In My Mailbox (Dec. 17th)

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi over at The Story Siren. Each week bloggers get to share all of the awesome things that they've received with each other. I hope everyone has had a fantastic week!

Well guys, Christmas is sneaking up on us very fast. I hope that you are all ready for the holidays and that everything is going good for you. I didn't post last week because things were relatively quiet, but I had a fabulous book week so let's get things underway. Okay, wait. First, let me show you this:

I've been meaning to get a shot of our Christmas tree since we put it up a few weeks ago, but it keeps slipping my mind. No more! Here is our beautiful tree in all its glowy sparkly glory! I love how the decorations for a Christmas tree continue to grow and remain over time, and yet how the tree never looks truly the same from one year to the next. It mirrors the ebb and flow of consistency and change that are at the center of our lives all year round. Have you put up an image of your tree yet? I'd love to see it!

For Review:

Happy Birthday To Me
by Brian Rowe

Seventeen-year-old Cameron Martin has a huge problem: he’s aging a whole year of his life with each passing day!

High school is hard enough; imagine rapidly aging from seventeen to seventy in a matter of weeks, with no logical explanation, and with prom, graduation, and the state championship basketball game all on the horizon. That’s what happens to Cameron, a popular pretty boy who's never had to face a day looking anything but perfect.

All Cameron wants to do is go back to normal, but no one, not even the best doctors, can diagnose his condition. When he finds love with a mysterious young woman, however, he realizes his only hope for survival might be with the one person who started his condition in the first place...

Thanks so much to Brian Rowe for contacting me about this. The premise sounds totally fantastic and I'm going to get into it once the holidays (primarily going out boxing day) are behind me. The reason for the wait is that I need to sort out what I want to pick up boxing day. I've already started this and I am truthfully anxious to get back to it. Perhaps I'll bring my Kindle along in case I get dropped at Chapters for the afternoon and have a few hours to kill? We shall see. It should be noted that I received all three books in the Birthday trilogy (yet again, thank you!) but that I am only listing one since I haven't completed the first book yet.

Destiny's Fire
by Trisha Wolfe

Sixteen-year-old Dez Harkly is one of the last of her kind—a part of a nearly extinct race of Kythan descended from ancient guardians who protected the pharaohs of Egypt. As Shythe, they must keep their shape-shifting ability and electric power hidden from the humans of their steam-powered world.

It’s the year 2040 and the Shythe Council has lowered their barrier, allowing the Narcolym—the dominant race of Kythan whose Flame ushered in the steam era—to enter their haven. As the Narcolym airships get closer, Dez secretly trains for an attack that her best friend Jace believes is coming despite the Treaty Act. Not only is Dez wary of war, and her growing affection for Jace, but she fears the change her fast-approaching birthday will bring.

When her power rockets out of control, Dez knows she’ll never attend the Shythe Academy with her friends, and worse, her mother’s planning to run. But a Narco named Reese could change her fate . . . if she can trust him. After Dez discovers why the Narcos have really come to Haven Falls, her guarded world crumbles. She’s forced to choose between the race who’s raised her and the enemy she’s feared her whole life.

DESTINY'S FIRE is an emotional journey of Dez’s struggle to overcome her fear and embrace her power—her destiny.

The force looks strong with this one, folks. ;) Steampunk? The potential for Egyptian mythology? A kick ass heroine? Cultural issues? Secrets? And what the heck will happen to Dez on her birthday, anyway? I'm excited to be reading this and it should be a great way to ring in the new year. Thanks so much to Omnific Publishing for providing me with a copy and to A Tale of Many Reviews Book Blog Tours for having me along. (Note: If my info is correct, this book is getting a new cover. Just to avoid any confusion.)

My Beating Teenage Heart
by C.K. Kelly Martin

Ashlyn Baptiste is falling. One moment she was nothing—no memories, no self—and then suddenly, she's plummeting through a sea of stars. Is she in a coma? She doesn't remember dying, and she has no memories of the life she left behind. All she knows is that she's trapped in a consciousness without a body and she's spending every moment watching a stranger.

Breckon Cody's on the edge. He's being ripped apart by grief so intense it literally hurts to breathe. On the surface, Breckon is trying to hold it together for his family and his girlfriend, but underneath he's barely hanging on.

Even though she didn't know him in life, Ashlyn sees Breckon's pain, and she's determined to find a way help him. As her own distressing memories emerge from the darkness, she struggles to communicate with the boy who can't see her, but whose life is suddenly intertwined with hers. In alternating voices of the main characters, My Beating Teenage Heart paints a devastatingly vivid picture of both the heartbreak and the promise of teenage life—a life Ashlyn would do anything to recover and Breckon seems desperate to destroy—and will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen, John Green, and David Levithan.

Thanks so much to the lovely people at Random House for sending this. I received this for review as part of Blog It Forward over at Bookurious. I'm really excited to get started on this one. The premise sounds totally fascinating and I intended to pick this book up anyway. Odds are my review will be up sometime in January. 

I Bought:

I can be such an impulse buyer! I haven't read Clockwork Angel, but when I saw Clockwork Prince at WalMart I decided to pick it up anyway. I'll need to make sure to grab Clockwork Angel when I go out boxing day. Meaning: I won't be writing about this one for a bit. But I couldn't resist getting it for 30% off.

Someday I will convince my little brother to guest post on my blog. He read all of these in two days and then turned around and got the two Heroes of Olympus books from the library and read both of them the next day. I really enjoyed The Lightning Thief, so when I saw these on sale at WalMart I couldn't resist. I mainly did buy them for Shawn, but I'm sure I'll throw up a review here and there for these eventually. I do love to see what people do with Greek mythology.

Ugh! The lighting in this picture is total crap and does not do these beautiful books justice at all. *sigh* You may have noticed the (mostly!) glowing review for Tiger's Curse that I put up on Friday. Well, I ordered these before I was even half way through that, because I knew I was going to want to contiue reading the series. And as usual they came super fast in the mail via Amazon.ca. Right now I am trying to get through some other books, though, so anyone looking for more Tiger reviews is going to need to be patient. These are really long books and they'll take time.

This week's question: What book do you hope to find under the tree most this Christmas?

Anyway, that's it for me this week. ("That's it" sounds so ungrateful. I really did have a fantastic week1) I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Anything I've received that you're dying to read? Anything that I should be reading a.s.a.p.? As usual, feel free to link your own IMM and I'll drop by. Have a good week!