In My Mailbox #34

In My Mailbox is a meme that was started by Kristi from The Story Siren.

I know I haven't done an 'In My Mailbox' post in such a long time and this will probably be the last one (maybe) that I do. Recently, I have asked not to be sent review books anymore from a number of kind donators (err, publishing houses). Just because, it was all getting a bit too much if you know what I mean and I didn't feel right accepting review books during the period when I wasn't really reading a thing. Below are all of the review books that I have accquired as of late and thank you to all of the publishers that have supported my blog!

Review:
-The Queen's Lady by Eve Edwards

-Evermore

-Blue Moon

-Shadowland

-Dark Flame, all by Alyson Noel

-Siren by Tricia Rayburn

-Forsaken by Jana Oliver

-Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

-Jenna and Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin

-Glee: Foreign Exchange by Sophia Lowell

-The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

-My Soul To Take

-My Soul To Save, both by Rachel Vincent

-The Opposite Of Amber by Gillian Philip
-Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

-Uncle Montague's Tales Of Terror

-Tales Of Terror From The Black Ship

-Tales Of Terror From The Tunnel's Mouth, all by Chris Priestley

-The Cursed Ones by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

-Airhead

-Being Nikki

-Runaway, all by Meg Cabot

Netagalley:

-Shine by Lauren Myracle

-The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Guest Post: Julie Kagawa on 'Her Favourite Fey Court'

Thank you to Julie Kagawa for agreeing to the guest post and sharing her thoughts with you today. Also, thank you to Mira Ink Publishers for arranging this post and blog tour!

Hey everyone! Julie Kagawa here. Thanks to The Sweet Bonjour for hosting me today to talk a bit about my first book, The Iron King.

Ever since The Iron King’s release, people have asked me whether I have a favourite faery court. In case you don’t yet know, there are three courts in the Iron Fey series—Summer, Winter, and a new court created by man’s dreams of technology, Iron. I’d like to say they’re all equal in my heart. But to be honest, I love winter. I prefer cold to heat, I like snow, and I think ice is just cool. (Yeah, that was an awful pun, don’t kill me.) So today, I thought I would share a bit of inspiration behind my version of the Winter Court.

I remember an ice storm that came through Kentucky one year. It coated my car in three inches of solid ice and turned everything else into clear, sparkling crystal. I remember the trees, the grass, the leaves, everything, frozen solid under a layer of perfectly clear ice. I thought how beautiful the world was, trapped under crystal, but also how deadly it would be being caught outside in such a storm.

That’s the world of the Winter Court. Breathtakingly beautiful, but colder and more savage then the deadliest ice storm, the nastiest blizzard. To survive the court of Mab, the Unseelie Queen, you must be ruthless, strong, brutal--or at least intelligent enough to outwit those who want to trap or eat you.

And if you have a dark, brooding faery prince on your side, that doesn’t hurt, either!

I hope you enjoy The Iron King!

-Julie

Beautiful Chaos Cover Reveal

It's finally here. The third insatallment of the Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl has finally been named and the cover, unveiled. The third novel in the best-selling series is called 'Beautiful Chaos' and this is what Kami has said about the significance of it: "When you read the book, I think [the title] will be really obvious". Now, feast your eyes on the artwork that was released today at 3pm EST:

Whattaya think guys? I had a feeling the text would be gold or pink. I think this is my favourite cover of the bunch just after Beautiful Darkness; I just loved that blue!

Review: Withering Tights by Louise Rennison

Title: Withering Tights

Author: Louise Rennison

Published: HarperCollins (July 8th 2010)

No. of Pages: 320

Grade Rating: B+

Hilarious new series from Queen of Teen – laugh your tights off at the (VERY) amateur dramatic antics of Talullah and her bonkers mates. Boys, snogging and bad acting guaranteed!

Picture the scene: Dother Hall performing arts college somewhere Up North, surrounded by rolling dales, bearded cheesemaking villagers (male and female) and wildlife of the squirrely-type. On the whole, it’s not quite the showbiz experience Tallulah was expecting… but once her mates turn up and they start their ‘FAME! I’m gonna liiiiive foreeeeeever, I’m gonna fill my tiiiiights’ summer course things are bound to perk up. Especially when the boys arrive. (When DO the boys arrive?) Six weeks of parent-free freedom. BOY freedom. Freedom of expression… cos it’s the THEATRE dahling, theatre!!

Okay, well..erm, where to start? Withering Tights is the newest novel by one of the most popular writers for teenagers, Louise Rennison. Having not read any of the Confessions books, I cannot compare her latest series to her last. However, I will carry on with this series, even if there are thirty-five books collectively, because they are hilarious, hoot-filled and highly entertaining!

This isn’t the type of book that can be picked apart and analysed. This is the type of book that someone might read to pass the time in wacky, funny and slightly bonkers way. The content of this book is just, for lack of a better word, bizarre. It is a memorable, tumultuous account of a nutty girl and her quest for the bright lights of fame! Throughout the book, I never really came across a plot line but I’m sure that’s the point of the entire novel. It is up and down and all over the place; throwing together snogging with singing, dancing and doughnut-eating.

As I’ve said before, Withering Tights is really odd, layered with quirks. Although at times it is perfectly funny, other times it just embraces its zaniness and the punch line of a ‘joke’ isn’t really delivered very well. It’s just so abnormal, it begins to lose its funniness and you begin to wish that Tallulah would speak some English for a page or two. Saying this, there is a fun, little glossary in the back of the book explaining what some of Tallulah’s bizarre vocabulary actually means.

Sometimes, Withering Tights was shake-the-book-whilst-on-the-brink-of-tears funny, eccentric and very, very engaging but at others it was too abnormal whilst also being far too normal (regarding Tallulah’s supposed ‘bonkers-mates’ who were actually quite bland and far from unusual) but nevertheless, it is still super-fun and very entertaining!

The video below actually has a hilarious reference in the book and can be considered Withering Tights' soundtrack so, enjoy!