In My Mailbox (#28)

Summary:

Trenton, New Jersey-based bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is the all-American girls stuck in an uncomfortable job, succeeding on luck and tenacity. On her current most-wanted list: Martin Munch, a man whose body hasn’t made it out of the boys’ department at Macy’s but whose larger-than-life brain is the means to his business partner’s murderous ends.

Usually Stephanie gets her man. This time, she gets Diesel, a bounty hunter whose special skills include tracking men and pleasing women. Now it’s up to Stephanie and Diesel to hunt down Munch through the Pine Barrens and face the legendary Jersey Devil – prowling above the treetops in the dark of night – and find a way to survive cranberry dogs, sand in their underwear, too many moneys to count… and, of course, each other.

Lonely Werewolf Girl

Martin Miller (Piatkus)

Publication Date: 4 March 2010

Paperback: 599 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Amazon Summary:

As teenage werewolf Kalix MacRinnalch is pursued through the streets of London by murderous hunters, her sister, the Werewolf Enchantress, is busy designing clothes for the Fire Queen. Meanwhile, in the Scottish Highlands, the MacRinnalch Clan is plotting and feuding after the head of the clan suddenly dies intestate.

As the court intrigue threatens to explode in all-out civil war, the competing factions determine that Kalix is the swing vote necessary to assume leadership of the clan. Unfortunately, Kalix isn’t really into clan politics – laudanum’s more her thing. But what’s even more unfortunate is that Kalix is the reason the head of the clan ended up dead, which is why she’s now on the run in London …

Divine by Mistake

P. C. Cast (MIRA)

Publication Date: Feb 2010

Paperback: 571 pages

Genre: Fantasy

Goodreads Summary:

The most excitement teacher Shannon Parker expected on her summer vacation was a little shopping. But then her latest purchase–a vase with the Celtic goddess Epona on it–somehow switches her into the world of Partholon, where she’s treated like a goddess. A very temperamental goddess…

It seems that Shannon has stepped into another’s role as the Goddess Incarnate of Epona. And while it has some very appealing moments–what woman doesn’t like a little pampering now and then?–it also comes with a ritual marriage to a centaur and the threat of war against the evil Fomorians. Oh, and everyone disliking her because they think she’s her double. Somehow Shannon needs to figure out how to get back to Oklahoma without being killed, married to a horse or losing her mind…

Dark Life

Kat Falls (Simon & Schuster)

Publication Date: 29 April 2010

ARC: 297 pages

Genre: Apocalyptic, Science Fiction

Tags: Young Adult

Amazon Summary:

Ty has lived under the ocean for his entire life. Following global warming and the rise of the seas, his family joined an underwater community in hopes of living in the new frontier of the ocean floor. But When Ty meets Gemma, a girl from “topside”, who is searching the seas for her brother, she quickly makes his life very complicated. Together Ty and Gemma face dangerous sea creatures and venture into the frontier town’s rough underworld as they search for her missing brother.

But the deeper they dig, the more attention they attract, and soon Ty and Gemma find themselves being hunted by a gang of outlaws who roam the underwater territories causing havoc, and who seem to have eerie abilities. But Ty has a secret of his own, living underwater for his entire life has meant he has also developed a “special” power. Can he keep it a secret from Gemma and his family or is it time for him to finally tell everyone the truth?

Vampirates: Empire of Night

Justin Somper (Simon & Schuster)

Publication Date: 4 March 2010

Paperback: 376 pages

Genre: Fantasy

Tags: Young Adult

Press Release:

Sidorio, fuelled by grief and revenge, is intent on becoming King of the Vampirates and building a new empire to bring terror to the oceans. He faces growing opposition from both the Pirate Federation, including Vampirate Assassin Cheng Li, and the Nocturnals – the more benign vampirate realm – led by Mosh Zu and Lorcan Furey. Both the pirates and the Nocturnals are forced to raise their game in response to the new and urgent threat from Sidorio and the renegade Vampirates.

Twins Grace and Connor Tempest, still ricocheting from the recent discovery of their true parenthood and its explosive implications, are thrust deep into the heart of the conflict. Old foes and allies are thrown together in unexpected ways and, as the stakes rise higher than ever before, Grace and Connor find their alliances shifting in ways no-one could ever have possibly foreseen…

Farlander

Col Buchanan (TOR)

Publication Date: March 2010

Hardback: 388 pages

Genre: Fantasy

Amazon Summary:

The Heart of the World is a land in strife. For fifty years the Holy Empire of Mann, an empire and religion born from a nihilistic urban cult, has been conquering nation after nation. Their leader, Holy Matriarch Sasheen, ruthlessly maintains control through her Diplomats, priests trained as subtle predators. The Mercian Free Ports are the only confederacy yet to fall. Their only land link to the southern continent, a long and narrow isthmus, is protected by the city of Bar-Khos. For ten years now, the great southern walls of Bar-Khos have been besieged by the Imperial Fourth Army.

Ash is a member of an elite group of assassins, the Rōshun – who offer protection through the threat of vendetta. Forced by his ailing health to take on an apprentice, he chooses Nico, a young man living in the besieged city of Bar-Khos. At the time, Nico is hungry, desperate, and alone in a city that finds itself teetering on the brink. When the Holy Matriarch’s son deliberately murders a woman under the protection of the Rōshun; he forces the sect to seek his life in retribution. As Ash and his young apprentice set out to fulfil the Rōshun orders – their journey takes them into the heart of the conflict between the Empire and the Free Ports… into bloodshed and death.

Perfect Chemistry

Simone Elkeles (Simon & Schuster)

Publication Date: 1 April 2010

Paperback: 357 pages

Genre: Romance

Tags: Young Adult

Goodreads Summary:

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she’s worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect.

Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more. In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

Uglies

Scott Westerfeld (Simon & Schuster)

Publication Date: 4 March 2010

Paperback: 425 pages

Genre: Science Fiction

Tags: Young Adult

Amazon Summary:

Tally lives in a world where your sixteenth birthday brings aesthetic perfection: an operation which erases all your flaws, transforming you from an ‘Ugly’ into a ‘Pretty’. She is on the eve of this important event, and cannot wait for her life to change. As well as guaranteeing supermodel looks, life as a Pretty seems to revolve around having a good time. But then she meets Shay, who is also fifteen – but with a very different outlook on life. Shay isn’t sure she wants to be Pretty and plans to escape to a community in the forest – the Rusty Ruins – where Uglies go to escape ‘ turning’.

Tally won’t be persuaded to join her, as this would involve sacrificing everything she’s ever wanted for a lot of uncertainty. When she is taken in for questioning on her birthday, however, Tally gets sent to the Ruins anyway – against her will. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she could ever imagine: find her friend Shay and turn her in, or never turn Pretty at all. What she discovers in the Ruins reveals that there is nothing ‘pretty’ about the transformations…And the choice Tally makes will change her world forever.

Pretties

Scott Westerfeld (Simon & Schuster)

Publication Date: 4 March 2010

Paperback: 370 pages

Genre: Science Fiction

Tags: Young Adult

Amazon Summary:

Tally has finally become ‘pretty’. Her looks are beyond perfect, her clothes are cool, her boyfriend is totally gorgeous, and she’s completely popular. It’s everything she’s ever wanted. But beneath all the fun – the non-stop parties, the high-tech luxury, the total freedom – is a nagging feeling that something is very wrong. Something important. And sure enough, when a message from Tally’s ‘ugly’ past arrives, the fun stops cold. Now Tally has to choose between fighting to forget what she knows and fighting for her life…

Specials

Scott Westerfeld (Simon & Schuster)

Publication Date: 4 March 2010

Paperback: 372 pages

Genre: Science Fiction

Tags: Young Adult

Press Release:

“Special Circumstances” – These words have sent chills down Tally’s spine since her days as a rebellious Ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumour – frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally’s never been ordinary…Now she’s been turned into one of them: a superamped fighting machine, engineered to keep the Uglies down and the Pretties stupid.

The strength, the speed, and the clarity and focus of her thinking feel better than anything Tally can remember…most of the time. One tiny corner of her heart still remembers something more. Still, it’s easy to tune that out – until Tally’s offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: carry out the mission she’s programmed to complete, or listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat telling her that something’s wrong…Either way, Tally’s world will never be the same.

Fearless Fourteen (Stephanie Plum)

Janet Evanovich (Headline Review)

Publication Date: 11 June 2009

Paperback: 372 pages

Genre: Mystery

Goodreads Summary:

Personal vendettas, hidden treasure, and a monkey named Carl will send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most explosive adventure yet.

The Crime: Armed robbery to the tune of nine million dollars

Dom Rizzi robbed a bank, stashed the money, and did the time. His family couldn’t be more proud. He always was the smart one.

The Cousin: Joe Morelli

Joe Morelli, Dom Rizzi, and Dom’s sister, Loretta, are cousins. Morelli is a cop, Rizzi robs banks, and Loretta is a single mother waiting tables at the firehouse. The all-American family.

The Complications: Murder, kidnapping, destruction of personal property, and acid reflux

Less than a week after Dom’s release from prison, Joe Morelli has shadowy figures breaking into his house and dying in his basement. He’s getting threatening messages, Loretta is kidnapped, and Dom is missing.

The Catastrophe: Moonman

Morelli hires Walter “Mooner” Dunphy, stoner and “inventor” turned crime fighter, to protect his house. Morelli can’t afford a lot on a cop’s salary, and Mooner will work for potatoes.

The Cupcake: Stephanie Plum

Stephanie and Morelli have a long-standing relationship that involves sex, affection, and driving each other nuts. She’s a bond enforcement agent with more luck than talent, and she’s involved in this bank-robbery-gone-bad disaster from day one.

The Crisis: A favor for Ranger

Security expert Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, has a job for Stephanie that will involve night work. Morelli has his own ideas regarding Stephanie’s evening activities.

The Conclusion: Only the fearless should read Fourteen.

Thrills, chills, and incontinence may result.

The Bricklayer

Noah Boyd (William Morrow)

Publication Date: Feb 2010

ARC: 390 pages

Genre: Crime/Thriller

Press Release:

To the suits at the Bureau, Steve Vail has always been defiant. Rebellious. Insubordinate. But he’s also the best street agent – the guy really solves crimes – they ever fired. The kind of guy who bit off his nose to spite his face so many times he actually liked the taste. The kind of guy who’d rather be fired than see a cop killer walk. The kind of guy to call when the rules have suddenly become obstacles. When killers play an escalating game of extortion and murder, the Bureau needs what only Vail can do. But this time, they will have to play by his rules…

Blue Bloods

Melissa de la Cruz (Atom)

Publication Date: 4 March 2010

Paperback: 302 pages

Genre: Fantasy

Tags: Young Adult