In My Mailbox #43 + A new book blog introduction!

Before I reveal which books I got this week, I want to invite you all to check out a new book blog on the block - it's called This Miss Loves to Read and the girl behind it is my friend from Uni/college, a fellow bookworm. :) She's now the first and only book blogger I know in real life (not surprising since she and I live pretty much in the Middle of Nowhere) and she's one of the few people I can discuss books with in real life. Then I got myself this blog and I started telling her how amazing the book blogosphere is and totally nagging her about how she should start her own book blog too since she reads a lot - and she finally did, yay!
So do go visit and follow her - she's already posted a whole bunch of awesome reviews, ranging from YA to paranormal to historical to classics and so much more (Twilight Saga, Fallen, The Book Thief, The Musician's Daughter, Wuthering Heights, The Luxe, The Collector, The Phantom of the Opera etc.)
I think her comments aren't working properly at the moment, but I'm sure she'll fix that soon. You can still follow her blog (she just got herself a pretty new layout, yay) or on Twitter. :)

Anyway, moving on to IMM! I'm happy to say that I've had an amazing book week, woohoo!

Firstly, here are the books I got for review:

• THE CASTAWAYS by Elin Hilderbrand - Another surprise from Hodder! I haven't heard of this before, but it sounds and looks good, and rather intriguing too!
• PIECES OF SKY by Kiki Warner - I've been waiting for this one for quite a while. It's actually a western (as in cowboys etc.) romance story, quite unlike everything I've read before so I can't wait to see what I think of it.
• A RELUCTANT CINDERELLA by Alison Bond - Yaaaaay, I've been looking forward to this one for ages and I even did a WOW post on it months ago! I was so happy when it arrived and I cannot wait to read it!

I also bought a few books (shocking, innit :p):

• HEART OF THE MATTER by Emily Giffin - I pre-ordered it a while ago and it arrived pretty much on the release date, heh. I've read two other books by Emily Giffin (Baby Proof & Love the One You're With) and loved them so I'm expecting great things from this one too! I've read the first chapter and it was fantastic, I'd totally read the whole thing in one sitting if I had the time, which I sadly really don't, argh!
• THE FINISHING TOUCHES by Hester Browne - Other chick lit blogs have been buzzing about this book for months and I just couldn't resist it, it's too cute!
• NO GREATER LOVE by Danielle Steel - This one was recommended to me by the awesome Juju @ Tales of Whimsy since we both enjoy Titanic-related books. I ordered it straight away - thanks for the rec, Juju! :)
• INFINITY by Sarah Dessen -This little book thingy is a major RIP OFF! The description online is really vague and since it's only about 100 pages long, I thought it was a novella or something, cool. Imagine my surprise when this book arrived and I opened it and I saw that it contains a short story called Infinity (30 pages) and then two excerpts, one from Just Listen and the other from That Summer, each 30 pages long with huge font and like double spacing. If I hadn't pre-ordered it for like 2 €, I would totally demand my money back. I mean, who wants excerpts in a book?! No one, especially not for 3.99 GBP! Just thought I'd warn anyone who might be considering getting this book. ;)

Right, that's it from me - can't wait to see what you all got!
Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

ps: Don't forget, there are only a few hours left to enter my contest to win a copy of Spotlight or The Making of Mia by Ilana Fox!

The new UK Sarah Dessen cover!

Sarah Dessen's last book Along for the Ride (read my review here) comes out in the UK in February 2010 and the cover has already been revealed - it's absolutely gorgeous (on the left)!

The UK cover vs. the US cover - which one gets your vote? :)

I must admit I've been sort of unsure about the previous UK Dessen covers - not saying they're bad, I think they're quite clever and lovely, but somehow the US covers seem to fit the books better methinks. However, I'd have quite a hard time deciding in this case as both covers are absolutely gorgeous, buuuut I think (not completely sure) that I'd still have to go with the US cover (fell in love with it months ago). What I like about the UK covers though is that the drawings on the cover consist of little things and words that are meaningful to the story - click the left picture above to enlarge and see for yourself!

Review: JUST LISTEN by Sarah Dessen ****

"Last year, Annabel was "the girl who had everything" — at least that’s the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf ’s Department Store. This year, she’s the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong. Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling. With Owen’s help, maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.
In this multi-layered, impossible-to-put-down book, Sarah Dessen tells the story of a year in the life of a family coming to terms with the imperfections beneath its perfect facade."

This is my second Sarah Dessen book and I won't do the whole summary thing for this one because the description above sums it up really nicely and there are no particular plot twists or anything.

I was really excited to read this one - there was just something about the story that seemed really appealing and even though I wasn't completely blown away in the end, I still really enjoyed reading this book!

My favourite thing about Just Listen was probably the writing itself. Ms Dessen just writes so beautifully and fittingly that you just can't stop reading, even when there's little going on, the writing just won't let you go out of its grip! I'm also very keen on her use of symbolism, which is everywhere really and sometimes it's perhaps a bit clicé, but overall I think her symbolism is quite beautiful.

I can't fault the author's characterization either! I found the characters in both of her books I've read really well developed. In this book, pretty much everyone was transformed in one way or another by the end and I like how this process is usually quite subtle and believable for everyone.
I didn't really have a favourite character in this novel, I quite liked everyone actually (except Sophie). The Greene family has a fair share of flaws and problems, but I still thought they were a lovely, warm family and far less dysfunctional than I would've expected. I liked how the parents were so caring and I enjoyed reading about the relationship between the three sisters - the final reading scene may have even provoked a smile and a tear from me, heh. All in all, this family was possibly one of my favourite fictional families ever.
I also enjoyed reading about the relationship between Annabel and Owen - I especially liked the whole "no lies" policy that Annabel adopted from Owen. Speaking of whom, even though Owen comes across as slightly irritating at times with all his music snobbery (pot kettle black - I was so there a few years ago), but I couldn't not like him. I admired his honesty and his passion for music and despite all his flaws, he just seemed like such a great guy. All in all, I though the relationship between Annabel and Owen was great and I really liked how it ended.

Even though there are plenty of lovely and happy scenes in this novel, it also tackles some more serious and dark issues, such as friendship betrayal, loss of innocence, family issues, growing up, abuse, anorexia, anger etc., but I thought they were dealt with well - all these subplots really worked within the story and weren't used just for sensationalism but actually thought out properly.

Overall, it's a great book and I can definitely see why Sarah Dessen is so popular - her books are simply wonderful and enjoyable; I'll definitely be reading more by her!

overall rating: 4/5
plot: 4/5 | writing: 5/5 | characters: 5/5 | cover: 3/5

In My Mailbox #6

IMM is a weekly feature meant for posting pics of the books we've received over the week. It was started by The Story Siren.

Ooh, I've received some fantastic books in the past week!


Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
Johnny Be Good by Paige Toon
Chasing Daisy by Paige Toon
Cents and Sensibility by Maggie Alderson
Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Yep, lots of Sarah Dessen books - I decided to buy them after reading Along for the Ride a while ago. I loved that book and it really gave me this urge to read the rest of Ms Dessen's works too!
Even though I wasn't blown away by Lucy in the Sky, I decided to buy Ms Toon's other two books too, mostly because the covers are gooooorgeous!
As for the other two books - they just seemed interesting so I ordered them, woo.

Hope everyone else acquired some fantastic books too! :)

Review: ALONG FOR THE RIDE by Sarah Dessen ****

"It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.
A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.
In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect."

(summary)

This was my first Sarah Dessen book and I admit I order it mostly because I fell head over heels in love with the cute cover. I wasn't too keen on the plot, but since everyone and their monkey is praising Ms Dessen, I thought I'd give her a try too. The result? I fell right under the Dessen spell, of course!

Judging by the cover and the description, this is such a summery book so I thought now was the perfect time to read it. It's been ages since I've read a proper YA novel and it felt kind of strange at first, but then I started to enjoy it - it was sort of nice to be reminded of what it's like to be 18 again (even though I don't miss those times at all), hehe.

The plot wasn't too mind blowing, but I enjoyed it anyway and I did find the book quite hard to put down as it was really well written - the narrative voice was typically teenagery, but the narration was still beautiful (slightly melancholy) and I liked that combination, it was perfect for the book. I really liked the main character, but all the side characters were great too. I didn't favour anyone in particular, but I thought they were all well crafted and had dymension.

This is YA fiction at its best and I can hardly fault this wonderful and well-written story of friendship, first love, divorce, death, coping with a newborn etc - I could've easily rated it 5/5, but it didn't completely blow me away on the personal level (totally subjective, whereas objectively it's excellent).

Ms Dessen is adored by her fans (just check the ratings of her books on Amazon!) and I'm really glad I've finally given her a chance. I'd really recommend Ms Dessen to anyone looking for a great YA read and I'll be definitely reading more of her books - next up I'm planning to order Just Listen and The Truth about Forever and I'm also tempted to read This Lullaby and Dreamland (which appears to be really hard to get in Europe?). They all sound great and I'm awfully excited to read them!!!

Lastly, click here and here to see Ms Dessen introduce the book and read an excerpt from it.

overall rating: 4/5
plot: 4/5 | writing: 5/5 | characters: 4/5 | cover: 5/5

ps: Oh, no IMM post from me this week because I've only received a couple of the books with several still on the way so I thought I'd just post them all next week.