In My Mailbox (17)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, and inspired by her friend, Alea of Pop Culture Junkie. It's a way to share the books that you've received over the past week. They could come from the bookstore, the library, a friend, your mailbox or wherever. It gives us all a chance to showcase the books that we've gotten, and maybe give others an idea for the book they want to read or buy next. :)

For Review:

First Day on Earth by Cecil Castellucci (from Scholastic Canada - unsolicited)
iBoy by Kevin Brooks (from Scholastic Canada - unsolicited)
Practice Cake by Dalya Moon (from Author)
Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand (Netgalley)
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (Netgalley)
The Taming by Teresa Toten and Eric Walters (Netgalley)


Thanks for Scholastic Canada, Dayla Moon, and Netgalley this week for providing me with some awesome review copies. :) I'm most excited for Hallowed, although with how busy school has been and will be in the next bit, I probably won't get the chance to read it for a while, but I have an egalley when I have time at least. :D

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Library:

That Summer by Sarah Dessen
Love on Cue by Catherine Hapka
by Wendy Toliver
At First Sight by Catherine Hapka

I had to take back some library books and pick up That Summer, and I couldn't resist some of these Simon and Schuster mass market romances when I saw them on the YA shelf. haha I've already read At First Sight, and it was cute, I liked it. :) I like these because they're quick reads and that's really nice to have when you don't have too much spare time to read. :P And this is the last Sarah Dessen that I had on hold for the time being, so I've got 2 more to read, and then I'll have to order in the rest of her books that I haven't read yet. :P Which I may do one at a time because they don't have hold lists, don't want them all showing up at once. :P

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Bought for Kindle:

Utterly Charming (Fates #1) by Kristine Grayson
So Now You're a Zombie: A Handbook for the Newly Undead by John Austin

I bought a mass market paperback of one of Kristine Grayson's Fates books, and got it on Kindle while it was free too, and when I saw Utterly Charming on sale, I couldn't resist buying it for my Kindle...same goes with this Zombie handbook. It was the daily Kindle deal the other day, and I figured why not. :P

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Thanks again to Scholastic Canada, Dayla Moon, and Netgalley! :D
I had a good mail week. I didn't get much reading done this week though because I was swamped with a few bigger school assignments. I had a 2000-word essay to write on Miley Cyrus for my Music 103 class, and an explication...which takes a lot of analysis and thought. After both of them I was kind of worn out, and I have a midterm next week, and plan on writing a term paper, so hopefully I can squeeze in some reading somewhere, if only to just unwind. :) Oh, but I am going to buy Inheritance next Tuesday, and I can't wait!

What did you get in your mailbox? Feel free to share the link to your IMM in the comments. :)

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Review: The Mockingbirds (The Mockingbirds #1) by Daisy Whitney

Source: Library

Publisher: Little, Brown Books For Young Readers

Release Date: Already Released.
Number of Pages: 332 (HC)/ 352 (PB)

(Goodreads Link.)

Blurb from Goodreads:

Some schools have honor codes.
Others have handbooks.
Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.

In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone--especially yourself--you fight for it.

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Wow....seriously, wow. I was blown away by The Mockingbirds. I knew I would like it, it sounded like a fantastic premise, with an extremely powerful message, but I didn't know how much I would like it. In fact, I loved this book!

Daisy Whitney has a wonderful writing style. It's straight-forward, realistic, and extremely character driven. By the end of the novel I felt like I knew Alex. Her voice in The Mockingbirds is so strong. I think it would be hard to walk away from this book without feeling like you'd just gotten to know her in the most intimate ways possible. That's not to say that everything she thinks makes sense or is clear, but throughout her moments of confusion, she is so real. She exposes everything to the reader. Maybe not her every single thought, but the important ones, the ones that pull you up short and let you get to know a character.

I also have to mention that I love when characters have a passion. Something that weaves into their narrative and becomes a defining trait. For Alex, this trait was her music, her piano-playing. Her passion for the piano wove so intricately into her life that she would actually imagine composers in times of need for their advice. Another character I've read that was similar to this was Chloe in the Darkest Powers Trilogy, she loved movies, so she'd imagine parts of her life as scenes. I love these defining characteristics! They help me get into the mindset of the character, and imagine that I could have the same passion, and I thought that Daisy did a brilliant job weaving Alex's passion into her story.

Well, I can't go this whole review without mentioning the Mockingbirds now, can I? There is so much that I can say about the Mockingbirds, but I don't want to keep us all here forever, so I'll keep it short. The Mockingbirds were inspiring, as was Alex for standing up for herself, but as a group, the Mockingbirds were amazing. In a school where perfection is expected, and any deviation from it (other than actual failing at school) is ignored, they represent something so profound. An organization where students try other students, and punish them for their wrongdoings. I loved that they helped to defend what was right and wrong, and while it seems strange that students would organize this kind of society, in Themis it seems to work. My favourite part about the Mockingbirds was their association with To Kill a Mockingbird. I remember reading it in school, and I really enjoyed it, and I thought it was fantastic that Daisy Whitney used it as inspiration for the Mockingbirds, and her little allusions to the story were fantastic! :D

Above everything else, this book was inspiring. It was hopeful, and I hope that people in Alex's situation can learn from it and realize that it's okay for them to stand up for themselves, and that being raped is not the victim's fault. The inspiration is The Mockingbirds doesn't end with the story though, it continues into Daisy's "Author's Note" where she reveals that, like Alex, she was date-raped, and that she stood up for herself and continued to talk about it and fight for other women in her situation. To me, this note was just icing on the cake, inspiration piled upon inspiration, and I love Daisy for sharing her story and Alex's with us readers. I've never been in their situation myself, but it never fails to impress me when I read stories like this, where someone has the courage to speak. It impresses me because if they could have the strength to speak, so could I, or if it ever happened to someone I knew, I'd be able to stand up for and with them. It lets you know that life goes on after terrible traumas like this, you just have to let it. I also can't wait to read the sequel, The Rivals, to see what happens next at Themis.

Add The Mockingbird's sequel, The Rivals, to Goodreads: The Rivals

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Random Acts of Kindness - November Edition!

 This is now my third month participating in RAK, and I have to say that I love it! And I love the idea of being able to buy someone else a book and maybe get one from someone else in return for no reason at all, just to be nice! :D
The lovely Vanessa and Isalys at Book Soulmates came up with the idea for Random Acts of Kindness.  Here are the rules for R.A.K.:

RULES RE-CAP:

• Sign up each month that you'd like to participate.

• Show off your participation by grabbing our RAK button :)

• Create a wish list (on Amazon, Goodreads, or your blog etc) and post it in the Google Doc located in each R.A.K post for the month.

• If you choose to do a R.A.K for someone, check out their wish list and contact that blogger for their address.

• At the end of the month, SHOW US YOUR R.A.K!  Make a post saying 'Thank You' to whoever granted one of your wishes and share it with us :)

OPEN TO EVERYONE!

Let's keep our International bloggers in mind and in our hearts.

Remember, there's always the Book Depository and they offer FREE shipping!


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You can find out even more about R.A.K, and sign up for November HERE. -----------------------  I've got two different wishlists, one for Amazon and one for the Book Depository: 
The Book Depository Wishlist:  Ambur's TBD WishlistAnd my Amazon/Kindle Wishlist: Ambur's Amazon Wishlist
Go ahead and check it out even if you aren't participating in R.A.K.! You might find a book you want for yourself. ;)   (If you want my address to send me something for R.A.K., you can email me at ambiepie_6(at)hotmail(dot)com.) October was a great R.A.K. month for me! I sent 3 and received 3 books! I've definitely loved getting to participate in R.A.K., and I hope that you'll all give it a try, it's an awesome experience! :D  Happy Reading!!!
♪♫ Ambur

October - R.A.K Wrap Up!

RAK - Random Acts of Kindness Wrap Up

This month I sent 3 Books and Received 3 Books:

I sent Cat from Cat's Thoughts:

I sent Amber from Almybnen:

I sent Demijel:

and

Cat sent me: 

Amber sent me:

So, October was a fantastic RAK month for me! :D Thanks Amber and Cat! And I hope you both enjoy your books! I hope you enjoys Reckless, too, Demijel! :D

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫ Ambur

Zompocalypse Trick-or-Treat Hop Winners!

The winners for the Zompocalypse Trick-or-Treat Hope Giveaway are:

Throuthehaze (claimed)

 and

lyndsay mcneff

Congratulations Lyndsay and Throuthehaze! 

The winners have 48 hours to claim their prizes! 

I've already emailed you both, so check you junk mails to make sure the email isn't hiding there, and if you can't find it, email me at ambiepie_6(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Thank you to everyone who entered! :D 

I was seriously impressed by the sheer volume of entries! At the end of the giveaway, there were 702! For a giveaway that only ran for a few days, that's awesome! I'm glad you all were so interested in winning the books that I'd chosen...I'll definitely have to have more giveaways soon! :D

Happy Reading, and Happy (Belated) Halloween! :D

♪♫ Ambur