In My Mailbox: Five

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren

From the Library

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

Purchased

 Illuminate by Aimee Agresti

I cannot believe I forgot to add Illuminate to my IMM last week.  Too caught up on those Half Price Books purchases I guess.  What books did you get this week?

Follow Friday: One

Hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read

Q: What is the best book you’ve read in the last month? What is the worst book you’ve read in the last month?

I've read two books in the last month that I really-super-extra enjoyed, and those were Fever by Lauren DeStefano and Ditched by Robin Mellom.  Reviews for both of these books will be up over the next two weeks.

As far as the worst book, I'm going to give that one to Wisdom's Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdoch.  It's a stretch to say I read this book, as I only made it about 100 pages in before I gave up.  There is a ridiculous number of perspectives and story-telling methods (eight? nine, maybe?) and I felt so confused most of the time.  And all the while, not a whole lot seemed to be happening, so I finally decided it was just not the book for me.

Waiting On Wednesday: Nine

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Title: Chosen Ones (The Lost Souls #1)
Author: Tiffany Truit
Publication Date: 10 April 2012
Summary (courtesy of goodreads.com):

What if you were mankind’s last chance at survival?

Sixteen-year-old Tess lives in a compound in what was once the Western United States, now decimated after a devastating fourth World War. But long before that, life as we knew it had been irrevocably changed, as women mysteriously lost the ability to bring forth life. Faced with the extinction of the human race, the government began the Council of Creators, meant to search out alternative methods of creating life. The resulting artificial human beings, or Chosen Ones, were extraordinarily beautiful, unbelievably strong, and unabashedly deadly.

Life is bleak, but uncomplicated for Tess as she follows the rigid rules of her dystopian society, until the day she begins work at Templeton, the training facility for newly created Chosen Ones. There, she meets James, a Chosen One whose odd love of music and reading rivals only her own. The attraction between the two is immediate in its intensity—and overwhelming in its danger.

But there is more to the goings-on at Templeton than Tess ever knew, and as the veil is lifted from her eyes, she uncovers a dark underground movement bent not on taking down the Chosen Ones, but the Council itself. Will Tess be able to stand up to those who would oppress her, even if it means giving up the only happiness in her life?

I love me some dystopian society, especially when there's some massive, humanity-ending problem that's overcome the human genome.  Chosen Ones sounds like a mix between Children of Men (which I've admittedly never actually seen but sounds really good) and Battlestar Galactica (which I have seen and is really good) and um, awesome, with some star-crossed lovers and more awesome thrown in just for good measure.