In my mailbox was started by The Story Siren and is a list of what you received in books over the past week either through the mail, library, or a bookstore.

The received:

Summary from Amazon:
Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother’s secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl’s journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love.

They say no land remains to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me. I want to do things-I want to walk the rain-soaked streets of London, and drink mint tea in Casablanca. I want to wander the wastelands of the Gobi desert and see a yak. I think my life’s ambition is to see a yak. I want to bargain for trinkets in an Arab market in some distant, dusty land. There’s so much. But, most of all, I want to do things that will mean something.

— From A MAP OF THE KNOWN WORLD.

I actually received two copies of this so be on the lookout for a contest!

Summary from Amazon:
Alexis thought she led a typically dysfunctional high school existence. Dysfunctional like her parents’ marriage; her doll-crazy twelve-year-old sister, Kasey; and even her own anti-social, anti-cheerleader attitude.

When a family fight results in some tearful sisterly bonding, Alexis realizes that her life is creeping from dysfunction into danger. Kasey is acting stranger than ever: her blue eyes go green sometimes; she uses old-fashioned language; and she even loses track of chunks of time, claiming to know nothing about her strange behavior. Their old house is changing, too. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in.

Alexis wants to think that it’s all in her head, but soon, what she liked to think of as silly parlor tricks are becoming life-threatening–to her, her family, and to her budding relationship with the class president. Alexis knows she’s the only person who can stop Kasey — but what if that green-eyed girl isn’t even Kasey anymore?

This book looks amazing and I cannot wait to read it!

Summary from Amazon:
James Hoff likes to rant against America’s consumerist culture. He also likes to rant against his ex-girlfriend, Sadie, who he feels isn’t doing enough to change the world. But just like he can’t avoid buying things, he also can’t avoid Sadie for long. This is a fantastic, funny, sexy, cool masterpiece from one of the best YA writers at work today, an anti-consumerist love story that’s all about idealism, in both James’s relationship with the world and his relationships with the people around him.

I had never heard of this book before I got it but it looks like it might be cute.

Summary from Goodreads:
All her world’s a stage.
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She is not an orphan, but she has no parents.
She knows every part, but has no lines of her own.
Until now.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every place ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Sadly the ARC doesn’t have the pretty cover but it still sounds like it is going to be a great debut novel!

Summary from Goodreads:
Marcelo Sandoval hears music that nobody else can hear – part of an autism-like condition that no doctor has been able to identify. But his father has never fully believed in the music or Marcelo’s differences, and he challenges Marcelo to work in the mailroom of his law firm for the summer…to join “the real world.”

There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm. He learns about competition and jealousy, anger and desire. But it’s a picture he finds in a file – a picture of a girl with half a face – that truly connects him with the real world: its suffering, its injustice, and what he can do to fight.

Once again I hadn’t heard of this book before I got it but I read an excerpt and it sounds really interesting. I like reading books with some different subject matter.

Summary from Goodreads:
Emily is ready for a change. She’s been in the same town with the same friends for a long time…and none of them really understand her art. But when she goes to Philadelphia for a summer art institute, she suddenly finds like-minded people. One in particular, Fiona, intrigues and challenges her. But there are some things Emily is going to have to find out for herself — like what the balance is between life and art, and which is more important when push comes to shove.

This is actually a signed ARC and I was amazed when I got it. I had no clue it was even coming.

Summary from Amazon:
Twisted Sisters’s Aspen Brooks can’t catch a break—even during spring break…

Aspen Brooks trades in sand between her toes for shopping on The Strip when she agrees to go to Las Vegas for spring break with her boyfriend, Rand, her bff, Angel, and Angel’s bf, Lucas. Their hotel is hosting the Miss Teen Queen Pageant and surgically enhanced beauty contestants are everywhere. But when Miss Illinois goes AWOL, it’s up to Aspen to represent her home state and find out what’s really going on. Even if it means putting down the suntan lotion and ignoring Angel’s meltdown over breaking up with Lucas…

I haven’t actually read the first two in the series so I am gonna have to read those before I read this one but they all sound really good.

Summary from Amazon:
Eff was born a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son. This means he’s supposed to possess amazing talent — and she’s supposed to bring only bad things to her family and her town. Undeterred, her family moves to the frontier, where her father will be a professor of magic at a school perilously close to the magical divide that separates settlers from the beasts of the wild.

With wit and wonder, Patricia Wrede creates an alternate history of westward expansion that will delight fans of both J. K. Rowling and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Sounds like a very interesting story. I love any books about magic so hopefully this one won’t disappoint me.

Summary from L. Diane Wolfe’s website:
No awards for second best…

A student at Georgia Tech, Sarah Martin is bold, intelligent, and appears destined for a career in biochemistry. But her poor self-image has been masked by behavior unbecoming to a young lady brought up in an affluent Southern family. Estranged from her father, envious of her best friend’s perfect life, Sarah feels inadequate and unable to measure up to expectations.

When a friendship suddenly turns romantic, Sarah questions herself even more. A future NFL receiver, Matt’s joyful spirit and social status appear beyond her reach. Yet beneath his eager smile and playboy antics lies a young man hiding in shadows and desperate to trust again.

Faced with challenges, they must help each other come to terms with past disappointments before insecurities and doubt threaten to sabotage their future.

I think I am really going to like this one. I just love inspirational romance type stories.

Contest Books:
The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott
Daughter of the Flames by Zoe Marriott
Enna Burning by Shannon Hale
Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
Shadow Web by N.M. Browne
The Other Wind by Ursula LeGuin

So, there are the books I got this week. What do you think I should read first?