In My Mailbox #14 - Christmas/New Year Bumper Edition

Welcome to  In My Mailbox, a meme run by The Story Siren where each week over 200 bloggers post on their blogs the books they have bought, received to review or won in the past week.

To find out more information, get involved yourself or see what's in other bloggers mailboxes this week head over to The Story Siren or to find out what is in my mailbox this week, keep reading.

So its been a while since my last In My Mailbox so given that bookwise the last few weeks have been quite busy, I figured it best to do a Christmas/New Year Bumper edition :)

So the first awesome bookish event of December was an early Christmas present:  a new shiny Kindle 3 :)

I also got an awesome purple cover with an attachable light so I can read it at night in bed.  I was very excited about this gift.  So ofcourse the first thing I did was head to Netgalley and load up on the books I need to read and review.

Arcs i have i have received to review are :

• Under The Moon by Natalie J. Damschroder
• New Girl by Paige Harbison
• Slide by Jill Hathaway
• Halflings by Heather Burch
• The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees

Second thing I did was load it up with e-books i already had on the kindle app on my ipad then I went shopping! :P

I bought:

• Clockwork Prince (Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare
• City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3) by Cassandra Clare
• Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews
• The Magic Word by Jennifer Fallon
• Seed by Ania Ahlborn

Then of course there was Christmas itself and i did well bookwise in the Christmas present department :)

Firstly, I participated in a Kris Kringle/Secret Santa in Goodreads group The Aussie Swap.

Thank you so much to Jayne from The Australian Bookshelf for the awesome gift of :

• The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
• The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

 Then from my dad I received:

• Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon
• The Sending by Isobelle Carmody
• Finnikin on the Rock by Melina Marchetta

Lastly, did I mention that I have an awesome local library and while I have been on holidays, I have been doing lots of reading and visiting the library every other day and here are some of the titles i have borrowed in the last couple of weeks and am in the process of reading:

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• Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
• Haunted by Joy Preble
  Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
• Club Dead  by Charlaine Harris
• Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
• Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
• Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
• The Keeping Place by Isobelle Carmody
• The Stone Key by Isobelle Carmody
• The Time Traveller's Wify by Audrey Niffenegger
• The Haunted by Jessica Verday
• Lord of Sin by Susan Krinard
• Dark of the Moon by Susan Krinard

to name just a few




So what was in your mailbox this holiday period?

Netgalley Month January 2012

So in July 2011, my first attempt at NetGalleyMonth, I found out I was pregnant, got morning sickness and was unable to read anything on my ipad without feeling nauseous.  Needless to say July was a bust.  In October, I was so snowed under at work, I didn't even have time to declare myself let alone attempt a netgalley month so again... BUST!

HOWEVER

This time round, armed with my new shiny kindle I received for Christmas, I do declare January 2012 to be Netgalley Month and just as third time is the charm, this time I will succeed!! :)


Emily from Red House Books is hosting January's Netgalley month challenge which involves reading as many netgalley books as possible in the month of January 2012.

So why do I think I will succeed this time when i so epically failed the last two times?  Here is why:

1. Time : This month I have ten days of holidays with not much I have to do but read.  Plus I am 30 weeks pregnant so this is an awesome excuse to take it easy :)
2. Reading Device: I received a shiny new Kindle 3 for Christmas which already I am making use of, complete with a cover with a readng light so I can read at night in bed.
3. A Netgalley TBR list already half a mile long so once again the perfect excuse to get through it (like i need an excuse :P).  These titles include:

• Under The Moon by Natalie J. Damschroder
• New Girl by Paige Harbison
• Slide by Jill Hathaway
• Halflings by Heather Burch
• The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees
• The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

and others which I will add as I go through them :)

So there you have it, three big reasons why January will be an awesome Netgalley Month for me :)

For more information on January is Netgalley Month or to declare yourself check out the official post at Red House Books

Well wish me luck because here I go...

2012 Reading Challenges

So I have decided to sign up for a few challenges in 2012.  I am really excited as it my first time signing up for most of these challenges. It's going to be an interesting year as I have my first child due in March so either i wil have no time for reading or lots but between my local library, my ipad and the kindle i am treating myself to this Christmas, I am incredibly hopeful :) So please find below the challenges i will be participating in next year:

2012 Debut Author Challenge

Hosted by The Story Siren,  challenge is to read and review a minimum 12 young adult or middle grade debut novels in 2012.

For this challenge some titles I am looking forward to reading are:

• Everneath by Brodi Ashton
• Tempest by Julie Cross
• Fracture by Megan  Miranda
• Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
• The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams
• Storybound by Marissa Burt

As I look through the variaous lists of titles, i realise i want to read most of the titles on them so hopefully i will be able to complete this challenge successfully.

The Eclectic Reader Challenge 2012  



This challenge is hosted by Book'd Out with the aim to "The aim of The Eclectic Reader 2012 Challenge is to push you a little outside your comfort zone by reading up to 12 books during the year from 12 different genres."

This challenge runs from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012

The genres included are:

1. Literary Fiction
2. Crime/Mystery Fiction
3. Romantic Fiction
4. Historical Fiction
5. Young Adult
6. Fantasy
7. Science Fiction
8. Non Fiction
9. Horror
10. Thriller /Suspense
11. Classic
12. Your favourite genre

This is another challenge I can't wait to sink my teeth into.  I actually have quite an eclectic reading taste anyway so i think I can do quite well in this challenge.

2012 YA/MG Fantasy Reading Challenge

The aim of this challnge is to read and review 10 Ya/MG fantasy novels that come out in 2012.  Another challenge I am looking forward to as this is probably my most favoured genre.  Even looking at the list so far I can already see a few to look forward to such as :

• Faery Tales & Nightmares by Melissa Marr
• Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter
• The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney

Sophomore Reading Challenge!

This reading challenge, hosted by Chick Loves Lit is to read 10 or more sophomore YA or MG novels published in 2012.  As there are a number of second books coming out from great authors I have discovered in the last year or so, this is another challenger I am greatly excited about as some of the titles to look forward to are:

• Insurgent by Virginia Roth
• Embers and Echoes by Karsten Knight
• Until I die by Amy Plum

as well as a whole lot of others.

So these are the reading challenges I plan on tackling in 2012.  Let me know what challenges you have found and are participating in for 2012.

Oh and wish me luck!! :)

Teaser Tuesday #15

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays.


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too muchaway! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My current read is  Ill Wind (Weather Warden #1) by Rachel Caine and my two lines are from page 288  :


"Even though I'd seen it dozens of times, it was still a shock.  Half her face gleamed bronze gold, perfect; the other half was seared and scarred the colour of old liver."

Purchase:  Amazon | Book Depository |

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!