This is how The Winner's Curse showed up at my house. How amazingly cool is that packaging?!
It really is cool-looking. I am never throwing it away.
Gifted:
The Outside by Laura Bickle ARC (The Hallowed Ones #2) --- both from the awesome Ashleigh at the YA Kitten
Sent:
Gifted:
Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman (Noughts and Crosses #1) -- from Ellis at the Random Transliterator
Bought:
eBook Buys:
Also Known As by Robin Benway (Also Known As #1)
Being a 16-year-old
safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its
moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving
adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never
staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for
Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school
and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple
locker combinations.
Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New
York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need
to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's
security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to
gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all
while trying not to blow her cover.
So I had an ARC of this but it expired and I went on my way. And then Going Rogue came out and everyone loved it. So, I bought this and got an ARC of the second. Woo!
The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams (Shadow Reader #!)
There can only be one allegiance.
It’s her time to choose.
Some
humans can see the fae. McKenzie Lewis can track them, reading the
shadows they leave behind. But some shadows lead to danger. Others lead
to lies.
A Houston college student trying to finish her degree,
McKenzie has been working for the fae king for years, tracking vicious
rebels who would claim the Realm. Her job isn’t her only secret. For
just as long, she’s been in love with Kyol, the king’s sword-master—and
relationships between humans and fae are forbidden.
But any hope
for a normal life is shattered when she’s captured by Aren, the fierce
and uncompromising rebel leader. He teaches her the forbidden fae
language and tells her dark truths about the Court, all to persuade her
to turn against the king. Time is running out, and as the fight starts
to claim human lives, McKenzie has no choice but to decide once and for
all whom to trust and where she ultimately stands in the face of a
cataclysmic civil war.
I've had my eye on this for years, since it came out in 2011. Wendy Darling 5-starred it and that's enough to make me buy it when it's the Kindle Daily Deal.
The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart by Leanna Renee Hieber
(Magic Most Foul #2)
For Natalie Stewart, a
normal life has never seemed so far away. Her only solace, Lord Jonathan
Denbury, is wanted for murder. To clear his name, Denbury must return
to England and assume the role of his demon doppelganger.
But
Natalie begins to doubt his true motives, especially as a new gentleman
begins whispering in her ear. Natalie and Denbury may be able to visit
each other in their dreams, but they can’t escape the darkening shadows.
Amid
spontaneous explosions, friends turned enemies and dangerous secrets
revealed, there’s still a demon who has Natalie’s scent, and someone is
trying to resurrect the ultimate evil.
I was a big fan of Darker Still, but this series had fallen off my radar. Once I was offered an ARC of the third book (The Double Life of Incorporate Things) I ran out and bought this ebook. Also -- look closely at this cover. Isn't it fabulous?
The Tattered Banner by Duncan M. Hamilton (Society of the Sword #1)
Unique talent always attracts attention…
In
a world where magic is outlawed, ability with a sword is prized above
all else. For Soren this means the chance to live out his dreams.
Plucked
from a life of privation, he is given a coveted place at Ostenheim’s
Academy of Swordsmanship, an opportunity beyond belief.
Opportunity
is not always what it seems however, and gifts rarely come without
conditions. Soren becomes an unwitting pawn in a game of intrigue and
treachery that could cost him not just his dreams, but also his life.
I honestly know nothing about this, but it popped up on a lot of best-of-year-fantasy lists. As a huge fantasy nerd, that was enough to convince me.
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson #1)
Angus: My mixed-breed
cat, half domestic tabby, half Scottish wildcat. The size of a small
Labrador, only mad. Likes to stalk Mr. and Mrs. Next Door's poodle. I
used to drag him around on a lead, but, as I explained to Mrs. Next
Door, he ate it.
Thongs: Stupid underwear worn by old Swotty
Knickers, Lindsay. What's the point of them, anyway? They just go up
your bum, as far as I can tell.
Full-Frontal Snogging: Kissing
with the trimmings, lip to lip, open mouth, tongues...everything (apart
from dribble, which is never acceptable). As taught to me by a
professional snogger.
In this wildly funny journal of a year in
the life of Georgia Nicolson, British author Louise Rennison has
perfectly captured the soaring joys and bottomless angst if being a
teenager. In the spirit of "Bridget Jones' Diary," this fresh,
irreverent, and simply hilarious book will leave you laughing out loud.
As Georgia would say, it's "fabbity fab fab!"
Ellis made me. Okay, she didn't, but her love for this series convinces me. It sounds fantastic and if I am reading Noughts & Crosses, I am going to need some lighter fare to stop the tears.
Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon (Kingdom of Xia #1)
No one wanted Ai Ling.
And deep down she is relieved—despite the dishonor she has brought upon
her family—to be unbetrothed and free, not some stranger's subservient
bride banished to the inner quarters.
But now, something is
after her. Something terrifying—a force she cannot comprehend. And as
pieces of the puzzle start to fit together, Ai Ling begins to understand
that her journey to the Palace of Fragrant Dreams isn't only a quest to
find her beloved father but a venture with stakes larger than she could
have imagined.
Bravery, intelligence, the will to fight and
fight hard . . . she will need all of these things. Just as she will
need the new and mysterious power growing within her. She will also need
help.
It is Chen Yong who finds her partly submerged and
barely breathing at the edge of a deep lake. There is something of
unspeakable evil trying to drag her under. On a quest of his own, Chen
Yong offers that help . . . and perhaps more.
First: ASIAN FICTION YES. Second: amazing cover. Third: I need to read this asap.
That's it for me. Christmas is in two days, and I hope I have some new books or giftcards on the way!
Merry Christmas! I hope it's wonderful for everyone!
