My Book Haul/In My Mailbox

The Story Siren hosts a weekly meme where bloggers can share what goodies they've purchased/received this week. If you get a chance head over to The Story Siren and check out what everyone is up to! This week my local Waterstones had a clearance to sell some books with broken or bent covers, but where only £1 so I had to pick up a few books...I was practically forced to! :)

Mirror Dreams - Catherine Webb

Publisher: UK - Atom

Every dream you've ever had, and every dream yet to come, exists somewhere in the Kingdoms of the Void. Every nightmare, too. Because there has to be balance - it's the rules. Problem is, the Lords of Nightkeep aren't big on rules. They're more into Conquest, Fear, and Eternal Darkness For All. It takes an extremely powerful Void wizard like Leanan Kite to keep 'em in check. But right now Kite has other worries, and Nightkeep is growing strong. Its Lords hunger for power. And they've turned their gaze toward Earth...

Catherine Webb wrote this as a teenager and gathered rave reviews. More recently she has published the Mathew Swift books - A Madness of Angels and The Midnight Mayor - both of which I LOVED! So when I saw this I couldn't resist the opportunity to try her earlier YA books.

Mystic River - Dennis Lehane

Publisher: UK - Bantam

There are threads in our lives. You pull one, and everything else gets affected. When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up their street. One boy got in the car, two did not, and something terrible happened – something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever. Twenty-five years later, Sean Devine is a homicide detective. Jimmy Marcus is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave Boyle is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay –demons that urge him to do horrific things. When Jimmy Marcus’ daughter is found murdered, Sean Devine is assigned to the case. His personal life unravelling, he must go back into a world he thought he’d left behind to confront not only the violence of the present but the nightmares of his past. His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy Marcus, who finds his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave Boyle, who came home the night Jimmy’s daughter died covered in someone else’s blood…

One of the first books I reviewed on this blog was Shutter Island and I really enjoyed it so when I saw Mystic River I thought it would be good to try another book by the same author!

The Protector's War - S.M. Stirling

Publisher: US - ROC

Ten years after The Change rendered technology inoperable throughout the world, two brave leaders built two thriving communities in Oregon's Willamette Valley. But now the armies of the totalitarian Protectorate are preparing to wage war over the priceless farmland.

I have the first book in The Change Series - Dies The Fire on my wishlist so I may 'do a Melissa' and start the series in the middle to see if I can follow what is happening! :)

The Stepsister Scheme - Jim C Hines

Publisher: Daw Books

What would happen if an author went back to the darker themes of the original fairy tales for his plots, and then crossed the Disney princesses with Charlie's Angels? What's delivered is The Stepsister Scheme—a whole new take on what happened to Cinderella and her prince after the wedding. And with Jim C. Hines penning the tale readers can bet it won't be “and they lived happily ever after.”

I love the premise of this book - Disney princess crossed with Charlies Angels? I just want to pick it up and start reading! :)

Firelight -  Sophie Jordan

Publisher: UK - OUP Oxford

 Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. She longs for the freedom to make her own choices, but when she breaks the 'no flying' rule, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki, a descendant of dragons whose greatest defence is her secret ability to shift into human form. And her rare ability to breathe fire makes her desirable, and important, to the survival of the draki. Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. There she meets gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: he and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slipping away, and if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

I had this on my wishlist a couple of week ago so when I spotted it on special offer I couldn't resist! :)

Mercy Blade (Jane Yellowrock 3) - Faith Hunter

Publisher: US - ROC

Things are heating up in the Big Easy. Weres have announced their existence tot he world, and revived the bitter tensions that run between them and their old enemies: vampires. As a trusted employee of Leo Pellissier, Blood Master of the City, Jane finds herself caught in the cross fire. When Jane is attacked by a pack of marauding were-wolves, she is thankful for the help of a mysterious stranger named Girrard. He explains that he used to be Leo’s “Mercy Blade,” a sacred position charged with killing vampires who have gone insane. What Jane doesn’t know is why this powerful assassin left New Orleans − or, more troubling, why he’s now returned. It’s definitely not to make Jane’s life easier...

I've wanted this book for ages and just couldn't resist the little voices in my head telling me to get it any more! :-)

SO what have you picked up this week? :)