In My Mailbox

So since I am still recovering from surgery, my In My Mailbox is only one book this week.  Thank you to my wonderful hubby for running to get it for me!!!

Waiting on Wednesday

So for Waiting on Wednesday today I have the second book from Kimberly Derting.  I am sure that I am not alone in my need to have this book.  Her first book, The Bodyfinder, was an AMAZING supernatural who-done-it.  It kept me guessing through the whole book and didn't leave me feeling like I had known what was going to happen.  I am EAGERLY awaiting Desires of the Dead.

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

From GoodReads: Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.
Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

The second book in the Caster Chronicles, Beautiful Darkness lived up to the standard set by the first book in this series.  Full of twists and turns, heart-wrenching emotion, and characters that you just fall for.  In this book, Stohl and Garcia take us for an emotional rollercoaster ride as Lena tries to deal with the loss of Macon and pushes herself away from Ethan.  There were scenes that made me want to cry with the characters.  This book was amazingly written and I look forward to the third installment in this series.

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

From GoodReads:

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in ...more Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.
Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.

I don't even know where to begin reviewing this book, the words to describe it won't come out right. I adored it.  It was creepy, saddening, exciting, heart-poundingly brilliant.  Mackie is so well written that  I found myself feeling everything he was feeling from scene to scene.  The hairs on my arms stood up from the eerie-factor of some of the scenes, especially the ones with the Morrigan in them.  This book was descriptive and detailed in such a way that sometimes you felt like you were actually in the story too.  It was an amazing book that I highly reccommend and will definitely read anything Brenna Yovanoff writes from here on out!

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

From GoodReads: Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything--including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

So I started this book not really knowing what to think, I had read numerous reviews raving about it, but had to see for myself.  So I started it one evening and by morning I had finished it.  I loved it!  The characters were strong and extremely well written, the story was new and fresh.  I definitely think that if you are into Teen and YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy, this is a book for you!  My only complaint about the book, the wait for the next one!!!! I will warn you now that this book ends with a MAJOR cliffhanger that will leave you begging for more!

Misguided Angel by Melissa De La Cruz

From GoodReads: After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler fled to Florence with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of them must embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find and protect the five remaining gates that guard the earth from Lucifer, lord of the Silver Bloods.

Back in New York, Mimi has been elected Regent of a crumbling coven. Struggling with her heartache over the loss of Kingsley and with her overwhelming desire to destroy Jack, she must focus all of her energy on a perilous new threat. Vampires are being abducted and their captors are planning to burn them alive online…for all the world to see. Help arrives in the form of Deming Chen, a Venator from Shanghai, who must untangle the web of deceptions before the killers strike again.
As the young vampires struggle for the survival of the coven, they uncover a deadly secret, a truth first discovered by Schuyler’s mother during the Renaissance but kept buried for centuries. And as the Blue Blood enclave weakens yet further, fate leads Schuyler to a terrible choice that will ultimately map the destiny of her heart.

I must start out by saying Melissa De La Cruz, you my dear, are a TEASE!!!!
This book was just a small taste of things to come.  You get to see only bits and pieces of the big picture, ending in yet another of Melissa's, now famous, clif-hangers.  I loved it!  The story jumps from Jack and Schuyler to Mimi and Oliver, to scenes from past lives, to a new character (I won't tell you about her, you'll have to read to find out more!).  As Misguided Angel bounces from storyline to storyline you pick up new pieces to the puzzle, and just when you think you will get some answers, the book is done! So once again, Melissa has hooked me for another book, and, as only Melissa De La Cruz can,  has me counting the days until the next Blue Bloods novel.

Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

From GoodReads: Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper and a best friend named Leo. They’re all students at a boarding school for “bad kids.” What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly?
Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out.
Leo has a way with tools. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god.
Join new and old friends from Camp Half-Blood in this thrilling first audiobook in The Heroes of Olympus series.

If you enjoyed the Percy Jackson series, then you will LOVE this book! I started this book at 8:30 p.m. one night and, literally, my hubby had to pry it from my hands at 1 a.m. and force me to go to bed! 
In full Rick Riordan fashion, I couldn't put it down!  The characters of Piper, Leo, and Jason were amazingly written, the story was intermixed with Roman and Greek mythology, and the twists and turns were unforseen.  I strongly reccommend everyone check this book out! I promise that you will devour it!