new eBook in my inbox as well. Today is one of those days where the number of books I’ve received isn’t tremendous, but I’m super excited about reading each and every one. Maybe after you read this post, you’ll be excited, too.

Rather than mention them in order of preference, you’re going to hear about these books in the order that they arrived. First, I received a copy of a book that I’ve been compelled to read since I first heard about it and saw the book trailer for it. In fact, it’s not only one of the books with a trailer that I featured a few months ago on my site, but also I think it’s one of the more aesthetically-pleasing ones out there. (Of course that may just be because I’m an illustration lover, but everyone has to have their preferences, right?) If you read my blog regularly, you might know which book I’m referring to, but just in case it’s Holly Cupala‘s Tell Me A Secret as well as a few signed bookmarks (don’t you just love book swag?). I’m sure that most of you have heard of it, but for those of you haven’t, this contemporary YA novel is about Miranda. She’s the younger sister, but her older sister, Xanda, died five years ago, and left many questions for Miranda. However, it isn’t until all of Miranda’s dreams are challenged by two simple lines on a pregnancy test that she has the need to face her own demons and those of her late sister. From what I’ve heard, this debut author has written a very a powerful novel about a girl who must struggle to get past her past to carve out her own future. Sounds like my kind (or at least one of my kind) of book. If it sounds like yours, but you want to get a brief sample, check out the free audiobook podcast as read by the award-winning actor, Jenna Lamia, first.

Next, my email inbox received two eBooks that differ widely from one another, except in one aspect: I’m looking forward to both of them equally. I think I’m one of the few YA reviewers, who hasn’t yet read Lauren Oliver‘s debut novel, Before I Fall (correct me if I’m wrong) and today won’t be the day that changes. What will chance sometime soon is the fact that her second novel, Delirium has managed to find its way into my inbox as an eBook ARC. For those who are unfamiliar with the story, it is similar to Ally Condie‘s Matched in that it’s a Dystopian world in which love is subject to government control. Unlike Matched, however, it isn’t ones perfect match that the government decides. Rather in Delirium, the US government has not only outlawed love, but also they have found a cure for love and the deliria associated with it and have enforced the mandatory cure of all citizens at the age of 18. The problem is that 95 days short of her 18th birthday, Lena does the unthinkable; she falls in love. For those who have become enamored with Dystopian novels, this might just be the next book you pick up when it’s released in February.

Finally, the last book to find it’s way into my inbox last week was Joanna Karaplis‘ debut novel, Fractured: Happily Never After?. I hadn’t heard of it until the author approached me about participating in the blog tour that she was organizing for it, and I’m really glad that she did. This book, which was officially released today, features three fairytale retellings, including ones of Snow And The Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid. However, unlike many of the fantastical reimaginings that I’ve grown accustomed to, Karaplis brings these fairytales into the 21st century and rather than highlighting the happy outcome, these suggest that happily ever after doesn’t exist anymore. Now, are you as excited as I am?

If you’ve read any of these books already or are looking forward to doing so, let me know. I’d be happy to know what you think about the new books that are gracing my bookshelves, virtual and otherwise.