In My Mailbox #1

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at the The Story Siren - basically you post what books you have received, bought, or borrowed that week.

Starters by Lissa Price
Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown
Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale
Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelly Coriell


What's in your mailbox?

Currently Reading - Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale

Starting the weekend right with one of my favorite authors!  This doesn't come out until January 31st but I was lucky enough to snag a galley.  I forgot how magical Shannon Hale is!


When Charlotte Kinder treats herself to a two-week vacation at Austenland, she happily leaves behind her ex-husband and his delightful new wife, her ever-grateful children, and all the rest of her real life in America. She dons a bonnet and stays at a country manor house that provides an immersive Austen experience, complete with gentleman actors who cater to the guests' Austen fantasies. 

Everyone at Pembrook Park is playing a role, but increasingly, Charlotte isn't sure where roles end and reality begins. And as the parlor games turn a little bit menacing, she finds she needs more than a good corset to keep herself safe. Is the brooding Mr. Mallery as sinister as he seems? What is Miss Gardenside's mysterious ailment? Was that an actual dead body in the secret attic room? And-perhaps of the most lasting importance-could the stirrings in Charlotte's heart be a sign of real-life love? 

Ash by Malinda Lo

Books Made into Movies

I'm sooo tempted to buy this bind up of the first three Stephanie Plum books for  my Kobo because of the upcoming movie One for the Money starring Katherine Heigl.  This doesn't happen to me often and in fact the making of a book that I haven't read into a movie often makes me not want to read it at all (example The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo)  
Do the movies make you want to read the books or not?

Birthday Book Haul!

Entwined by Heather Dixon

Published March 29th 2011 by Greenwillow Books
summary from Goodreads
Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.
The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.
Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.
But there is a cost. 
The Keeper likes to keep things.
Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.


I have read two retellings of the fairytale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" - one of them was not very well developed and the other one was.  Entwined is the well developed retelling.  It is a unique story that still incorporates elements of the original fairytale.  I especially loved the use of different dances and how, for the princesses, dancing was a coping device for the loss of their mother.
Azalea was a perfect heroine, growing and developing as the story progressed.  She was also very strong - she did not sit back and wait to be saved!  A fabulous retelling indeed!

I hate it when...

Your reading a series and you have to wait for someone to return the next book to the library so that you can read it!  Desperately waiting to read Passion!